Katherine was sitting on her bed reading a book when her window opened and Jack climbed in. "Your window latch is unlocked." He pointed out as she glared at him.

"Why can't you ever use the door like a normal human being?"

"In case you hadn't noticed, I am not a normal human being."

"Oh, I noticed. What do you want?" Jack sat down on the bed next to her.

"I gotta talk to you about something." Katherine sighed.

"Of course you do. What is it?"

"Prom." Katherine scoffed.

"That's an easy fix. I'm not going."

"What do you mean you're not going?"

"I'm not going. I don't want to go; we don't have to go." Jack stood up.

"Yeah, we do."

"Why? Why do we have to?" Katherine was rather confused. Jack didn't really strike her as a 'prom' kind of guy.

"I... I kind of already told they boys we'd be there." It was quite possible that Jack was blushing. Which was weird. Jack never blushed. He quickly added, "And I mean, they're already teasing me about it, y'know, and if they're gonna do that I don't wanna have to endure it for no reason." She gave him a look. "And I kind of already bought the tickets." He admitted sheepishly and her eyes widened.

"Jack!"

"I just assumed you'd wanna go, so I figured I'd go ahead and buy them for us – "

"You didn't even ask me."

"I didn't think I'd have to!" Katherine huffed.

"Well, there's nothing to do about it now. I guess we're going to prom. When is it?"

"Next weekend. Haven't you seen any of the posters?"

"Probably. I don't pay attention." Jack laughed. "Shut up." She shot him a glare, and he just shrugged and headed towards the window.

"See you tomorrow." He said with a grin before disappearing down her fire escape.

oOo

"Hey, Kath." Jack sauntered up to Katherine in the hallway, kissing her lightly on the cheek (they still hadn't worked up to actual kissing in public).

"Hey." Katherine greeted him with worried expression, and he frowned.

"What's wrong?"

"My father wants to meet you."

"He what?" That completely threw Jack off guard.

"He wants to meet you. He only just told me this morning." She lowered her voice in what was a surprisingly good impression of her father. "'I think it would be appropriate if I met the young man you've been courting – "Jack scoffed at the term, courting, "before I allow him to escort you to the prom.'"

"He said all that?"

"Yes, he said all that."

"So... what, he wants me to go to your house for a few minutes, interrogate me about my 'intentions'? I can do that, I've done it before."

"No... he wants you to come have dinner at our house tonight."

"Oh, well... I guess I can do that." He said casually, and Katherine shook her head.

"No, you don't get it. Right after school, we need to go into the auditorium, and I need to tell you everything you need to know about my father and what you need to do to get on your good side."

"You're making this sound really serious, it's not that big of a deal, is it?"

"Yes it is, Jack..." Katherine sighed. "My last name is Pulitzer." Jack gaped at her.

"Like... as in our principal? The one who just tried to completely take away the arts program and doesn't care about anyone's needs except his own? He's your father?" Katherine winced, and pulled him off to the side of the hallway as the bell rang. She knew they were both going to be late for class, but they'd survive.

"Yes, he's my father. But I'm not like him Jack, you probably didn't know, but I was one of the students who fought to help keep arts in the school." She smiled at the thought. "He wanted to kill me. But really, Jack, I'm assuming you want to keep this whole fake relationship thing going for a little longer?" Jack nodded. "Then impressing my father tonight is going to be really important, and really difficult."

"Okay." Jack agreed, looking more nervous than anything else.

oOo

Jack had been standing in front of the door to the Pulitzer's house (more like a mansion, he thought) for a little over five minutes. He hadn't been nearly this nervous before Katherine prepared him for the dinner. Eventually, he mustered up the courage, to knock on the door, and was relieved to see Katherine at the door and not the principal himself.

"You're late." She told him seriously.

"I got here on time actually." He said, and she gave him a strange look.

"This isn't helping with a good first impression. Come on." And he had no choice but to follow her into the huge house. She led him into the dining room, where they were met by both of her parents, already sitting at the table.

"Uh, hi Mr. and Mrs. Pulitzer." Jack tried to be as polite as he possibly could, but neither of the Pulitzer's greeted him.

"You may sit next to my daughter." Mr. Pulitzer told him, and Katherine sat down, motioning for Jack to sit next to her, which he did. "So, Jack Kelly," Pulitzer began, and Jack cringed at his cold tone. "You can't have thought I don't remember you, after that little 'strike' you organized against me? No, I remember very clearly, but I'm willing to put that behind us, depending on how this goes." Jack nodded. It was being made clear that this dinner conversation would include very little input from either Katherine or Mrs. Pulitzer. "Good. So, you're interested in my daughter?"

"Uh, yes sir."

"You didn't ask her out as some sort of joke? Teenage boys are known to do that, you know."

"Yes sir. I mean, no, our relationship is very real." It wasn't technically lying, Jack told himself.

"Very well. And you aren't with her just for the sex either, then?" This caused Katherine to come very close to choking on the water she had just taken a sip of. Jack was about to reply when Pulitzer added, "And just so you know, it would be preferred if you didn't have that type of intimate relationship until after you two get married, if it comes to that." Jack stumbled over his words for a moment before being able to form a coherent sentence.

"I'm definitely not in this for the uh, the sex, and I promise, we'll wait until marriage." Katherine's cheeks were flaming. She definitely hadn't expected her father to be asking questions like this.

"Father..."

"No, Katherine, these are legitimate questions." Pulitzer silenced his daughter. "Now, Jack, what are your plans for the future?" He continued and Katherine groaned. This was going to be a very long dinner.

oOo

After almost two hours, Joseph had finally finished grilling Jack on his past, his intentions towards Katherine, and his future aspirations, and had allowed Katherine to walk Jack to the door.

"So... how'd I do?" Jack asked her once they were sure her parents were out of hearing range.

"You did... okay."

"Wow, thanks." He said sarcastically, and she rolled her eyes.

"You did better than I expected."

"Well, he approved, so I guess it worked." Jack shrugged.

"You were good enough." Katherine conceded. "I'll see tomorrow." And then, she lightly shoved him outside and left, leaving him smiling subconsciously for reasons he didn't even know himself.