Happy Thursday, lovelies! This is yet another chapter that got split into two because why not? Next chapter will be John's birthday party, and after that is Halloween. Planning everyone's Halloween costumes will be fun. Hopefully you lovelies enjoy this chapter! ~Shaymie

Alex's POV

"Just ignore them," I whispered in Lorin's ear as we walked towards our first period English class, twenty-five minutes early like usual. Our teacher left the door open so people could come in and work on homework last minute if they needed to. Lorin whimpered as everyone stared at us. Since when did people start showing up early for school? I hadn't wanted her to come to school until the gossip had died down, but like usual, she was ridiculously stubborn and refused to listen to me. I grabbed her hand and rubbed my thumb on the back of it.

"But they're all staring. Did Lee tell everyone?" I grit my teeth and nodded. I was prepared to kick the shit out of him again (and so was Herc, who wanted to get a few hits in for Laurens, who was still slightly beat up), but the little weasel hadn't shown up to school since last week. I bit back a groan as I saw Jefferson lounging in front of the door to the classroom, just as he had been on my first day here. I still couldn't understand how Lorin had forgiven him for basically sending her into a panic attack. I raised an eyebrow as I saw him with someone I didn't recognize. He seemed like one of those stuck-up kind of guys, considering the fact that he was wearing what looked like a uniform… for a school that doesn't require uniforms.

"We have a new student, Hamilton," Jefferson said lazily, picking at his nails, which I noticed were painted a deep purple. Lorin had painted them over the weekend when he and Madison were over at our house, watching over the tape of the choir concert. I had a feeling she could convince anyone to do anything with a perfectly-timed set of puppy dog eyes.

"And what does that have to do with me?"

"You're the 'class representative', remember? It's your responsibility to show him around." His voice was sarcastic as he put air quotes around "class representative". I knew he was bitter because I had beat him for the job. He hated losing at anything, which made debate club fun. Seeing him pout after every lost argument was incredible. His eyes softened when he saw Lorin, who was trembling at the idea of me leaving her alone. "I'll make sure nobody messes with her."

Lorin frowned slightly as she walked over to Jefferson and ran a hand through her hair nervously. I kissed her on the forehead and gestured for the new guy to follow me. I should hurry up and get this dumb tour over with. I hadn't thought I'd actually have to do things as the class representative.

"You're the class representative?" he asked as he followed me, somewhat reluctantly. I nodded as I walked towards the library, our first stop on the tour. It only occurred to me to ask his name as we approached the glass doors of the library.

"I'm probably going to sound stupid for asking you this now, but what's your name? Jefferson didn't exactly introduce us."

"Aaron Burr," he extended a hand and nodded. I shook his hand and tried not to wince. The guy had an impossibly strong grip for someone so scrawny. "But you can just call me Burr. Everyone does."

"Alexander Hamilton. You can call me Alex."

I spent the next twenty minutes showing Burr around the school. The entire time, I couldn't help but notice people's' eyes on me, judging me. I didn't even want to think about the kinds of things they would say to Lorin and prayed that Jefferson really was keeping an eye on her and not sitting on his ass texting Madison. If he wasn't bothering Lorin, he was making googly eyes at his boyfriend. I was starting to think they were the only two people in school who could stand being around him.

"Is there any reason everyone's staring at you?" Burr asked as we left the cafeteria. It wasn't really a necessary part of the tour, but I was hungry. I feigned ignorance and shrugged as I shoved a donut into my mouth so I wouldn't have to answer. I didn't want Burr to know anything about Lorin, though I doubted he was the gossiping type. He seemed like anything but.

"Hey Alexander, is Lorin as good in bed as Charles said?" I glared as we passed George King, who was the most pompous asshole in school. He loved gossip just as much as he loved being a douche to those he thought weren't worth his time. The only person at school who liked him was Samuel Seabury, an infamous ass-kisser who followed him like a lost puppy.

"Eat a dick, King," I groaned, shoving my napkins into a nearby trashcan and quickening my pace. How was I going to get through today? School hadn't even started yet and I was already being hounded!

"It seems your girlfriend's done enough of that." I hated that cocky smirk on his face. I hated hearing the grin in his voice. I wanted nothing more than to wipe that smirk off his face, but I had promised Lorin that I wouldn't get in anymore fights, though I wouldn't call what happened with Lee a fight. She was scared of me getting hurt or getting into some kind of trouble I couldn't talk my way out of. So I had no choice but to leave the cafeteria, Burr following closely behind. We walked back to class silently. It was a good thing we had the same class. I couldn't imagine having to escort him back to a different class and having to walk all the way across the school to go back to mine.

"It's about time, Hamilton," Jefferson sighed dramatically as I walked through the door. He pointed over at Lorin, who was sitting at her usual seat in the back, her head on her desk. She twitched slightly when she heard Jefferson acknowledge me, but didn't look up. He lowered his voice as he finished speaking. "I did everything I could, but you can only stop idiots from gossiping for so long. They finally stopped when I had Hercules come in and threaten to pummel the shit out of them."

"You went all the way across the school to get Herc?" How had I not seen him? I was pretty sure we had passed the theater room on our walk around the school. With his obnoxiously sequined jacket and crazy afro, I was pretty sure it was impossible to miss him.

"Well, both of us did. She had to tell me where he was, and I wasn't going to leave her alone in here. But that's enough talking. You should make sure she's alright. She won't talk to me anymore." I nodded and walked over to her, plopping down into the seat in front of her. She looked up when I tapped my fingers on her desk. Class hadn't even started yet and she already looked exhausted, her eyes drooping and rimmed with red. It probably didn't help much that yesterday had been her first "counseling session", since she refused to go to an actual therapist. Angelica had gently, yet firmly told her to tell us everything about James and Maria.

"How are you holding up, Lo?" I asked, pushing some hair back from her face. She rolled her eyes and scoffed. I frowned. That wasn't much of an answer. Or maybe that was all the answer I needed. What was I expecting for her to say, that everything was fine? "Look on the bright side. After school, we can start setting up for Laurens' birthday party."

She hummed and put her head back down, pulling her hood over it. The parts of her face that weren't hidden by her arms were covered by her hair. This wasn't good. It was never a good thing when she stopped talking. Normally she would have some kind of snarky comment or something.

"She's been like that since Hercules left," Jefferson sighed, sitting next to me. "I would have thought that she would talk to you, Hamilton."

She was silent the rest of the school day. Eliza, Laf, Madison, and Jefferson kept me updated on what happened in the classes I didn't have with her. People wouldn't stop talking about her, even when she was two feet away from them. According to them, she hadn't spoken a single word. She didn't show up to lunch or the other two classes we had together. I didn't see her again until after school, fifteen minutes after debate club ended (and the meeting had gone on even longer than normal, which was saying something), when Peggy dragged her out of the school.

"Lo, are you okay?" I asked as they walked over to us. I noticed for the first time that she was soaking wet, her hair dripping down her back. She was wearing a different hoodie than she had earlier, Peggy's I assumed. Peggy huffed as I pulled Lorin into a hug, trying to warm her up. She was shivering, and the fact that it was a cold, windy day wasn't helping much. "What the hell happened? Where have you been?"

"Lorin came by the gym to hang out with me since you weren't answering your phone. The other girls on the cheerleading squad thought it would be funny if they dumped the leftover ice water from the cooler on her. I didn't even know they were going to do it until I heard the splash." I flinched at the accusatory tone in her voice. I put my phone on silent during debate club meetings, and this particular meeting had gone on extra long since Burr had been getting "inducted", which really meant that Angelica had an excuse to ramble on for thirty extra minutes. The meeting would have probably never started in the first place if Jefferson hadn't told her to wrap it up so we could actually do something.

"Shit, I'm sorry! The meeting went on longer than I thought it would, and Angelica has a 'no phones allowed' policy. Let's go home, okay Lo?" She nodded wordlessly as I wrapped my arm around her. Peggy handed me Lorin's backpack and kissed her on the cheek, telling her that she could keep the hoodie, before she went back into the school, most likely to wait for Angelica. I texted Laf and asked if he could pick us up. I didn't feel comfortable walking home like this.

"You were right, Alex. I shouldn't have come to school today. Everyone's horrible… Those girls asked if I still liked getting wet before they poured the water on me. I thought they would have forgotten everything over the weekend, but I was wrong…" Lorin's teeth chattered as she spoke. I took the hairtie from my hair and pulled her wet hair back into a bun so it wasn't in her face. She sniffled and wrapped her arms around herself. I should have done more to try and stop her from coming to school. Maybe Angelica could have convinced her better. She wasn't captain of debate club for nothing.

"I'm so sorry, Lo. I wish I could have stopped them," I said, frowning as she sneezed. At this rate, she was going to get sick. I should have told Laf to hurry up. I noticed a scratch mark just below her eye and lifted her chin so I could see it better. She turned her eyes away from mine. Why hadn't Peggy said anything about it? Had she not seen it?

"Lo, what happened to your eye?"

"O-One of the cheerleaders slapped me because I wouldn't talk to her. And then they poured the water on me. I didn't mention it to Peggy because I didn't think it was a big deal, and she was kind of busy fighting one of them. It doesn't hurt much, really." She flinched as I ran my thumb over the scratch and pushed my hand away. I sighed as she looked away from me. I wish she wouldn't downgrade everything that happened to her like it was nothing. How could she think it was okay for people to hurt her?

I looked up as Laf finally showed up, along with Laurens and Darcy. Lorin climbed into the car silently, shrugging when Laurens asked what had happened. She sighed as I got in after her and looked out the window. She hadn't been talking to Laurens much after they had made up. She used to spend the nights without me talking to him on the phone for hours on end, until one of them inevitably fell asleep.

"What do you want to do for your birthday, Lori?" Darcy asked after several awkward minutes of silence. She nudged her sister and grinned, earning the tiniest of smiles from her. "There's only a week left until you turn seventeen, you know. Are you going to see an R-rated movie? Or maybe finally learn how to drive?"

Lorin's birthday is next week? She had told me it was next month! Granted, she had been drunk and didn't really mention a specific date. Why hadn't anyone told me sooner? I had to think of something to do. I didn't want anyone to know that I hadn't known when my girlfriend's birthday was.

"Isn't it a bit early to worry about that? It's still John's birthday," Lorin murmured, looking at Laurens in the front seat. She smiled at him and leaned forward, planting a kiss on his cheek. He blushed and looked away. Lorin's eyes widened slightly, and she looked away, gnawing on her bottom lip nervously. I brushed some wet strands of hair from her face and gently tugged her lip from her mouth. Sometimes I worried that she would chew right through it.

"We're already doing stuff for John's birthday, but we don't know what we're doing for yours. Lori, we can't do nothing for your birthday. Right, Lafayette?" Darcy gripped the back of Laf's seat and huffed dramatically as she narrowed her bright green eyes at her sister. Lorin rolled her eyes and put her head on my shoulder. I noticed Laurens narrow his eyes slightly as he looked at us through the rearview mirror. Oh great.