It took a while for Hallie to cool off. I was curious about what Gail did, so I asked her.

"What did Gail do to Spot Conlon anyway?"

Hallie, her face still marked with fury, answered back.

"You know that 'infamous' jump-kick in the face by Gail, right? Well, she did just that!"

Oh. The jump-kick. Leaves a red shoe mark on someone's face when done with proper kicking. Gail settles every fight she's in to with that.

"Why did she do it?" I asked, looking towards the direction where Gail sat, watching the newsies. Strangely, though, they're in a festive mood, jumping, singing & dancing about. Curious passer-bys stand & watch them. For newsboys, they sure can dance quite well.

"Well, it seems that the person Gail was mad at last night turned out to be Spot. Her Game Boy thingy was snatched by one of his newsies & she chased him down on to Brooklyn. And blah blah blah, whatever! The feud between those two idiots started, involving the Newsies strike!"

Okay, that's not new to us. I've heard that before. Gail also has an arch-nemesis back in our own time. It's also a boy. His name is Mark. She has hated the guy since they were classmates back in the third grade. Although Mark has already apologized to her, (By the way, he and his friends played a nasty practical joke on her back then.) she won't forgive him. The guy has asked for forgiveness and he also seemed sincere, so why won't Gail forgive him? I think the fight between her and this Spot Conlon will also end up like that. Gail being so stubborn on not forgiving the guy for whatever he did to her. Which leads to that question: What did Spot do to Gail anyway?

Open the gates and seize the day

Don't be afraid and don't delay

Nothing can break us

No one can make us

Give our rights away

Neighbor to neighbor

Father to son

One for all and all for one!

The newsies sure are enjoying themselves in the midst of everything bad that's happening. Just look at the bright side, eh? That's a good trait. From afar, the circulation bell begins to ring.

"Anybody heah dat?" I heard Jack shouted from the center of the square. Hallie was shaken off from her angry state, curious of what's happening. I, too, was also curious.

"NO!" the others shouted with glee.

"So, what are we gonna do about it?"

"SOAK 'EM!"

A large outburst from the newsies erupted, running towards the distribution center. Gail, who was looking excited, ran towards us and grabbed our hands.

"C'mon, you guys, let's join 'em!"

Well, I wanted to. I just don't know if my sister does.

"Ah, you know I'm mad at you, right?" Hallie said with an eyebrow raised.

"Oh, come on! This'll be fun!" Gail said, looking really excited.

"Yeah, come on, Hallie. Don't stress about the whole strike thing. You're too high-strung. Let's have a little fun." I said, smiling at my sister.

She looked at me with a sour expression, but shortly, it turned to a better one.

"Oh, all right!"

We ran after the boys in the distribution center. Some of the smaller ones sneaked in with the crates of rotten tomatoes. I think I know where this is going to. Jack and Davey's up in the platform, persuading, or rather, intimidating the "scabs" to join them. The newsies and the scabbers have a stand off. Three scabs finally joined in with the newsies.

"Whoa, I think we'll have trouble with that one." Gail whispered to me. I placed my eyes back on the crowd and saw a tall scab come up against Jack. He tries to get by, but the guys won't let him.

"Jack, just don't…"

I heard Davey trying to persuade Jack not to do anything brash. But Jack didn't listen. He took the bunch of newspapers out of the tall scab's hands by force. The scab tries to reach for it, but instead, forces his way out of the distribution center. And that, my friends, is the start of a-

"RIOT!"

Gail squealed with her high-pitched voice. The boys started beating up the scabs, who eventually run away. One of them even shoved me out of the way!

"Hey, that hurts!"

Dawn fled from the scene, either probably afraid of getting hurt or afraid of getting a perfectly manicured nail broken. Taylor joined in with the soaking. She looked like she was enjoying herself, beating up those boys. I saw Gail, not far from where I am, holding a stick.

"BATTER UP!"

A boy up in the platform threw a rotten tomato at her and she hit it back. The tomato flew up to the window, got squished in the railings where Weasel and his two nephews were cowering behind. Then, the kids started throwing tomatoes at them. They almost hit them, though. Weasel closed the window. The others were tearing up newspapers. I joined them and started tearing the newspapers with them. This is fun!

"WAHOO! THIS TOTALLY ROCKS!"

Gail shouted. She jumped at Mush's back and ran around the chaotic grounds. Hallie threw paper balls at Davey and vice versa. Jack tried chasing me around the place. I threw a rotten tomato at him, but unfortunately, he avoided it with ease. He went up to the distribution window and started making faces and blowing raspberries at Weasel, Oscar and Morris. I can just imagine them looking mad inside that room. The newspaper riot continued. Gail laid on the torn newspaper-covered ground and tried to make newspaper angels.

"That's not going to work!" Halle said, laughing.

"Hey, I was just trying!" Gail said. We laughed our heads of as the commotion continued. The newsies started making indian noises and jumping around. It was pure fun and chaos. We helped them push a delivery cart onto its side. It toppled over and some of them, including Gail, jumped at the top of it. But good fun always comes to its end point, as we heard cops blowing whistles.

"Cheese it! Cheese it, it's da bulls!" Jack shouted.

At once, we ran to the exit. We escaped before any of us get caught by the cops. We were halfway out of the scene, when we heard Racetrack's voice calling out to Crutchy.

"Crutchy! Scram! Scram!"

"Oh no! Crutchy! Hey, I'm going back!" I said. Frantic as I was, I ran back to the distribution center. But, in the most unfortunate moment, the gates are being blocked by the police. With unpleasant images racing through my mind, I tried to force my way into the crowd of people. Suddenly, I felt a hand gripping mine tightly. I turned my eyes on whoever pulled me back. It was Jack.

"What da hell are ya thinking! Do you wanna get caught!"

"Let go of me, Jack! We have to save Crutchy!"

"Oh, yeah. You got a plan?"

That sentence shut me up. What was I to do? I'm just a girl. As if I can do anything to save Crutchy.

"No, but still…"

"He's gonna be fine. Don't worry."

"But…"

"No buts. C'mon, don't worry."

Tears started forming behind my eyes, threatening to spill any minute.

"But who will save him?"

"I will. I know where they're takin' 'im."