Alexandra Hamilton

Fifteen- Christmas Bells

The next day (Christmas Eve) when Lin came in for rehearsal, he was all smiles. "Alex! Guess what?"

"What?" I asked, setting down my cold-pizza breakfast. Lin clapped his hands giddily. "Vee and I finally decided on a new apartment! I'm going to leave early today, and we'll be meeting with our realtor to settle things. It's a fixer upper, but Vee likes that stuff, so we're expecting you to help out."

"Awesome! Lin, that's great, really! Also, I wanted to ask- Jasmine downloaded a bunch of apps on my phone and I don't know what they do."

Lin plucked up my phone and swiped through the pages. "Ah. Okay, in order, these are Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Tumblr, and Wattpad."

"Oh. I know what they are, but how do you..."

"Use them?" Lin finished my question. "Fear not, my padawan! I'll teach you later, after the show. For now, I want you to take this phone and take videos of rehearsal. I daresay your choir instructor would love to see them."

"But you told me you hate that sort of thing," I said slowly. Lin shrugged. "It's different if I give my permission. Don't get me wrong, I do hate it when people do bootlegs, but that's not to worry about now."

Groff appeared behind Lin, leaning casually on his shoulder. "Hey, boo," he said. "What're we working on today?"

Lin gave him a look and rolled his eyes. "Standard stuff. Run through the music, run through any dances we fumbled on. You know all of this- oh no. What did you do?"

Jon's eyes sparkled with amusement. "Nothing, O Great One."

Lin looked at me beseechingly. "He's lying."

"Obviously."

Jon clutched his chest as though we'd stabbed him in the heart. "Oh, the bitter pain of an infidel's rejection!" He cried, staggering backwards. Then he laughed. "Come on, you two, just come on."

When we stepped onto the stage, there was fake snow strewn about. Tinsel hung on the stair banisters, and someone had put Santa hats on all of the spotlights. Several tables of snacks and drinks were set up.

"Ta da!" Jon exclaimed, gesturing wildly at the cast. "It's a Christmas party!"

Lin's mouth fell open. "How the hell did you guys do this? I was on stage literally five minutes ago!'

Renèe came up behind Lin and pressed a button on her phone. The Mission Impossible theme began to play. "We waited until you'd gone off stage, then we sprung into action. Pippa and Jaz threw fluff everywhere. Anthony and Daveed decorated the banisters. Oak put his snowflakes artfully on the tables. Chris brought his collection of Santa hats-"

"Chris has a selection of Santa hats?" I interrupted. Renée ignored me. "And me, Leslie, and everyone else put food on the tables!" She finished as the trill ended.

"Speaking of that," I said, "I want to learn the ensemble's names! I don't know any of them!"

Renée pointed at each person in turn. "Okay. That's Carleigh, Ariana, and Sasha. Over there is Sydney and Thayne by the punch. By the way, don't drink that, that's not good... anyway, that's Emmy, Austin, Seth, and Jon chatting by the stairs, and Betsy and Ephraim are hoarding the cookies. Hey! You two!"

Betsy and Ephraim turned around, and crumbs accentuated Betsy's guilty grin. Then she grinned. "Hey! You're the kid! I'm Betsy, pleasure's all mine."

She shook my hand, and I felt Lin stiffen beside me, but I laughed to show I was fine. "Nice to meet you, too! Everyone here is just so nice, and-"

Betsy gave a roguish smirk and waved me off. "Hush, kiddo. It's our job to be nice. And even if it wasn't our job, we'd do it anyway!"