alex held john close as aaron was pulled away by the man. the din of whispers picked up fast, and alex caught his name.

george washington.

"alright boys, this isn't the first time i've come across a fight on this corner. and aaron, this is your fourth time attacking george. you're borderline assault, young man." he said sternly, hands on his hips as aaron panted heavily. the mark from king's slap was still red, and he had a scratch on his neck, too. king wasn't much worse off, his nose bleeding from some punch or the other. alex was surprised he had made it that long; aaron looked considerably stronger.

"sorry, george." aaron mumbled, not looking him in the eye. george looked around at the kids and sighed.

"i ought to report all of you kids. but you always manage out here on the street again..." he released aaron, who fell onto the pavement.

"now scat! i don't wanna see any of you guys over here all day, ya here?" he yelled out to us. as alex and the other revies retreated, he overheard george mumble something under his breath.

"i swear, your pride will be the death of you all..."

| • |

alex was patching up john, who was still shaking. 'geez, he must be really fragile...' he thought, as the taller boy clung tightly onto him. as eliza and aaron talked, she would occasionally look back at john with a worried look.

"look, aaron, what do you think we should do about this?" eliza asked in a hushed tone. but alex could still hear her, even over the angry din of hercules, lafayette, and angelica.

"i'm not... sure." he responded awkwardly. eliza almost stomped her foot but managed to regain her soft, sweet composure.

"you can't always be like this, aaron. you have to give your opinion sometimes if your going to lead us." she said, putting a hand on his shoulder. he shrugged it away.

"let's just wait for it."

"and what is it?"

"...i don't know yet, eliza. just trust me, please." he said, looking pleadingly into her eyes. she turned away with a sigh.

"it's hard to trust someone without opinions, aaron." she called after him, approaching alex and john. she crouched down on her knees and smiled at john.

"come on now, john. you're okay now. you're safe." she said softly. john opened one of his eyes to look at her, and then opened the other. he slowly peeled himself away from alex's chest, and eliza stood up.

"good! now, about mac and sneeze..."

"can we come with you to get him?" john asked innocently. despite being the same age as alex, he was so childish. eliza looked back at him, and then to alex.

"...sure, why not! alex, would you like to come with us?"

the way she looked at alex when she said it made it sound less like a request and more like a command. he nodded, standing up as john took him by the hand. eliza clapped her hands together happily.

"great! alright, let's go get mac and sneeze, yes?"

"one question," alex whispered into john's ear, who was smiling now. "who's mac and sneeze?"

"oh, that's right! you don't know them!" john said enthusiastically. "well the mac is thomas, since he loves mac and cheese. and when i say love, i mean he's obsessed with the stuff. the sneeze is james, because he's always sick. they're practically attached at the hip, as you an probably guess from the nickname. thomas never really did like aaron, and james is especially finicky when it comes to what thomas wants... i'm not all that surprised that the loyalists managed to pick them up."

although his explanation was long, the trio had barely made it out of the camp by the time he was done. they were crossing the train tracks when john stopped and took a quick breath. alex decided to stop him there.

"but wait, i thought the loyalists give kids like us up to social services?" alex asked, forgetting he was still holding hands with john. every now and again, eliza would look back and smile at them.

"well i mean, you have to get new recruits sometimes, right?"

"i guess you're right..."

"okay boys, be careful; we're in loyalist territory now." eliza interrupted, and alex looked up. now that he knew what to look for, he saw it everywhere. 'belongs to loyalists', 'loyalists land, 'loyal to the king'. it was uncanny how he had never noticed it all before.

"oh heyyy, lizzie. funny seeing you out here." said a voice from above. a much quieter, more anxious voice followed after it.

"o-oh, hello, eliza."

eliza looked up, so alex and john did too. it was a teenager a little than aaron, wearing a surprisingly bright purple t-shirt. hanging onto him was a nervous wreck of a boy with a handkerchief hanging out of his shirt pocket.

"hello, james; thomas."