(I'm not using full song)

"Remember when we used to go down here all the time?!" Race laughed joyfully. "It's been a million years."

"We're not that old." Anastasia rolled her eyes playfully.

"You're that old." Race joked, still frolicking around as if he was in a field of daisy's.

"Well, since I'm a year younger, than you're a million and one." Anastasia stuck her tongue out.

"You still have an infinite supply of come backs." Race shook his head.

"And you still have an infinite supply of stupidity." Anastasia retorted back.

"Hey! That's not nice!" Race whined.

"What are you, twelve?" Anastasia snorted.

"At least I don't look like I'm twelve!" Race huffed.

"What?! I do not look like I am twelve!" Anastasia glared lightly.

"Nah, you look nine!" Race grinned, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Excuse me!?"

"I'm just kidding!" Race put his hands up. "Jeez! And drop the glare! Youse too sunshiny and rainbows for it."

"You're not helping your case." Anastasia smile mischievously, crossing her arms.

"I know."

~~~~~~📰~~~~~~

"Who are ya bettin' on?" Race questioned, fiddling with his cigar.

"Buckwheat," Anastasia grinned, flipping a dime.

"I'll go with Dasher then." Race smirked. "Prepare to lose Stasia. You may be the leader of Queens, but I'm the king of the Sheepshead Bay Races."

"We came all the way to lower Brooklyn Racer." Anastasia crossed her arms. "There ain't no way I'm losing Mr. King of New York."

"Huh, I like that better." Race smiled.

~~~~~~📰~~~~~~

"You cheated!" Race whined.

"Quit being a sore loser!" Anastasia laughed.

"Yeah yeah yeah," Race huffed.

Anastasia's eyes locked on a clock tower in the back.

"Shoot, gotta run." Anastasia adjusted her newsie cap. "Me, the new kids, and that reporter are convincing Jackie to rejoin the strike."

"Good luck Stais, Jack can be just as stubborn as me," Race sighed.

"I had fun today though," Anastasia grinned. "Thanks Racer," she went on the tips of her toes to kiss his cheek before leaving.

"Y- yeah," Race touched his cheek. "No- no problem." He watched as the blue-eyed girl took off.

"That's a good goil ya got there. If you don't make a move then I will."

Race did a double take, spinning around.

"You're not even straight Spot." And suddenly Race's eyes met Spot Conlon. [he's ✨g A y✨] [sorry spot fangirls]

...or at least his forehead.

"That's the point Racer," Spot smirked.

"You're not hitting on me-" [YO SPRACE FANGIRLS COME GET YALL JUICE] (BETA NO-) [beta yes 🤠]

Spot's eyes widened, frantically shooting back, "What?! No-"

"I'm messing with you Conlon." Race rolled his eyes. "I'm not interested in dating Stais. I don't like her! I don't even like her as a frie-"

"Bull," Spot crossed his arms. "You're easier to read then you think Racer."

"What-"

"Like I said, make your move Racer." Spot turned away. "Before someone else does."

(i am so sorry for how bad this turned out) (MY WRITING IMPROVES AFTER CHAPTER 24)

~~~~~~📰~~~~~~

"Thanks for coming to help, Slip." Katherine held out her hand for shaking.

"No problem," Anastasia made sure not to spit in her hand. "And it's Anastasia."

"Sure- sure okay." Katherine nodded.

"I haven't met you yet!" Les beamed. "I'm Les!"

"Hi Les," Anastasia smiled softly, holding her hand out. "I'm Anastasia."

"So you're the leader of Queens?" Les's eyes widened, shaking her hand quickly.

"Yep." Anastasia laughed.

"David says that you and Race are close!" Les grinned. "Is he your boyfriend?"

Anastasia's eyes widened. "What?! No- no, definitely not."

"Okay then," Les nodded before giving Katherine a look that clearly said I don't believe you one bit.

"Anyway..." Anastasia trailed off. "Where's Davey?"

"He went inside," Katherine gestured. "We should head in now?"

"Let's go!" Les cheered, dashing inside.

"Hey Jack!" Anastasia called out, marching into the empty theatre.

"What's it gonna take to get away from you people!" Jack groaned in response.

"You can't escape us." Davey deadpanned. "We're inevitable."

Anastasia grabbed onto the wooden canopy above the stage as Les dashed down the stairs, Katherine in pursuit.

"Is it real?" Davey questioned. "That Santa Fe."

"Of course it is." Anastasia said lazily, joining them on the stage.

"You guys are crazy to continue the strike!" Jack protested.

"Really?" Katherine raised an eyebrow. "The guy who's painting places he's never seen is calling us crazy?"

Anastasia winced, knowing Katherine had hit a sore spot.

"Oh yeah?" Jack dropped his paintbrush into the bucket of water. "You wanna see a place I've seen?"

Katherine shook her head as Jack turned the canvas of Santa Fe around.

"Newsies Square- filled with screams, some hurt, others arrested!"

"Lighten up! No one died!" Davey rolled his eyes until he saw the look on Jack's face.

"Oh- Oh is that what you're going for?" Jack narrowed his eyes as Anastasia scoffed. Jack pulled out a note from his pocket, a small but neat handwritten Jack on the top. "The note Crutchie wrote for me. We- we went to see him, dropped down with ropes. He couldn't even come to the window! What if he doesn't make it!"

"Jack, he didn't have his crutch, of course he couldn't make it to the window!" Anastasia frowned.

"But that was after the first night! How much worse will he get, huh? Stais you know how they treat kids." Jack argued.

"This is why we're fighting Jack!" Davey yelled. "For- for kids like Crutchie! Kids in the refuge. People who don't have a voice! We are giving them a voice! We have to keep fighting! Or we'll just be forgotten in history! Do you want to be forgotten?!"

"There is no way I am putting them kids back in danger." Jack shook his head. (H e h) (I remember writing this scene during work study on the schools chrome book last year) (now instead of work study, I have tHREE SCIENCE CLASSES) (🤠🔪✨)

"Tell me how quitting does Crutchie any good!" Anastasia crossed her arms,

"Afjdlk;s." Jack jumbled.

"Exactly." Davey rolled his eyes. "So here's how it goes, once we win- and we will be winning. Make no mistake."

"We'll be what?" Jack did a double take.

"We're already winning." Davey argued.

"Right." Jack spoke sarcastically.

"And we'll tell 'em straight out, they let Crutchie go or they keep getting pounded!" Anstasia grinned.

"Dave what the heck!?"

"Gee thanks." Anastasia rolled her eyes as Jack gave her a pointed look.

"Did they bust up your brains or something!" Jack pushed the back of Anastasia's head before directing his gaze back to Davey. "As I recall Dave, we all got our butts kicked, they won!" (I would have just censored a** instead of replacing it but I really didn't want to curse on the school chrome book,,,,,,during school,,,,)

"Won the battle!" Davey fought.

"Oh come on!" Jack snapped.

"Jackie, think about it we've got them surrounded!" Davey patted Jack's shoulder.

"Here's what I think, Joe's a jerk, he's a rattlesnake!"

"You're right! And you know why a snake starts to rattle!" Davey grinned.

"No why?" Jack huffed, using a tone that said please, do tell me.

"Cause he's scared!" Davey made crazy hand motions.

"Sure." Jack frowned.

"Go and look it up! The poor guys head is spinning!" Davey beamed estatically.

"You know what, maybe your right." Jack grumbled in defeat. (MUHAHAHAHHA AUTHOR LAZYNESS ™)

"Ha!" Davey smirked.

"I'll talk to Pulitzer! Okay!" Jack huffed. "Happy?"

"Very." Davey nodded.

"Yes!" Les cheered.

~~~~~~📰~~~~~~

"Mr. Pulitzer?" Pulitzer's secretary peaked her head through the door. "The boy, Jack Kelly? He's here."

Pulitzer chuckled darkly.

"Empty the room! And bring him up."

Seconds later Jack entered the room, hands in his pockets and whistling a tune.

"Well heya mistah-"

"Sit." Pulitzer glared.

"Actually, I prefer to stand." Jack laughed meekly.

"Now listen here boy." Pulitzer narrowed his eyes. "You listen close."

"Whatever you say..." Jack smirked. "Joe."

If anything, Pulitzer got madder.

"You boy, are a nobody. You hear. Nobody."

Jack held his chin high. Unwavering. No matter how much it felt like he was getting punched in the gut.

"And youse a somebody?" Jack raised an eyebrow.

"More of a person than you are." Pulitzer snapped. "You're going to quit this useless strike. You'll see. Your voice doesn't matter. Your opinion doesn't matter. And the strike won't matter."

Pulitzer got up, moving closer and closer.

"You must be real scared Joe." Jack shrugged. "Scared enough to chase after me like this."

Pulitzer once again ignored Jack.

"You shut down this meaningless strike boy."

"Why should I?" Jack held his ground.

"I will make your life a living h*ll." Pulitzer glared. "All you're doing right now is being a pain in my side." Pulitzer pointed to the window. "The world doesn't care! America won't listen. You're only putting your family in danger."

Jack's cheeky smile faltered for a split second.

"Soon you'll see Joe." Jack backed away. "They don't need me."

They don't need me.

"Wese having a rally tomorrow, thought the person we're rallyin' against should be there."

That's a rap.

I'm cringing while posting these chaps bec mY GODS MY WRITING IS BAD

I am so glad I took a break from this fanfic to work on original things because my writing (I like to hope) is MUCH better.

I'm also panicking? Because you guys are pretty much almost fully caught up to me and im writing a really long thing split into two chaps-

LET'S PRAY I CAN START WRITING QUICKLY BECAUSE WE'RE GONNA HAVE AN ISSUE-

Anyways,

I hope you guys had a wonderful summer and a good upcoming school year! My school started this week and now we're off again till Thursday 👍🏼. Ohmygods im using emoji's that aren't ✨s p a r k l e s✨

i ' m  t e r r i f i e d -

Alright, for real this time

This is Izzy,
Over and out!