So quick bright things come to confusion

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from "The Phantom of the Opera". They belong to Gaston Leroux/ Andrew Lloyd Webber. The title is a quotation from "A Midsummer night´s dream" (William Shakespeare).

1) Two plans

Erik stared at the letter in his hand. It had already waited for him on his usual seat in Box Five. At first he had been indignant: He was the one to send letters, not the other way round! But then he had been overcome by curiosity and had ripped it open with almost child-like pleasure.

Now he was a little disappointed. Well, he hadn´t exactly expected a love letter, but this…! His eyes fixed once more on the important lines: I am delighted to watch Christine´s progress in singing. She must be very grateful for having such a great teacher. ´Oh yes!´, Erik thought bitterly. ´And she´s showing her gratitude by dating another man!´ Angrily he kicked against the balustrade, but this only added pain in his foot to the pain in his heart.

Although my daughter Meg´s strength is clearly dancing, I´d like her to improve her singing as well. So I ask you whether it would be possible for you to teach her if you´re not too busy. He shook his head. Of course he was busy! The managers were still much too rebellious for his taste, he had over heard two new chorus girls talking about him as the ´Opera Host´ yesterday, and instead of giving them the shock of their lives he spent all his time following Christine, watching what she thought were secret meetings with her beloved Vicomte. But what could he do about it?

The idea came to his mind in an instant. He would teach Meg. Maybe the fact that he had another student, especially one who was female and pretty, would make Christine think about where her priorities lay. It simply couldn´t go on like this: In every lesson he gave her she was so sweet and friendly, but as soon as the Vicomte was around her it seemed that her Angel of Music didn´t exist anymore.

The longer Erik thought about it the more frustrated he became. Who did this girl mean she was: the centre of the world? Unfortunately he had to realise that she was indeed the centre of his world, and he wanted to have her for himself. With a sigh he put a tick in the ´yes´ square on the letter and slipped it back into the envelope. Perhaps jealousy was the right way…

…………………………………………………………………………………………………...

"But mum! I don´t want to take singing lessons!", Meg protested, stamping her foot. She didn´t even like singing that much – she only needed it because chorus girls had to sing. Of course her mother didn´t know that she sometimes just opened and closed her mouth without actually producing a sound. She preferred leaving that to Christine and others, who in turn didn´t have the slightest idea what to do with their arms and legs most of the time.

"Wait till you hear who will teach you." Her mother was almost ecstatic, judging by her usual behaviour. For a second Meg even thought she had seen her smile, but dismissed it as a trick of the light. "Who? This terrible man with the bald head and the yellowish teeth who teaches Ariane and Monique?" The girl shuddered. She didn´t even want to think about what lessons with that man might include.

"No, it´s the Opera Ghost!" Meg frowned. "Christine´s Opera Ghost?" Mme.Giry gave her a stern look before asking: "How many ghosts do you think this opera has? He´ll teach you, and you´ll be a perfect singer before you can say ´Opéra Populaire´. Probably you´ll even become better than Christine.".

Better than Christine…! This sounded absolutely great to Meg. She had never envied Christine in the first months at the opera, but that had been before Meg had seen Raoul this one evening. Of course Petite Mademoiselle ´Raoul and I were childhood friends´ had snatched him away from her. Why couldn´t Christine just take the Opera Ghost?

Suddenly Meg smiled. If she took lessons with him, acting as if she was interested in more than just his music, Christine would surely realise that her feelings for the man were more than friendship. Then she would leave Raoul, and the poor boy would need a person to make him forget his pain.

"All right, mum!", she said with a fake sigh. "If you insist on it…!" Perhaps jealousy was the right way…