Alicia stood at the front of the classroom shushing her overexcited students.
The school break was imminent and they were all buzzing with the thought of having a week off.
"Ok settle down little superstars.
Samantha would you like to carry on reading from where we finished yesterday please."
She settled herself back on her chair and ran her fingers gently over the pages, following along with the story as the little girl read.
Her mind started to wander as she listened.
She thought of Lin and felt herself getting annoyed. What a shitty trick to pull. She hoped his ego boost was worth it.
"Stt.....sttteeee"
She jolted back to the room.
".... Steps, well done keep going
Samantha."
Lin had no idea where he was going, he just knew the general area.
"Surely there can't be many schools for the blind and partially sighted in Greenwich Village."
He also had no real idea of what he was going to say when he got there, he had made a split second decision to find her over his 5th coffee of the morning, which in hindsight was probably not the best time to be making life choices.
He wanted to make it right.
He Googled the area and managed to find it 5 minutes walk from the subway.
The building in front of him was an interesting mix of modern and old.
There was a playground outside but no one was in it.
"Maybe I should have called first."
He walked up to the door and pressed the bell, standing back to look up at the windows on the next floor.
He heard footsteps and smiled as the door was answered by a man who was balancing papers, paints and empty toilet rolls in his arms.
"Hi, can I help you?"
"Morning. I hope so, I'm sorry to come by unannounced but I'm ..."
"Lin-Manuel Miranda. You're Lin- Manuel Miranda!"
"I... yes I am. My voice gave me away huh?"
The man frowned at him. "Nope. Your face. I can see mate."
Lin shook his head. "Oh God I'm sorry. I keep messing up big time"
The man laughed. "Hey don't sweat it. We're all winging it here, and we're all thick skinned."
He gave up trying to shuffle things from one arm to the other and dropped them all on the floor.
He held out his hand.
"Right now I'm desperately trying to remember if I was told we were having a special guest visit today, although I'm sure I'd remember and I'm trying to look as though I'm cool with standing here talking to a star. Nice to meet you. I'm Luke."
Lin laughed and shook his hand.
"No, my bad. I've come unannounced. I'm actually looking for Alicia. I hope I've got the right place?"
"Lis? Yeah you have, I was just taking these to her actually, am I allowed to ask, is this business or pleasure?"
"Business, fact finding I guess."
"Is she expecting you?"
"No, thought i'd swing by on the off chance. We met yesterday and got talking. I've just got a few things I'd like to clear up, and I'd like her help with something."
Luke nodded and gestured to the pile of things on the floor. "They're making rockets this afternoon, thought I'd try and be clever and save myself a journey by taking them all at once. Which as you can see is going really well."
Lin laughed and bent down to help him pick things up.
"That's not an American accent."
"No, British. Manchester to be precise. Been here a couple of years now though.
You good to carry all that?"
Lin nodded. "Yep. Got it"
"Ok, well, it's not really protocol but I'm pretty sure I can vouch for who you are without filling forms in"
