Supper had been eaten, the dishes were set properly into their wash buckets the dining room emptied as some of the newsies had gone to bed. While others went to The Gather Room, including Suitcase, Smash, Snack, and Arrow. Rain started towards the Boys' Sleep Room. A loud clopping sound rang in Rain's ears he stopped looking back to see Arrow running towards him.

"Hey Rain, come and sit with us in The Gather Room since youse never really eat with us during supper time."

"I'm tired, Arr…."

Rain was pulled back forcefully by his arm, spun around twice and dragged over to where the rest were standing.
"Youse very assertive, Arrow, very assertive." Suitcase said. "Youse have to be careful youse could've taken off his arm!" She stared at the side of his head, he turned to her starting directly into her eyes. Quickly giving his full attention back to Rain he hugged him, a little too hard. Rain squealed in pain.

"Youse have a strong hug. Let go of me I'll stay. I'll stay." Arrow released Rain who pushed him a few steps away.
"Youse have to stop being so shy, Rain. Youse definitely invited into our group." Snack said, clapping his hand on Rain's shoulder. "We like youse; there isn't a doubt about it."

"Of course, youse more than welcome to be part of this group. After all, youse gave Smash a haircut last night, and it was pretty late when I asked youse. Youse had not a problem doing so."

Rain smiled shyly at the compliment from Suitcase who sat down on the floor the boys followed her lead. A circle was made for them to converse with each other, at first the circle had been quiet. Tiredness shown in each set of eyes, especially Smash's eyes.

"How'd he do?" Snack asked Suitcase "on his very first day. I remember the first day almost like it was yesterday."

"He did real good. I was pretty impressed with him today. He makes a good selling partner." She told Snack; she turned to Smash. "Youse did very good. Remember one day, despite youse being a good selling partner, youse be on youse own. Find youse own spot to sell youse papers; just make sure it isn't too close from where someone else is at."

"GOING TO MY BOX TO SLEEP! NIGHTY NIGHT!"

Smash jumped at the sudden outburst, everyone but Smash said good night to Box, who promptly walked into The Boys' Sleep.

"He likes to announce when he's going to go to bed to everyone ever so often. Youse get used to it. What a group of people we's have here." Rain told Smash.

"Youse definitely get used to his random outbursts. He's a good kid though." Suitcase said.

"So tell us about youse first day." Snack said tapping Smash on his shoulder.

"Suitcase helped me a lot selling my papers." He smiles at Suitcase "At first, I was quiet she told me to be louder. I screamed out the headline and people actually bought my papers!"

"Yeah, he was so quiet, just barely above how we's are talking roight now."

"Youse expected to sell papes like that!" Arrow snorted with uncontrolled laughter.

Ignoring Arrow's comment Smash continued "Someone walking by said they'd never buy a paper from a girl. They didn't even buy a paper off of me and I asked her if she was bothered by it and she said she wasn't."

"When youse a girl youse get used to it." Suitcase said sighing.

"Nothing really bothers her." Arrow pointed out. "At least it's something she doesn't show it. It's really something I admire about her." He smiles at her."

Suitcase bites her lip, letting it slide under her teeth, slightly smiling at Arrow.

"Yeah, well, I think Smash is going to be great at selling newspapers. Remember Smash, just a couple more days and youse be on youse own." Suitcase veered the topic from herself to someone else.

Deep down these things did bother her at times but she didn't want this to surface because she thought it made her look weak. She believed just because a girl was selling newspapers didn't make her any different from a boy; a kid just trying to get by. She never understood why girls were never treated the same as boys. As the boys talked about whether they should go to bed or each one of them threw out a suggestion of what to talk about next. For Suitcase, The Lodge House, the world seemed to pull itself back, to turn down the sound. Just a blur of clothes and quiet indistinct chatter fell upon her she was stuck on Arrow's comment of nothing bothering her and how he'd admired her for just that. She felt like she was lying to him to everyone pretending that this hadn't bothered her one bit.

"Case? Did you hear anything said?" Snack said poking her on the shoulder. He brought her out of her shoulrevere.

"No I didn't hear anything youse said Snack. Or anyone else for that matter." She said slightly snapping.

"Why youse so touchy all of a sudden?" Arrow asked with a shocked look on his face.

"The truth is it does bother me. It bothers me just because I'm a girl and this includes the others is why not buy a paper from me?I don't understand why people even have the nerve to say that they wouldn't buy one from me." She quickly scanned the boys' faces. "Oh that's a girl better not buy one from her!" She said this in a mimicking tone. "Some days I just don't care what they say and other days, it just hits me, just because I'm a girl doesn't mean they shouldn't buy any kind of papers from me! I need to stand tall against these people and just….I don't know…shove the paper in their face and say that I have the same paper as the boys do!" Her voice faltered and cracked tears started to stream down her face.

"Case? Don't cry…." Arrow walked up to her putting his arms around her she stood up and pushed him down to the ground, turning her back to him.

Tears filled his eyes, but he did not cry, when he blinked the tears ran down his face. "I don't know what to do" Arrow's voice cracked "I never seen youse cry, Case. I don't like it at all. Please don't be upset please don't be sad!"

" I want to go to New York City tomorrow after we're done selling papers. I want to see Mush and have a talk with Jack Kelly too." She said walking to the Girls Sleep Room.

"I think we all should go to bed. We'll see how she is in the morning when we get our papes off of the presses" Rain said this as he stood up "Come on Smash, Snack, Arrow."

Rain, Snack, and Smash walked to the Boys Sleep Room together as Arrow walked solemnly behind them. His bottom lip quivered but he refused to let the tears flow down his face. As the other three boys tucked themselves in and fell asleep fairly quickly Arrow had laid in bed silently crying.
"It's my fault for making her cry I don't like seeing her cry. I never seen her cry before and I don't like it when she does." He thought to himself as he finally drifted off to sleep.

A/N: A slower chapter, but the next chapter will feature some of the NYC Newsies such as Jack Kelly and Mush. Please leave any type of comment. Much appreciated!