The stage at school was pretty big. The community center's was bigger. The stage at the Palais Garnier was colossal. Squeaky clean, too. Erik had a secret passage through the real Box Five from his lair and to the stage. I stood in the center, looking at the lights on the pillars, which Erik turned on the dim setting for me to see. "Ho. Ly. Crap." I murmured.
I felt Erik's arms go around my waist. "And soon, you will be performing here."
I leaned my head on his shoulder. "Thanks to you, boyfriend."
His soft bare hands crept up my torso and to my neck. He turned me around and embraced me until we were sorta making out. We were lying on the rock-hard stage and we might have looked like we were having sex or something…I'm not saying we didn't.
Erik walked me home after we were finished with whatever we were doing. It turned out to be five in the morning and Grandma was asleep. I went to my room and slept a little until seven, when she was making breakfast.
While eating and talking like we never got the call from the school, the phone rang. I recognized Marine's number on the caller ID. I put it on speaker and answered, "Whaddup?"
"Avril? It's Marine."
"Hey, Marine," I said. "Whaddup?"
"A lot," she chuckled. "I'm calling everyone to let them know…from now on, rehearsals will be at the Palais Garnier because we will be performing all of our shows there."
Grandma had heard it before from an awful person but both of us screamed in excitement. "Thanks, Marine! Five o'clock?"
"Yes," Marine replied. "See you then."
"Bye." I hung up. Grandma and I screamed again.
Alex called at eleven A.M while Grandma and I were running lines. "Hey, Alex," I answered. "Did you hear the big news?"
"I sure did!" he replied cheerfully. "Can you believe it?!"
I definitely could. "It's a dream come true!"
"Think you got your lines all down?"
"My grandma's making sure. I'm doing good, I think."
"Well, wanna go out this afternoon before rehearsals? Go to the diner and run lines or something?"
This would piss Erik off in great ways, but I said, "Yeah, sure."
"Cool. I'll pick you up at four, perhaps?"
"See you then. Bye." I put the phone down. Grandma gave me a look. "What?!" I exclaimed.
"Avril, he loves you. A lot. If you don't love him, maybe he'll turn into a younger, mortal Phantom of the Opera and kill your lover."
I had a lover, but Grandma was joking. "Very funny, Grandma, but Gerard Butler himself is more of a killer than Alex could be."
Grandma sighed dreamily. "If only I were in my forties and still young and hot, I would be roulement dans le foin with him all the time."
I flinched. "W-what does that mean?"
She covered her mouth. "Um…it's…a little gross."
"You're a cool grandma," I said, patting her shoulder.
Alex picked me up at four and took me to dinner, where we practiced Music of the Night, I Remember there was Mist and the end scene. Alex was a fantastic singer. Nothing was wrong with him. No one could do anything to fix him at all because there was nothing to fix. But Erik, my boyfriend Erik, was a hell of a lot better. Alex was good at portraying Erik, but the real Erik was better than anyone could be. But I didn't really want Alex to know that I was seeing an actual Phantom. So I didn't tell him anything but that he's awesome. We made it to the Palais Garnier right at five o'clock.
The main hall of the opera house was even more amazing than I remembered, with squeaky-clean floors and walls, bright lights, and majestic stairs. Sitting on the steps or standing somewhere and talking were most of the cast. Marine was talking to Pierre and Frank was on his cell phone with an excited smile. "Who do you think he's talking to?" I asked Alex.
"Iono, someone big, I guess," Alex replied.
I saw Frank hang up and run to Pierre and Marine. They all looked like something big had happened because they were shrieking. I could barely hear them over the chatter. When Frank, Pierre and Marine were done shrieking, Pierre shouted, "Attention!" Everyone fell silent.
"We have big news," Frank said. "But first, let's go into the theater."
The theater was still super-amazing. I felt like I was going to faint. I told Emily this and she led me to the stage, where we told to stand. When everyone was done admiring the great theater and looking at Pierre, Marine and Frank with the orchestra in the pit, Frank said. "So, we have a big day planned. We're gonna do a full run-through, with all the costumes we have and microphones. Just a few rules, though. This is not our theater. There are props that aren't ours, but they're hidden away. Still, don't touch them. Only touch your own props. The walls aren't soundproof, so if you have to talk backstage, you must whisper. And have fun. But big news, we have a lot of people coming. People from a company in America called Fathom Events will be coming and filming us live in three weeks, when it's opening night. We'll be in theaters live all over the United States. There will be reporters, newspapers, critics. So we have to do our best. We have to be perfect, because we'll be having two guests of honor."
"Who?" I asked.
"Joel Shmaucher and Andrew Lloyd Webber. In person. Here. May First. Sitting in Box Five and attending the cast party dinner after opening night right in the ballroom for everyone to meet."
Everyone screamed in excitement, but my screams were louder by far. Even though it wasn't Andrew Lloyd Webber who wrote the musical/movie, I was excited. I didn't know if it was Erik who brought him. I saw him in what I figured to be Box Five because he was there, giving a little smile. "Was it you?" I lipped to him.
He shook his head. I raised my eyebrows and continued screaming until everyone was out of breath.