Hi! Thank you so, so much for reviewing and favoriting my stories! It makes my day when I get to open my notifications and read them. It's truly my motivation, aside from just loving to write. Again, thank you so much!

I was planning this chapter out, yes, I do that. It's mainly because I am a perfectionist, and I always have a need to get everything I write or draw to meet my criteria in which I decide if it's good enough for my standards (I sound very terrible currently, I am aware). Back to what I was saying-or writing, whichever-I left so much I could do and so many possibilities, and I felt like a few different routes. It'll become more apparent in upcoming chapters, but I felt like this was the right way to go.

Life's caught up with me. I, unfortunately, have barely any time to write between band, school, and dance. And have I mentioned that humanity is falling apart? I'm having a panic attack every day from either people at my school or American politics. Also, my best friends aren't talking to me anymore and I don't know why. But let's move away from the random topics of my life and do something better.

And I can't thank any of you enough for being patient with me for my long breaks. It gets hard once you have piles of homework. I'm starting to get into a routine, and I'm trying to work my writing into it (though you can most likely see how that's going). But I'm working things out, I swear.

By the way, this is a continued version of Chapter 1.

TW: Illusion to child abuse, illusion to bullying, illusion/mention of physical abuse/attack

We were shocked. Of course, we were, we were just told that some kid was attacked. Sure, we might not have known him-well, Eliza might have-but he was still a teenager, still a human being.

"We do not wish to elaborate, but you six have to agree to help him. You have a few rules that you will need to follow, otherwise, we believe that each of you is mature enough to act on your instincts and that you will be positive in this…" Mr. Schuyler paused, thinking of the word, "experience."

What the hell? I always thought that the school faculty was crazy, but this was next level bat-shit crazy. Why were we getting into this fucking mess? He was most likely some messed up kid who just broke. I wouldn't blame him, everyone and everything in this country were falling apart. I've heard the foster horror stories, he was probably one of those.

"He… he always acted anxiously… I should have told someone… I… I could have done something to… to help…" Eliza choked out words between sobs, muffled by Angelica's shoulder.

If Eliza had known him, why didn't she just speak up the last week? Would have been helpful, with, I don't know, figuring out what was wrong with him? I don't even know why I'm so angry. I didn't even know him, but I just feel like he didn't deserve this.

"We will guide you all for a few weeks, then we hope you will be close enough to him to help him with recovery. He is currently in the hospital, he will be for about one more week. Alexander is also being moved to another foster home nearby, and I believe you six can really bring him back." Mr. Washington scanned us all over inconspicuously, none of us noticing his slight discomfort.

Bring him back? What the fuck? We didn't know who he was, even if Eliza said she knew him a little bit, we didn't know a thing about who he was, where he's been, what he's done. It would be ignorant to try to understand what he's been through. Why am I defending him?

That's when I realized. The memories came flooding in a rush, eager to replenish lost pain.

"Alright, class. Settle down, we have a new student. Come up here and introduce yourself."

A small Latino kid rose from the back of the class, assured, confident, stunning. He walked to the front of the classroom, standing beside the teacher and her podium.

"I'm Alexander Hamilton, I'm 13, and I'm from Nevis in the Caribbean." His voice was toxin running through my veins and through my body.

His tan skin glowed in the bright school lights, bringing out every angle of his beautiful body. He had large mahogany doe eyes, mixing perfectly with his dwarfing stature. His nose perked up at the end, bringing out his perfect lips.

"Alright, thank you, Alexander. You may go sit next to… Marquis." Mrs. Adams's voice grounded me back to reality as Alexander sat next to Lafayette, who sat directly in front of me.

"So, you're from the Caribbean?" I sat down outside for lunch with Laf, Herc, and the new kid.

"Yeah. My entire family was from there. All born islanders." He picked at his sandwich, instead taking a bite of an apple.

"Where's Nevis again? I'm from one of the most known cities in the world, and I was very… very…" Lafayette snapped his fingers. Once he found the perfect he shot his head up and pointed at no one in particular. "Amused! The schools were so small, and there were barely in anyone in them!"

Hercules rolled his eyes. "Laf, the school we go to is larger than many other schools. There are nearly 230,000 people in Richmond. It's bigger than a bunch of other places."

They continued on this spiel for a few more minutes while Alexander and I talked about any and everything.

"Wait. So you are naturally as dark as Laf is?" Lafayette was very tan, spending hours outside since he was a young child. He could have been a quarterback if he wanted to, but he was more interested in music and fashion by a long shot.

"Yeah! When I was younger I would immediately be outside playing soccer or swimming once the sun was barely up." Alex rolled up his pant leg to prove a point, though his skin was noticeably paler than Lafayette's, I could clearly imagine a smaller, much tanner Alexander running along a beach dribbling a soccer ball.

Maria raised her hand. "Mrs. Adams? Where's Alexander? He hasn't been to school in the past few days."

It had been three months since Alexander Hamilton had started going to our school. I had known I was gay since 6th grade, had had a few boy crushes since then, but this 8th-grade crush was something else. Alexander was something else.

He was smart, funny, witty… I felt myself wishing to feel his hand in mine since the moment I first saw him. I felt broken when he hadn't come to school two days ago but passed it off as just a stomach bug or something of the sort, even though it got stranger and stranger with every day he was gone.

"Ah, yes… Alexander moved just the other day. I was informed this morning that he would not be attending here any longer." I hated Mrs. Adams. She was always so formal, always cold to her students. If someone said that I despised her with every cell on Earth at that moment, they would be right.

I remembered how he hadn't worn a scarf once in those two months, and I vaguely recalled him not wearing a scarf for the first week that he attended this high school. The scarf couldn't correlate with him being… attacked… could it?

"Didn't… didn't he used to go here for a few months in junior high?" my voice was far and hesitant, feeling a million miles away from my usually loud and confident demeanor.

Mr. Washington nodded for a split second before he began talking in a slightly soothing voice-probably because he didn't want Eliza to further unravel-once more. "Yes, he did. He was transferred to a different foster placement in New Jersey. We don't know much else about his experiences with the foster system, and if we did, we would leave that to him to explain to all of you."

What the actual fuck have I gotten myself into. What if this was actually something really fucked up, and we hadn't a clue about? Three fucking months. I still couldn't get over that. Three months! Yeah, sure, totally reasonable to just outright ignore a kid that was most likely being abused, bullied, and God knows what else.

"Do… do we know anything else? About him?" Peggy's voice was nothing like her usual cheery self. Of course, she was. She was an innocent girl who was just drug into the middle of a shithole.

"Not much, no. And we do not wish to spread false information. I believe that it isn't our place to tell any more, leave that to Alexander. We have already contacted his new foster parents and you will be meeting them at some point, and meeting Alexander soon, too." Mr. Schuyler seemed like he was suggesting something more, but if he was, it flew over our heads.

We all nodded, though we all felt nauseous. I remembered how small Alexander had always been, what if he was that small unwillingly? What if it wasn't just because of the income? What if there was more hiding underneath that scarf? No. I couldn't think of this. I wouldn't think of this. I knew that the thought had crossed everyone in the school who had the rumors' minds. But, with every time that something of the sort came to mind, I became progressively light-headed.

"Okay. You six have to plan out a date and time to meet him. I think it would be preferable that all of you were together." Mr. Washington spoke with utmost nervousness like this was one of the most delicate subjects he had ever dealt with. It probably was.

We all nodded, the action we continuously repeated; if I spoke, I would definitely throw up. I think the same could go for everyone else. We went through the dates that were possible to meet Alexander at the hospital, deciding that today after school would be fine. Like we could do anything else.

Luckily, by the time we were finished, it was time for lunch. Coincidentally, Eliza had the same lunch period as us. And since we were all chosen to help Alexander, we all got the same lunch. We barely ate anything, knowing that we had to comprehend what had happened before we digested food.

This was going to be one hell of a year.

I wanted to stop it here because I felt like it was a good place to stop, and honestly, I wanted to get something out to Y'all. It makes me so happy when I get a notification that my stories were reviewed or favorited or one of you followed it. I love getting feedback, and I have been getting a lot more than I thought I would have.

Also, I will be going more in depth later with everyone's previous relationships with Alex. And I wanted to add some things about John's mixed emotions with the whole situation, which will also come more into effect when the group meets Alex.

Things are about to get crazy. The next few chapters are going to be a rollercoaster of emotions. I have some real hurt/comfort fluff comin' up for everyone.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter (even though it was quite short), and again, thank you so much for reviewing my stuff. Have a nice day, and stay happy.