young, scrappy and hungry | a hamilton story | √

Chapter 36

About an hour later, they decided to leave and get ready for their shows. Seeing Jace had made Kasey feel a little better about everything. For a blissful two hours, she hadn't thought about Wendy or Paul at all.

When she got back home, Carleigh was lying on the floor, still in her dancing shoes and her tank top. She was on her phone.

"Why are you on the floor?" Kasey asked.

"I'm tired," Carleigh said. She sat up. "Isn't that my jacket?"

Kasey had forgotten what she was wearing. She looked down at the jackrt. "Yeah. Nothing of mine was clean- I can go change if you want."

"It's fine. It looks good on you," Carleigh told her. "How was Jace?"

"He was fine. He forced me to learn my Hogwarts house," Kasey informed her friend, while flopping down on the couch. "I'm apparently a Gryffindor."

"That's good," Carleigh said. She had gotten up and was looking through the cupboards. She pulled out a chocolate chip muffin and started taking off the wrapper. Her phone dinged and Carleigh checked it while simultaneously picking apart the muffin. "Lin wants to know if you want to do your Ham4Ham against Daveed today. He says only if you're up for it."

Kasey only hesitated for a split second. "Tell him I'll do it," she said.

~~~~~~

The busier Kasey was, the better she felt. She knew as soon as she stopped being active, she would start thinking about her foster parents again. She tried as hard as possible to keep doing something, anything.

Daveed met her by the stage door, where Lin was waiting for the go-ahead from tech to start the Ham4Ham show. He gave her an uncharacteristic hug.

"You're a strong human, Kasey Winslow," he said. Kasey just swallowed, looking at the stage door.

"Thank you, Daveed," she said finally.

Lin gave them the thumbs up and opened the stage door. Immediately, Kasey could hear the crowd scream. Daveed held the door open the tiniest crack so they could hear when Lin wanted them to come out.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have a very special Ham4Ham show for you tonight! Please welcome, to perform Cabinet Battle #1, Daveed Diggs!" Lin shouted.

Daveed slapped Kasey a high-five before opening the door and stepping outside. The fans started screaming again.

"Hello hello hello!" Daveed said into the microphone. "Now, you may think that I will be performing with Lin, but you were wrong. Please welcome, the smallest cast member, Kasey Winslow, to perform alongside me."

Kasey took a deep breath and opened the door.

Immediately, she was hit with the cold December air and the sound of the fans shouting in excitement.

"Now, I decided to make a little bet with Kasey. Even if you don't win the lotto, we need your help with this. You will vote for either me or Kasey, to see who performed better in the Cabinet Battle. It will be on Twitter. Whoever wins will get to choose the song sung by the other actor at the next Ham4Ham," Daveed announced. "If I win, I have selected the song 'What'd I Miss' for Kasey to sing for you guys."

"And for Daveed, I chose 'Helpless' to sing if he loses," Kasey said, taking the microphone from Daveed.

"Kasey will be rapping as Jefferson, and Daveed will be rapping as Hamilton, to keep it fair. Alright, begin!" Lin said excitedly, and then handed Kasey the microphone he had been holding.

Kasey managed not to mess up at all, and she had decided to keep her British accent. It was hard enough just to perform the cabinet battle- relearning it in an American accent was ridiculous.

Once the song was over, the audience burst into cheers. Kasey and Daveed both bowed together, and then they went back inside to get ready for the show.

~~~~~~

Kasey quickly put on her costume and did her makeup and hair as quickly as she could. She only had about twenty minutes until places.

"I listened to Cabinet Battles from here," Ariana said. Kasey could see her in the mirror, patting her hair just to make sure that her mic was in place. "It sounded really, really good. You don't sing in your British accent that often, so I was surprised, but I think the British accent sounds amazing in the cabinet battle."

"Thanks," Kasey said gratefully. "I wasn't sure how everyone would feel about it, but with everything going on..."

Ariana noticed her trail off and jumped in quickly. "It was fantastic. Next time you understudy Angelica, you should ask Lin if you can do it all in a British accent. It would be so cool!"

"We'll see," Kasey told her friend. "Do you know where Carleigh is?"

"She might be in the ensemble quick change room. I would check there," Ariana suggested. "I hope you have a great show, Kasey!"

"You too, Ariana," Kasey said. She grabbed her water bottle and headed down to the quick change room.

Carleigh was there, checking to make sure that all of her props had been put in their normal places by the props department.

"Hey, how are you doing?" Carleigh asked, looking up when Kasey walked into the room. "I heard your rap against Daveed went well."

"It did," Kasey said, nodding. "And I'm doing better, thanks, Carleigh."

"I hope you win."

"I hope so, too," Kasey agreed. "I really, really want to see Daveed sing 'Helpless'".