From New York to New Mexico and Beyond

Chapter fourteen

The group woke the next morning to the sound of the cell door opening.

"Make a run for it boys!" Race shouted, bolting upright, his hair wild and his eyes bloodshot from a restless sleep. "Race it's fine." Jack mumbled through a yawn. "It's just Ol' Joe...oh. Mornin', sir!" He awkwardly tried to disentangle himself from Katherine who had fallen asleep on top of him. "Dad!" Katherine scrambled to her feet. "You came!"

"How'd you gets here so fast?" Specs blinked, trying to figure out if this was a nightmare or if Joseph Pulitzer was actually here...in their cell. "Some of us can actually afford to take a plane." Joseph grunted. He turned to the officer who had accompanied him. "If everything is in order, I'd like to get myself and my daughter out of here as quickly as possible." All the boys and Katherine gathered their belongings from the holding area in complete silence, except for Davey muttering; "I don't trust planes. My minivan served us just fine." He would never forgive Pulitzer for that remark.

As soon as he saw Katherine had her all her bags, Joseph took her by the arm and led her out, the boys shuffling awkwardly behind them. Jack jogged to catch up. "You're still coming to Santa Fe with us, right?" He whispered, but apparently he wasn't quiet enough. "I'm afraid not, Mr Kelly." Joe said, without even looking at him. "I did not give Katherine permission to go on this trip at the beginning and now that you've succeeded in getting my daughter arrested, I certainly don't approve now. I don't care what you and your friends do, but I'm taking Katherine home now." All the boys looked at each other sadly. "No." Katherine said suddenly, making everyone stop in their tracks. No one had expected her to go quietly but their was something about her quietly calm voice that caused even Old Joe to waver slightly.

"Would you mind repeating that, young lady?"

"No. Simple as that. I came this far and I wanna see Santa Fe." Jack smiled at her gratefully. "I wanna see Santa Fe, too!" Les piped up. "And if Kath ain't goin', I ain't goin'."

"Took the words right out of my mouth kid." Jack smirked. "Yeah, we're all in this together!" Crutchie put in. And for once in his life, Race didn't make a High School Musical reference, which everyone took as his way of agreeing. "Also if you don't let Kath come with us, we'll go back on the plane with you...and you don't know chaos until you've been on a long trip with these boys." Specs grinned. "Well I don't know about the plane...but I sure wouldn't wanna see Santa Fe unless the whole gang was there." Davey added.

Pulitzer just frowned at them in silence. "You know it really doesn't matter what you say, dad." Katherine chuckled. "Looks like you're out numbered." Joe stayed silent for a few more seconds before shaking his head in defeat. "I expect her back in one piece within a week." All the boys cheered and Katherine even hugged her father before he started to leave. "Oh and Kelly," he paused. "If I find out that what I saw this morning wasn't a one time thing, I will make sure you're back in a cell."

"Oh don't worry sir, you will never find out." Jack chuckled with his trademark grin. Davey was already in the driver's seat of the van and the others quickly piled in behind him. "Next stop, Santa Fe!" Jack cheered. "Yeah with this group, I wouldn't count on it." Davey muttered, fondly stroking his steering wheel before starting the van.

IM BACK MOMENTARILY
I'm think that's the end of the story! If I wanna write about the Santa Fe part itself I would probably do it in a sequel. So thanks for reading!