"Did you tell her? Did you tell her? Did you tell her? Did you tell her? Did you tell-" Marie didn't get to finish her sentence as Georges clapped a hand over her mouth.

"Pipe down, Virginie, let the fille breathe! She can't tell us anything if you don't shut your ever-flapping mouth for a few seconds."

Without hesitating, Marie bit down on her brother's hand and huffed in satisfaction as he yelped in pain. "Don't you ever call me Virginie again." She turned her attention back to the short brunette girl in front of her. "So, did you tell her?"

"Yes, I did," Susan answered, wringing her hands nervously. Her friends knew about her plan to tell her mother of what secrets have been unveiled at the sleepover and were now pestering her for her mother's reaction. Private, secretive conversations like this one were unsuited for the crowded cafeteria where anybody could overhear, so the eight of them had snuck out to the teacher's parking lot behind the school.

The Reynolds girl was perched on a curb by the side of the road, Theo on her right side and Fanny on her left. Marie sat cross-legged on the concrete in front of her, ignoring Georges' glare from a few feet away. Frances was leaning against a nearby lamppost while Philip and Angie had carefully clambered onto the front of their parents' car.

Marie bounced in her spot with excitement and leaned forward, her tawny-brown eyes staring straight into Susan's much darker ones. "Aaand?"

"And she kind of… snapped at me."

Collective looks of shock and surprise passed around the group. Frances straightened up from her slouching position and raised an eyebrow. "Look, I don't know your mother very well- or at all, really. We've only interacted twice when I borrowed a Spanish dictionary from the library last year, but from what I know, she doesn't seem like the type to blow up at people she loves."

"Yeah, I've known Aunt Mar- excuse me, Mrs. Reynolds for two years and I don't think I've ever seen her angry," Theo added, her cheeks darkening slightly at her slip up. She had been given permission to call the woman 'Aunt Maria' during her and Susan's stay with the Burrs after the publishing of the Pamphlet, but only in private. Susan was also allowed to call Mr. Burr 'Uncle Aaron', but she felt way too awkward to do it. "She's always either sad or anxious or just… showing no emotion at all."

Susan sighed and rested her chin on her hands, her elbows propped up on her knees. "I've known her for fourteen years and she's never been mad at me before. I've seen her angry a few times, but it was only ever at my father when he… took it too far while… hurting me…"

She subconsciously scratched at the spot under her left eye where the scar was hidden by a layer of concealer, which was a few tones lighter than her skin. It wasn't too noticeable but still stood out if you looked too closely. The concealer belonged to her mother and Susan was only using it because they couldn't afford to buy two different shades every month or so. Angie had discovered the scar while doing her make-up at the sleepover and had promised to buy her a perfectly-matched concealer supply of her own for Christmas.

Philip decided to put a stop to the uncomfortable silence which was created by Susan's last statement. "Well, what did Mrs. Reynolds say when she 'snapped' at you?"

"Oh, um, well…" Susan stammered, glancing back at a window on the second floor of the school which she knew belonged to the library. "She just said- she didn't shout or raise her voice or anything- that telling you guys about our past was extremely stupid and I put us at risk of a CPS investigation. Don't get me wrong, I know none of you would ever tell our story to anyone, but my mother… has some severe trust issues. I can't exactly blame her. I mean, she trusted her parents and they kicked her out. She trusted my father and he abused her for over fourteen years. She trusted Mr. Hamilton and he-" She spared a glance at the mentioned man's two present children. "You know."

"Published the Reynolds Pamphlet blog." Angie filled in, fiddling with the hem of her hot-pink shirt.

"Since we're on the topic, AJ isn't still giving you grief about that damned thing, is he?" Fanny tilted her head in question.

Susan hissed through gritted teeth at the mention of Alexander Hamilton Junior. "Someone needs to teach that guy to mind his own business and leave me alone. It's like he's obsessed with bothering me or something. He acts as if I was the one who slept with your father!"

The oldest Hamilton turned red and sputtered. "I did not need that mental image!"

Angie smacked him upside the head. "You better not have just imagined Susan sleeping with our dad."

"Can we maybe… stop talking about that for a second?" Susan threw her head back in frustration. "I wish I could go one day without someone reminding me of that godforsaken pamphlet!"

"Knowing AJ, that isn't gonna happen anytime soon." Frances walked over and sat down at Susan's feet, Marie immediately scooting over to be closer to her.

"Well, then I wish AJ just… stopped existing for a day!" She turned towards the Hamiltons. "No offense."

"None taken." Philip shrugged at the same time as Angie rolled her eyes and said "It's fine, AJ's kind of an ass anyway."

"Never mind all that," Fanny pulled Susan into a side hug. "By the way, your mother isn't mad at you anymore, is she?"

"No, actually, we made up later that night- or was it earlier this morning?… okay, the timing's irrelevant. I couldn't sleep so I went to get some water from the kitchen, and when I passed by her room I heard her having a nightmare. I came in and she told me about it and it's almost like we hadn't even argued in the first place." Susan smiled.

Georges nodded. "Good. That's good. We can't have you fighting with your mother and then walking around all gloomy and anxious- well, more gloomy and anxious than usual."

"Ugh, fighting with your parents is the absolute worst feeling in the world!" Marie groaned and flopped sideways, her head ending up in Frances' lap.

"At least you have parents." Fanny Squared said in unison.

Sharing a look, Theo and Susan high-fived. "Single parent squad!"

The Lafayettes and the Hamiltons glanced at each other and laughed nervously, but before any of them could say anything else, a voice echoed through the empty parking lot and a figure rushed towards them.

"Angie!" It turned out to be a girl, a sophomore by the looks of it. She had presumably just come out of a PE lesson, as she wore a teal shirt, grey shorts and sneakers. Her extremely frizzy, shoulder-length hair was tied back into a short, loose ponytail, and her emerald-green eyes stood out against her dark skin.

"Mary?" Angie muttered, just loud enough for her friends to hear. She slid down from her parents' car and met the now-named Mary halfway. "What are you doing here?"

"That's Mary Jefferson," Theo whispered in Susan's ear. "The Vice Principal's youngest daughter. She and Angie have a sort of 'on-again-off-again' relationship, and their latest breakup was in mid-August."

"I was looking for you in the cafeteria and you weren't there, so I asked around and Catherine Church- your cousin, right?- said that she saw you sneaking out here with the rest of your… gang of misfits." The Jefferson girl rattled off, her eyes trailing along the group. "I really need to ask you something, and I don't want to put it off until after school or do it over text."

Anger flared inside Susan for all of a second, before subsiding. Mary wasn't entirely off when she called the eight of them a gang of misfits. 'I mean, look at us!' She thought to herself. 'We look like the supporting cast of a YA novel where the author tried way too hard to fill the diversity quota.'

"And that is?" Angie prompted.

Mary reached over and took her by the hand. "Are you doing anything this Friday?"

Angie frowned but didn't move her hand. "Mary, we can't keep doing this. You know we broke up, right?"

"I know, I know, but can we maybe... try again?" Mary stepped closer. "Please?"

"You said that last time." The brown-haired girl scoffed. "And the time before that. You always ask if we can 'try again' and it never works out. Aren't you tired of it?"

Mary shook her head. "No, I'm not. Because I like you, Angie, I really do. And it's gonna be different this time, I promise. I won't let anything come between us again."

Something akin to hope reignited in Angie's eyes. "Not even our fathers and their stupid rivalry?"

"Not even that. Mr. Hamilton's rivalry with Mr. Burr doesn't stop your brother and Theodosia, does it?" The Jefferson girl chuckled, cupping the other girl's face. "So, how about it? Wanna go on a date with me this Friday?"

"How could I say no to that?" Angie whispered, closing the short space between them and pulling Mary in for a kiss. The rest of the group politely averted their eyes, letting the two have their moment.

Before Mary could deepen the kiss, Angie lightly nudged her away, smiling apologetically. "Save that for Friday, okay?"

"Okay." Very reluctantly, Mary let go of Angie's hand. She made to leave, but stopped at the last second and turned to face Georges. "Oh, by the way, William Mulligan was looking for you. He said it was something important."

"Duty calls." Georges shrugged as a goofy grin spread across his face. He got up from the pavement and jogged to catch up with Mary, looking over his shoulder at his friends. "I'll talk to you guys later!"

"Let me guess, Georges is dating Mr. Mulligan's son, isn't he?" Susan spoke up once Georges and Mary were out of earshot.

"You didn't know?" Marie's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "It's not a secret so I thought someone would've told you. They've been pining for each other since middle school."

Fanny nodded along. "Come on, you must have figured out by now that everyone in our friend group is at least a little bit gay."

As if to prove her point, a blushing Angie tackled Philip, who had, thankfully, climbed off their parents' car, into a hug, squealing incomprehensibly. Out of all her ramblings, Susan only managed to catch the phrase "Mary still likes me!"

"Or, in most cases, more than a little bit." Philip laughed as he stroked Angie's hair.

"Speaking of, and I can't believe we haven't asked yet," Frances started, picking at her nails. "Susan, what's your sexuality?"

"Uh, as far as I'm concerned, I'm straight," Susan stated, faking nonchalance, years of hiding her true feelings behind a mask coming to her aid. Truth be told, she wasn't entirely sure of her answer. Not after seeing all her friends being so open about their relationships.

The Laurens girl gave her a shrug and a half-smile. "That's cool too."

Theo lightly elbowed Susan in the side. "Hey guys, we have a token straight in the friend group now!"

Susan rubbed at the spot where Theo's elbow had been. She had unknowingly hit an old bruise that was taking a little too long to heal. Susan supposed the bruise was from when her father threw her onto the floor the day the Reynolds Pamphlet was published.

'He's not here. He can't hurt us.' She said in her head. The words had become a personal mantra that she repeated every time her thoughts drifted too much towards her past. Her eyes flickered from friend to friend and a question formed in her mind.

"So… are all of you actually not straight?"

Angie, who had loosened her grip on Philip, plopped down onto the curb next to Fanny. "Yep! Georges, Frances, Marie and I are obvious, then there's Philip who's bi, Fanny who's questioning, and Theo-"

"I prefer not to use labels." Theo cut in. "I love who I love and I don't need a word to define it." Susan could feel her best friend wanting to add on something along the lines of "Plus, all the internet discourse about the specifications and definitions of different sexualities really grind on my nerves."

"That's my girl!" Philip exclaimed, opening his arms in invitation. Theo jumped up from the curb and threw herself at him, standing on her toes to give him a peck on the lips. Angie let out an "Aww!", and Susan swore she could hear Marie muttering "Philip and Theo sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" under her breath.

Theo rested her head on Philip's shoulder and checked the green-tinted watch on her right wrist. "By the way, the bell's gonna ring in a few minutes, so we should get going."

One by one, the group picked themselves up from where they were sitting and started the short walk towards the back door of the school. As they entered the building, Frances glanced around to make sure no teachers could catch them coming in. The teachers' parking lot was supposed to be off-limits to students, but Marie convinced them to break the rule and sneak out there under the pretense of "Everyone except for Fanny Squared is a staff kid, remember? I'm sure they won't do anything if they catch us."

Susan trailed behind everyone, tuning out the jokes her friends were cracking and replaying the conversation over and over again in her head.

'Frances and Marie have been together for seven months, Angie and Mary have an on-again-off-again relationship, Georges and William are middle school sweethearts, Philip is bi, Fanny is questioning, Theo doesn't like labels. They're all out and proud of it and not afraid to show who they are. Marie even has a lesbian flag pin on her backpack! They're all so happy with their identities and their relationships, so maybe… it would be okay for me to- Wait, hold up, what am I on about? I'm straight, aren't I? Come on Susan, stop it, cut it out. What would Dad say if he found out you were even considering the possibility of not being straight? What would he do if he found out about your friends not being straight? That would not end well for you, or them, or Mum…'

'He's not here. He can't hurt us.' She shook her head. 'I'm being completely irrational. Me, not straight? Please. Frances would sooner kiss a guy than I would kiss a girl. I'm just trying to convince myself of something that isn't there, making myself think what I want to think after seeing Angie and Mary kiss. I believe Theo called it the placebo effect once? It doesn't matter. I'm one hundred percent straight, how could I ever think that I wasn't?'

But as she settled into her usual seat next to Fanny, as always pretending not to notice the glare of AJ Hamilton, and waited for the Geography lesson to start, she couldn't help but feel the seeds of doubt starting to take root somewhere deep inside her. She pushed the feeling down, fully intending to chuck the thoughts out of her head forever. To keep it all bottled up until she was ready to face it. Whenever that might be.

'Not today, brain, not today.'