Alex leapt at Lee, but all he managed was a kick in the shins before Laurens dragged him back. Alex fought him for a moment, twisting, trying to get away and punch Lee in the face. "What the fuck did you just say?!"

"I called you and your little boyfriend fa—"

"Fuck you!" Laurens said. "Do you want to fight? Because I'll fucking fight you—"

"Why so annoyed?" Lee's eyes widened. "Wait, are you actually—"

"He's being a good fucking friend," Alex spat. "Something that you'd know nothing about—"

Suddenly, Burr was there. "What's going on?"

"Lee is being an asshole!" Hamilton hollered. "Maybe if he wasn't so homophobic, people would actually like him, but no, he's just a power-tripping little piece of—"

"Hamilton, stop," Burr said, turning to Lee. "Charles, what…"

"Just telling the truth, Burr!"

"Fight me, bitch!" Laurens yelled. His voice echoed around the empty hall. "Fight me!"

"John…" Alex said. "Don't...don't throw away…"

"Worth it," Laurens growled.

"No. Don't do it. What if—"

"Are you just another coward?" Lee accused the two of them, his eyebrows in an intense V shape.

"Hey, jerk!" Alex said, words falling out of his mouth faster than he could think of them. "You're just a fucking asshole to everyone because you're afraid of yourself and you're, I don't know, repressed or something, and you're just so fucking average except for your fucking eyebrows, and you should be fucking ashamed—"

"Hamilton!" Burr said. "Can we please agree that you're all being children?"

"Burr, he has to answer to what he said!"

"Okay, so this is happening." Burr rolled his eyes, stepping back, and oh, geez, Burr just made the top 100 people that I hate list—

"I think that the little fairies are just too scared to—"

Alex didn't quite know what had happened. One moment, Lee was sneering at them, and Laurens was holding him back, and the next, Lee was on the ground and Laurens was standing over him.

Lee was holding his stomach, gasping for air, and Alex couldn't see Laurens's face, but—fuck, it couldn't have been pretty.

"John!"

Laurens turned towards him, his eyes shimmering with tears. "Al…"

"What is going on here?"

Time to go, Laurens's eyes said.

Alex shook his head, and turned to face Mr. Washington.

"I'm sorry, sir—"

"Burr! Get Lee to the nurse!"

"Yes, Mr. Washington."

Laurens moved to stand next to Alex, who was shaking like a leaf.

"Mr. Washington, Lee was—"

"You punched him, Mr. Laurens! That is not an appropriate response! Hamilton!"

"Yes, sir?"

"Meet me inside!"

Feeling like he would throw up, Alex followed Mr. Washington into the student council room. He was going to get expelled and sent back to the Caribbean. Why was he such an idiot?! And what would happen to Laurens?

"Mr. Hamilton! What was that?! You won't get anywhere by insulting people, nor is it allowed, obviously! You are supposed to set a standard!"

"Did you hear what he was saying?"

"You're not going to get anywhere—"

"You're right. John should have hit him in the mouth, that would have shut him up—"

"Look, Alexander—"

"My name is Hamilton in this school, Mr. Washington, and no offense, but you're not my friend! You're my teacher, and I get that you need to uphold the laws of this stupid school or whatever, but you need to choose whether to yell at me or act like my counselor—"

"You need to leave discipline to the school—"

"Lee, Conway, Arnold, all those people—they drag you through the mud, and then they act like I—like people like me aren't human! They're—"

"And we will discipline them correctly. Not to mention, I can take whatever they throw at me, as I am a teacher here—"

Alex knew that he had to shut up, but…

"Well, maybe you can take it, but me, other gay, queer, whatever kids, they can't! We don't have power like you do! If you'd just let me speak more—"

"You are brilliant, Hamilton, but you cannot be on the council just yet! It's hard enough to keep you on without you talking! If you want to stay on the council—at this school—then you need to temper yourself!"

"I'll get expelled if it means helping LGBT kids—"

"You deserve an education, Alexander, don't—"

"Call me Alexander one more fucking time—"

Silence. Silence. The clock ticked by the seconds of silence, silence, and Alex knew, with a sick feeling, that he had gone too far.

"I see. We'll discuss this later, Mr. Hamilton."

"Mr. Washington—"

"No. Please, go see Principal King. I'm sorry...I'm sorry that I can't help you."

Alex left the room first.

He was not going to cry.

But a tear slid down his cheek anyway.

A/N:

I know that we implied a fight in the last chapter. Here's how this could have gone:

Alex leapt at Lee, bringing his fist forward and punching Lee in his stupid face. Lee groaned in pain, but grabbed Alex's shirt and tried to punch him. Alex twisted out of his reach, kicking him in the shins, and Lee doubled over. Alex grabbed him again, intent on punching over and over and over—

"What is going on here?!"

It was Mr. Washingon.

"Hamilton, meet me inside!"

And expulsion was unavoidable. That's why we didn't have Alex beat Lee up. Sorry about that.

We hope that everyone is having a good week and that this chapter was enjoyable.See you next update!