Chapter Text
John could never decide what to call the writing on his wrist.
It would show up constantly -- a good morning message when he woke up, random doodles during his French class, and late night political rants that would leave his entire arm covered in rushed letters.
John knew the doodles and message came from his soulmate, the person that was perfect for him and destined to be with (Whether romantically or platonically, John didn’t know). The messages could be anything from an endless stream of philosophical questions to a string of bad puns on John’s elbow, but they would always make John smile even when the worst was happening.
Such as today, for example.
John had woken up before the sun rose in his new bedroom, already terrified of what the day would bring. His father, Henry Laurens, had been elected senator of South Carolina and had forcefully dragged his entire family to Virginia to live closer to D.C. This meant John had to say goodbye to everyone he had ever known and loved and move to a brand new town with a new school he was starting to attend today, but John wasn’t bitter at all and oh God what if I forget my name when I introduce myself and have to sit at the loser’s table and have no friends and die alone --
His anxious thoughts were interrupted when he noticed the good morning message on his wrist, and John took a deep breath. He could do this. Besides, he had Laf at his side.
Lafayette, or simply Laf, was the neighbor’s kid who offered to take John on his orientation tour of the school and promised they would be “The best of friends”. He was very extraverted and had a flair for the dramatic, practically dancing through the school hallways during the tour, but John decided he was a good kid. He had also offered to give John a ride to school since John was only 15, so that earned him bonus points.
Realizing Laf would be arriving to take him to school in an hour, John quickly doodled a turtle on his wrist with a “Good morning” to his soulmate before taking a shower and putting on a warm flannel for the cold January day. He had been lucky enough to move from South Carolina just in time for one of the coldest winters on record. Great.
Sure enough, after John pulled his hair into a ponytail and scarfed down a granola bar, the doorbell rang and John opened it to reveal a beaming Laf. Who was that energetic at 7 AM? John thought, but forced a tired smile on his lips anyway.
“John!” Laf practically screamed with anticipation, “Are you ready for your first day at Yorktown, mon ami?”
“Yep,” John replied, stifling a yawn from worrying until 3 AM. “Just let me grab my bag.”
And with that, John and Laf hopped into the car and began the drive to Yorktown, John picking at his fingernails with his head hanging low the whole way. Laf seemed to take notice of this and opened his mouth to say something over the radio.
“Do not worry, John,” Laf began. “Yorktown is great! There are so many nice people, and we have a huge gym and a music wing and I can introduce you to all my friends! There’s Thomas and Hercules and Alexander... You’re bound to love them.”
John perked up at that. Laf wasn’t going to abandon him straight away, even introduce him to some people, and a music wing sounded pretty nice. Maybe he could join the orchestra or band… If he was good enough on his cello and trumpet (Which was probably not the case).
Maybe this school wouldn’t be that awful.