30 Day Writing Challenge!

Day 10 (Lams)

Sure, Alex enjoyed school. He liked learning, but doing the same thing every day for 9 months was tiring. It was boring. Although, one thing wasn't.

Every day at lunch, he would stare at the gorgeous boy, John Laurens, a table away. They weren't friends; Alex was sure he didn't even know he existed despite sitting next to each other in two classes. Alex wanted him, but he was taken by a girl named Martha Manning. His soulmate.

John's soulmate patch was on his fingertips. It got filled in with the most beautiful pastel rainbow pallet. Alex knew Martha was his soulmate because one day when they had gotten together, the originally black spot was colored.

Alex's soulmate patch was always covered up by his shirt. It was on his left shoulder. His was still black.

Alex knew he shouldn't be staring. He was straight! He had a girlfriend, a soulmate, after all. But for some reason, he couldn't help himself.

"Hey, Alex." Peggy sat next to him. He didn't have any other friends. Just Peggy. Her sisters never let her sit with them because she was "too quiet" and "not cool enough", and "too young" even though she was only a year younger. But to Alex, she was the coolest person in the world. At first glance, you might not see her as the loud, outgoing person she was, but she was just shy. And so was Alex. He loved her. Platonically, of course.

"Hey, Pegs!" He gave her a side hug as she unpackaged her lunch.

"Eat." She pointed her plastic fork at him. "You can stare at turtle boy all you like after you eat."

"Pegs-"

"Oh my god." She stared at him. "You forgot again didn't you?" Alex nodded. "It's okay. I got you." She tossed him a salad and a plastic fork. "We're going to seven eleven after, though. I'll pay, but you're driving. Liza and Angie won't let me go because I'm "wasting time and gas.""

"Thanks," he said, taking a bite of the salad.

Then the end of lunch came too soon, and Alex went to his English class. At least John was in that class. At least it was his favorite class. With his favorite teacher.

"Okay, like I said yesterday, we will be partnering up today." Alex's breath caught. Partners? "I will be assigning partners." Alex let out a breath. Assigned partners. Thank god.

"Aaron Burr and Thomas Jefferson. James Madison and Eliza Schuyler. Alexander Hamilton and John Laurens."

Alex's heart stopped. He stopped listening. A project with John Laurens. His crush. They would be together. Alone. Fuck.

He felt someone tapping on his left shoulder. He turned his head. John Laurens. Alex felt his face heat.

"You're Alexander, right?" This was the first time he was directly speaking to him.

"Yeah..." he zoned out for a second, looking at John's eyes. "Uh, but Alex is fine."

"Cool. Let me give you my number." He scribbled on a scrap of paper and gave it to Alex. "We'll meet at your place, yeah? Send me the address and I'll be there and around...four-forty-five."

-

"Peggy!" He ran up to the girl waiting for him at his car. "Peggy! John Laurens is coming to my house."

Peggy squealed. "When?"

"In a few hours."

"Okay, so we'll go to seven eleven. We'll go back to your house and hang out, and John'll come over."

"You're not going to leave?"

"No! My sisters hate me! I'll just hang with Martha or something. Bake y'all cookies maybe."

"Fine."

She squealed again. "This is so exciting!"

-

The two worked on the project until 8:30! John was fun and easy-going. Although he wasn't really social, it wasn't hard to maintain a conversation with the gorgeous boy. Every time he laughed, Alex's heart fluttered, and his stomach churned.

John ended up staying for dinner and leaving a little bit after. It was fun. They baked cookies with Peggy, and they messed around with the dogs. Alex was tired though. At around 10:00 he started getting ready for bed.

When Alex was changing his shirt, he noticed something. The originally black patch on his left shoulder was now a mesmerizing mix of pink, purple, and blue.

He ran downstairs as fast as he could.

"Mom!" he yelled. "Is Peggy still here?"

"Yeah, she wanted to stay over again. She's in the bathroom right now."

He ran to the bathroom, and of course, the door was closed.

He knocked on the door. "Peggy, I don't care what you're doing, I'm coming in...now!"

He pushed the door open and got to Peggy who was thankfully just doing her hair in the mirror.

"What's up?"

"I think John's my soulmate."