The rest of the day, and much of the next, came and went. Rebecca didn't really do much for most of that time. She had thought about reaching out to Katherine, but she couldn't bring herself to borrow the phone in her father's office and invite her over. Instead, she limited her communication with anyone from the moment she got home to the next afternoon. She thought about using that time to figure out a new plan, but she really spent her time catching up on her reading, attempted to sew pockets into her pants from Elizabeth, or curling up in her bed. She only stopped this routine to sneak food from the kitchen. Nothing else would stop that pattern, she figured.

The rally was at seven that night, and since she couldn't come up with anything to say to the newsies, Rebecca didn't plan on going anymore. She didn't feel like she belonged there anymore, so why should she go? By now, Race and Specs had probably spread the word to the other newsies if Jack hadn't already, and she didn't want to feel their anger-filled gazes on her with each passing second. She was sure that Davey's alone would be hard enough to deal with. It wasn't worth it.

Somebody knocked on the door at six sharp that evening, rousing Rebecca from her thoughts. "Please leave me alone," she called from her place on her bed. She was lying there with her dirty newsie clothing scattered around her on the sheets, and an open copy of Little Women was resting in her lap.

However, it wasn't who she expected after all. Instead, the voice that came through the door was none other than her brother's. "Becky, please. It's me. Will you let me talk to you?" Bill called.

Rebecca hesitated, trying to figure out if her brother could be trusted. But, after a bit of deliberation, she replied, "Okay, come in."

Bill opened the door and stepped into the bedroom, lightly closing the door behind him. "So," he started as he strolled over to her bed, "do you want to tell me what's going on?"

The young girl sighed and closed her book as her brother sat down. "How much time do you have?" With a quick prompting by her brother, she sighed again and started to speak. "I'll give you the abbreviated version. For the past few days, I've been working with the newsies and helping them with their strike."

"That's where you've been running off to every morning? I was wondering about that," Bill admitted, giving her a small smile. "Anyway, continue."

"The newsies had no idea who Katherine, Elizabeth, and I really were," Rebecca continued, her gaze falling to her hands. "They had no idea that we were Pulitzers and Hearsts, until yesterday, when Mr. Pulitzer told Jack, the leader of the newsies. And since he now knows, I had to tell the others because he would have told them otherwise. But, I'm not sure I can face them after they've learned that. They probably think that we're all traitors." She sighed and reached for the pair of pants she had been sewing, choosing to play with the pockets she had created rather than look in her brother's eyes. As she tucked a coin into the pocket, she noticed the silence that had overtook them. This bothered Rebecca a bit, so she quickly added, "You can say something, you know."

Bill looked at her, really looked at her, then let a smile form on his lips. As he tried to keep himself from laughing, he pointed out, "My sister, Rebecca Josephine Hearst, isn't sure she can face a group of young boys who have now realized that she's more powerful than they possibly thought?"

Rebecca was silent for a minute, thinking about that. He had a point. She hadn't let other people govern her life before. Well, she hadn't meant to. So, why was she feeling so nervous about facing the others again? "Well, you're right, but..." she started.

"But nothing. Rebecca, I'm your brother," Bill reminded her, looking at her reassuringly. "I know a lot about who you are and what you do. If you got involved with this, it's because you believe in it, and once you get involved in something, you focus on it and give it your best effort. The newsies would have seen this too. So, it wouldn't matter to them that you're a Hearst. It would matter that you're a Hearst and you still chose to work for their cause. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"

She looked away for a second, then sighed again. "Why do older brothers always seem to have the right answers?" she inquired, earning a laugh from the brother in question.

Bill smiled and reached out to mess with his sister's hair, or as much as he could while it was up in a bun. "Because," he started, "older brothers have experience to know the right answers." Then, as he moved his hand back, he added, "I have a few questions though. The first one is why do you have my hat?" He gestured over to the cap on her bedside table, and the two both laughed.

Rebecca grabbed it off the table and replied, "I needed it to blend in for some of the things we were doing. I borrowed one from some stranger in Katherine's building the day we took the picture for The Sun, but I wanted to get that one back to its rightful owner, so I took yours. You can have it back though."

Bill shook his head and flashed a smile in her direction. "Keep it. It's a memento of the fantastic work you did so far, and what's to come. Besides, I've never been front page news. You can wear it when the strike succeeds and you make the front page again."

Rebecca thanked her brother as she pulled the hat on over her hair again, letting a smile form on her lips. She was about to pick up her novel again and ask her big brother what he thought of the book when the fire escape started to make noise.

Bill was up on his feet, ready to check and see who was trying to potentially break into their home. He looked around for some kind of weapon, but found nothing, so he just moved towards the window with his fists clenched. When the window opened, he was ready to swing and knock the person out...

"William Randolph Hearst Jr., don't you dare punch me!"

Through the window came young Katherine Pulitzer, slightly struggling to make it through in her long purple skirt. Bill rushed forward and helped her through immediately, offering apologies to the woman, which were accompanied by the laughter of his younger sister.

When everybody was settled inside of Rebecca and Elizabeth's room, Rebecca addressed the girl she thought of like a sister. "Kath, why in the world were you climbing through my window?" she inquired and turned to face her.

Katherine shrugged, smoothing out her skirt with a small, sly smile on her face. "Well," she started, "I didn't feel that I could lie to your parents about why I wanted to be here and get you out tonight, so the most logical alternative was to climb up your fire escape. And now I know how to do it without the assistance of anybody else." She looked very proud of that fact, and she didn't seem bothered whatsoever with what had happened only the day before. Maybe she was just a good actress. Or maybe she got over things quicker than Rebecca did. Both were fairly likely.

"You're still going to the rally?" Rebecca asked.

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I?"

Bill raised his hand, looking between the girls as he asked, "I don't understand, what rally?"

Katherine smiled and supplied the answer. "The newsies are hosting a rally with all the newsies of New York. And, I'm going, and Rebecca should too. If her sister can't go, she should go in honor of her."

Bill's eyes widened. "Wait, why can't Elizabeth go? Where is she?" he asked.

Rebecca chewed her lip, then looked at Katherine. She couldn't have this conversation with her brother right now. It was just a bad idea waiting to become a reality, so she stood up and declared, "We should go."

"Wait, don't you want to put on those? It'd make things easier," Katherine suggested.

Rebecca shook her head. "You made it up the fire escape in your dress. I can do it too," she explained, then smiled at her brother. "Thanks for the talk. But I need to go. Bye!" she stated and pushed her brother out of the room, avoiding the questions about their sister that he was hurling at the two girls. As soon as he was out of the room, Rebecca sighed in relief. "Thank goodness we can avoid that conversation." With that, she quickly tied her shoes, tucked a coin into her sock, and practically jumped onto the fire escape, hurrying down the stairs with Katherine at her heels.

As soon as they dropped down from the fire escape and onto the cold, hard ground, they were off to Irving Hall, neither girl noticing the look of nervousness that had crossed their faces as soon as they were on the street.

*****

The theater was buzzing with the voices of young men who were ready to fight for their rights. The energy was electric. The two girls were in awe of what they were seeing right then, and nobody had even begun to speak to the whole crowd yet. It was just what they wanted to see, a group of people excited about what this strike could bring them.

Katherine and Rebecca made their way down the side aisle of the theater, trying to find where the Manhattan newsies had situated themselves. It wasn't hard to find them, though. They could hear Race's voice over the top of many of the other boys in attendance, and with a shared look, they altered their course towards where the boy was announcing whatever he pleased to his friends.

They found him down near the front, being told not to stand on the seats by none other than Davey. The girls recognized most of the newsies around them as boys from the lodging house. The only one missing was Jack himself. Rebecca glanced over at Katherine, opening her mouth to ask if she had any idea where the guy was now. But, before any words could leave Rebecca's mouth, Katherine shook her head at her and kept walking.

Only ten seconds later, they were noticed by the boys. "No way, they came?" one voice whispered loudly to a nearby newsie, and the group of Manhattan boys went silent. The rest of the room was still roaring with the sound of conversation, except for the space that they occupied.

Rebecca looked at the boys, instantly feeling their hurt gazes fall on the two of them. She realized she was still wearing Bill's hat, so she took it off and managed to ask, "We're allowed to be here, aren't we? If you want us to go, we can leave, but we'd really like to stay."

Most of the boys shared looks and muffled conversation, deliberating on the topic of allowing the girls to stay. Some of them didn't trust them, while others believed their story entirely. Manhattan was a little bit divided on the subject, but besides Manhattan, not many other boroughs had found out.

The only person who didn't get involved in the discussion was Davey, who just looked between them. He was searching for even a hint of disloyalty in either of them, but he found none in their eyes. With his eyes locked with Rebecca's, he replied, "Take a seat," and gestured in the direction of two seats in the front. They were currently being occupied by Sniper and Romeo, but as soon as they saw Davey's action, they vacated the seats and moved to the back, allowing the best seats in the section to be given to the girls.

Katherine looked at Davey, then at all the boys, and stated, "Thank you." She didn't need to say much more. Everyone understood what was being left unsaid, and the tension was lessened, to the girls' relief. It wasn't gone, per se, but it was manageable. At least the girls had a fighting chance to prove their loyalty. They sat down, and Davey gave them a nod before heading up onto the stage. Since it was Davey's idea, and Jack hadn't shown yet, it looked like he was going to be taking care of all this.

As he got up onto the stage, the room's noise level suddenly escalated to a louder level than before. However, it wasn't because of Davey's appearance. It was due to the arrival of another group of newsies. Spot Conlon himself strolled down the center aisle proudly, then climbed up to where Davey was at the same time as Medda stepped foot on the stage. He and Davey did a spit shake in front of the room while the rest of the Brooklyn contingent found a place to call home in the theater.

Rebecca got up and leaned against the side of the stage, looking up at the two boys. "Glad to see you could make it, Spot," she commented, grinning at him.

Spot looked down at her and smirked. "What can I say? Ya convinced me," he replied. The two gave each other a nod and a smile formed on Rebecca's lips. While she moved to sit back down beside Katherine, neither noticed Davey's reaction to their miniscule conversation: a hint of jealousy.

Medda spoke up, getting everyone's attention, and the entire theater quieted for her to be able to be heard. "Welcome, newsies of New York City! Welcome to my theater and to your revolution!"

Davey snapped out of his little funk in time to add a piece to the end of Medda's statement. "And let's hear it for Spot Conlon and Brooklyn!" he declared, giving the other, smaller boy a nod.

Spot stepped forward, a smile on his face as he allowed everyone to clap for Brooklyn. Then, his face went straight, and shut everyone up by simply just moving his arms. He looked over at Davey and stated, "Let's see what Pulitzer's got to say to you now."

Then, questions came up from the audience, inquiring about where Jack was. Soon, the place was buzzing with the voices of newsies who wanted to know where the face of the strike was during this important rally. Rebecca was one of those people. Why would he miss this? She again turned her head to question Katherine, but Katherine just shook her head, keeping her face straight, as if she knew something she wished she didn't.

Davey and Medda shared a quick statement in front, but the words were drowned out by the sound of Jack's name being chanted throughout the entire theater.

With a deep breath, Davey stood up in front of the entire room and got their attention with another rousing call. "Newsies of New York! Look at what we've done!" he exclaimed, gesturing around the room. "We got newsies from every pape and every neighborhood here tonight. Tonight, you're making history, alright? Tonight, we're sayin' that we're just as much a part of the newspaper as any reporter or editor. We're done being treated like kids. From now on, they'll treat us as equals!"

As the room erupted in cheers again, none other than Jack Kelly came in and stepped up beside his friend in front of the whole group, making a statement that didn't even sound like it should have come from his mouth. The words were barely audible to Katherine and Rebecca, but they could hear something sounding as if he was admonishing everyone for their part in this. Katherine's face fell and she looked away from the stage.

The room erupted in cheers at the sight of Jack, but he quickly cut them off and started to speak. Rebecca, however, couldn't allow herself to listen, knowing something was wrong. The words that came out of his mouth sounded confident and strong, as if he believed what he was saying. But, they were wrong. They weren't anything like what he said the day before. He was talking about turning away from the strike and giving in to what Pulitzer wanted. It must have been what Katherine had been worried about minutes before, about whether or not he would show. Had he really chosen to take the bribe from Pulitzer and betray his friends after all?

People started to talk over him, so Rebecca was able to start listening to him again, but she only heard a little bit in full. "Hey! I said we should take the deal!"

The group of newsies rejected it fully, starting to argue with him over his statements. Nobody could hear anything anybody else was saying, since the noise was deafening. After a while, Spot stepped up and pushed Jack backwards. Instead of challenging him back, Jack just...left. He walked away, breaking off from the group entirely. And, as he neared the door, an old man pressed a wad of cash into his hand. He really had done it. He'd taken the bribe. Newsies shouted after him, chastising the boy for giving up the fight. In their eyes, Jack was now a traitor to the cause. As he left, Katherine was up on her feet, watching him go.

From her seat, Rebecca stared after him for a brief period of time, then reached up to tug on Katherine's sleeve and get her attention. "He actually did it," she commented softly.

The young reporter let out a sigh, looking down at her friend with a frown on her face and disappointment in her eyes. "My father got to him. I didn't think he would, but he did." She shook her head at the thought, then looked in the direction he had run off to. "Hey, you help out Davey here at the rally, try to raise their spirits. I'm going to go find Jack." Rebecca tried to stop her, but she was already walking away. "Specs," she called, getting the attention of the newsie in question. "Where would Jack go if he wanted to be alone?"

Specs sat up, looking over at the girl as he replied, "Uh, probably his penthouse."

"And where would that be?"

"Top of the lodgin' house. Climb up all the stairs and stuff and you're there," he explained.

Katherine nodded, offering her thanks to the group. Then, before anybody could stop her, she was gone.