The next morning, Jack was acting strange. He usually was pretty chipper in the morning. Well, as chipper as a newsie can be so early in the morning. But he seemed almost out of sorts. He didn't talk to nearly any of the other newsies, and he didn't talk to Brenna the entire morning, even when he was helping her get ready. She decided to not think too much about it, but it did seem kind of strange to her.

The rest of the newsies headed to the Distribution Center, but Brenna lagged behind with Jack.

"Alright, whats'a matter?" she asked him.

"What?" he said to her.

"You've been actin' strange ever since last night. What's buggin' ya?"

"It's nothin', really. Don't worry about me, Tricks."

She playfully eyed him suspiciously. His response to her intense stare was putting her in a headlock and digging his knuckles into her head again.

"Truce! Truce!" she shouted.

He laughed as he released her. "See? I'm fine."

To pay him pack for that, Brenna allowed Jack to walk ahead of her then without warning, she ran up to him and jumped on his back. He stumbled forward from the sudden weight on his backside, but then tucked his arms under her legs and supported her as he continued to walk on the street, both of them laughing as he walked.

He was fine alright…until they got to the Distribution Center.

Jack went up to the window where a bunch of newsies sat stewing.

"What's up?" Brenna asked.

"You wanna know what's up, Tricks?" Blink said so angrily, flames were practically shooting out of his mouth. "They jacked up da price! You hear dat, guys? Ten cents a hundred! Ya know, it's bad enough dat we gotta eat what we don't sell, now they jack up da price! Can you believe dat?"

Brenna refused to believe what she just heard. This was not possible. It just wasn't. All of their lives were hard enough and they were barely scraping by. Raising the price was a death sentence.

Oscar mimicked Blink's movements and Brenna wanted nothing more than to pummel him so hard that he became one with the pavement.

"This'll bust me. I'm barely makin' a livin' right now," Skittery said.

"I'll be back sleepin' on da streets," Boots lamented.

At that thought, Brenna's wide eyes went to Jack. There was no way she was going back on the streets. Not after what happened to her. He met her eyes and completely understood why she looked so panicked.

"It don't make no sense," Mush complained. "I mean, all da money Pulitzer's makin', why would he gouge us?"

"Because he's a tight wad, dat's why!" Racetrack shot at him.

"Pipe down!" Jack said over the noise the boys were making. "It's just a gag." He turned to the window. "So, why da jack up, Weasel?"

"Why not?" Weasel smiled. He stuck his finger into his mouth as if testing the wind. "It's a nice day. Why don'tcha ask Mr. Pulitzer?"

Jack angrily walked away from the window and plopped down onto the stairs. "They can't do this to me, Jack," Blink said to him.

"They can do whatever they want," Racetrack told him. "It's their stinkin' paper."

"It ain't fair," Boots cried. "We got no rights at all."

"Come on, it's a rigged deck. They got all the marbles."

"Jack, we got no choice," Mush said. "So why don't we get our lousy papes while they still got some, huh?"

"No!" Jack shouted, surprising them all. "Nobody's goin' anywhere! They can't get away with this!"

Les pushed through the crowd of older boys. "Give him some room, give him some room! Let him think!" He took a seat next to Jack. Blink went to hand Jack his cigarette as consolation, but a very, very sharp glare from Brenna forced him to throw it on the ground and stamp on it instead.

"Jack, ya done thinkin' yet?" Racetrack asked impatiently. Brenna gave him a light slap on the arm.

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" Weasel shouted from the window. "World employees only on this side of the gate!" This was met by shouts of anger from every single newsie.

"Well, listen," Jack said. "One thing for sure, if we don't sell papes, then nobody sells papes! Nobody comes through those gates until they put da price back to where it was!"

"You mean like a strike?" David asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, like a strike!" Jack replied with complete sincerity.

"Are you out of your mind?" Racetrack yelled.

"It's a good idea!"

David came up next to him. "Jack, I was only joking. We can't go on strike! We don't have a union!"

"But, if we go on strike, then we are a union, right?"

"No, we're just a bunch of angry kids with no money."

"He's got a point there, Jack," Brenna said.

"Maybe if we got every newsie in New York, but…"

"Yeah, well, we organize," Jack said, standing up, his fire inside of him rekindled. "Crutchy, you take up for collection. We get all da newsies of New York together!"

"Jack, this isn't a joke!" David protested. "You saw what happened to those trolley workers!"

"Yeah, well dat's another good idea! Any newsie don't join with us, then we bust their heads like da trolley workers!"

"Stop and think about this, Jack! You can't just rush everybody into this!"

"Alright, let me think about it." Jack led the group of newsies to the Horace Greeley statue outside the Distribution Center. While Brenna was afraid of getting thrown on the streets because of the price change, going on strike meant she wouldn't be earning any money at all which could result in getting thrown on the streets anyway. It was a real lose-lose situation.

"Listen, Dave's right!" he shouted to the boys. "Pulitzer and Hearst and all them other rich fellas, I mean, they own this city, so do they really think a bunch of street kids like us can make any difference? Da choice has gotta be yours. Are we just gonna take what they give us, or are we gonna strike?"

There was silence from everyone, no one wanting to make the first noise. And then…

"Strike!" Les called out. David clapped his hand over his brother's mouth, but the damage was done. At the very word, all the newsies started cheering and it was official. They were on strike.

"Keep talking, Jack!" Boots said. "Tell us what to do!"

Jack turned to David. "Well, you tell us what to do, Davey."

David let out a huge sigh. Brenna stood on the other side of him. She gave him an encouraging smile and he looked at Jack. "Pulitzer and Hearst have to respect our rights," he said quietly.

"Hey listen!" Jack shouted. "Pulitzer and Hearst have to respect da rights of da workin' boys of New York!"

This was met by lots of cheers from all of the boys.

"Well, dat worked pretty good, so what else?" Jack asked.

"Tell them that they can't treat us like we don't exist."

Jack hopped on top of the statue. "Pulitzer and Hearst, they think we're nothin'! Are we nothin'?"

"No!" all the newsies shouted together.

"If we stick together like the trolley workers, then they can't break us up!" David told Jack with ever-growing confidence.

"Pulitzer and Hearst, they think they got us. Do they got us?" Jack sang as he ripped a newspaper in half.

"No!"

"We're a union now, the Newsboys Union! We have to start acting like a union!" David added.

Even though we ain't got hats or badges

We're a union just by saying so

And da World will know!

"What's to stop somebody else from sellin' our papes?" Boots asked.

"Well, we'll talk with them!" Jack responded.

"Some of 'em don't hear so good!" Race countered.

"Well then we'll soak 'em!"

"No!" David insisted. "We can't beat up kids in the streets! It'll give us a bad name!"

Brenna smiled. David had good words, Jack had the voice and the status to get the Newsboys to do what he wanted them to do, and they all had firepower. This just might work.

"What's it gonna take to stop da wagons? Are we ready?"

"Yeah!"

What's it gonna take to stop da scabber?

Can we do it?

Yeah!

We'll do what we gotta do until we

Break da will of mighty Bill and Joe!

And da World will know

And da Journal too!

Mr. Hearst and Pulitzer

Have we got news for you!

Now da World will hear

What we've got to say

We've been hawkin' headlines

But we're makin' 'em today.

And our ranks will grow!

And we'll kick their rear!" Crutchy sang.

And da World will know that we been here!

The newsies continued to sing and dance outside of the Distribution Center as they prepared for their strike.

When you've got a hundred voices singin'

Who can hear a lousy whistle blow?

And da World will know

Dat this ain't no game

Dat we got a ton of rotten fruit and perfect aim

So they gave their word

But it ain't worth beans!

Now they're gonna see what 'stop the presses' really means

And the day has come

And the time is now

Brenna watched as Jack climbed up a ladder to a platform. She smiled as she saw all the other boys around getting more and more fired up with each line they sang.

And da old will fall

And da young stand tall

And da time is now

And da winds will blow

And our ranks will grow

And grow and grow and so

The World will feel the fire

And finally know!

Jack climbed up to where the headlines sat on the chalkboard and wrote over the entire thing in huge letters, "Strike".

It was on.

Sorry this was a bit shorter than my other chapters. It's hard to find good stopping points sometimes. But no worries, I'll be back soon enough! :)