It's Only a Matter of Time

Chapter 31

Reported

Maria's  POV

(A/N: I just got this really good book. It's called Alex and Eliza. It's a fanfiction but as an actual book! Also, YESTERDAY WAS THE DAY THAT HAMILTON DIED)

Today. Today is the day. I'll do it today. I paced around in front of my parents' bedroom. Aw, shoot. Should I not? I won't.

I groaned and went down the hall. I looked at a clock. It's 2 AM. What am I thinking? They're not going to be up at 2 AM. I sat down at the dinner table.

Mom has been out of town for the week. She's visiting family in Jersey. It's just me, Lewis, and Dad.

I heard Dad's bedroom door open. I stood up. A strange woman stepped out. Who is she? Then Dad stepped out. He spied me sitting at the table. Dad kissed the woman and led her down the hall.

"Who're you?" I asked.

"I'm your dad's friend," She answered.

I frowned. Dad is cheating? He smelled like alcohol. I shook my head. I'm so disappointed in him. This is why I love school so much. I get to be away from my family.

Time Skip

I sat next to Eliza on the steps to a classroom. We had already eaten our lunch and now I was spilling out all my thoughts to my best and only friend. She had her hands folded in her lap as she listened to me.

"And then there was this strange woman!" I cried.

I buried my head in my arms. She put her arm around me. I looked up at her. Eliza gave me a sad smile. The sun was out and shining that day. Suddenly, a cloud passed over me and Eliza. I looked up and saw James. What the heck does he want?

"Go away," Eliza snapped.

"Go away? Me? You can't possibly be talking to me!" James whirled around to look behind him, "Were you talking to that tree? Oh, darlin'. You must be crazy."

Eliza scowled. "Don't. Call me 'darlin'"

"What do you think Maria?" He called me Maria. Like from West Side Story. Nobody calls me Mah-ree-uh. My name is Mah-ri-ah.

I scowled. Why doesn't James just go away?! James sat down next to Eliza. She scooted nearer to me. James just moved closer to her. He put his arm around my friend. She froze.

I got up and stalked towards the school building. I'm going to turn him in.

"Maria! Don't leave me! Maria!" Eliza screamed.

I turned back to them. James had his hand on her thigh. This is not okay. I sprinted back to Eliza and pulled her away. She sighed with relief. She thanked me as we walked to the office.

"May I speak to Principal George?" I asked.

Time skip

I marched out of the office with a huge smile on my face. Eliza was sitting in a chair, reading a book. When she heard the door open, she looked up. A bright smile erupted across her face. Eliza put her book down and gave me a hug.

"Eliza. There's only two minutes left of lunch!" I shrieked.

We sprinted out of the office and to our lockers. I undid the lock in record time and raced to English. Right before we entered, Eliza gave me another hug. "I'm so proud of you," She whispered.

Time skip

Eliza's POV

The bell rang for the end of the day and I sought out my sisters. Peggy had invited everyone to hang out at our house after school.

I walked next to Alexander at the end of our cult. I was telling him about Maria's accomplishment. He didn't seem to be that interested. He was staring right in front and his eyes were far away.

"Are you listening?" I asked.

"Mhm," He replied vaguely.

"Really? Well you seem pretty distracted..."

"Eliza. To be honest, I don't really...nevermind."

"Okay! Then Maria sprinted back to me. And..."

Alexander's POV

Eliza was boring me. I don't care about Maria's problems. I was staring ahead at John joking with Laf.

"Are you listening?" Eliza asked me.

I responded with a murmur. I started to say something but stopped. Eliza will probably think I'm rude.

"Cool," I said half-listening.

"You think James being rude to me is cool?" Eliza exclaimed.

"No!" I answered.

"Why aren't you listening to me? Why are you being rude?"

"Rude?! I'm the one being rude?!"

"Why do you care?" Eliza rolled her eyes.

"Because I love you! I don't want to hear you talk about someone else!" I was full on shouting now. All my friends had stopped talking and had turned back to us.

"Well...well...." Eliza stuttered. Tears had formed in her eyes. Eliza huffed and stormed off. She hurried to the front of the group and started walking.

We all started walking again. Laf nervously looked back at me. I caught John's gaze. He looked sad. I wonder why.

The walk was tense for the rest of the time. When we got to The Schuylers' house, Eliza went straight to her room. Should I go up there? I started to go up the stairs but someone grabbed my hand.

"Alex. No," Peggy said.

"Pegs. I have to," I answered.

"She's not ready. Stay down here. Angie's making chocolate chip cookies and the rest of us are trying to help."

I followed Peggy into the kitchen. It was chaos. Angie was wearing an apron and getting out ingredients. Hercules was sneaking chocolate chips. John was getting out bowls and making a huge racket. Lafayette was standing next to Angie while salting. He looked like a soldier.

"Laffy. Get the flour. It's in the bottom drawer of the pantry," Angie instructed.

Lafayette opened the pantry and retrieved a huge bag of flour. He tottered around with the huge bag in his arms.

"Do you need help?" I questioned.

"Non. I have it," The bag slipped out of his arms and fell to the floor. Flour covered every surface. "I had it."

We looked at Lafayette covered with flour from head to toe and started laughing. I looked at John. I couldn't even see his freckles. That made me laugh even more.

I looked behind me. Eliza was sitting on the stairs and looking at us. I shook off the flour and ran to Eliza. She stood up and started to dart up the stairs.

"Wait!" I called, "I'm sorry!"

"What are you sorry for?" Eliza demanded.

"I- I'm sorry for saying that you were being rude. It's my fault."

I could hear Angie directing people about. Eliza smiled. She has a really nice smile.

"Do you actually like me?" She wondered.

"Yes. I do."

Eliza blushed. I stepped up the stairs to her. I was a step below her. The smell of her perfume tickled my nose.

Eliza leaned in and we kissed. Her lips were soft and delightful.

"What? Aleeeeex. Making moves on my sisterrrrr," Peggy walked in on us. Granted, we were on a staircase but that's not the point. Eliza continued kissing me.

"We gained an audience," She told me between kisses.

I laughed a bit. We stopped kissing and looked at everyone. Lafayette was still covered in flour.

"Eh. What the heck," He exclaimed. He grabbed Herc and began kissing him. We all cheered.