Newt Newsberry Black Ops Campaign

By SC Cluff

Ever tried out for something and didn’t make it? Or didn’t try out , in fear of failing? But what if you did it anyway?

An average kid, with average friends, takes on the extraordinary goal in becoming America's FIRST kid senator but he must first get through the evil and powerful mayor, Mort Axes, a man who has never lost a fight and will win at all costs.

Axes is a man so skilled at the art of lying he persuaded his own mother he was an orphan, so ruthless and uncaring that he stole a blind neighbor’s working dog and replaced it with a cat so he wouldn't have to buy a new puppy for his daughter. The senatorship is his and no stupid kid will get in his way!

Not to be outdone by Newt, childhood enemy Liam Noahlot will stop at nothing to ruin him. He uses his daddy's money to cause all manner of problems for his former best friend, being sure to humiliate and undermine Newt at every turn.

But Newt gets some help from some unlikely friends. Meet them all, starting with Hu Flung Pu, "T-Bone", Alistair Crumpet, and Brooke McVitty. Come join Newt and learn how he sets his lofty goal, and works to achieve it.

You too can do great things if you believe in yourself!"

• Language: English
• Publisher: SC Cluff
• Release date: Aug 30, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301136025

Book preview

Newt Newsberry

Black Ops Campaign

Written and Illustrated by SC Cluff

Newt Newsberry

Black Ops Campaign

By SC Cluff

Copyright © 2013 SC Cluff

Oklahoma

Smashwords Edition

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the author.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either works of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales are entirely coincidental.

Dedicated to my son, Teagan

You are everything that is good about me.

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1 At Your Service

CHAPTER 2 Senator Phil Mypokits

CHAPTER 3 The War Room

CHAPTER 4 Black Ops

CHAPTER 5 Axes vs. Allies

CHAPTER 6 Outflanked

CHAPTER 7 The Tide of War Changes

CHAPTER 8 Unbelievable

CHAPTER 1

AT YOUR SERVICE

The Painting

Looking back, I can’t believe what I did. I must have been crazy to do any of this, but I did it. I promised my mom I would write about it one day, and I always keep my promises. I was raised in poverty and even beaten up most days in school but still managed to become one of the most famous and powerful kids in the whole country.

My name is Tristin Newsberry, but my friends call me Newt (more about that later), and I proudly come from a long line of military heroes. In fact, a member of my family has served in every major battle since the Revolutionary War. My great, great, great, great Grandpa Archibald Newsberry even served under George Washington.

Family legend told us he helped paddle the boat Washington was on in that famous painting. I kept telling myself, with a history like that, I was destined for greatness. The trouble was digging deep and finding something about me that was deemed great.

Humble Beginnings

I go to Garlow Middle School in a sleepy, small town called Chino Valley. We live right in the buckle of the Bible Belt, or at least a belt notch or two away from the buckle. I think the name came from the fact that our town sits between two hills that look like two big chins or a really big pair of butt cheeks, depending on the time of day you look at it, and if you’re a boy. At least, that’s what I was told by my grandpa.

I never had much use for a home growing up. We moved around a lot to dingy apartments and beat-up rental houses. The apartments were small, so space was in short supply.

We didn’t have a TV or computer as they cost more than we could afford, but I still secretly wished for cool things, like birthday parties and a nice Christmas tree with just a couple of presents under it.

School was just a painful chore to me; I hated it with a passion. Math was especially hard for me, and I was sick a lot on test days.

My mom hopped from job to job faster than a frightened cricket in a room full of marching boots. She never had a real career of any sort, just lots of random jobs to make ends meet.

I know life was no piece of lemon cake for her either. She had a hard time with things too, like me. Life, in general, was difficult for us even on good days.

This was mainly because we were always short on money, and I was often either hungry or cold. At school, a few of the older kids felt I was an easy target because of my family situation, so most days I would get beat up. I hated recess and would often ask if I could stay in and help the teacher, just to escape the wrath of the bullies.

I would’ve fought back but four on one odds didn't seem too favorable. Plus, these kids were older and bigger than me, and I’m not stupid. Even kids in my class found a reason to pick on me when the teachers weren’t looking. Whether it was my white tennis shoes that were too small and had large holes in the toes, or my hand-me-down jeans that should have been handed back and were a few inches too short, or the plastic grocery bag I carried to school in place of a backpack, they could always find something to pester me about.

I would often come home with bruises and swollen lips, and it would make Mom really sad. I would lie in bed and have great dreams of fame and fortune to make me feel like I had a purpose out there waiting for me. Little did I know, they would come true once the opportunity presented itself.

Getting from place to place was a nightmare since we never owned a car. Cars cost a lot and gas was too expensive. We had to walk everywhere, even in the pouring rain or blistering sunshine, frigid snow or jarring cold. I especially hated grocery shopping in the winter. I dreaded the long walks home in the grayish snow, the plastic bags biting into my almost numb fingers and menacing cars spraying us with slush as they screamed past. It was our life though, and as bad as it was, we had to make lemonade with the lemons life gave us.

It was a tough time in my life for sure, but it made me more determined to be successful when I grew up. I didn’t want the rest of my life to end up like the first part. So, at night, as I lay in my almost dark room looking at the ceiling, I would begin to think of ways to change my future and make things different.

I knew I had several things to work on, starting with my grades. Successful people always tried to be their best, and my grades sure weren’t at their best.

I didn’t care at first because I thought grades didn’t matter, but that only started a cascade of not caring about things. It was time to turn off that faucet and take school seriously. For the first time in years, I actually started to turn in my homework, listen in class and study for the tests. Before I knew it, my grades had really improved. My fellow students began to realize that I wasn’t as dumb as they thought and started requesting me in their groups to finish big projects and work together.

Slowly, I started to come out of my social shell and make new friends. This was always hard for me when I started a new school every few months. It was like pressing rewind and starting a movie over again every time. Mom promised this job was better, and we would be around for a while. So, with her promise in hand, I went out to build my friend roster.

Having good friends helped shield me from my bullies. Soon the bullies got bored and went away in search of easier targets. Life was looking up for me, and I’d only just begun.

Mr. Newsberry

The biggest turning point in our lives was when Mom met a guy named Martin Newsberry at the bookstore. He was looking up some books on science experiments for the classroom, and Mom was looking for the latest romance book by Melody Anne. Once she spotted the book she was looking for, she reached to the top of the shelf to retrieve it. Fatefully, that romantic gem of a book was wedged between two larger ones.

Mom pulled and pulled, slowly trying to pry the book out of the spot, but it seemed to be locked in place. After a tiresome few seconds, the book finally started to wiggle and move. She yanked a little harder to capitalize on her gains, and suddenly the book flew from the clenching grasp of the shelf, out of my mom’s grappling hands and into a nearby cup of cappuccino.

The book settled with a clatter onto a plate, atop a half-eaten, newly crushed biscuit. The piping hot contents of the cup were now all over its owner and chunks of crushed biscuit were scattered haphazardly over the table and the floor. Lucky for Mom, the only causality in all this turned out to be her future husband, and to this day, they joke about how they met in the bookstore.

He was a science teacher and a good one at that. He also happened to be a great guy and treated me like I was his very own kid. We hit it off from day one and have never looked back. Now, he