NOTE: I have decided…decided. (Past…the point of no return…heheh…) No, seriously. I have decided that I am not going to accept any more requests to have dates. You can have a cameo if you want, but no more date requests. I just have so many lined up!

MetaChi: Yes, that's the reference I meant. I just really liked the Siren's character. I think the best thing about her in that fic is the scene with the hand puppets. (waves a little Siren puppet) To everyone else: If you haven't yet, go read Erik is Fired! It's great.

SummerSong: Erik does need us. I know I would get bored with normal people eventually. That's why I write fanfiction. And associate with you guys. You're as far from normal as things get. (It's also why I watch anime – anime people like me are even less normal.) You know, it WILL end…eventually. Actually, in Erik's time, we've only just finished the second day of dates.

LoneGunGirl88: Don't worry, he liked you. I think he's just growing accustomed to rabid phangirls all over him. He may even enjoy it by the end of the fic. (Or maybe he won't.) Ah! I've given your life meaning! (is proud)

MortRouge: Yay! I'm the highlight of someone's day! Good for you, I'm going to see it again today. It would have been cool if someone had fainted. But I mean, come on, no one even gasped. Although…a sexed up Erik…hmm…(doesn't know if she likes it or not) I love the musical and I try to stay true to the book, but Michael Crawford's voice is so…Phantom-y. I've grown to associate them. I know hiragana! (Am learning katakana but have no time to study.) I just don't know much kanji. (No one knows what they are talking about.) Oh…sorry.

MiMi: Raoul's a tarantula? I can see Erik as a snake, but uh…

Lazy.kender19: Was it about Carlotta getting mooned or Christine sounding drunk? East coast…that would be one hour later than me. (I'm Central.) So if it's eight where you are, it's seven where I am. (All hopes of meeting you in person fade away…) You tripped IN your audition? Sorry. And someone once told me my voice was really nasal when I thought I did pretty good…(sniff)

Phantomraver: PONR was great, right?

Eat-drums: But I'm a girl with a good voice that still needs coaching, and I learned long ago not to scoop notes and to separate words with good consonants. I suppose I can't really talk though, as she's had more training than I have.

The Flying Breadstick: You're back! Heh. Nice desc. (hugs warily) The Fish Revolution!

Phoenixthemenace: Interesting. (hugs) Okay. Kathleen. Good, because we already used one Kat. Project Phantom is a kind of club on FanFiction. See the link below.

Neonn: Sorry, no more dates. But I'll give you that cameo.

Kianra: It's okay. I'm going to see it again today, and I'm dressed as Erik as I type. That's even weirder, because I'm a girl.

…………………………………..

Erik lay in bed for a few hours that night thinking. He slept with the covers and pillows piled on top of him to simulate the closed feeling of his coffin. He missed his coffin…with its shiny black wood and its comfy purple velvet lining.

He was wondering how he could possibly miss the hyper phans. He'd had a lovely outing with Kimberly – they'd talked and laughed and had fun.

And he missed the hyper phans?

He bet he'd be missing Kimberly by tomorrow.

He got up before Aislin the next day – bright and early at 7:00. Well…he figured it was early, but he sure wasn't bright. He was actually kind of dull. He wasn't used to getting up that early, so his hair was totally messed up and his face looked worse than it normally did (which, seriously, is saying a lot). Only half awake, he stumbled out of bed into the bathroom.

Where he found Aislin, halfway through getting dressed.

They stared at each other for a minute, Erik still trying to register what it was he was seeing. Then Aislin darted forward and slammed the door in his face.

"Pervert!" said her muffled voice.

Erik sat down on the floor before the bathroom door. "I thought you were still asleep!"

"Does it look like I'm asleep!?"

"Well…" He looked at Aislin's bed and saw…a pillow.

"Well…I was tired!"

He sat there for ten minutes, while she finished dressing and getting ready. Then she huffily stalked out of the bathroom, and Erik went in after her.

He showered to wake himself up, and got ready for the day.

When he came out, he found Aislin sitting in front of the window, Phantom CD back in the player, completely ignoring him. It wasn't until he poked her from behind that she consented to turn around. "Wasn't quite ready for that stage in a relationship," she said loudly, through her music.

"We don't have a relationship," said Erik confusedly.

She turned off the music. "I know, but I'd feel better about what just happened if I said we did." She handed him an envelope. "Take this down to the girl waiting in the lobby. Well…you know, chances are she's waiting right outside the door. Anyway, she'll come up to you. Give it to her – she knows where you're going." She resumed her staring.

Erik wondered why she never just told him who he was going out with. He figured it was because she wanted to keep him (and her readers) in suspense until the last minute.

Sure enough, waiting outside the door was the same girl who'd been there that first day. She stood up happily. "Hi Erik! I'm Hilary, and it's finally my turn."

Hilary had blue-green eyes and a kind of golden-brown color of wavy hair. She looked waaay too hyper and excited for seven in the morning. He gave her the envelope and she led him down the hall.

Hilary hopped into the elevator with Erik. He grew increasingly more uncomfortable as Hilary inched closer and closer to him, until she was pressing hard against his side, squashing him against the wall. The elevator doors opened. He leaped out as fast as possible.

"Personal space," he growled.

Hilary nodded solemnly, and led him to the front of the hotel, where they waited five minutes for a small red trolley-type bus. Once they were on it, Erik looked at his companion.

"Where are we going today?"

She just grinned. "You'll see!"

The bus took them into a large parking lot, where they were dropped off with a crowd of other people, all talking happily, many accompanied by small children. They made their way to a row of what looked like ticket booths.

Erik started to hear music. Not 'violin in the graveyard' music, but…Disney music?

"Oh, no… Hilary, please don't tell me…"

"We're going to DISNEYLAND!"

Great. The perfect place for a dark, murderous Opera Ghost. Disneyland – the Happiest Place on Earth. Erik didn't feel too happy.

As their tickets were in the envelope, Hilary led him straight in, after having a cast member check them. They stood before a large garden of flowers arranged to look like a smiling Mickey Mouse. She pushed him in, under a bridge that had an old-fashioned train chugging over it.

They now stood on Main Street, U.S.A. The shops and restaurants all looked quaint and inviting, but Hilary grabbed Erik's hand and positively dragged him down the street to a large castle – Sleeping Beauty Castle. They passed through, and were now in Fantasyland, with all sorts of rides based on the Disney movies.

Hilary loved it, but it was a nightmare for poor Erik. They rode rides based on Snow White, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, and Mr. Toad. Who the heck was Mr. Toad? Erik had never heard of that movie. But all the rides were slow and full of happy voices and bright characters. He thought he was going to go insane.

"Hilary," he gasped, as they exited Small World, a boat ride much like his own lake, until they went inside and heard all the little characters singing the same infectious song. The same…song…That song… "Can't we go somewhere good next?"

She thought for a minute. "Oh! I know a ride you'll like. Aislin suggested it. It's her favorite ride." Great. More cutesy characters probably.

Hilary took him halfway across the park, to a large, creepy-looking mansion. "What is this?" Erik looked around wildly. This place was weird…he liked what he was seeing.

"We're in New Orleans Square, and this is the Haunted Mansion."

"Haunted Mansion?"

They had barely walked inside the house when Erik decided, "This is the best ride in the whole park." It was full of mysterious sounds, flying objects, scary ghosts, and a talking head inside a crystal ball. There was one ghost – a female one in the attic with a beating red heart and a tattered wedding gown – that made him think of Christine for a moment, but it didn't last long.

True, they were singing in this ride too, but the song was eerie and was sung by weird voices. As they exited the ride, Erik couldn't say enough good things about it. He wanted to go again, but Hilary refused.

After lunch in a restaurant in New Orleans Square, and a few more rides, like Pirates of the Caribbean – another enjoyable boat ride, and Splash Mountain – a log ride with a huge drop that neither of them really liked, Hilary said goodbye to Erik by a statue of King Triton.

"Aislin said you've got one more date here today." She didn't sound happy. Apparently, she'd wanted her own outing to last much longer. "She'll be waiting for you at Snow White's wishing well." Hilary glomped him quickly, and dashed off toward Adventureland. "See you again sometime!"

Erik braced himself and headed for the well.

……………………………

I hope that was a good long chapter. Read and review! I'm going to a movie! In sleep he sang to me…

Oh, by the way, for whoever asked me, I got my white half-mask at a store called Party City. Also, here's the link to Project Phantom, again for whoever asked, just take out the spaces:

groups.yahoo .com/group/ ProjectPhantom