zoey woke up wrapped in bedsheets.she frowned when racetrack wasn't beside her but then realised she was in jacks bed.she sighed and sat up,her eyes still slightly puffy from the night before.

the newsies got ready not really talking and made their way to the courtroom.

"are any of you presented by counsel?"
the judge asked the crowd of newsies.

the newsies looked at each other,trying to figure out what counsel was.zoey shrugged and held races hand.

"no.good,good.that'll move things along considerably"the judge said.

"your honour,i object"
spot said.

"on what grounds?"

race and zoey stared at spot,waiting for what was about to come out of his mouth.

"on the grounds of brooklyn,your honour."

race hid his face behind zoey and started laughing.zoey and the newsies joined in,laughing at spot.

spot laughed,not taking notice of the fact they were laughing at him.

"i fine each of you $5"the newsies went silent,"or two weeks confinement in the house of refugee"the judge declared.

"whoa whoa,hey,we ain't got five bucks"race told him.

zoey nodded,holding onto races hand tighter.

"we don't even got five cents"zoey added.

"hey,your honour,how bout i roll you for it?double or nothing."

zoey laughed,elbowing race.

"alright move along.move along"

"you're honour,i'll pay the fines.all of them."
denton rushed in.zoey made eye contact with him and smiled gratefully,he nodded.

"hey fellas,zoey,you alright?"
davey followed denton,"where's jack?"he asked,noticing the boy wasn't with the group.

"look,we gotta meet at the restaurant.everybody,we have to talk."denton told them.

"pay the clerk,move it along"
the judge called.

zoey looked up and saw jack walking in,handcuffed with a police officer behind him.

"jack!"
she called.

"hey fellas"
he smiled at the newsies.he looked at zoey and nodded,she nodded back with a sad smile.

"hey cowboy,nice shiner."

zoey grinned slightly and elbowed race,causing him to stick out his tongue while laughing.

as the newsies started walking out,zoey didn't move.spot stood beside her with his eyebrows knitted together slightly.

"jacks fine,cmon."
racetrack told the two.

zoey sighed and looked towards jack.he pointed to his heart and zoey nodded,copying him.she turned and caught up with race and spot,racetrack wrapped an arm around her.

the newsies didn't leave there,noticing snyder entering.they hung back and zoey felt her anxiety rising.

she began cracking her knuckles and biting the inside of her check.

"ill speak for this young man"
snyder smiled evilly.

jack said something,but zoey blocked it out and sighed heavily.

"just move it along,warden snyder."
the judge told him.zoey frowned.

"this boys real name is francis sullivan,his sister is zoey sullivan.his mother's deceased,his fathers a convict in the state penitentiary."

zoey and jack looked at each other and the girl could feel her heart breaking.she hadn't talked about her mother or father for as long as she could remember,and now it was all coming back.

"he's an escapee from the house of refuge,where his original sentence for three months was extended to six months for distributive behaviour.followed by an additional six months for an attempted escape.and his sister zoey is an escape from the girls home and a thief."

zoey felt like she had been opened like a book and read.she didn't like talking about before she was a newsie,and she knew that's all she was gonna be able to talk about to the boys now.

she felt races hand slip off her shoulder but she didn't turn around.she stared at jack as he spoke to snyder.

"and that the court order his incarceration until the age of 21,in the hope that we may yet guide him to a useful and productive life."

zoey gasped and felt her eyes sting.

"no"she whispered.

her knuckles had been cracked near 100 times but she didn't stop.she swallowed the saliva that had gathered in her mouth and took deep breathes.

"as for his sister,"snyder turned to the trembling girl,"the court may order her incarceration til age 25 in a girls home in washington,where she will be thought how to act like a women and not steal,or escape."
snyder spat,watching the girls face fall.

"washington?"
jack yelled.

the newsies began to protest but zoey was frozen in place.she couldn't process what had just happened.

"so ordered"
the judge finished.

"no!"
les yelled.

zoey let out a shaky breath and felt race put a hand on her shoulder,"zoey,ise said can you hear me?"

"hm?"
the girl stared ahead.

"zoey!"
race tried to get the girls attention.there was genuine worry on his face and he needed to comfort her.

a police officer started to walk towards the newsies to get zoey.

mush pulled her back and pushed her behind him and that's when she snapped out of it.race,mush,spot and kid blink stood infront of the girl,protecting her from the officer.

"just move,it'll be fine"
zoey croaked out.

the boys frowned when zoey pushed through them,handing herself in.

"zoey?"mush asked,his voice shaking.

zoey faked a gasp and pointed to where jack had been taken away,"hey,he got out!"she yelled,causing all the officers to run over.

she winked at the boys and ran out the courtroom as fast as her legs could bring her.

zoey ran to tibbys and fell into a booth with a gasp of breath.

nearly ten minutes later,the newsies showed up.

"hey guys"
she sighed.

"zoey!"
race yelled,running over and hugging the girl.she hugged back and felt mush latch onto the hug.

eventually mush,zoey,race,davey,les and most of the newsies were huddled in a bear hug.

once they let go zoey sighed,"ise sorry for lying."she told them.

"what?zoey we don't care what your real name is,that don't change who you are"spot told her.

"he's right,you're still zoey kelly."
racetrack told her,wrapping a tight arm around her waist.zoey smiled sadly and muttered a thanks.

the newsies all sat down and zoey laid her head in her arms.race didn't move his arm,instead his sat closer to zoey,pulling her into a side hug.

"denton!"
the newsies called as the reporter walked in.

"why didn't the sun print the story?"
davey asked.

"cause it never happened."

"what do you mean it never happened,you were there!"race said.

zoey lifted her head and looked at denton.

"i tell you,if it's not in the papers,it never happened."
denton told them."the owners decreed that it not be in the papers,therefore."he sighed.

"anyway,i came to tell you all goodbye."

the newsies realised what was happening and gave up,they all sat back and sighed.zoeys jaw clenched.

today was not her day.

"what happened?did you get fired?"
davey asked.

"no,i got reassigned back to my old job as the suns ace war correspondent."

"they want me to leave right away"
denton carried on,"the owner thinks i should only cover the really important stories so.."

"what,we ain't interesting enough when we getting beat up?"zoey asked the man.he frowned and looked at the girl.she looked away,rolling her eyes.

"welp,wish me look fellas,zoey"
he nodded at the girl.she ignored him and he sighed."at least half of what i wish for you"

"they don't always fire you,david"
denton continued.

his voice was starting to annoy zoey.she grabbed races hand and held onto it,trying to ignore denton.

"i would be blackballed from every paper in the country."denton told davey."hey"

david turned to a sad looking denton.

"i'm a newspaper man.i have to have a paper to write for."he sighed,pulling out a page,"this is the story i wrote about the rally."

"i want you to read it at least"
denton handed the paper to davey.zoey turned her head slightly,her expression not changing.

in that moment,all she wished for was the ability to read.

"bill?"
denton took out money for the newsies.

"no,no"
the man told him.

"this should cover it.thanks"he smiled at the man.

davey scrunched up the paper and denton nodded,leaving.

zoey slouched her shoulders,leaving her head on her arms again.

davey started to talk about trusting only the newsies and zoey sat up.

the newsies agreed and everyone stood up,levaing tibbys.

—

later that night zoey,davey,les,racetrack,kid blink and mush all snuck out and walked to the refugee.they tiptoed around the building and davey stopped them.

"that's where we saw crutchie"
davey pointed at a window.

zoeys head snapped towards the window,"is he there now?can youse see him?"she asked.

the boys shushed her and she shrugged,resting her arm on daveys shoulder.

a whistle blew as a carriage came out of the refuge.
the group ducked down and watched jack walk out with officers behind him.

"it's jack"les stood up.

"shh,shh"
davey pulled his brother back.

they watched jack get into the carriage and mush sighed,"where they taking him dave?he asked.

"only one way to find out"
davey said,pulling off his hat,"i'll meet you guys at the square."

"zoey,watch him."davey handed her les.she smiled at the kid and rubbed his hair.

they watched as davey ran after the carriage.zoey sighed and picked up les,"you wanna have a race?"she asked.

"yeah!"he nodded,smiling.

"alright"she put him down and counted to three,letting him get a head start.

zoey started running after him and he giggled,running faster.

"i'm catching up!"she called after him,the two getting closer to the square.

"zoey?"

zoey stoped running and faced the boy who called her name.

"max?"she gasped,instantly looking at where les was.

thankfully,he had stopped running and began walking back to her.

"are you okay zoey?is he bothering you?"
les asked,standing in front of the girl protectively.

"that's cute.beat it kid"
max smiled at les.

les huffed,"i'm not a kid-"

"it's alright les,cm'ere"she held him back,away from max.

his face was bruised and theres was cuts on his chest,that could be seen through his light shirt.

race,mush and blink eventually walked towards the square together after walking instead of racing.

"shit"
racetrack whispered.

"what?"
mush asked,looking up to see max with zoey,"who's that?"

the three boys sped up and got to zoey and les.

race wrapped an arm around zoeys waist and mush picked up les.blink stood beside mush,glaring at max.

"who's this zoey?"
mush asked,staring at the boy.

"max"
zoey told him,not looking at anyone.

mush and blink looked at race and he nodded.zoey furrowed her eyebrows,watching the three.

mush handed zoey les and she took him.les hugged onto the girl and the boys stood in front of the two.

"get out of here max"
kid blink mocked his name.

"fine,i don't want zoey anyway,she's not good enough for me or thomas."max told the boys,walking off with a angry look on his face.

zoey wouldn't admit it,but she was hurt that thomas wasn't who he pretended to be.at first she thought it was nice to have someone to talk to without the newsies finding out somehow,but now that was gone.

race wrapped an arm around zoeys waist and les glared at him,"zoey is hugging me,not you"he told race.

zoey laughed and the boys joined in,"hey,that's races girl les,don't be mean"mush joked.

zoey blushed and giggled,looking at race.

—

after standing in the square for a while,the newsies started getting bored.they had all sat down and zoey was falling asleep on racetracks shoulder.

david came running towards them and told her to wake up.the newsies all jumped up,looking at him.

"where's jack?"

david looked at zoey and his mouth opened to answer.he watched her face fall when he closed it again,not knowing what to saw.

"where is he david?"
mush asked again,confused.

"he didn't want to come"
davey admitted.

"what?why?"
zoey stood closer to davey.

"i don't know,he wouldn't listen to me.he told me to get out of there"davey said,an annoyed look on his face.

zoey bit her lip and stood back,standing beside race who looked confused.

she picked up les and handed him to his brother.he thanked her and the newsies started to walk back home.

once the four got to the lodging house,everyone was asleep already.race pulled zoey over to his bed,assuming she wanted to sleep there.

"ise gonna sleep in jacks bed"
she whispered.race nodded and gave her a hug.zoey hugged him back tighter and felt him kiss her head.

"night race"

"night zo"

—