Chapter 7: Gossip

Christine's remaining 2 days at the hospital passed slowly. Erik was unable to visit because the appearance of a monk every day would be even more suspicious then it was the first day, but he did send a rose with Mme Giry and Meg both days. No one else came in to visit her, so she had to content herself with thinking of Erik, dreaming of seeing him again, turning over his name in her mind, getting used to the feel of it. Meg's brief visits were her relief from the monotony of it all. They were already preparing to put on Die Zauberflöte, and things were going well, having already practiced for a week before they had begun on Don Juan Triumphant. Unfortunately, Carlotta's singing had yet to improve. One day, after she had sung Queen of the Night, the stage manager had found a broken window. Christine enjoyed hearing new of the opera house from Meg but it generally made her feel even lonelier after Meg was gone. Christine knew it would be a few weeks after her return before she could dance properly again. Despite Erik's warning and the nurse's scolding, Christine was already trying hard to make use of her injured arm. The sooner she could lift her arm, the sooner she could dance. All this sitting around was beginning to make Christine reckless. Used to practicing at least four hard hours a day, her muscles groaned from lack of use.

When the doctor finally declared that she definitely did not have lead poisoning and signed the discharge papers, Christine nearly leaped from her bed. Her arm may have been nearly useless, but the rest of her body was just fine. A nurse put her arm in a sling and then tied it to her chest, telling her to wear the sling for as long as the arm gave her trouble. Christine knew before the nurse instructed her that she would not be wearing the sling for long, it was much to limiting. Meg and Mme. Giry met her to walk back to the opera house. Meg seemed quite happy, smiling and chattering for the entire walk. Mme. Giry was quite the opposite, stern-faced and silent the entire walk. Christine was a bit disappointed Erik had not sent a rose, but perhaps he was planning to meet her later when she arrived back at the opera house. The thought of time spent with Erik warmed her heart and she joined Meg in her broad smiling and chattering.

As they walked up the steps and through the doors of the opera house, Mme. Giry finally opened her mouth. "Girls, we have a rehearsal in fifteen minutes, Christine, I expect you to at least watch and try to learn the steps. Do not dawdle!" With that she turned and stalked quickly away from them.

Meg and Christine exchanged confused looks before Meg attempted an explanation "She's been acting a bit strange lately, ever since we visited you that first day." The truth was though; neither of them really knew why she was behaving so oddly. They climbed the stairs to the dorms in silence. Once upstairs, Christine went to her dresser and immediately began to take out her practice clothes. This made her smile, dancing was always a relaxing for her, even though she might not get a chance to actually dance, putting on her practice clothes reminded her of it.

After some time struggling with her sling, Christine and Meg were both dressed and they headed down to the ballet room. Most of the girls were already there and they greeted Christine excitedly, with many questions, perhaps a bit too excitedly. There was something strange about their manner, as if their excitement was only to cover something else up. Christine looked over at Meg, who in turn looked back, trying to smile, but looking nervous. They both sat on the floor, and Christine began to slowly stretch out her stiff muscles. For five minutes she was distracted by the task of limbering up the muscles she had been lying on for the past 4 days, but then she looked up to find nearly 25 pairs of eyes staring at her. There was something going on, and Meg wasn't telling her.

"Meg," she whispered, leaning close to her friend's ear, "What's going on that you aren't telling me?"

"Well it's, err, it's uh…" Meg began, then tried to cover her tracks, "It's nothing Christine, just silly girls talking"

"Meg they were all staring at me, there is something going on, tell me."

Meg sighed, she knew she would have to tell Christine what people were saying about her, but it was hard, and she wasn't sure she wanted to tell her here. It was not pleasant talk and such things were awkward for Meg to discuss; besides she feared how Christine would react, since they both knew everyone was wrong. "Christine I promise you as a sister, I will tell you later when we are alone, I…" Fortunately forher, Meg never had to explain herself because at that exact minute Mme. Giry walked in and called the girls attention. It was time for rehearsal to begin.

It had been nearly six weeks since Christine had last practiced the steps to Die Zauberflöte, and it was much harder to draw them from muscle memory because she could not use her arms. At first she tried just using her left arm but she found that even the strap holding the sling to her chest could not keep it from bouncing around, so she had to hold her arm in place with the other one. Many of the steps were also hard to balance without her arms, so for the most part she had to mark it. Finally, between her not knowing what she was doing and marking it Mme. Giry decided that she was simply getting in the way, and told her to sit down. Christine wanted to argue but knew better considering the ballet mistress' current mood. She sat down, pouting and attempting to learn the steps from watching.

After practice, they had two hours to themselves. When they got closer to the performance some if not all of that time would be spent onstage with the rest of the cast, but for now, it was free time before supper. Most of the girls headed to the dormitory, but Meg and Christine snuck upstairs to a supply room where they could talk without others disturbing them.

Once they were seated, both of them on large wooden boxes Meg began. "Are you sure you want to hear this Christine, it's only talk, it means nothing how ever wrong it may be." Christine nodded, if people were going to look down on her and act strange, she wanted to know why. Meg continued "Well you see, Christine, now everyone knows that you and Raoul broke off the engagement, but no one knows why, no one knows who's idea it was…." She trailed off, but Christine urged her on. Not in the mood for circumlocution Meg blurted, "They all think you've been having an affair and Raoul left you because of it!" Christine sighed, no one would have guessed the truth, to everyone else there seemed no reason for her to have broken it off.

"But you know that's not true!" Christine said at last, hoping to find someone on her side.

"No," said Meg, "I don't, or at least I didn't, I mean, I believe you if you say it isn't"

"Well, it isn't!" replied Christine a bit defensively. She had broken it off with him and she had certainly not slept with anyone! "Did Raoul tell them this? If he is the one who is spreading these lies, oh I cannot tell you…!" She trailed off angrily

"No, Christine, I do not think he would have done that to you. He did not say who broke it off or why, only that it was off. These rumors are the work of someone else, perhaps only a speculation that got out of control."

Christine had calmed down a bit now; she was glad Raoul had not betrayed her. "Well, at least I can tell you the truth. Maybe I can get Raoul to make a more specific announcement and shut everyone else up."