"Oh my god, I completely forgot, I said I'd meet Katherine for lunch!" Winnie remembered, franticly running to grab some clothes and racing into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.
"Wait, what should I do then?" Jesse called through the door. He didn't want to face the other boys just yet.
"You can hide out in here if you want, just don't let Aunt Medda see you!" She replied, before running back out fully dressed, desperately trying to tame her hair into a braid.
"Okay, I think I can manage that, ya don't think she'll come in here, right?"
"I don't see why she would need to" she said, grabbing her coat and checking the clock on the wall, "Oh god, I said I'd meet her in five minutes!"
"Quick go! I'll be fine, don't worry" Jesse laughed, ushering her out the door. In all honesty, he probably wouldn't be fine - now he had to spend the day alone with his thoughts with nothing to do other than become increasingly more stressed over the entire situation. How was he going to eat tonight? What were the other boys going to think about him? He was mad at himself for how he spoke to Jack the night before, and was desperate to apologise. And what if Medda caught him? What was he going to say then?
"Okay, see you later" Winnie called, before rushing out the door and down the stairs.
Now he had to wait.
***
"Hey, Winnie, you're right on time!" Katherine smiled, waving her over to her table. This place was much more grand than the deli, but Katherine had insisted upon treating Winnie and paying herself, as she never had any female company and was grateful for another girl to talk to.
"Hi, Katherine, wow, this place is stunning! Thank you so much for taking me here!"
It truly was amazing. The multiple chandeliers glistened light upon each silver plater, gleaming with excellence. Extravagant paintings and portraits were displayed upon the walls, coated in luxurious, deep teal wallpaper, which despite how dark the colour was still managed to bring an element of brightness to the room in a way that Winnie just simply couldn't understand. Each table was covered in a pristine, blinding white table cloth, of which one of the newsies could probably make dirty just be looking at it for too long. Upon their table lay two silver plates and so many pieces of cutlery that Winnie confused herself just by looking at them. A delicate menu lay across the table, screaming prices that made Winnie want to rush out the door immediately.
"This is a lot of money, Katherine, are you sure you don't want me to..."
"Oh nonsense" Katherine laughed "my dad knows the guy who runs the joint and managed to get us a good deal. Apparently he told them that I'm writing a review for the paper, so we got 70% off so I would be nicer in the article!" They both started laughing, considering Katherine had no intention of publishing anything on the restaurant.
"Anyway, I've got exciting news!" She smiled - Katherine hadn't told anyone other than Jack yet, not even her father. She wanted to tell another girl, and was grateful about her new friendship with Winnie.
"Okay, spill!" Winnie could see the excitement in Katherine's face and was desperate to know what was going on.
"Okay, well, I'm pregnant!" Katherine squealed, earning some weird looks from the surrounding tables, before quickly composing herself and restricting her excitement to grinning broadly, Winnie doing the same.
"That's amazing, Kath! Does anybody else know?" Winnie was so happy for her friend.
"Well, Jack obviously does, and I think he told Crutchie last night."
Ah, that was why Jesse was so upset. That was why he for so angry that he couldn't grow up. Winnie knew, after all, that he could probably never raise a family of his own. Not after what happened to Miles - his wife had taken his only son, Thomas, after accusing Miles of witchcraft, leaving him alone, never knowing what became of his son. Jesse probably realised this, explaining why he came straight to Winnie, as there was no way that he could explain his internal conflict to Jack.
"How did Crutchie take the news?" She asked, hoping to see if her suspicions were right.
"Quite weirdly, apparently. Jack said he was happy at first, but then started getting a bit angry when Jack mentioned growing up or something. Not like him at all" Katherine shrugged, before a waiter came over to take their orders.
"Hmm, strange" Winnie mumbled, grateful for the distraction of the waiter.
"So, anyway, I just wanted to ask you," Katherine began as the waiter left, "I understand if you say no, as we've only became friends recently, but it feels like we've known each other for years. Sooo, if you wanted to that is, could you be there when the baby is born - I know Jack will probably have like 20 newsies stood outside, and I don't think I'll be able to cope at all without another girl to keep them at bay. Please?"
"Absolutely, I would be honoured! The only problem is I would probably be back in Treegap. However, after coming here, I've realised that I don't really need my mother anymore, and, well, I'm thinking of moving here permanently, not just over summer. I belong more in new York. Am I crazy?"
"That's a great idea!" Katherine exclaimed, "I'm so glad you're staying! Oh, and one more question, will you be my bridesmaid? Obviously we have to get married before the baby, due to this stupid society we live in."
"Again, I would be honoured!" Winnie exclaimed, finally feeling like she had a real friend, other than the Tucks, of course.
"Thankyou! Oh, Winnie, I'm so excited! We can go dress shopping together, baby clothes shopping together! Oh, could you help me plan the wedding? The fun bits of course, like the flowers and cake and stuff - if Jack had his way we'd get married in the lodging house and I'd have a bouquet of newspaper cuttings" she sighed, rolling her eyes as the pair of them began laughing again.
***
Hours had past, and Jesse was limited to simply pacing around the room, swallowed by his thoughts.
"I'll be back in a minute, I'm just gonna get my costume for the next act" he heard Medda call, as well as her footsteps coming dangerously close to the door. Jesse, panicked, had no idea what to do, and, as the door began to creak open, had no other choice but to scramble under the bed. From his hiding place, his could see Medda waltz into the room, before rifling through her vast collection of garments. In the end, she must have found what she was looking for, and was about to leave when she did a quick observation of the room.
"Oh, Winnie child," she laughed "ya gotta learn to make ya bed in the morning" she sighed before casually going over to make the bed, Jesse laying beneath it praying that he wouldn't get caught.
Medda pulled over all the bedsheets, neatening them up for Winnie's return, and made her way over to the door. Just as it was about to close, Jesse cringed as he heard something fall to the floor, easily giving him away- his crutch. He had forgotten to hide it with him. Medda heard it to, and scanned the room before quickly finding the crutch lying across the floor. However, instead of being annoyed, she just laughed.
"Hmm, I'm pretty damn sure Winnie's legs work perfectly fine, so who's could this be?" She asked the room, and Jesse, though he knew his cover was blown, felt to embarrassed to reveal himself.
"Crutchie, honey, am I gonna have to find ya myself? Cos I have time. Okay, ready or not, here I come!"
Jesse still didn't want to roll out from under the bed, but he soon had no choice after Medda had checked every other hiding place, and he could see her feet at the end of the bed.
"Kid, I know ya under there. Just show ya self already."
Reluctantly, Jesse pulled himself out from under the bed, face red with embarrassment as Medda stood over him, eyebrows raised, holding his crutch. She offered it to him and helped him stand up, chuckling to herself.
"Charles Morris! What the hell are ya doing in here?" She laughed, sitting down on the bed.
"It's not what it looks like" he mumbled, avoiding eye contact.
"Ain't it now?"
"No really, I was.... getting some spare clothes, I knew ya had some from when I busted my leg up". Was that convincing enough?
"Okay, why didn't ya knock then?" Medda asked, enjoying this too much.
"I thought ya were rehearsing, didn't want to disturb ya" Jesse knew she could see right through him.
"Then why are ya hiding under the bed, if ya were just getting clothes?" Jesse had no response. Medda just laughed again.
"Oh, child, don't think I don't know you and Winnie are pretty 'close'. I understand" she smiled.
"No, really, we didn't do anything like that though!" He rushed, determined to dissolve Medda's obvious conclusion.
"Okay, sure" she smiled, eyebrows raised, "well, ya free to hide out here if ya want to, I can imagine ya hiding from the fellas."
With that, she made her way to the door, grinning.
"Oh, and Crutchie, treat her good."
He nodded, before she left, pretending nothing had happened.