Disclaimer: Newsies belongs to Disney, not me. Not for long though...:hides TNT, rope, and ski mask behind her back: Hehehe. Into the Woods is the creation of one Stephen Sondheim. All OCs belong to their creators except for Zodiac, Robbie, and Benny. They belong to me. :cackle:

"Damn you, evil thing!" I groaned angrily as I meticulously turned the lock combination in an effort to open my locker. So far, all attempts had been futile. It certainly didn't help that the zipper on my school bag was jammed and three or four little monsters were wiggling through my legs.

Wow. That sounded a bit perverted, didn't it?

The monsters in question were the freshmen who owned the lockers under mine. I used to hate having a bottom locker. It made me feel so insignificant. Having a top locker makes me miss those good old days.

The lock opened with a satisfying click. I did my best to squeeze between the locker-owners on either side of me, but alas I was only given so much room to work with.

"Hey Specs! Guess what?" Dutchy bounced over. He always managed to have a continuous heap of energy. Sometimes it bordered on annoying. This was one of those times.

"What?" I asked while exchanging various books and notebooks between my locker and school bag. In the process, my Civics book managed to slip from my hand and topple down upon the unsuspecting freshman below me.

"Hey! Watch what you're doing!" he hissed angrily. "Fucking pansy," he added in a hushed tone.

Oh! Big bad freshman gonna call me names. But apparently he isn't brave enough to tell this "pansy" off to his face.

I muttered some half-assed apology before turning back to Dutchy. "So what's the news?"

He shook his head. "You have to guess!"

"Dutchy! I love you, but I don't have much patience right now. Would you just tell me what the fucking news is?" I snapped. I didn't mean to snap. Honest I didn't.

His grin fell a bit. "Sorry. I just had some great news."

I sighed guiltily and softened my tone. "I know. I'm sorry I yelled. This just has not been one of my better days." I returned to my locker. "So what is it?"

"Well, you know how you've been obsessing over getting a trumpet player. You know, for The Princes' Fanfare?" He didn't wait for a response before continuing. "Well, I called Twitch and he said he's be happy to lend a hand!"

The aforementioned freshman let out a slew of obscenities as my Biology II book narrowly missed his head. I barely noticed. "Twitch? As in your ex-boyfriend?" I think I was about to hyperventilate.

Dutchy was unfazed. "Yeah, and he said he could help with the sets and everything. He's coming to rehearsal tonight."

I glared at him for a few seconds before slamming my locker and turning to leave in a huff. "Great."

"Oh, come on, Specs! Don't tell me you're jealous!"

"Well, how would you feel if I suddenly brought in an ex-boyfriend to help with the show?"

"Well, that'd be pretty hard considering I'm your first boyfriend."

I sighed. "That's not the point Dutchy, and you know it."

He grabbed my arm to stop me. "Specs, look. Twitch and I broke up for a reason. There just wasn't anything really there. We're just friends now. If I wanted to cheat on you, I certainly wouldn't bring him to rehearsals where you could see it."

"Oh, well that makes me feel so much safer!"

"That's not what I meant!" We were making a scene. "Look, if you don't want his help, I'll tell him to forget about it."

I considered this. Not that Twitch was really that bad of a guy. In fact, it was how nice he was that really bothered me. He had this way of charming everyone he met. He'd probably be able to make friends with the homophobes around this school. There's also his uncanny ability to make everyone laugh. Not to mention the fact that he is absolutely gorgeous! Between his shaggy brown hair (which he complains about constantly), his yellowish-brown eyes, and his contagious smile, it was damn hard for anyone to resist. To top it off, he's involved with almost everything at his school (outside of athletics) and still manages to hold a job and get good grades. So perhaps I was insecure about being his "replacement." But I just can't compete with him!

"No," I finally decided. "It's ok. We really do need him." I leaned against the wall and tried to calm myself down. "I'm not jealous. Really, I'm not. I'm just...well...under stress." Was it obvious that I was lying?

He simply nodded. "So, I'll bring him over at about 4:30?"

"That's fine."

He kissed me simply on the cheek. A few observers expressed their obvious disgust. "I'll see you then."

"Bye."

I entered the auditorium, pleased to see many of the cast members already there.

"Hey Specs!" Ershey was beckoning me toward the stage where she stood along with Ink and Racetrack.

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked Race and Ink.

"I have my crew members here to go through our stored costumes," Ink explained.

"And I," Race began, "only came to check out the light settings we have right now. But then Ersh asked me to stay and help. Besides," he added with a shrug, "it's not like I have anything better to do."

"Great, you and Ersh can run lines with anyone not doing anything. Ready to get started?"

"Yeah, but first, "Ersh produced a small silver whistle from her bag, "the rest of the E-Board pitched in to get you this."

"We wouldn't want your voice to go hoarse from yelling, now would we?" Race mused

Despite my current crappy mood, even I had to smile. "You guys rock."

"We know. Go ahead; try it out," Ink ordered.

I scanned the theater. Most of the cast members were currently talking or doing homework. A glance at my watch informed me it was 3:33. Certainly time to get things started. Hell, I was within my rights as a stage manager! Placing the whistle between my lips, I blew harshly. The consequence was a shrill sound.

As I placed the whistle around my neck, people began to abandon the fetal position they had fallen into. "Holy shit, Specs! Warn us next time you're going to do that!" Skittery cried, rubbing his ears tenderly. Most of the others groaned in agreement.

I brushed off all of the mumbles. "So, obviously we are now in the auditorium."

"Woo! About fucking time! Can I get a 'hell yeah'?"

"Thank you, Zodiac. As I was saying, we will rehearse in this auditorium from now on. Unless someone does something stupid. But that isn't going to happen, is it?" My eyes blazed slightly.

"No," they all chorused.

"Good. Today, I want to start with learning the music. We have Robbie, coming today and he should be here soon," I explained, glancing once again at my watch. "I'll be working with some of you on the opening song. As you know from our read-through, the opening number is extremely long. I hope to get through it as quickly as possible, so your cooperation is appreciated."

I flipped open my drama binder. "These are the people needed: David, Sapphy, Blink, Benny, Mayfly, Kathleen, Soaker, Shooter, Sparrow, Zodiac, Alaska, and Snoddy." Shutting the binder, I continued. "Now, obviously, not everyone is included in this number, so if you aren't I don't want you distracting us. Ersh and Race will be running lines with anyone not learning the song. But first, could a couple of you guys go to the chapel and get the piano?"

As Jack, Pie Eater, and Swifty left to retrieve the piano, I tapped my foot impatiently. In case you couldn't tell, I have this thing about punctuality. If you tell me you're going to be somewhere at a certain time, I expect you to stay true to your word.

"Are you sure you told him 3:30 in the auditorium," Ink asked.

"Positive. I wrote it down for him." I massaged my temples furiously.

"Well, I'm sure he'll have some kind of an excuse. Maybe not a good one, but an excuse nonetheless," she went on. "I need the keys to get into the costume racks."

I handed them over. "About how many usable costumes do we have stored?"

"I couldn't say. I'll try to get a count after we sort them out." She left followed by her crew members, Rei, Nova and Spitfire.

"We-hell, lookie who decided to show up!" Sparrow called out.

Enter Robbie. He sauntered in, not even trying to explain his tardiness. I groaned. "Hey, some of the guys went to get the piano. We should be starting soon."

He nodded and sat down. "So how long is this going to be? I mean, I do have other things to do."

My eyes practically bulged out of my head. Excuse me? You were the one who volunteered to be here! No one is making you stay. Hell, leave for all I care.

Wait. Scratch that. Then we won't have a pianist and that isn't good. Dammit! Why do these assholes always seem to have a sort of power over me?

"Well, rehearsal is going to last until at least 6:30," I explained through gritted teeth. He made a face indicating how unhappy he was with the situation, but didn't make any comments. Instead, he busied himself looking over the music I had given to him.

Smart move.

"Someday," Sparrow read from the script, "You'll have a real pet, Jack."

"A piggy?" was Blink's ecstatic response.

All in all, I was fairly pleased. We were making good time. Better than I had expected anyway. Sure there were a few rough patches here and there, but it certainly could be worse. I checked how we were doing on time. 4:25. Perfect.

"Ok, now would you prefer to continue to the next section, or would you rather start from the beginning, go as far as we have learned, and then take a break?"

"Let's start from the beginning," David proposed. "I think we already have a lot to work on for now." Everyone else seemed to concur.

"It's unanimous then." I gave Robbie a nod and he flipped back to the beginning of the score. "Ready when you are, David."

"Once upon a time," he began with the traditional fairy tale opening. The sound of the piano filled the air.

"I wish!" Sapphy sang out.

"In a far off kingdom,"

"More than anything!"

"Lived a young maiden,"

"More than life!"

"A sad young lad"

"More than jewels!"

"I wish!" Blink then joined in to the medley

"A childless baker," David continued his narration.

"More than life!" Blink stated.

"I wish," Sapphy repeated. Solo.

"Wait hold on," I groaned. The music stopped and the assembled cast members looked at me expectantly. "Benny, you were supposed to sing that line with Sapphy." I held the score in front of his face. "See?" I pointed to the section. "It says 'Cinderella and Baker'."

"I can't help it. This is all confusing. I mean, everyone is singing at the same time and it's hard."

"Of course it's hard!" Sapphy snapped, obviously angry at having been interrupted during the song. "If it wasn't hard it wouldn't be so interesting. If all the music was easy, it would be boring. The challenging things are what make the show great."

"This is Sondheim, Benny," Snoddy explained, somewhat frustrated. "The musical theater god. He doesn't just compose half-assed songs."

Benny crossed his arms, apparently irritated by the sudden attack. "Well, it's impossible to understand what's going on."

Mayfly followed in my suit, shoving her score into Benny's face. "Maybe if you'd look at the music, you could follow along. Right here, it says 'Jack'. And here it says 'Baker'. Thus, once Blink sings his line, you sing yours. It's not rocket-fucking-science!"

I felt it my duty to intervene before a fight broke out. "Ok! Come on, let's just start again and this time..." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw two people enter the auditorium, talking to each other enthusiastically.

"Hey Specs!" Dutchy called out. "Twitch is here." Twitch, in response gave a small wave.

"So I see," I muttered, as everyone began surrounding the duo in curiosity. Of course, I said this softly enough that no heard me.

"Ooo. So the boyfriend's got himself a new bitch," Benny remarked with a smirk.

God, how I despise him.

As I made my way toward the crowd which had formed around Dutchy and Twitch, I heard introductions being made.

"So, wait. You're Dutchy's ex-boyfriend?" Irish inquired.

"Yeah. We were together for about a year. But we realized we just weren't right for each other romantically," he added after catching the crestfallen express ion on my face.

"How did the two of you meet?" Soaker asked. Dutchy snickered. Twitch blushed slightly. I simply rolled my eyes, having heard the story numerous times.

"Well, it's a long story," Twitch explained, trying to save himself from embarrassment.

"No, no!" Dutchy cried. "We have to tell them!" Twitch sighed in defeat and nodded. Dutchy took this as permission to continue. "I was working at this ice cream place, ok? Well, Twitch was there one day and ordered a Root Beer Float. We were out of Root Beer, so I offered to make him a Coca-Cola Float instead."

Twitch took over the story. "I thought he was cute, so I was doing my best to act cool."

"And failing miserably!"

"Shut up, Dutchy! Anyway, the total came out to be somewhere in the vicinity of $6.65. I handed him $7. After he went through the business of entering the code to access the cash register, I remembered that I had change, so I figured I may have exact change. So he entered the code to close the register, but as I dug in my pocket, I realized I only had 25 cents. Therefore, he had to re-enter the code into the cash register. After he finished, he handed me my change and said 'Well, now you have change', I guess as an attempt to flirt or something."

"Oh, are we insulting my flirting skills here? Because I could gladly share some–"

Twitch clamped his hand of Dutchy's mouth. "As I was saying, he handed my change to me. Well, I realized I had probably been a pain in the ass, so I figured I should leave him the change as a tip. After I dropped it in the bin on the counter, I noticed he was giving me a weird look. Before I could ask he said 'Uh, sir? You just put your change in the trash can...'"

The theater roared with laughter. Even Twitch, who had turned a nice shade of crimson, was chuckling.

"The best...best part, "Dutchy gasped for breath between his fits of laughter, "is that on the bin it said in large, bold letters 'Trash Only!'"

They all began laughing harder, if that was even possible. Dutchy searched through the crowed, the impish grin still on his face. When he saw the unamused look on my face, though, he frowned slightly. "Ok," he cut into the noise, "you've all met Twitch. I think Specs needs you to get back to the actual rehearsals, though."

And so the cast filed back to where they had been before, whether it was surrounding the piano backstage or sitting in the audience. As Dutchy and Twitch passed, Dutchy turned to me. "Hey, uh, we're just gonna be backstage getting things started. We'll try not to make too much noise."

I nodded somberly. "Ok. Oh, Twitch?"

He turned to face me. "Yeah."

"Here are the trumpet parts." I practically shoved the book into his chest, before heading backstage. I'm sure Dutchy was quietly apologizing for my actions. I picked up my script and found where we were. "Ok, now from the beginning," I ordered. The music began once again, and as hard as I tried, I could no longer concentrate on the song. On the other side of the stage I could see them laughing with each other and doing God knows what else.

It was going to be a long fucking night.

"Tonight's rehearsal went fairly well. We got a lot accomplished, but we still have a long way to go," I lectured, pacing before them all. "Tomorrow, I would like to continue with learning songs, but Ireland will also be here to begin some of the blocking. I expect everyone to be prompt," I said with a not so subtle glare in Robbie's direction, "and ready to work. You may go."

"Need a ride home?" Dutchy offered coming up behind me, Twitch by his side.

"Yes, if you don't mind." I didn't want those two spending anymore time alone than was necessary.

"Wait!" Ink called as I collected my things. "You said you needed to see the list of costumes we had in stock," she explained holding up a rather lengthy list.

"Well, I could look at it later..." I'd rather not, though. The sooner I know where we stand on costumes, the sooner I can cross it off of my mental To-Do List. But what was more important? Being prepared for this show, or making sure my boyfriend was being faithful?

I dropped my bag. "Ok, let me see it."

"Well, how are you going to get home?"

"Don't worry," Ink stepped in. "I can give him a ride home. I'd just prefer to go through all of this sooner rather than later."

He looked at me earnestly. "You're sure?"

I sighed. "Positive. Go on ahead. I'll call you tonight, if it's not too late."

"Ok. Bye!" And he left. No good-bye kiss. Not even on the cheek.

"Look, don't worry about it," Rei said with a reassuring pat on the back.

"I'm sure if Jack began hanging around with one of his ex-girlfriends you'd be pretty pissed too."

"True," she admitted," but that's different. All of Jack's ex-girlfriends are sluts."

"Hey!" a voice split through the air. We turned the see a very angry Sarah standing near the exit. "My best friend Julie is one of his ex-girlfriends," she exclaimed before leaving.

"I rest my case," Rei murmured.

"Honestly, Specs," Nova joined in. "This is Dutchy we're talking about. He practically stalked you before he got up the courage to ask you out."

"It's true," agreed Spitfire. "The guy pretty much worships the ground you walk on. Besides, Twitch seems like a nice enough guy. I doubt he'd try anything."

As I had expected, Twitch had managed to win everyone over in only a couple of hours. Life was so unfair.

I grabbed the sheets held by Ink. "Christ! Can we please just drop it? I don't want to hear anymore about this for tonight!"

They were pretty stunned. I was too. I really was turning into an asshole, wasn't I?

"Ok," Ink began softly, "but if you keep isolating yourself from him, it's only going to hurt your relationship. You need to trust him."

Don't you hate it when they're right?

Dumb place to end, I know.shrugs But I'm really tired, I've started on another fic, and school starts soon. Yep! That's right! I'll be a college girl! And I'll probably still be a loser! So, among all of this, I wanted to get this chapter out as quickly as possible. Hope you all enjoyed it!