Tuesday afternoon I was standing behind my merchandise stand, staring into the endless sea of people. There were people of all ages, teenagers who couldn't believe where they were. These were the kids who already had t-shirts and sweatshirts because they were the full on Hamilton fandom, they were taking pictures in front of posters and were ecstatic about where they were. There were 20 something's, they knew what they were getting into, they weren't taking as many pictures but were clearly as excited. Then there were the 30-40 year olds. There were 2 groups. One group knew exactly what was going to happen and were far more excited than the teens and the other group who had no idea and were getting into and kind of scared because they started to realize that this was not your average Broadway musical.

There are many ways to tell a devoted fan from a non-devoted fan. My personal favorite is when people wait in Lin to buy something from me and then they ask for a picture with me. I'm no celebrity, I'm not in Hamilton, they know who I am because they Twitter stalk Lin, and probably me. My line today was considerably longer than other lines, this was becoming an issue.

"Hi!" A girl about my age stood at the front of the line with money out, "Can I have the mug, souvenir book, and a 'young, scrappy and hungry' shirt?" She asked pointing to each individually. 

"Yeah! Of course!" I grabbed the 3 things requested and then began bagging them I looked up halfway through the process to see her taking a selfie with me. I laughed a little, and then rang her up for $80. She handed me the money.

"Thank you! And thanks for the picture!" She said grabbing her bag and walking into the auditorium leaving me with the rest of the line to deal with. The next customer asked for a t-shirt and while I was bagging it asked me a question.

"Why did that girl just take a picture with you? Are you, like, in the cast?" This, ladies and gentlemen is how you tell the difference between a devoted and non-devoted fan, I am not cast, I am 15.

"No, I'm not in cast, I'm kind of, Hamiltons, kid, they're fostering me, I live upstairs." I handed the customer their bag and began ringing him up.

"Ok." He responded, obviously confused, he then handed me $35 for the shirt.

"There's no easy way to explain it that doesn't sound creepy, sorry."

"Thanks!" He called over his shoulder already walking away.

The show started about 5 minutes after that, I had to wait to go back upstairs until after intermission. Intermission was an hour and a half away. I sat down behind the counter and read the book I kept down there. Sooner than expected people began pouring back out into the lobby, most of them to the bar, but about a 3rd came to merchandise. These were the people who didn't know what they were getting themselves into, but now they do, and now they need to have Hamilton t-shirts. 

After the 15 minute fiasco (or intermission), I retreated back into my cave (or bedroom), and watched Netflix on my phone with the assistance of headphones, just to be very safe. Eventually, halfway through an episode of Leverage may I add, I recieved a text.

(YOU'RE A HARRY POTTER FAN RIGHT?!") 

It was Lin...

(Yes... Why?)

(COME DOWNSTAIRS!)

I hurried down into the backstage area and Daniel Radcliffe was signing the Hamilton wall. I started mentally fangirling, I had never met anyone from Harry Potter before! Now I was going to meet Harry Potter! 

I stood behind Lin, who similar to me, and everyone else, was quite ecstatic. Daniel finally turned around after signing the wall. 

"Before you go, I need to ask you something, because you're the foremost authority on this, what Hogwarts house would Hamilton be in?" Lin asked.

"Ravenclaw definetly." Daniel replied instinctively, frankly he probably knew that was coming. Although I disagreed, I was not going to voice that, not with the 'foremost authority' standing right in front of me.

"Also, as she is far to shy to say anything, this is Abigail." He pushed me out in front of him, "she's a fan." 

"Well nice to meet you Abigail, I'm Dan. How do you know Lin?" He asked pointing at Lin.

"Oh... Um... I'm..." Lin cut me off.

"We're fostering her." 

"Oh." He was confused, everyone was always confused. I'm not going to blame them though. I got a picture with Daniel Radcliffe, Lin got a picture with Daniel Radcliffe. All in all that was a spectacular day.

Thanks for reading!

-Abi