Disclaimer: Don't own Newsies or the Sloan song 'Set in Motion'. Or Ibuprofen. Or McDonald's or Fanta. Or AIM.

Chapter 2 – Set In Motion

Bumlets woke the next morning, Saturday, at a little after noon. He would have slept longer, but Swifty crawled into his bed and started randomly pecking his face.

With a groan, Bumlets put a hand to his forehead. He couldn't remember last night and he felt like he was going to die.

Before he could even ask, Swifty answered, "We got so smashed last night. Just you and me, but Snoddy and Pie Eater were here. Don't worry, we weren't outed."

"Why the hell aren't you hung over?" Bumlets dug in the drawer of his bedside table and took out an industrial-sized bottle of Ibuprofen, which he dry-swallowed a handful of.

"You know I don't get hung over, babe," Swifty murmered into Bumlets' shoulder. Then, popping up, he said, "Oh, hey, there's a new kid. I let you sleep through meeting him, though. But it's no biggie... guess who he is?"

Bumlets was in no mood for guessing games. "I dunno, the mayor?"

"David. Remember him?"

"Fucked if I don't," Bumlets said, his surprise showing through his voice.

Suddenly there was a brisk knock at their door. Swifty leapt out of Bumlets' bed as if he'd been stung and called, "Yeah?"

"It's us."

Swifty opened the door to Snoddy and Pie Eater, both carrying an armful of hangover remedies. "We knew Bumlets'd need them," Pie Eater explained as they dropped them off on Swifty's bed.

"That reminds me, where's Dutchy?"

When neither visitor answered, Swifty pulled out his cell phone and hit Speed Dial 4. A moment later, he said into the phone, "Hey... Dutchy?... Oh... Can I talk to him?... He's still asleep? Why? He's usually an early riser... A 'hard night'? Is he hung over too? Because we've got stuff for it here... What d'you mean, 'sort of'?... Fine, fine, just tell him to come find us, probably in my room since Bumlets is in no shape to leave, once he's up... Yeah... Bye."

Turning back to Snoddy and Pie Eater, Swifty growled, "WHAT does Dutchy see in that piece of shit?"

---

David fumbled with his key to his room and listened to Jake, his roomie and one of his childhood friends, talk a mile a minute about everything that had happened to him since David moved to Wisconsin.

"So anyway, my dad—you remember Dad, right?—got shipped out to some mental hospital in Australia a few years ago, which was pretty fun; I got to go to Sydney, Australia... 'Course, the bin Dad's in isn't IN Sydney, it's an hour or so's drive away, but Ma and I stayed in Sydney and ate ice cream and that while they got him all settled. He sent a letter last month. 'Parently they're thinking of letting him back into the real world. Boy, I'm just glad I won't be there... You remember how he treated me. Black and blue all the time, and God knows why. Think I heard them say something about bipolar, but then I remember Ma saying they were wrong, so I have no idea..."

By now, David was into the room and had set his suitcases by the bed on the side of the room that was notably empty and unpersonalized.

"...Oh, and I hope you don't mind I got the side by the door. So, as I was saying, Ma gave up her office job after that, God knows why. Now she's a part-time dentist and a pimp. I got laid by one of her whores once, when I was 15, for free cos I was family. Nice benefits, I think. I had this dorm to myself before, you know. Not that I mind sharing—it'll just be something to get used to. I haven't had a roommate since freshman year—I roomed with Skittery. Oh, that was an experience. He's gay, y'know? So he was just coming to terms with it and realizing it and figuring it out and all that... he came home with so many boys and girls that year, it's a wonder he don't got every STD in the book. And he cried a lot... he was a very high-maitenence roomie. You know how he is normally, now imagine him applying that to the possibility of being gay. Not to say it was bad, but it was definitely an experience. That was before he went on meds, too. Mush and Blink were around a lot, helping him out and stuff. It was quite crowded. Anyway, I was supposed to have a roommate last year, some cat called Cooper, but he got testicular cancer—or was it AIDS?—and couldn't come, so I got a single..."

David had finished making his bed and was now beginning to put his clothes away.

"...And I don't know how I got it this year... actually, I think they expected you and were holdin' it for you. Well, enough about rooms, I guess you'll be wanting the lowdown on everybody?"

Before David could so much as open his mouth to answer, Jake went on:

"Or, actually, there's plenty of time for that later. Right now you should fill out the survey you got in the office. I'm an office aide, y'know. Basically I just spend 4th block in the office doing whatever I want... sometimes there's actual work, but usually Debbie—you probably got her... the one with the rack?—she takes care of it all and I can just do homework or use the computer or whatever... nobody really cares as long as I'm not slacking off when there actually is work to do. Oh, and don't worry about classes here. Colleges all think it's some sort of miracle school or something, but really, half our classes are throwaways... They gave you a schedule yet? Ah, good... English first block, History second, German third... Lunch, Choir 4A, Gym 4B... We don't have anything together, shame, but you've got good people in all your classes, so that's good. Oh! I got a girlfriend since I saw you last. Three of them, actually... The first two didn't last long, but I got all the way to third base with the last one—oh, done?"

David handed his survey to Jake.

1. What is your full name? What nickname would you like if Jack doesn't give you one? David Arthur Jacobs. I've already been nicknamed the Walking Mouth... just David's fine, though.

2. What is your favorite color? Uh... I like gray.

3. What is your sexual orientation? Straight.

4. How old are you? Seventeen.

5. Why are you here? Um, my parents wanted me to get a really good education, and they think my sister needs a boarding school because she's some kind of psychotic genius and did a lot of bad shit at our old schools.

6. Do you have any musical talent? Not really. My mama thinks I can sing, so she signed me up for choir, but my papa says I sound like a strangled cat.

7. What is your ethnicity? Polish...?

8. Who was the last person you made out with? Uh... nobody.

9. Do you masturbate? That's a pretty personal question...

10. Have you ever ridden a camel? No.

---

"That was really weird," Jack said for the umpteenth time since they'd discovered David was now going to school with them.

"Yeah, Jacky," Spot replied impatiently. The two were sitting in the back seat of Racetrack's car in the local McDonald's parking lot, waiting for the Irish-Italian to come back with a coffee for himself, an apple pie for Spot, and a Fanta for Jack.

Jack lit up a cigarette and took a long drag, staring out the window and mumbling about how "that was so fucking weird."

"You know I hate those, Jack," Spot complained, scooting as far from Jack as he could and rolling down the window.

"Suck it up. Be a man. Rub some dirt in it," Jack said through a mouthful of smoke.

"And Race'll kill you if his car smells like cigs."

"...Point." Jack licked his fingers and put out his cigarette between them, then tossed it out the window by Spot's head.

"And don't you dare think you're gettin' a kiss outa me now."

"Aww, not even if I beg?"

---

When Mush and Blink finally stopped their make out session (they had timed it—it was two hours and 13.45324 minutes), they each returned to their respective beds.

Mush rolled over on his bed and signed into AIM on his laptop. Seeing that Kid Blink was also online, he clicked his boyfriend's name and started a conversation.

MyAbsRLikeHeaven: Blinkers?

.PatchworkBoy.: Mushlies.

MyAbsRLikeHeaven: Can you believe that DAVE'S the new kid? It's like WHOAAA BLAST FROM THE PAST!

.PatchworkBoy.: I know

MyAbsRLikeHeaven: It's kind of awesome, though. I missed the kid. It's like... remember last Christmas when you dressed up in nothing but a paperchain wrapped erotically around your body and did a sexy dance with my mini Christmas tree, then we had sex on the couch?

.PatchworkBoy.: How could I forget?

MyAbsRLikeHeaven: It's like that awesome, but not, because Davey being the new kid brings me no sex.

.PatchworkBoy.: It could...

MyAbsRLikeHeaven: You offering?

.PatchworkBoy.: Always.

MyAbsRLikeHeaven: You naughty boy. But I'm actually not horny right now, I'm sorry.

.PatchworkBoy.: Aww :-[

MyAbsRLikeHeaven: I actually have something I wanted to ask you.

.PatchworkBoy.: Uh-oh

MyAbsRLikeHeaven: No, it's nothing bad. Just... what happened after David left? Why don't we all just get along anymore?

.PatchworkBoy.: idk...

MyAbsRLikeHeaven: And remember how close Jack and David were as kids? And how now Jack's gay... Do you think they might, y'know, start going out?

.PatchworkBoy.: idk... David seems pretty straight to me. And things change—maybe he just won't get along with any of us anymore. Maybe Wisconsin changed him.

MyAbsRLikeHeaven: Aw, now I'm all sad.

.PatchworkBoy.: I could fix that...

MyAbsRLikeHeaven: But I said I'm not horny.

.PatchworkBoy.: We could just make out.

MyAbsRLikeHeaven: Vixen.

.PatchworkBoy.: Hey, before I come over there and MAKE you horny, can I ask a question, too?

MyAbsRLikeHeaven: Shoot.

.PatchworkBoy.: Why are we talking on AIM? We're roommates and we're both home, lying on our beds like fatsos.

MyAbsRLikeHeaven: Uh... idk... you're pretty smart for a vixen. Now get over here and make out with me.

.PatchworkBoy.: Consider it done.

MyAbsRLikeHeaven is Away.

.PatchworkBoy. is Away.

--30 Minutes Later—

MyAbsRLikeHeaven: God, I forgot how good a kisser you are.

.PatchworkBoy.: You mean in the space of the ten minutes between that kiss and the one before it?

MyAbsRLikeHeaven: I was distracted. Thinking about David. And possibly Jack. Maybe having sex.

.PatchworkBoy.: That explains why you're not horny.

MyAbsRLikeHeaven: Get over here, you foxy... vixeny... person-thing...

.PatchworkBoy. is Offline.

MyAbsRLikeHeaven is Offline.

A/N: If anyone's wondering about the Spot/Jack earlier this chapter, they're not a couple and they never will be. They're just two horny, gay teenagers looking for some kicks.

Again, sorry about the typos. I ironed them out and re-upped it.

What to look forward to in the next chapter? I don't really know yet, but it'll probably include Spot's Prince Albert piercing and maybe even what they did on David's birthday that almost got him killed.