Yellow (A Hamilton (Jeggy) Fanfiction)

Part 6: I Remember

<Peggy's POV>
     Every pair of eyes is on Maria and I as we walk back to the group of teenagers.

     "Alright." Maria says to me. "We have a quick little prayer as youth before we go into the church. You can join us if you'd like." She, along with the other teens around her, folds her arms and bows her head. Even the little girl John was holding on his hip did it too. So I, in turn, mimicked everyone else.

     A boy started talking, and I cracked open my eye too see what the heck he was doing. Oh, I realize. He's praying. That makes sense.

     I close my eyes again right as he says "Amen," and everyone else repeats him.

     The youth all smile at each other as they head into the church, and John falls into step beside Maria and I.

     "How you doing?" He asks. "I didn't know you were in our youth group."

     "I'm not." I explain, waving to the little girl, who had waved shyly at me. "Maria invited me."

     "Cool, cool. So are you a member?"

     "Used to be. Two years ago." 

     "That's a long time."

     "Yeah." The girl pulls on a lock of John's hair, and he turns to her.

     "Hey, Pegs." Maria whispers to me.

     "Yeah?"

     "I've actually got to be at the front. I'm a leader."

     "Oh, alright. Go ahead." She pushes forward, and I turn back to John.

     "This is baby Martha." He says, gesturing to the little girl. At my slightly confused look he adds, "She's my littlest sister."

     "Well, it's nice to meet you, Martha. I'm Peggy."

     "Peggy the Pirate!" She squeals. John shushes her and moves to apologize.

     "Peggy the pirate." I agree. I close my eye and curl one finger into a hook. "Arrr, matey!"

     Martha squeals in delight again, and I smile at the little child.

     "Hey, John." She whispers loudly into his ear. "Can Peg sit with us?"

     John turns to me with a question in his quirked eyebrow. "My family's all coming, if you want. Or you can sit with Maria."

     "I'll sit with you." I respond. "Maria said she's busy during church."

     "Yay!" Shouts Martha, throwing her hands in the air and almost falling out of John's grasp.

     With the other teenagers, we enter the church and I sit with John in the back. "So, where's your family?" He asks.

     "I don't know, actually. They should be coming soon, I would think."

     "Don't you want to sit with them? I mean, they are your family."

     "Not in the way that most families are family." I reply, looking to the right as a woman and three kids come over to our bench. John stands up to let them in, and I follow. They pass me, John, then Martha before sitting down. Martha climbs up onto John's lap and sits there, and I find myself longing for something like that.

     "John, who's this?" The woman asks, gesturing to me over the kids' laps.

     "Mom, this is Peggy, Peggy this is my mom, James, Henry, and Mary."

     "Nice to meet you all." I say, waving.

     "Pretty dress." Mary whisper-yells over her brothers.

     "Thanks!" I whisper-yell back as the session begins. A man in a suit and tie walks up to the podium, introducing what song we'll be singing and who will be saying the opening prayer. Another prayer? I thought as we began singing- or, more honestly, everyone besides me began singing. This is going to be a long, perhaps happy, day.

____________________________

<John's POV>

     I can sense Peggy slowly losing interest in Brother Jerom's talk. From the way her legs were crossed, her elbow holding her head up, and the raised eyebrow she gave at the speaker, I knew I had to do something.

     I carefully move Martha off of my lap and stand up, gesturing for Peggy to come with me. She blinks twice before standing and following me outside.

     "You okay?" I ask, starting to walk into the courtyard.

     "Yeah. I-" She pauses for a moment. "I don't really know what's going on, I guess. There's a lot of stuff I don't even remember learning when I was a member, um, and then my family walked in and-" She cuts off again holding a hand on her cheek. She blinks hard and looks at the ground. "They didn't even look at me, they haven't sent me a text, they don't wonder where I am."

     "Peggy, I-"

     She holds a hand in front of her. "Let me rant. If it had been Angelica or Eliza, or even one of my brothers, or anyone else, my dad would have sent out texts to everyone in the neighborhood, asking if they'd seen his child. But, with Peggy the forgotten Schuyler, not even one simple 'where are you?' text. And this has been going on for some time. I wake up early, go outside, walk around, go to school. Not even a 'good morning, Peggy.' from my dad or anyone, not a 'have a good day at school' before I leave out the door by myself. Not even a simple 'hello' from anyone. Anyone, John! Not even one student says hi to me at school. No teacher truly knows my name by face, no one remembers me for more than one second!" I catch a tear slipping down her face and hold myself back from wiping it off her cheek.

     "I remember you." I whisper. "I'll always remember you, Margarita 'Peggy' Schuyler." I pull her into my arms and she sobs against my chest. She sobs for many minutes before finally pulling away, red-eyed.

     "Sorry." She says, wiping her nose with the side of her thumb. She avoids my gaze. "But thanks." Another tear slips past the barrier of her eyelids, and she blinks forcefully. "I-uh- think I'm gonna go home now."

     "I can walk you, if you'd like."

     She inhales deeply, then shakes her head. "No thanks, John. I'll see you around."

     I put my hands in the pockets of my too-short suit pants. "Yeah. See you."

     She turns around and stalks off in the direction of Maria's house, presumably to grab her clothes and return home.