In New York You Can Be a New Man

Chapter Sixteen

Being stuffed into a closet and crammed with Alexander wrapped awkwardly around his body was not how John imagined his Friday afternoon to play out.

But if John had learned anything from his life experiences, it was to "just roll with it".

"Just don't make a noise. Jefferson only changes his clothes at 6 for dinner, on a normal day. That's not for another 4 hours. We should be able to get out of here by then." John could hear Alexander's nasally voice by his elbow, which did nothing to calm his racing heart.

If John's allergies to dust didn't give them away, he was sure that his pounding heart would surely.

"Focus, John." John muttered to himself, willing himself to desperately not sneeze. Focus on Alexander's nice smelling vanilla body soap. Just don't sneeze.

John could feel Alexander's arm snake around his waist, pulling his small body even closer to John. He could feel Alexander's breath on the side of his neck.

Alexander's lips ghosted over John's neck as his whispered, "Listen."

"—my God, Madison! What did you do to my ice-cream? What did you do to my precious stocks of creamy goodness?" Jefferson's voice floated from the other room, indignation clearly oozing from his words.

It took all John's willpower to conceal his snickers, and he heard Alexander giggling into his ear.

Fifteen minutes later however, nothing beat the horrified screams of Thomas when he stepped out of the shower and glanced at his now perfectly pink hair-do.

"We should do this more often, partner." Alexander whispered into John's ear, laughter infused with his speech.

With the minimal lighting that the small crack in the door provided, John caught—or tried to catch—Alexander's eye to give him a small wink.

"You bet'cha."

--

"—and then Jefferson was like 'Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat?' in that really annoying tone. And Madison was crying in the corner over the loss of his vanilla ice-cream—but the best part was after Jefferson finished his shower; John and I rigged it so his hair would be dyed bright pink, and when Jefferson saw his hair, I swear, he like screamed and collapsed and I could have been killed that day, and I would have died a satisfied man." Alexander rambled, sharing an smile with John.

"Mon petite lion, we all know that you will never be satisfied—but, congratulations! We all knew you and John are the best duo in the school!" Lafayette cheered, raising as can of beer in a toast. "To the Revolutionaries' first victory in the enemy base!"

"To the Revolution!" Everyone cheered, just as the door swung open with Aaron Burr standing in the now open frame.

"Keep it down, please! I'm trying to talk to Jeffer—someone who is reporting a prank attack in their room." Aaron hissed, slamming the door after delivering his message.

"Three guesses who that someone is." Hercules muttered sarcastically, which only made the group burst into laughter.

"Well, before long, they are going to realize it was us, and they are gonna get back at us." John added, taking another long sip from his can.

"And we'll be ready, right? Let's hit them hard and get out fast, so they can't hit us back!" Alexander called, glancing over the battle strategy notes he took from the book "How To Win A War" by George  Washington.

As the rest of the group cheered, John couldn't help but feel that they were victorious.

--

It had been a week since they rigged Jefferson's and Madison's room, yet no retaliatory act had been made. Alexander was guessing that Jefferson was waiting for them to lower their guard, but the silence from the other side was making John feel uneasy.

Alexander had reassured John that maybe the Democratic-Republicans didn't know who attacked them. But after a few more pranks (aka flushing the toilets when Thomas was in the shower), John realized that Thomas not knowing was completely out of the picture.

"Hey, if it isn't the loser fine arts student." Thomas' annoyed voice snapped John out of his thoughts. 

John watched as Thomas edged closer to him, James following Thomas' every step. 

"What do you want, Jefferson?" John practically snarled, closing his sketchbook and setting it next to him on the bench. 

"Well, I wanted to tell you that I know about your little pranks, and we will get back at you, but it'll be in a way that is worse than a prank. Maybe at your precious Alexander's debate, hmm?" Thomas tilted his head innocently with a sickly-sweet smile. "Anyways, ta-ta! Have fun!"

Thomas and James scampered off, giggling between themselves. John glanced at his phone. January 29th.

Alexander had mentioned something about February 2nd yesterday, and John assumed the debate was on that day. 

John only had 3 days to warn Alexander, but John wasn't very enthusiastic to do so. How could you tell your closest friend to back out of something that was practically their life?

John turned toward the libraries, where Alexander was most likely hidden. John took a deep breath, formulating conversations in his head. 

"Let's get this over with."

***

Why hello! Sorry for not updating in forever! I've been super busy. But anyways, this is sort of a filler chapter, and I have some more action/drama/lams stuff in the chapters to follow. So hang in there! 

Thanks for reading/commenting/voting! Katherine xxx