Hello, hello, hello! I am here with the chapter!

Review Responses:

AndrewKeenanBolgerFan: That's an amazing song. You, my friend, never fail to make me laugh in these reviews. Trouble certainly is brewing, and that's not good. Tommy Boy is slowly becoming one of my favorite characters. He's a good dude. My holiday was fine, how was yours?

And here we go.

Chapter 35- Blink

Saturday, September 18, 1999, 2:07 p.m.

There were few instances in Blink's life when he regretted being born nearly blind. Today was one of them. And it wasn't because of the Delanceys picking on him, though of course that made him feel like absolute crap, but he was used to the way the brothers treated him. Today he regretted how bad his eyes were because Mush was standing too far away for Blink to judge his expression when he, Sniper, and Tommy Boy were escorted out of the school by Oscar and Morris. If Blink had been able to see his boyfriend's reaction, he would have had a better idea of what to do when the crowd of newsies started yelling at them. But he couldn't, and he didn't. The people he could see were Sniper- notebook held close to her chest, head tilted down so she could stare at the ground instead of her friends- and Tommy Boy, who looked like he was regretting every decision he had ever made in his life. Blink wondered what his own face showed the crowd.

It took about five seconds for the communal anger towards the three "betrayers" to escalate into someone yelling "Soak 'em!" and several members of the group rushing at Blink and his companions. Thankfully, Davey the Mouth was on their side.

"Guys, we talked about this!" he shouted, pushing his way to the front of the crowd. "If we gang up on each other, we got no chance of winning." Davey's shoves forced the angry teenagers to fall back as he came up to the three "traitors". "We can talk this through."

"Fine," said Finch, sounding severely pissed off, "let's talk. What makes ya think ya can waltz in 'ere an' double-cross us like this?"

"Yeah," Albert added, "whaddaya think yer doin'?"

"Bein' sensible," Sniper answered.

"Sensible an' da Delanceys don' exactly go hand in hand."

Finch shook his head. "I can't believe ya sold us out."

Blink had to jump in. "Hey, we didn't sell ya out. The Delanceys would a' found youse here anyway, they was already at school."

"But you knew they wanted information." This came from Mush, and Blink felt his stomach churn. He'd forgotten Mush had been there the day before when the Delancey brothers had proposed making a deal to keep the boys out of suspension. "An' now they's gonna come at us."

"No." All heads turned toward Tommy Boy. His voice was low and decisive. "Yer gonna be fine if ya back off now."

"What?" Davey exclaimed, "We're not backing off."

"So ya want 'em ta beat da shit outta youse?"

"No, I..." Davey turned to the leader. "Jack?"

Captain Jack stepped forward. "Look, fellas, I know ya think youse got a good deal, agreein' ta this, an' they prob'ly offered ya some money or somethin'-"

"Oh my god!" Sniper burst out. "This ain't about money! We're tryin' ta stop ya from gettin' yerselves killed!"

"If ya stop the protest now, ya won't hafta fight no one," added Blink. "An' ya won't get hurt."

Smalls scoffed. "We ain't afraid a' no fight."

Race agreed, "Yeah, an' there ain't gonna be one anyway."

"How can ya possibly know that?" questioned Sniper.

"'Cause da Delanceys ain't here no more."

Blink, Tommy Boy, and Sniper all whirled around. Sure enough, the Delancey brothers had disappeared.

Sniper lowered her voice so she could only be heard by her nearest companions. "Did either a' you see 'em leave?"

Tommy Boy shook his head, while Blink whispered, "I figured they was still standin' behind us. Guess they must a' jus' pushed us out here an' left while we were gettin' yelled at."

"Where d'ya think they went?"

"Nowhere good."

"Yeah, no shit." Tommy Boy sighed. "'Least there ain't no use in us obeyin' deir rules no more."

"Are ya insane?" Sniper whisper-shouted. "We break the deal, we're dead."

"Betta' than bein' outcasts 'round these guys."

"Seriously? Their opinions matter that much ta you?"

"C'mon, you three," Jack encouraged. Putting an immediate stop to their whispered conversation, the trio turned around to face him. "Fer the sake a' ev'ry kid in this stinkin' city that's got ta deal wit Pulitzer, I beg you, join us."

At the conclusion of that statement, Les walked up next to Jack, giving the three his best pleading dog eyes. "Please?"

Tommy Boy looked between Blink and Sniper. Both of them shook their heads to try and stop him from doing what they knew he was going to do, but it was no use. He marched right up to Jack and got in the other boy's face as if he were about to throw a punch. Then, he raised the notebook the Delanceys had given him and slammed it onto the concrete, proclaiming, "I'm with ya."

From behind him, Blink heard Sniper growl in frustration. Davey walked up to the remaining two. Focusing on Blink, he insisted, "Come on. Seize the day with us."

Blink thought this over. As Tommy Boy had said, the Delanceys were gone, so they couldn't be in any danger, could they? It seemed like a safe bet. He nodded at Davey, tossed down his notebook.

Sniper shouted, "Are ya kiddin' me?" as Blink went to stand next to Mush, whose head was turned away from him.

While he could imagine how betrayed the girl must have been feeling, Blink had to try to reason with her. "At the end a' the day, who're ya goin' ta trust? Them-" he pointed at the school- "or them." Blink gestured to his friends.

But Sniper couldn't be swayed that easily. She moved forward, attempting to leave school grounds, but Finch got in her way. "Snipes, c'mon. What's this about?"

"It ain't about anythin'!" She insisted, trying to push past him. "I wanted ta stop my friends from endin' up dead, but no one's listenin' ta me!"

Crutchie hopped forward. "No one's gonna end up dead. Oscar an' Morris are gone."

"Don'tcha get it? They're comin' back."

Finch demanded, "How d'ya know?"

"I jus' do."

"How, exactly? Ya asked us ta listen to ya, so here we are."

"Can'tcha jus' trust me?"

"Snipes, how d'ya know?"

"'Cause I was there fer their whole goddamn plan!"

Finch crossed his arms. "So ya admit it. Ya sold us out."

"Finch, enough," Smalls reprimanded. "She already said she didn't do that."

The only problem with the short girl's statement, Blink knew, was that Sniper had in fact sold everyone out. And it had been him, not Sniper, to tell everyone else that the three "traitors" were not traitors at all. A part of him wanted to tell everyone the truth, just to get Mush to quit looking away from him, but he didn't. He couldn't ruin this for Sniper.

"Are ya in or out?" Smalls asked Sniper.

Holding Smalls' gaze, the taller girl didn't respond. After a minute of her indecisiveness, Finch piped up, "Obviously, she's-"

"In," Sniper decided at once. "I'm in."

"Are ya sure?" Jack reminded her, "Ya know you don't hafta if ya don't wanna be part a' this."

"What the hell," she shrugged, dropping her notebook. "My father's gonna kill me anyway." Blink couldn't tell if she was joking or not.

Jack, on the other hand, was not concerned with this statement as he clapped Sniper on the back, announcing, "Alright, let's get this started!"

"Time ta annoy some teachers!" Race yelled.

Smalls started up the cheer she and Crutchie had invented. "Manhattan newsies?"

"Carrying the banner!" Blink shouted, in unison with the others.

"Hold on," Mush said, and the enthusiastic yelling ended abruptly. "We're all jus' gonna accept them back inta the group like this?"

Jack tilted his head in confusion. "Whaddaya mean?"

"I mean, are we all just ignorin' the fact that those three sold us out?"

"Fer the last time, we didn't do that," Blink stated. What was Mush's deal?

"One of ya did. An' if yer tellin' da truth, an' it wasn't you or Tommy Boy, then it must a' been-"

"She said it wasn't her, so it wasn't," said Smalls.

"Actually," Finch realized, facing Sniper, who was staring at the ground. "She neva' said anythin'."

Declaring this statement, "Nonsense," Jack tried to direct the group back to the strike at hand, but Sniper spoke up, cutting him off.

"Finchy's right. I sold youse out."

"Wait, what?" Oddly, Finch seemed surprised to learn that his accusation had been correct. "Wh- why would you-"

"Does there hafta be a reason?"

"Well, ya wouldn't do it fer no reason."

"I toldja, I was tryin' ta protect ev'ryone."

"Yeah, but that ain't all of it, now is it?"

"That's all ya need ta know."

Mush asked, "Is it? 'Cause I need ta know why ya got Blink an' Tommy Boy involved."

"I didn't get 'em involved."

"Right, 'cause ya definitely didn't all show up togetha' jus' now."

"They took the Delanceys' deal, but I was the only one who sold youse out."

"That don't mean they weren't gonna do it anyway," said Mush.

"Hey!" Blink called. "You don't know nothin' 'bout what we were goin' ta do."

"Were ya gonna tell the Delanceys about the strike or not?"

"No, we weren't," Tommy Boy said. "How many times do we gotta tell youse?"

Mush answered, "As many as it takes fer us ta believe youse."

"Look, it was only me that did this, alright?" Sniper insisted. "They didn't have nothin' ta do with it."

"Why didja do it, though?" Finch asked for about the millionth time.

Blink blurted, "Didn'tcha hear her say her dad was gonna kill her?"

Silence fell over the group of newsies as Finch took in this information. "So, yer gonna listen ta yer dad instead a' us?"

Sniper shook her head. "That ain't what Blink meant."

Finch didn't listen. "Tha's great, just great. You've fin'ly come around ta his ideas 'bout us not bein' good enough fer ya, huh?"

"I'm only tryin' not ta-"

"Jus' get outta here, Sniper!"

"Finch, what the-"

"Ya clearly think yer above all a' us, so jus' go home! Run home ta daddy, like ya always do!"

Albert warned, "Finch!" right before Sniper ran at her best friend, tackling him to the ground.

"That ain't the case here, an' you know it!" she screamed, beginning to punch him. He fought back just as hard, quickly turning their argument into a full-blown fight.

Immediately, Blink and Mush jumped forward to break them up. It took the combined forces of the former, along with Tommy Boy, to drag Sniper away, while the latter, Albert, and Jack had to restrain Finch.

"What's been goin' on wit you two?" Jack demanded, breaking his hold as Finch tried to kick him.

Mush explained, "They been in this stupid fight all week."

"It ain't stupid," Blink told him, holding onto Sniper's arms.

"Well, it's been goin' on fer too long." To Sniper, Mush added, "Don'tcha realize no one cares anymore?"

"Jus' 'cause ya think no one cares don't mean it'll jus' go away."

"Yeah," Sniper agreed.

"It'll go away if you'd let me at 'er!" Finch declared, trying to wriggle out of Albert's grasp.

The redhead said, "Why don'tcha jus' make peace wit her so's we can move on?"

Smalls called, "A spit-shake ain't da solution ta everythin', Al!"

"Then whaddaya want us ta do?"

"I propose we send da traitors home."

"Hold on, what?" Jack stopped holding Finch one of Finch's arms, leaving Albert to grab hold of it before the boy could release himself. "They came back ta our side, didn't they?"

"We tried," Tommy Boy mumbled. "But none a' you trust us."

"I trust you," Les told him.

"Thanks, kid."

Mush said, "I'm with Smalls. You should all go home."

Offended, Blink responded, "Excuse me?"

"Y'all betrayed us," Finch growled.

"If that's how you see it," said Sniper, pushing out of Blink's grip. "Then fine. We'll go." She turned to Smalls. "I hope you know yer all shit excuses fer friends."

In response to that, Smalls looked down at the ground. With a small wave to Les and a "Later, Shortstop," Tommy Boy began walking away with Sniper.

Blink, however, wasn't done. He turned to Mush. "I don't see what yer guys's problem is."

Mush shrugged. "Of course you don't."

And that was how the second fight started, with Blink punching his boyfriend square in the nose.

And now, a song in the style of AndrewKeenanBolgerFan's review on the last chapter:

Jingle Bells,

Tommy Boy tells,

Blink punched Mush in the face!

Everyone's mad,

Sniper's sad,

Scab trio all the way! (Hey!)

So much drama, everyone. So much drama. Next chapter, it's battle time.

See you then, and as always, review please!