"John! Wait!" I shouted, running after my boyfriend. And for once in my life, I realized that I only worried about him at that moment. Nothing else filling my mind. No worrying about due dates for math class or having enough notes for Debate. All I could focus on was making my beloved feel better.

Right as I was about to swing open the door and bolt out of the room, I heard Thomas Jefferson hold out one of his infamous, "Whaaaat"s.

"Shut the fuck up," I muttered, glaring at Thom-ass before bolting out of the classroom.

I sprinted down the hallway, but then stopped once I realized I had no idea where to go. The only other occupied room besides the debate room was the newspaper committee's classroom. John could be almost anywhere in the school. It was then when I started to realize the consequences of leaving the debate room without permission. I might lose the debate, or I could be kicked from the club, or I could be prohibited from competing in any more competitions. Noticing my mistake, I raced my shadow to debate room and stumbled back in, the class only slightly confused.

"Well," Washington started, biting his lip, "the jury has decided, you win Alexander."

I nodded my head, forgetting about Laurens and thinking about how I'll be moved into the next seed of the bracket, which will be against either going against Thomas Jefferson or Angelica Schuyler, both of them quite good at debating.

"Alexander!" Angelica shouted, snapping me back to reality, I glanced up at her, only to find an incredibly annoyed expression on her face "That's the fourth time I called your name! Don't you want to see if John is okay? He looked pretty upset, and you're the closest friend he's got. But you don't exactly act like one when you care more about debating than your friend's feelings." She shot this at me with so much venom that it took me a few seconds to gain my composure.

My eyes opened wide, and yet again, I ran out of the classroom. I decided to go into the bathroom, just because it seemed like a secluded place and was close to the room, but alas, no luck. I stepped out and speed-walked down the halls, listening for anything that would signify John being nearby.

After speed-walking aimlessly for a few minutes, I entered the room for the newspaper committee to try to find out if they had any lead on where John was.

"Have any of you guys seen John?" I asked, panting.

Eliza stared at me, surprised, before saying, "Well, I heard some footsteps outside the door about 30 seconds ago."

A few of the other members nodded in agreement, and then Samuel Seabury started talking.

"Why do you care so much about Laurens' whereabouts?"

"Because I actually can establish strong friendships," I said coldly, turning around and sprinting out the door.

"John! John! Where are you, love?" I shouted, bolting down the halls. I stopped short as I heard some muffled tears coming from... the janitor's closet? I knocked on the door two times before opening it, only to see the janitor. Sobbing his heart out. Holding a mop close to his heart. And muttering something about wet blankets. I uttered apologies for my intrusion and stepped out of the room, awkwardly shutting the door behind me.

But where could he be?

Sorry for the HUGE hiatus! I've been working on many other things and may've accidentally forgotten this story. There is a sort of cliffhanger because I wanted to get this out as quick as I could after I remembered how long the hiatus was. Thanks to a certain guest for reviewing this and giving me an email notification to work on this.

Also, thank you SO SO MUCH for your support for my coming out. All of your kind words really mean much more to me than you may think.