Okay, I wrote this on my plane flight home... great passer of time, I guess! I'm not sure what y'all think about Peggy, but I AM Peggy. If you'd like, share which Hamilton character *you* are in the comments. Thanks to theater104 for supporting, as usual.
But as he's about to kiss me, I twirl out of his grasp and blow him a kiss. "I apologize, Mr. Burr, sir. I don't think that right now is the right time. Have a nice evening!"
I run into the ballroom again, and find Angelica in a crowd of men, all hanging onto her every word. I pull her hand, and she follows me to a table. As we sit, I burst into laughter.
"How was it?" She asked, crossing her arms.
I wipe my eyes with a handkerchief, "the funniest thing I've done in a while. He thought he had me wrapped around his finger, but I led him on so well! I've never seen a man so disappointed since that drunken solider at the bar last week."
Angelica giggled, "Great job, Peggy! I did the same with this Mister Hercules Mulligan. Didn't work as well, since he got one kiss in..." She made a disgusted face, "ew, to say the least."
"How's Eliza doing?" I looked over the crowd, trying to see a glimpse of her blue silk frock.
Her face went from happy to something I didn't recognise. Jealously? My eldest sister was never jealous. It was always me, sitting in my own sadness, that I wasn't as beautiful as her, or as kind as Eliza. I was just the silly little girl. The young one with no experience.
Angelica was the golden girl, everyone's favorite. She was the oldest, and the wittiest, and the prettiest. She's the one all the men went for.
I had no clue why she was jealous of our quiet sister.
After the ball, Eliza was brushing her hair, reading a book. Angelica was writing in her leather bound journal and eating an apple. I, unlike my sisters, who were doing quiet tasks, sat playing the piano. It was a song my mother always sang to us at night. A lullaby of sorts, a simple melody. But I added a harmony, a complicated theme weaving through the original notes. Both of my siblings put down their books, and joined me by the piano.
"Hush, little darlings, don't say a word, Mother's buying you a mockingbird-" Angelica sang, wiping a tear from her eye at the familiar melody.
"A mockingbird..." Eliza echoed, sitting next to me on the piano chair.
I join them in the words, all of us harmonizing like one being.
"Hush little darlings, don't say a word... Mother loves you more than anything..." we finished, tears streaming down our faces.
The mere memory of Mother made me sniffle. I had known her the least out of the rest of our family, before she passed away. But I knew that Mother was the perfect woman. At least, that's what daddy always said. I believed him wholeheartedly.
Angelica rubbed my back, "that was lovely, Peggy. Really."
"I agree. When did you learn to play like that?" Eliza stood, and stretched her arms.
"I've been playing since before I could walk, Eliza." I replied, a bit hurt that she didn't know. Eliza was good too, but I excelled.
I wrote a my own songs, in secret of course, and was proud of them. It just never made sense for me to share them. I wasn't interested in showing my sisters the one thing that I feel made me special.
"Oh. I know that, but I was asking when you got so talented?"
Beginning to plunk out one of my own songs, I shrug, "I don't know. I've always loved the piano."
"Could you play that French tune we heard a month ago? The one General Mercer' s wife was having her daughter do?" Angelica requested, taking off her dressing gown, changing into her nightgown.
"Sure," I recall the melody, and my fingers flew across the keys. It was a complex one, but I smiled as the song began to take shape. Giggling, Eliza and Angelica began to waltz around the room. Eliza grabbed a ring box and pretended to propose to her sister.
"Moi?" Angelica batted her lashes, mocking a French accent.
"Oui, mademoiselle."
"Then oui from moi!" She cried, fanning herself, "what a handsome man you are!"
Eliza made her voice deep, "of course I am. And you are a very pretty lady"
Faking a faint, Angelica fell on the bed. I chuckled lightly at their childish antics. Finishing the tune, I change into my night clothes and cuddle into the warm blankets. I snuff out the candle next to my bed, and soak in the calm darkness. Both of my sisters are silent, until slowly, I hear their breathing grow even.
Wrapping myself in a quilt, I sneakily make my way over to the window. The stars glittered coldly above me, and the moon was just a small silver sliver. I stare up at the velvet black sky.
You're so lucky to have such a caring family. I tell myself, watching a nightingale flit through the tiny light given off by the street light.
Just don't throw away your shot