Disclaimer: I don't own the original newsies. But you know that.
So. Here's another chapter :o
Racetrack woke up early the next morning, wanting to catch the morning race and maybe get a chance to talk to Danny. He tiptoed to the washroom, trying not to make too much noise.
When he looked up in the mirror after washing his face, he saw Jack's reflection. Racetrack couldn't help but laugh as he turned around. Jack's hair was sticking out everywhere and bags were covering his eyes.
"Charming as ever, Jacky-boy," Racetrack said with a smirk before brushing his teeth. Jack rolled his eyes and went over to pump out some water. Racetrack figured he woke up early to catch a shower before they had to start selling. Jack usually was the only one who did this. Racetrack assumed he liked his privacy...and the hot water.
"Hey Race, if ya see Danny around, tell the kid I'm sorry," Jack said, resting a hand on the water pump. Racetrack didn't say anything for a moment, carefully choosing his words.
"What was wrong with you last night?" Racetrack ventured, rinsing his tooth brush in a bowl of water. Jack just sighed as he hopped into the shower while pumping the water at the same time. Racetrack had never been able to master that particular skill.
"I went over the Jacob's for dinner," he said. Racetrack caught what he was saying above the sound of running water.
"So? You usually have a good time over there," Racetrack said, puzzled. Jack didn't respond for a while. Racetrack, assuming he didn't want to talk about it, found a comb on the cluttered shelf.
"Ya know the guy we saw flirtin' with Sarah the other day?" Jack said suddenly.
"Yep," Racetrack replied, remembering seeing the dislike on Jack's face.
"Well, he was there. He's a friend of Davey's," came Jack's reply in a tone filled with dislike. Racetrack understood. As Jack continued on with his story about meeting 'Nathan' and having an argument with Sarah, Racetrack dragged a comb through his hair. At the end of his rant, Racetrack let out a long sigh.
"Why did the Jacobs all of the sudden get to together with him now?" Racetrack asked, leaning against the washroom wall. Jack grunted.
"Who knows? Dey could of been getting together all this time without me knowing nothing. Sarah could of been in love with this feller for years now," Jack said, his voice unsteady as he tried to make it sound careless.
"Awuh, Jack, don't worry about it. Dey probably stopped seeing each other after Davey quit school. Maybe Nathan was just visiting to see how dey were doing," Racetrack suggested. Nothing but the sound of water filled the room for a minute or two. Racetrack could tell his friend was confused and hurt, not to mention angry with the whole situation.
"Jack, I've gotta head to da tracks before da race starts, but I hope you two woik this out," Racetrack finally said, throwing on his newsies cap.
"Yeah...see ya in a hour at the big pearly gates," Jack said. Racetrack laughed before leaving the room.
Poor Jack. Racetrack would hate to see those two break up, especially over a jerk like Nathan. Pondering the whole story Jack had just told him, Racetrack made his way to the tracks.
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He arrived just in time for the race. Deciding not to bet on this one (the stakes weren't that high), Racetrack focused on different horses, judging how well they would do in future races.
Deep in concentration, he jumped when someone stepped up beside him.
"Oh hey, Danny-boy," Racetrack said with a smile after realizing who it was, still watching number 9. Danny didn't say anything. In fact, he seemed kind of bummed.
Racetrack turned to him with some concern. "Hey, don't look so down, kid. Jack sends his apologies."
Danny still didn't say anything. He stepped onto the bottom bar of the rail, gripping the top bar with his hands. Racetrack, for the first time, noticed Danny's yellow bracelet made of clothe.
"Where'd did you get that?" Racetrack asked suddenly, pointing to the wristband. Danny stared down at it.
"My mum gave it to me before she left," he said, fingering the cloth. It was almost brown due to the all the dirt that had collected on it.
"Left you?" Racetrack asked, rising an eyebrow.
"Yeah. She wanted to be a big actress on Broadway. Didn't need a kid to her bring down." Danny stared at the passing horses.
"What about your fadder?" Racetrack persisted, somewhat interested.
"Died in a California wildfire," Danny said simply. Racetrack didn't ask anymore questions. He had heard similar life stories.
"So, Jack is sorry about the way he treated me?" Danny asked, trying to change the subject. Racetrack nodded, looking back to the track.
"I don't think I'll come back anyhow," Danny said. Racetrack didn't say anything as number 9 cut through the finish line as the winner. He smiled, knowing who he was betting on next race.
"Ya don't have to. Plus you might want to become a newsie first. What do you do to earn money, kid?" Racetrack asked.
"Oh, I do odd jobs around the stables," he said with some pride.
Racetrack smiled. "That's a good job."
"So about we play that rummy game again?" Danny asked eagerly.
"Sorry, kid, I hafta go sell the papes," Racetrack said, pulling out a cigar.
"Oh.." Danny muttered with disappointment.
"Carryin' da banner!" Racetrack cried with enthusiasm as he walked off.
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Jack saw Racetrack enter the World's Distribution Center's gates as he was in line. David and Les followed after him. Jack could tell David was looking for him.
He swallowed, not wanting a confrontation from David about his sister. Jack couldn't tell if David was mad or not with him as he approached.
"Hey Jack," David said quietly, slipping into line behind him. Jack didn't say anything, pretending to be completely absorbed in watching Crutchy buy his papers.
"Why was Sarah crying last night?" Les, of course, was the one to pop the question. Jack looked over at them suddenly, forcing a confused expression on his face.
"I dunno," Jack replied while not looking at David. He got his 100 papers and sat down on the dock to read the headlines.
David soon had his papers and had sat down next to Jack.
"Jack, what happened last night?" David asked in a curious voice. A wave of relief hit Jack. Sarah hadn't told her brothers. "When Sarah came back into the house, she ran straight to her room. When I went to look outside, you had left. She wouldn't talk to us the whole night."
"Why did you invite me to dinner when you invited that bum too?" Jack asked in effort to ease the focus off Sarah. David's mouth dropped open.
"Sarah invited you. Not me. But I didn't know you had something against him..." David said.
"The guy was flirting with your sister the whole night, Dave!" Jack said. He stood up, tossing David a look of disgust. How could David be so blind?
Jack passed Racetrack on his way out of the headquarters.
"Come on, Race, we'll sell together today," Jack said suddenly, grabbing Racetrack by the sleeve and dragging him out of the center. David caught up to the two.
"Jack, he's always had a crush on her. Its nothing new," David explained. Unbelievably, there was genuine concern in his eyes.
"Knowing dat, you invited me over for dinner? That's great, David. You're always thinking!" Jack shouted in response. He ran a hand through his hair in frustration.
"Jack! Sarah invited-"
"Race, let's go! Now!" Jack cut off David and grabbed Racetrack's sleeve again.
Racetrack gave David a 'please-help-me' look before following after the mad cowboy.
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Jack ranted and complained the whole way to their selling spot.
"I can't believe Davey! How could he set me up like that?" Jack said, gripping his papers tightly.
"Maybe he wasn't thinking like that," Racetrack suggested.
"He knows how important Sarah is to me!" Jack kicked a wooden box out of his way. Race gave his friend a sympathetic glance.
"Jack, calm down. Breaking stuff won't help anything," Race said, laying a firm hand on his shoulder. Jack froze in conviction and turned to Race.
"Of course... But maybe breaking dat boy's pretty nose will help," Jack said, his eyes glazed over, as if imagining the scene.
"Snap out of it, Cowboy," Racetrack said with a laugh. Jack sort of smiled.
"You know, if Sarah really loves you, she'll fix dis mess," Racetrack said with an assuring nod.
"Thanks, Race. What would a guy do without a friend like you?" Jack said with a half smile.
"Probably break a guy's nose." Racetrack joked with a smirk.
Jack socked him in the arm. "I wouldn't go that far. But if I ever catch that guy-" Jack stopped as he caught sight of something.
Racetrack followed his gaze and swallowed when he saw Sarah looking at a vendor. Jack's face hardened.
"Good luck sellin'," Jack said stiffly before moving down to the other side of the street. As Race track started his own selling, he could see Jack was making no movement towards Sarah.
When Sarah made her way down Jack's side of the street, she caught sight of him. Racetrack saw her wave and call his name. Jack didn't respond. In fact, he was all together ignoring her.
Even from the distance between them, Racetrack saw Sarah's hurt expression. 'Well, if she's flirting with another boy, then she deserves it.' Racetrack thought to himself.
In defeat, Sarah left the street then, heading back to the apartment building. Racetrack wandered over to Jack.
"Didn't you see her?" Racetrack asked when Jack took a breath from hawking.
"Yeah, of course." He didn't smile or anything; he just had a blank expression on his face. But Race could see that he was kind of disappointed. "I'm not going to give up dat easy, Race."
Racetrack nodded with understanding. "Do what ya gotta do," Race said, his voice edged with respect for his leader.
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Later, around one or so, the two boys decided to head to Tibby's for lunch.
"Well, although it wasn't da best headline, all my papes sold pretty fast," Racetrack commented as they walked through the door. Jack nodded. He had sold all his faster than Racetrack, but still waited for him to finish before going to Tibby's. A lot of newsies were already seated at tables.
Was that Danny sitting with Skittery and Kid Blink? Racetrack's nose scrunched up. He and Jack took a seat at a table with Snipeshooter, Boots, Mush, David, and Les.
"I dunno, Spot can do a lot with that cane of his..." Boots said with an amused look on his face.
"Forgot da cane! Dat newsie can sure pack a punch," Mush said, slamming down his glass on the table for emphasis. Racetrack could tell they had walked in on a conversation.
"What do you think, Jack? What makes Spot so threatening?" David asked, looking up at Jack casually.
"Do you guys need to ask? He's Spot and dat's it," Jack said, plopping down in a chair.
"I dunno, his pink suspenders always threw me off," Race said with a skeptical look. He then looked up and saw Danny standing there with a small smile on his face. Jack instantly recognized him and stood up. Danny took a step back when he realized Jack was there.
"Hey kid, sorry I exploded on you the other night. I was, er, having a bad day," Jack said, ignoring David's curious look. Danny actually smiled.
"It's okay. I'm Danny, by the way," The boy said, holding out a hand.
"Jack," he said before shaking Danny's hand. Racetrack eagerly received his food from the waiter while Danny took a seat next to him and Jack also sat down.
"So we're you guys talking about Spot again?" Danny asked with interest.
Mush laughed. "You should meet him someday, kid," he said with a smirk.
"Oh yeah, he'd love dat," Race said, rolling his eyes.
"What's so scary about him?" Danny asked with a confused look.
"You know how Jack acted last night? Spot's like dat all the time, just 3 times worse," Snipeshooter explained with a serious face.
Jack slammed a fist on the table. "I can act as tough as Spot any day," he said in his own defense, hiding a smile.
"No offense, Jack, but you're more of a sucker," Racetrack said with a snicker. Everyone at the table laughed as Jack leaped out of his seat and lunged for Racetrack.
Racetrack quickly leaned back in his chair, just out of Jack's reach.
"I'll soak ya, bum! That'll teach you to show some respect," Jack said with a mischievous grin while sitting back down.
"Sure ya will!" Racetrack said, flicking a toothpick across the table.
Danny, sitting at the end of the table, watched all this in amusement. Race looked over to him and saw he had enjoyed their little show.
"But, really, ya never mess with Spot, Jack, or any other leader of a borough. Even if you aren't a newsie," Racetrack said, now with seriousness.
"Never, even if you don't agree with them. They know more," Mush threw in. Everyone nodded in agreement.
"And Jack isn't afraid to soak any of his boys when dey are out of line," Snipeshooter commented. David didn't say anything, but agreed with the newsies. He also had a lot of respect for Jack...or used too, anyway.
Race looked over to Jack, who was leaning back in his chair with his hands on his head, obviously pleased with the boys' dedication.
Danny chewed on a plastic straw while thinking over the matter. The boys moved on to other topics while they waited for their food. They were talking about streets cats and how you could kill one with a slingshot. Snipeshooter even said he saw Spot do it once.
"What if you knew that your leader was wrong. Like one of you saw Jack commit a murder or something, but he lied about it? What would you guys do?" Danny suddenly spoke up. That quieted everyone down. No one knew how to answer. Danny looked at all their faces, especially at Jack who was giving the kid a 'are-you-accusing-me?' look.
"Well I guess that's what trust is all about," David finally spoke up. Everyone liked the answer and agreed. Jack nodded.
"I didn't make myself the leader, Danny, they all sort of...elected me after the old leader got a new job," Jack explained, taking a drink of water. Danny nodded with understanding and the subject was forgotten. In the back of his mind, Jack was annoyed with the question though. Racetrack could see it in his face.
"Hey Race, how 'bout that game of rummy?" Danny asked after some of the boys had left to continue selling, though most of them were done.
"Sure, let's go outside though. Tibby doesn't like us hanging around dat long," Racetrack suggested, leading the way outside. He found an empty alley with a huge crate on the side.
Using the crate as a table, Racetrack set up the cards. "Same rules as last time, remember em?"
Danny nodded. They played for awhile and soon began to put some money down on the table. As the game progressed, Racetrack could see that Danny had had a background with cards or else he was a born natural. He even beat Race one game. But just one.
After a couple hours, they ended the game. Danny was running out of money to play with.
"You seemed miffed, kid," Racetrack said while gathering up his cards.
"You won nearly every game!" Danny exclaimed, slamming the box with his fist.
"Darn right I did. I know every trick in da book," Race said with a smirk.
"How long have you been doing this?" Danny asked.
"Gambling? Betting? Probably since I was 11," Race replied. "I'm better at card games," he added with a wink.
Race started walking out of the alley. Danny followed after him.
"Teach me," Danny said, tugging on Race's sleeve.
"Teach you? I've never taught anyone my tricks. At least not all of 'dem," Race said.
"So teach me. You have to have someone to carry on your great name, Mr. Racetrack," Danny said with pleading eyes. Racetrack stopped and turned down a street.
"I'm gonna go to da track, Danny," he said, not wanting to talk about teaching some kid all his best tricks. It was something he felt belonged only to himself, and if he taught it to Danny, Danny might teach it to someone who Racetrack would play someday.
"At least teach me about betting on the right horse," Danny whimpered, following him. Race shrugged.
"Sure. That's not too hard to learn or dat important to give away," Racetrack said, thinking nothing of it.
So, they spent the afternoon watching races and Racetrack teaching Danny the ropes about betting on a horse. Danny even was right about number 14 after the evening race had occurred. He won fifty cents. Not a big winnings, but it was something for a beginner.
As the sun began to set, Racetrack decided it was time to head back to the lodging house. He said goodbye to Danny, who decided not to try sleeping at the lodging house again. He said that the stables were fine for him. So Racetrack set off for home, feeling good for teaching a kid a useful tool that he could use to make some money. He just hoped Danny would use his new knowledge wisely. But, looking back on his own first days at the track, Racetrack really started to worry.
Well, nothing really interesting happened. But I still like this chapter. :)
Thanks for the reviews Maddiecake and lilnewsie77!
Keep 'em comin', folks! -spork points to review button-