3 Chapter 3: The Surprises That Await Me

Once I was done with my late breakfast and the dishes were put away, I sat on the bed and started playing Color Switch until someone knocked on my door.

"Who is it," I asked sitting up in my spot a little more comfortably since I had taken some pain medication with breakfast

"It's Lin and Renée," Lin answered, "can we come in, we'd like to talk to you," Lin said through the door as I pressed my back against the pillows.

"Yeah," I began, "you can come in," I answered and the door opened as they came in and sat on the beanbags. "What do you want to talk about," I asked as they got comfortable

Once settled, Renée began, "We need to know more about the details of your previous life," she said and I nodded

"That is if you want to talk about it," Lin added once I nodded

I shook my head, "It's fine," I began, "how much do you want to know," I asked them thinking that it would be good to get things off my chest; unless they were planning to use it to betray me.

"We want to know what you've been through," Lin began

"Things along the lines of where you were from, what you're interested in and how you came to where you are today," Renée finished. "That is if you want to talk about it," she added once more

I sighed, this was bound to come sooner rather than later, "No, you guys are fine," I began. "I was, sort of, expecting something like this to happen. You'd want to get to know me first if someone was to foster me or something."

Renée straightened herself in her beanbag, "I'm glad that you understand the need for us to know," she began calmly. "Let's start with the basics; where are you from, when were you born and when do you end up leaving your hometown."

I sighed as some of the memories of friends and family came flooding back to me, "Well," I began. "I was born on December 31st, 2000 in Toledo Ohio; I went to three different elementary schools before moving here. I was involved in an Early High School program which is where I made friends with high school students in the city," I paused taking a deep breath. "I left Toledo right after my eighth-grade recognition with my second foster family who forced me to leave and then dumped me at the first group home they found. The reason I was orphaned was because of a car crash with my mother, stepfather, and one of the high school friends that I made."

"Who survived," Lin asked as Renée was too absorbed in the story as a tear went down her cheek.

I sighed, "My friend and I did," I said remembering the look on her face when she told me. "She almost didn't because she turned around to protect me; she put her body in front of mine once the semi ran into us. It was a head-on collision but she didn't succeed in protecting me since we both flew out of the car on impact. I was thrown from the middle seat since I lost a bet, the bet was the one who could sing higher," I paused, chuckling at that memory. "She was in the backseat passenger side; our seatbelts could withstand the head-on collision and since we were about to turn, we flew out the sides of the car instead of the windshield."

"What happened after the crash, I'm sure you were both devastated," Renée said once I stopped to collect myself

I nodded, "We were both knocked out but she woke up before I did," I paused. "When I woke up, she told me that they didn't survive and that my father died of a heart attack. We both were in a coma for about two weeks and we woke up at around the same time. This all happened the summer after sixth grade for me. For her it was her Freshman year. She felt so guilty since it was to a birthday party for her," I paused once more. "After that, I was put into a group home, I stayed with another one of my friends for a long time before they caught me not reporting to the group home and put me in my first foster home. I was in seventh grade when they took me in, this family was one of the nicest families that I had. They even considered adopting me until the wife got pregnant. By the time I was done with seventh grade I was back in the group home, occasionally hanging out with the high school friends. The second family wasn't as kind as this was the one to force me to leave along with a slap to my face. They told me to face the inevitable after the man hit me, they asked me why I wanted to stay. I couldn't answer since I was in shock of being hit for the first time. Lucky for me, I was able to complete eighth grade and was out of town by midnight the night of my recognition knocking on the door of the first group home they could find in New York. The third family was a little kind but they started doing things that I'd rather not mention," I stopped as the tears and memories started taking over.

"If you want to, you can stop now," Lin began trying to reach out to me, "we're not forcing you to tell us everything."

I shook my head as I wiped the tears off my face, "No, I don't want to hide everything from you guys."

"Then go on," Renée said with a worried look on her face as she sat back and motioned for me to continue.

I took a deep breath as I remembered where I stopped, "I ended up running away from that faster family. They weren't kind at all is all I will say about them; after my social worker found me, they put me directly into my fourth foster home. This one was the first of the two to physically and mentally abuse me. They'd hit me for everything; sarcasm, wanting food, jokes, being scared, they even hit me when I didn't hear them which is pretty common for me. Then, I'm guessing one of the neighbors or a passerby finally noticed and called CSB. They took me out and put me right into the one I'm in now; in the beginning, they weren't too bad but they started getting bad at the dreams," I stopped to breathe and remember the first day that I was abused

"What dreams," Renée asked as she arched an eyebrow and Lin leaned in

"They were dreams from the last family, nightmares to be more exact," I breathed. "They started coming once I started trusting the Williams when I first told them about it, they said that they were just dreams and that nothing was going to happen. When the dreams started getting worse is when they started getting irritated with me. The first hit was when I told them that I had a dream that they sexually abused me. Mr. William had slapped me and said that I should stop making it up and go on with life. After that both the dreams and the family started to worsen," I finished as I had let my feelings take over and I broke down

"There's no need to cry," Renée began as I curled into a ball full of feelings, "no one is here to hurt you, we're going to help you as much as possible. In fact, Lin and I are here to talk to you about someone fostering you," she finished as I sobbed

Once she finished, I looked up at her, "You're kidding," I sniffed in question as she smiled and I looked towards Lin. "She's kidding, right?"

Lin smiled, "No, no she's not," he answered as I just then noticed Renée sitting next to me rubbing circles on my back.

"Why," I began as more tears rolled down my cheeks, "why me?"

Renée sighed, "My dear," she began, "I would do anything to keep anyone from the abuse you went through. Abuse is a terrible thing to go through," she replied to which Lin nodded

"Thanks," I said with a small stutter before hugging her, in that hug I motioned for Lin to join in; he did on the other side of me.

I sat on edge once I heard the sound of footsteps coming to the room, "Sweet a group hug let me join," Daveed said from the door which was left open somehow. I then laughed a little as I felt him climb onto the bed

Then another sound of footsteps came as I heard a voice that I assumed was the voice of Anthony Ramos says, "Don't forget us," with a chuckle. I laughed a little more as I felt the bed sink a little more with the weight of probably five or six other people

More people kept coming and soon it felt as if there was a mound of bodies on top of a queen-sized bed

"Okay there has got to be someone in the middle of this group hug," a voice said that I couldn't recognize. "Lin, who's in the middle," they asked as Lin chuckled

"It's me, Renée and Rose," Lin answered, "she's the girl that Renée, Daveed and I saved yesterday

Renée chuckled as Lin tried to crane his neck around while still hugging me, "It's amazing how only two or three people hugging becomes ten or fifteen people here," she said and I laughed.

After five or ten minutes passed people started getting off of the bed, taking different parts of the room as an uncomfortable silence fell over the room.

"I guess this is a good time for you to meet everyone since many of the leads are here," Lin began breaking the silence. "As you may already know, I am Lin Manuel Miranda and I play Hamilton; up next is the damn fool."

I chuckled as the man leaning up against the wall nodded his head, "That I am," he said jokingly. "My name is Leslie Odom Jr. and I play Aaron burr; Anthony you're up, man."

"Hello," he began behind Renée as she chuckled, "my name is Anthony Ramos and I play John Laurens and Phillip Hamilton. Oak, it's your turn buddy," he called out

"Hey kid," he began with a wide smile on his face as he stood up against the wall waving. "My name's Okieriete Onaodowan, people mostly call me Oak though; I play Hercules Mulligan and James Madison. Tag, Jazzy, you're it," he said looking towards one of the women who was sitting closer to Renée

"Hey," she began with a small wave, "you met me earlier but my name is Jasmine Cephas Jones and I play Maria Reynolds and Peggy," she said in the ever-famous Peggy voice. "Everyone give it up for everyone's favorite General," she called as I laughed

The man leaning up against the wall closest to Lin straightened out and stood at attention. "Christopher Jackson and I play George Washington, rise up Jonathon," he said as a smile appeared on his face

After a chuckle from everyone in the room, a tall man with a big smile stood up from the floor from behind Daveed. "My name is Jonathon Groff and I play King George the third," he said with a bow. "Now everyone give it up for America's favorite Frenchman," he added with a bigger smile

"Lafayette," everyone in the room said both in and out of character as we all had smiles on our faces.

"Bonjour, kiddo," he began right across from me, "we already met but to refresh your memory; my name is Daveed Diggs and I play Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson. Tell us your story, Pippa," he finished as Phillipa smiled

"My name is Phillipa Soo, you met me not too long ago," she began as I smiled. "I play Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, sisters stick together, Renée your turn," she finished with even a bigger grin

Renée smiled then took a breath before introducing herself, "As you may already know," she began. "My name is Renée Elise Goldsberry and I play Angelica Schuyler Church. Why don't you introduce yourself," she finished whispering that part in my ear

With a huge grin I looked around the room at the people who shared my smile, "It's nice to meet you all," I began. "My name is Rose Abigail Stevens and I'm a proud fan of Hamilton."

Leslie smirked, "Well it's a pleasure to meet you too Rose," he began, "welcome to the theatre where it happens, Richard Rogers, the stage of Hamilton."

For one reason or another, I knew this group of people was going to be with me through anything, "Thank you for taking me in," I said with a smile from ear to ear.