Just You Wait (Lams High School AU)

Chapter 4 - New Topic?

TW: mild homophobia and transphobia, panic attack

"Laurens, Hamilton, see me after class." The words rang in Alex's head as the bell sounded, signaling the end of Mr. Lee's history class. John and Alex exchanged glances as they stood up and slowly made their way over to Mr. Lee's desk.

"Sir, you wanted to see us?" Alex said, trying to sound confident without seeming too cocky. Mr. Lee leaned forward in his chair. "Yes I did." He paused for a moment. "You and Mr. Laurens will need to choose a different topic. What you do outside of school, I don't care, but you will not be bringing your... homosexuality into my classroom. Understand?" "But-" John started to say, but was cut off by a sharp nudge from Alex. "Of course, sir, but, you see, I believe that not allowing a student the choice of a topic simply because of the fact that they believe LGBTQ people deserve basic rights can be classified as homophobia, which can get you fired. Additionally, the fact that we hold this belief does not give you the right to assume our sexualities."

"Well then," Mr. Lee said, scribbling something down onto a form. "After school detention." "For what?!" John burst. "For talking back. And you know, Mr. Laurens, I was going to let you off the hook with a simple lunch detention, but it seems you will be joining Mr. Hamilton here after school." John stood wide-eyed, fuming with his mouth slightly open. It would have been almost funny if not for what had just happened. 

"And don't worry, I will be notifying your parents for you," Mr. Lee added. "Wait, no! Please no!" John cried. "John, let's go," Alex said firmly, seeing that this wouldn't end well. As John continued to plead, Alex gently wrapped his arm around him and guided him out. John quickly gave up struggling, instead focusing his eyes straight ahead and shaking a little.

Alex led them to an abandoned back hallway before asking, "Are you okay?" John slid down the wall and sat for a moment before answering, "No. No I'm not. He beats me for getting B's. And starves me. Doesn't let me eat dinner. What will he do with a detention?" He now began to breathe harder and tears ran down his face. "Oh God oh God oh God..." he said, shaking and rocking. Alex glanced around, panicking, wondering what to do. John was clearly having a panic attack, but homeschool hadn't prepared him for this. "Is it okay if I leave you to go get the nurse?" Alex asked quietly, trying to sound calm." John nodded quickly, tears still streaming down his face.

When Alex returned with the nurse, John had mostly recovered, but he still took the glass of water she offered him. "Okay, I think I'm ready to go to class," he said, wiping his face.

At lunch, Alex noticed he couldn't find John, and started to get worried. What if he'd had another panic attack? He asked Laf and Herc, who said he'd been there earlier but left.

"Hey guys!" John said, coming from behind them. Alex jumped nearly a foot in the air. "Sorry, did I scare you? Anyway, Alex, I thought I should introduce you to some more people here." "Uh, okay? But I know you guys?" Alex said, a little confused. "Yeah, silly, but you can't survive the year if we're the only ones you know. We're not even in that many of your classes," John responded.
"So meet the Schuyler sisters!" he said as 4 girls walked up. "Oh and Maria. She and Peggy go everywhere together."
"Hey! It's Alexander, right? I'm Angelica," the tallest, oldest one said. "Hi. You can call me Alex if you want," Alex responded. "Hi Alex, I'm Eliza," the shyer one said. "And I'm Peggy!" said the youngest one. "Well hi, Eliza and Peggy. And you're Maria?" he asked the other girl who accompanied them. She nodded. All 4 girls awkwardly sat down on the benches across from them.
Suddenly Herc glanced behind him and said, "Well, I guess you were gonna have to meet the douchebags at some point," referring to a couple of boys sauntering up to them.
"Well, well, the gays are all making friends, aren't they?" the taller one said. Sighing, Laf said, "Alex, meet Thomas and James, AKA the biggest jerks ever to set foot here." "And you're one to talk, Thomas. I swear, your makeout sessions in the bathroom with James could be heard from the other side of campus!" John retorted. Thomas huffed and stormed away, but not before Alex saw the blush in his cheeks. "C'mon James," Thomas called over his shoulder. James seemed a little nicer, but Alex couldn't be sure because he hadn't opened his mouth the whole time. 

They ate their lunch in silence for a couple minutes. "Mr. Lee is making us change our topic because we," John made air quotes, "'will not be bringing any of that homosexuality into my classroom.'" "He made us change our topic too! The guy's transphobic as hell, says trans people are making it up for attention!" Herc nearly shouted out of anger. "He should be fired for this! Blatant homophobia and transphobia, that can get a teacher fired, right?"

Suddenly, an idea hit Alex. He whipped out his laptop, clicked a few times, typed a bit, clicked a few more times, then ran off to the library. "Ou il va?" (Where is he going?) John glanced at the still-open laptop screen and laughed. Alex was a genius.

hooray for more cliffhangers!!! btw I wrote that short little french sentence at the end by myself and my little french student heart is so proud of me :)

This is the longest chapter yet so yayyy for me writing it so fast

also, i don't want to beg for vote or shares or anything, but i kind of wish more than 2 people would consistently read my story. do with that information what you want. it's still really fun to write though!!  also i probably would have already abandoned the story if not for the fact that at least a couple people liked it so thanks for reading, commenting, voting, etc!!!!