A/N: Hi, everyone. Thank you for continuing reading this. If I happen to bother your notifications, I'm sorry. I noticed some grammar mistakes and I edit them. Anyways, here's the chapter. 

Alex POV-

I woke up at my alarm, still sleepy. I changed my clothes to a blue button-up and sweatpants. I headed to the kitchen to make some coffee for me when I noticed a note sticking to the coffee machine. 

'Alex, I made some French toast on the table. If you happen to look for me, I'm at early morning class. -Laf xxx' 

I had some black coffee and a few bites of the French toast Laf made for me before rushing to Literature class. I sat beside this small guy who goes by the name James Madison. We talked for while before the teacher came in. 

-time skip-

After a few other classes, I headed back to the dorm. Once I arrived, I saw Laf slumped on the couch texting at some group chat. He heard the door shut and quickly shut his phone.

"Hi, Laf. What ya doing?"

"Nothing much. But, I'm going to the Library to meet up with, uhh, Adams, for a science project. Bye!," Laf walked to the door, grabbing his jacket and disappeared out of sight.

Laf POV-

Operation Lams was holding a meeting at the Library. I heard the door close and quickly shut my phone. Alexander was back.

"Hi, Laf. What ya doing," Alexander asked.

"Nothing much," I replied. Now, I needed and excuse so I can go to the meeting. "But, I'm going to the Library to meet up with, uhh," I thought of a random person in class. "Adams, for a project. Bye!" 

I ran to get my jacket then out the door I go. Way too smooth, Laf. I hurried to the Library which was by the Marine Biology Building. I bolted in and saw everyone part of Operation Lams in there.         

"Laf, you made it!" Peggy greeted me.

"Duh. My plan," I answered. "Anyways, let's start. Any news? Advices?"

"Well. I asked John what he wants, because it was supper. He said 'mac n cheese' but I replied 'I was hoping you'd say Alex'. He BLUSHED!" Hercules squealed. We laughed. 

"Nice one," Angie chuckled.

"He definitely is in love with Alexander," Eliza stated.

"Yeah..." I trailed off. My eyes focused on the Library door. John passed by and happen to notice us. "Act casual, John's here!"

Each of us clammed up. John opened the doors and greeted us. We tried to keep the conversation going, because if we were silent then he would think we were hiding something from him. Which we are...But every time we had one it kept making John's curiosity rise.

"Hey, guys! What ya'll doing here? And where's Alex?" John asked with his Southern accent showing.

"Nothing. We're just, uh, talking about uh..." Peggy wasn't really good at hiding things.

"Women's rights, equality," Angie smiled awkwardly. Herc nudge her with his elbow. John knows that we wouldn't meet up just to talk about that topic.

"But-"

"No, Angie was just reading about it and muttering stuff which we took no notice of," Eliza looked at Angelica, who had a hurt expression. She looked at her with a 'sorry' glare. "We were actually talking about Herc's Fashion course! He said they'd make, UHHH, a fashion line for the performing arts. Liz looked at John with hope that he would buy it.

"Okay..."John nodded unsure. "I'll just go find Alex..."

And with that John bolted out of the library. I sighed, "Really, guys?!?!"

John POV-

I left the library heading to the the dorm building. I climbed four flights of stairs until I reached Room 1757, Alex and Laf's dorm. I raised my hand and knocked. Within a number of seconds, the door swished open revealing a tired-looking Alex.

"Whoa, are you alright. Sorry if I'm bothering..." I apologized. 

"It's okay, John. I was just cleaning up my room. I think it looks more homey now. So, why are you here?" He asked. He stepped to the side so I can enter. He shut the door and we sat down at the living room. "Spill. The. Tea"

"I think Lafayette and the gang are up to something" I said. Alex gasped dramatically. "I'm serious!"

"John, you're joking. Laf said that he has a science project with Adams at the librar-"

I had to cut him off-"But Laf is in my science class and there was no project! Adams isn't even in our class!He was at the library with the gang talking about something but they made an excuse, so I wouldn't know,"I said, running out of breath.

"WHAT?!? I swear, I'm gonna beat the shit out of Laf to make him tell-"

"We couldn't!" I reasoned,"They actually  thought that I bought it..."

"So, what? We try to figure it out without getting caught?"

"Yep," I simply said.

"So...how?"

"We'll know it when we see it"

-----------------------------------------

It has been a week since I figured that the gang was up to something. Alex and I were often left alone by our friends. Neither of them would tells us. At least the truth. 

"We were talking about women's rights and equality," Angelica said. I know it's an interesting topic, but none of them would actually care talk about it because Herc says 'it's boring'. So they wouldn't talk about that.

Now Eliza's excuse was different, she said that Herc would be making a 'fashion' line. Yes I almost bought it. However, Hercules said he wasn't busy at sewing clothes.

Hercules, Laf, and Peggy created another excuse which they told me. They had a part-time job. They happen to apply at the same night job, which happen to be at a nearby off-campus restaurant. That couldn't be possibly true. Peggy was already a student volunteer. According to Alex, Lafayette NEVER goes out off-campus past 7:00. Hercules, on the othe hand, does not want to work on a restaurant. He majored in Fashion!

Alex and I were sitting at the park by the Law Building. I explained to Alex what's wrong with excuses. Alex agreed, "That's true...but what are they planning?"

"That's the question. Another thing is that whenever we are near them, they always use their phones, typing"

"So that means they're typing something to each other, so we won't be able to eavesdrop"

"Unless...we happen to look at one of their phones!" I shouted, attracting a few of the students.

"John! Genius!" Alex yelled. His eyes widened as he thought of the plan.

"What did I say?" I smiled. I may be dumb sometimes, that I don't recall much of what I said.

Sometimes, I think we're just playing a game. Alex and I solving mysteries, like Sherlock Holmes. This just makes our friendship stronger. I hope a little more than friendship. Speaking of which, I should ask Herc for some advice...

"JOHN! ARE YOU HEARING ME!!!" Alex said waving his arms frantically.

"Wh-Wha? Oh, sorry, I zoned out..." I blushed in embarrassment.

"Okay. I said that we could add a screen mirroring app to one of their phones so we can view it at their TV"

"Actually, that's pretty good," I grinned. "But, how can we hack into the phone so we can install the app?"

"Someone has to distract 'em..." Alex said looking at me.

"ME?!! Oh nonononono. I'm terrible," I screeched as I started pacing. 

"Come on, you can't be that bad," Alex said pulling me back down to the bench we were sitting on.

"You're right," I said. He smiled, thinking he has done it. Nope, he's wrong. "I'm worse," I groaned as his smiled turned upside down.

"UGH, CAN YOU AT LEAST TR-"

Alex was cut off by Herc who had just joined the scenery. "Hi guys, oh, what are you two doing here?" He asked wiggling his eyebrows. I rolled my eyes in return. 

"What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in your 'part-time job'?" Alex said as he air-quoted.

"Oh, uh, I was looking for you guys. We were going to go to the mall nearby because Eliza wanted to go shopping for some fabric. Y'know? Halloween? And, you need to choose your-"

"Isn't it a bit too early? I mean, there's still a month and  few weeks 'till Halloween..." I reasoned.

Alex suddenly pulled me closer to him, whispering to my ear, "John? Can't you see? This is a great chance to at least hang-out with our friends! Also, we can try look for some clues..." I nodded. We stepped away from each other then looked at Herc. "Yes, we'll go"

-time skip to mall-

We stepped out of Herc's van and stepped inside the small mall. We walked around until we spotted Peggy waving at us at the tailor's shop. "LAURENS! HAMILTON! HERE!"

We ran to the shop as the scent of fabric hit us. "Hi," we said in unison. "Now let's get shopping" I pulled a screaming Alex to a rack of cloths and started feeling the texture.

"JOHN! I COULD WALK!" Alex said, crossing his arms like a two-year old. 

"Awe..." I ruffled his hair. He shot me a don't-you-dare-do-that-again look. "What? You're cute when you're angry!" I said before I could cover my mouth. You always are... Alex looked a bit surprised but didn't really mind it. Thank god.

-time skip to paying-

After an hour or so, we payed for the cloth we chose. It was actually very nice quality- okay, I hope I didn't sound like Herc at that moment. We walked down the store carrying numerous bags of fabric. 

"Can we get food, I'm tired," Peggy whined.

"Fine, we can get some drinks at the cafe over there  and then we could go back, okay?" Eliza stated. All of us were pretty tired so it would be nice to get an energy boost. As usual, Peggy got twice the number of drinks of the total of each of us. She had twelve caramel lattes. Which led her a  bit hyper. She offered to pay the bill. We told her our orders then she skipped over to the counter.

After a few minutes, she returned back with drinks with a waitress helping her. And I noticed both of them blushing. I placed both my elbows on the table and my hands at my cheeks. "What you blushin' at, sweetheart?" I teased.

"n-nothing," she stammered. I hummed as a reply. 

-time skip (I think I wrote too much)-

At the ride home, I turned to Peggy. "Sooo... who's your new girlfriend back there, Pegs?"

She blushed and yelled, "She's not my girlfrien-!"

"Soon"

"She's Maria Lewis. She goes to the same college at us, but we rarely see her"

"Oh, I know her! She's in my drama club!" Liza shouted.

"She has a few classes with me, I think I've been on a paired essay with her," Angie said.

"Yeah...I've seen her around the halls a couple of times," Alex confirmed. We all nodded. Soon, Herc parked at the parking lot and we all departed. We headed off our separate ways and waved goodbye. 

A/N: Hi everyone! I'm trying to make chapters every two days. Please comment if there are any spelling, or grammar mistakes. And thank you for the seven or eight readers who bothered to come peek around and read my first book. I edit once in a while so it wouldn't be too...cringey...Yes, till next time!