The circulation bell rang.
"You ready for this?" Mush asked Spark.
"Yeah," It was going to be strange to get back to their regular lives. "I gotta find me a good sellin' spot."
Mush smiled. "Try Bottle Alley or the harbor."
"Try Central Park, it's guaranteed." Racetrack added.
Spark laughed and punched her two friends in the arms.
Story joined David, Sarah, and Les. David didn't even acknowledge her arrival. He just stared at the ground. Les and Sarah were both crying.
Story came between the two older siblings and put her arms around them. Les hugged her around the waist. Tears started streaming down Story's face. It hurt her to see the people she loved in pain. And even though she hadn't really gotten to know Jack, she would miss him.
"It's gonna be- it's gonna be better now. Jack's happy on his way to Santa Fe. And-and we'll be ok without him." She smiled sadly, trying to cheer the Jacobs siblings up. "And hey, Davey. This means you're leader of Manhattan now."
He looked at her for a second and wiped a tear off her cheek with his thumb, giving her a small smile."I guess you're right. We better go get some papes while they still got some."
All of the boys stepped aside for David to get to the front. He really was their new leader now, whether he liked it or not. He had to be strong for them, so as David took his place in line in front of Mush, he held his head high. He reminded himself, it was going to be a fine life.
His smile grew and he held up the quarter in his hand proudly. "Hundred papes." And he slammed it on the counter.
"All right, Davey." Mush pat him on the back.
David took his stack of papers. The roar of a crowd echoed down the street.
"I thought everyone went home." Spark said to Story.
The two girls stepped out from their place behind Mush and looked out the gates.
"Move!" Story yelled, a carriage was pulling through the gates, followed by a mob of newsies from various boroughs. The sisters ducked back in line, narrowly missing being run over.
"Close one," Racetrack smirked.
"Shut it, Race." Spark stuck her tongue out at him.
"You guys-" Story stopped when she saw who was in the carriage.
"Dave, he's back!" Mush exclaimed.
Jack had been dreaming of going to Santa Fe forever. The newsies expected he would leave them one day, but they hadn't expected him to come back so soon.
Jack stood up with open arms. "You knew I wouldn't leave you guys!"
The newsies swarmed around the carriage, all clamouring to see Jack.
Jack turned to Roosevelt. "Thanks for the advice, Governor. Like you said, I still got things to do. Besides, I got family here." He hugged Les who had hopped into the carriage and handed him his Cowboy hat. Jack looked to David. "So, how's the headline today?"
"Headlines don't sell papes," David put on his hat. "Newsies sell papes."
"Come here Davey."
The boys spit into their hands, as per the newsies' customary handshake. The other newsies cheered even more.
"Welcome back." Spot nodded at Jack. Unlike the rest of the newsies, Spot remained cool, keeping up his normally haughty demeanor.
"I'm so grateful you approve, 'Your Highness'." Jack snorted.
"How about 'Your Eminence'?"
"How about 'Your Arrogance'?"
Mush stepped between Jack and Spot and smacked them him the head ."Yous are ruining a perfectly good reunion."
The two newsie leaders both crossed their arms and stared him down.
"S-sorry."
Sarah parted the crowd to hug Jack, instead he leaned in for a kiss. All the boys cheered. Story and Spark smiled at each other, secretly jealous. Two of their friends had been kissed for the first time (willingly) and it wasn't even noon yet.
"Newsies, hit the streets!" Said Jack after the kiss was over, he was still blushing a little. "The sun is up, the headline stinks, and this kid ain't gettin' any younger!" Several newsies laughed. It was back to business already. "Hey, Spot," Jack smiled knowingly. "I think you forgot somethin'."
Spot rolled his eyes. "I don't never forget anythin'- Oh, you're right!"
Story laughed as Spot fought his way through the crowd again. "Wanna get outta here?" She asked David .
"Yeah," he took her hand and they exited the gates, no problem.
Chase hadn't left her spot at the curb. Not that she really could, but she wanted to. Her feet were starting to hurt and she was tired. She was trying to figure out how she was going to sell papes for the next few months. Pity could work, she thought.
Chase looked up when she heard the sound of horses on cobblestones. She thought Jack already left.
It was Roosevelt's carriage again, but Jack wasn't the other passenger. Instead, Spot sat across from the governor, smiling his cavalier smile. Deep in his bright blue eyes, Chase could see the little boy in him loving every moment of it, feeling like a real king.
The carriage stopped right in front of her.
"M'lady," Spot stood, offering her his hand.
Chase stood there speechless for a second, smiling the prettiest smile Spot had ever seen. "I can't-" she said.
"Oh, sorry." It was going to take everyone a long time to get used to Chase's brace. Spot thought for a second. "I got it!"
He jumped down from the carriage and took her crutch. He then picked Chase up and slung her over his shoulder.
"What are you doing?" She giggled.
"Gettin' you into the carriage- stop squirming, will ya?"
"Of all the ways, Spot!" She screamed, partially out of glee and partially out of alarm when she saw how close the ground was. Spot wasn't a very tall guy.
"Ahh!" Spot yelled as Chase (accidentally) kicked him in the stomach.
"Sorry," Chase had to hold back a laugh.
It took another minute for the two of them to actually get in the carriage. Spot sat her down next to him and put his arm around her.
Chase smoothed out her disheveled hair.
"Governor," Said Spot, his imperious smirk returning to his face. "I'd like you to meet my girl, Miss Chase- excuse me, Roselia Meyers."
"Spot's told me an awful lot about you, Roselia." The Governor smiled amiably.
"Oh, he has?" She looked at Spot.
"Only the good stuff." He reassured her.
"Where to, Governor?" Asked the carriage driver.
"I don't know, where do you kids want to go?"
Spot thought for a second. "Driver," he commanded. "Take us to see our city."
"Our city?" Chase turned to him, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, it ain't just mine anymore." Spot said. "Anyway, what's a king without his queen?"
As soon as those words left his mouth, Chase leaned over and kissed him. He had never said anything like that before.
"Wow," he sat stunned for a second and then shook it off. "To Brooklyn!"
Mush and Spark were two of the last newsies out of the circulation gates.
"So, you wanna find a good spot?" Mush asked.
"I think I already got one." She smiled.
Mush frowned, disappointed. "Oh, well then, if you're ok I guess I could go now..." But he really didn't want to.
"What do you mean, go?" Spark grabbed his hand. "Come on!"
The two of them ran through the busy Manhattan streets, Spark in the lead. They ducked through narrow alleys and dodged carriages and people on their way to work. Spark would look back at Mush every few minutes and smiled. Mush smiled himself, Spark was something else.
Finally they got to Central Park. But they didn't stop. Avoiding all of the paths, Spark led him to a tree that grew near a bench. A pleasant spot to sit on a sultry summer day.
The two of them stood under the tree, looking up into the spreading branches. Mush felt like he'd been here before, in this exact spot.
"Remember this?" Spark started climbing the tree.
"Yeah," Mush nodded suddenly, when he realized why this was so familiar. "This is where we met, ain't it?"
"Yup, almost two weeks ago." Mush lifted Spark onto a lower branch.
"Seems like forever." He followed Spark up into the tree and sat next to her, on the branch she chose. "What a crazy two weeks."
Without warning, Spark kissed Mush on the mouth, savoring it for a second, until she pulled back and leaned her head against the tree trunk.
Mush stared at her, completely stunned. "Where the heck was that this mornin'?"
"I- I wasn't ready- for it." She stammered, blushing.
Mush brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. He laughed. "I love you, Spark. Ya know that?"
She smiled. "Yeah..." And they kissed again.
A/N: And that was "Five Thousand Reasons To Try". I hoped you enjoyed my take on "Newsies". It's interesting to note that this story was (somehow) originally 32 chapters long. I think my chapters were much shorter back then because there were a few missing scenes here and there but I think I remembered the story well enough to rewrite them. I'm not super happy with all of them, but what can you do? Even though it was a bit annoying to fit all of these chapters back together from the old emails I had saved, it was really fun to kind of relive writing this. I really love these characters I created and I hope you liked reading about them. Look out for my sequel, "New York Underworld", which should be coming out shortly. It's a bit of a mystery that takes place a few months after the strike. All of your favorite characters return and I even introduced a few new ones (I know, I write waaaay too many characters for my own good). Thank you for reading my story and review or comment. I really like to hear feedback on my stories! xoxoxoxoxo