When you think about it, all of this would actually end up being George Washington's fault.

Hamilton and Lafayette, two students in senior year at Freedom High, (the patriotism made Washington want to cringe, but he simultaneously loved it,) had managed to end up in his English class four years in a row, purely by chance - a considerable feat, considering there were about eight classes worth in their year group. Hamilton had always been Washington's top student, though he was a bit too smart for his own good, and Lafayette...well, he could do a lot worse. He had good ideas, but his essays lacked structure at times, and could lapse into having a very casual voice. (Never before, and never again, would Washington read a paragraph that was theoretically about social critique in The Importance of Being Earnest, but also gave a passing mention to socks that got lost in washing machines.)

Nonetheless, he loved having them both in his classroom. The duo made eight days out of the ten day cycle their timetable ran on infinitely more amusing than they would have been otherwise.

The bell had gone. It was the first day of the year, (not even half as dramatic as so many movies and things made it out to be,) and both of them were late. It was the period after lunch. Either the debate meeting was running overtime and Alexander and Thomas Jefferson were giving each other metaphorical black-eyes, or the dynamic duo had just been careless. Honestly, it was a 50/50 chance. Their voices could be heard from down the corridor.

"I'm telling you, we're fine. It's not as if Washington's going to be surprised."

"Gil, it's the first day back! We-"

"Hey, hey, call me Gil one more time and I'll-" the door was pushed open "tell Thomas about the time-"

"Laf, shut up!"

Washington, and the rest of the class, were staring at them. Alexander grinned at him. "Hi."

Washington was this close to actually rolling his eyes. "Take a seat, you two."

The pair nodded, slipping past other students, (were there a couple of new ones?) making their way to their regular seats. The room was arranged in a big U shape. Washington sat at the front of the room. Alex and Lafayette always opted for the seats to his right, along the same wall as the coffee machine. (Everyone loved Washington for this particular addition to the classroom.) "Why do you object to being called Gilbert anyway?" Alexander hissed, pulling out his laptop. "It is kind of your name."

Lafayette raised an eyebrow, adjusting his jumper. "It's one of many, and Lafayette sounds the most badass. Gilbert gives me flashbacks to freshman year-"

"Oh God, Iet's not even talk about freshman ye-"

"Hamilton."

"Sorry, sir." Alexander flashed Washington a smile.

Books were handed out. Bella Ciao, by Riley Fisher - it looked ominously modern. Laf and Alex exchanged a glance - please let there be a SparkNotes page on this.

"This is your text for the next semester," Washington announced, crossing one leg over the other. He always taught sitting down, laptop open in front of him. "It was published in 2015, and contains an interesting discussion about gender, and nationalism. Look at the way in which these ideas are represented within the text, through language and characters. Bring any questions about what that meant to me. The course outline has been emailed to you. Otherwise, I'll give you the lesson to read for yourself."

With that, the class was reduced to a quiet murmur. Anything less put their coffee privileges at risk. Washington stood up, turning around to write those instructions up on the board. Hamilton glanced at Laf. "Is it just me, or does he normally give more explanation than that?"

Lafayette shrugged, taking out his phone to get a picture of  the board - chances were, those instructions would be echoed in the final essay question. Hamilton opened up his laptop and typed 'bella ciao riley fisher' into Google. The first thing that came up was Wikipedia. The second thing was Tumblr.

Alexander nudged Lafayette, grinning. "Hey, I think we're going to like this book."

Laf peered over his shoulder. "Oh, mon dieu. What does it- actually, no, let's not look yet. No spoilers."

"Mm, agreed."

They then lapsed into silent reading. Well, they were reading in theory - Alexander was glancing around the room, trying to suss out the new kids. To their right, one seat away, looking a little lost, was a bulky looking guy with a beanie, and across the room, a girl with tanned skin, and a cascading ripple of dark hair, who also seemed to have an eye on everyone else in the room. Hamilton narrowed his eyes. She seems smart. Better watch out for her.

Washington started the rollcall. "John." God, he's frustrating.

"Here."

"Nicola." She seems vaguely familiar...wait, did Angelica mention her in the group chat?

"Here."

"Theodosia." Wait, isn't she dating-

"Here."

"Aaron." Yes. Him. Whyyyyyyyyyyyy.

"Here."

"Francis." So much hair jealousy.

"Here."

"Alexander." The forever fabulous.

"Yo."

"Thomas." whAT WHY IS HE IN THIS CLASS THIS WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN

...

"Thomas?" Washington looked over at Alexander, who gave him his trademark 'I didn't do anything to him I swear to God' face.

Washington frowned and marked him absent. "Lafayette." Yassss.

"Oui."

"James." *sigh*

"Here."

"Do you know where Thomas is?" PLEASE LET HIM BE DEAD

"He's in France for another week." Damnit. So close.

"Alright. Harriet." Oh, she got good marks last year.

"Here."

"Hercules." What?

Beanie guy looked up, looking somewhat annoyed at the stares he got because of his name. It was kind of intimidating. "Herc, please. Here."

"Alright. Jason." Huh, I didn't think he took Honours...

"Here."

"Zoe." Always on Facebook.

"Huh?"

"Here, then. Maria." Is that...?

It was the new girl. "Ma-rye-ah. Here."

"Sorry about that. Samuel." Ugh.

"Here."

"Evan." He's alright. Quiet, though.

"Here."

"Abigail." Ha, that'll be interesting.

"Here."

"Yumei?" Wait, if we're up to T that means no Angelica...

"Here."

"Taylor." Eh, she could be worse.

"Here."

"Matthew." Who?

Someone coughed. Washington didn't here a quiet 'here' over the noise. "Away, then?"

"He's here, sir." That was Harriet.

"Thanks. Sorry."

The classroom fell silent. Hamilton picked up the book from the desk, scanning over the blurb.

"Some things are worth the risk after all."

Alice Stafford, a firey teenager living in London, in 1943, is suddenly orphaned, and in order to escape an unwanted marriage, enlists in the Air Force, disguising herself as a member of the opposite sex. She is sent to Italy, where she finds Rolfe, a prisoner of war, and quickly begins to fall for him.

But she knows she has one shot at this. And she's not about to throw it away.

He then proceeded to spend the rest of the period reading, hooked instantly. The writing style had more exposition than he'd expected from a book written so recently, given the trend towards quick, snappy dystopian YA action, and Alexander instantly picked up on Fisher's wit and intellect. It was one of those books where when you read it, it felt as if you were getting to know the author as well as the characters.

And her characters were beautiful. Alexander found himself relating to Alice so easily - it was difficult not to like her. Realising that he wouldn't be able to put this book down, and most likely would move much for he rest of the lesson, he adjusted his position, pulling headphones out of his pocket, with Spotify on shuffle, tuning everything out, reading.

Alice felt numb.

Her head pounded. Hunger stabbed at her, twisting like a knife in the pit of her abdomen. But nothing hurt more than seeing her mother motionless, across the room, staring at nothing...

Alexander hardly noticed the bell go. Lafayette had to poke his arm a couple of times, laughing as he closed his laptop. "Is it good?"

Alex looked up form the book, snapping back to reality. "Hm?"

"I'll take that as a yes. Bell's gone. See ya."

"Yeah, see you..."

Alexander swallowed, making a note of the page, then closing the book, gathering up his things. Washington glanced over at him. "You're enjoying the book?"

Hamilton grinned, a little sheepish. "Yeah, definitely, sir."

Washington smiled. "I thought you would. Welcome back, son."

***

By 1:30am, Alexander had read the whole thing, cover to cover, and loved every bit of it. He was lying on his bed, the heavy doona pulled over his head, his phone doubling as a torch. Technically, he wasn't meant to still be awake. Being an orphan with a scholarship and incredible luck, he lived in the school's boarding house, and lights were meant to be out at 12:30 at the very latest for 11 and 12th graders. But in his opinion, phone lights under the covers didn't disturb anyone, so they didn't count. (It wasn't the stance taken by the boarding house staff, but they didn't need to know.)

Bella Ciao's plot was fairly straightforward. It was set during World War Two, September of 1943. Relatively androgynous-looking 19 year old Alice Stafford's father has been killed already, in France. Her mother dies of a bout of illness in the first chapter - the inciting incident. It gives Alice a paralysing fear of hospitals, syringes and so on. In the meantime, her paternal uncle wants her to marry Cory Ackerman, (a douchebag,) for his money, and Alice realises she'll probably have the best shot at life by joining the army - and doing so as a nurse, for her, is completely out of the question.

So, she chops off her hair, takes some of her friend's boyfriend's clothes, says her name is Oliver, enlists in the RAF, and is sent to Italy, to fight off the Germans. However, she develops a huge (and adorable) crush on German prisoner of war Rolfe, who's nationalistic, brave, and one of Germany's best pilots, but is naïve, and is only just learning that doing what your country says you should do, and doing what's right, aren't always the same thing. And no, he didn't have blonde hair and blue eyes. (Alice did.)

They were the main focus of the book. And the ending tore Alexander apart. It could've been so much worse, but everyone involved deserved so much better. They were all lucky to be alive, but there was so much damage that couldn't be undone.

Now, Alex was just lying there, re-reading the blurb. Goddamn it, Riley Fisher. I did not sign up for this. I came here to have a good time and honestly I'm feeling so attacked right now. (Also I love you, this book is amazing, tell me your secrets.)

He blinked as his phone buzzed. He unlocked it, and saw a text from Laf on his lock screen.

🇫🇷 LAFAYETTE 🇫🇷

<Yo hope I'm not waking you up but have you read Bella Ciao yet?

It's cool, I finished it an hour ago and can't sleep omg my feels T.T>

<IKR
<I hate Washington
<And love him
<But rn my tears are his fault

Hamilton grinned. He was glad he wasn't the only one.

Saaaame>
Are you finished?>

<Not yet
<Chapter 19

Cool >

Alex frowned, trying to remember exactly what had been going on. There were 31 chapters in total, meaning...

...make sure you have more tissues handy>

<Hey no spoilers
<I've had tissues with me for the past hour
<But I have a theory
<Rio and Adriano
<Gay

OMG>
LAF THAT IS BEAUTIFUL>
And explains so much>

<Ikr XD
<Chapter seven had much subplot trust me
<I'm going back to reading now but I thought you should know that

BLESS YOUR ABILITY TO FIND ALL THE GAY SUBPLOTS>
We need to get you to read through the Bible or something for these XD>

<Lol
<Cya

Adriano and Rio were two more characters in the book - Rio was an American pilot who would become a good friend of Alice. Bad tempered, impatient, and stubborn, yet he eventually helps get Rolfe out when the base catches fire, for Alice's sake. (He'd shipped him with Alice for a little bit, before remembering that Alice and Rolfe were still literally made for each other.) Adriano was a member of the Italian resistance, who was the definition of sunshine on the outside, but a ball of angst on the inside, and come to think of it, towards the beginning of the book, he and Rio had spent some time together in a bar...

Alexander flipped to chapter seven, and re-read it, along with the next three chapters, grinning like an idiot, before finally going to sleep.

-----

A/N: A few notes about Bella Ciao!
- This book is basically what would happen if you took George de Valier's 'Auf Wiedersehen Sweetheart', crossed it over with Terry Pratchett's 'Monstrous Regiment', made Fem!Blonde!Taller!Hamilton the protagonist, and twisted the plot a whole lot. (There will probably be many more direct references to AWS, not gonna lie.)
- I do want to write it one day.
- Yes, White Stag Trilogy people, this is that book Ruby always seems to be reading.

All feedback is welcome/appreciated, always! Thanks for reading!