Our Shot (LAMS school au)

Chapter 2: The Foreign Kid

Aaron looked me up and down before asking. "That depends, who's asking?"

I took a step forward. "Alex Hamilton," I explained, fiddling with my fingers nervously, "I believe I'm assigned to room with you. I was looking for it-"

"You're in the wrong place mate," he began dubiously, "this is the girls' wing."

I rolled my eyes. "I've already seen more than I needed too," I said, pinching the bridge of my nose, "Could you help me? It doesn't look like you're... busy... anymore."

He frowned, but sighed and nodded. "Let's go," he motioned for me to follow, "I think Thomas and Mads are in the dorm, unpacking."

I nodded, and quickly joined in to walk along side him. It was difficult, he was taking long strides and I was barely 5'7". He noticed, and slowed down, a bit of a smile forming on his features. "So you're the scholarship student, huh?"

I looked away. "I guess everyone already knows all about me."

He shrugged. "Only because they told us we were getting a new roommate this year. The three of us are hardly everyone."

I looked back up at him. "But Maria knew I was the new junior. She was going to help me find my dorm."

"Maria who?"

"Reynolds," I remembered.

He frowned. "It's her job to know. She's president of the student council. She welcomes the new students. Mostly just freshman, but I suppose that includes you too."

"Well she was welcoming me, but her boyfriend-"

"James?"

"Yes, now stop interrupting please. So he-"

"Sorry."

"He said he knew where my dorm was. He led me here; some welcoming, right?"

Burr laughed, but stopped abruptly when he saw my expression, and cleared his throat. "Well I'm not about to mislead you; there'd be nothing in it for me."

"What does that-"

"We're here," he said, stopping abruptly at a door, also labeled 29, and I had to keep from running into his back when he stopped.

I eyed the doorknob. "You first," I started suspiciously, and he shrugged.

He swung the door open, and I was baffled by the sheer contrast of the space. To the left, two beds littered with clothes, small items, and open travel bags. To the right was two beds with a dresser between them, one an empty mattress and the other perfectly made with some books and a phone on the nightstand beside it.

"Honestly you guys," Burr started, exasperated, "you've been in here for hours and your side of the room is just as messy as when I left!"

When he opened the door all the way, two different boys were revealed. One, sitting on the corner of his bed, folding a T-shirt, and the other at a desk in the corner typing furiously on a laptop that looked like it could have been be older than me. At the sound of Burr's voice, they both turned around to face the two of us.

"What do we have here?"

The one typing at the desk had spoken; the other one only glanced up briefly and then returned to his folding. The speaker, a tall, skinny, boy looking about my age with big, dark hair, stood from his chair. He looked me up and down for a bit, and then just observed me.

"Our new roommate," Burr explained, and I put my hand out to shake his but he ignored it, choosing instead to talk to Aaron but stealing a few side glances at me.

"I thought the superintendent  put us in the system as a three-person dorm," he said, mostly to himself and obviously disappointed, "We convinced her that we needed the peace and quiet to work on pieces for the club!"

Burr shrugged, obviously not having as much as a problem with it as this one. "I'm Alex," I interrupted them, putting out my hand once more.

He reached out and shook it firmly, smiling. "I know who you are; the foreign kid," he began.

"I guess..."

"On a scholarship as well, quite impressive; could use you. Alex, is it? I'm Thomas. Thomas Jefferson."

I smiled, happy to be introduced to yet another person. Thomas; so the other boy must be-

"That's Madison. Or James, whatever you want," Thomas explained, waving a hand dismissively.

James was a head shorter and stockier than Jefferson but still taller than me; he had shorter, black hair and dark eyes. He stood up and smiled, shaking my hand, making me smile even broader. "Pleasure," he said, and took a seat back on his bed.

"And speaking of you, Mads," Aaron began behind me (I had almost forgotten he was there), "What's all this junk on your bed? I can see TJ, but I would have thought a clean freak like you would have had this all tidied up by now..."

"I'm not a clean freak," James replied quickly, slightly agitated, but I swore I could smell the faint smell of hand sanitizer coming from his portion of the room, "And this isn't my stuff, it's Tom's! He won't move it!"

"Stop bullying your friend, Jefferson."

"What!?"