Posting as many chapters as I can before going on vacation: Part II.

I have review responses! (All from the same person, but I'm still really happy about it!)

JustVildaPotter: (Chapter 2) Heck yeah, we love Sarah's character getting developed! And thank you! It feels amazing to be writing again. Let me just jump up and down from this compliment (just kidding, I did that earlier). (Chapter 3) Modernizing these newsies is honestly so much fun. (Chapter 4) Smalls is my absolute favorite side character. She has like one line, but she is mine. (Haha, it's a couplet.)

Okay, on with the next chapter!

Chapter 5- Jack

Wednesday, September 15, 1999, 7:58 a.m.

Crutchie arrived at school riding on Specs' shoulders. Jack had no idea how that had happened, but he desperately needed to know. It looked like a lot of fun, not to mention how impressive it was that Crutchie had managed to convince the responsible Specs to give him a piggy-back ride. The boy had only been living at Duane Street with them for three weeks so far, but he did have that smile...

"He's really cute," said a voice.

"Yeah... Wait, what?" Jack jumped, his eyes locating the short girl who had appeared beside him. "Hey, Smalls."

"Mornin', Captain. Miss me?"

"In the two days since I last saw ya?"

"I know ya did, don' lie."

"I'm not lyin', just considerin'..." Jack turned his gaze away at the sound of Crutchie's voice from across the courtyard. Specs was introducing him to a few other guys, who were just now showing up to school despite there being about two minutes before class started.

"You're distracted..." Smalls sang.

"Shut it. Ya don' know nothin'."

"I know Racer was textin' me at five in da mornin' saying you was on the roof with a certain sunshine boy."

"Says da girl who spent her entire summer stalkin' Snipes."

"It ain't stalkin'. We're friends."

"Ah, the friendzone." Jack clapped her on the back. "Maybe one day, you'll make it outta it."

"You'll hafta let me know if ya do."

"God, shut up!" Jack covered his face with his hands.

"Ha. You're blushin'."

"No I ain't."

"Yer a tomato, Jack."

"Racer would be less annoyin' than you righ' now."

Smalls feigned an expression of deep thought. "Yes, I believe he would. Specs said Albert made him drink two whole cups a' coffee."

Jack lowered his hands. "Shit, on da first day a' school? I should prob'ly check that he got here."

Smalls nodded. "Hey, Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"Lemme know when ya need ta stay with me again, 'kay? 'Specially when it gets colder. Can't have ya sleepin' on da roof."

After leaving Mr. Kloppmann's care, Jack had stayed with Smalls in her foster family's apartment on occasion. Her foster parents didn't really care if they were taking in one kid or two, as they were always busy with their jobs. They were both doctors or some other equally taxing profession that required them to work late into the night; Jack wasn't entirely sure. Mainly, he'd accepted Smalls' offer to keep himself out of the Refuge, but he knew she appreciated his company. And though Jack would never admit it, he felt the same.

"But my penthouse," he joked.

"Is that 'penthouse' really as excitin' as ya say? I wouldn't know, as I've never been up there."

"No girls allowed."

"Sexist."

"Annoying."

"I'm as much of a boy as any one a' youse."

"Sure ya are. But you're also," Jack ruffled her hair. "My sister."

"I hope ya don't mean that in the same way ya keep sayin' Crutchie's your brother."

"Okay, this conversation's over." Jack began walking down the hallway.

"I knows a crush when I sees one, Captain."

Jack cupped his hands around his mouth. "Smalls loves Sni-"

Smalls cut him off. "Make sure Racer don't pass out!"

"I will!"

"Love ya, Jack!"

"Love ya!" Jack disappeared around a corner, only to smack into somebody else. "'Hey, I'm walkin' here!'"

The boy didn't laugh at the reference the way most people did. He just smoothed down the vest he was wearing- for some strange reason, why any teenage boy would wear a vest, Jack didn't know- and straightened his tie. A freshman, Jack guessed, despite the boy looking closer to his own age. Only freshmen were stupid enough to come to school wearing some private school uniform. In fact, Jack remembered, Smalls had done so on her first day, when she had transferred from a school in the Bronx in the middle of her freshman year. But then again, her new guardian at the time hadn't exactly been the type to provide kids with new clothes. Jack knew this because he'd lived with the man at the same time Smalls had. That felt like forever ago.

"Excuse me," said the boy, attempting to move past Jack.

Jack blocked his way, reaching an arm to touch the wall beside the two of them. "You new here?"

"Yes."

Jack looked the guy over. "Interestin' outfit ya got there."

"So I've been told," the new kid ducked under Jack's arm and went on his way before Jack had a chance to ask his name. Shame. He had wanted to give the guy a heads up about the Delancey brothers.

He hadn't seen those two assholes yet that morning. Jack couldn't decide if no sign of Oscar and Morris was a good thing or a bad thing. Most likely good. They were probably late. One couldn't expect those two to be on time, particularly on the first day back.

As if summoned, the final bell rang. Loudly. In Jack's ear. He hadn't needed to know that he was standing directly below the intercom speaker. Jack made his way to his first period class, carefully avoiding the watchful eyes of school administrators. As long as they didn't see him, he wouldn't get caught for not yet being in class. Of course, he probably would be punished once he actually got there, so Jack was only delaying the inevitable. Maybe his teacher would turn a blind eye, it being the first day and all, meaning his lateness wouldn't be recorded. Jack laughed at himself as he thought that last part. Every teacher knew who he was, even if they had never taught him. He had developed quite the reputation over the years, and at this point no one was willing to make exceptions for him. Well, he corrected himself, there was one... but she was a gem. A diamond in a rough sea of adults who frowned at him disapprovingly.

"Ah, Mr. Sullivan," greeted Jack's newest teacher, an old white man who looked fed up with the world. No different from most of the other teachers. Jack didn't recognize the man, but the look of pure disappointment on his face was all too familiar. "Nice of you to finally join us."

Jack checked his watch. Only five minutes late. A personal record. He would have to thank the Delanceys when he saw them. "It's Kelly," he corrected. "Jack Kelly."

The older man glared. "Take a seat, Francis."

Francis. The name echoed in Jack's head, first in his father's voice, and then in the voice of a different man; an angry, grating roar like fingernails on a chalkboard that made Jack shudder. He hated when that voice would come up in his head. It did so too often for his liking, along with memories of that place, the Refuge: feeling hungry all the time, covering bruises with paint and ink, fighting a man much bigger than himself, begging him to stop harming the other kids; it all came rushing back. Jack did not wish to relieve those memories. Particularly not right now. He forced them back behind the locked door in his mind.

"Mr. Sullivan. Your seat."

"Sure thing, mista'." Jack's eyes found Racer alone at a table in the back. Any other senior would have been embarrassed to be stuck in a class full of juniors, but Jack had stopped caring a long time ago. He sauntered to the back of the room to fill the empty seat, ignoring the stares and whispered criticisms of the other students. They didn't know him. They had no right to judge.

"'Sup," Race nodded at Jack before placing his head on his folded arms.

"Caffeine kicking in?"

"Mm-hmm," was the muffled reply.

"An' ya decided ta drink two cups a' coffee because?"

"Albert's fault."

"Right..."

"'M not in da mood fer a lecture righ' now."

"Didn't sleep last night?"

"No." Race propped his head on his elbows. "Y'know me. It's a racetrack in there." Race's mind was always moving a mile a minute, like cars zipping around a racetrack. It had been Race himself who first made this comparison several years before, and Jack had dubbed him "Racetrack" because of it.

"I bet I can guess what ya were thinkin' about," teased Jack.

"Sure."

Jack began to describe Spot Conlon, a guy from Brooklyn he was acquainted with. Racer barely knew the guy, but he had a giant crush on him. "Dark hair, covered in freckles, short but terrifying..."

"I was not!" Race protested, a bit too loudly.

"Sullivan! Higgins!" The teacher barked. Both Jack and Race flinched. "Am I going to have to separate you two?"

"N-no sir," said Jack, his voice shaking, while Race nodded, nervously running his hands through his hair.

"That's a detention for both of you."

"Yessir." Jack silently begged the man to stop glaring at the two of them. If it would keep the teacher from yelling, he would stay quiet for the rest of the period.

Satisfied with Jack's response, the man began his review of the rules the students already knew from previous school years. Under the table, Race pulled his bag onto his lap and dug through it until he found his box of cigarettes. Before he could pull one out, which would put Race in even more trouble if the teacher noticed, Jack grabbed a stubby pencil from his own bag. He slipped it into Race's shaking hand, and the younger boy fidgeted with that pencil for the rest of the period.

Woo, The Refuge. It's... not good. In any universe.

On a happier note... I have never posted so many chapters in a row! This is an exciting day!

Also, if anyone was wondering, Jack and Smalls are not biologically related, he just adopted her as his "sister". They have a sibling relationship. It's been decided (by me, at least).

Please review, I love the support.