The circulation bell began to ring, signaling they needed to get their papers.
"Anybody hear dat?" Jack shouted.
"No!" the newsies shouted back.
"So what are we gonna do about it?"
"Soak 'em!"
The group of newsies all headed straight to the Distribution Center. There was a line of boys there to get some papers and start selling them. But they were not going to take that sitting down. The first boy got his papers and walked down the steps only to come face-to-face with the group of very angry newsies. He took one look at them and threw his papers on the ground. Two other boys held their hands up in surrender as they joined the first. Then there was a big tough boy with a big stack of papers perched on his shoulder. In each direction he went, one of the strikers stopped him from progressing any further. When he faced Jack, Jack pounded the papers in his hand to the ground. He went to go pick them up, but that didn't make them very happy. The boy got kicked in the gut and from there, chaos ensued.
The boys waiting in line quickly dispersed as the newsies grabbed every paper they could find and ripped them over and over again. Brenna watched Jack climb up to the top window and press his face firmly against the glass. She laughed only imagining the faces he was giving the people inside.
The World delivery cart got pushed over, sprawling the newspapers inside all over the ground. None of them hesitated in picking them up and ripping them to shreds. If news of this little incident didn't make Spot want to help them, Brenna didn't know what would.
Suddenly, there was the sound of hoof beats and whistles. That could only mean one thing.
"Hey, cheese it! Cheese it, it's da Bulls!" Jack screamed. Brenna looked up and saw lots of policemen coming their way. She started running when she heard someone cry out, "Crutchy! Crutchy, scram!"
Brenna turned around and saw the exit blocked by the policemen's horses…with Crutchy still inside.
"Crutchy!" she screamed. She started to run towards him, but a firm hand on her wrist stopped her from reaching the blocked gates. She watched in horror as the Delancey brothers came up to the poor boy and knocked his crutch out from under him and dragged him away. As hard as she fought against the person holding her, it was no use.
"Come on, we gotta go!"
It was then she realized that the person holding her was none other than David. If she didn't like the boy so much, she might've creamed him.
"You won't be any help if you get taken too!"
Her hands balled into fists as she fought the urge to punch someone. Reluctantly, she ran off with David before the police could catch either one of them.
Unfortunately, luck was not on Brenna's side. As if the whole day couldn't get any worse, in the process of running away, her cap managed to get knocked off, allowing her brown hair to tumble down. She gasped as she stopped running. David took one look at her and his eyes widened at the newfound revelation.
"You tell no one," she ordered as she furiously stuffed her hair back under her cap. "Only da boys in da Lodging House and Medda know. You tell anyone, it's not just my head on da line, it's yours too. Got it?"
David just nodded his head, still in shock.
"You gotta swear." She spit in her hand and held it out to him.
He looked at her hand in disgust. "I swear, but I'm not doing that."
Brenna rolled her eyes. "You gotta get over dat."
They were a safe enough distance away from the Distribution Center to the point where they walked back to the Lodging House where the rest of the boys had undoubtedly gone back to. They walked in awkward silence for a long time before David finally decided to break it.
"So, uh, can I ask you what your real name is?"
"Brenna. Brenna Jennings."
"And only the boys in Manhattan know?"
"Yeah, and we decided to tell Medda because we knew I would need a girl to talk to eventually. We never told da owner of da Lodging House though. We were afraid of what he'd say and do."
"Well, you had me fooled. And I guess everyone else too."
"I guess so. It's kinda hard to have to pretend to be someone I'm not."
"And let me guess, your nickname is Trickster because…"
"…because I'm trickin' everyone into believin' I'm a boy," she finished.
They reached the Lodging House and the both of them went upstairs to the bunk room. Once there, all of the boys ran up to them frantically.
"There you both are!" Race said. "We thought you got taken by da Bulls!"
"Well, we didn't but…Crutchy did," Brenna said. "And uh…David knows."
The mindless chatter in the room immediately silenced at her words. David awkwardly looked at his feet, feeling quite small under all of their gazes.
Jack walked up to the boy. "Listen here, Dave. Tricks is one of us. And we look out for her, just like she looks out for us. You're one of us too, so dat means you gotta keep her secret. It's real important to all of us."
"I won't tell a soul," David insisted.
"Good. 'Cause we can't lose her now. You saw how she was with Spot and in gettin' these boys motivated. With this strike comin' up, she's helpful to us in a lot of ways. Without her, we'll never get anywhere."
Brenna was a bit taken aback. She had never heard Jack talk that way about her before. Truth be told, she didn't really mind.
"So what are we gonna do about Crutchy?" she asked.
"Well, they're gonna be takin' him to da Refuge. So we gotta go break him outta there. Dat isn't a place for someone like him. Or any boy for dat matta. Here's the plan."
So now David knows her secret! How will this change their friendship? (And no, I am not going to have a love triangle!)