After Spot and Chase's moment, Spark came between them and hugged her friend.
"I knew you two would be perfect for each other." she whispered.
"Everyone knew that except you two." Story said coming up from behind.
Chase and Spot both blushed.
Their friends gathered around to congratulate them.
"Did you guys do what I asked you to do?" Chase asked, anxious to know whether her plan had worked.
"Yeah, Chase, you shoulda seen it!" Spark exclaimed, fully living up to her name. "All kinds a' carriages stopped for our kids, the traffic was backed up for miles on both sides. In a few more hours, the line will probably be all the way down to Central Park."
"How did you get back here?"
"I got connections." Spot interjected, proudly crossing his arms.
"He bribed the ferry guy." said Spark.
Chase raised an eyebrow. "By bribed do you mean threatened?"
"Maybe."
"Hey, what do we have here?" Racetrack looked toward New York World building and the others followed his gaze.
Mr. Seitz was just arriving to work, trying to push through the crowd of rallying children.
"You two should probably go in there." Denton directed to Jack and David.
"Yeah, come on, Dave." Jack said, already making his way across the street.
David hesitated.
"You'll do great," Story encouraged him. "break a leg."
His eyes widened with alarm.
"It means 'good luck'." She added quickly.
"Alright, if I don't come out of there alive-"
"Come on Dave!" Jack shouted.
Story hugged David, burying her face in his chest. "I know you can do this."
The rest of the newsies followed Jack and David to The World building. Including Spot.
"That boy!" Chase pouted, he left her standing out on the curb without considering that she wouldn't be able to make it through the crowd.
"I'm gonna go find Mush." Spark said. Somehow Mush had been separated from the group, probably when all of the kids filled the square.
Chase nodded halfheartedly at Spark. Story put her arm around Chase's shoulders when she saw the look on her friend's face. She knew just what she was thinking.
"Spot's an idiot." Story said.
Chase looked up at her abruptly. A few days ago the timid newsgirl wouldn't dare say anything like that about Brooklyn's king. Story giggled and blushed, realizing that she'd said what she was thinking aloud.
"You're right." Chase laughed with her. "But I can't help loving him anyway."
After about twenty minutes Spark still could not find Mush anywhere. And she was tiring of pushing past people. She shoved her way back to the statue where there were a few less people and more room to breathe.
She leaned up against a tree, trying to figure out what to do next. Staying in one spot would probably have been the best move in the first place. Then they wouldn't have had to chase each other around the square. Spark couldn't do anything about that now.
She sighed, kicking the tree trunk. Ah ha, she thought. She would be able to see better if she climbed the tree. It was so obvious, she'd spent (practically) her whole life as a newsie, spying on people. It was her job as a bird. Why hadn't she thought of it before?
Without a second delay, Spark climbed the tree to the highest branch that would support her weight, careful not to disturb a robin's nest in a lower branch.
She looked over the crowd. Chase was at the curb near the base of the statue next to Story, her sister's bright red tresses sparkled in the morning sun. Up toward The World building were some Manhattan newsies she thought she recognized Racetrack with his fancy patterned vest, Kid Blink whose outfit nearly matched Mush's, Skittery who towered over most, and she also saw Spot and his blue shirt and contrasting red suspenders. But still no sign of Mush.
A hush went over the mob suddenly as the doors opened. Spark stood on her tiptoes and leaned forward to see Jack and David emerge from the building. That was all she hat time to see because she lost her balance and tumbled out of the tree. She braced herself to impact the hard cobblestones, but instead she landed on a person.
"I am so sorry!" Spark jumped up, brushing herself off. This was the second time she'd fallen on top of someone from a tree. This usually doesn't happen." She picked up her own hat, along with the stranger's and made to hand it to whoever it was.
Her eyes met the newsboy's warm brown eyes as he smiled.
"Is this gonna be a regular thing or what?"
"Mush!" He pulled her into his arms.
"I been missin' ya." He said.
"Me too," Spark could feel tears coming. "I haven't stopped thinkin' about you."
"Me neither."
Mush slowly leaned in, Spark did the same. Their faces were mere inches from each other, their eyes locked.
Spark pulled away. "We should, um, go see what's goin' on up there. " She could feel the heat coming to her cheeks.
Mush tried not to feel stung. He didn't say another word as he followed Spark up to the doors.
Story resisted the urge to run to David as he exited "The World" building. "Do you think it'll be ok if I go see what's-"
"Yeah, whatever," Said Chase. It's not like she could have done anything to prevent her from leaving anyway. "I'll be waiting here..."
Story smiled. "Thank's Chase!"
Story pushed her way through the pressing crowd to Jack Kelly's newsies. With a little effort she made it to David's side. Her heart was pounding. By the expressions on David and Jack's faces, Story didn't know what to expect.
"David." She grabbed his hand. He didn't speak. Story watched as Jack whispered something in Les' ear before putting him on his shoulders.
"WE BEAT 'EM!" Jack exclaimed. The entire crowd cheered much louder than they yelled "Strike!"
Story hugged David, jumping up and down at the same time. "I knew we could do it!" Then she ran and hugged her Spark. Mush and David smiled at the two girls' excitement as they, too, joined in the cheering. The crowd's roars were practically deafening.
In the midst of the celebrating, a black carriage with barred windows parted the crowd.
"Hey Jack, it's the bulls!" Les cried. "It's the bulls, let me down."
Spot looked up and saw that the young boy was right. It was the carriage belonging to Warden Snyder. He had seen in in Brooklyn a lot, usually parked near Chase's former boarding school. She didn't know it, but Spot kept a close eye on that area of town. He was even friends with a few of the maids that worked there. As King of Brooklyn, Spot wanted to make sure no other girls there were violated (or almost violated, in Chase's case) a the hands of Snyder.
"Oh, no."
Instead of running away like Jack and the other newsies, Spot ran toward the carriage. He realized he'd, once again, left Chase unattended.
"LET ME THROUGH!" He yelled, trying to push through the current of people. He couldn't get by.
Chase froze as the black carriage stopped right in front of her. She knew whose carriage it was. She had to be strong. He wouldn't scare her this time.
The back doors opened and out jumped a few working boys. They joined the celebration, trying to find their friends.
Then Snyder, being escorted by two police officers, came around the back. When he recognized her he did a double take.
"Rosie!" He stepped toward her, trying to get escape the officers. "Rosie, do you see what they're doing to me?"
Chase held onto her crutch for dear life. All she wanted was for this man to disappear from her existence forever. She glared and tried to keep the tears from coming. She wouldn't let him have the satisfaction of seeing her like that.
"You can't let them do this to me." Snyder smiled what he thought was an innocent smile. "You know I'm not a bad man!"
It was too much for her. She pulled back as far as she could, just to get away from him. Before she could do anything else, a tall boy with curly, brown hair, wearing his hat backwards stepped in front of her.
"Ah, remember what I told ya, Mr. Snyder." He said sweetly. "The first thing ya do in jail, make friends with the rats. Share what you got in common."
Snyder stood dumbfounded as the officers pushed him into the back of the carriage.
The boy turned to Chase.
"You ok, miss?" He took off his hat with his free hand. The other was helping him lean on a crutch, just like Chase. "He didn't try to hurt you or nothin'?"
"I'm fine." The boy's smile was infectious. "You must be Crutchy. I've heard a lot about you."
He blushed. "Aww, miss."
"I'm Chase, by the way."
"Nice to meet ya, Miss Chase." Crutchy bowed, putting some of the most proper gentlemen of New York to shame.
"Maybe you can teach me how to walk with this thing." Chase tapped on her crutch and looked down sheepishly. "I'm kind of new at this."
"Sure," said Crutchy. He turned back to the carriage. "Uh, officer? If I may?" Crutchy slammed the prison carriage door, mischievously smiling at Mr. Snyder who stared through the bars.
"Hey, Crutchy." said Chase.
"Uh, yes?"
Chase stood on her tiptoes and planted a kiss on Crutchy's cheek. Several newsies in the crowd cheered rather loudly.
Crutchy turned bright red. "Um, i-if you'll excuse me, Miss Chase, I- uh, I gotta go tell the guys somethin'." With that Crutchy slapped his hat back on his head and ran as fast as he could manage to Jack and the rest of the Manhattan newsies. Crutchy was received by his friends with much excitement.
"Hey'ya, Crutchy." Said Jack. Crutchy beamed.
Denton nodded at the departing carriage. "You won't be seeing much of him anymore. Say goodbye Warden."
All the newsies called different (and mostly rude) variations of "Goodbye Warden!". It was very satisfying.
"Oh, Jack, you shoulda seen it! He comes stormin' into the Refuge waving his walking stick like a sword and he's leading in this army of lawyers and cops." Crutchy animated.
"Who comes stormin' in?" Jack asked.
"You know, your friend. Him!" Crutchy pointed across the street. "Teddy Roosevelt!"
All the newsies stood, practically speechless. There he was, Governor Teddy Roosevelt, smiling and waving and tipping his hat to all of the working kids of New York.
"The Governor's very grateful that you brought this problem to his attention." Denton said as he turned to Jack. "I said you might need a lift somewhere. He'd be happy to oblige. Anywhere you want. And this time, you ride inside."
Without a second thought, Jack spoke. "So, can he drop me at the train yards?"
"Yeah, if that's what you want."
Mush's face fell. He looked down at Spark who was frowning as well.
"Where's he gonna go?" she asked.
"He's always been talkin' about goin' out West since forever now. I never thought he would actually go." Mush sighed sadly. One of his best friends, the guy who gave him his nickname, was leaving for good. "Pardon me," He sniffed. "I've always been sensitive." Spark put her arm around Mush.
Someone grabbed Jack's few possessions from the lodging house as he said his goodbyes. He could only look at Sarah and David and Les once. He knew he would break down if it was more than that.
The newsies watches as he jumped into Roosevelt's carriage, waving to them all.
The crowd started to dissipate for about a second, to Chase's dismay. She'd have to limp all the way back to Medda's by herself. There was no way she could make it back home to Brooklyn in the state she was in. She hoped she could remember the way. This side of Manhattan was unfamiliar territory to her.
Suddenly everyone stopped and stared at an open carriage that was rounding the corner. Sitting inside was Jack.
He stood up when he saw her. "Hey, Chase!"
"Hey, Jack." She smiled. "And Mr. Governor, sir." when she noticed Teddy Roosevelt sitting across from her friend. "Where are you going?"
"Santa Fe, New Mexico. I'm finally living my dream!"
Chase smiled. "I told you it would get better!"
"Yeah, you were right."
Chase could feel the tears coming. She had only known Jack for a short amount of time but she felt like she'd known him her whole life. "I'll miss you."
"Me too," Jack's smile faded a little. "Hey, maybe when I come back in a few years you'll be a star on the Great White Way."
"You better." Chase got excited at the thought of her future. "And don't forget to write!"
The carriage started to move again.
"Bye, Chase!" Jack waved.
"Goodbye, Jack!"