Chapter Six: In Which the Day is Seized and the Newsies Fall

Word Count: 2,202

Manhattan 1899

"Is it Specs?" Mush asked as they walked back to the lodge.

"No."

"Finch?"

"No."

"Buttons?"

"Nope."

"Really? Who haven't I guessed yet? Is it..." Mush paused thoughtfully. His eyes widened as what looked like realization dawned on his face. "Wait, is it..."

Cassie endeavored to ignore the sudden racing of her heart and looked at him. "Is it...?"

"Is it Romeo?"

She tried – and failed – to stifle her relieved and amused laughter as she shook her head. "No. It isn't Romeo."

"Oh, thank goodness. Okay, so who is it then? I've guessed everyone, right?"

"Well..."

"I have, I think. And so far, you ain't said 'yes' to any of 'em!"

They were nearing the lodge now. The sun was sinking below the horizon, turning the sky brilliant hues of purple and pink and orange. "That's 'cause none of them have been right thus far."

"Ugh, I give up."

"Okay, good. I feel a little better."

"Why're ya so worried about me figurin' this out anyway?"

"I, uh, I have my reasons."

"Alright, I'll leave ya alone...for now."

"I'll accept that," Cassie replied as they walked inside. It was unusually empty. She'd never really been to the lodge during the day, when there was hardly anyone inside. It looked like not many people had come back from their trips, and they were only a few newsies who had decided not to go in the first place.

"It's kinda empty in here, ain't it?" Mush said as if reading her mind.

"Yeah." A couple of people looked up at their arrival and waved. Cassie waved back. Mush went over to talk to Romeo, so she sat down on her bunk, pulled out her copy of Pride and Prejudice and started reading. Today, though, despite all her best efforts, she couldn't stay focused on the story. Eventually, she stopped trying to read it and let her mind wander.

She and Mush had just returned from visiting Finnigan, the leader of the Harlem newsies, who was immediately intrigued when they mentioned the strike, although he hadn't made his decision yet, electing to wait until he knew what Brooklyn was going to do. Cassie desperately hoped that Brooklyn would agree; it seemed like the other boroughs might be the same as Harlem had been. Brooklyn was, after all, the sixth largest city in the world. Hopefully, Jack and Davey's trip had gone well.

Speaking of Davey: she'd underestimated him. So far (aside from his unawareness about the way buying papers worked for newsies, of course) he'd proved to be a rather redoubtable companion. He was intelligent and thoughtful, and he'd assisted in helping figure out some of the complications of the strike. In fact, he'd been the one who'd initially suggested it. Cassie figured she owed him an apology sometime soon.

And then there was the strike itself. While she would have been the first to admit that she didn't at first want to go through with it, the more she thought about it, and the more plans they made, the more exciting it seemed to get. Of course, it would have been even better if they could strike and make money at the same time, but since that wouldn't happen, it was more than satisfying to imagine the look on Pulitzer's face when he realized that his efforts to make more money only resulted in him making less.

She glanced over at Mush and Romeo, deep in animated conversation. Then Romeo stood up and walked over to her with a suspiciously smug smirk on his face. "So," he began as he joined her on the bunk. "Who's the lucky fella?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't pretend ya don't know," Romeo continued. "Mush tells me you'se got your eye on someone."

She blinked, trying to feign as much innocence as she could. "And why would he tell you that?"

"Cassie, we both know you'se a terrible liar. Don't even try to deny it. He said that you said that if he could guess, you'd tell him if he was right. He's already informed me that it isn't me, so I have a guess for you."

"I said that Mush could guess. Not you."

"Well, that's 'cause Mush would never guess himself, ain't it?"

And suddenly Cassie realized that Romeo was a lot smarter than he sometimes seemed. (At least when it came to romance.)

"Am I wrong? I mean, you two would be adorable together. Can I tell 'im?"

Romeo asking this snapped Cassie back to reality and it was only then that she became aware that she was gaping. "No, you cannot tell him!" she hissed.

"So it is him, then."

"Wha - I - " she stuttered.

Romeo smirked again, stood, and stalked away without saying another word.

Cassie didn't even bother trying to stop him. This is what she'd wanted, right? For someone to find out? Well now someone knew – well, actually, Romeo knew, which was a little different -and she was supposed to be able to just get over it and forget that any of this had ever happened.

Problem was, after having it happen, she now recognized that she did not, in fact, want it to happen again.

The next morning, they waited at the gates. Cassie had almost forgotten they were on strike, just watching for the strikebreakers.

"Is anyone else coming?" Davey asked.

"I got no clue."

"Well, you've seen Spot Conlon, right?" Race added. "What'd he say?"

"Sure, we seen him."

"Him and about twenty of his gang."

"And them Brooklyn boys is big," Les chimed in, prompting Davey to smile and tousle his brother's hair. Please, Les, their leader's barely got any inches on you.

"And, I gotta say, Spot was very impressed, wasn't he?"

"I'd say."

"Alright, so...they're with us?" Race asked hopefully.

"Well, that depends how you look at it."

"What's that mean?" Cassie cut in.

"If you look and see Brooklyn, then they're with us."

Oh.

If they looked and saw Brooklyn, they might see Harlem, too, and probably all the other boroughs.

"They wanted proof that we weren't gonna fold at the first sign of trouble."

"Are we?" asked Finch.

"We are not, no! There's us, there's Harlem - "

"Not so fast, boss," Mush said, cutting Jack off.

"Yeah, Harlem is waiting to see what Brooklyn will do,"

"Uh, well, what about Queens?"

"Queens will be right here backin' us up!"

The newsies' cheers of elation were cut short when Specs added, "As soon as we get the nod from Brooklyn!"

"Why would you phrase it like that?"

"I got the same fisheye in Midtown."

Someone else opened their mouth to share, but the Delanceys stalked over with looks of pure evil on their faces. "Hey Oscar," Morris began wickedly, "I guess we got bum information about a strike happenin' today. Not like I'm complainin'. I know my skull-bustin' arm could use a day of rest." He and Oscar opened the gates, and Les was the first to walk out.

"Are we doing the right thing?"

"Sure, we are!" Davey exclaimed.

"Maybe we should put this off a few days," Race said, and as he walked away, many of the other newsies did, too.

"No, we can't just..." Davey trailed off as people continued to leave. He turned to Jack. "Tell them that if we put this off now, they'll never listen to us again!"

Cassie, not for the first time since the strike began, found herself agreeing with Davey. The strike was a risky idea, yes, but if it did end up succeeding, Pulitzer would never pick on them again. And if they showed no resolve this early on, he would continue. They had to go through with this.

"Hey, we can't put this off. Okay? Like it or not, now is when we take a stand."

"How 'bout we just don't show up for work? That'll send a message!"

"No, no, they'll just replace us! They need to see us stand our ground. Davey, you tell 'em."

"I don't know what to say," Davey protested quietly. He took a deep breath and started speaking.

Davey's makeshift motivational speech worked, beyond a shadow of a doubt.

At first, he seemed quiet and diffident, but as he gained listeners in the newsies, it seemed he gained confidence, too. Crutchie even made a strike sign (which the newsies had mixed opinions on – Mush personally thought it was pretty cool). No reinforcements had showed up yet, but after a little bit of talking about how they needed to stand their ground and seize the day, Jack joined in speaking.

Their combined efforts changed the minds of the few newsies that were still unconvinced, and soon, they were all in agreement: now was the time to seize the day.

So as they stood, proud and defiant, in front of the gates, Mush knew they'd be able to win this.

"The sun is shinin'," began Weasel. "The birds are singin' - it's a beautiful day to crack some heads, ain't it? Step right up and get your papers."

"Hey, are ya workin' or tresspassin'?" asked Morris.

"Yeah, what's your pleasure?"

There were a couple of scabs that tried to get through, but eventually even they were convinced (admittedly, because the newsies forced themselves upon them and not so much by the power of speech itself, save for one of the scabs, but Davey wouldn't let them fight and so how else would they get people to listen?) They stood in the square and preached their unanimous cry.

"One for all and all for one!"

They got their pictures taken for the Sun, and then proceeded to shred any newspaper they could get their hands on in a moment of joyousness and triumph.

A lot of things happened after that.

There was a fight.

Everyone had a different role, and they played them well. Mush helped Finch, Jack, Blink and some others with offense. The Delanceys had joined in, and Mush (as well as almost every other newsie) knew from experience that they weren't even half bad at fighting.

Race, Crutchie, Davey and other helped with defense. Even though the newsies outnumbered Weasel and his allies, they were only so strong.

Cassie and Romeo were helping the fallen newsies – trying to rally them to safety and making sure they weren't too beat up.

The situation seemed hopeless. The only thing keeping Mush from total despondency was the fact that they hadn't technically lost yet.

Then the cops arrived. Everyone paused and looked.

Maybe there was hope for them yet...

"It's about time you showed up!" Romeo cried. "They're slaughterin' us - " He was punched in the face.

"Cheese it, it's the bulls!"

Everybody ran. Mush bolted as fast as his legs could carry him and stumbled into the lodge with some other newsies hot on his tail. They got inside and looked around, each of them silently counting heads.

Crutchie, Cassie, and Jack were missing.

Many of them noticed around the same time, and their faces fell. It was so quiet; you could hear a pin drop.

"So, what now?" Elmer asked after a long silence. His question, once hopeful, now hung plaintively in the air.

That was when, Cassie walked in. She was covered in scratches and bruises, and she wore an unreadable expression on her face. Mush felt flooded with relief to see that she was okay, and he was sure that everyone else felt the same.

"Cassie! Thank God, we was worried about you! What were ya doin' out there?" he exclaimed.

"I soaked 'em."

"You...did what?"

"I soaked them," Cassie repeated, enunciating every word as if he didn't hear her the first time. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"

The newsies all exchanged glances.

"Nothin', it's just kinda...weird is all."

"Why? You soak people all the time. Nothing weird about that."

"Exactly. We soak people all the time. You wouldn't soak a fly. Literally. You just shoo 'em out the window – you do realize you can just kill 'em, right?"

"Hey, what'd those flies ever do to you?"

"Exactly my point. You never hurt anyone if you can help it."

Everyone muttered in agreement.

"Maybe I couldn't help it," she growled darkly, her voice tremulous. "You're lucky everyone made it out alive."

"Cassie!"

"You wouldn't be reacting that way if..." she trailed off, a sudden pain in her eyes. "You better be glad you didn't see what happened to Crutchie."

Mush felt his stomach drop to his feet. "Why, what...what happened to Crutchie?"

"They kicked him down and stole his crutch and used it to beat him. And they dragged him, literally dragged him, to the Refuge. Now, look at me." She stared him down. "Now, you look me in the eyes, Nicholas Meyers, and tell me that watching something like that happen, to Crutchie, of all people, doesn't make you want to hurt someone, too."

It was once again silent.

"That's what I thought," Cassie said frostily as she turned on her heel and walked away.

A/N: This chapter started too happy for an ending like that :p

Hope you enjoyed! This is, of course, a huge turning point for the newsies because they've just suffered a major defeat so quickly after their first victory. Pretty discouraging! I really enjoyed writing this chapter, though (especially Romeo because I love him and I honestly don't write about/create content with him as much as I'd like to), and I hope you liked reading it just as much!

-mouse :)