"I can't believe summer's practically over already," Meg moaned as she pushed the cart with her stuff.
"Ugh, I know, right?" Christine replied. "It feels like we never even left. Is it just me, or did this summer go by way too fast?"
The two girls made their way to their dorm room. In less than a week they would be starting their junior year at Populaire Conservatory School of the Arts.
They were almost done unpacking when Meg started heading towards the door. "I don't know about you, but I'm starting to get pretty hungry. Wanna go grab some lunch?"
"Sure. Do you mind if I meet you in the dining hall? There's something I want to do here alone for a bit."
"Does it involve your 'special friend?'" she asked making air quotes. Christine giggled as she playfully threw a pillow at her friend. "Fine, don't tell me. I'll meet you there." She tossed the pillow back to Christine before heading out the room.
When she was in high school, Christine made herself a youtube channel that consisted of videos of her singing, mostly classical and musical theatre with the occasional contemporary song. This had garnered the attention of a user called AngelOfMusic, who sent her a message saying that he loved her videos and asking if she had any proper vocal training. She replied that she hadn't, so he responded saying that he would love to offer her voice lessons via Skype. Curious, she checked out his channel to see that, like her, it consisted of mostly the same kind of repertoire, along with some original music, although the one thing that struck her was that none of the videos ever showed his face. She always wondered why he would never reveal his face or name, considering that she thought he was good enough to become a famous musician. He claimed it was because his computer was old and didn't have a built-in camera and he never bothered to buy an external one, but she partially didn't believe him. But because she didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable, she never bothered him about it. After spending so much time working on music, they developed a strong friendship, and most of their calls consisted of them just talking and hanging out when they weren't working. For how close they had become though, she still knew barely anything about him. Even after all these years, he still wouldn't tell her his real name, where he lived, or anything too personal. Yet for some reason, she was more than comfortable opening up to him, sharing practically every detail about her life like he were some sort of human diary.
Once she was alone, Christine sat at her desk and turned on her laptop. She opened up Skype and clicked on the contact that read "Angel of Music." It rang for a few seconds until the little video of her showed up in the bottom left-hand corner while the image filling up the window was that of a white mask and a rose. "Hello Christine," the voice in the computer greeted warmly, sounding happy to see her.
"Hey Angel."
"I see you're back at school now."
"Yup," she replied, gesturing to the room around her.
"Which means that I assume our lessons are going to resume on a more frequent schedule?"
"Yup. I'll send you my schedule so we can find a time to meet in the practice rooms." As she said this, she sent him her schedule as a photo attachment. "Although I should let you know that the first month is going to be pretty busy for me."
"Why is that?"
"Because I'm in this year's beginning-of-the-year gala. We're doing selections from last semester's opera, so we have to review. Plus I've got auditions for this semester's opera to get ready for."
"What opera are you doing this semester?"
"Il Muto. I've always wanted to play the countess since it's one of my dream roles. Although I know I'll be lucky if I get a part at all since I'm not a voice major."
"I still think you should reaudition for the voice program. You've more than progressed since your last audition."
"I auditioned twice and I still didn't get in. What makes you think that the third time wouldn't be any different? If they liked my voice, they would've let me in. Besides, I'm already halfway done with school; I don't want to start all over again. And even if I did make it in and was eligible for an actual part, we both know that they're just going to give it to Carlotta. Again."
"That shouldn't matter. It's not right for them to base their casting on who's in the program or not. It should be about who does the best job in the audition and who's best suited for the role. If anything, I can't think of anyone who would make a better countess than you. After all, you have the voice, the charm, and appeal."
Christine blushed as she hid her smile behind her hand. "Really?" she asked shyly.
"Of course."
Christine giggled. "You know you spoil me sometimes, right?"
"Anything to see you happy my dear."
"I should really get going. I told Meg that I'd only be a minute, and she's waiting for me to get food."
"I understand. Well thank you for checking in with me at least. I'll get back to you with what times work best and you let me know what's happening with your gala rehearsals."
"Will do. See ya later." Christine smiled as she hung up before closing her laptop and heading out of the room.
