Disclaimer: Yeah, I own the characters that were in the past chapter, Emma Waters, and Josh's parents. Josh really owns himself, but I like to torture him and he doesn't care. The newsies, though nameless, belong to this small company called Disney, maybe you've heard of them.
Ivy League
Chapter Two
By Hotshot
It was three months later that the letter his parents had seemingly been waiting for their entire lives arrived. A letter came stating that he'd been granted early acceptance to Harvard University. His parents were absolutely thrilled with the news and began planning a massive celebration to of course gloat to the rest of the New Hampshire high society.
Joshua in all honesty didn't care; it even made him angry to find that he'd been accepted. His parents had not even told him when they'd sent in his application. With his grades there was no way Harvard had actually accepted him without a small 'donation' from his father. He'd been hoping that college would be a chance for him to show what he was capable of, but no, it was all about his parents showing off their wealth again.
He had no say in the matter either. No matter how often he insisted that he didn't want to be a lawyer his parents would only continually insist that he didn't know what he wanted.
"You're too young to know what you want Joshua," was his mothers favorite saying.
His reply was always the same, "Then how do you know what I want?"
She never answered him, but only walked out of the room insisting that she had some important planning to do.
He spent his days that week as far out of her path as he could. He played outside with Henry for constant hours and when his brother slept he kicked a ball around the yard, just to keep himself from having to hear about how smart, or lucky he was. He heard that enough in the first day after he received the letter to last him the rest of his life.
For the big night his mother had bought him yet another new suit. The only thing his mother was good at was picking out colors that suited him well; the suit was blue again, though darker than usual. He dressed; making sure the suit was creaseless and everything was perfectly done. His mother could be heard from the top of the stairs running around and checking that every last detail was perfect.
"Oh, darling, you look wonderful," she cooed as he reached the bottom of the stairs, "Why don't you stand here and meet the guests with your father."
The wealthy families began arriving shortly thereafter and he spent several hours greeting them and thanking them for coming. It seemed each couple that came in handed him a check to be added to his savings. It was as if his parents couldn't pay for his education themselves.
The Black's were the last to arrive, and under the wrathful eye of his mother Joshua asked Madison to accompany him to dinner. He couldn't help bit grin at the seething look his mother gave him. She did manage to keep her ladylike composure and took his father's arm.
"So," Madison said as they started down the hall, "Harvard, huh?"
"Yeah," he agreed, focusing solely on getting through the night.
"I thought they only let really smart people in there."
He grinned at her attempt to joke, "Yeah, well as long as I've got a wealthy backer I'm in."
"Ah," she nodded in understanding. She released his arm as they reached the dining room and started toward her parents' table. Josh took a seat next to his father, which was as far from his mother as he could get, unfortunately it also placed him next to Emma Waters. The girl had a tendency to talk a persons ear off.
It wasn't until about halfway through the meal that his father rose from his chair and called for silence. Josh immediately knew what he was doing and his freckles soon blended perfectly with the blush across his cheeks.
"I believe it is tradition for a father to give a toast when his son receives an honor such as this. Fist I must say that Anita and I are very proud of our son's performance both at and outside of school. At school he keeps up excellent grades and stays out of trouble. He presents himself in a very conscious manner and is smart enough to know where he does and does not belong. This quality may well be one of the reasons that Harvard chose him to be part of their early acceptance class. Though he will not be going there for another year they have still accepted him. I could not be any prouder." He raised his glass in a toast.
Josh blushed and nodded. He chanced a glance in his friends' direction to find them trying to hold in their laughter. Every word his father had said was completely the opposite of what they knew of him.
As soon as the plates had been cleared he stood to meet up with them, but his mother caught his arm.
"Darling, why don't you go dance with Emma?" she suggested.
"But Mother-"
"It will be good for your image to be seen with someone like her."
Regrettably he did ask the young lady to dance. After what had to be the longest dance in history he escaped her grasp on him and quickly dodged through the crowd. He pulled up a chair to the usual corner table and reached for the ale that was being passed around. He quickly drained the rest of it, and let his forehead meet the top of the table.
"I thought you had to be smart to go to Harvard." Cole started.
"Bite me," Josh raised his head only to glare at his friend, "And no actually, I was just telling Madison when we came in here. All you need is a dad who's willing to pay everybody off."
"Ah," Andrew nodded, "then you are the perfect candidate." They all laughed at that. Most of the boys added in their two-cents on the subject as well before it was dropped.
"So, what's the dare this week?" Josh asked, leaning back in his chair.
Blake shook his head, "No dare today. C'mon man, this party is all about you. We don't need to go causing trouble. But if you insist we could always just to the typical drop some ice down someone's dress."
"Now you're talking." Josh grinned; he was sick of being polite and just going along with this.
"So are you volunteering to go first?" Alex questioned.
Josh nodded, "You bet." He scooped a piece of ice out of Andrew's drink. "Now where is Miss Waters?"
"Emma?" The boys laughed as he spotted his target. They watched carefully as he approached her, though she didn't seem to notice him. He was careful and deliberate in each step he took. About a foot from her he faked a trip and managed to drop the ice down the front of her dress.
Emma Waters let out a screech that caught everyone's attention. The room went silent and Josh's friends tried to smother their laughter.
"You twit!" Emma exclaimed, "You did that on purpose."
"I did no such thing Emma." He insisted, "I am so sorry."
"You did it on purpose. Honestly, you'd think someone of your status would amount to something better than those filthy children living on the streets." She quickly stalked off toward the washroom.
As the noise in the room began slowly to increase again Josh turned back to his friends. He was quickly intercepted by his mother, however, and followed into his father's office.
"How could you do something like that?"
"Like what Mother? It was an accident."
"Joshua, don't you dare try to pull that," His mother's face grew redder and redder as she spoke. "I know about the little bets you and your friends make every week. I know the lot of you like to cause trouble."
"I'm sorry," he apologized looking at his feet.
"Emma was right though, you do act more like those teenagers that roam the streets than a young man who will be attending Harvard in a year. Those friends of yours are a bad enough influence on you, especially that Madison and Caleb. I want you to stop associating with them-"
"Mother," he shouted, "They're my friends, and I come up with just as much as them. Who do you want me to start spending time with, Emma and her friends."
His mother only gave him a look that clearly said yes.
"I can't believe you're suggesting that. No, absolutely not. Mother, her friends are completely stuck up and-"
"Joshua you are going to Harvard next year. Being around people like her will be good for your image, for our family's image. In ten years you can have graduated, become a successful lawyer, married Emma. You could already have a family of your own."
"I wouldn't marry Emma if my life depended on it!" It was a yelling match between the two of them now.
"Joshua, I want you to be a successful lawyer. If you know the wrong people it could ruin your career."
"I don't want to be a lawyer, Mother. I don't even want to go to Harvard."
"You are too young to know what you want. I've told you that a hundred times Joshua."
"Really, and when will I be old enough to make my own decisions. Ah, never, I forgot, you'll always make them for me."
"You are young and ignorant to how the world works. Someday you'll thank me. I know what you really want."
"How the hell do you know what I want? You never have, never. You have never once asked me what I wanted to do, what I wanted to be. It was always, stick him in these clothes and make him take these classes. My whole Goddamn life was planned before I was even born. And you expect me to just take all this without a fight."
"You may not realize everything that your father and I have been doing for you over the past few years. We're giving you your only chance at a good future."
"Yeah, you're helping me. Paying off all my teachers to give me passing grades. I mean Dad even had to pay them to get me into Harvard. Not that I ever asked you to send in an application but still…"
"I am your mother. I think I know the help you need to-"
"Yes, you are my mother, but I'll be damned if you ever acted like it. My entire life you shoved me off onto other people as often as you could. And once I got old enough to actually think for myself everything I did deserved punishment."
"Don't play games with me young man, you will not win."
"No Mother, of course not. Now is not the time to play games. It never has been. There's no time to play or be anything but serious. And you know, if I ever joke around I get bitched at by you-"
"Joshua Benjamin-"
"Don't stop me now Mother, I'm on a roll. I have hated living here as long as I can remember. Hated being under your control, and doing what you wanted. Ok, so you and Dad got me into a good school, I would rather have gotten into the worst school in the country if it meant I could have done it myself. You never even gave me a fucking chance. And you expect me to love you like I did when I was a kid. It isn't possible. You know what, you say I act like one of those kids on the streets. I'd rather be one of them than your son."
With that said he turned and stormed from the room. As he strode through the dining he noticed the entire room was just again breaking into conversation after a long silence. They'd heard the entire thing. 'Great' he thought, something else for them to gossip about. He stalked right past them and out onto the nearly empty balcony in the back.
Those who were on the balcony immediately left at his presence. He enjoyed the quiet and took several deep breaths, leaning heavily on the railing as he did so. He was going to be in so much trouble when all of the guests left. Neither of his parents had struck him in years, but he could just picture his father's reaction to what he'd said about his mother. These thoughts were probably the reason he jumped when a hand came down on his shoulder.
"Calm down, man, it's just me." Caleb quickly released him and Josh let out a shaky breath.
"Don't do that Caleb," he muttered. He ran a hand through his hair and sat back against the railing.
"Sorry," Caleb grinned, "You and your mom sure had a battle tonight huh?" He pulled out and lit a cigarette as he spoke, "You were pretty brutal to her."
"It was the truth," Josh insisted, "I hate her more than anyone knows. She just tries to control everything about my life. Every little aspect has to be ok'd by her. I mean I'm supposed to let her tell me who to be friends with, and what to do with my life. At least your parents let you breathe a little, y'know…"
"Yeah," Caleb nodded, "It sucks man, but what can you do about it?" He took a deep drag on his cigarette.
"How can you smoke those things? They smell so awful."
Caleb shrugged, "You get used to it after a while. They calm my nerves. Don't you remember, I started a few years ago when my parents were going berserk about everything?"
"Yeah, but I doubt I can do anything to get my parents of my back."
Caleb nodded and pulled something out of his pocket. It was a sealed envelope. He handed it to Josh, "This is from me and the others. It is tradition ain't it?"
"Please tell me it's not more money."
"It's still money, but it's cash. You can spend it on whatever you want and they can't stop you. So go buy yourself something nice, go on a trip, do something that'll get you out of here for a day."
As Caleb had spoken an idea suddenly came across Josh's mind, "How much is in there?"
Caleb mumbled a good amount.
"That's enough for me to go down to New York for a month and come back," he said. He looked over at his friend, "I could go down to New York."
"What are you talking about?"
"Remember your dare a few moths ago; going and being a newsie down in New York. I could do it Caleb. I could get down there now."
Caleb looked at him for a minute, "You really hat it here, don't you?"
"Yeah, I do. Everything except hanging around with you guys is awful."
"Then you should go," Caleb said. "I know there's a train that leaves early in the morning. Seven AM. I would be willing to drop you off if you could sneak out that early. But are you sure."
Josh grinned, "I've never been more sure of anything in my entire life."
Less than an hour later he was upstairs talking to Marie again. He questioned her quickly about what he would have to do to survive in New York. He had to wear his older clothes to blend, and find a lodging house to stay out were the most important facts he believed he gathered. He simply ignored her when she asked why he wanted to know.
Up in his room he locked the door and changed. As soon as the party was over his parents would be up and there would be no stop to the yelling. He pulled out the drawstring bag he taken from Marie's room and stuffed it full of clothes and things he could think of that he'd need. The most expensive thing he'd packed was a pocket watch. He also made sure the envelope of money was stashed safely in his bag. He quickly stripped off his suit from dinner and into one of his more beaten up ensembles. He stretched out on his bed like that and scrawled two quick letters on his small night table. Each of them was shoved in an envelope and left on the table.
It was over an hour later that the unavoidable finally occurred. His parents came upstairs. He heard his doorknob shake as his mother tried to open it. Upon finding it was locked she began banging on the door. He made no move to get up knowing that if they thought he was asleep they would leave. Seeing as he wasn't in the mood to be lectured he ignored the banging. Sure enough his father's voice could be heard a few seconds later.
"Anita, the boy is sleeping. We'll deal with this in the morning."
"He is not asleep. He is awake, Michael. He is awake and sitting in there laughing at us."
"Anita, listen to yourself. Shush for a minute, do you hear him laughing?"
"No."
"That's because he's sleeping. I promise you I will deal with his display in the morning."
"He swore at me Michael. Me, his own mother. He told me that he would rather live on those filthy streets than here."
"I heard him Anita," His voice rose slightly, "And trust me I shall see that he is punished." Josh's father wasn't stupid. He knew Josh was awake, and listening to every word they said. Josh also knew his father had a skeleton key that could open any lock in the house, including Josh's bedroom. His mother, however, often drove his father insane as well so she didn't know about the key. Josh listened as their footsteps echoed down the hall.
* * *
He'd barely slept and was sitting at the window when Caleb's carriage pulled up in front of it the next morning. He slipped quietly out of his room and past several others to the stairs. On the second floor he slipped the two letters under Henry and Marie's bedroom door. Henry's was for when he was older, in case Josh chose not to return. It was doubtful, but just in case.
"Did you sleep at all?" Caleb asked as he climbed into the coach.
Josh shook his head, "Barely."
They didn't talk much on their way to the train station but when the coach stopped they both sat in silence for a moment. Caleb spoke first, "Y'know, out of all of us that could have carried out the dare, I least suspected it'd be you."
Josh shrugged, "Well life is full of surprises ain't it." He took the money from the envelope and took what he needed for a train ride there was well as a few extra dollars. He handed the rest to Caleb. Keep this for me, I'll write you if I need more."
"Don't hesitate to write. As soon as you run out of money I want a letter. You can take it out of my bank account."
"I will. Thank you Caleb. Tell everyone else the same as well."
"I will," Caleb watched as Josh climbed out of the carriage, "Hey Josh!"
"Yeah."
"Did you think of a nickname yet?"
"I got a whole train ride to do it."
He approached the ticket booth and looked at the old man inside, "One way to New York, please." The old man only repeated the price and handed him a ticket. No questions were even asked as he boarded the train by himself. He took a seat by the window in the back of the train. He didn't look as wealthy as he usually did so no one took much notice.
The train pulled out of the station but he surprisingly remained clam. Exhaustion overcame him as he had barely slept the night before and he let his eyelids start to drift closed. "Wake me when we get to New York," he spoke to no one in particular
Several hours later another young man on the train was shaking him awake. "What's wrong?" he asked sitting up, "Is there a problem with the train?"
The man laughed, "You said to wake you when we got to New York. Just thought I should let you know we'll be at the station in a few minutes."
"Oh, thank you." Josh mumbled sitting up. He collected his things and out of habit began to straighten his clothes. The train pulled to a stop inside a crowded station and he stood to stretch his legs. He made his way slowly off the train and through the station. Without really picking a direction he began walking, avoiding exceptionally large crowds of people.
He caught sight of himself in a shop window and grinned at his tattered-looking reflection. He wore a worn pair of brown leather boots, dirty brown pants and a stained undershirt. The blue shirt he had buttoned over that was reasonable clean but very old and worn. He had a vest on over that and a simple pocket watch attached. There was a hat and a jacket in the bag, along another set of clothes. To anyone ho had seen him he had to look like a mangy, young newsboy.
He wandered through the streets, trying to stop several people for directions. Each one pushed him away with nothing but a look of disgust on their faces. He grumbled to himself and began to just wander aimlessly. He would either find it on his own or eventually find a newsboy who could show him where it was.
After a few hours he found himself actually blending with the crowds a little. He was a bit wary of large groups of people in the city, but it stopped bothering him when he noticed most were poorer citizens, not rich.
He was stopped on a busy street corner looking around for any person that could possibly help him when it happened. He wouldn't have noticed had he not looked back at the right moment. He turned his head the smallest bit just in time to see a young boy remove his pocket watch. One word escaped his lips, "Hey!"
The boy's eyes grew wide as he looked up. Obviously he was not usually caught for he froze momentarily. He did regain his senses quickly though. In a second he had turned and was starting to run off. "Stop, thief." Josh cried out. Before taking off after him.
An older man near him felt his pocket as Josh yelled and found that his wallet was missing. He turned to Josh as he was usually played tricks on like this, with more than one boy involved. "Police stop that thief." A nearby officer started toward him."
Josh has stopped momentarily, but realized he would not be able to explain his way out of the situation started running again. He quickly sighted the boy who has stolen his watch and followed him. If this boy was confident enough to pick pockets then he had to know his way around the city reasonably well.
He was right. The boy led him on a wild goose chase through a series of alleyways and side streets. He also led through a shop or two and what seemed to be a theater hall. Had the situation not been so serious at the moment Josh would have found it funny. He was following a young thief who thought the boy behind him was going to kill him while himself being followed by the police for a crime he had not committed. He didn't even worry about his pocket watch, now all he wanted was to get away from the police following him. Even if they didn't find the old man's wallet on him by now they would probably just arrest him for resisting arrest. He just wished the younger boy would slow down a little so they could help each other.
The young boy in front of him took a quick right around a corner. Josh rounded it just behind him but the boy was nowhere to be seen. He panicked for a moment before hearing a door to his right click shut. His eyes landed on the weathered sign above the door 'Newsboys Lodging House'. He almost laughed, but saved his breath and dashed inside.
He slammed the door behind him and glanced out the window, watching as the police officers sailed past. Once he believed they were really gone he made his way deeper into the building. He heard an out of breath voice rambling off a story.
"And so he was chasing me and the police were chasing him. They should have been chasing me though," The young boy panted in front of another two, both older. "I was the one that took the old guys wallet. The guy I stole the pocket watch from, damn he was fast. If I ever see him again I'd give his watch back to him, if he still wanted it that is…"
"And he still wants it back." Josh said.
The boy spun around with a look of horror on his face. One of the boys he had been speaking with approached while the other hung back, a smirk on his face. The look on the approaching boys face was threatening, but at the same time didn't hold the same promise of injury or death as many of the street thugs he'd approached that day.
"And who might you be?" he asked.
Josh me the boy's eyes. Suddenly he was terrified, thinking he'd made a mistake, but there was not turning back now. He had come here for a reason and had to see it through. As he opened his mouth to give him his name Caleb's last words echoed through his head. "Did you think of a nickname yet?" Without a nickname he was just a rich boy trying to be one of them. He closed his mouth. He needed a name, and now.
"Well." The boy insisted.
"Harvard," he said the first word that came to mind, "I'm Harvard."
A/N: Yay, the second chapter is finished, and Josh still hasn't asked to see how I'm writing this. I don't think he actually thinks I am writing it. ::Shrugs:: Well I have big plans for this story but I probably won't get to them. I'm going on vacation starting Saturday for a week, and will have just about no computer access. I will try to get on at my grandparent's house when we go over but it doesn't look that promising.
Yes, the newsies are finally in this. Only three so far, but still they're here. I haven't decided if I should put Josh in Brooklyn or Manhattan. He's in Manhattan right now but I'm highly considering moving him to Brooklyn, and just wait until he meets the almighty Spot. As for any bonus points, I'll give freshly baked chocolate covered newsies to anyone who can guess the three newsies that Josh/Harvard has already met. Two of them should be fairly obvious but the third one didn't have much to say. Good Luck, and I will work over vacation, promise.
Ah, a week of adding to my already sun burnt body on the cape. With my family, how fun…
Shout outs:
Chicago: Like I said, wait until he meets Spot. How's he going to know he's a famous leader? Get where I'm going with this.
Studentnumber24601: I think that will become a thing for every chapter, and it's a good story so… That paragraph bugged me a little too when I read through it but I just left it. As for his mother, sometime I'd love to just scream at my parents like he does in this chapter. The real Josh actually has numerous fights like this. ::mumbles:: Brat gets away with murder.
Morning Dew: Yeah, Caleb and Madison are some of the cooler characters I think I've created, and I definitely have too many. You'll probably still see, or hear a lot of them in the fic. That Spot one. I love it, I think I reviewed under one of my names.
Hope you all enjoyed! Leave more reviews and I'll write a chapter the day I get back.
Plug:
'Justify the Thrill' by Exempt From Sanity (Medieval theme)