Chapter 11- News Spreads Quickly

For David, the news reporter who had caught sight of Erik Destler and Christine Daae hugging the night before, it was turning out to be a great day. He was famous amongst his boss and all of his coworkers, just as he knew he would be.

For the judges and competitors of Pulse, however, the day was quickly turning into a nightmare. It all started at Erik and Nadir's shared hotel suite...

It was about 6:00 am. Nadir was drinking his third cup of coffee while browsing through the newspaper when his cell phone on the coffee table in front of him suddenly rang.

"This is Nadir," he began, picking up the call.

"Have you seen today's paper?" came a tense male voice on the other line.

Nadir frowned at the phone. It was his agent. "I'm looking at it now."

"Well, I'd hate to be the bearer of bad news, but look at the top of page eight."

He flipped through the pages quickly, unable to come up with what this could possibly be about.

It was the Entertainment section, and there on the top of the page was a large picture of Erik embracing Christine. A look of pure horror came across Nadir's face.

There was silence as Nadir processed what he was looking at. Then, he spoke again in a low voice. "I have to go." He ended the call and began reading the article, which was underneath the picture. The headline said it all, though.

Erik Destler Secretly Dating Female 'Pulse' Contestant

After reading through the article, Nadir stood, clenching the paper in one hand and stomping towards Erik's room.

Erik was sleeping peacefully for the first time ever. But, that came to an abrupt end when Nadir threw open the door. He sat bolt upright.

"How could you?" Nadir belted.

His obvious anger was a little alarming. Erik stood and smoothed his clothing. "How could I 'what'?" he asked sharply.

"You're ruined, finished. And it's all because of this." Nadir slammed the paper onto Erik's desk and crossed his arms before walking away. "Page eight."

Still annoyed, Erik moved towards his desk and opened the paper to the Entertainment section. The picture immediately caught his full attention. He read the headline above it and felt his heart begin to pound.

He and Christine had been seen. They'd been photographed. Their conversation had been overheard.

Immense concern overtook him then, but it wasn't concern for himself. It was concern for Christine. His job and reputation be damned. She was all that mattered.

He picked up his cell phone and dialed the number of the hotel she was staying at. The woman at the front desk connected him to Christine's room, and after a moment, she answered.

"Hello?" Christine asked. It was obvious that she'd just woken up.

"Christine, it's Erik."

"Oh! Hi," she said, becoming shy.

He knew the brief moment of their shared happiness was about to come to an end. All hell was about to break loose. "I'm sorry, Christine. I'm so sorry." The words came out without thinking.

Now she was worried. Sorry? Oh no.. "For what?"

"For what I'm about to tell you. I thought it would be best for you to hear it from me first... Christine, someone saw us last night. A reporter. An article and picture have been posted in today's paper."

Christine could barely believe what she was hearing. Was she still asleep and this was just a horrible nightmare? "W- what?"

"I'm so, so sorry. I never meant to hurt you."

"Hurt me?" She felt like she was in a sort of daze.

Erik had to get through to her and make her see the reality of the situation, no matter how painful it was. "Yes. This news is going to... jeopardize the competition. I am a judge, you are a contestant. Once word gets out, people will suspect that I've had favoritism based on the article."

"But..." Christine didn't really know what to say. "Isn't there a way to stop it?"

His angel was panicking. Oh, how he hated to hear such fear and desperation in her voice. He would do anything to fix this... "There may be one way."

She knew what he was about to say. He was about to take back his feelings for her. She wanted to cry just thinking about it.

"I'll quit. I'll stop judging the competition."

Christine gasped, totally not expecting to hear that. "Wha- No! No, you can't!"

"Why?"

"Because, I should be the one to quit. Judging is your career. I can't be the cause of you quitting your job."

"No, Christine. What I do is unimportant. You're the one who matters. Don't you see? You can win this. And when you do, you will be able to help your father and concentrate on your voice."

"But, I don't have a chance now, do I? Now that everything's out in the open, nobody will want to voice for me." She hated to sound so negative, but it was true.

"My hope it that people will be understanding. They should see my resignation as the right thing to do and forgive the situation."

Christine had a feeling that was just wishful thinking. "Maybe," she whispered. It was time to approach the most important part, though. "Where does this leave us?" She had to ready herself for disappointment. He might want to end things.

That she could even this of an 'us' right now caused his heart to swell with joy. "Once I am not associated with the competition any longer, I was hoping we could pick up where we left off."

Christine actually smiled. "Really?"

"Yes, really. Except, we would not have to hide."

It sounded perfect. Well, that part, and only that part, sounded perfect. "I still can't believe you're willing to give up judging..."

It was Erik's turn to smile. Really, resigning didn't matter to him. "You're all that matters," he murmured honestly.

All of this was still so new, but Christine felt the same as Erik. Her feelings were very intense. "So, what's going to happen now?" she asked softly.

"I'll resign publicly. I want to do it before things get too out of control. You need to warm up and practice. You perform today, remember? This cannot take precedence over your performance."

Had all of this not happened, she would be warming up right now. As it was, she probably wasn't going to get much of a chance to practice. Most likely, she was going to have a lot of explaining to do.

"Well, I suppose I should go now," Erik said. "Please don't worry. Just focus on your music. That's all I ask."

"Ok."

"I will get in touch with you later," he promised.

"That sounds good. Bye for now."

"Goodbye, darling." Erik hung up his phone and got dressed. He had a lot to do.

Christine place the phone back on its hook. And that's when she noticed Meg staring at her, wide awake.

"What's going on, Christine?" she demanded to know.

"I- I..." Was Meg mad? She certainly sounded like she was. But, Christine had hoped she would be the one understanding person in all this.

"Where's the newspaper?" Meg stood up and then decided, "Nevermind, let's see if it's on TV."

She must have overheard the entire conversation, both ends of it.

Meg flipped through the stations until she landed on a channel specifically for celebrity gossip. Erik and Christine were the top story.

"Meg-"

Meg shh'ed her and listened intently to the broadcaster. There was real footage of their meeting last night, as well as pictures. It seemed the reporter had done a thorough job spying.

When a commercial came on a few minutes later, Meg turned to Christine and asked, "How could you?" She felt very hurt.

"Meg, it's really not what you think. We just told each other our feelings last night for the first time. This hasn't been going on for any amount of time. They cut that part out. Seriously, we haven't been 'seeing' each other. I would never try to cheat like that."

"You all but told me before the party at the Edison that you liked him. Then there was that flashy meeting between the two of you at the party. It's obvious what's been going on!"

"What do you mean?"

"You've been sleeping with the judge to get ahead in the competition!"

Christine was beyond shocked that she would resort to something like that. "Why would you say that? You know me, Meg! I would never do something like that!"

"Yeah, maybe you wouldn't have before Pulse, but it's obvious you've changed."

Now Christine was becoming angry and defensive. "Just listen to yourself. I think you're the one who's changed."

Meg glared at her. "Well, you think my reaction's bad? Just wait until everybody knows. You don't stand a chance."

Christine knew she was referring to the competition and tears came to her eyes. "I don't have to take this." She went to the sliding glass door leading to their balcony and went outside to get away from the person she thought was her best friend.

Meg simply let out a short huff before changing clothes and leaving to go practice. She was going to do whatever it took to beat Christine.

By 10:00 am the news was out. Everyone knew. What was worse, they all seemed to be angry about it. Every look Christine got was one of spite, and she'd gotten a lot of looks like that.

She'd warmed up a little, but it wasn't productive. It seemed Christine couldn't stop worrying about everything. From the looks of it, no one was going to be understanding.

It was going to take a true miracle to get her through this...

Suddenly, a voice came over the intercom of the Kodak Theatre where all the competitors were. "All contestant, please report to the main auditorium. Again, all contestants report to the main auditorium."

Christine had a feeling she knew what this was about. Erik was about to resign. She could only hope this wasn't going to end up being a huge mistake.

I am SO sorry it's been such a long time... I have been busy, it's not a lie. I've gotten engaged, I've quit a job, I've moved twice, I've gotten another job, I quit that job, and I've gotten yet another job that has kept me really busy.

It just takes sitting down and really putting my mind to work to get a chapter written. And now, after doing just that, I'm thinking, 'why did it take this long to get an update out?' Sorry again!

If any of you are still reading, please review! :)

Thanks!

-Lauren