What you know (Hamilton cast)

Eighty-two

"I cannot believe you're going through with this." Lin says.

"I just did. There's a dog on my leash."

"Name?"

"Ruby. Shih tzu. Tiny and needing to be groomed."

"I'm proud of you."

"I feel broke."

"You're not broke."

"But I feel it."

"You have a money saving problem."

"Yeah. And a box full of books that won't be on a shelf for at least a month."

"Just make sure you eat."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. How was the show?"

"Fine. Who are you covering there?"

"I don't think anyone. Just ensemble. Amber covers Peggy and Angelica. How's Moana coming?"

"It's coming."

"Should you be working on it right now?"

"Maybe." I laugh.

"Alright. Go work. I have to groom Lucy."

"Yourself?"

"Should I have put that on my resume?" He laughs and we say goodbye. Lucy has energy but she's not too poorly behaved. Less energy than most dogs but still. I had a job in high school and just from being in the store during the dog training, I know a little about training dogs.

"You got a dog!" Amber says when I answer my phone.

"I did."

"We'll come back to this. Wanna come to dinner?"

"I'm broke."

"I doubt it."

"And I can't leave Lucy alone quite yet."

"But you've been here two days and I haven't seen you."

"I've been doing a lot of boring stuff. And then lose money. Calculate how much I lost. Repeat."

"Is this money from teaching?"

"Yeah. And choreographing."

"You'll earn more now. You'll be fine."

"I know but the next two weeks, I don't want to spend much. You guys can come over if you'd like. I can't say that there is anything interesting here but Lucy and diet coke. Tv isn't hooked up."

"I'll help you hook it up."

"Thanks."

"Be there at seven?"

"Sure."
-
"Lucy!" Sam says when Lucy jumps up to greet Sam, Justice, Candace, and Amber. Amber helps me with the tiny TV as they play with Lucy.

"We brought coke."

"I told you that I had some." Sam opens my fridge.

"Now that is sad."

"She has a saving problem." Amber says. "This week has been torturous to her."

"I've noticed. Do you have a coffee machine?"

"Shit. You know what, It's all good. Who needs food anyways? You can go like three weeks without it." Sam hands us each a coke and says,

"Well if I ever see you like I saw you that day you showed up alone at Ambers, I'll put the IV in myself."

"I was not that bad." I defend myself.

"You were shaking so bad and looked so sick. We were gonna bring you to the hospital."

"Thank you for not bringing me."

"I was pretty scared."

"Can we move on, please." I say, agitated.

"Oh. Yeah, sure." Sam says, surprised by mot voice. She lets it go and we move on to normal conversation.
-
Lins POV
"I can't believe she left this." I say, placing the box on the desk.

"It was hidden. She must have not checked carefully enough." I remove the lid of it to find lose pictures and letters and suck in the small box. I grab the pictures and look at the one on top.

"I can't get over how similar she looks." I say as Vanessa grabs a note. I flip through. There are a few blurry ones of her and friends when she must have been five. There is one of her in a dress when she must have been ten. She has black shoes and a nice dress and long hair with split ends so the braids go barely halfway through her hair. She's not smiling and shadows of bruises are on her cheek. It's chilling.

I flip though, finding some of her in a school uniform when she was probably twelve. She did mention going to a school on a scholarship but then being taken out. There is never a smile. She is always sad in these photos. I can't help but think again about the childhood she had lost.