Set in modern times. The Hamilgang is in highschool at this point.

Contains information about the Holocaust and WWII.

I jerked my head up from the table as the teacher started rattling off the History project partners. I hoped I got Theo, she was my best friend. Or one of my sisters. I'll even take one of the boys. There were only two people I hoped like heck that I wouldn't end up with. Maria Reynolds and Alexander Hamilton.

One, Maria. She was nice to my face, but she was a gossip girl. She never stopped talking and spreading rumors. She treated her so called 'friends' like pieces of garbage in the street. All she cared about were her popularity and boys.

Alex was annoying, obnoxious, loudmouthed, flirtatious, and stupidly cute.

I held my breath. What were the chances anyway of me ending up with two people out of the twelve-person class?

Theodosia and Aaron
Laff and Herc
Thomas and Angelica
John and Peggy
Maria and Andre

Oh shoot, I thought. There were only two people left.

Eliza and Alex

Dang it. A few worse words came to mind, but I shut them down. I've never cursed my whole life.

The project was due on Friday. It was Tuesday.

Each pair was doing a section about World War II, as that was what we were studying.

Alex picked the topic. It was the Holocaust.

Great. I really didn't want to learn about that, it made me too sad hearing about the innocents who died for no reason other then religion or ethnicity.

Even better was, we had no time in class to work on it, so we would have to meet up outside of school.

I sighed and walked over to my sisters at dismissal. I also had to set up a time with Alex to work on the thing.

My sisters were both pretty happy about their partners.

"Ooh, hey Liza!" Peggy called.

"Hi," I said dejectedly.

"What's wrong?" Angelica asked.

I shrugged. "Nothing."

"You got paired with Alex?" Peggy guessed.

I nodded.

"C'mon Liza, why?" Angelica whined. "You can get to know him better! I mean, he's pretty hot."

I rolled my eyes. "But I don't want to Angie. I hate Alex!"

Angelica wasn't listening. I sighed and found Alex at his locker.

"Hey," he said, looking up for a brief second while stuffing books into his backpack.

"When's a good time to work on the project?" I asked, just wanting to get this over with.

"I think I'm free like around 4:30 today," he said.

"Okay," I responded. "My house that time?"

"Sure. See ya," he said.

Don't ask how he knows where I live.

I rejoined my sisters as we walked home in the chilly air. I shivered and pulled my jacket tighter around me.

"What are your projects gonna be about?" I asked them.

Peggy shrugged. "John picked the Blitzkrieg of Poland. I don't know what Blitzkrieg means but I'll learn from him."

"It means Lightning War in German," I said.

"Ohh," Peggy muttered.

"Well, Thomas let me pick ours. He's so sweet!" Angelica squealed.

"What is it?" I asked.

"It's the Hitler Youth program. It looks pretty interesting," Angelica said.

"Cool," I muttered, my breath steaming in the air.

"What's yours, Liza?" Peggy asked.

I scowled. "He chose the Holocaust. The last one I wanted to do."

"That's sad," Angelica said.

I sighed and didn't say anything.

I flopped down on my bed. It was 3:45

My phone buzzed.

Unknown: Is this Eliza?
Me:Yes and who are you?
Unknown: This is Alex
Me: How in the world did you get my number?
Alex: From John.
Me: John doesn't have it.
Alex: Well he asked Peggy for it.

"PEGGY!" I shouted.

"What?" she yelled back.

"Why'd you give John my number?" I shouted.

"He asked for it! Duh!"

"Okay, whatever!"

I texted Alex back.

Me: GTG See you later.

I shut off my phone and flopped down onto my back.

Wait... since I'm so bored, why not just read about the Holocaust? I went onto Wikipedia and read for like forty five minutes.

I heard a knock on the door. I jumped out of my bed and hurriedly fixed my hair.

"Yo Liza!" Angelica yelled. "Your crush is here!"

I rolled my eyes at her. "What makes you think I like him?"

She shrugged. "Why'd you end up working with him, then?"

I shrugged back. "Bad luck."

"Ahem," Alex said.

I blushed a little. "Sorry. I got everything in my room I'll bring them down," I turned to leave but he grabbed my arm.

"You don't have to. We can work upstairs."

"Okay," I said.

We went upstairs. I winced a bit at showing him my messy room, I didn't think we would be working up here.

We were making a poster, so I had poster-board, a bunch of sharpies, and more supplies littering the floor of my room.

I opened my laptop and handed it to Alex.

"You do know what we're putting on here, right?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said.

"Okay, so what?"

"I was thinking we would start with the Nuremberg Laws and move on to the ghettos and concentration camps the end with the liberation and trials of the German leaders," he said.

"Huh," I muttered. "You really have this thought out."

He smirked. "Of course I do."

"Well, start with pencil first on the paper," I said.

He did, working on the floor, while I sat on my bed and pulled up photos that I was going to print.

"Be right back," I said, running downstairs to grab the printed photos from the printer.

"Liza," Peggy said as I ran past. "How's it going?"

I shrugged. "Fine. I guess."

"Okay," she said.

I grabbed the paper and went back upstairs. I started cutting them out. I threw the scraps away and knelt down next to Alex. He had drawn the six-pointed Star of David on the poster and divided the paper up into four parts.

"This one's for the Nuremberg Laws," he said, tapping his pencil on the first one.

"Second one's for the Warsaw Ghetto. Third is for the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. Fourth is the Liberation and the Nuremberg trials."

I shuddered a little.

"You okay?" he asked.

I nodded and tapped my pencil on the Liberation.

"This one's mine," I said.

The Liberation was the only one I felt like doing. It was the most joyous event of the Holocaust, the end of it. But it also meant I would have to calculate the death toll. But I got to work. I pasted pictures of the Allied tanks rolling through the streets of Poland and finding the skeleton-like survivors. The total death number was unclear, but about ten million people. I swallowed the lump in my throat and finished the section.

Alex had done the Nuremberg Laws. It looked pretty good, if I do say so myself. He'd made a list of many laws of that time, and pictures of the Nazi rallies.

He finished and glanced over at my side.

"Looks good, Liza," he said.

I glared at him. "Don't call me Liza."

"Why?"

I shrugged and decided to do the Warsaw Ghetto while Alex did the trials of Nuremberg.

I regretted choosing the ghetto. I didn't want to do the Trials because of all the crimes the defendants were guilty of.

But the few photographs I could find and print out were some of the saddest I've ever seen. People with dejected looks on their faces, wearing stars on their clothes. Children starving in the streets. Nazi officers torturing Jewish citizens. Bodies laying on carts to be towed off and buried.

I constantly blinked back tears. How could anything like this ever happen? I finished and stared at my work. I wiped a small tear away and glanced at Alexander. He didn't notice me though.

I sucked in my breath and looked at the one unfinished section. Auschwitz.

I sat there doing nothing for a while. I really, really didn't want to do Auschwitz. It was one of the most notorious death camps in the history of the Holocaust. I fingered a photo in my hand, the infamous Arbeit Mach Frei inscription above the gate.

Alex tapped my shoulder.

"You okay?" he asked again.

I nodded again. "I'm fine," I insisted.

"No you're not," he said.

"I'm just tired," I sighed.

"Well, I'll finish it while you take a break," he suggested.

I shook my head. "No, I'm fine, we're almost done anyway."

"Okay," he said, but I could tell he was still suspicious.

I put the Arbeit Mach Frei on the top of the section, because it was the first thing the inmates saw when they entered after the railroads. Photographs of the gas chambers, hospital, experiment lab, bunks, and the crematory followed. Alex did all the writing.

I finished pasting everything on and quickly turned away. I didn't want to look at those horrors any more then I had to.

In the mirror I was facing I saw Alex sit up and set his pencil down.

"I guess we're done," he said.

"Thank goodness," I muttered.

"Hey! I thought it was fun."

"Learning about possibly the worst genocide in history is fun?" I asked in disbelief.

"No! That's not what I meant," he said hurriedly.

I crossed my arms and glared at him. "What did you mean then?"

"Um, just the quiet time," he said.

I smirked. "You don't get any time on your own?"

"Yeah, I do, but..." he trailed off.

"But what?" I asked.

"Nothing," he said.

"Okay, well, when do you think you'll be leaving?" I asked. I was trying hard not to make it sound like I wanted him gone in a heartbeat, which I did.

He shrugged. "Probably soon."

"I'm going downstairs," I said, standing up.

He grabbed my hand. I jerked it away.

"What the heck Alexander?" My voice was a mixture of a whisper and a scream.

He stood up himself. I stared him down. Every muscle in my body was tensed.

"Sorry," he said.

"For what?"

"This," he responded.

I was about to say something, but he pressed his lips to mine and kissed me.

What do I do? I thought to myself. My heart raced and my face turned red. Somehow my hand found his and intertwined our fingers. Somehow I kissed him back and melted into him. I think I was insane. Didn't I hate him?

No, instead I was Helpless.

He pulled back after a few seconds.

"Sorry," he breathed.

I squeezed his hand, and he looked like he hadn't even realized I was holding it. If it was possible, my face turned even more red.

"No, you're fine," I said. "Now I'm sorry."

I pulled him in for another kiss, which he accepted. I let go of his hand and he immediately wrapped his arms around me, pressing me even tighter against his body.

I Am Helpless.

There will be a Part 2 coming! The title may be a spoiler...