Chapter 10
No amount of rehearsal could have prepared him for this. Danny tried to be subtle in wiping sweaty palms on his pants, which were tight and made of leather, as he sat in a cushy white chair across from the interviewer. After the makeup crew finished up their work in turning him into Phantom, Danny got a brief glance of himself in a mirror. With the white wig styled in a faux hawk and the green contacts, which still irritated him but were at least the right prescription, he had to, reluctantly, admit that he could see the resemblance between him and Phantom. They did look quite a bit alike, even sharing basically the same height and build. It actually made Danny wonder how no one else saw the similarities before, but even he was oblivious to them until now. He still felt weird dressing up like Phantom, not used to the overly tight clothing.
Their first stop once he looked properly like Phantom was to a photographer's studio to take pictures for a photo spread in a magazine, that Mr. Masters apparently pushed back for the past two weeks. The photographer, a short balding man with glasses that Danny suspected were more for decoration than to correct his eyesight, greeted them with a friendly smile, but when he thought no one was paying attention, he grumbled about stupid, temperamental superstars who couldn't even bother to make it to appearances that were scheduled a month in advanced.
"Want me to give him a good kick to the head?" Skulker asked after overhearing the photographer's commentary. "We're not on campus. I can get away with doing whatever I like without those school rules getting in the way."
"I don't think that would be a wise idea," Danny answered.
"He says that," Valerie said, checking on Danny's outfit, "but Phantom's always been pretty obedient. I dare say it's actually about time he rebelled a bit."
"Even if he knew it meant making you look bad by escaping on your watch?" Danny lifted his eyebrows curiously.
"If he hadn't done it then, he wouldn't have been able to do it at all." Valerie shrugged then patted him on the shoulder as she pushed him to take his spot in front of the camera.
They had fitted Danny with a small earwig that was virtually invisible prior to arriving at the photographer's studio. Valerie and Mr. Masters would whisper him directions during the shoot if Danny wasn't certain about what the photographer wanted him to do. Danny wasn't very comfortable standing in front of the camera and having his picture taken, but he tried to do what he did with the radio show and act like he was someone else. He was Phantom, a rock star who wasn't fearful of things like cameras and being interviewed in front of a large audience.
The photo shoot went well, but now Danny was facing an even bigger challenge. He was finding it a bit more difficult to stay in character as Phantom when his gaze would slip to the side and take in the audience watching his every move and waiting to hear his every word. How did Phantom deal with this? Danny thought he could understand wanting to escape the public eye for a while if he had to suffer this kind of pressure every day.
"It's good to see you again, Phantom," the interviewer said with a smile on her face as she brushed back a lock of blonde hair. She was rather good looking for a woman of close to fifty, who most likely had a bit of plastic surgery done over the years.
"That's Vivian Landers," Valerie whispered through the earwig.
"I know," Danny murmured back as he threw a glance toward the offstage area where Valerie stood. Mr. Masters was busy chatting on his cell phone at the moment while Desiree stood beside him. "I have watched her show once or twice."
"Really?" Valerie said with some amusement in her voice. "You're not exactly her target audience."
Danny resisted the urge to glare at her and turned his attention back to the interviewer. "It's my pleasure to be here, Vivian."
"Kiss her hand," Valerie said hurriedly.
"What?" Danny snapped, remembering to keep his voice low.
"Phantom always kisses the hand of female interviewers when he greets them," Valerie explained.
Danny held back a sigh as he took the woman's hand and brought it up to his lips. Vivian flushed darkly as she waved her papers like a fan, the light breeze tossing some of her blonde hair.
"My, my, Phantom," Vivian said breathlessly. "You're going to make me the envy of everyone in the audience if you do things like that."
"Well, I can hardly resist giving a lovely lady a kiss." Danny smiled, turning it onto the audience, which earned him some squeals and sighs from the women.
"Careful, or you might be forced to kiss everyone in the audience," Vivian said.
"You certainly wouldn't want that," Valerie said with a snicker. "I think there's a guy or five in the audience." Danny tried to ignore that comment as he focused on what Vivian was saying next.
"It's been quite a while since you made your last public appearance," Vivian said, reaching out to lay a hand on his hand as she frowned with concern. "Is everything okay with you? A lot of us were starting to worry that something serious had happened with you."
"Vlad," Valerie whispered urgently, distracting the man from his phone call, "do we have an answer for that?"
Danny almost shook his head but caught himself. Mr. Masters hadn't even thought of a response for why Phantom had disappeared from the spotlight recently? "My doctor said I needed to rest my vocal cords," he told Vivian as he reached up to rub his throat with a hand. "He said recently I was putting too much strain on them from doing so many appearances. So I took a small break from making any public appearances until my doctor said that I was in the clear to sing again."
"Oh dear!" Vivian put a hand to her mouth, looking shocked by his announcement.
"Hm, the boy can think on his feet," Mr. Masters said through the earwig, sounding rather impressed by Danny's quick thinking. "Make a note of that," he said, most likely to Desiree, "in case he stumbles over the answer in the next interview." Danny almost growled in annoyance that Mr. Masters didn't think he could remember that simple explanation.
"I can see why you decided to disappear from the public for a while," Vivian continued. "It probably wouldn't have helped your recovery to be harassed by the media."
"I certainly wouldn't have minded allowing you to interview me." Danny wore a charming smile that managed to get swoons from the audience again. "But my manager and I thought it best to keep me isolated from the public eye until we got the okay from my doctor."
"Of course." Vivian nodded with a rare serious expression upon her face. "You have an amazing talent, and I'm sure your manager wants to do everything to assure that you're in your top form before allowing you on stage again." Curiosity entered her brown eyes as she leaned closer to him. "But you surely had a few visitors during your resting time. Perhaps a special someone?" Her eyebrows lifted upward, and the whole audience seemed to hold their breath in wait for his answer.
"We shouldn't need to tell you how to answer this question, right?" Valerie asked with a touch of amusement in her voice.
"Val," Danny grumbled. He did, of course, know that as a rock star Phantom had to appear unattached to the public. Not only did it keep him available in the eyes of his female fans, but it would help to keep his personal life private.
"I'm sorry. I don't think the audience could hear that," Vivian said, and Danny jerked his head toward her with a sense of dread.
"Danny!" Valerie groaned.
"Did you just say someone's name?"
Danny felt like he was sweating bullets as he sat there under everyone's gaze. "Vlad!" he said with maybe a little too much force. "Vlad Masters, my manager. He made a point to visit me often to see how I was doing."
"Ah, I see," Vivian said, sounding rather disappointed. It seemed everyone wanted a look into a celebrity's personal life. Danny certainly didn't envy that part of Phantom's life. "I could have sworn for a moment you said another name. Well, anyway," she moved along, deciding to overlook that small slipup with a pleasant smile, "since it sounds like you're well and healthy again, do you think you might give the audience a little performance? After being out of the spotlight for so long, I'm sure everyone's just waiting to hear you sing again." She looked to the audience, which immediately erupted in cheers and demands for him to perform for them. That was definitely another thing that didn't make Danny jealous of Phantom.
"Sure," Danny replied, seeing no way around it. If he refused, it would disappoint the audience, and they would start to wonder if his vocal cords were really okay again.
"We didn't prepare for that," Desiree said, coming through the earwig with a hint of worry in her voice. "We don't have a vocal track prepared for him to sing."
"We didn't teach him the steps to any of the dances either," Valerie reminded, not sounding very pleased.
Danny glanced their way and tried not to glare dryly at their comments. "Any song in particular you want me to sing?" he asked Vivian, playing the charming rock star again.
"Oh!" Vivian looked a little flustered as she shuffled through her papers, perhaps not expecting him to agree or ask her to pick the song. "How about your recent hit? 'Time out?'"
"As you wish." Danny bowed his head to her.
"W-Well," Vivian said, flushing again, "then why don't you prepare? And we'll go to a quick commercial break." She smiled into the camera until the light turned off to show they were no longer being filmed. "I didn't think you'd actually agree to sing." She glanced at Danny as she smoothed out her red skirt. "When Mr. Masters agreed to the appearance, he said it would only be an interview. No actual performance."
"Ah, well," Danny said, now feeling a little awkward. Had he made the wrong decision in agreeing to the performance? "I couldn't let my fans down."
Vivian nodded. "Good answer. You better go get ready for your performance then." She pointed toward the big open space on the stage where the crew were already setting up for him to sing.
Danny swallowed as he stood and walked over to the performance section of the stage. He tried to keep up the act of being calm and cool like Phantom would act, but his nerves were starting to get the better of him. What if he messed up this performance? What if everyone realized he wasn't Phantom? He didn't want to blow this whole thing for Mr. Masters or ruin Phantom's reputation. When Valerie approached him on stage, Danny felt a hundred times more nervous. She did not look pleased with him.
"Why," Valerie growled lowly when she stood in front of him, "did you say my name out loud? Are you an idiot?" She dabbed a swab into some makeup stuff that Danny really didn't know what to call it then patted it onto his face.
Danny realized it then that she was acting as a makeup woman to keep the audience from realizing her true identity as his bodyguard so that they could speak privately. "Sorry," Danny mumbled. "It slipped out. I'm not used to having someone talking in my ear."
"You better get used to it," Skulker said with little arms folded as he perched on Valerie's shoulder, near her neck where he could be hidden by the bushy, curly mess of her hair at the base of her skull.
"I guess I should be happy I don't have him chatting in my ear too," Danny said with a dry glare at the ghost.
"You can't let that happen again. I especially don't want people getting it in their heads that I'm involved with Phantom." Valerie's green eyes narrowed at him.
"Have you ever wanted to be in a relationship with Phantom?" Danny asked, his curiosity slipping out before he could stop it.
Valerie stared at him for a moment, stunned by the question. "We have a professional relationship. Mostly. I think we're sort of friends too. But no, in the romantic sense, it's never come up between us."
"Oh." Danny wasn't sure what else to say to that response.
"We didn't prepare for you to actually sing for the audience, so we don't have anything ready," Valerie explained, concern entering her voice as she frowned at him.
"Yeah, I heard that part." Danny tapped his ear as a tiny smirk twisted upon his lips. "Don't worry. I'll be fine." He hoped, at least.
"Give the whelp a chance. He might surprise you." Skulker smirked secretively, and Danny felt the color drain from his face at that expression.
"I sure hope you can sing, or this is going to blow up in our faces spectacularly." Valerie gave him one last pat on the nose with the powdery substance then headed off stage.
Vivian came to stand beside him, checking that her hair was as perfect as always. "Was that the mystery girl you let slip earlier?" She tossed him a glance with a smirk.
"She was only a makeup girl," Danny answered, trying not to be too eager to reject the idea.
Vivian nodded but didn't look convinced. She turned her attention to the camera man as he counted down, using his fingers. He pointed at them when he hit one, and the light on the camera switched on. "Welcome back," Vivian said, smiling warmly into the camera. "Our guest today, Phantom, has agreed to perform his new hit 'Time out' for us. So here he is." She clapped her hands as she left the stage to him, and the audience followed suit, filling the studio with loud applause, which didn't help with Danny's nerves.
The sound crew waited until the audience fell silent then turned on the music for the song. Danny gulped as he glanced around at the crowd, squeezing the microphone in his hand. He heard this song at least a hundred times now after playing it on his radio program and hearing it all over campus. When he heard the right point, he opened his mouth and suffered a terrifying moment that he would lose his voice.
"Just another night," Danny sang, the tightness in his chest loosening as the words spilled easily from his lips. "Thinking I'm all alone."
"Wow," Desiree breathed out in wonder, listening to Danny sing. "I can't believe he sounds exactly like Phantom."
"It was his singing that caught my attention in the first place," Mr. Masters informed her with smugness in his voice, and Danny tried not to flush at the realization that he had sung out loud on a busy street. "The fact that he looked exactly like Phantom too was just icing on the cake."
Danny blocked out their offstage conversation before it distracted him from the song. Relief filled him to know that no one suspected he wasn't the real Phantom. He was glad now, too, that he not only had most of Phantom's songs memorized but also the dances that went with the songs. He hated to say he was a fan boy, like Dash, but he had followed Phantom career from the beginning. At least now, looking like an obsessive fan boy was paying off for him.
sohrem666: They're sitting their in an eternal battle of playing chess! XD;; Hm, maybe~ 8)
Dr. Strawberries: Such an adorable little blob creature~ XD;; Hm, I'm not sure how he'll react just yet. Another chapter and still no real Phantom. D: Danny needs to have a few appearances as Phantom. XD;; Danny is adorable in glasses. 8) I always like the idea of Danny wearing glasses. I've had him wear glasses before, but that was more for reading. Nope, Val and Phantom are just friends. I suppose there is that possibility, though I hadn't given much thought to Plamius' existence yet.
MsFrizzle: Thanks! =) I'm glad you're enjoying the alternate universe and the interactions.
Rii: XD They have a weird friendship, and yet it somehow works. So many possible pairings available in the show! XD;;
Guest: I hadn't even thought about it coming off like that. O:
midnight: XD Well, Danny should probably feel lucky that it's just a bit foundation to cover any blemishes. It's not like he's being forced to put on lipstick and eye shadow and mascara and stuff.
NikaStarlight: Well, a few little hiccups. Danny, why did you let Val's name slip out? orz But it seems he did okay.
noname: I'm glad you think the story is good. I've never heard of Radio Rebel. What do you want me to "tone down?"
Inisfree: I should probably get on with writing Phantom's side then. XD;; Valerie is certainly not a woman to cross. XD And she probably wouldn't appreciate seeing them harassing Danny. Skulker and Ember have really grown on me as a couple after writing them a few times. XD;; Canon wise, they still seem like the writers just threw them together for that one episode. Danny didn't fall flat on his face during the performance! He considers that a good thing. XD;;