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Jack blearily looked up as she heard footsteps descending the stairs. She struggled to sit up from where she had somewhat laid down on the printing press, barely managing to find a position that didn't send pain coursing through her body. It didn't take long after to notice the fancy shoes that appeared first and her frown deepened.
She knew very well who had come to visit.
"So, Miss Kelly, do we have ourselves an agreement?" asked Pulitzer as he stopped several feet away from her, flanked by Wiesel and Snyder. She continued to glare at him, breathing deeply through her nose. "Remember what's at stake, Miss Kelly: your union or your newsies." He didn't need to remind her: she had been thinking about that dilemma for… she had no idea how long she had been down there…
"Also," continued Pulitzer, "in case I wasn't clear previously, you actually need to speak against the strike. Someone will be there to inform me of any deviation of that part of the agreement. You don't speak, your newsies are going to the Refuge."
Jack inwardly cursed, her only hope of getting around the agreement vanishing. She took a deep breath, hating – HATING – that he was using her newsies against her. It made her sick to her stomach that, one way or another, she was going to lose them.
They would despise her, never forgive her, but they would be out of the Refuge.
She continued to glare at the man as she slowly but painfully pushed herself into a standing position. "Crutchie goes free," she growled out.
Pulitzer glanced towards Snyder but the man just glared in Jack's direction. He was still fuming that he couldn't put Jack back in the Refuge, especially with her criminal record wiped clean. He had not been privy to Pulitzer's plan and, if he had been, he would have refused. He believed with all his being that Jack deserved to rot in the Refuge.
However, if he couldn't get her…
"The cripple stays where he is," snapped Snyder and Jack's heart broke, "and unless you want all the others to join him, you'd better take that deal."
Her glare disappeared as she glanced at the three men. She hated herself for not having a way out, a counteroffer, anything that would save her from this situation, to save her newsies.
"Tick, tock, Miss Kelly," said Pulitzer, checking his pocket watch. "That rally of yours begins in less than 10 minutes."
She HATED the situation, the lack of time.
She hated herself.
Especially when she nodded towards them.
By the time Jack reached the theater, the rally had already started. Even though she wanted to be impressed by the amount of kids present, she felt sick to her stomach realizing she would have to betray her newsies in front of that large crowd.
Her nausea, added to the throbbing pain from her stomach, ribs, and back had her leaning heavily against a wall backstage. Each attempt to take a deep breath hurt.
Come on, get it together, she thought as she tried to focus on the person talking. You need to go out there… and betray them…
She shook her head, focusing on the voice once more. She figured it would probably be Spot Colon. He would be the only other newsie she could think of that they would let speak, that they would listen to.
"We got newsies from every pape and every neighborhood here tonight."
Jack's eyes widened in surprise as she recognized the voice and it clearly wasn't Spot's.
"Davey," she breathed out. She pushed herself off the wall and quietly made her way closer, finding a gap from which to watch him.
She figured it was the lights, mayube it was the injuries causing her to see things but… Davey never looked better to her. There was an air of confidence to him that she hadn't previously seen.
"Tonight, you're making history," he continued. "Tonight, we declare that we are just as much a part of the newspaper as any reporter or editor. We are done being treated like kids. From now on, they will treat us as equals! All right?"
There were cheers of agreement for that statement, jarring Jack from her staring. She ahd a job to do and she figured it was best to do it now before the newsies got too riled up.
Besides, Pulitzer had said she needed to speak against the strike, not that her words needed to work.
She took a deep breath – as deep as she could with the pain from her ribs – and brought her irritation she felt towards Pulizter and the situation to the forefront before pushing past the other newsies and stepping on stage.
"You wanna be talked to like an adult?" she wondered, already hating how her tone sounded. "Start actin' like one."
"Jack," sighed Davey in relief. He hadn't particularly wanted to keep talking in front of the crowd: the leader of the Manhattan newsies was the better person for that.
"Don't just run your mouth. Make some sense," she snapped and internally winced. This could be harder than she thought…
"And here's Jack!" called out Davey, moving aside to give Jack the space on the stage.
And, to make her feel even worse, the rest of the newsies started chanting her name.
And then, she just started speaking, trying to articulate the words she had painfully rehearsed in her head as she had ran towards the theater. Each sentence felt bitter in her mouth, each word like poison. She pretended to gaze out into the audience but she couldn't bear to look any newsie in the eye.
"And then, a few weeks after that, he hikes up his price again, and don't think he won't. SO what do we do then?"
She could tell by the confused muttering around her that the newsies were taken aback by what she was saying, that they didn't understand where all this was coming from and Jack didn't blame them.
"Fellas, we gotta be realistic here! If we don't work, we don't get paid!
She managed to ignore all of them until Davey came up to her, his eyes wide and searching her face, searching for an answer.
She knew she didn't have one he would like.
They stared at each other for a moment and Jack almost – almost took back everything she said in hopes of repairing what she had broken. However, she knew she couldn't condemn her newsies to the Refuge.
Swallowing with difficulty, she managed to mouth "I'm sorry" before turning away from Davey and continuing her speech.
Jack knew that she would lose her newsies after this, she would lose their trust and they would probably cast her aside. She knew she would deserve that. She just wished it didn't include losing Crutchie to the Refuge; losing Davey.
Losing her family all over again.
Taking a deep breath, she said the words the tasted the worse, that made her want to throw up. "But I have spoken with Mr. Pulitzer and he has given me his word that… that if we disband the union, he will not raise prices again for two years."
She wasn't even sure anymore what she said afterwards. She only remembered the yelling that grew louder and louder around her as newsies argued amongst themselves before some began turning on her.
Especially Spot. There was a reason he was the feared leader of the Brooklyn newsies and that look in his eyes made even Jack worried. He marched directly up to her, frowning deeply before grabbing her by the shirt. He yanked her close, staring – glaring – at her and she realized that, not only had she lost his trust, she had made an enemy of Brooklyn.
"Get lost, Kelly," he growled out before shoving her away from the stage. Others kept shoving and she could make out the dirty looks sent her way from the newsies all over New York, and the betrayed looks from her own.
However, she knew she deserved them, she deserved every bit of hate any of the newsies sent her way.
But… if that meant the newsies – that Davey and Les – were spared from getting thrown into the Refuge, she needed to do it.
As she stumbled into the wings of the theater, Bunsen, one of Pulitzer's employees, was there waiting, a large smirk on his face. She managed to stop right in front of him as she stared, cautious.
"Nice speech!" he yelled out, catching the attention of the kids nearby as they hushed in anticipation and Jack's breath caught. He wouldn't… However, she knew deep down that he would. "Nice doing business with you, Ms. Jacqueline," he continued just as loudly as he tossed a bundle of cash towards her.
And Jack's heart sank. Not only did she betray her newsies, they also knew she had been lying to them for years.
She couldn't turn around to face her newsies. She couldn't bear to see their faces as they called her out on the speech, on her secret.
On everything.
This is for them, just remember that. Jack continued to repeat that in her head but every word still hurt deep inside her.
"You're a traitor, Jack!"
Fighting back the tears, she squared her shoulders, shoved past Bunsen, and marched out of the theater.
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