Waking up the next morning was not on my list of priorities, but such as life and the show must go on. I dragged myself out of bed and dusted myself off. When I looked to the window to see what the weather was like, I saw a silhouette on the fire escape. The one thought flashing through my mind was what the hell; I'm too young to die. I cautiously picked up a book and armed it like I was gonna bash someone's head in. I walked toward the window and noticed the silhouette was lying low to the window, like it was sleeping. I got to the window and ripped the curtain open to find a sleeping Jack Kelly, curled up and lying on his arm with his hat on his head.
"Jack! What the hell!?" I exclaimed as I lowered the book, thank goodness I had left the window open so he heard me. Jack lazily looked up at me with his perfectly crooked smile.
"Morning Sam," he said as he sat up a bit.
"Jack Kelly, why the hell are you passed out on my fire escape? Better yet, how the hell did you know this was my fire escape?" I asked
"The answer to the second question is I asked your building supervisor. And what's wrong with me sleeping on your fire escape, figured you'd be happy to see me." He said. I rolled my eyes.
"Jack, you can't do this, you'll get killed or worse mugged." I said.
"Nah, no one's gonna mug a street rat." He said. I sighed and offered him a hand to help into my living room.
"It's a miracle that Liam didn't see you when he got up this morning." I said.
"He swears a lot when he's waking up."
"Yeah this doesn't surprise me. Lemme go get Jacob out of his room, then I have to get dressed and then we'll go. Alright?" I said. Jack nodded once and I walked to Jacob's room. Jacob as usual was already up and dressed; he came out and joined Jack in the living room. Jacob looked at Jack with suspicion in his eyes.
"Who's this Sammy?" He asked. Jack smirked at me and the nickname, I glared at him that read only he can call me Sammy.
"Jacob, this is my friend Jack. Jack, this is Jacob, my baby brother." I said. I started to walk towards Jacob's room to get dressed, I paused to turn around, "Please, try not to corrupt my brother too much Jack. I'd like to do that myself." I said. Jack laughed and I smirked as I shut the door and locked it. I quickly got dressed, not knowing how impatient Jack could be. When I came out Jacob was laughing and Jack his arm slung around his shoulders, almost looking fatherly. I shook my head at that. "Alright, the both you come with me." Jack laughed and we headed the door. I shut it behind us. "Alright Jack, I've gotta drop Jacob at Mel's mom's place. I'll meet you on the streets." Jack nodded reluctantly and darted down the steps. I knocked on the door and Mel answered.
"Hey Sam, come on in Jake." She said, letting Jacob pass into the apartment. Mel quickly tied up her hair and we headed out.
"So who were you talking to in the hallway?" She asked.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." I said.
"Try me,"
"Jack."
"Our Jack? Like Jack Kelly Jack?" She asked. I nodded. Her face went from normal to a full on madman grin in .5 seconds.
"SAM! JACK KELLY SLEPT ON YOUR FIRE ESCAPE!?" Mel yelled.
"Yes! And you're gonna wake up the entire building if you yell like that again!" I harshly whispered at her. She rolled her eyes.
"He's whipped and he doesn't even know it! Oh this is brilliant." Mel said. We were out the door before I could get another comment in. Jack was waiting on the curb, leaning against a light post with a cigarette between his teeth.
"Morning Kelly, fancy seeing you at this end of the world." Mel said. Jack looked up from his feet and smirked at Mel.
"Moring Song, I figured I'd walk Sam in today." He said.
"Don't you have to stop the distribution center?" Mel asked.
"Yeah, but I figured it was about time that Sam saw my place of employment." He said. I shrugged.
"I don't care; I just need to get to school at some point." I said. Jack offered his arm and I took it.
"Then we better get headed." Mel said. I nodded and the three of us headed towards the square, which you heard before you saw. The boys were loud and boisterous and singing some sort of vaudeville tune at the top of their lungs.
"HIGH TIMES, HARD TIMES, SOMETIMES THEY LIVE IN THE STREETS. AND SOMETIMES THERE'S NOTHING TO EAT. BUT I ALWAYS LANDS ON MY FEET!" I heard them yell. I turned to Jack who was laughing.
"I think they went to see Medda last night."
"You think?" Mel joked. When we entered the square, Jack surprisingly joined in and it left me and Mel out of the loop.
"YOU WIN SOME YOU LOSE SOME MY DEAR. OH HIGH TIMES HARD TIMES SOMETIMES THEY LIVE IN THE STREETS AND SOMETIMES THERE'S NOTHING TO EAT. BUT I ALWAYS LANDS ON MY FEET. SO WHEN THERE'S DRY TIMES, I WAIT FOR HIGH TIMES AND THEN, I PUT ON MY BEST AND I STICKS OUT MY CHEST AND I'M OFF TO THE RACES AGAIN!" I looked at Mel who was laughing at the Newsies. But the crowd of the newsies suddenly became quiet and this caused me and Mel to run over and check out what the hell was going on. When I made my way through the newsies, in the center were two bowler hatted men who due to family resemblance were probably brothers. I slid up next to Jack and leaned against him.
"Jack what do we have here? Two idiots who think they can divide by 0?" I asked with a smirk on my lips. Jack chuckled knowing I was just warming up.
"Jacky boy, letting girls into your ranks, way to soil them." One of them said. I rolled my eyes.
"First off I'm a lady thank you very much. And second, you've validated my suspicion that the world is full of idiots." I said. The newsies cracked up as the other brother looked at me.
"Why bother hanging around with gutter trash?" He asked and I over exaggerated a wince.
"Oh god! You're even worse than my initial misconceptions." I said. This got the newsies laughing even more. I looked to Jack who was positively beaming at me.
"How much are the boys paying you?" One of them asked. That's when the newsies went silent. Even I could feel the glares directed at the two men in front of me. I felt Jack stiffen next to me.
"Nothing you could manage 'cause I bet if you had one more brain cell, it would be lonely." I responded, not missing a beat. Jack balled his fist, which at some point was his hand in mine. Before I could react, Jack threw a punch and one of the brothers hit the pavement.
"Sorry, heard my brain cells committing suicide." Jack said with a grin directed at me. I beamed at him as the other brother dragged him away. The newsies started cheering and laughing again, giving both me and Jack praise for handling ourselves. Jack ran up the ramp once the gates opened and got his typical 100 papers.
"How the hell are you going to manage to sell those?" I asked as we walked away from the distribution center and towards school. Jack preceded to hand me a paper.
"Read me the headline," he asked.
"Why?"
"I've gotta have somethin' to hawk." Was Jack's wise ass response. Well, you never ask a smart ass how he slept; you'll get a smart ass answer.
"Um… Mayor reveals new budget to committee." I said. Man that was a shit headline.
"EXTRA EXTRA! MAYOR PREPARING TO GOUGE MORE MONEY!" Jack yelled. Soon enough, business people flocked to him and bought the paper off the bogus headline.
"I'm impressed, I have to admit." I said as I handed the paper back to him.
"You have your talents, I have mine. Keep the pape, Ms. Mathew's gonna want one right?" He said with a smirk. I chuckled at him.
"So I forgot to ask, what was the song the newsies were singing, sounded like you all knew it?" I said. Jack chuckled.
"It's one of Medda's tunes; she sang it to us at a rally when we were striking." He said.
"Who's Medda?" I asked. Jack looked at me.
"Have I not introduced you to Medda yet?"
"No…" I replied hesitantly.
"Alright, I know what we're doing tonight, unless…" Jack tilted his head with an impish grin
"No Jack, I'm not skipping." I said not even to bother looking at him.
"Oh come on," Jack said.
"No!" I said with a chuckled. We finally arrived at school, "besides, we're already here." I said with a smirk. Jack rolled his eyes but kept a grin on his face.
"Same time as always?" He asked.
"Same time as always." I replied. I then disappeared into the school building and Jack walked back out to the streets. When I walked into Ms. Mathew's class, I handed her her paper "courtesy of Jack." I said when she gave me a confused look and with that class started.