History Has Its Eyes On You ~ A Hamilton Fanfiction (Book 1, Act 1)

El Artista

(Y/N POV)

A fragile hand slowly peeked around the corner. The tender boy who had escorted us here before appeared, fear consuming his eyes. He must be Charles. "Show this young lady around," Mrs Taylor ordered, "Mr Hamilton and I are going to have a nice chat..." Charles obliged, waiting for me to follow him.

I did as his trembling hands begged, gently trailing towards him. He edged backwards, and I traced his footsteps. Floorboards creaked underneath our feet, sending waves of sound through the house. Charles fiddled with the hands nervously, stopping outside of the living room. Instead of introducing me to the surroundings, he pointed to a young girl sitting by herself at the window. Although she couldn't distinctively see it, she was tracing something across the window with her finger.

Her head tilted to the side, realising that we were there. "Oh, hermano, hermano! You didn't get into trouble!" Her accent was definitely foreign; it sounded Spanish. In any case, the youngster galloped up to Charles, embracing him. "Perdóname, hermano doesn't like speaking much..."
"Hermano?" I questioned.
"Sibling." she answered plainly.
"Oh."

"I'm Valentino Fernández. It's nice to meet you!" She took my hand, shaking it wildly.
"Y/N." I answered.

Wait hold on that's not my name.

"Sophie!!" I corrected. Charles glanced at me suspiciously, wondering why I'd just said two names. "What I meant was that my name is Sophie Y/N Hamilton... yeah."
"Oh! And this is my hermano, Charles Fernández!" Valentino introduced. "I suppose he wants me to show you around."
"Sure, if you want to." I agreed.
"¡Genial!" she exclaimed. For such a small child, her energy seemed to be unlimited.

"This is the living room: it's where I spend most of my time." Valentino started.
"Why don't you play with the other kids?" I asked. I looked outside of the window, observing as the boy and girl now lay tirelessly on the grass.
"They can't understand me." Valentino giggled. "They think we're strange."
"I see..." Charles and I followed as she skipped merrily around the room.

Valentino pointed to a door leading out of the living room. "The kitchen is through there. We can't go in there unless it's time to eat."
"Nice." She parted up the stairs, unveiling a door to the left and right. She opened up the right door, where plenty of beds were neatly arranged alongside the wall. "Señor Hamilton bought us these, the hombre you came here with."
"Yeah, he's my uncle."
"Perdón?" Valentino questioned.
"Tío." Charles whispered.
"Oh!" A big smile latched across her face.

"So will you be staying with us?" she asked eagerly.
"I... actually don't know." I admitted. "My uncle is going back to war soon, so I assume so." Valentino waved her arms excitedly, pouncing on to a bed.
"This is my bed. You can sleep next to me!" she squealed. "Besides, there's only the three of us! Everyone else has a home to go to."
"You're orphans?"
"Yep! Orphans can live here and get... learnt... as long as they do chores!" she explained.

"Oh, cool. So why aren't there more?" I asked.
"They all got adopted." Valentino gagged.
I laughed at her remark. "You don't like it?"
"Who'd want to be adopted? Families are for cowards!" I raised my eyebrows, not expecting something like that from an infant. "I'll let you get settled in!" Valentino turned to leave, only to have Charles follow her. She shoved the door in Charles' face when he tried to exit.

"Valentino, por favor--!" Charles frantically tried avoiding my eyesight.
"¡No me des 'Valentino'!" -she looked at me- "Creo que deberías conocer a la dama."
"VALENTINO!!"
"¡Buena suerte!" She slammed the door, causing the room to shake. Charles sighed, placing his hand on the wall.

I awkwardly sat on my soon-to-be bed, puffing the pillows up. "Nice place, huh?" Charles didn't reply. He was motionless, glaring at the door. What a tricky situation to be stuck in: two socially awkward kids, locked in a room together.