The Disgraced Newsie: Part 2( Rewritten)

Chapter 17: Racetrack Higgins' POV

We continued to sit in silence and Jack started to look annoyed and frustrated, and it felt like he would just stand up and leave at any moment. Just say something, Race! You wanted to talk to him for a reason, so just do it!

"... I missed you"

"Yeah, I heard about that. Look, you can drop the act now"

"What act?"

"You might act like you cared so much about me in front of the others, and you can ask Albert about that, he is that convinced that you missed me, but you would be the last person in this Lodging House who would actually give a crap about me. Why would you start now?"

"Jack, I have always cared about you! I never stopped. And the others still care about you too. It is just that they are too upset with you to admit it"

"Yeah, I noticed"

"Look, Jack. What I am trying to say is that I never meant to make you leave like that when... that night happened. I admit that I just wanted to hurt you, but it went too far and it was too much, even for me"

"Look, just like what I have told Albert, Crutchie and Jojo, there is nothing that you guys can do that will make me leave any of you that easily. I am not like that and all of you should know that"

"So, why did you leave? Because it was clear to me that you left because of us"

"Well, to be honest, I have told the others that I left because I didn't think that anyone would trust me anymore or even miss me, but I also think that I just left because I just couldn't handle the guilt anymore or being reminded of the hurt and betrayed faces that all of you had"

"... Why did you say that speech at the rally in the first place?"

"... When I went to Pulitzer's office to invite him to the rally, the Spider was there and Pulitzer threatened to have all of you thrown into the Refuge and beaten if I didn't shut down the strike, so I just did what I had to do to protect all of you". That is why he said that speech? Why didn't he tell us?

"How come you never told us the truth?"

"Would any of you have believed me if I did? Besides, I deserved all of the bad treatment"

"No, you didn't! You never deserved any of that! I really did deserve that punch to the face", I muttered that last part to myself, but Jack heard it.

"No, don't say that. I'm sorry that I punched you like that. I should have never reacted like that"

"But I deserved it!"

"It doesn't matter if you deserved or not, I never liked when any of you guys hurt each other and I wanted any of you to do that, and that includes me, so I never should have reacted that way"

"You are something else, you know that, Jack?"

"I could say the same thing about you, but I really did appreciate the rescue from Harlem. Sorry that I didn't make that clear, but... thank you"

"You did the same thing for me many times before. Like remember how we met?"

"How could I ever forget that? You cost me a lot of money when you knocked those papers out of my hands and into that mud puddle"

"I said that I was sorry! Anyways, you took me to the Lodging House and told me that we were going to be brothers forever?"

"Yeah, I remember that"