Jack sat down on the creaky wooden bed in the basement of the Distribution Center. He held his head in his hands as he thought back over what he had done. He was feeling less and less sure about his decision to do all of this. He hated himself for what he said to Brenna. Perhaps he shouldn't have gone as far as he had. He hadn't meant a word he had said to her or David. But he couldn't risk Pulitzer taking them all away.

"Jack?" he heard. He looked up and saw a familiar face walking down the stairs.

"Tricks?" She was holding her cap in her hands with her brown hair down around her shoulders. "How da heck did ya get down here? How'd ya avoid da guys upstairs?"

She looked at him. "I may be a newsie, but I'm still a girl," she told him, echoing Racetrack's earlier words to her. "You'd be surprised what a few undone buttons and a couple of flirty eyes will get you." She shuddered as she thought of how she had had to speak to those creeps in order to get down here. Luckily, they were so taken with her, they didn't ask why she was in boy clothes. She slowly walked over to the Jack.

He realized that she had taken her bandages off. The thought of one of the other boys seeing her bare back made him a lot angrier than he thought it would. There was a reason only Jack was allowed to help her and that was because he wanted to keep the poor girl away from as many prying eyes as possible. It was already bad enough she had to get dressed in front of thirty boys and vice versa. But after what he had said to her, it was no wonder why she got someone else to help her.

He looked up at her and felt his heart break as he noticed her eyes were bloodshot and her cheeks were red and puffy. "Have you been cryin'?" he asked quietly.

Her silence gave him his unwanted answer.

"What are ya doin' here?"

"I wanna know what's really going on. I know you better than anyone and that means I know that you would never do this without a good reason. So spill."

Jack sighed. "There's no 'good reason', Tricks."

Brenna pulled her hand back and slapped him hard on the face. "That's for lying to me just now!" After a small pause, she slapped him again even harder. "That's for what you said to me this morning!" He refused to meet her eyes and knew he deserved those slaps. "How could you say that to me?" she asked quieter. "You know that I feel guilty every day for making those boys hide such a big secret. And if I bothered you so much, why didn't you just say something? But do you really wish you had let those boys finish what they were going to do to me?"

"Of course not. I was just sayin' what I had to say."

"What do you mean you were just saying what you had to say? The truth, please!"

Jack stood up angrily. "Because Pulitzer said he was goin' to take all da boys, including you, and put 'em in jail if I didn't step down! He said dat he wouldn't hesitate to lock 'em up for da rest of their lives."

Brenna looked at him. "He threatened you?"

Jack sighed and nodded.

"Well, Jack, you've gotta tell someone!"

"Who am I supposed to tell? Who is goin' to listen to a newsie?"

"Then tell the boys in the Lodging House."

"No, they can't know."

"Well, at least let me tell David. He deserves to know."

"No! Listen to me, Tricks. They can't know about all this. If they do, Pulitzer will be on 'em faster than ya can think. Swear to me ya won't tell!"

"Okay, okay, I won't tell them. But…you should. Jack, most of them pretty much want to kill you right now. But maybe if you tell them why you did such a terrible thing, then maybe we can fix this whole mess."

Jack remained silent. He wanted nothing more than to throw these ugly and uncomfortable clothes off and get back his cowboy gear and go running back to the boys to beg for their forgiveness. But he had to do this. For them.

"Look, whenever you decide, I'll be there waiting for you. I can't say how the other boys will be, but I'll be there. Because we're newsies, and newsies stick together."

She headed back up the stairs after shoving her hair back in her cap. She didn't exactly know why she did that because since she didn't have her bandages on, it would be tougher to hide that she was a girl. Hopefully, the streets would still be empty and if worse came to worse, she could just throw her arms over her chest and keep her head down.

"Hey, Tricks," Jack called after her. "I really am sorry…for everything I said. I was just tryin' to protect ya and to do dat, I needed to push ya away."

"Jack…next time you want to protect me, don't you dare push me away."

"Do ya need help again, Tricks?" Racetrack asked her in the morning.

She nodded and they proceeded to go to the stall.

"So, where did ya go last night?" he asked her.

"Excuse me?"

"Saw ya sneak out. Where'd ya go?"

"It doesn't matter," she mumbled. "It didn't help." After a pause, she asked, "Was it really that obvious that I like Jack?"

"Are ya kiddin'? Cowboy likes you just as much! We've been waitin' for you two to get together for a year and a half! Although…dat don't look like it's gonna happen now…"

Brenna chose not to respond, but she wanted nothing more than to tell him where she had really gone last night.

The newsies were in terrible moods from Jack's betrayal. A lot of them were about to ready to hunt him down and make him suffer after seeing Brenna in such an awful state the day before. Unfortunately, she had promised Jack she wouldn't say anything, but the secret was eating her alive. She wanted the boys to understand that while it seemed like Jack had betrayed them, he was really protecting them.

She left to get some air and get away from the horrid aura going around the room. As she walked on the streets of New York, she thought about everything Jack had said to her the night before.

There was no denying it. She was in love with Jack Kelly.

Suddenly, a loud commotion occurred across the street from her. She looked over and saw the Delancey brothers taunting Sarah and Les. Her insides boiled at the sight of them. They grabbed Sarah and flung Les onto the street.

While Brenna may have disliked Sarah because of her affections towards Jack, that didn't mean that she would let this slide. She ran over to the alley just as David went up to the brothers. He charged Oscar and tried to hurt him, but Oscar got the upper hand since David didn't have much experience in fighting.

Brenna tried to deal with Morris but he was a lot bigger than her and she only knew so many fighting techniques. She attempted to at least injure him a little, but he was fast. He striked her as hard as could on the cheek and she got sent to the ground.

"Wait a minute…" Morris said, the sound of the ensuing fight between David and Oscar almost drowning him out. "I know that face." Before she could do anything, his hand went to her head and whipped her cap off. "Those eyes are hard to forget," he sneered.

Brenna saw Les and Sarah's eyes widen at the realization that Brenna was actually a female.

"My cousin is in jail because of you and Kelly. We was just tryin' to have a little fun with ya!"

Brenna's eyes widened as she realized what he meant. He had been the man to hold her down while apparently his cousin attempted to harass her. The memory crashed down on her all at once and she became numb.

"She's the tramp who put Myles in jail?" Oscar said, pausing his fighting with David. Morris smirked at her and quickly overpowered her. He held her hands down as he leaned over her and placed kisses over her neck and cheeks. Brenna began screaming like never before.

As Jack walked down the street, attempting to sell his papers and get through this situation he had been forced into, all thoughts were on his fellow newsies, specifically Brenna. He was kind of glad that she had come to see him so he could explain himself at least to her. She deserved more than anyone to know why he did what he did. After all, he had hurt her the most with his awful words.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone screaming. And not just any someone. It was Brenna. He looked over in the alley and saw Oscar beating David senseless while Sarah held Les close to her in the corner. But what made him angrier than ever was seeing Morris on top of her, kissing her and fondling her legs and shoulders as she screamed. Her cap was off which meant that everyone in the alley now knew her secret. He didn't have time to worry about that. The scene before him was just like when he had found her. Only this time, it was much, much more personal.

Jack dropped all of his papers on the ground and ran over to them. He plowed straight into Morris, knocking him away from Brenna. She gasped heavily at the sight of him. While she was relieved he had helped her, she hated herself for being so vulnerable and weak. She felt her body shake in anger as she stood up, watching Jack punch Morris in the face and gut over and over again.

"Don't you dare touch her ever again!" he screamed.

"Jack!" Brenna cried. "That's enough!" She pulled him away from the boy and they met eyes. "From you." Brenna went over to Morris and grabbed his shirt in her hands. "Remember that scared little girl you and your stupid cousin tried to hurt?" she growled at him. "Well, that was over two years ago. No more Miss Nice Girl." Brenna wound her fist back and delivered the hardest punch she had ever given to someone in her entire life. It left an instant bruise on his eye. She pulled her fist back again and delivered another blow to his cheek, hearing a crunch ring out.

Jack grabbed Oscar. "Remember Crutchy?" He head-butted the boy hard and let him sink to the ground. Then he went over to Brenna and enveloped her in a huge hug. He didn't let go of her for a while, and Brenna didn't really mind. "Are you alright, Tricks?" he asked, finally releasing her. "I am so sorry I let this happen. It's my fault."

"I'm fine, Jack. I got to pay him back for what he did to me all those years ago. And it felt good."

Oscar and Morris got back up. "You'd better run, Cowboy," Morris threatened, holding his cheek in pain. "We're gonna tell Uncle Weas! You'll be back in the Refuge before suppertime!"

Brenna took a lunging step toward him, and he backed up and fell over a crate. Oscar helped him up and the two boys took off.

"What? You couldn't stay away?" David asked, disdain in his voice.

"Well, I guess I can't be somethin' I ain't," Jack replied.

"A scab?"

"No, smart."

"So," Sarah stated. "Trickster is actually a girl?"

Brenna smiled at her. "Yeah, I am. I've been hidin' it pretty good too up until a few days ago. Now someone seems to find out every day. And ya know…I think I'm okay with it."

There was a bit of silence before Sarah exclaimed, "Oh! I have something to show you two!" She took a piece of paper out of her dress pocket and unfolded it before giving it to Jack. "It's the story Denton wrote about the strike that couldn't get printed."

As Jack and Brenna read the story, neither could believe what they were reading.

"We gotta go," Jack said.

"Hold up, Cowboy," Brenna laughed pulling him back. "First things first. We gotta get ya outta those clothes."