Disclaimer: I don't own Newsies, Medieval Times, or any other media references I may make.

A/n: sorry to take so long updating, I was away in Florida for a soccer tournament. Do you forgive me? I wrote an extra-funny, extra-long chapter just for you!

Chapter 19

—David's PoV—

What is the best part of the day? Need you even ask, after quitting time it's lunch, of course. But today it's especially great because Pulitzer had an idea. A stoke of genius, as I like to call it.

"Today will be the first day when the new workers will be on their own. I'm giving the rest of you a longer lunch hour, two and a half hours. Be back here for the one thirty show."

So where do we go for lunch? The Old Spaghetti Factory. Why not? Everyone loves pasta.

The building is mainly empty because there is rarely a lunch crowd here, and usually a heavy dinner crowd. There's twenty-one of us in total: Jack, Blink, Spot, Mush, Boots, Itey, Dutchy, Skittery, Racetrack, Rubix, Sapphy, Granny, Arrow, Pinch, Sarah, Pigeon, Buckles, Touch, Magic, Alaska and—of course—me.

We order and wait for our food. On the table are two types of butter: garlic and plain.

Pinch eyes one and picks it up. She pulls of the wax paper from on top of it and sniffs it. "This one's garlic," she says.

Arrow gets a look of utter horror. "Pinch, please put the butter down. Don't do it, we're in a restaurant. People might want to use that butter…"

I doubt I was alone in not exactly understanding what was going on. Arrow tried to snatch the garlic butter away from Pinch and Pinch held it as far away from Arrow as possible, considering that Pinch was much shorter than her.

Without warning…

"Pinch, that's disgusting. Did you just lick the butter?" cried Granny, inching away from Pinch as if she'd lick her next.

Arrow just groaned and Pinch grinned and bobbed up and down. "It's yummy."

"It's also tradition," explained Arrow, without being asked. "It's something Pinch does everywhere we go. It's the grossest thing you'll ever see."

I have to agree, it's pretty gross. She sat there, licking away at the butter. I really wanted garlic butter on my bread, but not after that.

By the time I've realized this, Arrow and Pidge had managed to wrestle the butter out of Pinch's hands and Pidge was successfully holding it out of Pinch's reach.

Touch shook her head and chastised the group. "Don't any of you know how to act in a civilized establishment? You're all too rowdy. Be good. I feel like I'm babysitting."

Skittery nodded his head. "I agree. My mother taught me to always mind my manners in a public environment. People judge your upbringing on how you act in front of others. Obviously your parents neglected you."

Pinch stuck her tongue out at Touch and Skittery. Buckles, though she wasn't involved, stuck her tongue back at Pinch.

Skittery sighed loudly and began muttering about how his mother wouldn't approve of this, at all.

"Listen, I have to go to the bathroom. Really badly," Rubix did a little dance. "Someone?"

"Why do girls always go to the bathroom in groups? Are they afraid of the toilet or something?" asked Racetrack.

I shrugged. "I really don't know. Sarah just hogs the bathroom. Every morning, she needs to 'put on her face'. It takes hours."

Sarah kicked me under the table. "Now, you know that's not true. I don't take hours. At least I don't sing very loudly and very off-key in the shower," she said pointedly.

I blushed. "Shut up," I muttered.

Beside my Spot and Blink did an imitation of what my singing in the shower would look like. It involved a lot of hair flipping and wiggling. I may sing in the shower, but I sure as hell don't dance in the shower.

"Please, someone. I'm scared of the bathroom all alone." Rubix was dancing more rapidly now. Maybe, if we waited long enough, she'd explode.

"Fine, I'll come with you." Sapphy stood up and led Rubix to the bathroom. Minutes later Magic followed.

Other than the misbehaving and the couple of dancing shower boys, it was a very nice lunch. For once Buckles wasn't flirting with anyone, too busy sticking her tongue out at Pinch, Skittery had downplayed his grumbling to himself, Spot was amusing himself so he wasn't bossing anyone around, and Jack was talking to Arrow without her glaring openly at him.

"Do you think it's weird that they're scared of the bathroom? What's there to be scared of?" asked Itey as they walked away.

Before I could answer Mush jumped in. "No, not really. I used to be scared of the bathroom. Especially when I flushed the toilet, I was afraid an alligator would jump out. It sounds like something's roaring at you when you flush, doesn't it?"

Itey looked at him. "What are you talking about? You used to be scared of the toilet? Are you serious?"

Mush nodded, unafraid of possible taunting and humiliation. I've come to realize that these things are above Mush's head.

"Pidge, give me that container," I heard Blink yell from across the table, drawing my attention in that direction. Pidge handed it over, much to the dismay of Pinch, and left the table. "Where's the garbage around here?" he asked.

Boots watched him. "Where do you think we are? McDonalds? There won't be a garbage can in the middle of the floor. Just keep it away from Pinch, or throw it out in the bathroom."

The food came and for a few minutes no one spoke. Pinch even stopped struggling for the garlic butter.

"Magic, Sapphy and Rubix have been gone quite a while. Do you know where they are?" asked Alaska, noticing the empty chairs beside her.

I looked around and saw them coming back from the bathroom. "Yeah, there they are."

Magic sat down first, laughing wildly and turning very red in the face. Sapphy and Rubix were giggling too.

"What's so funny?" asked Touch, outwardly confused.

Sapphy laughed louder. "In the bathrooms—" gasp for breath. "In the bathrooms the sinks and the—" gasp "and the paper dispensers are automatic…"

The three laughed louder. I don't think anyone at the table knew what was so funny.

"So? I don't get it…" Jack spoke for all of us. We nodded.

Rubix howled in laughter. "If you walk past the—" laughter "the paper things paper shoots out and—"

Magic cut her off. "And we walked back and forth. Now there's paper on the floor."

They laughed.

I honestly didn't see what was so funny. "Huh? I don't get it…"

"You guys made a mess? What did your parents teach you anyways?" Skittery finally voiced his opinion on the whole thing.

They ignored him, being too busy imitating what I assumed to be the paper dispensers giving out paper. It involved a little more giggling than the dispenser would make though.

"Just finish eating and from now on you three can't go to the bathroom together. Imagine all that paper on the floor…" Dutchy shook his head.

Luckily, lunch didn't get any more eventful.

—General PoV—

At Medieval Times a show was barrelling through. Things were going smoothly. People were impressed by Crutchy welcoming them at the door, assuming that his crutch was part of the act, Shooter had taken her place with Bumlets for special effects, ignoring the temptation to run off to the billiard hall to play pool, Specs was handling the crowd around the bar like a pro, and Hornet prepared to play Magic's part in the show. Everything was going great…

"Oh crap, has anyone seen Tuscan's saddle?" asked Ireland, panicked.

"No," Agua looked up at her. "How do you lose a saddle?"

"I didn't lose the saddle. I didn't have it in the first place, therefore I can't have lost the saddle. Duh?"

Agua shrugged. "Whatever."

"I found it!" called Ghost from the next stall. "It's here, in Cider's stall. Come get it, I'm halfway through brushing him down."

Snitch sat in the corner. "Are you all sure you don't need help?" he asked.

"No, just stay there, we don't want you getting hurt again," said Ghost, referring to Snitch's previous incident. Getting a bit in his eye had caused it to swell and puff up. It was still a little red.

"Almost ready? Half an hour 'til show time!" called Crutchy appearing at the doors.

The grooms nodded and hurried with their preparations.

Out in the ring Bumlets and Shooter set up the smoke machine.

"Where do I plug this?" asked Shooter, holding up a cord.

Bumlets looked at it for a minute and then looked around. "I guess you can put it over there." He pointed to an outlet.

"Are you sure? What if' it's not supposed to go there?" Shooter looked unsure.

"Just try it, what's the worst that can happen?" asked Bumlets as he turned to adjust a few lights.

Shooter rammed the plug in and almost instantly the lights all went out. "Uh oh."

In the kitchen the lights flickered threateningly before going out altogether. Pie Eater, halfway through basting twenty chickens, looked up, startled. He tried turning on the lights again, but with no avail. On his way to the lobby to find out what happened he tripped and fell into a bag of flour. What was it with flour and this kitchen?

Mouse waked by the kitchen just as a loud clattering sound came from inside. She opened the door to find Pie Eater lying on the floor, smashed eggs and flour strewn around the room.

"You're not very neat, are you?"

"Just help me out. The lights went out." Bumlets reached for her hand.

"They went out all over the building, I can't do any computer editing now, electricity overload or something. I wonder how they'll do the show, they'll probably have to cancel it," commented Mouse as she helped Pie Eater to his feet.

"Cancel the show? We can't cancel the show! Do we know where the origin of the power outage is?" asked Pulitzer of his assistant, Jonathan.

Jonathan shook his head. "Not yet, Seitz is all over it as we speak."

"I need you to go tell everyone to light candles. Keep the customers here and the show going. Hopefully we can get the lights back on soon."

On thing he hadn't counted on though was the air conditioning turning off. By the second every inch of the building was growing hotter.

At the bar people were ordering drinks to keep cool and Specs was panicking. How could he serve so many people with little help? Pie Eater and Mouse walked by, explaining how they couldn't do their jobs without electricity. Soon after Bumlets and Shooter passed by as well telling him the same thing. The four disappeared out the doors to get some fresh air and cool off.

"How long do you think the lights'll be out for?" asked Mouse, gazing at the building behind her.

Neither Bumlets nor Shooter met her gaze, avoiding the question. Pie Eater just shrugged.

Around the corner came the twenty-one 'teachers' back from lunch.

"What's going on?" asked David, noticing the dark building.

"We blew a fuse."

"See what happens when we leave?" joked Mush.

"It's not that funny," Skittery rolled up his sleeves. "Lets' get back to work."

[End Chapter]

((Glad I'm back? Admit it, you missed me, or at least my story. Please review! I'll try to update once more before I leave again on the weekend for New York. July is my 'away' month. Sorry all!))

Shoutouts:

Aura- all European accents are hot. It's so exotic. I love especially British and Irish accents…(giggle)

Rubix the cube- I'm confused. Are the Irish…uh...busty? Because I'm part Irish too. Fine, I'll just blame soccer. Chesting the ball has knocked them down to size. I only pick the phone and say 'Hello, hotline of the popular' when my friends call. Other then that I just say 'hello?'

Strawberri Shake- personally I'd love a coloured TV, it'd be cool! At our soccer tournament I saw lots tall, dark boys! And light haired ones too! And just plain hot ones! They take off their shirts…

Almatari-of-Arda- you just said it again! Now I'm mad!

Sapphy- you did put them up! I'm happy! Yay, thanks!!! Spuchy is so, so cute.

Cassies-Grandma- sorry, the more I check the less I see of said review. I honestly can't find it! maybe it got eaten. Please forgive me for not giving you a shoutout! I would have!!!

Madison Square- you never do that? Pick up the phone after saying hello, I mean. People I know do it all the time…well, really only one person. It kept ringing and was very funny. Luckily I was on the other line so they didn't make too big a fool of themselves.

Fantasy3- painting would be the logical thing to do. It wouldn't be funny if his room was the right colour.

Shooter O'Brien- the (finch) N? What's that? I do watch Degrassi sometimes and I can recognise parts of it in Toronto…I think. I watch Smallville, which is filmed in Vancouver though! On Canada Day (July 1st) I was in Disney and we sang O Canada and people glared at us. And some girl was wearing an 'Invade Canada' shirt and our team had…words with her. My room is blue and white.

Ireland O'Reily- I'd settle for almost any newsie shirtless. Yum! Sorry, Spot and you weren't together in this chapter! It just couldn't be.