Author's Note - Yay! I'm very excited to finally be doing an alternate universe fanfiction:D I've been reading a ton of them lately, and now I know why so many people write them. They are so fun for the authors to write and really fun for the readers to read! I have read a whole bunch of amazingly witten time-travel fics out there, but I was a bit disappointed to see that some of the authors quit writing them. So, for all of the people out there in the audience (and for my friends and I of course, hehe) I will not quit this fanfic. I'm going to stick with it! You have my pledge. :)
Disclaimer - Sadly, I do not own "Newsies" or any of the characters in it. :( The song "Coin Operated Boy" isn't owned by me, either. It belongs to The Dresden Dolls band. Kaitlyn (me) and Brittany Andrews (original character) belong to me, Kristina and Sarah and Britney Spears (chills sent up Kabellia's back) belong to themselves.
Shout-Outs -
RibbonHeidster - Thank you so much! And yah, I didn't want the intro to be too long, or it would bore everyone. But I also didn't want it to be too short, either... :)
sharpieKD - Thank you! I'll update whenever I can:D
xLittlexItalyx - Thanks! Well, here, you get to (sort of) see what happens next. :)
sweets09 - Thank you! I am so glad you like my story:D
Heavenly Princess - Thanks! I hope you enjoy this next chapter:)
Chapter II - Did Brittany Send You?
"...Oh... My... Yevon..." Kate's face displayed the perfect imitation of a deer in headlights that was about to be run over. She froze in place, not budging an inch.
What she saw was a pack of six confused-looking boys standing around, dressed in old-fashioned clothing. Each one let out a scream of shock when they saw her.
Sarah instantly jolted upward to see what the noise was about and let out a scream. "HOLY LLAMA SAUCE!" Sarah screamed again as she began to hyperventilate.
"...Agh... Put a lid on it, Sarah...! I'm trying to sleep..." Kristina mumbled irritably through her fluffy down pillow.
"AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" the male-sounding voices shrieked back.
"What the heck...?" Kristina rubbed her sleepy eyes and sat up. "What's all this noise about...?" Then she saw the boys, and her eyes expanded twice their normal size. She only spoke one word. Her oh-so-famous yet overused phrase. "Gasp...!"
"Who're-" one boy began, but was interrupted by someone else.
"AGH! WHO THE HECK ARE YOU? WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THE BASEMENT OF KATE'S HOUSE? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE AT ALL? DID BRITTANY SEND YOU? THAT EVIL PREPPY CHEERLEADER ZOMBIE! I'LL KILL HER!" Sarah's tone bellowed dangerously as she began to lunge at the boys, but stopped when she heard a tiny murmur.
"...Newsies..."
"What?" Kristina got up and looked at Kaitlyn.
"...Why are they dressed like newsies...?" she repeated, a tad louder this time, her voice quaking a tad.
"Brittany knows we're obsessed with 'Newsies'... I bet this is her plan for vengeance!" Kristina glowered at the boys.
Kate swallowed hard. "...Revenge...? But... We never did anything to her...! ...Did we...?"
"On the second to last day of ninth grade at school, Sarah and I were in the cafeteria... Since you're a year younger than us, you had a different lunchtime. But anyway... Brittany was over at her usual popular table with her cronies as usual, and was standing up showing them her new white outfit. Sarah had some chocolate pudding that day in her lunch, and we flung it onto the back of her new designer skirt. Brittany tried to wipe it off, but it just smeared... Aaah, the fun! But ever since then, she's been out to get us." Kristina gave a shrug.
"Oh...! Um..." Kate glanced vulnerably around the room.
Again, the poor boy tried to speak. "Who're y-"
"She's totally evil!" Sarah exclaimed, turning to the boys. She placed a hand on each hip and pursed her lips. "Okay, we figured you guys out. Ha ha, very funny joke. She got her revenge on us. And she did a good job, too, I'll admit. You really got good costumes there. Now... How much did she pay you guys for this?"
"Who're you?" asked a brunette-haired boy, irritated and baffled by this awkward situation.
Kristina scoffed. "Like you don't already know!"
"And what're you'se talkin' about?" asked another boy with blondish orangish hair. There was an eye patch covering his left eye.
"And... W-what're ya wearin'...?" asked one with dark curly hair and oatmeal-colored skin who began to back up and look terrified.
"Duh! These are pajamas, Einstein!" Sarah yelled, waving her hands up in the air. "Don't play stupid with us! Now, if you could please, just... GET OUT!"
"...Um... Uh... Ummm..." Kaitlyn seemed to feel herself shrinking in the room. But that was what she typically did in an awkward situation. She backed away and stayed out of it.
As the girls and boys began yelling and pointing at one another in frustration, Kaitlyn slumped to the floor, squeezed her plushie, and pulled a blanket over her head. She hated loud noises. Especially loud arguments. Besides, six strange boys in her home... Wouldn't that frighten you, too...?
"HEY, HEY, HEY! PUT A LID ON IT!" One boy stepped forward, causing everyone to silence, so the only sound was the hammering sound of the rain thunking down onto the house. The boy's narrowed ice-cold eyes shifted. He slipped a golden-tipped black cane out from the loophole of his scarlet suspenders and pointed it at the girls threateningly. "Who're you goils? An' no smart-aleck answers!" he gritted through his teeth.
"Oooh, Mr. Impatient, now are we? Psh! Like you don't know who we are, shrimpy," retorted Sarah, rolling her eyes. "Brittany probably told plenty about us."
Uh-oh... Bad response...
"OW!" she yelped at the boy bonked her on the head using his cane. "What's that thing made out of, iron?"
He smirked in reply. "Wanna find out?" He walloped her again with his walking stick, only a bit harder than the first time.
"OWWW! STOP IT, SHORTY! ...That hurts..." Sarah stroked the bump on her head where the boy had bopped her.
"Spot, maybe you should ease off a little, ya know?" came another voice. It was the boy with the eye patch.
The one with the red suspenders looked over his shoulder. "Maybe. Foist, they'se gotta tell us who dey are."
"Okay, okay!" Sarah said with irritation.
Kaitlyn warily poked her head out from under the blanket, but only the girls seemed to notice.
"I'm Kristina," the blonde girl spoke in monotone, jerking a thumb at herself. She motioned to the girl dressed in black and red 'Emily the Strange' pajamas. "Sarah is the one with the little bump on her head now, an-"
"Hey!" Sarah scowled at her friend.
"Okay, okay... Sorry... Sheesh... And the quiet one over there," Kristina pointed to Kaitlyn, who had shedded her blanket cocoon and placed the dog plushie next to her, and was now sitting Indian-style on the carpet. "That's Kaitlyn."
At the mention of her name, her head snapped upward, but she didn't say a word.
"...Finally dey answer my question..." muttered the short boy with the cane.
The other boys murmured to each other and observed the room.
"Our turn," Kristina said. "Who are you, and why the heck are you guys dressed like the newsies? And really... Honestly... How much did she pay you...?"
The one with the cane, red suspenders, and slingshot in his right pocket puffed out his chest in a cheap attempt to look important and confident. "I'se Spot."
"...Spot's hot..." Sarah said quietly to herself, as she often did when she watched "Newsies".
"What did'ja say? Didn't catch dat."
"Huh? Oh! Nothing."
Spot shrugged it off. "Dat's Jack over dere, and David, Mush, Racetrack, an' Kid Blink," he said, pointing at each one as he listed their names.
"No," Kristina folded her arms across her chest. "We mean your real names."
"We told'ja," Spot spat, anger building within him. Lord, these goils are annoying!
"We'se dressed like newsies 'cause we are," Mush explained.
"Yah right, curly." Sarah exhaled deeply. These stupid boys are so stinking stubborn! Why won't they just admit Brittany hired them to sneak in here and scare the stuffing out of us? I guess she really did pay them a lot of money to be this stubborn! "...Brittany must have paid you boys a whole lot..."
"Umm... Sarah...?" Kaitlyn squeaked, gazing around the room at the boys.
"What, Kate?"
"..."
"What is it?"
The one supposedly called 'David' stepped up, just as confused as the others. "Who's this Brittany? And what do you mean she paid us?"
"Well, didn't she-"
Just then, they heard some blaring noise, accompanied by a startled yelp from each newsie.
Kaitlyn sprinted over to a machine and turned its dial, making the volume of the sound much lower.
"Kid Blink," Kristina began, "I think you've just found Kaitlyn's stereo." She turned to her friends, and smiled broadly as Blink stepped back and blushed in embarrassment.
"What's dat?" asked a frightened 'Jack' in a thick New York accent. "I hear voices comin' from it... Sounds like dere's people in dere..."
Mush shivered, then grimaced. "Maybe it's a torture chamber...! Goils, please don't put us in dere! I'se don't like small dark places!"
"It's not a torture chamber! It's a stereo. Duh!" Kristina stuck her tongue out at them. "Besides, we wouldn't be able to fit you in there!"
The group of boys let out a chorus of sighs of relief. Particularly Mush.
"What's dis do?" Racetrack reached down to the stereo on the coffee table and pushed a blue button on it.
"...Umm..." Kaitlyn slowly brushed off her pajamas. She was very tense.
The CD skipped to another track.
"Hey! It's my song!" Sarah said, beginning to sing along. "Coin operated boy, sitting on the shelf, he is just a toy. But I turn him on, and he comes to life; automatic joy. That is why I want a coin operated boy. Made of plastic and elastic, he is rugged and long lasting. Who could ever, ever ask for more-"
"What's this?" David picked up a small gray rectangular box.
"Gasp! Get your hands off the T.V. remote!" Kristina rushed over to grab the remote from him, but tripped and fell flat onto her face.
"Are you okay...?" Kaitlyn asked, outstretching a hand to help Kristina up.
"...Ugh... Aagh! Don't touch that remote!" Kristina grabbed Kate's hand and rushed over to David.
David pushed the largest button on the remote control, and the large T.V. turned on. "Whoa..."
"People are in dat box!" Mush and Blink exclaimed, eyes widening. "You said dat you couldn't put people in dere!"
"People don't go into televisions, genius," Sarah said.
"Let me see dat," Spot said, grabbing the remote from Davey and pressing some other buttons, causing the channel to switch to MTV. There on the screen was a blonde girl with a glittery, skimpy outfit on who was dancing around and singing a song.
"Uhh..." Kaitlyn's eyes widened.
Jack folded his arms across his chest and wrinkled his brow as if he'd never seen anything like that before, and wasn't sure he wanted to see anything like that ever again. "Who's dat?"
"...Britney Spears." Kaitlyn looked over at the boys. She had 'loathsome' written clearly on her face at the mention of that name.
"'Sat da Brittany goil you was talkin' 'bout earlier?" Blink inquired.
"No, but now that you mention it, they look alike and have a lot in common. Wait a second..." Kristina froze. "What the heck are you doing here in the first place?"
The Jack and the group of boys shrugged. "Dunno."
"Can I use the phone, Kaitlyn?"
"Um, sure, Sarah. What for...?"
"I'm going to call Brittany Andrews and see what this gag is all about." With that, she hurried up the stairs to the telephone.
-:-
Okay, this prank is really creeping me out, Sarah thought as she climbed the stairs.
Once she was at the top of the staircase, she took a left and snatched the phone angrily from atop the black microwave. She is so gonna pay for this...
After furiously dialing Brittany Andrews' phone number, she held the cordless phone up to her ear.
Ring, ring, ring...
"She might not pick up the phone this late, but who cares," Sarah whispered irritably to herself. Glancing at the clock on the microwave, she noted that it was a little past four thirty in the morning. "Pick up, you evil person... Answer the phone, woman...!"
"Hello?" came a high voice from the other end of the line. From the sound of it, she was chewing bubble gum. Probably doing her nails, too, Sarah thought in repulsion. Sarah didn't have anything against painting nails, but it just irritated her when wicked girls like Brittany did it.
"Brittany. Hi." Sarah stood still and her back stiffened. Her voice was plainly aggravated.
"Oh... It's you." Brittany spat the word "you" as if it were a cuss word.
"So you think that's funny, do you?"
"Think what's funny, Sarah? If you're talking about your face or Kristina's or Kaitlyn's, then yes."
"No. You know what I'm talking about. Don't play stupid... Oh, wait. You don't have to pretend. You already are!"
"Remind me again why I'm wasting my precious time talking to a loser...?"
"Why did you send six boys dressed as newsies over here to Kaitlyn's house? You think that's funny? You are so shallow..."
"What? I never did that. Why would I hire people to break and enter into someone's house?"
"How much did you pay them for it, hmm? I know you've got plenty of cash, but how much did you pay them?"
The attitude rung out unmistakably clear in her tone of voice. "Okay, I may be shallow, but I'm not that low, loser."
And for some strange reason, Sarah had the feeling that Brittany was telling the truth for once.
"Okay... Sorry to bother you," Sarah said, and hung up the phone in a daze.