The World Will Know (Newsies)

16: Hawkin' Headlines

Katherine's words were distributed around the city under the cover of darkness. The newsies passed them out to every child they could possibly find out at night. And, when there weren't kids around, the newsies slid them under the doors of homes, hoping that the kids who lived there would find the writing and join up in the morning. As Jack said, it was up to them.

But, there was only so much that they could do. After hours upon hours of delivering, it was time to head home, and the Hearst siblings walked back to their place together in silence. Bill had so many questions he wanted to ask, but Rebecca refused to answer any of them. She was too tired, and her delirious answers wouldn't bring any real resolution to anything. So, when they reached home, he carefully helped her up the fire escape, since he was stupid enough to forget his keys, and put her to bed, where she fell asleep almost immediately on top of the blankets, still wearing her clothes from the past few days.

The next morning, however, she woke up rather quickly, at the same time as the sun came up. She sat up slowly and rubbed at her eyes, momentarily forgetting the events of the previous night. As soon as they finally came to her, and a grin formed on her lips. Now, it was time for all of them to see whether their plan had succeeded.

She stood up and glanced down at her clothing. She was still practically dressed, so after pulling her hair back into the cap, she just strolled downstairs, practically beaming, and passed by her mother on the way to the door.

Mrs. Hearst smiled at her daughter and opened her mouth to greet her, then realized what she was wearing. Her smile immediately faded and her countenance grew disappointed, then appalled. "Rebecca Josephine Hearst, just what do you think you're wearing?" she inquired angrily.

Rebecca, not in the mood for any conflict whatsoever, just smiled at her mother and slid past her. It seemed that Pulitzer had kept her secret from her parents, otherwise this wouldn't have surprised Mrs. Hearst to that extent. Of all the things for Pulitzer to be kind about, Rebecca thought before offering a response to her mother. "Have a wonderful day, mother dearest. I'll be out with my friends."

As she exited the building, she could hear complaints coming from her mother's lips, but she didn't care. She had places to go, people to see, and lives to change. After all, today was the day that they would learn whether or not Katherine's plan would be successful. With every fiber of her being, she hoped that it would be.

Rebecca altered her normal course to the square. Instead of walking directly there to see what would be happening outside The World building, she chose to go to a different building first.

Within minutes, she was in the lobby of The New York Journal, and had almost been kicked out due to the fact that people didn't realize that the "dirty newsie" that stood before them was none other than the owner's daughter. As soon as they had realized that, apologies were flung at Rebecca in the hopes that they wouldn't lose their jobs from their comments. She just shrugged them off and marched straight up to her father's office.

William Randolph Hearst was standing behind his desk surrounded by his advisors, all of them scrambling to try and figure out just what to do. Even with the noise generated by the opening of the large doors, none of them noticed the young girl's entry. Her father was peering down at a paper on the table, and even from Rebecca's place at the door, she was almost certain it was Katherine's.

"Watson, have you gotten through to Pulitzer?" Hearst asked one of the advisors around him, letting his eyes stray from the paper just long enough to look at a tall, elderly man.

Watson shook his head, sighing. "No," he replied. "Our phones are ringing too much to get a clear line out of the building to him, and his lines are probably busy too."