The Fanfiction 2 or Why Does Technology Hate Me So Much?

Chapter 8

We arrived at the Pulitzer mansion with the perfect amount of time. Long enough to be properly on time, but not so much that I would have to answer questions before dinner began. Katherine introduced me to her father, who studied me with a scrutinizing air, probably trying  to find something horribly wrong with me. He didn't seem to find anything, because, after just a moment too long silence, he welcomed me stiffly. 

We headed into the dining room, which was about fifty times grander than all of Katherine's rooms combined. I felt that the grandiose of the house was almost intimidating, but remembering that Katherine had survived a childhood here made it less terrifying. We were told where to sit and we sat down, holding onto some sort of reserved elegance that the house itself seemed to thrust upon us. 

The meal was served one course at a time, with everything being flavored with somewhat icy questions. To respond, I gave just as icily reserved answers. 

"And where are you from, Elizabeth?" he asked, insisting on using my full name, but still my first name, as though I were a naughty little child of sorts.

"The North," I replied reservedly. 

"And what does your father do?" he asked.

"He runs a successful business," I said, leaving out that he was the vice president of a modern (well, futuristic here) company and didn't own it.

"And how did you meet my daughter?" he asked. 

"We met by a chance meeting on the street the first time I was in this city and bonded over words," I said tactfully, trying not to make the way we met seem fake like it did to anyone who heard of it fully.

Pulitzer did not seem convinced by what I said, but he wasn't saying anything, so I didn't think about it anymore.

Finally, it was time to leave. It was already dark out, so Katherine and I went straight to her house, unfortunately not getting to see the boys today other than passing one on the street and waving to them.

We arrived at Katherine's house, and I went up to my room and got ready for bed. I put on my nightgown, braided my hair, and, deciding I wanted to write down what had happened, at least a little of it, put on my dressing gown as well. I sat down at the desk, facing the window out to the dark city streets and the fire escape.

I got out paper, ink, and a pen and sat down to write. I sat for a moment trying to figure out how to start my piece. Not getting any ideas, I put my head down on the desk, trying to get a starting point. Suddenly, I heard a knock on the window. I looked up and saw Race on the fire escape, waving.

I opened the window and he climbed in. I knew Katherine was fine with having random newsies show up at her house, so I was perplexed about why he would have come to the window.

"Why didn't you just come through the front door?" I asked before he could even say hello.

"Whenever one of us come late, we sneak through the back ways and through the windows. We don't want to have Katherine's neighbors talking about the amount of 'ragamuffin' boys she lets in to her house at any old time. Only those people's servants seeus this way, and they understand why she lets us in," he said.

It made sense. Who knows what talk would be able to end up with Pulitzer, who had power to make those boys' lives miserable.

"Well, what brings you here?" I asked.

"Well, I didn't see you today, and I wanted to make sure you were okay," he replied, clearly not that worried about my safety but more how I was adjusting.

"I went to the Sun with Katherine today, and then had dinner with Ol' Joe," I replied. "And I was only slightly uncomfortable like seven times throughout the day. You give people money and they think they own the world."

"Well, Pulitzer does own the World," Race replied. I laughed.

We talked for about an hour and planned for me to go sell with him again the next day, and then he had a surprise plan for me; something involving a "sightseeing tour of New York." He left, and I went to bed, excited for another day.