°~November 9th, 1780~°

(Y/N POV)

It had just turned 5pm, and Emily had been doing up her hair for at least half an hour by now. At least. She was trying all new hairstyles, restyling the ones she liked. She was determined to look good for this ball. I, on the other hand, didn't care much for looks, as everyone there would instantly be able to recognise who I was. So there was no real point in looking pretty, for all they would see was Charlie Miller.

Charles was joining us anyway, so he'd accompany my side throughout. Meanwhile, Emily would have to search for her own dancing partner. But the clock was moving fast, and before I knew it, there was a knock at the door. I peeked around the stairs to check who it was, and I was shocked to see that Charles had arrived 26 minutes early. Alexander respectfully heeded him inside, and coming down the stairs, I noticed that he held two elegant dresses:

"Uh, this is for you." Charles handed me the blue dress.
"Charles, I told you not to!" I exclaimed, flattered that he'd rejected what I'd told him entirely.
"And this is for your sister." He gave me the pink dress also.
"Charles..."
"They'll look beautiful on the both of you, Sophie, nothing to fret about!" -Alexander took Charles' hand- "Thank you, young man."

I laughed to myself, swirling the dresses around. "Come, there's no time to waste!" Alexander urged, eager to see us in the dresses. "Make yourself at home, Mr Fernández." Charles followed into the living room, as I left back to my bedroom. I tossed Emily her dress, too intrigued by mine.

"What's this?" she questioned, examining it.
"Charles got us dresses!" I screeched, amused that we were no longer in those hideous ones we wore before.
Emily scrambled over, shoving herself behind the dressing screen before I could. "Ladies first!" she squealed, beckoning me away.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I chuckled.

With two minutes, she strutted out, posing as if she were on a catwalk. "What d'ya think?" she wooed proudly.
"Fabulous, now let me get mine on." I submitted myself behind the dressing screen, taking my old dress off. I stared at the new one, enchanted by its brightness. In a flash, it was on, and I was out into the open.

"Look at you!" Emily whistled, matching herself up to me. "If you weren't so great, I'd be the Belle of the ball!"
"You're... You're saying I'm--"
"Yeah! Like gosh, I can tell which sister he favours the most." she joked.
I laughed along, knowing that she was most likely correct. He'd done a damn good job, which was sort of a shame. Because now Charlie Miller was looking better than I'd hoped.

"I'll go down first so you can make your big entrance." Emily concluded.
"Big... Big entrance."
"Yeah, like in movies when the girl would come down looking all snazzy then the man would stand up like 'woah', y'know?"
I smiled. "We're not in a movie, Emily."
"No." -She opened the door- "But we're in a musical."

That made me think: she was right. We were altering history. If I wasn't here, then Charles may still be in that orphanage isolating himself. If I wasn't here, then David may have never escaped and stole the money. If I wasn't here...

...Then we would've never won the battle...

All this time, I'd taken my actions with caution. When, all this time, I'd changed everything. We've changed everything.

...So would it even matter if I devoted myself to Charles?

...No.

I held myself up, pacing down the stairs. Turning the corner, Charles' face dropped. Just as Emily had said, he mimicked a 'woah', grinning innocently. I joined him on the couch, with Alexander and Emily on the other. "The coach will be arriving in approximately 30 minutes, so I suggest we all get comfy."

Those 30 minutes passed by like the click of a finger.

And during those 30 minutes, I could've sworn he was gazing at me helplessly.

~

I stopped to observe the mansion. Alexander and Emily went on without notice, but Charles turned back to wait for me. "Nervous?" he asked.
"I... I guess..."
"Here." He offered out his arm. "We'll do this together."
Hesitantly, I hooked my arm around his, continuing on.

Alexander held the door open for us, and we entered into a lengthy hallway. It was layered in statues and portraits of famous faces, decorating the wealth of the building. "Mr Hamilton! General Washington is just this way, sir." The man, dressed in a rather fashionable manner, pointed towards two large doors. The main hall, I presumed.
"Thank you." Taking Emily's arm, Alexander led us to the doors.

Two servants stood to each side, reaching out to open the doors for us. Suddenly, a vast ballroom was opened to our eyes. The attention of the crowd gathered in there was diverted to us, with some instantaneously recognising my face. I held my head down, staying close to Charles.

On the other hand, Emily was astounded by the lighting, almost dragging Alexander along. He stopped to shake the hand of George Washington, who then introduced himself to Emily before kissing her hand. I shiver was sent down my spine when I was reminded that he'd have to do the same to me.

Charles walked up to him, shaking his hand. But you could tell Washington was distracted by my presence, also. "Miss Hamilton! How great it is to see you again!"
I ever so dearly wanted to punch him. But he was a respectable man, so there was no way I was doing that. "...And you, sir..." I tried not to wriggle away when he kissed my hand, feeling overwhelmingly uncomfortable.

"It'd be great to catch up with you later, whenever you have the time." Washington implored.
"Yes, that'd be great, sir." I... lied? Charles led us off, and I saw that Emily had left Alexander already. "She's gone again..." I muttered to Charles.
"No," he pointed to the far right corner, "She's over there."

She seemed to be calling me over, waving her hand wildly. I was about to direct Charles over, but she held her hand out for me to stop. "No." she mouthed. She pointed her index finger out, mouthing "Just you."
"Could you stay here for a minute?" I asked.
"B- But--"
"I'll be one second, promise. Just wait here." I waddled over quickly, careful not to catch anyone's eye.

"What?!" I questioned.
Emily tugged my shoulder, huddling me towards a wall. She was trying to breathe from giggling so much. "Look- Look- Look at this!" she cackled. She reached her and into her sleeve, pulling out her phone.

Wait.

She pulled up her camera roll, showing me a picture:

"I got a mugshot of him while he wasn't looking." she spluttered, tears of joy forming in her eyes.
"Emily why do you have that here?!!" I whisper-screamed.
"Well it still works so--"
"That's beyond the point, you brought a phone to an 18th Century ball, for God's sake!"
"But it's funny, right?"

I paced, not believing that she'd actually done this. "You'd better put it away or hide it or SOMETHING because if it's not dead at this rate and you haven't charged it for 4 goddamn years then someone will find it an--"
"Alright! Alright..." She stuffed it back into her sleeve. "...But it was funny."
"No."

"Here come the Schuylers!" I heard a man nearby cheer.
"Eliza!!" Emily exclaimed, racing over to meet the newcomers.

"E- Eliza?!"