James woke up by the sound of his alarm clock from his bedroom, but it sounded faint and distant. James then remembered that he and Thomas had been working all night long on the debate.

James opened up his eyes and found out that he had been sleeping on the couch with a blanket over him. The coffee table in front of him was covered in papers and books. James' laptop had run out of battery and was covered post-it notes.

Thomas, however, was laying on the floor hugging a book. James smiled and remembered when Thomas used to do that with his teddy bear whenever they had sleepovers.

"Wake up sleepy head," James said and lightly kicked Thomas' foot. He didn't respond.

James turned off the alarm and headed for the kitchen and got himself a bowl of cereal for breakfast.

Thomas woke up ten minutes later. They didn't talk much and there was clearly a tension in the air. James was quite forgiving, but at times like this, it was going to take a long time.

When they left the dorm it was a quarter until the debate so they had a good time to get there.

James would normally feel nervous walking around on campus. There was a lot of people that could threaten to kill you if you did as little as bump into them while walking.

Luckily for James Thomas was the human embodiment of a tree. He was around six feet tall and looked like a giant next to James It was only the first day he was here and people already looked frightened.

"We have to talk to the headmaster before the debate so you can get information about your classes," James pointed out as they were walking towards the school.

"Aw, are you worried about me James?" Thomas teased back. This was exactly music for James' ears, so he punched him in the shoulder. He received an "Ouch," to signify that, that wasn't going to happen in the near future.

As they got closer to the school ground Thomas noticed the lunch tables outside of the school building.

"What the heck?" he asked. "Why are there tables outside. This isn't a high school,"

"No, but on hot days like this almost nobody wants to sit inside in the heat," James informs him. Thomas still seemed weirded out about it. "In France we-"

"I honestly don't care, Jefferson," Thomas shut his mouth after that.

The debate was going to take place in a classroom next to the headmaster's office on the second floor, but when they arrived outside the office, to get Thomas a map over his classes, it seemed occupied. There was some form of shouting coming from behind the door.

"Wow, who killed someone?" Thomas joked. James didn't find it anything near funny and gave him a death glare. James' aggression had seemed to work every time he tried it because also this time Thomas backed off.

"I think Hamilton and Mr Washington are having some kind of fight again," He pointed out after noticing the familiarity in their voices. "Is that bad?"

"Yes, we are going to have to wait for after the debate to get it,"
"Guess we are going to have to hang out then,"
"Will you stop being so cocky for once,"
"Sorry, but that's never going to happen,"

James sighed. "I don't know a lot of people here so if I don't know anything about them...suck it up and talk to them,"

"James, I'm not the one with the talking problem,"
"Whatever,"

They walked over to a window so they could look out on the people sitting at the tables. "Okay," James started. "The once I know are them," he said and pointed at a table that was a little to the left.

"Okay, the girl in the red jacket is Schuy- I mean Angelica Schuyler. She is one of the best students in the school and the most popular,"

"Sounds like a lot of stress,"
"I know. I think everyone in this school is high on caffeine,"

They made eye contact and laughed. It didn't last long and got awkward really quick.

"The girl in the blue top-thing and the girl in the yellow snapback is her sisters. They are the richest kids here,"

"Wow, you were their friend?"

"More like an acquaintance. Their father is loaded. He owns a company, I think"

"Are they single?" Thomas asked smirking. James hit him in the back of his head with a flat hand. "Ouch! Why did you do that?"

"Stop being so high on yourself for one second if you want me to continue,"
"Jeez, fine,"

"Elizabeth Schuyler, the girl in the blue top-thing, is taken by the idiot Hamilton, but the two others are single,"

"That Hamilton dude did good,"
"Well, he messed up too,"
"How?"
"He cheated on her with a girl from our rival school,"
"We have a rival?"

Thomas really fell into a mess, James thought.
"Yes. U.K college,"
"Is it British or something?"
"No, but they have many British students,"

There was a little pause before James continued. "Anyway. Just give up on dating any of those girls,"
"Why?"
"The oldest one, Angelica, may be straight as a ruler, but no man is good enough for her,"
"Okay, but what about the snapback girl though?"
"She wants to give every boy a chance with her and has like a million people that she goes on date with,"
"Okay,"

"And now with the guys. The tall one with his hair tied up is Marquis de Lafayette,"
"He sounds French,"
"He is French,"

They made eye contact again and James looked so done with him.

"The guy next to him with the beanie is Hercules Mulligan and the guy with all the freckles is John Laurens,"
"Wow, I'm beginning to think that it's better to go after the guys instead,"

[Lafayette and Hercules don't look like Thomas and James in this fanfic]

James looked at Thomas again, but they didn't make eye contact. James felt stupid knowing that it took him so long to realize that Thomas had, of course, changed since they were best friends.

"Well, I don't know about Mulligan, but Lafayette is pan and Laurens is gay so try if you want,"

"Maybe I should try on a guy closer to me, " Thomas said and laid an arm around James.

Now James was pissed.  He had tried to be polite towards Thomas, but now he had crossed the line.

James stepped as hard as he could on Thomas' foot and pushed himself aside. Thomas screamed and bent over in pain. "James! What the-"

"I've tried to be nice and polite to you and all you do is act like a jerk back. You've ignored me for three years and suddenly come back into my life and expect me to forget everything. Why did you ask for my forgiveness if you're just going to mean to me anyway?!"

Everyone around them had gone silent. James looked like he was about kill Thomas right there and then. Thomas, on the other hand, looked like he just destroyed everything good in his life. The people standing around them weren't sure if it just looked like it though.

James had been so loud that headmaster Washington had heard him screaming over Hamiltons complaining. "What is going on here?" he shouted.

James and Mr Washington made eye contact and both calmed down instantly. "Oh, right, Mr Madison? Mr Hamilton is ready now. Are you?"

James nodded and Mr Washington went back into his office. James then turned around and looked at Thomas, who was still sitting on the ground.

"I still need your help, so if you still want, " he said to him and held out his hand. Thomas took it and everyone else continued as nothing had happened.

They headed off to the 'debate' classroom together.