This is a big chapter for all of you!
If you guys get a bit confused, when Alex picked Susan up from daycare in c1, it was around the end of July- giving a month span of John working his ass off in the childcare, as i specified. Now, it's early September when they started school. It's Autumn now. And its raining, because "why the fuck not?" The weather gods say.
Also, hamliza, bitches.  I promise the hamliza will be over soon.
Alex
"Dude, you're going to look adorable as shit in this!" Alex reassured John in an amused tone. The freckled teen wailed in a panic as Alex chased him around the dorm with an oversized sweater.
"No! No way! I am not wearing that!" John yelled with a face of fury as he pointed at the jumper as if it was a demon or evil spirit of some sort. Alex had to suppress a laugh that would lead him to fall to the floor with a stitch in his side. His eyes grew large as he suddenly accumulated an ideal plan that will help him succeed, he smirked at John hungrily and launched at him without warning.
John shrieked in surprise as Alex flopped him onto the floor with mischievous eyes, pinning John's wrists down with his hands. "A-Alex!" John's eyes flushed with embarrassment and his freckles crackled with a hint of pink. God, he's so cute. It took him all his courage not to kiss him right there and then. (Yes, rise my lams children. R i s e .)
John squirmed under Alex's firm grip, thrashing under him. "I'm counting to three, and you have to accept my challenge, or else."
"Alex, you're still sick! You...you can make me sick, t-too!"
"One, you took care of me the whole time, so I'm sure if you didn't get the flu then, then you won't get it now. You told me yourself!" Alex felt his face heat up and crawl down his spine, pushing hair out of his eyes as he recalled how he woke up a few days ago after John lulled him to sleep-
This is a flashback, so you can skip over it. Although it does have a bit of fluff in there, i dare say.
Alex stirred lightly as he struggled to toss over onto his side; either his weak, frail form was holding him down, or a firm grip was clutching tightly onto him.
Alex cracked open and eye with a blurry vision striking him- making him groan and squirmed in annoyance, trying to loosen the death grip he was captured in. Feeling a soothing hand run through his hair gingerly, he felt a shiver trail up his spine. Scanning around the room with his eyes darting back and forth, he felt and saw a hand deeply submerged on his waist tenderly- realising the hand was freckled and warm, he felt his face flush with a mellowed whimper. He was curled onto John, his hands wrapped around the freckled teen's waist tightly, buried in his chest. In response, John had his hand rummaging through Alex's messy hair, his other hand strapped securely onto Alex's waist and, as such, in a comforting, warm manner.
Realising that John's hand was still motioning through Alex's hair meekly, Alex shuddered as a sense of comfort washed over him. John was awake, and if Alex stirred or gave a motion that gave a sense that he was also awake, he would stop. He didn't want him to stop, he felt so comforting and soft when his hands ran through his hair tenderly.
Completely ignoring the fact that he had actually had the flu in the first place, he abruptly but cautiously snuggled closer into John's chest and neck in a way of deep sleep, burying himself in the crook of John's neck and sniffing in the scent of John's t-shirt, hoping that it would unblock his nose.
"And two!" Alex mentally slapped himself back into reality, still pinning down John. "I'm not sick anymore! So i'm not giving you anything- except for this jumper."
"Oh no!" John converted up a small cough. "I'm sick! Looks like you gave me the flu, Alex!"
"Oh my god!" Alex's shaking body couldn't take it anymore. He collapsed onto the floor in a pit of chortles next to John, causing him him to join in with Alexander, throwing his head back in a spasm of giggles, exposing him to vulnerability.
This gave Alex a chance to swoop in and attack John. He sprung his shoulders back and pushed himself up, clinging his arms to John's waist hastily, giving him a taser to the hips.
"Ack-! Alex, haha! T-that tickles!" John squealed between laughs, thrashing his legs. Alex grinned and struggled to keep him down, then climbed back on top of his legs and returned his hands so he couldn't escape.
"Not until you put on the sweater, you dipstick!" Every time i read over this i see 'Dickstick'.
"Noooo! I can't breathe! Please, I beg you! I'll do anything!" John squawked, gasping for air.
"Anything?" Alex dug his hands into John's sides roughly, but light enough not to damage the fragile creature.
"Ah-haha! A-anything!" John through his words out. Alex smirked.
"Then, try on, the JUMPER!"
"Fine!" John groaned as loud as he could until his vocal chords cracked. Alex beamed with satisfaction and slid off John with a thud, handing him the jumper with a strict manner. John hesitatingly held the 'fashion disaster' out in front of him, taking in its glory. He stuck his tongue out. "Bleh, I would look horrible in this."
Alex shrugged with a cheeky wink and pulled John up to stand. "Nah, I doubt it, bro. Now come on!" Alex urged, plopping himself on the couch. John sighed dramatically, turning away from him slightly. Alex folded his hands over his eyes with an eager smile, as if he was on the edge of his seat with anticipation.
John gave him a quizzical look. "Why are you closing your eyes?"
"For a big reveal, of course." Alex smiled mischievously. His ears picked up a small scoff front the corner of the room where John stood.
After two days from encountering the flu, Alex was up and running again. Although he would only admit it to himself, he could remember experiencing a quite out of the blue panic attack. Only when storms or strong occurred would a panic attack cling onto him, as if it was his child. The mild panic attack was out of the ordinary- he had never gotten a panic attack when sick; mainly because alex hadn't gotten sick since he was 12...
Alex shook his head vigorously as if to jiggle the thoughts out of his head. Stupid weather! This wouldn't of happened if it was sunny, like it was fucking meant to be in summer! Why the fuck was it snowing, and raining, and hailing?!
His thought process stopped in its tracks as John's angelic-like voice spoke. "Y-you can open."
Alex stared in awe as he took in John's 'transformation'. The jumper was a delicate parakeet green, fitting in with his marvelling shamrock coloured eyes: the waistline went completely past his hips and fell down to his thighs. The sleeves towered beyond his hands, making John roll them up frantically as they rolled themselves back down again as fast as lightning. What added to the picture more, John's hair tie had fallen out during the process of putting the sweater on, releasing his elegant curls from his ponytail, loose strands falling onto his face silently. Although all he did was put on a sweater, he made it look so goddamn hot. It was intriguing how one small change in John's appearance could change Alex's emotions with a flexible twist and turn him on. Most of all, that was Alex's sweater, which made him even more turned on.
Alex threw a pillow under his eyes to hide the distinctive blush that had risen from his cheeks and crawled down his neck shallowly. "Th-that looks... adorable as hell."
John's eyes lit up, wandering over to Alex with a bounce of his dark curls. "Really? Awesome!" John beamed and gave Alex a grateful smile.
He loved how John got all excited and thrilled over the most smallest things, as if he was grateful for almost everything that was given to him. He was in English class with John once, and he watched as the freckled teen asked the teacher for a spare red pen with such a polite manner. Once the teacher had given it to him, he smiled as wide as the Cheshire Cat, and thanked her with such gratitude in his eyes.
He saw the world with such a positive outlook, it was so frustrating seeing how he was unfairly blinded by the world that would toss other people around without him knowing.
Tossing all the pain and misery back and forwards without letting John get a sense of its cruelty. Alex looked up to this positive outlook John wore, one day wanting to share a home with the positive energy that was bestowed among the magical teen-
No.
Every time he fantasised about John, he would completely forget.
He had Eliza.
*There was nothing he could do about it. Eliza expressed nothing less than a worshipful attitude towards her boyfriend, and as such, he was forever bound to the chains of restraining him from John, as if the boy was a forbidden chocolate that Alex was restricted from devouring. He did not want to break Eliza's heart. But leading her on even further will cause more anti-matrimony.
Alex gave a weak smile to return John's, and watched as the teen took a seat next to him, fiddling with the sleeves lightly. "Um... do you mind if I wear this? I really l-like it, and its really cosy."
"Sure, you dork." Alex ruffled his hair with a pained smile on the inside of his crawling skin.
"Yes! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Alexander's point was proved even further now. A grateful person, John was.
Alex's phone pinged with exhilaration- Wait, nope, that's my fucking heart that's pinging.
Ping. The phone vibrated again.
Oh. Alex picked up his phone and scanned the texts.

Alex parted his lips as he let John peek over his shoulder at the text. "Is it okay if the three of them come over here and hang out for a bit? Theo and Burr were busy doing couple shit, and Peggy and Maria are probably... making out or what not."
John stiffed a giggle. "Dude, they're not even together! Although it's obvious as hell that they're digging each other." He grinned mischievously.
Alex flew his hands up in defence and betrayal. "Woah, what happened to innocent John Laurens? Oh my god, I'm calling the police!" Alex held the phone up to his ear. "Hello? Yes, there's an impasta in my dorm!" John burst into insane laughter at his lame pun, making Alex grin with satisfaction. He loved making John smile. "What's that? Oh, I need to tickle him to get the impasta out?" Colour drained from John's face as a nervous smile appeared on his face, shifting in his seat to stand up. "Well, sure officer! I'd be mighty glad to do that!" Before John could prevent any more tickling involved, Alex tossed the phone aside and sprung into John's sides, much like he did moments before.
"W-what the- haha! Fluff, man? Please, let me go! I'm the real, innocent John!" John cried through fits of giggles. Alex reached off of John in a casual manner.
"Ah, of course. Only innocent John Laurens would say "what the fluff"." He mocked with a sarcastic tone.
John scoffed, then gave a warm, inviting smile. "Yeah, whatever. Of course they can come over."
"Great."

"Done." Alex stood up quietly. "I'm going to get some food ready, okay?"
"Sure." John nodded and gave a small smile, making Alex's stomach flutter. He strutted into the kitchen with a fast pace and pulled his area over his face in an attempt to hide the blush spreading across his cheeks. Pulling open the pantry as a distraction, he rummaged through the food packets busily, grabbing a packet of chips, a block of chocolate and a packet of strawberries. Because strawberries make everything sweet, right? Except John can make everything even sweeter-
As he heard the front door click open and voices gathered into the living room, Alex sauntered in and was greeted with Laf and the two Schuylers. Alex took note of Eliza's appearance- he had read online somewhere that girls enjoy when their boyfriends take notice and appreciate their style; not that looks mattered to Alex, anyway.
He decided that he would step up his game a bit to make it look like he was engulfed head to toe in Eliza's essence, that would fool them too deeply to think that he had his eyes on a particular freckled boy. Alex set the food down and raced over to Eliza. She was wearing a baby blue dress that fell above her knees, and the rim of the shoulders was flowing endlessly like a blouse. He wrapped him arms around her waist lovingly, burying his head in her shoulder. I've got this. "I've missed you!"
"Aw, I've missed you too, Al!" She blooped him on the nose lightly, making Alex blush on impulse.
"Ugh, vous deux tourtereaux me rendent malade. avoir une chambre avant de vomir." (I'm leaving it to you guys to translate this shit.) Laf turned his head the other way and shielded his eyes as Angie conjured up a witty remark.
"Oooh, Je sais pertinemment que tu veux avoir une chambre avec Herc, non?" She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.
"Va te faire foutre." Alex heard Laf grumble, leading him to laugh into Eliza's shoulder.
"Oh my god, Angie! You can speak French?"
Angie blushed with an embarrassed smile on her face and spoke. "I studied in France for two years, remember? I picked up the language after a while."
"Ah."
"Anyway, we up for... Disney movies?" Eliza suggested with a small edge in the tones of her voice.
"Liza, you big softie!" Alex ruffled her hair carefully, making her poke her tongue out at him.
The group awed and nodded a chorus of responses.
Okay, here's the halfway mark. 2375 words. Here comes another **2000 words for you all!
I cant believe I wrote a whole 1000 words about John putting on a fucking sweater.
* also, this paragraph is like literal heaven. I have never wrote something like this, like, ohmygod. There are also some references to the biography of AH. Also, did you know that Angelica could speak French??? Neither.
** Please note, that was before i wrote 5000 more words, so you're welcome. Here comes another 5000 words, bitches!
John
...
John was extremely uncomfortable.
His heart poured out silently as he sat next to Eliza, who was cuddling Alex under a blanket. Not only that, but the movie that was selected was 'Inside Out', one of the most evaluated and moving films of all times, demonstrating so many messages and morals across all parts of the film.
What made John uncomfortable was that Alex and Eliza had been doing adorable couple things all night; feeding each other food, giving each other pecks on the cheeks and nose, which made jealousy crawl up his skin and devour his heart.
Wait, no! Not jealousy! No!
John shook away thoughts and blinked away tears. Turning around to block out Alex and Eliza's soft giggles, he whispered to Angie. "Those two are really getting along, aren't they?"
John blinked as he realised that Angie's eyes were beaded heavily with tears, that lapped down her face silently.
"Angie? Geez, it's okay!" John wrapped his arm around Angie's shoulders comfortingly. Angie sniffled and leaned into him blankly.
"T-thanks."
John sighed in defeat and closed his eyes. Beforehand, he had warned alexaner not to fake any exception and love towards Eliza. Now he wanted to take it back dreadfully. Not because he wanted him to fake emotion to Eliza; it's because...
Because...
Because.....

"John?"
The freckled boy felt a gentle nudge on his shoulder. He stirred and groaned, not wanting to break his peaceful sleep.
"John, wake up."
John groggily cracked his eyes open and looked up towards the ceiling. Alex was sitting aside him, a hand on his shoulder. He snapped it away quickly once he made eye contact with him, which made John mentally raise an eyebrow. "Hey, Alex." He turned his head around in search for the others. "Where is everyone? W-what time is it?"
Alex sighed. "It's around 12: 30. The others left half an hour ago. Eliza left just a few minutes ago."
John's skin tingled but his words defied his true feelings.  "Ah. You and Eliza sure like eachother, huh? You are the cutest couple I've ever seen!"
Alex blushed with a nervous quiver and rubbed the back of his neck. "Haha, yeah. Hey, you should get some sleep," Alex suggested as John faked a yawn just to be left alone. Wait, do I want to be alone?
"Oh, y-yeah. Haha, thanks."
John stood up carefully, as he started to sway of drowsiness. Alex held his elbow and shoulder to give him more support. "Woah, carefull. Come on, Freckles."
John blinked and felt his cheeks heat up, lucky that the room was dimly lit. "F-freckles?"
Alex chuckled and looked at him as it was one of the most obvious thing in the world. "Duh, man. Because you have freckles!" Alex lead him to his bed and slowly turned to the door as John climbed in. "Night John."
"N-night-"
The door closed, and John felt a wave of sudden longing and loneliness. He whimpered and sat in silence for minutes, which felt like hours, shivering from the cold and dark room. The room was dolloped into darkness and circles swallowed the room in a shade of bloodlust night. John didnt blink, making his eyes water and caused tears to trickle down his flushed cheeks.
Tears that were caused from not blinking, or...
John had a sudden idea, which made him hesitate for a split of a half second, then flew off of his bed and flung the door open.
John creaked open Alex's door and heard a ruffle of sheets whisper towards him silently. His eyes darted towards a movement from Alex's bed. "John?"
"Alex," he whimpered unintentionally, and creeped over to Alex's bed.
"What's wrong? Are-" Alex sat up and moved his hand in a motion as if he was tracing John's cheek. "Are you crying?"
"I..." John took a shaky breath. Now he was dripping real tears, not from lack of moist in his eyes. "I had a bad dream when I was sleeping. I'm- I'm scared." He winced as he finished, rubbing his eyes- still not knowing the true reason of crying himself.
"Oh, John." Alex motioned for John to sit down and he immediately threw him into a hug, wrapping his arms around John's waist and rubbed his hand up and down his spine. John hitched a breath in surprise, feeling the heat crawl under his skin and patch his heart up. He returned the favour and put his arms around his neck. Alex broke apart after a few minutes of comforting words and straddling him slowly. "Do you want to sleep with me tonight? Just so you feel safe."
John's heart that had been patched back together burst with thrills. He nodded his head vigorously. "O-only if I'm not a burden."
"Nah, man! It's cool. Come on." Alex shuffled over and patted the space for John to lie down.
"T-thanks, Alex." John forced his senses to calm down as he felt rises and falls from his stomach. Tossing onto his side, he realised that he did not have enough room for such movement, and he had found himself laying his head across Alexander's chest. Oh dear god.
He was about to pull away when he felt a soft hand on his waist, pulling him closer to Alex, who may or may not have been in a sleeping trance. This made John go over the limit with exhilaration, and snuggled closer into Alex as Alex did a few days ago when he was sick. He felt his heart's melted figure churn and bubble with happiness.  His plan had worked, and he finally uncovered what he was so tousled about and why he was always experiencing these new emotions.
He must be in love with Alex.
As soon as he was about to fall back to his deep, peaceful sleep, a sudden thought kept him churning with guilt for hours.
He had Eliza.

Because every love story needs a beach chapter.
"John, hurry up! We need to be there in 4 minutes!" Alex's soft voice called from the living room and echoed through the house to John's room. John groaned inwards and flopped off of his bed.
He was dressed in his board shorts and a t shirt to keep him unexposed until they got to their destination. The beach.
Typically, he was a huge fan of the ocean, which was jam packed and overflowing with natural life; but, today, he just was not feeling it.
For the past few weeks or so, after the get together at their dorm, John had fallen into a state of depression. He fell in love with the most majestic and incredible human on earth- and in return the human did not love him back. Not in the slightest. He could tell by the way that Alex would watch Eliza talk, deep in an awed trance, clinging onto every word that fell out of Eliza's mouth. This gave John an overwhelming sense of guilt and misery. John was so new to the feeling that he had developed in the past month, he had never felt anything like it- that excludes Martha Mannings, who, everyone supposedly said he had a crush on, but in reality he didn't in the slightest.
Guilt because he had fallen for Alex.
Misery because Alex was not his.
Sure, they cuddled a lot, hung out a lot, and made food together, but at the end of all those days where he had created a fond memory with Alex, tears would flood from is eyes as he was reminded that Alex was n0t his.

Then john suddenly distanced himself. Not just from Alex, but from everyone. Even John was starting to notice it. He was not doing it intentionally, of course, it just occurred to John that he was... drifting away.
The hugs and laughter and enjoyable moments had ceased. All John could do now was sit and study, listen to music, and cry. He would cry while Alexander was at the other side of the door with his back leaning against it. John chose not to take notice of the fact that Alex would listen to him cry. He wouldn't take note of anything around him.
Alex would still leave notes on the signature kitchen counter spot where all their notes were taped. He had written countless of notes to John, confronting him in his writing about why he was distancing himself. He wrote so many that John started to take no notice of the notes and ignored them, leaving them there untouched to collect dust that flaked through the air sulkily.
On most days, John and Alex barely saw each other. Sometimes they had crossed paths in the halls, or Alex was already in their dorm by the time John had arrived, typing madly on his computer. But John would just say hi, and retreat to his dorm.
Around thirty minutes beforehand Alex knocked on his door with a confident face and instructed him to get ready for the beach. "No ands, ifs or buts."

"I'm coming now." John opened his door quietly and made his way to Alex, keeping his head down.
From the corner of his usually red and puffy eye, John saw Alex wearing a frown, with concern written among his face. His smile immediately brightened with a sudden move towards the door.
"Let's go, dude!"
The whole way up to level three was the most awkward it has ever been ever since the two had first met eachother. And even then it wasn't awkward at all. The pair just walked through the corridor with an aimless tension between them, filling and exhausting the gaps around them.
Once finding their feet to the schuyler dorm, they were greeted by the grinning Peggy, who was wearing a yellow polka dot sundress with little brown and golden sandals that matched all too well with her golden sunflower hat. She pulled John's arm and dragged him into the doorway. "The eagles have landed, bitches!"
John smiled with a quiet laugh as both Angie and Eliza started to screech from other sides of the dorm.
"No  swearing!"
John was pulled hastily towards the front room, where everyone except Eliza and Herc were sitting on the couches with either a patient or impatient look their faces.
The chatter was humble and quiet, unlike every other time the group had gotten together. The conversations that John could drop in on was just slender and mutual. Eliza had soon walzed into the room along with an eski in one hand and was finishing a sentence to Hercules, who was nodding along with a solemn face. Eliza faced the group and gave Alex a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Alright, you guys ready?"
The chatter erupted with the whooping and cheering that John was expecting to hear. As everyone stared to file out, John's clouded thoughts were disturbed by a tap on the shoulder. He whipped his head around curiously and Eliza was standing there, arm in arm with Alex. "Hm?"
"John, Alex and I have been talking. Are you okay? You seem a bit spaced out a lot of the time now."
John had the urge of shooting a glare Alexander before returning to Eliza with a bright smile plastered onto his lips, "Yeah, I'm fine!"
John knew that Eliza was not easily persuaded, but she knew where the boundary lied. John knew Eliza so well, and he knew that she would be cautious not to cross it on a day like this that was meant for thilling fun. Before the two could comment any more, John turned back around hastily and continued walking.
As the group reached outside the campus building, he stared blankly as he watched everyone climbed into Angelica's mini van. Because, they're rich. So of course one of them has a mini van. John rolled his eyes with mental sarcasm filling his head.
"Get in!" Laf called out from the inside of the truck. He peeped his head in, and Eliza was waving towards a spare seat next to Alex. Oh.
Alex was facing opposite Maria, who were engrossed in a conversation while Maria kept shifting to glance at the front seat, which consisted of Peggy and Angie. John sighed for what felt like the fiftieth time that day, and reluctantly squeezed next to Alex, clicking his seatbelt in quickly.
As the vehicle started to churn its wheels, John started to bead his ears into each conversation. He found it quite easy to single out everyone's conversation with one another without even noticing.
From across him, Herc and Laf were in a conversation about cats. More like argument, to be honest.
"Yeah, but cats are really independent and great cuddlers!" Laf argued.
"They're great cuddlers, along with awesome scratchers."
"Cats can be trained not to scratch! You just get them a scratching post and..."
Their conversation faded out of John's ears as he started to tune into Maria and Alex's discussion, with Eliza watching on from the sidelines, occasionally pitching in.
"I'm just saying, Jellybeans might just need some time alone." Maria reasoned. Jellybean...?
"Yeah, but they pretend that everything's okay, and that they're happy," Alex defended, starting to lower his voice, "but I can tell that their not! They try to avoid me as much as possible, and i can hear them "......" every time in their 'jellybean dorm'!" Alex mouthed a word midway of sentence, making John's ears prickle with curiosity and anxiety. Deciding not to go any further with 'conversation snooping', he looked out the window blankly as sunlight downed onto his face at a rapid speed before disappearing again.
After about 10 minutes, the motion of moving slowed down as Angie slotted the vehicle into a parking lot.
"Get your fat asses out, we're here!" Angie called out to the back, in which started to file out of the van excitedly. John had picked up a complaint from Peggy as she slammed her door, "How come you get o swear and I don't, bitch?!" Which made Angelica laugh.
John took his shoes off as he plopped his towel and bad down onto the sand, feeling it beneath his wiggling toes. It was soft and fluffy caressing him up to his ankles with a calm but electrifying manner.
Next to him, Peggy had sat herself down and stared into the infinite ocean, as if she was just as deep in trance as he was. This gave John an idea, he smirked at himself with a devilish twinge as he reached for his phone. "Hey, Peggy?"
"Hm?"
Snap.

This is what it supposedly looks like. It's a piece of shhiiiiiiit!
Peggy blinked in surprise, then shook her head. "John, you ass! Delete that photo!" Springing to her knees hastily, she aimlessly swiped at the phone, making John grasp the phone even further out of her reach. Peggy huffed and swung her hands to her hips, making a pout form on her lips. "How devious of you John. How dare you! I thought you were my friend!" She swooned a hand from her hip to her chest, grasping her throat dramatically. "Oh, my heart! My poor fucking heart!"
"Geez, stop swearing, Peggy! I'm gonna pick up your antics!"
Peggy glanced at John with an 'are-you-fucking-kidding-me' face and then stood up, reaching for the hem of her sundress. "Come on, John. Let's start heading into the water!"
She pulled off her overgarnets, exposing a fluffy pale yellow bathing suit with a lace tie up around her neck.
John stood up as well, taking off his shirt self consciously. Peggy turned to him, her jaw dropping. "Damn, man! You are looking good!"
"Hm?"
"Your body, its just... Wow!"
John wore a taken back expression. "Really?" He could read Peggy's face, and it sure didnt look like she was lying.
"Yeah! You need to give me some tricks, tho. I'm a bit not in shape myself." She patted her tubby tummy and grabbed his arm, dragging him over to the others.
"Oh, you want to impress Maria, huh?"
Peggy paused and looked back at John with a surprised expression, breaking into a grin. "You little shit! You have been too much to handle today!" She whisper-screamed to John, nudging his arm playfully.
Everyone was changed into their bathers. The boys all seemed to be wearing just their board shorts, the girls were suited in bathing suits of thier preferred colour. John couldn't help but stare at Alex's perfectly toned abs, as if they were handcrafted by god himself.
"Alright, we ready?" Theo had a striped beach ball tucked in her right arm. A chorus of agreement swarmed The over the group, and Theo threw the ball up and caught it in the other hand. "Okay, shut up everyone! We have to split into teams. Get into a group of two, then pair up with another group. There should be five on each team, so one pair will have to split up." She yelled over the chirpy chatter.
Surprisingly, Eliza and Alex paired up, but declaring that they offer to be the team that splits up, and everyone happily obliged. John felt a thrill of excitement jolt through his body. He wasn't the best at volleyball, but the way that they played was different. Competitive. Vicious, even. It could drive everyone off the beach. Usually there was an umpire that had to keep things settled (but seeing how the umpire was usually always Peggy, she would let things get a bit out of hand.) because there was an odd number, but now that Alex was part of it-
Wait a sec. John halted as he realised that Alex was completely new to playing volleyball their way, and from the looks of it, no one had told him yet.
After debating for what felt like hours, John stepped up to Alex and tapped him on the shoulder. Alexander turned around, giving him a bright smile that made John's heart beat simultaneously every time. "Hey John, what's up?"
John faulted a bit before straightening up, "Um, i need worn you about something."
Alex blinked. "Sure, shoot."
"The way that we play volleyball is... intense, to say the least." John twiddled his thumbs and gave Alex a knowing look.
Alex raised an eyebrow. "...Intense?"
John nodded. "Yep. Off court, it's all friendly and stuff. But as soon as you step into the match, it's game time. And there's no turning back. It's brutal out there."
Alex stared at John with a blank expression before breaking into slits of laughter. "Yeah, yeah, sure."
After the teams were sorted out, with Laf and Angie as a pair, teamed up with Herc and John along with Alex as one team, then Burr and Theo, Peggy and Maria and Eliza. Both teams were glaring at eachother menacingly, scowling with rage.
Nasty remarks were thrown between each group, even Eliza was snarling to Alex in a fierce stare, making Maria who was standing by hoot with laughter. John smirked to Alexander and leaned into his ear with a sing-song voice. "Told you~"
Peggy blew the whistle, deciding that she can be both player and umpire, causing everyone to roll thier eyes in disbelief. "Alright, everyone, settle down- SHUT THE FUCK UP!"
No one argued with her, not even her sisters, just silenced themselves and listened to Peggy. "Alright, lez do heads or tails to decide who goes first. I call heads!" She added before flicking the coin into the air.
Everyone gazed on as the coin retreated from the air onto her arm as she flipped it over. Her face brightened. "Heads, bitches!"
"Fuck off!" Burr hollered, erupting a chorus of words along the same lines from the other team.
Setting their corespondent positions, Herc was to serve first, who gave it an almighty whack. The ball scored across the court, leaving the others in awe.
"You fucked up, Herc!" Maria screamed from the other side of the court as she chased the ball and everyone roared in laughter.
From the other team, Burr was about to take a shot over the net. Aligning his ball carefully between his thumb and pummelled wrist, he aimed beyond the net.
"For fucks sake, Burr! Just take the godamn shot!" Angie bursted out, causing burr to snap his concentration and led the ball to fling under the net with a thump.
"haha, Burr. tu crains. Je vais frapper cette balle si fort, ça va voler ton cul!" Laf swung the ball back and forth while Angie and Alex broke down into fits of giggles and frantically rolled onto each side.
Laf dug the ball over the net quite swiftly with a perfect curve. Angelica called out from the side,
"oui, Laf! pousse cette balle dans son cul!" Making Alex choke on air and fall back down to the sand with laughter. John watched in amusement along with confusion as the three kept babbling French nonsense that he could slightly comprehend, but not daring to pitch into the blabbering nonsense.
The teens started to roar in rage as Theo had spiked it over the net and Angie supposedly dug the ball outside the court line, to Peggy's conclusion. There was French ramble thrown into the argument, too.
"petite merde! cette boule était dedans, et vous le savez, petit baiseur! quel genre de soeur es-tu, chienne chiante!" Angie started to scream as Alex held her back from swinging at Peggy, who had her arms up defensively.
"angie, détends-toi! quelle est ta langue, mademoiselle! ou vous devrez vous asseoir hors du jeu." He yelled to Angie as he struggled from keeping the raging bulldog back.
"I told you things got out of hand!" John scolded him in a matter of fact tone. Alex rolled his eyes playfully.
After a few more hits, Eliza and Angie had left for a quick toilet break, and the rest of the crew were playing a practice round while in wait. This time Theo had hit it over the net, and much to her team's dismay, Herc lunched it back over the net with perfect aim. Maria went into a dive and barely hit it above the net. A chorus of "oohs" and "aaahs" fell out of the players mouths with no control of it, as concentration and anticipation had struck thier brain and filling them all with adrenaline. Laf swiftly flung it over the net in response, and Burr had joined in, launching it high above the net- so high that John had to squint to barely spot it. He decided that this was the time to make his move- he hadn't pitched in during the match at all, so now was his chance. From the corner of his eye he saw a flash of another person darting for the ball, but he was going too fast and-
Bam.
John felt a rush of pain soar through his neck as his head felt an aftershock of a collision of another head towards it. He was knocked to the ground with such force as his head collided with the sand dangerously, he felt more weight among him knowing someone was tugged to the ground with him. He felt a pair of lips slightly brush against his in an accidental manner, one that John did not take notice of at first. John squinted his eyes open with pain and gladly did not meet eyes with the sun as a shadow was blocking it.
Alex's shadow.
Alex's hair draped along his shoulders until it was barely touching John's chest- his arms were held out in front of himself to stop anymore collision, and his face was tinted a peach pink. John's heart was literally bawling out of his chest. "Um, Alex!"
Seeing how he hadn't moved, he quickly shot his hands away and regained posture. "Shit, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" He gave John a hand and John pushed himself up with it.
He massaged his temples shakily. "Y-Yeah, I'm fine. You?"
"Yeah, good-"
Theo had rushed over to John with a concerned face, Peggy following behind her shortly. "Goodness, John! You took quite a fall!" Theo took his cheeks into her palms as she studied his eyes with caution. "I need you to tell me five that you can feel, four things you can touch-"
"Three things you can taste, two things you can see and one thing you can hear. I already know the action plan, silly! I'm fine!" John listed off the regiments and shook his head.
Theo pouted in concern. "Are you sure?"
John nodded. By this time, the others were gathered around and watching in concern, and Angie and Eliza had returned from the bathroom and rushed over to the crowd of worried teens. Alex was lightly holding John's wrist in concern. "Yeah, I just need to sit out for a bit." He stood up and walked to sit out on his towel. Alex frowned in concern but just pat him on the back in relief.
John watched from the sidelines as the ball was tossed back and forth, listening to the fessed up growls on shouts from the players that he found quite mutual.
Mostly his mind focused on Alex, every time he swooned for the ball it made John's literal heart swoon for no good reason. His hair had been put into a messy ponytail, which soon fell out from all of the movement. John had just guessed that Alex because tired of putting it back up, as he was now letting it hang loose.
Most importantly, John didn't even put join back in the game,
Because his mind still lingered on one thing.
The fact that he had topple into Alex.
The fact that he felt a soft pair of lips brush against his-
Oh my lord, John haunted in his thoughts as he felt his lungs stoped working.
That was Alex's lips.

YES!
You guys actually don't know how happy i am to finally finish this.
This is actually the biggest fucking chapter in the history of chapters.
Don't expect more chapters like these.
Seriously don't.
Also, as i was writing, i got a notification, and this by Ghostly_Emo_Panda

M a j e s t i c
Like, seriously, this is the sweetest thing, i just-
AAAAAH
I literally cant, it makes my drawing look like a piece of shit.
Oh wait, it is XD
Anyway, can i just say that this was meant to be a 4000 word long chapter, and it's literally at 7000.
Oops.
So if you got to the end of this without having to stop and be like "this little shit is a writing spaz", then kudos to you. This would be came out sooner if i hadn't had funeral plans goin on.
Also also, i was going to put some hamliza in the last scene, just to annoy you guys, but this book is nearly at 2k, so I'm like "okay, well shit"
I feel like I'm going to have a lot of notifications from you guys talking about this chapter. It's actually so long that i can hardly remember what i put in it.
Anyway, i hoped you enjoyed, you little shits! I have been writing non stop (...) all day to get this done. So embrace it.
This AN is really long.
Cats.
Ily all, Chazz 💜💜