A/N: Hello, all! I'm super glad that the chapter went over so well! It's also great to have my "Core Three" (DaughterofTerpsicore hasn't gotten in on the party yet) reviewers back…you guys rock! I don't know if this chapter will be out on the 20th or 21st…I'm having friends over in 7 minutes, and we're going to be watching a bunch of movies (including Harry Potter-success!), so hopefully this will get out today (it's currently the 20th as I write this), but if not, it'll be on the 21st. The chapter after that should be out by Sunday, Monday at the latest…my mom and dad and I have to make sure I have everything I need packed up for college in a week. That being said, I hope you all enjoy this next chapter!

Responses to reviews:

Biankies: Yeah, trouble just seems to find them all the time, doesn't it? But then, if it didn't, we'd have no stories! Haha…thanks, and no problem! I'm excited for you to read it! (did you catch the reference to you in the story?)

FansieFace: Yeah, Hulu definitely needs some preparation for this story…especially since Chapters 3 & 4 are the only chapters (until Chapter 12) that won't have a cliffhanger. I was hoping you would catch that one-I was trying to think of villains I could use, and thought of your review where you compared Snyder to Umbridge, and was like, "Oh-this is perfect!" I've got a little evil thing for him to do…so you will absolutely hate him by the end of the next chapter. I guarantee it. Thanks! I've missed writing for you guys, and making you all hate me with my cliffhangers…hopefully that shall continue! ;)

S. Castro: Haha..thank you! I literally sat in my living room for like 30 minutes trying to think of good villains from stuff that I could use…thankfully I came up with a bunch! And yes-you got the reference! I remembered that people got mad at me for naming the Clancy brothers Evan and Aaron, so I decided not to drag another newsie's name through the mud, and instead use the Delancys! ;) Hopefully you like this chapter!

DISCLAIMER I DON'T OWN NEWSIES AND I NEVER WILL I JUST LIKE TO BEAT UP THE CHARACTERS BECAUSE I AM AN EVIL MASTERMIND AND THAT'S JUST WHAT I DO. ;)

CLIFFHANGER ALERT! (and also kind of reference alert…maybe? Maybe…it's a reference to a physical characteristic of an OBC actor, so…I don't know…maybe.)

Enjoy "A Rich Man's Newsie" Chapter 2!

The next morning dawned bright and warm in the borough of Manhattan. It was warmer than it had been for a while, and there were more people walking around the streets. The birds were singing in the trees, and the warm air felt good to a city that had been suffering through a so far rather cold March.

In short, it was perfect selling weather for the newsies.

Almost as soon as people were moving around, the newsies were out selling. Their voices could be heard on almost every street corner in the borough. Basically every single person who walked by a newsie that day ended up buying a paper.

"With'a day like dis, we's gonna pay for all da papes in two days!" Specs called over to Finch and Elmer, who were on the corners opposite him. They grinned back. "Yeah-old man Pulitzer ain't gonna know what ta do with hisself afta the way we's bin selling!" Elmer yelled back. Finch and Elmer usually sold near each other, since they were best friends. They had known each other since back when they were orphans on the street, before Jack had found them, and brought them into the newsie life.

"Ain't it a fine life, bein' famous?" Finch declared, spinning in a circle. Specs and Elmer looked at him, both thinking, "Iffn' anyone asks, I don' know him", before rolling their eyes and turning away. A few corners away were Les and Snitch. The two boys were as thick as thieves-and sometimes even were thieves, managing to charm vendors out of some of their fruit or bread or whatever the item may be when the older boys couldn't manage it. Most said the boys just had a knack for it, getting whatever they wanted since they were born, because they were younger siblings, and that's just what younger siblings did.

Or, as the other group believed, they were too dang cute for the vendors to refuse. After all-they were only ten.

"Hey, Specs, watch-" The younger newsies' voices cut out as an apple went flying through the air and almost socked Specs in the face before he managed to catch it. Evidently the two youngest were tossing it between themselves, and one had thrown it too hard. Specs grinned at Finch and Elmer, before taking a large bite of the apple, and then tossing it behind his back, back to the younger boys. Almost three seconds later, there was a gasp, and then two voices complaining, "Come on, Specs!" The older boy chuckled, and turned his head towards Les and Snitch. "Don' go around nearly beamin' peoples' heads off with dat thing, den-ya hear?" The boys nodded sullenly, and then ran off.

On some corners a few blocks away, Albert, Henry, Sniper, and Buttons were hawking papers. The four of them had frequently worked together during the strike, and had become good friends because of it. They had also become close during an event in February-because of Albert's "baby-face" (according to almost all of the newsies), some men had attacked him, since they thought that he was a man that had slept with one of their girlfriends the night before. All they knew for sure was that the man was about twenty, but looked to be about 16, and had brown hair and eyes-and Albert was one of the first people they saw. He looked like the man they were looking for, so they had gone after him. Unluckily for them, Henry, Sniper, and Buttons had come around a corner and seen the whole thing. By the time the three were finished, the five men were picking themselves off of the ground in pieces. The four of them stuck together after that.

A few corners over from them, Mush, JoJo, Mike, Ike, and Scabs were pushing papers. Usually, when the newsies ended up in the limelight, these five liked to step back, and allow the others to take their time in the spotlight. It's not that they didn't want to be adored-they already were, given how infatuated the public was with the newsies-but they didn't crave it, either. Once they realized that they shared that in common, they started realizing all the other things they had in common, and started hanging out more often at the Lodging House. Most newsies would rather shoot themselves in the foot than miss the games of poker between these four-it got intense very quickly, and was always extremely entertaining to watch.

On two corners near the Refuge were Romeo and Juliet. They weren't too close, but were a few streets back. Juliet was still recovering from her time spent in the Refuge both physically and mentally, and was much more comfortable on a corner a few blocks away for the time being. Jack and the other older newsies were also in favor of it, since it would be easier to keep an eye on the two younger newsies (Juliet was nearing her thirteenth birthday, and Romeo his fourteenth). Crutchie was selling near them, to keep an eye on them, and Race by him. Out of the four, Race was the strongest and fastest, and was therefore responsible of protecting the younger newsies if anything should happen. Of course, Crutchie would argue that he didn't need protection, it was all for Romeo and Juliet's sake, but he also knew that it would put Jack's mind at rest that Race was there to watch out for all three of them, especially with his bum leg. Davey was after Race, and then Jack, who was selling on the corner the Refuge itself was on. He kept shooting ugly glares at it ever few seconds, as if blaming the building for all of his troubles (after all, he, Crutchie, and Juliet had all passed through its door, and come out in tatters), but he was trying to not let it affect him too much.

At about one-thirty in the afternoon, all of the newsies stopped selling for a half-an-hour or so for lunch. Most of the newsies went over to Jacobi's Deli, which was an extremely popular spot for them to hang out. Jack and the group with him, however (Race, Davey, Crutchie, Romeo, and Juliet) went to a nearby sandwich vendor, and purchased some sandwiches with some money that Katherine had brought by earlier. Her story about the lawsuit against the newsies had been published all over the country, and each paper that had published it had sent her a small royalty in exchange. She, in turn, gave it to Jack, saying, "I wouldn't have a story without you, or a new friend like Juliet. You gave a young woman a chance to live again, and this is a small thanks I can give in return." Jack tried to refuse, but he couldn't get his girlfriend to change her mind, so he ended up taking it.

"Dese sandwiches…dey ain't too bad!" Romeo muttered after taking a bite. The others nodded. "Dis is what we's bin missin' all dese years-havin' ta deal with Jacobi's cooking!" Race chuckled. Juliet and Crutchie leaned back and grinned at each other, chuckling. Crutchie was stretching his bad leg out, which was bothering him again (which made the boy think that trouble could be on its way, since his leg always seemed to bother him when trouble was coming), and Juliet was still sore in a couple places. Most of her injuries were pretty much healed and gone, but her ribs were still working towards decent, as were her arms-the right one had been fractured, and her left had been broken in two places. The warm sun felt good to both of them as they leaned backwards, ending up kind of leaning on each other to keep their balance. For a while, the friends simply enjoyed the spring sunshine, other newsies trickling in after they finished eating, until the entire group was sitting outside in the grass, either playing games or stretching out sore muscles or doing whatever, but being a family all the same.

"Eh hem."

The cold, dry cough startled everyone, and the group turned as one to look behind them. There stood twelve men, who all looked to be in their early twenties. Their clothes were new and well-maintained, and they carried themselves with a certain air of arrogance and pride. Jack inwardly threw up on their fancy black shoes.

"Great. Rich boys with an attitude. Dat's da last thing we's wantin' 'round here."

"Is we able ta help ya with something?" Race asked. "Cause if not, iffn' ya could jus' hurry up an' scram, dat would be great-we was havin' a great day 'till ya came along."

"Oh, don't worry-we don't want to spend any more time among the lower echelon of society any more than we have to." the man in front declared. He was rather tall, almost as tall as Race and Specs, and had wavy blond hair and blue eyes, which were cold and frosty whenever they glanced in a newsie's direction. "We just came to inform you that your job-and soon you-will be quickly becoming obsolete, and that there will be no publicity stunt that will save you. You will soon be desolately destroyed." Every newsie's head swung to Davey, since he was the one who translated "rich-man speak" into regular English for the others. Sometimes Juliet could do it, since she had talked that way before becoming a newsie, but it didn't happen very often, since she was six when her parents abandoned her (and six year olds don't know many big words…besides "mine".). As they looked to Davey, they were surprised to see the flash of almost-rage that flashed across his face. Davey was usually the one that got arguing newsies to forgive one another, and kept everyone calm during trials. He never showed when he got upset, so for him to not even try to mask his anger…

Something was not right.

"He said…" Davey muttered, trying to get the words out of his throat, which seemed like it was trying to keep them hidden inside, "he said that they just wanted to tell us that…that our jobs, and after that us, will be outdated and useless, and that there's nothing that will catch the public's eye and help us that way…and that….we'll be ruined and destroyed soon." He growled low in his throat, and almost seemed like he was going to jump up and give the man a piece of his mind. Crutchie and Juliet caught Jack's subtle nod to them, though, and quickly moved into action-Crutchie plopping onto Davey's feet, so that he couldn't get up in the first place, and Juliet moving to sit on his lap, so that even if he managed to shake Crutchie, he wouldn't risk knocking her over and hurting her. Now sure that Davey would stay where he was and not shank the guy before Jack had a chance to, Jack turned back to face the man.

"An' jus' who are ya supposed ta be?" he queried harshly. The other man smiled coldly at him. "We are The League of Gentlemen, the club for the highest and most important male members of our society. We only accept the best and brightest, which, I'm happy to say, are none of you. I am Anton Merson, son of Edward and Susan Merson, and the leader of The League." The area was so silent after his declaration that you could have heard a pin drop from a mile away.

"An' we's supposed ta be impressed by dat?" Race queried? The other man didn't respond for a moment, and so everyone heard Juliet's gasp from where she sat on Davey's lap. "Wait a minute…Snitch, isn't dat-"

"The Anton Merson that we know? Yeah, I think it is!" her brother responded. Anton looked between the two of them, obviously confused. "I'm sorry-do I know you horrid creatures from somewhere?"

"Would you know Margaret and James Comstock?" Juliet asked quietly-almost menacingly. They could see when the recognition appeared in Anton's eyes as he looked between the two siblings, and then the arrogance and pride reappearing. "Well, well, well…I had heard about the suit involving you, little Margaret, but I never thought I would get the…pleasure…of seeing you and your brother firsthand again. How low you have sunken indeed-all the power and wealth of your family at your disposal, and what do you do-you run around consorting with these foul newsie vermin!"

"All right-stop right dere, or I'm gonna hit ya so hard ya won' feel anything for da next week an' a half." Juliet growled. She had talked with Jack and Crutchie about controlling her temper-which was very similar to Race's, in that they flared up extremely quickly and burned hot for a long time-but it was very hard to keep under control in that moment. "Yes, we was part of dat suit, but it was cause my parents were bastards, to both me an' my brother. Iffn' Crutchie an' Smalls didn' help me git out from unda dat bridge an' meet all of my older brothers, I was most likely gonna be dead within a week. So don' ya dare insult dem in fronta me-not unless ya wanna stop breathin', cause I could arrange dat." Now Romeo rested a restraining hand on her shoulder. "An' besides-money can' buy ya everything. Sure, it can git ya food an' clothes, but it cain't git'cha no family. An' it cain't git ya no love. Dat stuff's free-ta dose who deserve it, an' who work for it. Something I know you's couldn' do if ya life depended on it."

Every single member of The League started laughing at her comments. They laughed for at least two minutes, thoroughly confusing the newsies. They saw nothing funny about Juliet's rant-it was all truthful. After a while, Anton was able to calm himself down. "And those things are valuable…because? Face it, little friend, the world does not revolve on friendship and love-it revolves on money. And you threw that all away when you joined these imbeciles." He snorted. "I mean really-a ragtag group of half-starved boys and one girl-oh, and look, they've even got a cripple!" The other boys started laughing at Crutchie, who bristled under their cackling, but made no further response. "How on earth did you manage to pull off the strike-or win that lawsuit? You must have paid someone to rig it for you, but I don't know who or how, since you have no money." He made a subtle hand gesture, and the men of The League started to walk off, Anton following. Before he got too far away, he turned back and said, "You will be ruined beyond belief, newsies. I guarantee it." Then, he walked off.

Understandably, the newsies were all a bit shaken up by this, and they all unconsciously moved closer to Jack. "Why does dey hate us so much?" Mush asked.

Jack shrugged. "I wish I could tell ya, kid, I really do, but I honestly have no idea. Dem rich people, dey all think we is lower den street trash, but it ain't true. All right?" The other newsies still looked a bit disheartened, but they slowly nodded. "All right. Now, here's what we's gonna do-we's gonna finish sellin' our papes, and den we's goin' back ta da Lodging House an' doing somethin' together as a family-no breakin' off inta little groups tonight, ya hear? We'll play poker or somethin', try an' knock Mush, JoJo, Buttons, an' Scabs down a few rungs." The four newsies glared at Jack with fake hurt in their eyes, but they soon got over it, relishing the challenge that the older newsie had presented them with. As the others started slowly heading back to their corners, Jack sighed. "I don' know what we's gonna do if they's gonna keep comin' back here." he murmured, trying to stay out of earshot of the others. Crutchie, who had just shooed Romeo, Juliet, and Specs off to their corners, looked at him sympathetically. "Don' worry, Jack…I's sure dey's gonna give up soon, afta dey see jus' who dey's messin' with. We'll be rid of 'em by da end of de week." As the newsie leader sighed, Crutchie patted his best friend's shoulder, and continued, saying, "You'll see, Jack. We'll get some sleep, an' tomorrow dey'll go away. I know dey will." Eventually, thanks to Race and Davey, they were able to get Jack moving and heading back to his corner.

As he walked back to his own, however, Crutchie sighed, and gently rubbed his leg. It was sore, like it had been when the strike started, the day when he had gotten caught, thrown in the Refuge, and beaten with his own crutch, and when the Clancy brothers had first started giving them trouble, the day they had met Juliet for the first time.

Crutchie had learned.

Pain in his leg-or, to be accurate, more than what was normal-was a sign that trouble was right around the bend.

And this time his leg wasn't sore.

It was throbbing.

A/N 2: Dun dun dun….what's going to happen next? Haha…hopefully you guys all hate The League as much as the newsies/I do right now…I mean, I just created them two days ago, and I already want to kill them. Although, I do know what happens next chapter, so…stay tuned! I know for a fact that the next chapter (and the chapter after that) will not be cliffhangers, so that'll be nice, but be prepared…every single chapter after that (until Chapter 12) will be a cliffhanger. Every single one. I'm still not sure how I'm going to not make the next chapter a cliffhanger, with what's going on at the end…I swear, you'll all want to kill me after the next chapter, but again, you can't! Dead authors mean no new chapters! ;)

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I will see you soon! I'm going to go see Wicked tomorrow, so hopefully by Chapter 4 I can let you know how it went!

God bless,

1monster2