"And I can hardly ask for a blank slate if I do not start afresh myself," Romeo said, quiet and sober. "It will be hard. There are some who will like the brawl, even when they see where it leads. And, well -- in some of their heads I'll forever be 16 and off with a notebook writing poetry."

He was now 18 and off with a notebook. This was ever so much wiser.

... and, describing this, he was starting to wonder why he felt so driven to go home.