Chapter 4: The Chapter Within the Chapters
"You are sure that you won't kill me?" Katherine asked, sitting on her butterfly chair. Erik hung his head, "Yes I am sure." "Even after all of the things I made you do?" she asked again. "Yes. Especially after you made me sing The Phantom of the Opera with you for at least 100 times it nearly drove me crazy! But I won't kill you." He said with a sly smile. Not YET anyway., he added in his thoughts. "So now what do you want to do?" Katherine asked. "Well this is your century. What do people do when they are bored here?" Erik asked, noticing the broad smile appearing on her face now regretting what he said. Nevertheless he made a polite remark, "You should smile more often Mademoiselle, it suits you." Katherine sighed," Eri- I mean Monsieur le Fantome, when will I be able to call you by your name?" she asked. Now it was Erik's turn to sigh. "I must apologize for how I behaved earlier. It was disrespectful towards a…what are you? Certainly not a lady. You are lacking in the grace and poise of what a lady must possess. You tripped on one of the simplest steps done in Faust. And-""Okay! …Erik that's enough. I get the point and thank you for the apology." Erik nodded," You may call me Erik if I may call you Katherine." he said. Katherine nodded, "Deal. Besides, 'Mademoiselle' seems too formal. But that is beside the point. Now come with me, we're going to pick Alyssa." "Oh yes, that obnoxious friend who does a fantastic impression of Carlotta. Perhaps she is related to her, no doubt in my mind that she is." He said. "I never said that she was obnoxious." Katherine said in her defense. "I know… but I did." was his reply. Katherine her shook head. "So you heard Alyssa and I have one voice conference on the computer. For one time! That cannot tell you that she is obnoxious." Erik stayed quiet for a moment," Are we going to pick up your friend or not?" "Yes, let's go!"
Katherine and Erik snuck down the stairs, and to the living room. Katherine opened the door and pushed Erik outside, closing it as soon as he was outside. "What the-" Erik yelled as she 'locked' him out. "Mom, I'm going to the mall with Alyssa, alright?" Katherine called out. "That's fine honey. Just be back before your curfew." Replied her mom. Katherine sighed of relief and walked outside, facing a very angry Erik. "Why did you push me outside and then lock me out?" he asked his eyes flaring with anger. "I didn't lock you out." She stated. "I left you outside because if my mom came to say goodbye, she would see you and make a big deal out of me being with a strange, masked and great looking, man. Unless I am the only one who can see you. Still, testing it on my mom wouldn't be a very good idea." she explained. "How come whenever you describe me you call me strange and talk a pause between some words?" Erik asked raising his eyebrow. "Uhhh…" she glanced at her watch," We'd better hurry before it gets late." she said quickly. Erik looked at her for a moment with a questioning look. He shrugged his shoulders and tried to open the passenger door. He frowned and pulled at the handle again, with no luck. He clenched his free fist, and started to pull the handle with both hands, raising one of his feet onto the car door. Katherine thought this was funny at first but sighed, Poor Erik, she thought, he would never survive in this century. She pushed the unlock button on her car key pad, making it beep twice. Erik yelled and pushed himself away from the car falling onto the hard tar street. Katherine snickered, but quickly stifled a cough because she noticed that Erik was glaring daggers at her. She opened the door and sat in the driver's seat. Erik helped himself up, wiped his sleeves and walked closer to the car. He looked at Katherine from outside with an 'I don't know' and an 'I have a bad feeling about this', look. Katherine beckoned him with a wave of her hand. He opened the door and sat down. "I had to unlock the door genius." Katherine muttered under her breath, turned on the car and started to drive.
Once they stopped in front of Alyssa's house, Katherine turned off the car. "Erik…I have to warn you. Alyssa really has a thing for older guys. Now I know that you are like 250 years old, but to her and everybody else you look 25. So…watch your back if you're ever alone with her.", she said with a honk of the horn. Erik gulped after hearing what Katherine said. Alyssa opened the door to the passenger's seat, and 'unknowingly' sat on Erik's lap. She yelped once she saw him, and quickly sat in the back seat. "Kat…who's this?" she asked, now blushing with embarrassment. Please don't say that he's your boyfriend…please say something else, she pleaded in her thoughts, while gazing at Erik. "This is my…cousin from…Scandinavia?" she said looking back at Erik, who smacked his forehead, which was still very tender when he tried to go back into the mirror. Why did she choose that dreadful place, he thought. He put on a fake smile to greet Alyssa. "A pleasure to meet you." He said. "You are from Scandinavia?" Alyssa asked her face still very red. "Where's your accent?" she asked. "He's half American." Katherine butted in. "Now let's go to the mall!" Katherine pressed down the gas pedal, after she turned it on back again, and drove off.
"By the way, my name's Alyssa, what's yours?" she asked trying to make small talk. "Erik." He said simply. "What's your last name?" she asked again. "Dest-" he started, but Katherine cut him off, "Schwartzenmangerman." "What?" Erik asked looking at Katherine. "That is a weird last name…from your dad's side right?" Alyssa asked. Erik opened up his mouth to speak but Katherine quickly covered it with her hand. "He doesn't speak much English." She said with a stern face. "That's fine with me…" Alyssa said with a dreamy sigh. Mrs.Schwartzenmangerman a nice ring to it, she thought. Ally is probably thinking of what to name her kids together with Erik. She gives her heart away so easily, Katherine thought keeping her eyes on the road.
Whew! This took awhile to come up with. Just a chapter within the chapters. I thought it wouldn't be very neccesary, but it was fun coming up with the last name. Escpecially the last name! Well...please review. And I'll see you in the next chapter.