Homework (Lams AU)

Now I'm Feeling So Bad

"Hi, welcome to the Pizza Joint, what can I get for you today?" I ask, sighing softly.

I requested more hours, since I quit doing John's homework. Luckily, it was Christmas time and they needed more workers anyway. I had a lot of money, but nowhere near enough to pay for my tuition, so here I am, back at my job.

I served multiple customers, including many Karens (they got worse this time of year), and tried holding back my regret. My manager could tell something was wrong, but he didn't bother asking. He's known me too long to expect me to say what's wrong.

Once my shift was finally over, I washed my hands and clocked out of the system, sighing as I put my hat and apron away. I grab my bag and walk out of the store, waving bye to my coworkers.

As I walk home, I run into three familiar faces. "I'm just saying, Pulitzer's a pretentious as-"

"Alex!"

I smile gently. It was Jack, Crutchie, and Davey standing by the bus stop.

"Oh, hey guys." I say, waving at them. Crutchie hobbles over and hugs me. "How're you guys doing?"

"Pretty good, how are you?" Davey asks.

I shrug. "Meh, tired of working." I chuckle gently.

"Yeah, no kidding." Jack scoffs. "Joe's being stingy with our salaries again."

"Ouch, that's no good." I say. I always hated Pulitzer. He didn't care for his employees at all, only the money he gets. "What are you going to do this time?"

"Go on strike!" Jack says proudly.

Davey quickly shakes his head. "No, no, we are not going on strike. Jack, we talked about this-"

"I don't remember that talk." Jack states very bluntly. "We're going on strike, and that's that."

Crutchie rolls his eyes. "Jack, are you sure that's such a good idea? Remember last time you tried that?"

I chuckle. "Well, you guys have fun with that, I gotta get home."

They nod and wave bye to me. As I walk, I can hear them still debating their strike.

I arrive home and call out like normal, and then try going straight to my room. Theodosia stands in front of me before I can climb up the stairs, though, crossing her arms.

"When's the last time you talked to Hercules and Lafayette?" She asks.

I shrug. "Halloween."

She rolls her eyes. "Alex, that was October 31st."

"Well, yeah. I know what day Halloween is on, it's the same day every year."

"My point is today is December 4th." She says. "You can't ignore them forever, you know."

"Watch me." I say, walking past her and go up the stairs.

"They were only trying to be good friends to you, Alex!" She calls after me. I continue walking, however, and plop on my bed once I reach my room.

I sigh and pull out my phone to see the usual two messages - one from Laf, and one from Herc - asking the same thing they asked everyday. I didn't want to ignore them, I just couldn't stand seeing them together, all happy.

And yeah, I know that's selfish, but I'm still hurting. It's not fair that they get to be in a healthy, happy relationship and I'm over here still getting bullied by the guy I used to like and his friends.

The door to my room opens and I don't even bother turning around. "Hi, Grace." I mumble.

"Hey, brat." She replies. "You're going to a debate thing all day tomorrow, right?"