Disclaimer: I don't own Newsies and shtuff.
A/N: Guys! I'm, like, BACK! I promise you a chapter and then make you wait two months. Haha, I was lazy. ANYWAY, I have a poll on my profile thing. It's about this story, and I need your opinion, dearest readers. It would be WONDERFUL if you took it. So, the long awaited chapter...awaits. Get ready for plot hole confusion galore, dear reader.
"Hello? Katherine speaking."
Katherine had woken up at 5:30 in the morning to the sound of her phone's obnoxious, incessant ringing.
"Uh, are you okay? You sound really sick," a voice responded.
Katherine's frowned, "Um...Thanks. Er, who is this?"
An amused laugh could be heard, "This is Jack."
Katherine blinked a couple times, her expression blank, until she remembered who the heck this "Jack" character was and why he had her number and why he was calling her.
"Oh." Katherine replied lamely, "I knew that. For your information, I am not sick. I'm just really exhausted right now because who in the right mind calls people at nine-thirty in the morning on a day off?!"
"Well, someone's in a grouchy mood today. Nine-thirty isn't even late!" Jack mused.
"I literally fell asleep only two hours ago!" Katherine growled, "Leave me alone until-I don't know-like, ten!"
"...Like, ten in the morning? In half an hour?" Jack asked.
"No, idiot," Katherine with an eye-roll, her tone dead-serious, "Ten at night. I need my sleep." There was a long silence as Jack contemplated why anyone would need 14 and a half hours of sleep.
"If you're not going to say anything, get off the line," Katherine snapped.
"Fine, fine!" Jack protested, "I just wanted to make an offer to you, but since you seem to be occupied..." He drifted off in suspense, and Katherine narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
"What kind of proposal would this be?" Katherine questioned.
"Well, you know, I'm out on the streets already and I kind of had the whole day planned out for us: two good chums going to get some coffee, that kind of nice stuff, but since you're busy sleeping, I'd rather not bother you and-" (OMG, run-on sentence. HOW DARE THEE, JACK!)
Katherine quickly cut him off, "Okay, okay. So, when should I be ready?"
"I knew you would agree." Jack replied condescendingly, "How about... uh, could you meet me at, like, 10:30? At {insert café name here}. Sound good to you?" (Yes, I really just did the {insert name here} thing. I am NOT sending them to Starbucks.)
"Yup!" Katherine responded enthusiastically.
"Well, I'm glad you're so eager to see me again," Jack teased, and before Katherine could make a rude remark or five, he hung up.
"Why, that little son of a…" Katherine muttered to herself, placing her phone back on her nightstand.
Well, I have to get up now I guess, she thought. Katherine crawled out of bed, and within seven minutes or so, she had gotten dressed and was ready for the day. But...there were still fifty-three minutes left to kill. Well, minus getting there, maybe forty-two minutes. Katherine shrugged, Maybe I'll just arrive early.
She tugged on her coat and creeped quietly, ducking behind walls and all that lame stuff. Slowly, Katherine wrenched opened her front door, wincing at it made a loud creak. Quickly, she looked over her shoulder to see if her mom and dad had woken up. Nothing. Good.
She was only halfway out the door when a voice stopped her.
"Well then," her mother called slyly, leaning against the wall behind Katherine, "Where would you be sneaking off to now?"
Dang it. Caught.
Katherine stopped herself from biting her lip. That would be a clear giveaway. She only had seconds, probably less, to think of a valid reason. Fortunately for her, her brain actually shot out some ideas for her.
"I need to see Miss Terelize (name I kind of made up) next door. I have, like, no inspiration for writing my story that I've been working on lately," Katherine replied in an even, pretty convincing tone, "I'm just heading over there for a couple hours."
Her mother raised an eyebrow, "Oh? My apologies then, sweetie. I could've sworn that you were going to see your friend Jack. But since that's not true, I guess you may leave." The exaggeration in her mother's words let Katherine know that despite her efforts, her mother had already figured out what was happening. Oh, she was too good.
Her mom waved and continued in that fake voice, "Tell Terelize I said hi!"
"No need to keep up the act, Mom," Katherine murmured with an eyeroll, but nevertheless waved back to her mom with a slight smile.
TIME SKIP :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)
Jack was strolling down the streets of Manhattan with his hands in his pockets. He had just asked Katherine out-well, not on a date, but a...kind of sort of get-together thing. He gazed up at all the tall buildings which shadowed the street, and wondered if this should be the inspiration for another drawing. Or he could always bother Katherine, of course. Drawing Katherine, even after knowing her for only a few days, had quickly become one of Jack's favorite things, right after drawing Santa Fe.
Jack sighed. Santa Fe. Someday, Jack swore, he would get out of New York and move out west to Santa Fe. It was his biggest dream ever.
A tap on Jack's shoulder shook him out of his reverie.
"Boo!"
Sad to say, Jack yelped quite embarrassingly, and turned to find a evilly cackling Katherine dying from laughter.
Tears formed in her eyes as she chuckled and gasped, "Did you hear yourself, Jack? You sounded like-like...a chihuahua!" She made a little high-pitched squeaking noise, imitating Jack's reaction, then burst into laughter once more.
"Was it really that funny?" Jack frowned, his sense of dignity ruined.
"YES!" Katherine exclaimed, grinning, turning some heads, as she practically yelled the answer. Many passerby stopped to glare at the girl, but she paid them no attention.
Finally, have five more long, mortifying minutes, Katherine's sniggering died down to a soft giggle.
"You done now?" Jack asked impatiently.
Katherine held a hand up, "Wait…" She let out one more loud giggle, then smiled and nodded. "Ready."
Jack gave a lopsided smile, "Well...let's go!" He ran down the street, leaving his friend behind.
Katherine, still a bit out of breath from her laughing fit, pouted, "H-hey! Wait up!" She dashed off after him.
MORE TIME SKIP!
Jack and Katherine literally tripped into {insert cafe name here}, bursting through the door, then noisily crashing to the floor, laughing like five-year-olds. The whole cafe stopped to stare in disgust, amusement, or whatever at the the pair.
After awkwardly giggling on the ground for a while, the two finally picked themselves up. They straightened their clothes, cleared their throat, and went up to order some coffee.
MORE TIME SKIP! TIME SKIP EVERYWHERE!
"Well this is...soothing?" Katherine said, trying to break the silence while sipping her coffee.
"Uh, yeah." Jack replied.
"So."
"So."
They sat like that for a while more. Katherine looked out the window, while Jack pretended to be extremely fascinated with the tabletop.
"Soooooooo," Jack said this time. Katherine turned to face him.
Jack smiled cheekily, "Is this a date?"
Katherine gave him a death glare, "It depends on if you want to keep your face the way it is." (THREATENING IS NOT NICE, KIDDIES!)
Jack looked at her horrified, "Nevermind then. How's the family?"
"Good," Katherine said, "Yours?"
"Good," Jack replied, "You know, now that I think of it, I've actually met your parents a while ago, but I haven't met you until-well, you know-a couple days ago."
"Oh, yeah," Katherine recalled, "My parents did say they met you. Yeah, I think when they went to meet you, like, years ago, they said, 'Come on Katherine, let's go meet the new neighbors. They have a boy about your age. And I said, 'I don't want to meet the new boy! He's probably, like, really annoying and ugly and I'll hate him! Can't I just stay here and finish my picture?' I was playing with crayons at the time." Katherine smiled at the memory.
Jack chuckled, "Wow. Anyway, you look back on it now after you've actually met me, and you realize…" He made a gesture with his hand, cueing Katherine to finish his sentence.
"I realized that I was right, because you are really annoying and ugly and I hate you." Katherine joked.
Jack looked offended, "Um, no. You were supposed to say, 'Oh Jack, without you my life would be empty and boring! I'm so glad that fate brought us together!'" Katherine buried her face into her hands.
"No…"
TIME SKIP!
Long past the point when their caffeinated beverages had turned cold and rather unpleasant, Katherine and Jack were still chatting at their table. For nearly three hours, they conversed about art, writing, school, family, hopes and dreams. For the first time, they took the time to really get to know each other, and as they got lost in conversation, time breezed by.
As she took another sip of cold coffee, Katherine glanced at her watch, "I think I'd better go. It's nearly twelve. Thanks for the coffee. I really enjoyed this."
Jack whined, "Aww, you're really going to leave me here make me pay for your coffee?"
"You were the one who invited me here. It would be a logical assumption to think that you'd be paying for whatever," Katherine replied with a raised eyebrow, "Plus, is that any way to treat a girl on her first date?"
Jack's thoughts: Wait, WHAT?!
The boy gaped, "But you said earlier-wait...what-why-what is... What?"
Katherine smirked, and rose from her seat. Has she headed towards the door, she gave him a peck on the cheek.
"See you later, Jack!" Katherine called, giving him a small wave before she disappeared through the door.
Jack face was florid as he sat there in awe.
It had been minutes later before he finally said:
"What was that?"
A/N: I hope that at least moderately met your expectations. And, wow, Katherine's being bold this chapter, even though she was totally confused in the last. Welcome to the world of my sloppy, plot hole-filled writing. Anyway, PLEASE TAKE THE POLL THING and reviews are nice so I can get some ideas. THANK YOU!