Chapter 5
“Holy shit! Is he okay?”
“Back up, he needs to breath.”
“Is he dead?”
Through all the commotion, I manage to find John’s voice and cling to it as a life-line. When I finally open my eyes with a groan, I’m looking into those beautiful blue eyes of John’s. My head is resting on his lap and the rest of the class, including the teacher, is standing around me. John is talking to me, asking me to wake up, a single tear on his freckled cheek.
I hate how cute his freckles are.
“Alex! Please wake up!” He isn’t looking at me. His eyes are closed as if opening them will magically wake me up. I brush the tear off his face and am rewarded with a smile. Then he blushes. I blush too. Awkward. “Hey John.”
The teacher made all of the students go back to the game after it was confirmed that I was fine. I just wanted to sit out for a while. John offered to sit with me. “Of course,” I say with a smile.
I knew that John spoke French, but I didn’t know he knew so much.
“Alex, je sais que c'est un peu soudain, mais je t'aime. En plus d'un ami. Veux-tu sortir avec moi?”
I look at John to see he’s joking. The seriousness in his eyes only made him cuter. He was still crying with worry for me. I think about it for a minute, then say, “Oui.”
Now, imagine you’re having the worst day possible. Your dog ran away, someone close to your heart died, and you were the only survivor in a hurricane. Now imagine that it was all a joke and everyone throws a party to surprise you. Take the joy of those few hours at that party and imagine it as the most beautiful, ocean blue eyes you have ever seen. That’s how happy John looked.
He looked happy enough to kiss me, if we hadn’t been in public and people were already looking at us weird because they had no idea what we were talking about to make John Laurens this happy (he often got into fights over sexist and racist opinions).
The teacher called John to play next. He got up, gave me a loving look, and ran to play. Without the joy of him, though, I noticed that my eye hurt. No big deal, I think as I watch John struggle to not stare at me and focus on the game. Probably just a bruise.
After gym, John and I decide to go to the coffee shop together. “Are you sure you’re okay? Your eye looks really bad,” he says.
“What a coincidence. I was just going to say that you’re eyes are beautiful,” I say teasingly, nudging his side with my elbow. “No, I’m serious,” he says. “It looks swollen.”
In reality, my eye hurt like it was on fire, but I told him that I was fine. That is until I ran into a door and hit my eye again. Now tears were running freely out of my eyes from the pain. I had bounced off the door and now I was sitting on the floor curled up as small as I could make myself. John hovers over me. “Alex! Holy shit, are you okay?!”
Without warning, he picks me up and starts running back to his dorm. Halfway there, I stop the stream of tears from flowing. “Dude, your light as fuck.”
“Dude, your weak as fuck.” I say. “That’s true. You need to eat more.” He smiles. When we finally make it to his room, he brings me into his room and lays me on the bed. Then he walks to the other side of the room and starts making an ice pack and preparing some pain medicine for me. “You realize I could have walked, right?” I say. “But you could have hit your eye again. And besides, we’re together now. It’s my job to help you.”
I roll my good eye, causing pain to the other. I wince. But then John’s there, pressing the ice pack to my eye. “Is that better?” he asks. I nod and accept the pill he puts into my hand. I take it dry, sit up, and look at John. He’s back at his mini medical station cleaning up the pills he had knocked over trying to rush.
“John, how long have you loved me?” I ask. “Oh, a few months. Everyone’s right; people tend to get hotter after high school.”
“Well, you realize that now we have to get Jefferson and Madison together, right,” I say with a smug look on my face.
He just pulls out his phone and rapidly types on it with the evilest look on his face.
--
Chapter 7
It only took two minutes for John, Peggy, Angelica, Eliza, Aaron, Theo, Maria, and I to get the text, agree, and move into action.
ClosestFriend: ********************************************* (is explaining the plan)
AndPeggy: I AM ALREADY HUNTING THEM DOWN!!!!
Burr.: I’ll do it, but only because I hate to see them as just friends when they obviously belong together.
FrenchFry: I TRACKED JEFFERSON’S PHONE!!! Peggy, he’s still in his last class. Room 487. GO GET HIM!!! ;-)
HamSandwich: I’ll go with and John to get Madison.
ClosestFriend: He just texted me and said to pick him up some food because he has to finish his art work for tomorrow.
FrenchFry: LET’S GO!!!
Both of us put our phones away at the same time. Then, we practically run towards the art building. “So, I’ll pretend to go mad from the pain of my eye, you two chase me, and then ********************** (asks about the rest of the plan); correct?” I say.
He just nods, panting from running. We get to the door outside the art room moments later. John picks me up again to give the scheme an added touch. Then he knocks on the door.
--
Chapter 8
Madison answers after a moment, his hands covered in paint. “What do you need?” He takes one look at my eye and practically screams. “Oh my God! Hamilton, are you okay?! What happened?”
I just groan and pretend to struggle against John’s arms.
“He needs medical attention. Can you help? I don’t know if I can contain him--” With that, I jump out of his arms and run towards the meeting point that everyone had assigned. I don’t need to turn around to hear them chasing me. Perfect.
Part of the plan.
It feels like I was running for an hour when I get there. John was right, I think as I catch my breath and get into position. I need to eat more.
Madison rounds the corner first, closely followed by John. He sees me lying on the floor in agony and rushes over to get me; only to be pushed into the closet by John. He bangs on the door with both of the fists, but John only locks the door.
“Let me out! What the hell is wrong with you?!” Then Laf, Burr, and Herc round the corner. Maria, Peggy, Angelica, and Eliza appear at the other side of the hall, knowing that Jefferson would be harder to catch. “We got him!” says Herc, waving Jefferson’s walking stick.
Speak of the devil, Thomas comes running around the corner. Seeing the huge crowd, he takes a step back. But he must have seen me, because his face falls and he rushes forward to help, just as Madison had. Lafayette sneaks up behind him and pins his hands behind his back. Herc stuffs a sock in Jefferson’s mouth to prevent him from screaming. As I climb to my feet, John unlocks the door and says, “Watch out, Madison!”
Jefferson is pushed into the room with even less mercy than Madison. John leaves the door open just long enough for everyone to watch as he runs into Madison and their both brought to the ground. Then John slams the door shut.
---
James is back at the door in a flash. “What the fuck are you guys doing?! Let us out!!!”
“Not until you two are together,” says a voice that could only be Hamilton’s. There is more talking, but I’m not listening. I pace the small, confined space. Get yourself together, Jefferson. It’s not that bad. Nothing that I tell myself is calming enough.
Madison stops yelling and banging at the door and looks at me. “Dude, are you okay? You look like you just saw a ghost.”
I slid down the far wall and try to make my body stop trembling like a leaf.
“Thomas, are you claustrophobic?” I nod my head and start crying. “Why didn’t you tell me?!” he asks.
I don’t answer. There is no need to. James has already pulled me into a tight hug. This is better. Now my confinement feels like a friendly gesture instead of an act of torture. We sit in silence for a minute. He pulls off of me and asks, “Can you explain to me what they mean by ‘get together’?”
“I think they think we would be a cute couple.” I say.
And, sure enough, after a slight hesitation, James says, “I would have to agree with them.” I look up and see that he’s blushing. So he’s liked me, too. I lean in first. It’s a long kiss. One from someone that makes me feel special. Someone that is always there on those rare occasions when Hamilton causes me to be speechless in the middle of a debate.
“You’re hot, you know that?” I say as we pull apart. Laurens talks through the door. “Have you guys talked about your feelings?”
“Yes,” I say. “And when you let us out, we’ll kill all of you in a matter of minutes.” James stares at me, obviously ready to kill on command.
We hear some noise outside the door. Then the lock click and silence. I get up and try the door. It’s unlocked now. We step out of the closet and find an empty hallway. “They must have been smart enough to run,” says James. “But Hamilton needs medical attention. His eye could get infected.”
“It was probably just makeup or something. He’ll be fine by tomorrow.” I say.
---
“So, now what?” I ask as we get back to John’s room. “I was hoping you would know.” he says.
“Maybe Madison was right. My eye hurts a lot now.” It’s true. The physical exertion of running from Madison has caused pain to come in waves. It now felt as though my eye would pop out of my head out of pain.
I must have fallen, because the next thing I know is John is assuming the same position as we were in the gym. “Holy shit! Alex, are you okay? Of course you’re not. Why would I even ask? Oh, Alex, I’m sorry. Black eyes are the one thing I don’t know how to cure!” he says in what seems like one breath. I look up at him and smile. “It’s okay, John. I’m not dying.” But it felt like it. “Maybe we should get my eye checked, though.” He smiles and helps me stand. My knees buckle through the pain and he ends up carrying me.
Again (not that I’m complaining).
He takes me to his car and sets me in the passenger seat. I buckle in while he gets into the driver side.
After a few minutes, I realize that I don’t know where we’re going. So I ask. “Hey babe?” Severe blushing from both of us. “Where are we going?”
“To the hospital.”
Needles, constant deaths, questions I can’t answer…
I’m afraid of the hospital.
Author Notes: Thanks for reading! Hopefully it isn't too long this time. I love reading comments! Like, share, and favorite if you enjoyed!
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