Disclaimer: Hey, yeah, I don't own any of the original Phantom lyrics, I do own all these new characters you'll be seeing at 'Matteo Ricci High School.' Also, I actually happen to like both Kiss Me Kate and Godspell, they were just the first two musicals I thought of when writing this. I also do not own the song 'Hello' by Evanescence.
Northeast Ohio, Year 2003
"Come on, I know you can sing, Nelia," Liam said. He had me cornered against one of the walls in our school's courtyard. "You always used to in middle school."
"I wasn't any good, I was just having fun with it," I said. "Please. Don't make me."
"Look, Nelia," he said. "We're sort of stuck. You see, Sam and I are in this war with Mr. Rivers to see what musical we'll put on… but he wants us to
have a full cast assembled before he'll even listen to us…"
"Mr. Rivers hates me," I told Liam. "There is no way I'm singing in front of him."
"I know, I know, he's the biggest asshole in the business, which is why we have to beat him at his own game."
"Can't you just use someone that was in Kiss Me Kate?" I asked, referring to last year's school musical.
"Except if they were in Kiss Me Kate, they're going to want to be in Godspell, too."
"Well, I can't help you." Normally, I would have said that as I was walking away, with a wave behind me a few feet later. Now, though, I was trapped.
"Then I suppose we'll have to ask Lucy."
I looked at him in horror. "LUCY?" I asked. "LUCY is a total bitch!"
"I know, and we were already thinking she'd be a perfect Carlotta. But if you're so unwilling, maybe she'll have to be our Christine."
"You don't have to do that," I said. "What about Lourdes, she can sing!"
"She's Meg," he said. "She doesn't have the range for Christine."
"And you think I do? At least she's taking voice lessons!"
"I know what I remember," Liam said. "And I know what I heard just this past summer."
My blood turned cold. "What do you mean?" I asked. When the heck would Liam have heard me sing this summer?
"Remember on that canoe trip? You and Lourdes in the 'USS Evanescence?'"
"I d-d-don't know what you m-m-mean," I stammered. But I did. Lourdes and I, in our canoe, singing Evanescence songs… me, knowing each one by heart and imitating Amy Lee's voice perfectly.
"Does the word 'Hello' ring a bell?" he asked me.
I nodded, weakly. Oh, how I regretted that moment on the Tusc. now!
"So you can't deny your talent any more. And you can't deny how much you enjoy it."
"No, I can't," I said. "But that doesn't mean I want to sing in front of Mr. Rivers. Like I said, he hates me…"
"Then just sing for me and Sam. Come on. Herr Knarth's letting us use his classroom for our 'crazy phantom project,' as he calls it."
I followed him inside and through the halls, upstairs to where I had German class every afternoon. All the while I was thinking: What if they laugh at me? I wasn't even a huge Phantomphile, like they were. I had the cast album at home, but that was really the only exposure I had to it. It would be heaven to go see it live, but whenever it came to Cleve., the closest city, it was always sold out by the time I read about it in the paper. So I was pretty much a know-nothing when it came to Phantom. And Liam and Sam were expecting me to be Christine?
"Hey," Sam said to us when we walked in the door. He was a senior to our sophomores, and one of the biggest guys at our school. He was like a giant teddy bear. "You convinced her, eh, Liam?"
"I said I would, didn't I?" he asked. He shook his head. "Honestly, Sam, you have no faith in me."
"Well, I'm still wondering if you're even right about her," I heard a voice say. I turned around, and in the corner saw a big nose and curly brown hair. "Tony?" I asked.
"Yep," Tony answered. "I have been recruited to be Raoul."
"I didn't even know you could sing," I said. Tony was the fourth member of my German class gang. His hobbies included Hungarian traditional dancing and testing my reflexes.
"I wasn't sure, either, but then Sam had me sing this 'We Have All Been Blind' thing, and I was pretty into it."
I laughed. I could just imagine Tony being 'into' a song like that. "So, I guess I should start, then?" I said. "Which song should I sing? The title song?"
"That would be excellent, Nelia, but I'm afraid our Phantom situation has not been figured out yet," Sam said.
"But I thought you'd be the-" I started.
"Me?" he asked. "No, Liam and I are Andre and Firmin. I couldn't give myself the main role, that would be wrong."
"So you guys have no idea who you'll cast as Erik?" I asked.
"Oh, I do," Liam said, "but I didn't realize his bus left so early. I'll talk to him tomorrow."
I left it at that, but looking back on it I probably should have known better. With Liam, one should never leave anything up to chance.
"Come on, Nelia," Tony said. "Show us your pipes!"
"Fine," I said. "But you'll have to show me as well-- I'll sing 'Think of Me,' guys."
They nodded, and I began.
"Think of me
Think of me fondly
when we've said goodbye
Remember me
Once in a while,
please promise me you'll try
When you find
that once again you long
to take your heart back and be free
If you ever find a moment
Spare a thought for me"
I could feel their eyes transfixed upon me. I couldn't tell what they were thinking, so I continued on.
"We never said
our love was evergreen
Or as unchanging as the sea
But if you can still remember
Stop and think of me"
Of course, all that I was thinking about as I sang these words was someone who I hoped my love would last with, and who would someday care for me as well. So I poured my entire heart into the next few lines.
"Think of all the things
we've shared and seen
Don't think about the way
things might've been"
I could see Sam and Liam nodding, and even Tony was reluctantly acknowledging the fact that yes, Fräulein Grünfräulein had some talent after all.
"Think of me
Think of me waking,
silent and resigned
Imagine me
trying too hard to
put you from my mind
Recall those days
Look back on all those times
Think of the things we never knew
There will never be a day
when I won't think of you."
Those were the words I wanted to send to him, one of my muses. I imagined him hearing them as he walked from his last class to his dorm, thinking of sweet little Nelia back home. As I was thinking this, I saw Tony stand up to sing his lines. Finally, I thought. I can judge his voice just as he has judged mine.
"Can it be? Can it be Christine?" he sang, and then, shrugging, called out "Bravo!" We all laughed. He continued:
"Long ago,
it seems so long ago
How young and innocent we were
She may not remember me
But I remember her."
My turn again, I thought.
"Flowers fade
The fruits of summer fade
They have their seasons
so do we
But please promise me
that sometimes you will think…"
Oh, shit, I thought. This part. I had been singing these songs along with the soundtrack on my stereo for as long as I could remember, but this part was always a question mark: could I hit it or not? If I didn't, it would ruin all the good impression I had made on the guys, but I couldn't skip it. I went on.
"oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
oh-oh-oh-oh-
OOOOOOOOO-
of
me!"
There it was! I had done it!
"Gentlemen, we have Christine," Sam said. "Now if Liam can just come through on this Phantom, we can kick Rivers' ass."
I walked out of that classroom in the same spirit as the guys, but I was only thinking of my real-life Raoul, crazily thinking that somehow this might have reached him.