Chapter 16: Jack Kelly's POV

                                    

                                          
What was I thinking?! Why did I agree to come back to the Lodging House for dinner?! What is wrong with me?!
"So, Jack? What even was that back there? Why did you agree to go back there for the dinner?", Crutchie asked.
"Because I am an idiot, and I wasn't thinking straight"
"Or maybe because you missed them that much and you wanted to go back in the first place?"
"... Shut up, Davey"
"You can tell me to shut up all you want, but you can't deny it forever"
"Whatever, let's just head back to your place. I am sure that your folks, Sarah, Les, and Jojo are wondering where we are"
"Actually, Jojo wanted to stay at the Lodging House for the night and maybe make up with some of the other boys, so that is what he is doing right now"
"Oh, that is fine. Good for him". Crutchie, Davey, and I went back to Davey's place and we explained what happened to all of them and they were shocked that all of that happened. 
"Oh, my gosh! Are you okay, Jack?!", Mrs. Jacobs asked. 
"Yeah, I will be fine, but I have bigger problems than that"
"And what would those be, Kid?", Mr. Jacobs asked. 
"Race invited me over for dinner in the Lodging House, and I might have accepted the offer"
"How would that be a problem?"
"Well, there are many reasons on why that would be an issue. The number one reason is that I still don't trust them"
"I think that you should go, Jack. He wouldn't have invited you if he didn't miss you that much", Sarah stated.
"I already said that I am going, and I know that I have some supporters back at the Lodging House and I don't want to disappoint them, so I might as well just do it, but that doesn't mean that I will like it there"
(THE NEXT DAY)
Well, it was time for me to go back to the Lodging House. I don't know whether I should look up to this or not.
"You know, Jack. If you don't want to do this, then you don't have to. I can just tell Race that you want to cancel, then- -"
"No, I can't avoid them forever. I need to do this"
"Alright. Regardless, Crutchie and I will be there with you to back you up. And Jojo will be there as well"
"Yeah, we wouldn't let anything happen to you"
"Thanks, guys. I appreciate it". We walked to the Lodging House. Crutchie and Davey walked into the building while I hesitated, but eventually, I walked in and we went into the dining room. As soon as we walked into the dining room, all of the boys looked at me in silence, and that made me very uncomfortable. "Look, if none of you want me here, then I can tell the hint"
"Jack, calm down. It will be fine. No-one is going to mess with you". Once we got our food, we sat down at the furthest table away from everyone else. Romeo, Jojo, Tommy Boy, Henry, Buttons, Mush, Mike and Ike came toward me and hugged me, then all of them sat next to me. Albert, Elmer, Kid Blink, and Specs hesitantly came over to me, but I waved for them to come over, then they sat with us. 
Then, Race hesitantly came over to me with a small box in one of his hands and my hat in his other hand. 
"Hi, Jack"
"What do you want, Racer?"
"Well. First, I just wanted to give you your hat back"
"Thanks", I said as I took the hat back from him, but he didn't leave after that.
"I- - can we talk?". At first, I didn't want to talk with Race about anything, but maybe it would be better for the both of us if we talked out our issues and possibly make up. 
"Fine, but this better be quick". We left the dining room and went into the living room. We sat on the opposite side of the room from each other and we just sat in silence for a while. "So, do you want to talk? Or are we just going to sit in silence for the rest of the night? Because I don't have all night and I don't think that you have all night, so let's just talk about this and get this over with". This is going to be a very long night.