Chapter 7

Once upon a time, there was a very beautiful young girl. This was no particular young girl either. Her father was the mayor and a retired fireman. Her mother, a glamorous woman, had been the founder of the all girl's Christian school her daughter attended. So in other words, she had a lot to live up to. The girl, whose name was Clara, tried to live up to the standards she'd been given. She did alright in school, and seemed to be an excellent actress as well.

One day, after a play her school had put on, she met a very handsome young boy. Instantly, she thought she was in love. They spent all of their time together, and Clara got to now this boy very well. His name was Adrien, and he was destined to be a bum. Of course, Clara was blinded by love. He worked as a lowly construction worker with his stepfather.

One thing led to another in their relationship and soon Clara was 2 months pregnant. When her parents discovered this they wouldn't stand for it. Not one bit. Clara was no longer the child of her parents.

Adrien and Clara eloped, seeing it was the only thing they could do. They struggled but they had each other. They loved each other. It had seemed like enough.

As Clara's stomach grew several inches wider each month, she and her husband got very close. So Adrien was right beside her bed as she had her baby. It was a strange birth, to say the least. Clara was in labor for around 17 hours, but the actual delivery lasted less than 10 minutes.

The very first time Clara held her baby she'd almost dropped him. The doctors tested him or any problems and told her that her son was perfectly healthy. She couldn't bare to look at the hideous child. She made Adrien carry him the first couple of days, because she couldn't deal with his face. Adrien had a hard time also. Their marriage started to collapse beneath them.

One night, Adrien left without any explanation. He never came back.

Clara decided to name her son Erik. It meant 'Ruler of All'. It meant handsome. It meant a sick irony. Erik grew up, neglected by his mother, and poor. As for Clara? She blamed not going to college on Erik. She blamed Adrien leaving on Erik. She blamed everything wrong with her life on Erik. Just a poor kid.

Today, Clara sat in her favorite chair. She flipped through the channels on the old television set, looking for something remotely interesting. Erik crept silently into the kitchen to get himself some food. Without turning, his mother asked him, "Why do you have to be so sneaky?" Erik furrowed his brow. "I'm just quiet. Not sneaky." His mother snorted at him. "You're not quiet. You're loud. That's why sensible people don't have children." She flipped another channel and decided to settle on it.

Erik, not knowing how to reply to his mother's subtle cruelty, told her, "And parents are too controlling. That's why children run away." Clara's eyes stayed glued to the television screen. "Would you, please?" she said to herself, barely loud enough for Erik to hear.

This was quite normal in the phantom's home. It was quite normal.

Erik grabbed a few stale granola bars and a can of peaches and ran up to his room. His place.

All Erik had had on his mind was the kiss with Christine. He hadn't meant to do it, but it just happened. He had enjoyed himself while it had lasted. She had started to kiss him back and then... she pushed him away. Christine had run out of the room and now he would have to wait two days to see her again. Two days too long if you asked Erik.

He pondered for a moment what she had said about loving Raoul. She seemed unsure. Christine couldn't love Raoul! Erik paced his room, trying to think of some way to get Raoul out of the picture. There had to be a way. There always was. While Erik stood thinking to himself, little did he know that Raoul was doing it all by himself.

*l*l*

"Meg, when can we go already?" whined Christine. They had been at the mall for about 2 hours, and Meg still hadn't found the 'perfect" ballet shoes.

"Christine! You don't understand the process, do you?" replied Meg. Christine raised her eyebrows and urged Meg to tell her about this "process". Meg sighed and replied, "Fine! First of all, it has to be tight enough to fit properly through all the dancing, and loose enough to be comfortable. They need to look amazing because they will be my performance pair. And last, but definitely not least, they have to be able to withstand years of dance!" Meg turned quickly back to her shoes took off a beautiful white pair that had seemed to be "the one". Apparently not.

"Oh, Meg. What will I do with you?" Christine pondered aloud. Meg smiled and continued on the apparently very hard process.

Christine sighed and told Meg, "Well, I'm going to try to find a bathroom somewhere."

"You got your phone?" Meg asked quickly. Christine waved it as she walked out of the store.

Meg turned back to the mountain of shoes and groaned slightly. She had at least five to try on still and if none of them cut it she would have to try on even more. Christine didn't understand how draining and hard this process was. She picked up a light pink pair and started to strap them on. After she put them both on, she stood up and went on her tip toes. She turned suddenly on her feet. The ballet shoes held up wonderfully and seemed to have a fantastic fit. Meg sat and started to unstrap them.

"Meg?" She looked up to see Raoul smiling. "What do you want?" she asked suspiciously.

"Chill. I just saw you and thought I'd say hello!" he looked around the shop a bit before frowning.

"Yeah, right. You're here to kiss up to Christine." Raoul said nothing until asking, "Speaking of Christine... Where is she?"

"She went to find a bathroom," Meg replied coldly.

"Ah, I see..."

"Yeah, so you can just g-" Meg was cut off by Raoul. "How do you do the toe thing?"

"Toe thing...?"

Raoul smiled, "Yeah! Where you stand on your toes? I saw you doing it a moment before."

Meg realized what he was talking about. She was still wearing the ballet shoes and stood on her toes once more to demonstrate. Raoul tried very hard to do it but happened to fail epicly.

"How in the world do you do that for so long?" he asked in wonder.

Meg blushed and answered, "Very carefully." Raoul laughed at this and Meg's face turned an even darker shade of red.

Raoul motioned at the larger pile of ballet shoes and asked, "Are all of those yours?"

"Ha, Yeah. It's a long and grueling process to find the right pair."

"But I assume you've found your pair?" he said looking at her long legs strapped with the pink shoes. She mumbled a yes. Meg then sat down and began to take off the shoes and put the rest away. She expected Raoul to leave but he sat right beside her when she took them off. He even helped her put them away. After they had finished Raoul asked her, "You know they put them away for you?" Meg chuckled and said, "Yes, but I'd feel bad about them cleaning up my mess. Maybe that's weird." Raoul just beamed at her.

She purchased her perfect pair and she and Raoul walked out of the shop together.

Meg turned to Raoul, "Well, it's been real and its been fun..." Raoul finished for her, "But it hasn't been real fun." They broke out in hysterics.

"Listen, Meg, I hope this isn't weird or anything, but I was about to go eat something. W- Would you like to accompany me?" His faced flushed like Meg's had done earlier.

Meg hesitated before saying, "Well,okay!" She smiled at him and he was put at ease a bit.

While they walked to a restaurant in the mall, Meg texted Christine saying," I met a friend and we're going to lunch. You hungry or are you just gonna window shop?" Christine replied,"Window shop, sis. Meet you at the car at. . . 1:30?" Meg said yes and everything was set and stone.

Christine put away her phone and looked around the mall. She really didn't feel like trying on clothes. She decided to walk around till she found somewhere to go until 1:30. She found a little music shop that she'd never been in and decided to check it out. It had everything! Instruments, CD's, records, sheet music, piano books, EVERYTHING. Christine was quickly drawn to the piano books. They had several books for musicals and popular songs. After basking in the glory of a music store for a long time, she decided on a beginner's piano book and paid for it quickly. Was it 1:20 already?

Meg was having a good time but much different then Christine's. She and Raoul had gotten hot dogs from one of the little restaurants and sat down on a couch next to the escalator. She found out much about Raoul and he found out much about her. It was so strange. Not an hour ago had she hated him. Now she was enjoying a delicious hot dog and spilling about herself with him.

Meg looked at her phone quickly. "Oh, crap!" she heard herself say. It was 1:28. "What's up?" Raoul asked. "I've got to meet Chris at the car right now." He frowned. "You have to leave so soon?" She sadly smiled at him and nodded. They both got up and Meg said, "It's been good, Raoul." She began to leave and Raoul grabbed her hand. "You want to do this again on Monday. I mean, go somewhere during lunch hour?" She grinned and said, "We'll see." At that, she was off.

She got to the car five minutes late, panting. "Sorry, Chris!" Christine only smiled and started the car, "It's alright. Who were you with?" Meg stared out the window smiling, "Oh. No one. No one at all."