Author's Note: Back to work tomorrow! Oh no!

And for the record, I don't think Alex was in the counseling office ALL DAY. I think that was mostly just an expression when he said "No sense waiting all day" and left. I think Mr. Miller sent him "back to class" and Alex went... well... who knows where but obviously NOT class, and then came back again later, very distressed, again because of who knows why. But Alex doesn't appear in this chapter, so you'll just have to wonder what he's up to while...

I walked down the hill past the stadium then behind the old post office and across the street to the Dairy Barn. I saw some people I knew inside ordering sundaes. I didn't wave and neither did they. They weren't part of the theatre crowd, who were mostly back at the school still practicing. I wasn't part of their crowd, which, from the jackets they wore, was some sport or another.

When they were out of view, I slowed down and walked slowly down the road, kicking pebbles as I went. I followed the road for a couple of blocks then turned off on a dirt path that led down to a drainage ditch I decided to pretend was a river. When I happened across a large rock I sat down on it and stayed there a long time staring at the water.

Without thinking much about it, I pulled that book out of my backpack and found the place with the purple ribbon.

I wasn't sure what to believe after chapter 6. I know the Angel of Music is not the Angel of Music but the Phantom from the musical, so I did not fall for Christine's story so easily, but I could also see that in this order it made it so much easier to understand how Christine fell for it. The cemetery scene is before she ever meets the Phantom face to face. And of course the horror that Raoul saw that night had to have been the very same Phantom. I tried to imagine what I might suspect at this point in the book if I didn't know exactly where it was going, but I could not. I went on anyway. Chapter 7 was short as hell and mostly funny. Chapter 8 was extra long, obviously to make up for how short chapter 7 was.

The sun went down and the air got colder.

I held the book up and struggled to make out the words.

Some kids in dark clothes came up from below, laughing as they went. They kept close to each other. There were five of them. I recognized them all. They were Harrison students, too, but not part of my group of friends. From the looks on their faces and the reputations they had at school, I figured they probably had been down below smoking pot or messing around or both. They passed me without a word. The tallest guy glanced at me and nodded. The rest acted like I didn't exist. It didn't bother me a bit.

My cell phone rang, and I jumped.

Dad.

"Hey Daddy, what's up?" I answered.

He said my name. He did not sound pleased.

I struggled to see my watch in the darkness. Whoops.

"Hey, Dad, we got done early so I walked over to the Dairy Barn. Yeah. Can you meet me here?"

His tone softened slightly and he agreed. I stuffed that book back into my backpack and ran to the Dairy Barn as fast as I could.

I cut across the yard and darted through the building and out the door into the parking lot. Dad was waiting in the Rover. I hoped he hadn't seen me cutting through the field. I jumped in, panting heavily. Dad pretended not to notice.

I heated up leftovers in the microwave and took my plate to my room. Mom was at work and the boys had eaten with Dad while I was at rehearsal. Rehearsal. I shivered. I'm not one of those kids who lies to my parents.

Or, I wasn't. Until now.

I closed myself in my room and read the rest of chapter 8 and all of chapter 9, which was another short one. It flowed like the musical, I thought. Box five, Carlotta, the croaking, the chandelier; it was all exactly as I knew it. It was time for the masquerade without an intermission or any long period of time passing. It occurred to me I should go back and calculate the dates, but this wasn't for class, so who cared. I decided that it made far more sense that Christine fell for the Phantom's tricks in the book due to everything being in a different order, but other than that, it wasn't particularly different.

And I was exhausted.

So I put the purple ribbon back in the book, stuck it under my pillow and went to sleep.

I dreamed a crazy masquerade prom where a number of very bad things happened and I found myself in the basement of the school trying to persuade Ryan of something very important.

I woke up in a panic and realized that I had been ignoring Ryan, which was a Very Bad Thing all by itself since almost immediately after the spring musical would be Prom, which I needed to start shopping for a dress for almost immediately. It would certainly be helpful if Ryan would ask me already, but since we weren't together, it wasn't that simple. On the other hand, he didn't have a girlfriend just at that moment either, so there was certainly hope. But lots of girls would have been pleased to go with Ryan, and I was only one of many, which meant I'd need to make a substantial effort if I was at all serious about it.

I snapped on my light and made myself a numbered list: 1) talk to mom about a dress budget 2) go dress shopping 3) you know what. That third was obvious enough to me but probably not to anyone else, except maybe Savannah. It meant do anything and everything possible to get Ryan's attention and to keep it up until he actually asked.

I turned out the light and got back into bed still nervous about upcoming events but with a sense of purpose. Purple, I thought. The dress should be purple.

In the morning I felt refreshed, invigorated and energized. Then I looked at the clock and realized I was late again. I stomped through the house cursing under my breath and ran out without putting on make up or saying goodbye to the family. I got my foundation and lipstick on in the car with the rearview mirror, a trick that I learned watching my mother. I did my eyes in class during the morning announcements. I pretended to take notes while I actually recalled Ryan's schedule and jotted it down inside my notebook. I chewed the eraser on my pencil while I plotted a route to class that would ensure we met and chastised myself internally for deviating from the routes I usually followed. In my efforts to avoid Alex, I'd missed seeing Ryan in the halls as well.

I noticed Alex on the far side of the room with his elbows on his desk and his head bent so his hair made a curtain on either side of his book. I felt bad for him instantly.

I reminded myself that I had to focus on Ryan right now or Prom wouldn't be what I expected it to be. I wrote Ryan's name on a page of my notebook and traced over it three times before my eyes were drawn back to Alex.

I tore them back and refused to look again.

I had my stuff packed to go before the bell rang. When it sounded, I stood up and bolted for the door. My purse strap caught on my chair and held me back, and when I turned to detach it, my binder slipped to the floor.

The majority of the class left before I managed to gather my things.

As I crouched on the floor I had the dreaded thought that Alex would decide to play chivalrous and come pick everything up for me, which would be mortifying, really. I glanced up and confirmed his location on the other side of the room. He's always slow to collect his belongings. Strange, he wasn't slow-moving the day before as he left Miller's office, though. I hurried toward the door and somehow managed to reach it right when he did.

"Hey, Christine."

I barely nodded at him. What could I say? I glanced around to see who might be looking started into the hallway.

"Sorry for yesterday," he offered, sticking close by.

I shrugged. "My fault." I looked up and down the hall. All my friends were gone. Alex was hovering. He seemed to be waiting for more. "Stupid," I said looking around again. At least no one was staring at us. "Opening a closed door. All my fault." I turned and hurried down the hall in the direction I hoped I might encounter Ryan. The hall was crowded and I slipped between people, walking quickly. I left Alex behind. Though he was surely fast enough, he couldn't possibly maneuver through the small spaces between the crowd passing the other direction, he was soon far behind me.

Ahead of me was Ryan.

Encouragement to review: You know the drill!