"Hey kid. Up and at 'em" I woke up confused, this wasn't Lin, Vanessa, Seb or even Tobi. I opened my eyes to see Daveed.
"Daveed, what are you doing here?" I asked, confused. "Why are you in my room? Why are you waking me up?"
"I'm taking you to school." He said, "now, come on, get up."
"But, why?" I asked, throwing the blankets off of me.
"I'll explain in the car, now, get ready for school, I'll be in the living room." With that he left and I stood up to a familiar pain in my lower abdomen. It was sharp, somewhat stabbing, I clutched my stomach and groaned a little. I waddled around my room and changed for school, then grabbed a small pink bag from a drawer. I started my period.
I made it into the kitchen, after preparing for the blood that was going to be pouring out of my uterus for the next week.
"Vanessa, can I have Advil?" I asked, putting my small pink bag in my backpack.
"Sure, why?" She asked, going to the medicine cabinet and unlocking it. Of course, that's locked now.
"Um," I didn't want to say it in front of Daveed, who was standing nearby. I ended up just pantomiming stabbing myself in the gut.
"Oh! Sure!" She said, realizing, and handing me Advil with water, "keep the bottle for the day."
"Thanks." I smiled, putting the bottle in my pink bag.
"Come on Kid." Daveed grabbed my shoulders, and spun me towards the door. "School is that-a-way."
"Thanks Vanessa! Bye!" I called to her on my way out. "Ok, so what is this thing that you are planning with Lin and why does it involve you going to my school?" I asked, getting in the elevator.
"Just, hear me out. Ok, so, I'm was a substitute teacher, you know, pre-Hamilton." I nodded to show my understanding.
"Wasn't that in Oakland?" I asked.
"Yeah, but I'm certified in New York as well, anyways, I called your school last night, asking if I could sit in on a couple classes, to feel out the school, to see if I could sub here." He explained getting in the drivers seat of his car
"Wait, you're going to school with me?" I asked, getting in the passenger seat.
"Not technically. But, yes." He said, pulling out of the parking lot.
"And, my principals cool with this?" I asked, I mean, Mr. Shrum didn't even call me by my correct last name.
"Well, yes and no. Mr. Shrum okay'd me sitting in on classes, but, he does not know who I am, or that I know you."
"Wait wait, how are you going to follow me around then?"
"I'm allowed, no, encouraged to see a variety of classes, so, I'm just going to go class to class with you."
"Sweet." I smiled.
"So, if anyone tries to pick a fight with you, nope." He pulled into my schools parking lot. "Come child." He said, getting out of the car, "where's the main office?" He asked, walking to the front doors.
"To your right." I said, stepping inside.
"I'll be right out." He patted my back a little, then walked into the main office.
"Abigail?" I heard a voice behind me, and spun around, Sarah.
"Hey Sarah." I smiled, Nicks ex-girlfriend just had to show up.
"So, I read an article about you yesterday, very interesting." She said, and I took a deep breath, exhaling slowly, "I mean, I can't say I was surprised. You were always in tears when I was with Nick, although back then, I thought it was your weight." She smiled a little, and I glared back. "Although, you lost that. Now you just look, sickly. I know what it is. You're anorexic." She spat, before I could say anything back, I heard a voice behind me.
"She's not anorexic." Daveed came up behind me, putting his hand on my shoulder. "Kid, where's your first class? We should go." He spun me away from Sarah.
"Upstairs, thanks." I replied.
"I'm not gonna lie for you anymore." He added, and my heart sped up.
"I'm not anorexic." I said.
"Yeah you are. It's alright, we're here to help, always here. I mean, as long as Lin keeps feeding you pizza via airplane fork, we'll be fine." He said, and I giggled.
"My class is 201, right here." I motioned towards the classroom.
"Spanish, right?" He asked, opening the door.
"Yep," I replied "and thanks." I added, in reference to the door.
"No problem Kid." He smiled, and followed me into class.
"Abigail, why is Daveed here?" Georgia asked, as I sat down next to her.
"Honestly, I'm not quite sure." I replied. "Pretty sure it was Lin's idea."
"Hey, Hamilgirl, I read something interesting about you last night." This really obnoxious kid named James sat behind me, really obnoxious.
"James, shut up, it's none of your business." Georgia spat.
"It's all over the Internet, it's my business."
"How does that make it your business?" Georgia asked.
"It looks like this seat is open." I heard Daveed coming over, he came up behind me, and legitimately shoved James out of his seat, and sat down.
"Um, alright then, was it, um, Dahvie?" My teacher fumbled Daveeds name.
"Daveed Diggs."
"We're gonna call you Mr. Diggs." My teacher smiled, and sat down at his desk, waiting for the bell to ring.
"Um, what just happened?" I asked.
"Your teacher said that I could sit in an empty seat, so, I just sat here." He explained. "Oh, hey Georgia!" He greeted Georgia who sat next to me.
"Hate to break it to you Dave," James said, sitting in the seat next to Daveed, "I was sitting there."
"No, no you weren't." Just as Daveed said that, the bell rang, I looked to my left, Josie wasn't here. Oh. She missed out on a fun day. Daveed already shoved James out of a chair.
"Hello class." My teacher stood up, "you may have noticed that there's a, very tall, adult man in the room. This is, Da, Daveed Diggs." He stumbled a bit on the pronunciation. "And he's a substitute teacher who is just here feeling out the school, so just, forget he's here. Anyways..." My teacher trailed off into the lesson. About halfway through class, I heard the door swing open.
"I'm sorry, counselors." Josie handed a pass to my teacher and sat down next to me.
"Hey Jo." Daveed said from behind me.
"Hey... Daveed." She replied, "Abi. Why is Daveed in James seat?" She whispered to me.
"Um, I'm not quite sure. I think it was Lin's idea,"
"Oh. Um, ok." She replied, then turned to face the front of the room.
After Spanish was choir, and to be honest, I was either going to really enjoy it, or it was going to be really awkward.
"So," Josie elbowed me in the side on our way to choir, "why is Daveed here? And Daveed, please feel free to answer this question." She added.
"Well, in all honesty, I'm kinda just here to fight anyone and everyone who decides to be a jerk." He smiled.
"Alright. That's fun." She got out, as we made it to the choir room. We came in, and once again, Daveed went over to my teacher to explain what he was doing, and I sat down.
"Well, do you sing?" I heard my teacher ask Daveed.
"I do, a bit." He smiled.
"What part?"
"Generally Tenor, but I can do Bari as well."
"Fantastic," she said, "then you can join in if you want."
"Awesome thanks." He smiled, and walked to the Baritone section. As he walked to the Bari's, he passed the Basses.
"Ow!" I spun around because I heard William yelp. "That hurt, wait, why are you here?" He asked.
"Punk." Daveed said under his breath, not responding to William.
"Abigail," William said, "why is he here."
"I'm here," Daveed started, "to make sure nothing happens to Abi today. You know, like, getting harassed by her ex-boyfriend." He said, and I have never been more grateful for a class bell in my life.
We made it through Choir, I think literally everyone realized that Daveed was not a sub, because his voice was amazing. I really wasn't looking forward to Biology, my teacher really bothered me. He was kinda, you know, against me.
Biology ended up going well, surprisingly. I mean, I kept a low profile, and I think Daveed learned a thing or two about the wonders of Meiosis. Before I knew it, it was lunch. We were walking upstairs to where I generally ate, when I felt a hand on my shoulder.
"All I can say is wow." I spun around to see Luke. "I read about you yesterday. Wow, now, don't take my wow as surprise, take it as, wow, your suicide was just written about and published." I shifted uncomfortably where I was standing.
"Shut up." Daveed said to him.
"No, you don't get it dude, it's legit, she tried to kill herself, and failed. Like, the drugs she took wouldn't of killed her even if no one helped her." He explained, and I looked down at the ground.
"Please stop talking." He said, putting his hand on my shoulder.
"No, dude, look it..." He trailed off, "you're Daveed Diggs." He realized finally. "Ah, I saw the show about a month-ish ago. Oh gosh dude, you were fantastic." Luke completely changed to subject.
"Well, thanks, but, I think you should go."
"Why, oh, wait, you're with, because of the whole 'adoption' thing, you're... Oh." I think he realized what was going on, then left.
•••
The rest of the day went relatively smoothly. Daveed had to leave halfway through math, to work on a rap for his new album. Lin ended up picking me up from school. Today, they were announcing the winners of the Pulitzer Prizes, so I was continuously checking my phone.
"Hey." Lin said, as I got into his car. "How was school?" He asked, pulling away from the pick up zone.
"School was great." I smiled, continuously refreshing my Twitter feed, to keep tabs on the Pulitzer Prizes.
"Great, did Daveed blend in?"
"Um, have you ever seen Daveed Diggs blend in, no. But he was great."
"Well that's wonderful." He smiled, taking a left turn. "I'm glad it worked out."
I turned my attention to my phone, which kept telling me who won Pulitzers, until I saw this flash up on my screen.
"Ahh!" I screamed a little, "oh my gosh!" I yelped.
"What is it, are you alright? Did something happen?" He sort of freaked out, which was bad because he was driving and when he drives, he really needs to focus on driving.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. Sorry."
"What happened?" He asked, "and does it have anything to do with why my phone is freaking out right now?" I looked at his phone, which was sitting in a cup holder and was flashing, showing texts coming in.
"You won!" I said excitedly.
"What did I win this time?" He asked, and I rolled my eyes.
"'What did I win this time?'" I mimicked him in that voice that no one actually has, but you always mimic people with.
"Hey! Rude!" He said, pulling into the parking lot.
"No, you actually won something pretty big. But, I mean, if you don't care."
"No, what did I win?" He asked, parking
"You obviously don't care." I grabbed my bag, opening my car door.
"Abigail Leigh Miranda, tell me what happened."
"Ok, you busted out the middle name." I smiled, "you won the Pulitzer."
"Wait what?" He asked.
"Yep."
"I won a Pulitzer? No way, no way. Oh gosh, no, you're joking, I didn't, did I?"
"Why would I joke about that? Yes! You won!"
"Pulitzer and Hearst they think we're nothin'" he started singing under his breath, "are we nothin'?" He sang louder.
"No!" I shouted.
"Pulitzer and Hearst they think they got us, do they got us?" He sang.
"No!"
"Even though we ain't got hats or badges we're a union just by sayin' so!" He basically belted as we got out of the elevator.
"And the World Will Know!" We yelled together walking into the apartment.
•••
Sorry this is late. I was at a party last night.
Thanks for reading!
- Abi