Seven Eight Nine....

Chapter 4 - Almost

As I write this, my music teacher is praising me on my perfect test results, and most likely wondering why my video is turned off. I'm trying to drown her out with Hamilton, but to no avail.....Current count of Hamilton references dropped into conversation; three (fundamental truths at the exact same time (jk it's actually six I just wanted to make the joke)). 

Alex's POV

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Schuyler."

What am I doing? I know I broke the rules earlier, but I have no idea who this girl is!

I refuse to let myself...Wait, the bell just rang.

"Hold that thought, Alexander, I need to get to class. I only have five minutes, and the MFL stairs are an utter safety hazard when everyone's rushing. A girl nearly knocked herself out when she fell down them last year."

(A/N: based on true events, you know who you are. Still can't believe I carried all four of our rucksacks to the nurse's office without my arms falling off)

"Anyway, see you later, and say hi to Eliza from me!"

Oh right, lessons.

Nearly forgot.

This was going to be pretty weird, since I've never had formal schooling before. There was a school near our house, but I was always too busy to attend regularly.

Anyway, backstory's boring, and the author can't be bothered to do any proper research, so...Oh wait, this is what John said about the fourth wall, isn't it?

Must remember that.

(A/N: sorry about all the fourth wall breaks, I'm bad at humour)

(Please don't judge me)

(Please)

John's POV

Right. Lessons. Focus. What am I doing? Form. Yes.

You know, I have the strangest feeling something's not right. Something's...Missing.

"Sorry I'm late! The meeting overran!"

Oh right. Our form tutor and History teacher, Mr Washington.

Pretty much every student loves him, but I can't remember the last time he wasn't late. Most people find it funny, but really it's a little irritating.

But hey, he's still the best teacher ever! And also possibly the only person in the world who can get Hercules off of the table when he starts rapping Miranda, which is no mean feat; we've been trying for years.

Anyway, like I said, almost everyone loves him. Key word: almost.

"Sir, not to be rude,"

Oh really.

"But this is the third time this week you've been late. And it's only Tuesday."

That, by the way, is Charles Lee, he of the two first names.

I don't know what he has against Washington; maybe it's because he can't wrap him around his finger like he can all the other teachers. But for whatever the reason, he's had it out for our form tutor since day one.

"I know, Charles, and I'm sorry, but we have more pressing concerns right now. For a start, we have a new student today. Everyone, say hello to Alexander."

Cue the customary chorus of "hi" from around the classroom.

"Also, assembly's in five, so I guess we're doing fire numbers."

(I'm writing like I'm running out of time (also patience, inspiration and will to live))

So apparently most schools don't do fire numbers, so I should probably explain.

Basically, you're given a number according to your place in the register (so Aaron's first, because he's Burr, then it'll be Alexander, etc). We call them fire numbers because in the event of a fire, we would call them out in order instead of a register, since they're a lot quicker.

So we use them pretty much every registration with Mr Washington.

Unfortunately, some people (cough cough Samuel cough) never pay attention, and since there aren't any prompts it ends up taking a million years.

Yes, I'm rambling again, but I don't care. Oh, also, when someone new arrives, everyone lower down than them has to swap numbers, so it gets pretty confusing.

I looked up to see everyone staring at Samuel, who was, predictably, not focusing. Washington coughed and he sprang up and started panicking.

This was going to be a long day.