Laurens considered the boy in front of him. Hamilton was around his age, but smaller than he was. Then again, Laurens was taller than almost everyone. But Hamilton had a look in his eyes that made him seem older than his age. And now he had an excited look that Laurens couldn't help but admire. He wondered what the kid's story was. New kids didn't often pop up in school at the beginning of October. Hell, new kids didn't often show up in Yonkers in general.

The last one was Lafayette, right? Laurens thought to himself. He nearly shuddered at the memory. Lafayette had just shown up in Geometry one day, taking Mulligan's seat. Mr. Hart had been late that day, and Mulligan and Lafayette had nearly exchanged blows before the rest of the class had separated them.

But that was a special case. Isn't Lafayette always a special case? Fuck, everything about Lafayette screamed special. Out of the ordinary. Lafayette was one of the only people at school who was out, and while he'd gotten a lot of shit for it, he acted like he didn't care. Mulligan was a big help too, I guess.

Which all brought him back to Hamilton. What's his deal? Larurens wondered. From the look on Burr's face, Hamilton had already managed to annoy Burr beyond the point of no return. Then again, everything annoys Burr.

And speak of the devil. "Can I give you some advice, Hamilton?" Burr said. Hamilton nodded at him. "You want to get ahead here? Stay out of trouble. Don't be an idiot."

"That's a lot of emotion," Mulligan snorted. Burr glared at him.

Hamilton's eyes were still shining, and now he was talking quickly with Lafayette about something. Laurens shook himself out of his reverie to hear Hamilton's next question: "How long will King last if we don't get rid of him?"

Lafayette shrugged. "George King the Second is the superintendent of the district. If he steps down, chances are that Principal Dipshit gets the spot."

"Good for us, right?"

"Very, very bad," Mulligan cut in. "He gets to apply his backward, stupid policies to the whole district."

"Who else could get the spot?" Hamilton asked.

"No one of note," Laurens replied. "There's not many people who would be able to counter him."

Burr finally put in a word. "He already spends a lot of time at Island Private School. That's why he wasn't here this morning. He's not our problem as much as theirs."

"He favors them," objected Lafayette

Burr raised an eyebrow. "Because they don't give him trouble."

"That's kind of a sick cycle," Hamilton pointed out. "And what does it matter? He's still our problem, no matter how small. It's not our job to deal with a crappy principal as well as all the shit that comes from being in school!"

This kid is something else. Laurens could appreciate people that weren't afraid to show the world how much they cared about something. People unlike himself.

"I didn't come all the way to the United States just to be told that I couldn't do something. The whole point of the US is that you can be whatever you want! You can rise up beyond your station and become something important. How are we gonna do that in life if we can't even stand up to a high school principal?"

"I came from France because I was told that American schools meant friendship. Socializing," Lafayette said.

Mulligan elbowed Lafayette. "Less homework."

Lafayette ignored him. "Because we'd be able to form valuable relationships and have more say in our own life! And instead, I found...this. He makes people afraid to be friends."

"Why?" Hamilton asked. Laurens went red immediately. He knew that Lafayette wasn't going to hurt him in any way, but the idea of discussing King's policies at all made him afraid.

"He's a homophobic asshole," Mulligan said. "To put it lightly."

"He uses his power to take advantage of everyone in the school! He's totally funnelling our funds into his own pocket!" Lafayette said.

Laurens realized that the other three boys were looking at him as if expecting him to add on to what they were saying. Laurens just raised an eyebrow. "Last one's a bit of a stretch, but sure."

"I want to live in a place where the students have control over the school," Lafayette said. "After we do it here, I'll bring it back to my school in France!" He gave a manic grin. "I will lead the world into anarchy, starting with Yonkers!"

Alex wondered if Lafayette wasn't a bit crazy, and decided that he didn't care. "Principal King isn't ever going to let has have a say in what happens. And this is our fucking school! We have to take control. We're not idiotic teenagers like every adult thinks we are. We're smart. I'm not afraid to do what we have to do to have a say in what happens with our education!"

Mulligan ruffled Hamilton's long hair. "I like you, kid!"

Alex grinned up at Herc—or, Mulligan, as the tradition at the school was. It wasn't that he was an arrogant person. But Alex knew his worth. He knew that he was smart. He had big plans for life. And he was willing to make an addition to his life schedule to be as big of a trouble to Principal King as possible. He wanted to make his new friends, or whatever they were, proud.

But Jesus! That was his whole problem, wasn't it? No matter what foster home or community home he was in, Alex had a need to impress whoever he was with. He was being stupid again! There was no way that a bunch of teenagers could change an entire school. They didn't have any power! And Alex didn't even know anything about Principal King anyway.

But Alex was never one to turn down a challenge."The student council should have more power," Alex suggested.

Mulligan nodded. "And the teachers."

Burr raised an eyebrow as Hamilton continued on his tangent, now spelling out his name to the other three grinning sophomores. Sometimes, people were truly idiots.

Laurens put in his say. "And we're going to make sure that everyone knows that they have a place. When I'm president of the GSA, this school is going to be a place where everyone feels safe! I swear that no one will—" Laurens cut himself off, going red. He was going to reveal too much about himself, and he barely knew Hamilton!

Alex, however, was staring at Laurens with a—Oh, fuck! I'm being creepy again!—Alex closed his mouth and grinned at Laurens. "That sounds amazing! He held out his Coke to Laurens, who bumped it with his can of Sprite.

"You're being too loud," Burr said to them. "If you do this, you're ruining your chances at succeeding in school. Stay quiet, and you double your chances."

"Burr, check what we've got! A fuck-ton of students, all royally pissed off, with a real reason to fight! We've got everything that we need right here to start a fucking revolution and take over the fucking world, not to mention turn this school upside down! We've got something to fight for! I don't get how you think we can just avoid the problems! Show me where to sign up, and I'll change the fucking world!"

Alex was yelling by this point, standing up. Burr looked scandalized, but oh, geez, Laurens was watching at him, and—he's not even gay! Shut up, me! Meanwhile, all around the cafeteria, people had stopped eating just to stare at Alex. He turned bright red. "Sorry. Am I talking too loud? Sometimes I get overexcited, I know it's a problem, but I'll fix it if it means that I can just help you guys."

The cafeteria was completely silent. Burr stood up and left. "See you. Maybe."

"Doesn't want to get in trouble," Mulligan scoffed.

"We've been trying to get rid of King for a while," Laurens warned. "It's gonna be hard."

"So?" Alex asked.

Laurens grinned at him. "All that we've got to do is organize ourselves. You're right, Alex. We've got a group of angry, annoyed kids and teachers. We've got to rise up."

"Whoo!"

The four sophomores turned to see a boy that Alex vaguely recognized from his Algebra class. Paul Revere, or something. From all around the cafeteria, applause started, until it was almost deafening. People started talking again, many of them coming up to the table that Alex, Laurens, Mulligan, and Lafayette were sitting at.

And of course that was the moment that Alex lost his confidence. He'd been to a lot of different schools. And he'd been expelled from quite a few of them. What if he was expelled from here, too? What if he ruined his chances at a good life in the United States by being too ambitious and impulsive in high school?

There were too many what-ifs in life. There would always be too many what-ifs. And that's why Alex had been taught, over and over in his life, that you had to take the moment when it offered itself up. There weren't good and bad ideas. There was success and failure. And when you failed, you got back back up.

He had always felt as though he had to prove his intelligence and talent in the world to everybody around him. Did he think that getting rid of Principal King would somehow make everyone respect him? Was that a stupid way to think?

What did it matter? All Alex could do was live in the moment and just do the best he could. He had people that he felt comfortable around, people that might even turn out to be friends. He had a genuine chance to really change something for the better.

That was all that he could ask for.