Lea of New York

Chapter 12- He Knows

I arrived back at the Lodge and climbed up the fire escape. I slipped through the window and shut it as quietly as possible.

Very few of the newsies should be awake, so I was confident no one would see me. I turned face-to-face with my brother, arms crossed and disappointed look resting on his face.

"Where were ya?" He asked, no doubt suspicious of my whereabouts.

"I just went for a walk ta clear my mind." I answered bluntly, "What about Crutchie?"

"I'll tell ya about him later," he snapped, "where did you go? You left for ya 'walk' at least two hours ago." He then looked at my wrist where Bricks grabbed me.

His brow furrowed and he snatched my wrist. I winced as he turned it to the light to reveal a bruise.

"What happened this time?" He asked incredulously.

"Nothing," I snapped, carefully pulling my wrist from his hand, "I walked further than I meant to, and on my way back, I hit my wrist against a lamppost. Now will you leave me alone?" I turned and walked to Jack's bunk.

Jack looked up and frowned when he saw me.

"Where's Crutchie?" I asked.

"He's a little busted up, and 'e said it be betta for him ta stay at the Refuge for now." Jack said, his eyes never meeting mine.

"What?" I said, "Ya just left 'im there?"

"What else were we supposed ta do?" Jack snapped back.

"I don't know, but he can't stay in that horrible place!" I yelled. "You and I both know he won't..." I trailed off, then turned and ran to my bunk. Crutchie didn't deserve to be in the Refuge. We had to win the strike.

As I covered myself with my blanket, I tried to calm myself down. The only thing that calmed me was the thought of us winning the strike, with Crutchie back and Brooklyn by our side. That's how it should be.

I woke up the next morning and silently snuck out the window and up the fire escape. I needed to mentally prepare myself for the strike. When I reached the roof, I saw Race sitting on the edge of the roof.

"Whadda you doin' up so early?" I asked.

"I knew you'd come up here, and I wanted to talk to you." He replied. "What really happened last night?"

"Whadda ya mean? I told you, didn't I?" I snapped.

"Did you really think I'd believe dat?" Race asked, a small smirk appearing on his face.

"Promise ya won't tell anyone?" I said, moving closer to him.

"I promise."

I took a deep breath. "I went ta Brooklyn last night ta talk to Spot. Dat's why it took me so long. And one of the Brooklyn newsies didn't know why I was dere, so 'e tried ta get rid of me. Dat's where da bruise came from."

I looked up to see Race with a shocked look.

"You went ta Brooklyn at night by ya self? What were ya thinkin'? Anything coulda happened ta you! Something did happen ta you! And you went ta talk to the most powerful newsie in all of New York?" He paused. "What'd he say?"

"He said he'd think about it, but I wouldn't get ya hopes up." I replied glumly. "And Spot wouldn't let anything happen ta me anyways." Now it's my turn to pause. "He knows."

Race's eyes went bigger then saucers.

"He what?"

"When he saved me the udder day, my hat had fallen off. He saw me without my hat. He knows I'm a girl."

We both turned to the sound of the fire escape creaking. Seconds later, Jack's head popped up.

"Whadda you two doin' up here? We gotta go strike!"

"Right!" I said, quickly making my way to the fire escape. I gave Race a "we'll-talk-later" look. Right now we had a strike to win.