Adopted by Hamilton

Chapter 10 - Press Confrence

The newspaper, photographers and the camera men showed up at the theater and started getting at up, I sat in my seat, nervously rubbing my hands together, the conference was supposed to start in 29 minutes when the house manager came up to me and whispered, "There's a young man here to see you, he says that you're friends, he's backstage." With that he left, was William here to see me? I got up and walked backstage into the green room.

"Roonie!" William jumped up from the couch he was sitting on, picked me up by my waist and twirled me around. 

"William! I can't believe you're here! I never texted you back, how did you know where I was?"

"I got worried and I asked Mrs. Walter, she said, and I quote, 'oh some dude with pigtails took her yesterday.' So I knew you were with Lin, and then I heard about the press Confrence." He explained, I can't believe he went through that much work for me! He was the greatest.

"Why are you here?" I asked, "not to be rude, but why?" 

"Well," he laughed, "I know that this can be hard, but we have to face everything head on, even if it's the past, and I know that facing your past is the last thing you want to do, and I get it, I'm here so if you're anxious up there you can make eye contact with me and know that everything is going to be alright." He hugged me and I smiled, I loved his hugs they made me feel like no one could hurt me, like I was safe from all harm.

The house manager came backstage and told me to go back on stage and told William that if he wanted to watch the Confrence from the audience, he should go and sit down. 

I walked onstage and took my seat in between Lin and Leslie, rubbing my hands together nervously. I was handed a microphone, as was Pippa, Lin, Renée and Jazzy.

"Hello hello hello!" Lin said into his mic, "hi, and thank you for coming this afternoon, we don't have a ton of time, but we're here to publicly state, that as a collective cast we are taking in, Miss Abigail," he gestured to me, "and we intend to adopt her. We now welcome your questions." Lin sat down and exhaled. A lady in a blue pantsuit stood up.

"To Abigail, how many homes have you been in prior to this one?

I picked up my microphone and responded, "5"

"How long have you been in the system?" Another lady asked, this one wearing a green pantsuit.

"2 years. It started when I was 13."

"Will you continue to attend school?" A 3rd lady asked, this one looked like a banana, in yet another pantsuit. I didn't know how to answer that, I wasn't sure about the answer, William looked at me with confusion, and a nervous wave swept over his face. I turned to Lin, with a confused face.

"Yes, she will continue to attend school at The Beacon School." I looked at William who looked relieved.

The various Hillary Clinton's continued asking questions along those lines when a man stood up.

"Why did you leave your last home?" I gulped, I knew that this question was going to come up, it was only a matter of time. He remained standing while I looked for support in the crowd, my eyes found William and he made little motions with his hands, to remind me to breathe, I took a deep breath and lifted my microphone.

"My last home was abusive." I brought the microphone down immediately and looked at the ground, immediately the Hillary Clintons stood up and all began asking questions. 

"How so?!" The green Hilliary yelled over the others

"I'd rather not say." I said, bringing the microphone to my lips quickly.

"Who specifically? Was it a sibling or a parent?" The blue one asked.

"No comment." I responded, that was something that people said right? I continued to stare at the fabric on my dress.

"How long were you in the home?" The banana asked.

"6 months." I didn't look up when I responded. Leslie put his hand on my shoulder reassuringly. I looked up briefly to find William, his eyes met mine and he smiled reassuringly. Thankfully we got off the topic quickly, the rest of the conference went smoothly with most of the questions being pointed at the cast. 20 minutes later, the press had left the room and he only people left were the various photographers, we were getting a picture. 

After we took the picture I went out to try and find William. I walked into the green room, and he wasn't there, I went into the lobby and I looked around for him. I heard yelling coming from the other side of the room, it was Rachel.

"Why are you here?!" Rachel asked

"Moral support." William responded in a calm voice.

"BUT WHY?!"

"I don't know what you want me to say here! She's my friend! SHE NEEDED ME HERE!" 

"SHES JUST A FRIEND? REALLY?!"

"YEAH"

"THEN WHY DO ALWAYS TALK ABOUT HER? WHY DOES SHE COME UP IN EVERY CONVERSATION?! WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS TEXTING? WHY?!"

"BECAUSE I LOVE HER!!"

Thanks for reading! As always, please comment! Also, 5 reads and I update!

- Abi