Author's Note:
Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed or followed or favorited this so far. You're awesome!
Here's the Tuesday update; it took every ounce of will I have not to post this earlier.
Rebel Belle: Thank you so much! I'm glad you like the summary, I was definitely worried about it.
PhantomFan01: Thank you!
Guest: Thank you! I'm going to try to update every Tuesday (any maybe Thursdays... I haven't decided yet)
There's a few things I want to mention before we continue. This is going to be a slight AU where Erik/the Phantom is younger, like in his early 20's. There's a reason for this later, I promise! Nicolette and Stephen are both seventeen.
Phantom of the Opera does not belong to me but my OCs are of my own making.
And now onto the story! Enjoy!
Chapter 2: The Power of Music
Nicolette:
I turn back to the piano and play through his part again. Stephen's voice strains for the note and then scoops into it. I try not to wince. His voice is great for the most part but it's not the Phantom's. I don't have the heart to tell him though. He, however, has praised me multiple times on being a great Christine.
I reach for my phone and put the instrumental version of Phantom of the Opera on. The powerful chords echo through the practice room and I smile before taking a breath and beginning. The first few notes are low and grate on my voice. I want to clear it immediately. However, once I reach the comfort of the middle to high notes, it's smooth sailing and my voice feels fine.
Then Stephen comes in. He loves this song but I would never cast him as Phantom. His voice would fit better as Raoul. Still, he has a good voice and I'm grateful for the chance to sing a duet with him.
We work on the duet for the next two weeks. His voice grows stronger. I've been working on achieving those hard notes at the end. Stephen watches me as I move my mouth around, trying to achieve a pure and strong sound. Half the time I feel like I'm shrieking.
"I liked the third way," he says, sounding distracted and bored.
I wince. That was the hardest way but I try the high note again. He stands and comes to my side as I gasp afterwards. I truly feel like Christine. I raise a hand to my throat before reaching for my water bottle.
"Shall we run through it again?"
I nod and we start the music again.
Stephen:
Mr Charles calls us in and then has us go first. Despite not being in any sort of costume, we decided to do the acting. Everyone turns to the back of the room, where the chairs have been cleared. The music starts and I grab Nicolette's wrist, jerking her to me .
We sing through the entire thing and I throw myself into the role. Everyone claps when we're done.
"You know the school culture festival is coming up soon," one girl remarks. "You guys should sing!"
The Culture Festival? Nicolette turns to me. "It's like a talent show," she explains. She blushes. "Actually I wanted to ask you if you would do it with me?"
"Yeah, sure," I reply. I quite enjoy performing with her. She's an incredible singer.
Nicolette's face lights up. "Wonderful!" she squeaks. Then the others perform. There's a pianist who can play incredibly. Nicolette explains that the pianist also sings but has more of a pop style. A violinist plays. He's rather good. These people are finally beginning to grow on me.
Nicolette:
Auditions for the Culture Festival come about two weeks later. I sign Stephen and I up right away.
During our fifth period, we sit in a practice room facing each other, giving our voices a well deserved break. I look up at him. He has blonde hair and bright green eyes. He's handsome, but too arrogant about it. He's told me a few times he's from the east coast. Apparently the west coast doesn't compare. Silently I agree. I love Boston and Washington D.C. so much more than my hometown of Las Vegas.
"I was thinking it might be cool if we had costumes," I finally say, breaking our silence.
"Yeah," he replies distractedly, "but where do we find Phantom costumes?"
"I can make them."
He perks up that. "That would be super cool. Although, don't you think we should wait to see if we get in?"
I shrug. "I know the teacher. She likes me. I think we're in."
He nods. "Costumes then."
Stephen:
Nicolette and I pass the audition with no issue.
She's been working on my costume first since I just need a cloak to wear over my normal performance attire. I already have a mask I picked up from online.
Her costume is much, much harder. She hasn't shown it to me yet but I know she wants to copy the white dress Christine wears in Think of Me in the Phantom of the Opera movie.
Two Fridays before our performance, she hands me a beautiful black cloak, embroidered like the Phantom's cloak. It's pretty cool.
She insists we do a rehearsal at her house in our costumes the Saturday before our week of performances. I give in. I meet her at her house. She opens the door and I gasp.
Her hair has been perfectly curled and pinned back to look like Christine's, although Nicolette's hair is much darker, almost black. Her dark eyes look innocently up at me. Then I look down at the white dress.
It's perfect.
She opens the door wider and I come in. I pull my mask over my face.
"Let's rehearse, my Christine," I say quietly. Nicolette grins and leads me to her piano.
Nicolette:
We're the last performance of the night. The audience is packed for opening night. Finally, after an hour of tightly bundled nerves, I step into my spot on the wings. The music begins and Stephan grabs my wrist, harshly pulling me onto the stage.
I follow him reluctantly, trying to get away from him. "In sleep he sang to me. In dreams he came. That voice which calls to me and speaks my name." Stephan glances back at me then keeps pulling me forward. "And do I dream again, for now I find, the Phantom of the Opera is there, inside my mind."
We've now turned at least once and headed back to center stage. Stephen releases my wrist and I turn to face him. "Sing once again with me, our strange duet. My power over you grows stronger yet. And though you turn from me, to glance behind." I pull away from him slightly and try to move from his side. He grabs me and pulls me close again. "The Phantom of the Opera is there, inside your mind." He reaches up and brings a finger up to my forehead before pulling away.
"Those who have seen your face, draw back in fear," I sing to him although I never really got what was the big deal with the Phantom's face. At least in the stage production it honestly doesn't look that bad. Maybe I've spent too many hours on Tumblr. "I am the mask you wear."
"It's me they hear."
We launch into the duet part. Our voices are nice together but I find our performance lacking in the energy the song usually holds. I can tell, however, that our audience is impressed.
The next little bit is routine. We're dramatic and we sing the words right. Then we get to my least favorite part. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, "He's there the Phantom of the Opera."
I go up to the high note.
"Sing my Angel of Music."
I go back up.
"Sing for me." But this time it sounds like two voices.
I support my voice and form the 'ah' shape before breathing in.
Suddenly a hand grabs my wrist. I look down at gloved hands. Stephen wasn't wearing gloves when we went on.
I look up into a masked face. Then I turn to see Stephen in the masked man's other hand. The masked man pries off Stephen's mask then throws it across the stage. I blink and come out of my preforming haze. The adrenaline rushes out of me but is replaced by fear. There is no more backtrack playing. This isn't our school's little stage. It's too grand, too big.
"Why are you dressed as me?" the masked man hisses.
"Opera Ghost?" I whisper in horror.
The man turns. "Ah, I see you aware of who I am. Then you should also be aware of the danger of crossing me."
I stumble over to Stephen's side and grab his hand tightly. "Nicolette, why does this look like the Paris Opera House?"
The Opera Ghost laughs coldly. "So you know who I am but not where you are? How amusing."
"We were just-"
I glare at Stephen. "Please, Opera Ghost, forgive him. He's been a bit confused these past few days. He hit his head rather hard a week ago."
"You're a terrible liar, mademoiselle," he sneers. "Well, as long as you two are dressed like this, you must hide."
I feel a terrible pain in my head before I slump to the ground.
