Disclaimer: I don't own Newsies. But it lives within my heart.

Katherine arrived at school early a couple mornings later. She sat in the All Purpose Room as most kids did, but she sat alone, occupied with her work. She had compiled together interviews of several students from the clubs that had been shut down and was trying to figure out the layout of her article when someone sat down beside her.

"Hello, Katherine," she could almost hear the smugness of his smile.

"Hello, Jack," she greeted him, looking up from her notepad.

"Whaddaya got there?" he asked, looking at her writing. "That for your article?"

She nodded. "Yup."

"Cool, cool," he said, leading to an awkward silence. After a moment they both glanced at each other, and Katherine cleared her throat and spoke up.

"So, what's your story? Are you going to apply to art school?"

He looked at her with surprise in his eyes. "What makes you ask that?" he asked.

"Well, you're an artist!" she smiled at him, then bent down to open up her book bag. She pulled out a piece of paper. The sketch he drew of her. "You have real talent," she told him sincerely.

A smile played at his lips. He leaned back in his chair, propping his legs up on the table. He decided to attempt to keep an air of mystery "Well, maybe that isn't what I want," he said casually.

"Then what do you want?" she asked.

He leaned forward to look at her. "Can't you see it in my eyes?"

Katherine threw up a little in her mouth. But, rather than being insulted, Jack just laughed to himself before she decided to change the subject.

"So, uh, are you their leader?" she asked. "It seems like all those boys answer to you," she told him.

He waved away the notion with his hand. "I'm just a blowhard. Davey's the brains. It's probably good he moved here, or we'd all somehow end up expelled."

"Modesty is not a quality I would've pinned on you," she teased. "So you and Davey are chummy now?"

"'Chummy?'" he laughed, but she just looked at him. He shrugged. "We're kind of friends now, I guess. He's not real good at socializing. But I've been showing him the ins and outs of the school."

She nodded. "So…why did you join Journalism, anyway?"

"Pretty girl," he said slyly.

"Jack!" she laughed at him. "No. Real reason."

"Alright," he started, "I needed an extracurricular."

"Why didn't you just join Art Club?" Jack shot her a look. She rolled her eyes. "Okay, well, why Journalism?"

"Medda suggested it."

"Medda?"

"Uh, Ms. Larkin. Counselor. Director of the play."

"You know her personally?"

"Old friend of my dad's."

She nodded. Just then the bell rang, signifying that it was time for them to head to their first hour class. Katherine pulled her backpack onto her shoulders. "I'll talk to you later, Jack," she smiled.

"Later," he waved.

"And, about your article?"

She turned to look at him. "Yeah?"

"Write it good."

You heard Jack, Katherine thought in her room that night. Write it good.

She was lying in bed, staring at her laptop and suffering from a bad case of writer's block. This had been her position for most of the night, really. She had gotten home and done her homework as quickly as humanly possible, and then she'd turned on her computer, determined to write the best article of her life. Her mother practically had to drag her down for dinner, and yet she didn't have more than a couple of not-so strong sentences written out. Come on, Katherine. You can do this. She tried typing out the next sentence, then sighed. I have no clue what I'm doing.

As she sorted through all the notes she had written down, she felt her thoughts shift towards Jack. Sure, he's handsome, and, charismatic, I guess…but he's also a know-nothing, skirt-chasing, cocky little son of a—

She stopped herself. What was she doing? He wasn't worth her time! She got back to writing. This was an important story! She could help those kids. All she wanted was to better the world around her. And sure, it was just high school, but anyone who ever did anything of note started off small.

She smiled to herself, whistling as these thoughts ran through her head. Her confidence felt boosted, and she was writing at a steady pace when she found herself picturing the smug smile that Jack seemed to always wear. What a face…no! She felt like banging her head against the wall. She needed to focus. She couldn't be thinking about Jack. Why would she want to think about him anyway? All he ever did was flirt with her. Ceaselessly. And he didn't seem to have any motivation whatsoever. What did he even plan to do with his life? She was so ambitious and driven, and he was so reckless and impulsive…Katherine soon realized that thinking about why she shouldn't be thinking about him was still thinking about him. Her brain hurt. She felt like rage quitting and flipping over the laptop.

But she didn't. She had this. Her ideas were all there, scattered across her bed in various notepads. That's what she did whenever she got an idea—she scribbled it down on the closest piece of paper she could find. She searched the pages, flipping through urgently. Suddenly it began to fall into place. The words sprang from her fingers and onto the screen in front of her. She smiled with satisfaction when it was finally all done, saving the article and shutting down her laptop. Before she knew it she was out cold.

A/N: Hello again! I was like on a roll writing this this morning and then I got to the "Watch What Happens" part and I got some very ironic writer's block. But I think it's as good as it's gonna get. I was gonna rage quit, but then I remembered how yesterday I said this update might be up today, and then I was like Bella you don't actually have to put it up today but I was kinda like You know what past self? Challenge accepted. And I can be stubborn about stuff like this. It's probably a bad thing. Oh well. Hope ya guys like this chapter! Thanks so much for the kind reviews! They really, really mean a lot!

Lots of love,

Bella