Two weeks before Winter Break, Alex was still the replacement secretary, and Mr. Washington was making him want to scream with joy.

"And so we're going to be able to move some funding over to creating a GSA," he was saying. "Thoughts?"

"Motion?" said Angelica.

"Granted."

"Motion to divide the room," Angelica said, referring to the process of seeing who was for and against the proposal.

"Assuming unanimous consent," said Mr. Washington. "All in favor of the motion, please rise."

Maybe half the room stood up. Not enough.

"Against the motion?"

A bit more than half. Charles Lee, the president, gave an aggressive glare to everyone around him. Especially to Esther de Berdt. Alex felt for the girl. The way Lee was looking at her reminded him of how his Saint Kitts foster family had glared at him when he had told them that he had a boyfriend. Alex had a feeling that Lee would have liked to ship de Berdt off to another city. Alex wished that his vote would be counted. But he wasn't even allowed to raise his hand.

"Okay, so we're fairly evenly divided," Mr. Washington said. "Any arguments?"

Angelica stood up. "Permission to speak?"

"Granted."

"The environment at this school isn't anywhere near what it should be. Everyone here deserves to feel like they have a safe place. We can do that by creating a GSA. Our sister institution, Jacobin High School, has mentioned in their meetings that they would support it as well."

Benedict Arnold, the senior representative, stood up. "I object to that. I think that creating a safe place is important, but creating a GSA will just make gay—"

"—Queer," said de Berdt.

"—Queer people at this school more isolated. Not to insult the school, but I think that the posters, which were by the way unauthorized, have proved that this school is not ready for measures such as that. We need to take smaller steps."

Alex's eyes darted around the room. Burr, the junior representative, had a neutral expression on his face. Angelica, the elective representative, looked angry. Paul Revere, the sports representative, looked confused. James Madison, who also handled electives, looked bored. Charles Lee looked ready to explode, as did de Berdt.

Lee stood up. "I object to all of this. There's a reason that we don't have a GSA, and that's because we don't need or want it here. I'm done discussing this."

"Mr. Lee—"

"Mr. Washington, you believe that the students should have power in the school," said Lee. "Is that only in name? Or will you go through with it? We take a vote. If it goes through, I'll back down."

"What would the funding ramifications be?" Madison asked.

"Taking it away from electives. Not sports electives, but from theater, debate…"

"Not very much!" de Berdt said.

"Control yourself," Lee barked at her.

"De Berdt is right," Angelica pointed out. "Look at the papers Mr. Washington gave you. They outline the plan, and while they do take, they take pretty evenly."

"It's still too much!"

Alexander looked at his copy of the plan and pulled out a pencil, copying down a few numbers. The plan for creating a GSA shouldn't really need that much money, right? It currently involved getting enough money to pay a teacher to stay after school, and then also getting approval from the school board and from King. Both of which would probably be hard.

"What if we—"

Lee glared at Alex. "Mr. Washington, I believe that Hamilton is only a sophomore?"

"That's correct. Mr. Hamilton, remember, you aren't technically supposed to be talking right now."

Alex glared at his paper, thinking harder. He had ideas. Why wouldn't anyone listen? The age thing was just so stupid! He deserved to be in Student Council just a much as any sophomore! Why was that rule created at all? It served no purpose but to piss people off! Alex fumed in his seat for the rest of the time as arguments continued, words flying over his head like bullets.

"Mr. Washington!" Alex called after the teacher as the room emptied, "can I talk to you for a minute?"

"I'm not promoting you, Mr. Hamilton."

Mr. Washington left the room, leaving Alex standing dumbfoundedly next to John.

A few people sniggered. Some looked sympathetic, but most were indifferent. Lee was practically cackling from where he sat perched on a desk.

"What did I tell you?" Lee said.

Alex decided that Lee was now on the list of the top ten people that he hated, and while that list tended to change a lot, Lee would probably remain on top for at least a week. He could do without that stupid kid trying to undo every good move that Mr. Washington made, and making Alex himself feel like he was a child. Laurens took Alex's hand, and Alex appreciated that his boyfriend was trying to keep him from attacking this guy—"Just you wait, Lee."

Lee's condescending smile didn't drop. "It must be a rude awakening for you that Washington is so ineffectual. I bet you thought that he could give you whatever you wanted. Well, no. We have a thing called the chain of command. And the chain of command dictates that I am in charge, and I can promise you that we're never going to have a GSA."

Now Alex was the one tightly gripping Laurens's hand. Laurens was getting angry, Alex could tell, and Alex wished that he could just hug Laurens and remind him not to do anything rash.

Laurens, too, knew better than to attack Lee. He had been keeping up his facade for so long, and he had being doing well at it. He could not let anyone know that he was gay. If this got back to his father…

"There's no place for gay kids at our school, anyway. Maybe in the city, sure, but we have standards here."

And then, both Alex and Laurens were ready to murder him.

Lee shot Alex an unpleasant smile. "Does that annoy you, you little fa—"

Alex saw red.

Alex attacked.