Mush had already sold his last newspaper. He was waiting on Crack for once. Usually she finished selling first. When she finished selling her last paper she joined him on the bench. A month had passed since she left her brothers to be with Mush and the newsies. She still enjoyed selling papers every day and hanging out with some of the other newsies she knew.
"What took you so long?" Mush asked her.
"Whadda you mean 'what took so long'? Ain't I the one usually waitin' for you to sell your last pape?"
"What's that gotta do wit' anything?" They began wrestling and fell off the bench. Then they got up and headed back to the lodging house.
"Aren't da others at Tibby's?" Crack asked. Mush shook his head.
"No, we're eatin' at da lodging house today. It's Jack's birthday, or at least when we celebrate his birthday."
"So today isn't his actual birthday?"
"No. Jack doesn't even know when his birthday is, so we decided every year we'd celebrate when he became a newsie instead."
Crack shrugged and followed Mush. The others were already there. They had set up a few decorations, mainly signs that had "Happy Birthday Jack" painted on them. Kloppman had helped them with the spelling. There was food set out on a table in the back room: some bread and cheese, a bowl of apples, and lemonade to drink. They were newsies after all, and couldn't afford much for a celebration. Mush explained to Crack that it was supposed to be a surprise, since Jack never remembered his "birthday."
"When's Jack supposed to get here?" she asked.
"Any minute," Racetrack told her. "We were beginning to wonder if Mush had forgotten about the party too. Luckily you showed up before Jack got here." At that moment Jack walked through the door. He noticed the signs and all the newsies gathered.
"I wondered why no one was at Tibby's," he said. They all laughed and brought him to the back room.
They talked and ate most of the day, and visited Medda's in the evening. She gave Jack a few dollars. She let them watch her performance backstage. They left when she closed. It had been a good day.
The next day was back to normal and Crack finished selling her papers before Mush. He told her to go on ahead to Tibby's and he'd catch up to her. She was halfway there when she saw her brothers walking towards her. They had seen her too. She stared at them a minute without moving, then dashed across the street into an alley. She had been hoping to lose them, but they had expected it. They shoved her into a corner.
"Like being a newsie?" Oscar asked her. "Perhaps you enjoy hanging around those street rats."
"What do you want?" Crack asked. Morris had her pinned to the wall so she couldn't get away.
"Nothing . . . right now that is. We're gonna make you pay for betraying us for those newsies. You better be watchin' your back from now on." Morris let go of her and they watched her run out of the alley.
She had been hoping her brothers would leave her alone, but apparently they were still bitter about her leaving them for Mush. It seemed that they wanted revenge. She didn't want to worry Mush, since they were more likely to go after her rather than him. When she reached Tibby's they asked her where she had been. Mush had arrived before her. She started cracking her knuckles.
"I saw my brudders and wanted to avoid them, so I had to get here by a different way. That's what took so long." It was mostly the truth. When they were walking back Mush started talking with Kid Blink about making up headlines. Crack used the opportunity to talk to Racetrack.
"Hey Race, can you keep an eye on Mush for me?" she asked him.
"What for?"
"Just in case my brudders try something."
"What makes you think they're gonna try something?"
"Nothing, I just don't want him to get hurt if they do. So can you?" Racetrack agreed and Crack relaxed a little. As far as she was concerned she only had to look out for herself. She had no idea what the Delancey brothers actually had in store for her.