Rose lingered at the community theatre. Her rehearsals were over, and she was waiting for her best friend's acting class to finish—they were planning on going to Starbucks to "hang out." 'I wonder what's taking so long,' she wondered as she glanced at her watch for the umpteenth time.
"Usually the class is finished by now..." she mumbled under her breath. She pulled back her long brown hair into a messy pony-tail. Her large, inquiring blue eyes looked dull instead of their usual bright selves. They always seemed do this whenever she became intolerably impatient. Her thoughts strayed back to her rehearsal. She took a deep sigh, it hadn't gone very well. Perhaps that was why she's so eager to see her friend? Addie always had a curious way of cheering her up, no matter what caused her distress. They were performing The Phantom of the Opera. Addie was going to be a techie for the production and Rose a dancer in the "Masquerade" scene. Rose always loved the story; she smiled when she thought back to how excited she had been when she first got a call back from the director. She got the role of an unnamed dancer girl, it was a disappointment that she wasn't Christine, but she was still thrilled. The only problem for Rose was the fact that she was a dancer girl. Rose had no dancing skills whatsoever; hence her rehearsal hadn't gone very well.
'How did I get that role?' she thought to herself. 'I have two left feet.' She frowned. It was embarrassing to be the only dancer to consistently mess up.
Her skills leaned more to music, she loved to play piano. She enjoyed singing as well, but she had a timid little voice, it was like that of a flower that had yet to blossom. The young lady, Maria, who received the role of Christine was less trained then Rose but more confident, and would have no problem belting out the high notes. From Rose's training she could tell that Maria was damaging her voice by forcing herself to sing notes far above her range. But it's loud, impressive and an instant crowd pleaser. Although she lacked in having been trained, she had far more experience then Rose, and was an amazing actress. Rose somehow looked up to her, despite her strong willed attitude and the way she acted like she owned the theatre.
"Uh, I'm so bored." Rose whined returning to her senses and pouted. "Oh wait…" Rose tore at her overly stuffed Hello Kitty purse; she remembered that she had finally brought a book to help ease her boredom. Finally she unearthed her favorite story, The Phantom of the Opera. She had read it numerous times, but it never lost its zest. Each time she read it she felt such pity for 'poor, unhappy Erik.'
"How are you doing you little Phan?" Addie, Rose's best friend, asked cheerfully. Addie had a way of popping out at people when they least expected it. She was like a phantom herself, or maybe a ninja, Rose couldn't really decide. Rose jumped as she typically did and meanwhile Addie laughed enthusiastically. Addie adjusted her glasses, her eyes twinkling and she flashed a toothy grin.
"You about gave me a heart attack! Other then that I'm doing fine I guess, how did the acting class go?"
"It was great" she responded, "we did a lot of cold reading today, and I think I learned a lot of good tips."
"I'm glad to hear it." Rose said. "Man, what took so long?"
"You must learn patience, young Jedi. It just ran over a little, it ended up taking awhile for everyone to get their turn to read." She glanced at the book in Rose's hands and exclaimed, "I'm so glad that the theatre is performing Phantom of the Opera, you're so obsessed. You're such a little phangirl." Addie pinched Rose's face jokingly.
"There's something about it, I just can never get it out of my mind—not that I'd want to. Erik, the Phantom, is such an intriguing character to me. It's so sad that despite the fact that he was so brilliant, he lived such a painful life simply because of his deformity. He did many treacherous, unforgivable things but…."
"The one thing you aren't admitting in your monologue is how you have a crush on his character that's like the size of the Eiffle Tower," Addie smirked at Rose's blush.
"It's not like that, besides he isn't real!"
"Ah you can't hide things for your bestest buddy! You know you want to be like Christine and meet the Phantom and be a Mary Sue and live happily ever after like in all of those Phanfictions you read all of the time!"
Rose batted her eyelashes and said, "I don't know what on earth you're talking about." Rose's expression quickly darkened and she said in a harsh whisper, "Addie hold your tongue, it's not safe!"
Addie raised an eyebrow at Rose's sudden change of pace, "What are you talking about Rose?"
"Don't forget Joseph Buquet! The phantom does not like to be talked about; he might come and GET YOU WITH PUNJAB, HIS MAGICAL LASSO!"
The girls' broke out into a chorus of laughter. Their enjoyment echoed throughout the old theatre. As they slowly made their way to the Starbucks, Rose felt as though someone was watching her from the shadows. Lurking, staring, creeping. It was an uneasy sensation to put it lightly. But, she did her best to try and shack off the feeling and couldn't help but wonder if it was all just a figment of her over zealous imagination. She pushed the worry to the back of her mind and continued to have fun with her best friend.