John's POV

"Alex, hey wait up!" I say, running after the short person walking through the hallways. He looks at me and speeds up a bit, trying to get away from me. 

I sigh and run faster, bumping into a couple people in the hallway. I stop right in front of him, causing him to stop and stare at me.

"No, John. Get out of my way." He steps to the side and starts walking, but I step in front of him again. "Alex, you never let me explain myself-"

"There's nothing to explain, John. I have ears, and I heard what you said." He says stubbornly.

I roll my eyes. "Alex, please, it's not what it sounded like..And, I need your help.." 

He shook his head. "I have no interest in helping you, I thought I made that pretty clear. Find someone else to do your homework."

I shake my head. "I can't, you're the only one I want helping me." 

He raises an eyebrow. "You know there are other smart people in this school-"

"Not with my homework, dammit." I sigh and stare down at my shaky hands. "Alex, I wanted to know if you would go on a date with me. Like, over winter break or something. I just..I want a chance to explain myself to you." 

He stares at me with a plain expression and then shakes his head, laughing softly. I don't know what reaction I was expecting, but I wasn't expecting him to laugh at me...That hurt.

"Are you kidding me? It's been more than a month since I called you out on this joke, drop it. You had your laughs at me at the Halloween party, it shouldn't be continuing on this long." He glares at me. 

"Alex, none of that is true, it wasn't-"

"What's going on here?" 

I look over and see Alex's friends had walked up to the conversation. I sigh and mumble, "Nothing that concerns you two." 

They cross their arms and glare at me. "Actually, it has become our business. He doesn't want to talk to you, goodbye, John." Hercules says bitterly. 

I frown and shake my head. "Whatever, I don't want trouble. I just wanted to apologize for whatever you think I did.." I sigh and look over at Hercules. "To either of you." 

I wave at them and walk away, walking back to my group. I'll bet Hercules is the main reason Alex hates me so much, considering how much he dislikes me. I don't blame him, though. I was pretty mean to him before high school. 

I sigh and finally meet up with the Schuylers and Peggy looks at me before pulling out her phone. She texts me a quick message saying, "Did it work?" 

I shake my head sadly and she frowns. 

"John, is everything alright?" Eliza asks, walking up to me. 

I smile at her and nod. "Yeah, I'm okay, I promise." I say. She gives me a look that shows she doesn't believe me, but then sighs and looks away when I don't give her a response.

"Whatever you say, John. We're here for you, though." She says. 

Angelica nods. "Yeah, I'm not sure what's been going on lately, but you know you can talk with us, right?"

I nod. "I know, I know. And I always do talk with you guys. Nothing is wrong, I swear." 

The two of them nod as the bell rings and they sigh. "I have to get to class. If I skip again, I won't be allowed to go to the final speech and debate competition next weekend. See you guys later." Angelica waves and walks to her next class period. 

Eliza smiles. "And you guys know I don't skip class in general, so I'll see you two later as well." 

Eliza walks away and Peggy looks up at me. "Yeah, well I have no reason to stay. Donuts?" 

I chuckle and nod. "Donuts sound nice right about now." I say.

Timeskip brought to you by the Little Lies having big consequences (I feel like this is relating very well to the story right now)

"So you tried asking him out?" Peggy asks as she bites into her bear claw. 

I nod. "Yeah, I did. I asked if he would want to go out on a date over winter break." 

"And what did he say?" She asks. 

"He laughed at me." 

She winces and I sigh. "This is hopeless, Peggy. I hurt him, but this time I didn't even mean to. He thinks this whole thing is just a joke I'm playing, but I would never do that.."

Peggy nods. "I know that...Maybe it's not hopeless, though."

"Even if I did get him to somehow forgive me, his friends would hold a grudge on me forever." 

The girl in yellow gasps suddenly and sets down her donut, grabbing mine and setting it next to hers before I could eat it. "Hey-!"

"That's how we get to him. Through his friends." She exclaims. 

I raise an eyebrow at her. "Hello? Did you not hear me? His friends hate me."

"Because they don't know your side of the story." She points out and I sigh. "Now let's see..Should we talk to both of them? Or just one of them?" 

"Definitely not Hercules." I state. "He would never believe me, or tell Alex what really happened." 

"Why not Hercules?" She asks, tilting her head. 

I look around and then back at Peggy, frowning gently. "It was a while ago, before we even entered high school. I was a jackass to him, letting him join my group at the time, only to make fun of him.." I mumble. It was not one of my proudest moments, that's for sure, but it was also junior high. Everyone created unnecessary drama back then.

Peggy frowns. "Are you kidding me? It happened before high school? You two are seniors, about to go off to college, and he still holds a grudge?"

I sigh and shrug. "I mean..Yeah.. I feel like he was over it and stuff, but then this whole thing with Alex happened, and..Yeah.."

"Okay, so no Hercules. That's fine, I have French class with his other friend, so I'll ask him to talk with you and I after school tomorrow, okay?" 

I nod. "I hope this works.." I say, staring down at my donut.

She places a hand on my shoulder. "Hey, it'll all be alright." She says. 

"How do you know?" I ask and she smiles brightly. 

"The fanfiction I'm writing says so." 

"Oh my God..Peggy, please tell me you did not write a fanfiction for us two." 

"I may or may not have..And my readers may or may not really want you two getting together.." She smiles guiltily at me as she takes a bite of her donut. 

"You posted it, too?" I ask and she nods sheepishly. "Peggy-"

"Shut up, my account was dry, and this story is gaining some popularity. I'm just writing everything that is happening, but making it juicier. You gotta give me some plot, though. Readers are tired of filler chapters right now."

I stare in shock at the girl in front of me. There was no way she was actually writing my life into some fanfiction that anyone can read. "Please tell me you're not using our actual names."

"Of course not. Goodness, I couldn't have people thinking I didn't just come up with this." She says matter-of-factly. 

I roll my eyes. "Whatever. I don't like this one bit, in case you were wondering."

"John, if I cared about that, I would have asked your opinion before I started writing it." She sighs. "Don't worry, one day you'll thank me. At your guys' wedding, when people ask about your story, you can show them the wonderful book I already wrote for you two."

I chuckle. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Pegs. He still won't even talk to me right now." 

"Right. We just have to get him to talk to you. Tomorrow, after school, we talk to Lafayette."

I nod. "Sounds like a plan." 

1363 Words