Corset in Congress (A Hamilton Genderbend)

Chapter Three: My Shot

Burr's POV

Alexandra's sauntered over to join the three men, who are looking at her with expressions that I don't like. Lafayette is completely in awe, impressed with the courage she's shown in stating her controversial opinion. Mulligan's slamming his hand on the tables, whooping, encouraging her to stand for what she believes in.

And Laurens... well, he's helpless.

"I am not throwing away my shot! I am not throwing away my shot? Ayo I'm just like my country, I'm young scrappy and hungry, and I'm not throwing away my shot!" She raps, words flying out of her mouth effortlessly, leaving the rest of us gaping.

"I'ma get a scholarship to King's College. I prob'ly shouldn't brag, but dag, I amaze and astonish! The problem is I gotta lot of brains but no polish! I gotta holler just to be heard, with every word I drop knowledge!"

I feel a pang of empathy. She's a bastard, orphan, immigrant, and a woman. Of course it's hard to be heard when people in power are unwilling to listen.

Heads are nodding, feet are tapping, and Alexandra jumps on top of a table, red in the face from all the excitement. Replacing her former exhaustion is a new light, and the atmosphere is energizing her, refueling her.

"I'm a diamond in the rough, a shiny piece of coal, trying to meet my goal. My power of speech? Unimpeachable! Only nineteen, but my mind is older. These New York streets get colder, I shoulder, every burden, every disadvantage. I have learned to manage! I don't have a gun to brandish, I walk these streets famished! The plan is to fan this spark into a flame, but damn, it's getting dark so let me spell out my name!

"I am the--"

But before she can finish, the others join in. This will be interesting, I think, amused. They're going to trip over each other. This will be fun. I order another drink, and relax for the first time since this fiasco started.

"A-L-E-X-A-N-D," they start out strong, but as they reach the end of her name they grow uncertain, and they fall out of time with each other. "E-R-ah...?"

Somehow Alexandra recovers, but not before glaring at her companions as if to say, Really? It's not that difficult! She smooths back her hair, which has grown even wilder, putting her glasses safely into her breast pocket, to avoid them slipping off her nose in the excitement.

"We are, uh, meant to be!" she improvises, before continuing, regaining strength with every line, infusing her words with righteous indignation and wild gesticulations. "A colony that runs independently! Meanwhile Britain keeps shitting on us endlessly! Essentially, they tax us relentlessly, then King Gorge turns around, runs a spending spree! They ain't never gonna set our descendants free, so there WILL be a Revolution in this century! Enter me!"

Laurens, Lafayette, and Mulligan chime in, "She says in parentheses," which, I admit, is cleverer than I expected from a bunch of smashed dreamers.

"Don't be shocked when your hist'ry book mentions me! I will lay down my life if it sets us free! Eventually you'll see my ascendancy!" She promises, her mask of selfless revolutionary slipping as I get a glimpse at the ugly truth-- she's full of pride. That'll be her downfall, I predict. Just you wait.

Then she's back to being the model of a dissatisfied American colonist, as she and Laurens start on what I like to think of as the chorus, if this were a musical. Which it isn't, of course, it's just plain old, regular life.

"I am not throwing away my shot! I am not throwing away my shot! Ayo I'm just like my country, I'm young, scrappy and hungry, and I'm not throwing away my shot!"