Disclaimer: Me? Own this? –bursts out in hysterical laughter-

Christine had never entered lunch in such a good mood. For the first time in three days, she hadn't been overcome by a sense of desperate depression and she blamed this on the fact that her Geometry class had been quiet.

Of course, this meant that Erik had not been present; she hadn't been remotely thrilled with that part. Even worse, Mr. Hall hadn't seemed to have a clue as to where the curious young man was…and he hadn't really seemed to care.

Christine's liking for the man was dropping by the day.

"You look happy," Meg observed as Christine trooped into the cafeteria and sat down. The brunette shrugged.

"My classes weren't as hellish as usual. How are you?"

"Fine—wait." Meg's eyes narrowed. "What is this? No whining? No moping? No 'poor Erik!'?"

"He wasn't here today." Christine's shoulders slumped a bit. "Maybe he's sick…"

"Or maybe he's skipping," Meg hypothesized. "He is a senior."

"I guess…" Though it wasn't much, the reminder of Erik's disappearance punctured Christine's happy balloon. She rested her chin on her folded arms.

Meg groaned. "Oh, no you don't. You came here looking chipper and that will continue if you know what's good for you. Besides, you have a visitor."

For the first time, Christine noticed the gray backpack on the table beside Meg. "Whose is that?"

"Mine." Grinning, Raoul took a seat next to her, slinging long legs on either side of the blue plastic chair. "How's your day been, Little Lottie?"

"Better than most," she answered truthfully.

"Glad to hear it." He rummaged in his bag for a moment, then gave a triumphant little, "Ah ha!" Waving a plastic bag in front of her face, he asked, "Cookie?"

Christine laughed at the sheer oddity of the question. As she reached for the bag, the back of her neck prickled. Uneasy, she glanced over her shoulder, but no one appeared to be looking in her direction.

"What's wrong?" Meg asked. Shivering, Christine shook her head.

"I don't…I thought…Never mind."

"Are you sure?" her friend asked, reaching over to rub Christine's arm lightly. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"No, no ghost…," Christine muttered absently. "I think I'm just a little paranoid. Enough people here have been rude…personally, I think I'm sort of entitled."

Raoul lifted his head. "Rude?" he repeated. "Rude how?"

"It isn't important," she told him, shifting in her seat in an effort to rid herself of the strange feeling. His brow furrowed in a frown; she tapped him nonchalantly on the head. "Don't worry."

"Mm…all right. But if they continue to bother you…" His voice trailed off. She smiled.

"I know. You'll be there, right?"

"Absolutely." His eyes softened. "So, there's a party on Friday."

"A party?" Christine blinked. "Where did this come from?"

He lifted his shoulders and took a large bite out of a cookie. "Well, I thought it would be fun if we went."

"Together?" Christine asked, frowning slightly. Nice as Raoul was and despite the history they had, she wasn't sure she wanted to be alone with him all night. One could only talk about memories and football for so long…

"Well, the three of us," he answered, looking not even a little abashed. Christine couldn't help but think instinctively of Erik; if he had been the one asking her to a party, she was sure that he would get all shy and sweet…

Stop that! her mind admonished yet again. Erik isn't here right now and it isn't helping that knot in your stomach to think about him…wait, knot? When did that find its way in there?

"What do you think, Christine?" Meg was asking. She forced a smile, trying to keep herself under control. Or rather her thoughts…why did they insist on wandering so?

"I think it isn't a bad idea. Sounds like fun, even. I look forward to it."

Raoul's eyes lit up. "Terrific!"

Meg grinned as well. "Christine, I never thought of you as a party animal. Why the sudden change?"

The teen laughed. "Hey, I am capable of fun."

"You are?"

Raoul snickered. "As long as no bones are broken this time…"

"Oh, are you ever going to let me live that down?" Christine beat him with her notebook. "You haughty little—"

He was giggling uncontrollably now. Meg shook her head.

"Ah, lover's quarrels…"

Christine's blood froze. All the humor drained from her face and she hissed, "What did you say?"

Looking surprised, Meg murmured, "It was a joke, Chrissy. Relax."

"Yeah? Not a very funny one," Christine snapped.

Raoul seemed taken aback by her response. "Christine—"

"I don't want to talk right now," she said quickly, standing up and grabbing her backpack. "I think I'm going to go down to the choir room. I'll see you in class."

Meg nodded, still looking confused. Without even a goodbye to Raoul, Christine swept from the cafeteria. Her head was throbbing; what was the matter with her? Since when did she snap at petty comments?

Since someone talked about you and Pretty Boy, her mind muttered.

That's a nice nickname, she thought to herself. Insulting old friends…yeah, that's the Daaè way.

She scowled to herself. What had made her fly off the handle like that? Meg had only been kidding…why did the concept of being with Raoul make her so angry?

No, not angry. Irate. It made no sense…

She entered the choir room loudly, not expecting to find anyone. Madame Giry was there, however, seated at a desk and reading a book.

"Christine?" she questioned. "You're early. Very early. Is something wrong?"

"I think I'm losing my mind," the girl replied darkly. "Other than that, I'm fine." She heaved a sigh and sank down in her seat, pounding her head lightly on the desktop. She'd been doing that a lot lately, she reflected vaguely. If it continued for too much longer, she might be looking at some charming brain damage. A concussion, if she was lucky.

If you're a vegetable, you won't be able to worry about Erik or those weird butterflies dancing in your stomach, her mind taunted. Or the way you've been obsessing about the eyes that you've never seen…

"Losing your mind?" Madame Giry repeated. "How so?"

Christine nuzzled against the cool table, eyes closed. "It isn't important," she mumbled. "It's just the new environment, I think. And…and…I don't know. It isn't important."

Madame Giry looked like she desperately wanted to pry, but kept mercifully silent. Christine sighed, her breath fanning against the desk like a whisper.

The next thing she knew, the bell was ringing and the class was full. Yawning, she opened her eyes and sat up straighter to find Meg's eyes boring into her. She didn't meet the curious sapphire orbs.

"Madame, would you like me to go get Erik?" she asked instead.

The woman's forehead creased in a frown. "No, dear, that's all right. Meg can get him, can't you?"

Meg nodded. Christine watched her friend leave, feeling her heart fall back down toward her sneakers. Why aren't I getting him? That's supposed to be my job…

It seemed an eternity before the familiar shadow swept into the room. Christine tried in vain to meet his eyes (or where his eyes were hiding, anyway), but he never once looked in her direction. Meg did, though, and she offered a small smile of reconciliation. The brunette allowed her lips to quirk upward.

"Are you okay?" Meg whispered as they lined up.

"Fine. Sorry about going apeshit on you."

"Apeshit?" Meg snorted with suppressed laughter. "Where the hell did you learn that word?"

Christine blinked. It was rather unlike her to swear and she wasn't at all certain why she had. It was the constant mood swings, she decided glumly. Perhaps she was PMS-ing earlier than usual. The idea, though not a welcome one, at least made sense. At this stage in her life, things that made sense were quite welcome, she decided.

"Never mind," Meg was saying quickly. "Raoul's worried about you. You might want to give him a call, reassure him."

"I'll talk to him tomorrow," Christine answered hastily.

"Are you sure—"

"Positive."

Madame tapped a ruler against her desk. "Class, we're going to put the piece we've been rehearsing aside for a moment and start a new song. This is more contemporary; some of you may know it."

"Great, she's been digging through my CDs again," Meg groaned. Christine chuckled, accepting the lyric sheet she was handed.

"Evanescence?" she muttered in surprise. This wasn't Meg's usual type of music…

Her friend appeared to be thinking the same thing. "Wow, Mom's branching out."

"Begin…now!" Madame Giry instructed over Erik's swift piano music. The class began to sing along, more strongly than Christine had expected. She guessed that most of the kids knew the song.

I linger in the doorway
Of alarm clock screaming
Monsters calling my name
Let me stay
Where the wind will whisper to me
Where the raindrops
As they're falling tell a story

In my field of paper flowers
And candy clouds of lullaby
I lie inside myself for hours
And watch my purple sky fly over me

Don't say I'm out of touch
With this rampant chaos- your reality
I know well what lies beyond my sleeping refuge
The nightmare I built my own world to escape

Swallowed up in the sound of my screaming
Cannot cease for the fear of silent nights
Oh how I long for the deep sleep dreaming
The goddess of imaginary light

"And stop there!" Madame shouted. The music stopped abruptly, with no smooth transition into silence. Surprised, the class fell silent as well.

"Doesn't he usually do that…better?" Meg asked quietly. Christine, having thought the same thing, stared at Erik's hunched-over form; his shoulders seemed more tense than usual, as if he'd been through some massively stressful ordeal.

"That wasn't bad, but I'd like you to try again with a bit more feeling," Madame commanded. Her eyes flicked to Erik. "That is okay with you, right?"

He shrugged noncommittally. Christine bit back a sigh.

They continued like this for the rest of the hour, singing as emotionally as they could and being stopped continuously by Madame Giry. She seemed to have a critical comment for everyone (especially, they girls were pleased to note, for Carlotta, who had been attempting to carry the entire song herself). By the end of class, every student felt sure that their brains would implode upon hearing "Imaginary" again…yet every student was humming it softly under their breath.

"I hate her," Meg mumbled. "I won't be able to get this out of my head for weeks…"

"Look on the bright side—next hour, we'll have the Titanic soundtrack," Christine told her, smirking and tapping one hand rhythmically against her knee.

The bell rang, loudly enough to make Meg groan: "Oh, my head…I think I need aspirin…I'll see you in class, Chrissy, okay? I'm going to stop by the office."

"'Kay," Christine answered inattentively, watching Erik as he made his usual sneaky escape. When he was gone, she walked quickly over to Madame Giry and asked, "Excuse me? Why didn't you let me get him?"

The questions came out childish-sounding and Christine cursed herself for that. Even worse was the way she felt when Madame Giry frowned.

"He asked me specifically not to send you. He gave no explanation," she added when Christine opened her mouth again. "He simply said to send someone else this time."

Christine closed her eyes. What had she done? She obviously offended him somehow…

"Go to class," Madame prodded gently. "If you're late, your teacher will be upset."

Christine obeyed, feeling numb. Erik was angry with her. How could this be? She hadn't seen him all day! What could she have possibly done to upset him?

She mulled this over and by the time she'd reached French, she had her mind made up: she was going to ask him.

A/N: Another crazy update! Geez, I really have no life.

Review Replies:

MadameAngel-bows- Glad to be of such entertainment. I really appreciate your loyal reviews. Cookie? –offers plate-

Pirate Perian- I meant his tone more than anything else, but don't feel stupid; I probably would have been confused myself.

Madelynn Rae- Well, thank you.

AMLisdabomb- Lol, well I don't know about the naked part, but I will agree that rain and making out is hot…hmm…-plots-

Chibi Hime- Gotta love the angst.

-has never loved reviewers so much- You guys are amazing, I bow to your loyalty. Hope you enjoy this chapter as well.