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Victoria spent ten minutes fighting with her hair. She tried to put it in her usual braid but her curly hair was frizzier than normal and was an outright mess.

She let out a sound of frustration before removing the poorly done braid and throwing the green ribbon onto the ground. Today was her and Edward's first day back at school and after weeks not doing anything to her unruly hair, she seemed to have lost her touch.

Victoria tried to calm down and went to grab the ribbon, a brush and her school items before going into the kitchen. "Hamilton, can you help me?" Victoria asked as she entered. Hamilton looked up from his copy of the newspaper before motioning to the empty seat next to him.

Edward and Gideon were already at the table, eating breakfast that was meticulously prepared for them. "You two excited to go back to school?" Gideon asked as he placed the teacup filled with earl grey tea back on the table.

"NO!" Edward said, causing everyone else to jolt in surprise. Hamilton was using his hands to gently try and remove the giant knot in his sister's hair. "Well, I think it's obvious that Edward is not excited. What about you Vicky?" Hamilton asked. "I would be more excited if my hair would cooperate. Ow!" Victoria yelled as she clutched the back of her head.

Hamilton apologised and grabbed the brush from Victoria's lap and gently brushed his way through his hair. "I have no choice, Vicky. You know that you need to take care of your hair considering its state."

Hamilton was a hair fanatic, he didn't know how to do his hair and others because it interested him, but rather because he hated messy hair and wanted everything to be precise. When he was younger, other girls from his class had no choice but for Hamilton to fix their hair. Most of them let him, as they thought that he liked them and used their hair as an excuse to be closer to them. The truth was that their hair was so unkept and horrible that it used to irk him and he couldn't concentrate.

"How do you want me to do it?" Hamilton asked when he got rid of all the knots. "The usual," Victoria replied. "That's so boring. I'll just surprise you." Hamilton said as he ignored Victoria's answers.

"How are you so good at that?" Gideon inquired as he watched in amazement as Hamilton's fingers worked as he started to do a headband braid. "Mum used to do her hair when she didn't know how to do hers but it used to take her a lot of time so I told her to teach me so I would do it instead. And you know me, I tend to things more elaborately than necessary."

Hamilton bit his lip in concentration. "Eddie, can you bring some petroleum jelly from my room? I need to calm the nest." Hamilton said. Edward reluctantly listened to him and left while Hamilton was putting his finishing touches on it. He made sure that the green ribbon that he weaved in the braid was in place as he tied the ends of it in a neat knot. Looking around the kitchen, Hamilton set eyes on the vase in the centre of the table and grabbed some of Baby's Breath that was cut the day before.

Needless to say with the petroleum jelly and the plant added as well, Victoria's hair looked the best it ever did. "You eat something while I go grab a mirror, this is the best I ever did," Hamilton said excitedly with a smile as he sprinted from his chair. He didn't give Victoria a chance to thank him and sat properly on the table to eat something.

"Your brother is way too lively and upbeat this early in the morning," Gideon stated as he reached over and grabbed the newspaper that Hamilton abandoned. "It's something that you have to learn to accept and deal with in time," Edward replied as he munched on his toast. "I guess you did get used to him. You had to wake up with him for the past couple of months." Victoria added as she put in two teaspoons of sugar in her tea and mixed it.

Gideon nodded. "I did find it abnormal at first but honestly, he is quite the joy to be around." Victoria watched Gideon conspiringly from the side as she sipped the tea. There was something fishy, Hamilton is anything but the way he was being surprised, there's no one that the man isn't sick of him already.

"Got the mirror," Hamilton stated as he entered the kitchen with a beautifully decorated hand mirror. He went up to Victoria and kept fixing the mirror to find the perfect angle. "So, what do you think? Ace, right?" Hamilton said, he started biting the inside of his cheek as he anxiously waited for the answer.

"It's brilliant, Hammy," Victoria responded, causing Hamilton to frown. He then turned towards Gideon. "You! I told you not to call me Hammy and now she's calling me that!" Hamilton exclaimed as he pointed his finger towards Gideon who ignored him and continued to skim the newspaper. "You know with how dramatic you are you would have made it far as an actor. You even got the good looks to go with." Gideon finally looked up only to wink at Hamilton and retreat his gaze back to the paper.

Hamilton sighed and then turned back towards Edward and Victoria. "You two should leave, you need to get there early enough to show off your hair, Vic." With a couple of nods of the head, Victoria and Edward grabbed their things and left the house and immediately got brushed with the fresh air.

"Why weren't you excited to go back to school?" Victoria asked after she took his books from his hand and carried them for him. "I think I'm a pillock," Edward replied after a while. Victoria stopped and raised an eyebrow at that statement. "Really? Says who?"

"Says the facts." Edward continued. "Calm down, Isaac Newton. Okay, tell me what are the facts. Convince me."

"It's just compared to you and Hamilton, I'm not as smart. And you two finish reading a book in two days while it takes me a week." Victoria snorted. "You're also younger than us, you need to grow up to my age to have a fair comparison. Besides, did you compare yourself with the other children in your class? I'm sure most of them barely know how to put a sentence together."

Edward didn't look convinced so Victoria nudged him gently. "You're still young, don't discourage yourself. You're very bright and even if you weren't, we would still love you just the way you are." Edward looked up and she could see him pouting and his eyes were almost watering.

Victoria kneeled, not caring if her dress gets stained with mud and was face to face with Edward. "What has brought this on?" Victoria asked him as she placed her hands on his shoulders. "I always think about it, sometimes I just feel as if I don't compare to you and Hamilton. And mother used to reassure me that it's not true, but she's not here." Edward admitted.

"No one is comparing you to anyone, Eddie. There are lots of things that you are better at. Like everyone knows that you're more mature than Hamilton, its common knowledge. And mother and father will be arriving in a couple of weeks, so hang on for a while, and remember that I love you, we all do. And we love you this much because you are you and nobody else." Edward hugged his sister who hugged him back almost immediately.

"I love you, Vic," Edward murmured. "Love you too, Eddie." Victoria pulled away slightly. "But we have to go. You need to go to school for you to be smarter than me." Edward smiled at that. Standing up, Victoria took the books back in one hand and held her brother's hand in the other.

It was weird returning school after a couple of weeks off. Edward ran off as soon as he saw his friends. Victoria immediately saw Anne and Diana and the pair waved when they saw her. "I got good news for you!" Anne said excitedly. Victoria smiled, "Well, don't make me guess."

"My Aunt Josephine said that she wanted to read some of our stories, so I sent her one of hers," Diana explained. Victoria frowned. "Oh, which one of mine did you send?" She asked. "That spectacular one with the two lovers who are separated by an ocean yet the distance never severs the deep love and affection that they share," Anne explained. "I wonder where you got that inspiration from," Diana added causing her and Anne to giggle. Victoria looked away. "I just hope that she likes it and doesn't think that it's pants."

"Pants?" Anne asked in confusion. Diana ignored her. "Are you serious? You're an incredible writer and that story was one of your best. She'll love it."

"Victoria!" The three girls turned around to see Ruby running their way. "Did you send Gilbert the letter about the gold?" She asked causing Victoria to smile. "I wrote it but I've yet to send it." Ruby smiled in excitement and went to hug Victoria. "Thank you! And I love how you did your hair today!"

"Oh, I haven't noticed! It really is beautiful." Anne admitted in awe. "You're too kind. Hamilton did it for me." Victoria admitted. "Your brother is a man of many talents." Before Victoria could respond to Anne's obvious crush on her brother, the bell rang indicating the start of the school day.

"Did you see Cole? He matured a lot since harvest." Diana whispered to Victoria underneath her breath as they hung their coats on the coat hangers by the door. Victoria discreetly gazed at Cole who sat quietly at his usual seat. Victoria gave Diana a hum in agreement.

"You look pretty today."

The girls turned around to see Billy Andrews who had wide eyes, seemingly he had said something that he regretted. Victoria blinked twice at the almost speechless boy. "I mean you always look good but the thing that you did with your hair, it um, suits you." He continued as he scratched the back of his neck. Ruby and Diana from the side started giggling at the conversation that the two were having.

Victoria smiled timidly. "Thank you, that's very nice of you." She nodded her head though she was rather confused at what was happening.

"Everyone, settle down, today we will continue working on the poem 'Lancelot and Elaine'." Mr Phillips said as he entered the room. Victoria took a seat next to Anne and they opened their books. "Did something happen to Billy during harvest?" Anne asked quietly as Mr Phillips began to recite the poem. Victoria shrugged as she flipped the page. "Maybe he got hit too hard in the head with a rake," Victoria said quietly causing Anne to force to keep in a laugh.

"I think the entire poem is shameful. They should be tarred and feathered." Josie Pye's comment caught Anne and Victoria's attention.

"Josie?"

"Guinevere is married to the king, not Lancelot." Josie continues to explain her point. "Oh, Mr Phillips, can't you skip to the part where Elaine's pure and true love turns most tragical?" Anne begged with a far off look in her eyes.

"No. Do not interrupt me again." Mr Phillips said as he shot down her idea. Peace in the classroom lasted for only a few seconds before a clang was heard from the boy's section.

"Cole? What have you got there?" Mr Phillips asked as he saw the inkpot dripping over Cole's notebook. "My apologies, Mr Phillips. I'll clean it up." Cole apologised. Some of the boys started snickering at the ordeal causing Victoria's blood to boil.

"Are you doodling... while I'm tirelessly dedicating my life to your education? Blackboard! Now!" Hesitantly Cole made his way up to the board where Mr Phillips was writing a sentence for Cole to copy. Both Anne and Victoria were eyeing the book that Cole dropped. Victoria nodded at the book to give Anne the go-ahead to pick it up since she was closer to it.

Cole had finished copying the sentence by the time Anne settled back in her seat. It was written in beautiful calligraphy that Victoria could only dream to one day achieve. Of course, Mr Phillips had to ruin it by rubbing it off. "Less flourish. You're gonna need room for 50 of those."

Anne caught Victoria's eye and Victoria could see that her friend was sharing a similar look. "Guess that rake didn't hit him hard enough," Anne added as they heard Billy's laughs in the background.

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"We did quite well for our first harvest," Hamilton told Gideon as they counted the profits that they made. "We can give all the help double amounts of the money they make for the next three months," Hamilton stated, locking the money in a brown box.

"You're not keeping any of it?" Gideon asked in confusion. "It's not my call. It's not like I need it." Hamilton continued. "It must be nice. Living a privileged life where you do not need to worry about money and to have parents that love you no matter what." Gideon's voice quieted down with each word he said.

Hamilton pushed aside the box and turned around to fully face him. "You never speak about your family. Did something happen?" Hamilton asked curiously. "A lot of things happened. Let's just say that they were ashamed of who I really am and well, there is nothing I can do about that, can I?" Gideon explained.

"If you had the opportunity to change it, would you?" Hamilton asked curiously. "Change the fact that I like men? You can say it, you know." Gideon said and Hamilton nodded slowly and cleared his throat. "It would make things easier, that's for sure. But then again, it helped me realise who truly cares for me and who doesn't." Gideon continued.

Hamilton bit his lip a couple of times. "Do you think that the same thing will happen to me? Would my parents and- and Vicky and Eddie- do you think that they wouldn't want anything to do with me?" Hamilton said in a state of panic, Gideon grabbed his hands in his and ran his thumb over Hamilton's knuckles.

"I'm not gonna lie to you and say that everything would be fine because I can't be sure. But I can promise you that if that does happen, then I will be here for you and that I won't leave you alone." Gideon noticed the tears falling from Hamilton's eyes and quickly reached to wipe them away. "I truly do appreciate it, I appreciate you," Hamilton replied, and then, although hesitantly and slowly, he leaned closer, barely touching his lips against Gideon's before pulling away.

Hamilton turned red and as he was about to say something, he heard the front door unlock. "Hamilton, darling! We're back!" Hamilton jolted out of his seat as the moment was ruined by the sound of his mother's voice.

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I just want you all to be aware that the name Victoria means victory, Edward means riches or prosperous, Caroline is free or beautiful, Benedict is blessed while Hamilton means...

Wait for it (Haha, get it?)

TREELESS HILL

Just thought you would appreciate this fact.

Also I'm sorry if I spent a whole lot of time on the hair part. And I know that the hair with the flowers is something that Cole did and that it may seem as a lame attempt to make them similar, and it does have influences from there. It was something that my older cousin used to do and he actually did it quite well so I thought that it would be a nice thing to add in.

In my mind it also made sense that Hamilton is a fanatic when it comes to hair since he is a perfectionist when it comes to his.

Also, I know that I posted two chapters one day after the other but I started my christmas holidays yesterday and I'm feeling inspired.

It's not up to scratch since I didn't take too long on it. So basically, sorry if it sucks.

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