Disclaimer: Man, I wish. But, no.


"Jack!" Davey yelled excitedly, waving a manila envelope. "The report cards are here!" Jack looked up from his sketchbook and sighed. Of course Davey would be the one jumping up and down because of a report card. Even so, he wanted to see how he was doing. Jack stood up, following Davey to the dining room table the two roommates were sharing. There were two sides, separated by a piece of camouflage duct tape, courtesy of Les. It was easy to tell which side was which. Davey had all of his textbooks in a neat stack, not a piece of paper was crinkled. Jack on the other hand, his side was a complete and utter mess. The only area that wasn't a disaster was the little corner where he kept his art supplies. Laying there on top of his colored pencils was the envelope, identical to Davey's. Jack picked up the envelope, ripping it open to get the report inside. He held the progress report in his hand, reading through the grades in a hurry.

NAME: KELLY, JACK A.

SPANISH: A-

GYM: A

ALGEBRA: B

ENGLISH: B+

SCIENCE: A-

ART: A

HISTORY: D+

NOTES:

JACK IS DOING QUITE WELL IN ALL BUT ONE SUBJECT. AS HE IS NEAR TO FAILING HISTORY, I RECOMMEND HE COME TO GET A TUTOR. IF INTERESTED, PLEASE TALK TO STUDENT SERVICES.

He stared at his progress report. A D+ in history? How could he have gotten a D+ in history? He felt Davey breathing down his neck, looking over his shoulder at the bad grade. Jack quickly crumbled up the paper, his ears turning pink.

"Mind your own business!" He snapped. Davey put his hands up, slowly backing away from Jack. "Sorry," He mumbled.

"Its fine," Davey said after a moment. "You know, I could tutor you?" Jack was grateful for the offer, but he felt uncomfortable by the thought of Davey tutoring him. He didn't want to admit it, but Jack sometimes got pissed off by how well his roommate was in school.

"Nah, I'll just go talk to em tomorrow." Jack smiled meekly. "Who knows. I could end up getting a pretty girl."


Katherine walked into library, gripping the yellow sticky note from student services. She was personally asked by the principal if she would tutor a boy, a sophomore like her. Of course she had said yes, being a tutor could look good on a college application.

"His name is Jack Kelly, and you will be tutoring him in US history from 1864 to present." That seemed like an easy subject to Katherine, but to her, everything subject was easy so that didn't make much of a difference.

She sat down, opening a blue notebook from her journalism class. As she began writing, a boy in a navy sweatshirt timidly entered the library, looking as if he had never gone in there before. He stopped to talk to the librarian, who pointed at her. So that must be Jack Kelly. She thought to herself. Katherine gave him a quick look over. He was cute in a devilish kind of way. He reminded her of one of the boys she would expect to set fire to the gym or mix too many chemicals and blow up a science class.

He walked to her table, setting down his history textbook with a thump. Katherine smiled shyly at him, though he refused to look her in the eye.

"Hi, I'm Katherine. I'll be your tutor." She said warmly. "You must be Jack." Jack nodded slightly, still not saying anything. Katherine felt a little nervous. Is he always this quiet? "Um… what are you learning about in history?"

"Just some dumb strike." Jack muttered. "Page 479." He slid his textbook over to her, and she flipped through the pages. Katherine found page 479, reading the chapter title. STOP THE WORLD: THE NEWSBOY STRIKE OF 1899

"Oh, this is a fun chapter!" She said. "So, tell me what you already know, and we can work from there."

"Um…" Jack looked a little frustrated, his brow furrowing as he tried to remember what he had learned. "I… I dunno." He looked embarrassed, making Katherine feel bad for him.

"Come here." She said, patting the chair next to her. Jack slid into the chair, turning a light pink. "Jack, you don't have to feel bad. I'm here you help you pass. If you don't know where you are, then let's start at the very beginning." (A/N First person to tell me what musical thats from gets a shout out in my next update, whatever that may be.) "It really all started during the Spanish American War during 1898 when the demand for newspapers got so high, big newspaper companies like The World and The New York Journal had to up the sale price for the newsies, due the fact many people wanted the papers, or papes as the newsboys often called them."

"I like that word," Jack blurted out. "Papes. It sounds cool." Katherine chuckled.


"See you on Thursday!" Jack said brightly, clutching his textbook as he walked out of the library. Davey's car was parked out front. Jack slid into the passenger seat, Les was sitting in the back for some reason. "Hey, kid."

"Hi, Cowboy!" Les replied. Davey looked at Jack.

"So, how was your tutoring?" He asked.

"Remember when I said I might get a pretty girl?"

"Yeah?"

"I got a pretty girl. Her name's Katherine."

"Katherine Plumber?" Davey said incredulously. Jack nodded. "She's the smartest girl in the grade. You're really lucky."

"But, Davey!" Les piped up. "I thought you were the smartest girl in the grade!" That earned the little boy a laugh from one of his brothers and a scowl from the other. Jack opened his textbook to page 479. A sticky note fell out and tumbled to the floor of the car. On it in nice handwriting was:

Call me if you have a question.

(930)-287-6249

-Katherine.


You guys didn't know you were going to get a small history lesson while reading this did you. Anyways, I hope you like. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. I am going to try to get the next chapter for I Got Midtown posted as soon as I can, so be on the look out for that too. Newsies forever, second to none!