Chapter Eight

Disclaimer: The newsies belong to Disney, the original characters belong to their creators, and the plot belongs to me. I do not own M&M's (I wish) or West Side Story or "Good Morning Baltimore" or "Wake Up Little Susie" or "Bring Me to Life".

Over the next couple weeks, a routine was established among the newsies. The boys were awoken each morning with Daniel's renditions of songs including "Good Morning Baltimore" from Hairspray, "Wake Up Little Susie", and Evanescence's "Bring Me to Life". They attended group dance classes in the morning with singing lessons, dialect coaching, school, and rehearsals in the afternoons. Gradually, things like costume fittings were thrown into the mix too. Over time, David became used to Shakes's consistently hyperactive state, Ireland and Mush started to spend more and more time together, and the newsies became used to the fact that, if music was playing, at least three of the Adrenaline girls would be singing along.

After the initial few weeks, Daniel began having the principal newsies work individually with their teachers, especially the non-dancers like David, Jack, Racetrack, and Spot. David and Racetrack didn't mind too much, as Shakes was a good teacher if you could ignore her constant bouncing, and Race was actually starting to enjoy listening to Sapphy sing along with various musical soundtracks. Spot and Fighter, on the other hand, continued to share a mutually strong dislike for each other, and Jack, despite his complaints to Daniel, Nikki, and anyone else who would listen, was still stuck with Twist, the only boy on the dance team, as his teacher.

"Why can't I be with Raven?" he murmured to himself, as Twist forced him through yet another set of stretches at the beginning of one of their private practices.

"What'd you say?" Twist asked distractedly, flipping through a stack of CDs and finally choosing one.

"I said, 'why can't I'---not this again!" Jack exclaimed suddenly, as the West Side Story soundtrack began to play.

Twist shrugged smugly. "Guess Sapphy's music taste has rubbed off on me."

"I doubt I'll ever have that problem," Jack muttered, trying to stretch and cover his ears at the same time. "And I said, 'why can't I be with Raven?' You know, as my dance teacher? Instead of you?" Jack glared in his instructor's direction.

"What, you don't like me?" Twist teased, trying to pout, but unable to hide his grin. "You'd rather have dark-haired, pretty-eyed, exotic-beauty Raven as your teacher?"

"Yes," Jack replied emphatically. "With her, I'd at least have something nice to look at while my body was being tortured with never-ending stretches, and my eardrums were being ruined with stupid musical soundtracks. Instead, I'm stuck with some guy who has no life."

"Just 'cause I'm a male dancer, that means I have no life?" Twist asked.

"Uh, yeah. You spend your entire summer hanging out with fifteen Broadway-obsessed teenage girls. And that wouldn't be so bad in itself, except that you're dancing with them. Not dating them, dancing with them. And then when you graduate high school, you're just gonna keep dancing. That's all you ever do!"

"So?" Twist asked, beginning to sound defensive. "What are you going to do when you graduate? There's no way they're going to keep hiring you for Disney musicals. I know three-legged cats with more dance ability than you."

"I'm gonna be an actor," Jack replied confidently. He grinned. "Actors make lots more money than dancers."

"I don't care about the money," Twist said softly. "I was thinking about doing some acting though---that's why I auditioned for Newsies."

"You auditioned for Newsies?" Jack exclaimed. "And you, Mister High-and-Mighty Super-Dancer-Boy didn't get in?"

Twist shook his head. "I hurt my ankle halfway through auditions."

"That sucks," Jack said sincerely. "They didn't even make me dance during my audition."

"Which is a good thing, 'cause if they had, you wouldn't have gotten the part," Twist remarked, his smile returning.

"Shut up," Jack said. He had stopped stretching awhile ago and was actually beginning to enjoy his conversation with Twist. "But, um, does Raven have a boyfriend or anything? Did you ever go out with her?"

"No and no. She goes to parties and stuff, but I don't think she's had a boyfriend for awhile. You'd have to ask one of the girls about that, though. When they start discussing which boy gave them what kind of chocolate for which holiday, I usually disappear."

"Raven likes chocolate?"

"Jack, all girls like chocolate," Twist said. "All the ones on Adrenaline, anyway. Nikki, too. I buy her a bag of M&M's whenever I'm late for rehearsal, to keep her from shouting at me."

"Maybe I should buy Raven some chocolate…" Jack mused.

"Yeah, and maybe we should start dancing, since that's kinda what we're here for. Daniel wanted me to start teaching you your solo dance today."

Jack groaned. "Why can't someone else do the solo stuff?" he wondered. "Like you---you look kind of like me; the audience would never notice."

"Of course they would," Twist countered. "I'm much more attractive than you."

"Hah. You wish. Can we turn the CD off now?" The West Side Story soundtrack had begun to play "I Feel Pretty".

"Yeah." Twist hit the stop button. "Okay, Daniel showed me this dance. I think it's kind of weird looking, but he's the director."

"Oh, great," Jack muttered. "I have to learn a dance that even you think is weird-looking."

AN: I finally wrote an outline for this fic! Yeah, I know, usually authors make those before they actually start writing the story. And usually I do that too, but I wanted to see where the casting call would go… Also, I'm really sorry that this chapter was so short…it seemed like a good place to stop, though, and I'm still really bogged down with stupid school projects. (Yuck.) I'll try to make the next chapter longer! Also, check out the newly refurbished chapter one. It was originally posted as a text document, but now I've updated it to HTML, with lots of cool stuff like bolds and italics.

Shout-outs:

Jocelyn Padoga – I promise I won't actually let Randy break any of Spot's bones…not till after the fic's over, anyway! And don't feel too bad about spending Valentine's Day watching Newsies---I spent it watching Riverdance. Thanks for the review!

Ireland – I love Oklahoma, too! My school's performing it this year…too bad I'm too young to be in it. I hope to see Les Mis someday, also. I've been wandering around the house all day, singing "On My Own". Don't feel bad about spending Valentine's Day with a bag of M&M's---I spent it doing a science report and watching my Riverdance video. Thanks for reviewing!

nani – Thanks for reading and reviewing!

Shakes – Thank you, thank you, thank you for your review! It was so much fun to read, and it is definitely the longest review I have ever received!

Sparks – I'm glad I got your character right. I get kind of nervous sometimes, writing other people's characters, but it's working out pretty well. Thanks for the review!

Raven – Here's more Twist for you! He's so much fun to write! Thanks for reviewing!

Sapphy – Go read Shakes's review---she apologizes multiple times for telling Race that you liked him. Pie and Snipes are lots of fun to write. I just added them in one chapter, and for some reason I can't stop those stupid pie jokes! Thanks for the review, and lots of love to you, Sapphers!

ershey – I definitely recommend the Les Mis Tenth Anniversary Concert, or at least one of the soundtracks. I must admit, I have never sung along with a movie in a theater…I have sung along lots of times at home, though! Thanks for the review!

Clips – I hate writer's block…I think I'm suffering a small bout of it right now, in fact…that would explain why this chapter was so short. Thanks for the review!

Matchin' Laces – Thanks for reviewing!

Janet – Yeah, I love musicals, too. Thanks for reviewing!