Ch.8

Hey, there's not much to this chappy---I guess you can call it a filler chapter if ya want to…but I had to get it out NOW, or else my brains would shrivel up…

FILLER FILLER FILLER!

"Durn bell," Christine grumbled as she shut the book closed. The redhead gently placed it in her green backpack and left the library.

She needed to talk to Erik before the play tonight—but when?

"Christine! Christine! HEY, CHRISTINE!" The brunette hissed as loudly as she could without attracting the geometry teacher's attention. The redhead was diligently writing in her notebook, her mind ablaze with thoughts of what she would say to Erik when she next saw him. But of course, Annalee didn't know that.

"Christine! Yoo-hoo! Christine, I'm talking to yoooou! Come on, CHRISTINE!"

Christine's hand stopped abruptly, pen poised above her notebook paper, and her eyes traveled to her friend slowly. "What? Can't you see I'm taking notes here?" she whispered back.

"Finally," Annalee whispered, rolling her eyes. "I was just going to ask you if you were psyched about tonight, that's all!"

Christine huffed, and replied sarcastically, "You interrupted my note taking to ask me if I'm excited about seeing the greatest musical on earth? You're mental."

Anna giggled, and went back to her notes. Christine sighed and resumed her note-taking.

Or what should have been her notes.

If you could read her so-called "geometry notes" you would see this:

OK Misses Opera Ninny put your hands up-I'm calling the cops if you kill my friends off!

Monsieur Opera Ghost, stop stalking me NOW! I'll call the police on you if you don't leave me alone!

"Urgh, this isn't coming out like I thought it would," Christine muttered, twirling her pen with her fingers. "I think I should just go with the flow, yeah, that's it—go with the flow…I can't do that! I have to sound eloquent, refined! Not like some stupid teenage girl mildly obsessed with the Phantom of the Opera! Maybe I should act like I'm Carlotta or something; she's got enough confidence for a whole army!"

In her mind's eye, Christine saw herself ridiculously dressed in a gaudy neon green and purple outfit and a poodle under one arm, snapping angrily in rapid Italian and swatting a plumed Red Death with a ruler, finely made tacky purple shoes tapping the floor impatiently.

Then again, maybe not. Though it would be hilarious…

"That's all for today, you may do whatever you want for the rest of the period, as long as it's productive," the young substitute teacher said from the front of the classroom as she wiped off the erasable blackboard.

Yes! Now I can read more of my book! Christine thought as everyone around her immediately began talking loudly to each other, forgetting about the productive part of their free time.

Wow…Raoul is such a pansy, going into her dressing room and embarrassing himself like that! Geez, he's hooked on Christine…AH-HAH! ERIK! Darn it, it's just his voice…CHRISTINE, NO! You're not supposed to do that! Urgh, leaving Erik like that…heh, doesn't even notice Raoul standing by her door…

RING!

"Gosh darn it; I've come to loathe that bell…" Christine muttered as she packed up her schoolbooks. Now all she had was chorus, and that was the most boring class of the day—which it shouldn't have been.

Mr. Gall was the band and chorus teacher—and he knew absolutely nothing about what he was teaching half the time. Classes took place in the recital hall, the very same one in which Erik and Christine had their encounter the day before. All the lights burned garishly, and now it just seemed dull, plain, instead of mysterious and ethereal. Everyone sat down in the highly uncomfortable plastic chairs and waited for Mr. Gall to come in. Ten minutes after the start of the period, Mr. Gall came bumbling in, empty handed, the thin hair ringed around a bald spot in the back of his head clearly mussed.

Luckily, Anna was with her, so it wouldn't be too unbearable. Unfortunately, Mr. Gall had seemed to have lost his notes for the hundredth time that year, so, it was a whole free period. Well, unfortunate for SOME people…like Constance, who had to help him find his lesson plans…

Christine buried herself back into Leroux's novel, completely ignoring her fellow students running around the auditorium, the incessant laughing and gossiping, singing, and instrument playing. A few guys had taken out their guitars and began strumming them monotonously, a gaggle of giggling girls fawning all over them.

Anna kept looking over her best friend's shoulder, commenting on each passage of the book Christine was reading.

"Can you believe the Opera Ghost just did that? I mean, he just waltzed right into the ballroom, and everyone laughed and wanted to get him drinks! Then he shows up at the dinner table! Poor Firmin, poor, poor Armand…do you know his name was Armand in the book and in the play and movie he was Andre?" She kept saying in the redhead's ear.

"Yes Anna! I know! Now stop and let me read ALONE for a while, all right?" Christine snapped.

"Geez, it's just that I'm so happy that you're finally reading my favorite book, after Harry Potter, of course," the brunette replied.

"I actually think that this one surpasses Rowling's in style, I can't believe it didn't do all that well when it first came out! It's so much funnier than Harry Potter, even though our dear Potions Master will always have a place in our hearts…" Christine trailed off as she thought of Alan Rickman in the first movie. He wasn't as cool in the second and third ones, but he still was the most awesome character…

"I don't see why you like him so much, Chris, he's so ugly and mean!" Anna said, her face scrunching in a look of extreme distaste.

"Blasphemy! How CAN you say that Severus Snape is ugly! All right, so he's not a Tom Cruise, but he's just got something about him that just draws you to him…And have you ever thought about why he's mean and nasty? DUH, he's a spy—he can't have Drakey and the other Slytherins running to their parents if he starts being nice to the other students! Plus, he looks so darn good in those billowing black robes of his…not everyone can pull that off…" Christine sighed dreamily. "Just like Erik, don't you think? Everyone gets the wrong impression of him…Everyone thought that he was a monster, a murderer—well he did kill people, but that's beyond the point. He wasn't a monster, and everyone judged him without even getting to know they guy...just like I did…" the last bit of her sentence was so quiet that Anna couldn't hear.

"Well, whatever Christine. I'm gonna go over there with Constance, all right?" Annalee asked as she stood up.

Christine nodded absently and waved her off, already absorbed in the world of the Paris Opera House.

Anna came back just a few minutes later, clearly excited about something, judging by the bouncing and darting eyes. "Christine!" she whispered, bending down into her best friend's right ear.

"What now?" the redhead snapped; annoyed that she had been so abruptly torn out of her book for the third time that day.

"Well, Constance and some of the other guys from the Drama Club are going to check out the haunted Lavonne Mansion today right after school, do you think you wanna come? It's the one right behind the school you know!" she said in a rush, her excitement bubbling with every word coming from her lips.

"You bet! You're sure it won't take time away from getting ready for the Phantom of the Opera tonight?" Christine asked.

The brunette squealed. "Positive! So it's settled- we go explore the house and get out of there before an hour's up! This is gonna be so awesome! We're meeting behind the music building as soon as school lets out, all right?"

"Yes, now shoo so I can get back to reading!"

There! Now you guys can review! Thanks to EVERYONE who's reviewed so far!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!

-Laura