"Mornin'!" Mush said brightly the next day when he saw Spark waiting on the steps of the Manhattan lodging house. She was looking particularly lovely today. "So," he said. "did you get any girls to join the strike?"

Yesterday Jack didn't bring such good news. Spot was worried about them being serious about the strike, and Mush could tell why. A few boys stood around the square with signs chanting about the strike, but mostly the boys just played around like it was a holiday.

Spark played with the end of her hair. She knew she would have to answer this question sooner or later.

"I didn't get any girls to join because I—" The circulation bell rang and the newsies got into formation in the square.

"I'm gonna have to talk to you later." Mush apologized. "You should probably get goin' I don't know what'll happen but I don't want a lady to see this. There's probably gonna be blood."

"I'm a big girl, Mush. I can take care of myself." Spark crossed her arms.

"Well, I'd be more comfortable if you would just go. Please?" Mush took her hand and looked right in her eyes.

"Alright." But that wasn't going to stop her from watching.

Spark found a high stack of crates next to the circulation gates. A perfect spot to see the action. The mob of newsies forced their way through the gates toward a smaller number of apprehensive looking scabbers. One by one, the first few scabs threw down their papers to join the strike and avoid getting beaten by the army of newsboys. One decided he would risk defying the union. And the battle began.

"What have we here, Oscar?" Spark turned. On the crate a step below her were two menacing looking boys. They looked similar, like they were brothers. Both had bruises and blood dripping from their faces.

"Looks like this little Girly's messing with things she shouldn't."

"Strikes ain't for ladies." The boys looked at each other, identical wicked smiles on their faces.

"Maybe we should help her out." Before she could do anything, one of the boys grabbed her around the waist.

Spark screamed, kicking and punching the boys as they carried her back down to the ground. One of them smacked her across the face.

"Help! Someone help me!" She cried, hoping one of the newsies would hear her over the commotion.

"Shut up!" The boy smacked her again. The other boy, Oscar, slammed her against the crates and pulled back his fist, ready to punch.

"You need to learn some manners, Girly."

Mush heard a female voice call out from far away. He had just tipped over the circulation wagon. He knew that voice. He turned and saw Oscar Delancy holding Spark against crates outside of the circulation building.

"HEY!" said at the top of his lungs. Oscar didn't move but several newsies, including Racetrack, Blink, and Skittery, heard him and turned their attention to Oscar. All at once they pummeled him. Morris tried to stop them but there were just too many. It seemed like all the newsies were soaking the Delancy brothers. They heard the high-pitched sound of police whistles. Mush grabbed Spark's wrist.

"Come on!" he said. The rest of the boys scattered too. They had to find some place to go or "the bulls" would catch them. Sprinting down the street, Mush spotted Central Park. "I know you can climb." he said, already lifting her to a branch on a tree.

Mush took a minute to catch his breath.

"You ok?" he finally said. She looked terrible with a bruise darkening her cheek - that didn't mean she didn't look beautiful though. A few newsies ran past their tree. No one could see them though. They were high up and hidden in the thick, green, summer leaves. If it wasn't for the riot it actually would have been a nice day. Even from the tree they could hear the sounds of the commotion. Mush took a minute to listen to the streets, to hear what was going on. There were screams in the distance, followed by more police whistles.

"Someone was caught," Mush said. "let's hope it was a Delancy or a scab."

Spark shivered a little, she leaned closer to Mush who put his arm around her automatically.

"Those were terrible boys." She said.

"Yeah, the Delancey Brothers, those bums. We'll keep them away from you." Mush told her.

"Thank you," Spark said, gratefully. "I shouldn't have gotten that close to the fight." Spark decided she couldn't lie to Mush anymore. "I was trying to tell you earlier, I didn't go talk to the girls."

Mush cocked his head, trying to figure out where the conversation was going.

"I went to Brooklyn to-"

"You WHAT?!" Mush took a deep breath. He never yelled at girls. Ever. But this was a special case. He was just looking out for her safety and she completely ignored what he said. One look at Spark's face changed his mind. "Ok, fine. You went to Brooklyn yesterday. Great." he forced a smile. There was nothing to do about that now.

He then turned his head to listen, a carriage was passing on the street. Mush looked through the leaves. The carriage was black and the small windows on the sides were barred. A prison carriage.

"We'll have to finish this conversation later. Come on," he said. "we have to see who got caught." They jumped to the ground together and ran back to the square where Mush knew the newsies would be. They all crowded around the old statue of Horace Greeley, David and Jack were pacing on top of it. Mush and Spark pushed themselves through the crowd.

"Who'd they get?"

Jack looked away and closed his eyes like it was painful to think about. It was David who answered him.

"They got Crutchy."

"What?"

"The police surrounded the circulation building and blocked us in when you two ran from the Delancey brothers. We all left too, but Crutchy didn't get out fast enough."

Then Jack spoke up,"The Delanceys thrashed him. Can you believe that? They soaked a crip like he was nothin'! And then the bulls got to him." Jack was infuriated. And so was Mush. He couldn't imagine how evil someone would have to be to do that to Crutchy. He never did anything wrong.

"We can't keep goin' like this," said Jack. "Dave, tonight you and me are goin' to The Refuge. We'll break him outta there. And we better pray Brooklyn comes tomorrow."

Mush couldn't believe it. The strike had only been going on for one day and they already been beaten.

"They may have won the battle but the war's just begun." David said turning to the crowd of newsies. "We we stick together and nothing can break us. No one can make us give our rights away. We're brothers. Arise and seize the day!" He punched Jack in the arm and the newsies cheered.

"You gotta talk to those girls," Mush said turning to Spark.

"It's probably not the best time to do that now." Said David. "The pol—I mean the bulls are probably waiting to see what we'll do next. We're not doing anything illegal but they'll try to crush the strike before it starts."

"How do you know that?" Racetrack asked.

"It's history. It has a tendency of repeating itself. They don't want a revolution to spark and they won't stop at anything until we quit."

"Means we gotta stick together." Jack said. "Just go about normal business and we'll start up again in the morning."

Mush and Spark glanced at each other for a second.

"You wanna go somewhere?" He asked her.

Spark was suddenly aware that all eyes were on her. All the boys wanted to know what she would say. It appeared Mush had a lot of girls in his past. She blushed, embarrassed.

"Yeah, let's do something." And all the boys cheered. You would have thought she agreed to marry Mush. Some of the newsies came over to pat Mush on the back or punch him in the arm.

"Great choice, Miss. You'll be impressed, I'm sure." A dark haired newsie said, nudging her.

"How is she any different than the last few girls?" A taller boy in a pink shirt questioned.

A newsie with an eye patch spoke up, "I have a good feeling about this one. What's your name again, Miss?"

"Spark."

"Nice to meet ya, Spark. I'm Kid Blink and this is Skittery and Racetrack."

"Don't break his heart." Skittery said.

"And don't break her heart either, Mush." Racetrack added. "Live up to your name." And with that, the group of boys disbanded until only Spark and Mush were left in the square.

"Do I have a Don Juan on my hands?" Spark asked, joking. She was a little confused by Mush's friends' comments about breaking hearts. She'd never really been in a relationship, she was almost 15, but she'd seen Chase get her heart broken before. Spark didn't want to start in that pattern.

"No," Mush blushed, he didn't want Spark to think he was a no-good philandering tramp. "I'm not quite so suave. Usually the girls leave me for someone better. That's how I got my name."

"You wanna tell me the story or is it too painful? Spark wanted to know.

Mush took Spark's hand and led her down the street.

"It's a long story but I'll gladly tell you if you'd like." He turned to her and saw that she was genuinely interested. "I wasn't always a newsie. I wasn't always an orphan either." he laughed, "I guess none of us started out like orphans or we wouldn't be here..."