As they headed back to their cabin from a long day, John reflected everything they had done.

After leaving the Welcome Ceremony, the Revolutionary Crew headed out to spend the rest of the day by the lake.

When they arrived, three girls were already there. John's heart sank when he saw how Alex looked at them. His eyes lit up with joy, and he looked helpless.

"Could that be the Schuyler sisters?" Herc called out to them.

The girls turned around. They were very pretty, John took notice of.

"I think it is!" cried Laf.

The Schuyler sisters grinned widely and raced over to hug the boys.

"It's been too long!" exclaimed the oldest girl.

"Definitely!" agreed Alex. Then he nodded to John. "This is John Laurens. He's our newest member! John, these are the Schuyler sisters-that's Angelica" (here he pointed to the eldest girl) "that's Eliza" (he motioned to the middle-aged girl) "and that's Peggy!" (Alex acknowledged the youngest sister)

"Nice to meet you John!" said Eliza, giving him a large smile. "Is this your first year?"

"Yeah," replied John, smiling back. "So, how old are you guys?"

"I'm 15, so I'm a Sophomore," answered Peggy, the youngest Schuyler.

"I'm 17, so I'm a Junior with you guys!" said Eliza.

"I'm 19, so obviously a Senior. Kinda sad it's my last year as a student. Hopefully next year I'll get to help out on staff, though!" responded Angelica.

John grinned. They seemed nice. The only thing that upset him was the how Alex was eyeing them up.

"Did someone forget about me?" An extremely attractive young girl approached the group. She flashed a smile at John and raised her eyebrows.

"I'm Maria Reynolds. And you are?"

"John Laurens."

"Are you a new member of the Revolutionary Crew?" she asked, obviously not new around here. John couldn't help but notice the look Alex was giving her, too.

"Yeah, this is my first year. What about you?" he said.

"I'm 16, so a Sophomore." Then Maria turned her attention to Alex, Herc, and Laf. "Nice to see you boys again!"

"Maria!" cried Alex, flinging himself at her. Another hugging fest followed.

"So do you share a cabin with the Schuylers?" asked John.

"No, but our cabins are right next to each other's, so we practically do. My roommates are named Theodosia Bartow and Catherine Simmons." (EDITING NOW SO I CAN STOP GETTING HATE: THIS. IS. NOT. CATHERINE. SCHUYLER. SHE. IS. AN. OC.)

"Oh. Cool!"

The group continued talking throughout the evening, getting caught up on each other's lives. John felt a little insecure. Why didn't I go here last year? he thought glumly.

John's mind suddenly focused back in on the present just as the boys arrived back at their cabin. Alex stepped in and took a dramatically deep breath.

"Home sweet home!" he exclaimed. "Get in here, John, we have a nightly ritual!"

"Um...ok?" John was confused. What was their "nightly ritual" going to be?

"First thing's first-we got to change, obviously." The four stripped down to their socks and quickly got into their pajamas-or, in their case, boxers and over-sized t-shirts.

"Grab your phones, everyone," said Laf, turning off the cabin light.

What is happening? John wondered. He hesitantly grabbed his phone.

"Now turn on its flashlight and face it upwards so it lights the cabin up all funky," explained Herc. The boys did so, and, to John's pleasure, it actually looked kind of cool.

"What now?" inquired John, anticipating what would come next.

"Now grab a pillow or blanket or whatever you need," said Laf. "We've got a long night ahead of us."

John reached up to his bunk and grabbed his pillow. It reminded him of home, but in a good way. It was the one thing that didn't make him think of his dad. The pillowcase he was using was his favorite sweatshirt from back home-mmm. It still smelled like John's bedroom.

Laf and Herc sat on one side of the room, and Alex plopped down next to John, rather close, he noted.

"We're playing truth or dare!" said Alex. "It's our tradition. We play some kind of game like this every night, but the FIRST night of camp, we REALLY wear you out. You'll be lucky if you get 20 minutes of sleep after this!"

"Oh. That sounds fun, I guess," said John, only half-telling the truth. He couldn't do dares. John hoped the group wouldn't try and make him.

"Who goes first?" he asked.

"Well, since you asked, YOU'LL go first!" replied Laf.

"Uh-o-ok..."

"Truth or dare, Laurens?" said Herc, putting his blanket on both himself and Laf.

"Truth."

"Ok...what's your home-state?"

"South Carolina," said John, relieved it hadn't been some deep question.

"Cool. Now you ask someone."

"Ok. Umm...Laf, truth or dare?"

"Dare, mon ami," said Laf.

"Lick Alex's shoe!"

Laf cringed as the other three boys cracked up.

"Go on, do it!" encouraged Alex, handing over his Converse.

Laf held the shoe with a look of disgust on his face. Then, slowly, ever so slowly, he stuck out the tip of his tongue and touched the sole of the shoe.

"Yay! Laf! Laf! Laf!" shouted the boys, as Laf spit out the disturbing taste.

"Herc," he continued, coughing, "truth or dare?"

"Dare!"

"Hmm...I'm not good with American games, help me out here!"

"Ok!" said Alex, rather excited to be giving a dare. "Herc, prank call the 23rd person in your contacts. Tell them you want your Chinese food and you want it now!"

Herc chuckled. "Ok," he said, grabbing his phone. "Let's see, 23rd...ah, here we go! OH MY GOSH!"

Herc started dying of laughter all of a sudden.

"Who is it?!" persisted Alex, wondering what on Earth could make him laugh that hard.

"It's...it's...it's...it's THOMAS!" he managed to gasp out.

All four boys were suddenly on the floor laughing this was too funny.

"Ok...ok..." Herc eventually calmed down enough to dial his number, then put his phone on speaker.

"Hello?" came the familiar drawl of Thomas Jefferson.

"Yo, it was supposed to be here an hour ago!" bellowed Herc, as the others held on their laughter.

"What are you-"

"Don't play dumb with me! I want it NOW!"

"I think you have the wro-"

"BRING ME MY CHINESE FOOD, MAN! THIS ISN'T FUNNY!"

That's when it dawned on Thomas.

"Hold on a second, is this Hercu-"

But at that moment the boys couldn't hold on their laughter any longer. They all burst.

All the could hear was a small groan on the other end and a click on the line, making them laugh even harder.

Once everyone calmed down, Herc was able to deliver his next question.

"Alex, truth or dare?"

"DARE ALL THE WAY!" he screeched.

Man, thought John. That's cute-his flustered hair, his smile, his laugh, his...his EVERYTHING.

John quickly forced those thoughts out his head, though. He needed to concentrate on the game, not the guy on his right.

"Use your best pick-up line to try and make Laurens smile!" dared Herc.

"Gladly!" said Alex, getting a huge smile on his face. Then he turned to John. "You better get ready for this!"

Alex turned away and took his hair out of its signature ponytail (something he, John, and Laf all had), then smoothed it down as best as he could. Finally, he turned back to John, a half smirk in his face and an eyebrow raised. John felt his heart rate increase rapidly.

Alex swished his head to the side, flinging his hair over. "Hey John," he said in a deep voice, "I want to be a superhero. Guess my name."

John was too lost in his eyes to think. "Um, I don't know. Superman? Batman?"

"Nope," responded Alex, grinning a little. "Yourman. And my cape is made out of boyfriend material."

There was dead silence. Then-

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

"That was GOOD, mon ami, that was GOOD."

John just sat there, still lost.

"How do you think I did?" Alex asked him, still using the deep voice.

"Pretty good," breathed John.

Alex stared at him for another second, then looked up, his face filled with triumph. "I DID IT!" he cried, punching his fist in the air.

The four boys continued to play the game deep into the night and early into the morning. Only at 3:40am did they decide to call it quits. As John crawled into his bed, he heard Alex speak to him.

"You don't need to set any alarms. We'll help you walk through your first day."

"Oh," said John. "Ok. Thanks, Alex."

"Anytime." Alex winked, and rolled over.

The last thing spinning through John's mind as he dozed off was the little smirk on Alex's face, so perfect and beautiful.

He couldn't wait for the next three months of his life.