This story was written for the Newsies Pape Selling Competition. (P.S. You can still join!)

Circulation One: Favorite Newsie. Task: A time when the newsboys held a party for your favorite newsie.

Prompts Used: -Object: Sugar-Dialogue: "I'm not going to pretend you deserve it!"-Color: Yellow

Word Count: 1,418

As you can see, currently my favorite newsie is Jack, specifically Jack played by Jeremy Jordan. Enjoy!

It was a cold night.

Not the kind of cold that makes you want to bundle up by a roaring fire, but a good, brisk kind of cold. The air had a bite to it. If you were moving at all, you didn't even notice.

Jack was used to this kind of cold, and he liked it. It made him want to run and jump and climb. And on this night in particular, yell for joy. The strike was behind them now—and they had won. Yes, the Newsies of Lower Manhattan had beaten publishing giant Pulitzer, and saved The World from a great injustice. It was a wonderful feeling.

Jack was alone on the street. All the newsies—and Katherine—were at the Lodging House, waiting for him. Heck, they were probably asleep. It had been a long day, filled with shouts and fights and hugs and…winning. That was the main thing. Jack couldn't get over it…we won.

Along with the happiness, there came another gnawing pain. After the strike had been settled, he had mentioned leaving for Santa Fe. It had been time for his dream to finally come true—ah, who was he kidding? Had he really thought that they would let him go, after everything that had just happened? Jack understood now that there was no way he could leave his brothers—not to mention Katherine—but yet…

There was a certain sadness about it, now that he thought about his lost dream. Jack looked up into the sky. There was the moon, blurry, cold, and distant. He stopped and allowed himself a moment to close his eyes and think about the moon in Santa Fe. How long ago had it been that he had added that moon to his standard vision of Santa Fe? "Just a moon so big and yellow, it turns night right into day!" He saw that yellow moon in his mind's eye—the color of butter. It hung so low to the ground in Santa Fe that you could reach out and touch it. He wanted that yellow moon to warm him. Someday, he'd see it—

No, that dream was done now. Maybe someday he could visit Santa Fe, but he knew his home was here—in stinky old New York City.

Jack found himself at the door to the Lodging House. He pressed an ear to the door. Yep, just as he'd thought—not a sound. They were all asleep. He might as well climb up the side ladder to the roof, so as not to disturb anyone. But he realized Katherine was in there. He forgot—she had sent him to her apartment to shut her window. It was a dumb thing, but she said she didn't want burglars sneaking in, and Jack could climb the fire escape up to her window. The funny thing was, it was already closed. Still, she might be waiting up for him. Actually, he kind of hoped she was waiting up for him.

So he opened the door, suddenly squinting in the light of all the lamps that had been lit. How could they sleep in this—

"SURPRISE!" came the collective shout, and newsies sprang out from dozens of different hiding spots. Jack jumped back in shock. He caught a glimpse of Katherine's face among the crowd of newsies, and she was beaming smugly at him. The window had just been a ploy to get him out of the Lodging House! He laughed as they all surrounded him.

"Wha—what is this?" he asked.

"A party!" Les yelped, his face smeared with chocolate. Jack saw the remains of a lopsided chocolate cake setting on a bed. Apparently the newsies hadn't been able to wait to start eating it before he got back. Jack remembered Katherine mentioning baking a cake a few days ago, saying how horribly it had turned out. He laughed again.

"What for?"

"Winnin' the strike, dummy!" Race said, knocking him on the head.

"We won, we won, we won!" Les shouted, running in circles around Jack. Clearly, the sugar was making the little boy just a bit overexcited.

"But why'd you all jump out and yell 'surprise' at me?"

"Because you led us to victory!"

"Aw, I didn't—"

"I thought it was a 'we'se glad you ain't going to Santa Fe' party," Henry said, looking confused.

"No, it's a 'we beat Pulitzer' party!"

"Then why'd we all yell 'surprise' at Jack?"

"Because he's the one who helped us do it!"

"Wait, wait, wait. I thought this was a 'gagement party."

"A what?"

"You know, a 'gagement." Elmer looked around at the confused faces. "A 'gagement! Between Jack and Katherine." Katherine's head shot up. She raised an eyebrow at Jack, who shrugged. "Ain't this because they'se getting married?"

"WHAT?!"

"Woah, woah, slow down there," Jack said, walking over to put his arm around Katherine. "I don't think that's it. We'se gotta wait a bit for that."

"The point is, we'se having a party because you won the strike." Davey finally spoke. He had been in a corner, frowning at the chaos. "And I'm not going to pretend you deserve it."

Jack rounded on him. "What's that supposed to mean?" he demanded.

Davey shrugged. "Well, if I remember correctly, you were about to take Pulitzer's money and zip off to Santa Fe, leavin' us in the dust. Even after we got Brooklyn over here."

"Okay, listen…"

"I'm just sayin', you weren't with us the whole time."

"But he came back to us, didn't he?" Katherine frowned, getting defensive.

"Yeah, Jack never went through with it!"

"Hey, hey, guys…settle down…" Jack took a step forward and raised his hands to quiet them. He leaned towards Davey, a mischievous smirk on his face. "Davey ain't really mad. He's just jealous! He wanted a party of his own!" The newsies roared with laughter. Davey's protests were drowned out. After a moment, even he cracked a smile.

"Um, no, that's not it," Davey said after the newsies's laughs had quieted to snickers. "Sorry, Jack, I guess I'm just tired. It's late. Les and I should be getting home." He glanced at Les, who was the exact opposite of tired. He was leaping between bunk beds, pausing only to jump on particularly springy ones. Jack wondered vaguely when the excess sugar would cause Les to crash.

"Aw, stay for the party, Davey!" Crutchie emerged from the crowd of newsies. "We'se barely gotten started!"

"And you might be tired, but Les ain't," Jack added, as Les reached down from an upper bunk for another handful of cake.

Davey sighed dramatically. "Well, I guess."

"You know who really deserves a surprise party?" Jack asked, putting his arm around a certain newsie. "This kid. Crutchie. The only one of us to do time in the Refuge for this strike."

Crutchie blushed.

"I was thinking the same thing," Katherine said, smiling, "But there was no way for us to get him out of here."

"Is that some kind of cripple joke?" Crutchie asked good-naturedly.

"Well, you can't exactly climb a fire escape to close a window…one that didn't need closing," Jack said, tussling Crutchie's hair and rolling his eyes at Katherine.

"And I think you'd be too smart to fall for something like that anyway," Katherine said.

"You saying I ain't smart?" Jack pulled Katherine toward him with his free arm.

"No. I'm just saying your mind was on other things, so much that you didn't question it."

"That's for sure."

Jack went over to the demolished chocolate cake and took a handful of what was left. He sat down on the floor and watched the newsies celebrate their victory around him. He could see how Les had gotten so riled up—this cake must have had a pound of sugar in each bite.

Jack felt so happy, he wished this night could last forever; all of them partying like they didn't have a care in the world, knowing they were more than just poor newsboys—they were winners. Still, Jack knew they would have to wake up tomorrow and start selling all over again. Tomorrow would be almost back to normal, not that anything would ever be the same again. He let them celebrate, even knowing how hard it would be to wake them all up in the morning. It was a night of happiness, and he didn't want to spoil it.

Tomorrow, they would be confident newsies. But for tonight, they were just happy kids.