young, scrappy and hungry | a hamilton story | √

Chapter 24

Kasey had also been nervous for the second act, because of 'Take a Break', 'The Reynolds Pamphlet', and 'It's Quiet Uptown'. She was happy with how the first act went, which made her feel better about performing the second act.

But, luckily, 'Take a Break' went smoothly. It was comforting to be onstage with Pippa. Something about her seemed to wipe away all of Kasey's fears about performing as Angellica. Pippa just radiated warmth and care.

Then came 'The Reynolds Pamphlet'. Kasey stepped onstage and was focused for all of twenty seconds, and then she heard something weird going on in the audience. There was some sort of commotion and she looked out to the theatre for a brief second and was nearly blinded by someone who had turned their camera's phone flashlight on. And just because of that one moment, that one distraction, she completely just lost the accent.

When she finally could go offstage, Kasey nearly let a frustrated breath. She was so angry at herself for letting her accent slip for all of 'Reynolds Pamphlet'. She'd wanted her debut as Angelica to be so much better than she'd been doing.

She didn't have long to be angry, because soon she had to be back onstage for 'It's Quiet Uptown'. Kasey was determined to be perfect the rest of the show.

Everything else went smoothly, and Kasey finally made it to the end of the show.

The last note of 'Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story' were still echoing in the theatre when the thunderous applause began. They all took their customary bows and did their bow in one single line.

Kasey could finally stop worrying about the next songs. She'd survived her first show as Angelica Schuyler on Broadway. It had been nowhere good as Kasey had wanted it to be, and she was irritated that she'd dropped the accent so many times.

She could finally get off the stage and go back to the dressing room. She did so without really talking to anyone, unless they congratulated her on her Angelica debut. Even then, she just thanked them and continued on her way.

She yanked the ponytail out of her hair and quickly unpinned Carleigh's mic from her hair. She quickly slid all of the bobby pins out of her hair and was out of her costume and into her leggings and scarf before most of the girls even returned from the stage.

She just wanted to go home, curl up into bed, and stop thinking about the worst performance of her life. She didn't want to be reminded of how she'd let herself be distracted by the audience and her mic cutting out, and she definitely didn't want to think about how many times she'd led her American accent slip during the show.

Kasey strode to the mic turn-in bin, where Carleigh was still talking animatedly with Jonathan. She slid the mic into Carleigh's labeled spot and then turned to head back to the dressing room to get her stuff.

"Fantastic job, Small Kasey," Jonathan called.

"It was probably the worst performance of my life," Kasey called back as she kept walking back to the dressing room.

Soon, Carleigh had caught up with her. "Kasey, it was an amazing performance. You should be celebrating, not beating yourself up over it!"

"I dropped the accent so many times it's not even funny, Carleigh. I'm supposed to be a Broadway actress. If I can't even sing in an American accent, I don't even deserve to be here," Kasey snapped. "I'm sorry, I'm not mad at you, I'm just irritated that I messed up so many times."

"Your mic cutting out wasn't your fault, and the 'Reynolds Pamphlet' accent drop isn't even that noticeable. It wasn't on a line that you speak in a British accent. You were so amazing."

"Carleigh, I'm sorry, I love you so much, but I just need a couple minutes by myself," Kasey said, turning around. "Don't take it personally, please, but just give me a minute."

Carleigh blinked. "Okay, just let me know when you want to go home," she said, stepping away. Kasey gave a thin smile.

"I will, but we're probably going to have to stage door," she said, and then disappeared around the corner. 

~~~~~~~

How would you all feel about a sequel, with Kasey in HamilTour as the bullet?