"Hey, Rella, I gotta question," Jack said, as Jack, Davey, Crutchie, and I all sat on the roof of the orphanage where we lived with the other Manhattan Newsies.

I nodded and said, "Ask away, Jack."

"Do you think anyone might be looking for you?" he asked.

I turned and stared at him. Was Stepmother looking for me? Did I actually care if she was looking for me? Was she actually worried about her stepdaughter or did she just want her maid back? Was she worried about me? I took a deep breath and answered, "I doubt it. Why?"

"Well, there's a rumor going around in the rich part of New York—da Bronx—that Lady Eleanora Tremaine of Nanthia had—has—a stepdaughter, who—this is the weird part—is named Eleanor, but called Ella, or according to Lady Tremaine, Little Ella, who ran away and that Lady Tremaine is really worried about her. Apparently, she promised Lord Edmund Tremaine to keep his daughter safe and her running away makes Lady Tremaine feel like a failure," Crutchie murmured.

I rolled my and snorted. "Yeah, right," I scoffed. "Lady Tremaine doesn't really care about her stepdaughter. She probably just wants her maid back."

"How do you know that?" Davey, who'd been sitting silently next to Jack, asked, eyeing me suspiciously.

"Because I am her stepdaughter and she's never cared about me since Father's death almost thirteen years ago," I answered. "I was her servant, her slave. It was awful. And I'm amazed you heard that nickname—the 'Little Ella' one—'cause she hasn't called me in that in years. Nowadays, she and her daughters call me Cinderella."

Jack hugged me and said, "Well, then, Miss Rella Tremaine, or should I say Miss Rella Kelly, we'll do what we can to keep you a Newsie."

Then I asked, "What's so weird about my name, Crutchie? If anyone's name is weird, it's you or Buttons."

"Nicknames—Buttons had had a very large button collection and I always have had a gimp leg and had to use a crutch," he responded. "It's just how similar your name is to your stepmother's name that's weird."

I grinned and said, "Alright boys. Time for us all to be getting to bed. We've a big day ahead of us tomorrow."

Crutchie, Davey and Jack all grumbled but obediently went to bed. Jack called, "Who put you in charge?"

"I'm pretty sure I'm the oldest which makes me, by default, in charge," I called back.

"I'm seventeen," Jack called.

"I got two years on ya, Jack—nineteen," I called back.

"Damn it," he swore. "Fine, you're in charge, but I gets first dibs on second-in-command."

I laughed and said, "Sure, Jack. You're my second-in-command."

Then I went to bed as well.