Disclaimer: The only people I own are Stephanie, Dan, Elaine and Tom Larson. Erik will never be mine.

A/N: I just want to say thanks to all of my readers, your comments make me smile. Tomorrow I have a 15-minute presentation in my English class and so I'm really nervous about it. So wish me luck and go ahead and read!

Chapter 13- Lesson 6: Recognizing Your Rival

School was bearable surprisingly for Stephanie. She went through her classes in a haze, not caring about anything or the people who were catcalling. Dan Shaw… the Dan Shaw actually talked to her! She was floating on thin air!

When she came home, Erik kept himself busy with a nose in a book.

"I take it you like Stephen King," Stephanie commented, taking her jacket off and noticing the Salem's Lot book cover. Erik lifted his head from the page he was on and glared. "I'm almost half-way done with this page. Hang on a minute!"

"Sorry," Stephanie mumbled. She dropped her backpack to the ground and took out some of her homework. "Damn these concepts."

A minute turned to five, then ten, and finally 45 minutes later Erik set the book down. "Okay I'm ready now. So how was your day?"

Groaning, she closed her History book and moved to stretch her legs a bit. "It was great. I can't believe we ran into Dan the other night."

"And you thought he would never notice you." Words couldn't express Erik's joy for Stephanie. He knew this was a big deal for her, for any girl in fact when their crush talks to them. "So what do you have planned?"

"Since we got the stuff about you done it's time to do the next most important thing. Whom you're up against to win the fair Christine's hand."

"It's that boy. There done so let's move on about Christine."

"No Erik you're not done," she sighed. "In order to beat your enemy, you have to become your enemy."

Erik's features twisted in a disgusted grimace. "I rather not thank you very much." Just the very notion of being that fop made Erik cringe.

"Erik how else are you going to beat him if you don't do this?" she whined.

He shook his head. "I'm sure with whatever else you teach me, Christine will come to me on her own."

"Waiter, I like to have the handsome man with the security and good he promises me over the one who's pathetic and demented."

He growled. "Couldn't I let Carrie use her telekinesis to kill him?"

"Maybe she could do that in Erik's Happy Land," she chided him in a babyish tone. "But in the real world that's not possible. So are you going to join the real world or are you going to take the next train to Lala land. Your choice."

Erik grumbled "real world" as all types of fun thoughts came to mind of torturing her. So far he was leaning towards a soundproof room so no one could hear her ramblings and she would go mad on her own. But the infamous room he designed where mirrors are used to increase temperatures causing the victims to go mad with the heat and hang themselves was more appealing, though he was positive that Stephanie wouldn't be affected by it.

"Wonderful." She dove back into her backpack and pulled out a notebook that had Raoul's face plastered over it. "I got bored in my English today and made it for you." She handed him the book and he tentatively took it. The look on his face would make one think it was diseased.

"Now, I want you to write out everything there is about Raoul," she explained. "Anything you can think of- his past, personality, etc. Doing that will get you in the mind of your rival so you know what you're dealing with. It also might help if you write out reasons why Christine might want to be with him so you can prevent those from happening. Then I want you to make a comparison chart of you and Raoul with all your pros and cons. Getting a visual look at the facts will make it easier for you to what to improve on and how to beat him. Any questions?"

"Why is his face on it?"

"That way if you're stuck on something all you have to do is look at him and picture him holding Christine." She grinned devilishly. "That should help a great deal. Now you do that while I'll be in my room doing homework. Ta!"

A half hour passed and Erik stared at the blank sheet of paper. The only thing his hand badly wanted to write were ways to kill the fop and how to get that goofy grin off his fake façade. But that wasn't what Stephanie would have in mind. Sighing, Erik crossed his arms and looked up to the ceiling. The tap tap of computer keys next door rang in his ears. While she was slaving away on schoolwork, Erik here was contemplating the Vicomte in an accident. He shook his head to rid the twisted images he conjectured after reading too many Stephen King books. They weren't helping much.

He picked up the pen and just examined it. He was a brilliant man but couldn't come up with anything to write about. He thought if he wrote anything "nice" about Raoul it would be become his omen. And Erik didn't want that.

Finally after five long minutes passed, Erik managed to write one thing: Good looks.

That was the only reason he could come up with why Christine would want him and what the boy had. And what did poor Erik have? A marred cheek and a past. He wasn't good as Raoul was and he hated to admit that maybe the Vicomte did deserve to have Christine as wife.

No! Don't you think that! his mind screamed at him. After all this time spent with Miss Larson you still see yourself as a monster. What happened to the good feelings she taught you? Huh? You do deserve Christine and you're still beating yourself up on it. Make up your mind! You love Christine so fight for her!

With that resolve in mind, Erik set the pen down and poured his heart and soul into the small notebook. When he felt himself slowing down, Erik pictured Christine in the company of the foolish boy and his anger fueled him to write more. It wasn't until later that night he stopped as Stephanie came to check on him.

She handed him a tray with pasta in exchange for his work. While Erik stuffed his mouth, Stephanie went through the pages he written. She was thrilled to see most of the pages filled out. Though, some she ignored were love notes to Christine, which she was going to tease him about later.

"I must say well done Erik," Stephanie said. "I was afraid you were only going to have one thing done about Raoul being handsome and that's it."

Erik nervously chuckled knowing how close she was to the truth. She set the book down and asked him the question he always dreaded to hear:

"So why do you think Christine went to him?"

Swallowing the rest of his food, Erik replied: "She needed someone at that moment when Buquet died. She was terribly frightened and confused about her Angel that when Raoul offered her protection, Christine decided in that moment that since she known him the longest, she knew he was speaking the truth. She is so fragile and easily manipulated that his words of love were the only things she wanted to hear. She needed to know that she was loved and he did that. It wasn't because of his boyish charms or his money, but more of an innocent attraction towards a friend that drove her to promise herself to the light forever, never looking back to the darkness that her heart calls for. He is in every way a gentleman and honorable to his word. A trait something I do not possess very often but should. Christine needed stability and Raoul gave that to her, and I know I can too if I try my hardest to prove worthy in her eyes. I shall do my best to fight hard and win her heart in the fairest way possible."

"Couldn't have been said better than myself," Stephanie said with a twinkle. "So do you still hate Raoul?"

"With every fiber in my being and every breath I take," Erik told her. "But this really put things in perspective for me and so I have every bit of confidence within me to make him alone."

"You're on the right track mon ami. I think you deserve something for your work so I'm not going to have any comments about your letters. And I guess you can watch those clips as many times as you want."

As soon as those words left her mouth, Erik was out and in the next room in a split second. Stephanie sighed as she heard Erik rooting for himself. Yup, he's like a kid in a candy store, she thought.

TBC…

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