Alex

Alexander Hamilton and John Laurens were dating. I should tell Magnus we're soulmates. Alexander Hamilton and John Laurens were dating. I should tell Magnus we're soulmates.

These thoughts race through my head as I walk to Sam's house after school, each one fighting for dominance. I personally want the one about Hamilton to win, but it doesn't seem like that's gonna happen. By the time I'm knocking on Sam's door, the only thing going through my head is, I should tell Magnus we're soulmates. I should tell Magnus we're soulmates.

"Come in!" Sam says from the doorway, distracting me from my loop for a few seconds. I smile and step inside, immediately walking up the stairs and taking a rough guess as to which door her room is behind. I'm right.

"Are you okay, Alex?" Sam says as she follows after me.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." I mutter, rubbing the bands I've taken to wearing around Magnus, Sam, and TJ to hide my soulmark.

"Er, do you want to work on the English homework?"

"Not really." I say, collapsing onto the bed.

"Hmmm…" She responds, sitting down next to me. "Do you want to work on… history homework?" She says in a singsong voice.

"Why'd you say it like that?"

"I was just thinking, maybe we could talk about Laurens and Hamilton's relationship in our project." She says, poking me in the ribs.

"Stop putting your voice in italics." I groan and roll over on her bed until my face is engulfed in her covers, then hit her with a pillow.

"I do think we should talk about your guys' relationship, though. There seems to be a little bit of something going on there." I turn to face her with an unamused expression.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." I monotone.

"We need to talk about you and Magnus." Sam says, suddenly completely serious. "You can't lead him on. Magnus is a really sensitive person, and even though you haven't gotten your soulmark yet, I can tell he's going to fall fast and hard for you. And you're not only letting it happen, you're encouraging it. If there are feelings there for both of you, then that's great, and I understand that dating even when you're not soulmates can be beneficial. But if it's not mutual, you need to shut it down now. I won't let my best friend's heart get broken by my sister."

"Brother." I say miserably.

"What?"

"I'm a boy right now."

"Oh, okay. Still, my point stands."

I know there's only one thing I can do to make her understand. Slowly, reluctantly, I hold out my arm and push away the wristbands. Sam's fingers ghost over the letters as she reads the tattoo.

"You found your soulmate?" Sam asks, looking at me with wide eyes.

I nod with a slight smile.

"Who is it?"

"Him."

A confused expression settles on her face. "Who?"

"Magnus."

"What the fuck!?" She jumps off the bed. "Do you know for sure?"

I nod. "I was at the park, the day you met me, actually, and I saw him there, and I thought his book was dumb but he was cute. Then I saw him flinch and look at his arm, like something had bit him, or he had gotten his soulmark. Then he left."

Sam nods slowly. "Magnus was at the park that day."

"Yeah. And then when you brought me to the cafe, Magnus' eyes locked on mine for a split second, and I felt the tattoo carving itself into my skin. And that's when I knew."

She settles back on the bed. "Have you told him?"

"No. I want to get to know him first, find out if this whole soulmate thing is a complete sham or not, before we're forced to see if we like each other."

"I guess that makes sense. With Amir, we were so young, we were just happy to know it was a real thing. It's definitely true love for us."

"I believe you. It just seems like such a fat chance that you would ever even meet yours, with all the people in the world, and so it's kinda hard to believe that it's real if you do."

"Do you love him, though?" Sam asks in a whisper.

"I mean, I wouldn't say that I love him, because I haven't even known him for that long. But I definitely do like him."

"That's good. I'm really happy for you, Alex." She clutches my hand.

"Thanks." I whisper.