It's Not The Same - Philip Hamilton

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I got dressed for school, and me, Liza, JJ, and Angelica walked to the bus stop together. Two girls are there together. "You guys are new here, right?" The older one asks. "Yeah, I'm Philip, and that's Angelica, JJ, and Liza." "I'm Martha Jefferson, and this is my sister Polly."

"Hi!" Polly smiles. "How old are you guys?" "I'm 18, and Polly is 15." "Oh, I'm 18 too, and Angelica is also 15!" JJ says. "Philip's 17, Liza's 16. We have 2 older siblings, Phil and Kitty. They're 21 and 20." "That's cool! It's just me and Polly." The bus arrives, and we sit with Polly and Martha. We talk about Manhattan in the way to school. We found out Martha and Polly are adopted because their real mom died after getting hit by a bus, they were adopted by a gay couple. decide to leave out the girls. "So, why'd you guys move?" Polly asks, finally. "Um, bad things happened." "That's alright. You can tell us whenever. So, are you guys siblings, or?" "Me and JJ are siblings, but Philip and Angelica are our cousins." Liza responds.

We arrive at school, and all go to our separate classes. It was late January, and the new semester had just begun. I think Polly and Angelica could be great friends. I walk to my first class, social studies. "Come sit over here with us!" A girl yells from across the room.

"Are you new here?" She asks. "Yes, I just moved here from Manhattan. My name's Philip Hamilton." "I'm Theodosia Burr. These are my friends, Susan Reynolds, Georges Washington de Lafayette, Frances Laurens, and Lizzie Mulligan." The others said hi. "I also hope you guys don't mind that I'm pansexual." I say awkwardly. "Of course not! Why would it matter to us?" "I'm sorry, it's just my old friends were homophobic, so I couldn't tell them." Georges started to talk. "Don't worry about that, I'm bi, Lizzie's demi, Susan's ace, Theo's poly, and Frances's grey."

"Why'd you have to move from Manhattan?" Georges asked curiously. "I don't like to talk about it, but you guys are my friends, so I'll tell you guys. I was born there, actually. My parents died when I was 4, and Angelica was 2. They were on the way to the hospital because who would've been my little brother was due that day. They got into an accident, so me and Angelica moved in with our Aunt Angelica." Everyone looks shocked. "That's horrible." Frances whispers sympathetically. "Things were all going fine for years until I got in an abusive relationship with a girl named Blake." Susan winces, "What'd she do to you?" "She, stabbed me. I still have a scar from it." Everyone looks horrified. "She didn't get arrested. My friends didn't believe me either, and I'd hidden the situation from my family until I got stabbed. She then told everyone at school I was the one hurting her! And they believed her!" Everyone looked really mad and disappointed. "That's awful! Why wouldn't they believe you when she stabbed you?" Lizzie said. "Wish I knew. That's not it either." "What else happened?"

"Not with me, but my sister. Don't worry, she's okay with me talking about it. She had this horrible friend named Rosalina. Rosalina knew Angie was a lesbian, and when she had a fight with her once, Rosalina went and told the whole fucking school, as well as lying Angie tried to rape her. Our school was littered with homophobia, so this was terrible for her. She was sexually harassed by male classmates, but that's not all Rosalina did."

Just thinking about Rosalina and those classmates makes my blood boil. Everyone's horrified. "What else?" Susan finally speaks up. I sigh and then continue. "She fucking sexually assaulted her." Susan gasps. "Our lives were ruined, so we had to move. But that's the whole story." "Well, bet your glad to be out of that shithole." Lizzie says, a hint of venom in her voice.

"You don't have to worry about that anymore. Welcome to the group." Theodosia smiles. The bell rings and class starts. The teacher starts our lesson, when someone bursts through the door. "Sorry I'm late!" "Meghan, sit down and start taking notes." Meghan sits down in front of me. "Who's that?" I ask. "Meghan Hargan. She doesn't talk to anyone." Frances tells me. "She seems nice." "Maybe you should talk to her, you're single right?" Georges asks. "I mean yeah. I haven't dated since Blake." The teacher ended his presentation and handed out packets. "You will be working in partners for this packet." "Who are you working with Philip?" Susan asks. "I'm think I'm gonna work with Meghan."