Problems

|| Chapter 25 ||

This is really heavy, so I'm just apologizing now. Author's note at the end.

TW: sexual assault, mention of past self-harm, mentions of drugs, smoking, and alcohol, physical fighting, brief mention of rape

X

Alex wasn't in a good place.

His thoughts seemed to be backfiring, swimming around in his brain and circulating the wrong way.

He should have expected it. He was going off of his meds, after all, slowly transferring from one antidepressant to another. Side effects were common.

Still, it wasn't right. His head was clouded and thoughts were slippery, hard to hold onto. His schoolwork was scattered, papers unorganized and messy, with ink stains and scratched-out words.

He did what he always did-he pushed through. It was going to be okay.

He promised himself.

It was going to be okay.

X

"Hey, Laurens!" One of Jefferson's posse, Charles Lee, was calling behind them, snickering. "Laurens!"

They walking the hallway of the History building. John had come to pick Alex up so that they could walk to Creative Writing together.

"Fuck off, Lee," John growled, and he kept walking. Alex glanced over his shoulder. Lee was smiling, a cruel look on his face.

"Yo, Laurens! I heard your boyfriend was in the hospital a while ago! Did he finally try and kill himself or something? He'd be doing us all a favor-"

The crack of bone cut him short as John's fist connected with his cheek and sent both of them sprawling across the tile floor. Lee howled, then yelped and tried to dodge the next punch, which hit him in the jaw. John scrambled on top of him, eyes wild, and slammed his fists at any unprotected bit of skin he could see.

All around them students were yelling and cheering, and Alex stood in shock, his mouth hanging open. Lee finally managed to get in a lucky hit, and John tumbled off of him, blood dripping steadily from a cut above his eye. Lee tackled him, knocking the breath out of John, who still managed to get in a knee to the chest on his way down. Lee let out a gasp, stunned, and John grabbed a fistful of his shaggy brown hair, raising Lee's head above the floor.

"JOHN!" Alex's yell cut through the commotion, and John looked up and locked eyes with Alex. He looked back down, and shock swam across his face as he realized what he was about to do. He dropped Lee's head as though he had been burned.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!"

Washington's booming shout sent students scrambling, and Alex snatched John's wrist and hauled him up, shoving the taller boy behind him. Lee lay gasping on the floor like a fish out of water, blood from what looked like a broken nose streaming down his face and chin.

Washington took in the scene, nostrils flared and eyes narrowed in anger. "Somebody take Mr. Lee to the infirmary," he said coldly, and Burr appeared, materializing out of the crowd like a ghost before shunting Lee off.

"Laurens, Hamilton. My office. Now." Washington's voice shook with rage, and Alex knew they were in for it.

X

Washington shut the door heavily, almost slamming it, and moved to stand behind his desk, leaning on it with both hands.

He studied both boys before opening his mouth.

"Would one of you kindly tell me what the hell that was?"

"It was my fault, sir," John said immediately before Alex could say anything. "I instigated the fight. It was a lapse in judgment. It won't happen again."