Madmaddy- Well I do not wish to sadden you by not writing any more fics, so I most likely will but will just take some time off first to work on some of my own stories. I am oh so pleased you like my story.

Star Wolf- :double sigh: I am in love with Erik and Jesse. I cannot help myself with adding phantom to the mix.

Nikki007- Wow, I did not quite get that...do you want Suze to stay with Jesse? Heh, you will be surprised what is to come.

To anyone else who has read and will review or what not sorry I didn't give you a shot out this time, it hasn't been a full 24 hours since the last chapter went out.

Chapter 23

We arrived at school when they dance was just starting and everyone was arriving. The costumes people came up were amazing! There were Kings and Queens, fairies, knights, anything and everything that looked fancy. There were all sorts of decorative masks everywhere. The gym was beautiful too! The harsh gym lights were off so the only light in the gym was coming from beautiful "candles" which were really electric candles. Apparently school thought having candles all over the gym would be a fire hazard.

"Suze!" CeeCee cried out as she and Adam entered the building and walked towards Jesse and me.

"Or should we say Christine?" Adam asked grinning at me. He looked very handsome in his late 1800s styled suit. He made a very handsome Raoul. "You look wonderful, Suze" He said to me while winking. He then looked at Jesse and said, "Dude! I love the cape! Why couldn't I have a cape!"

Jesse smirked and said, "Because I am the Phantom. I am mysterious and Raoul is this spoiled brat who is scared of me...not that I think you are like that, of course, Adam." He gave his cape a sexy little swirl to show off his mad swirling skills.

CeeCee and I looked at Jesse in shock, "I see you read the book, eh?" I said to him assuming that he had not seen the movie.

He smiled slyly and said, "Yes, I did, it was laying in your room one day so I picked it up. Erik is a very interesting character. He was a genius in basically everything- especial music."

I then remembered Erik's words to me again. I shall be there, and you shall be my Christine. I suddenly wished everyone would stop mentioning Erik's name. The last thing I needed at my school's big dance was to take care of a ghost...phantom...

"Hey guys, lets go into the gym now. I feel like dancing and showing off my dress!" I said cheerfully to get everyone to go inside.

They all agreed and we started making our way through the crowd of people when suddenly I hear a voice call out, "Susannah!"

I turned towards the voice and saw Father Dominic walking towards us. 'Hmm,' I thought to myself, 'what does he want?' I smiled brightly at him and said, "hey Fr. D! What's goin' on?"

"Susannah, I just wanted to let you know that as Vice President of student counsel you have to make a welcoming/thank you speech to the students who attended." My eyes must have bulged out because he looked guiltily at me and said, "yes, it is a bit last moment isn't it? Well I know you are very good at last minute jobs like this and are a funny creative girl. You will do fine. You will have to make it in about 20 minutes. Just go up to the DJ and tell him you have to make an announcement." He then looked at Jesse and said, "Oh! You two are dressed as pair! It would be very, er, cool if you two made the speech together."

Now it was Jesse's turn to be shocked. "Me? Padre, I am new here! Most people have no clue who I am...are you sure about this?"

CeeCee snorted at his comment and said, "Jesse, almost EVERY person in this school knows who you are now. All the girls think you are this amazingly hot guy and then the guys hear about it from their girlfriends and girl friends. People like you, you just don't realize it. You should talk with Suze."

When Jesse didn't say anything to that, he was too surprised, Father Dominic said, "So I assume you are the Phantom, right Jesse? And that would make you Christine, Susannah?"

I smiled happy that he knew who we were, "Yep! And Adam is Raoul and CeeCee is Meg!"

Father Dom smiled and shook his head, "Only you guys could pull together costumes this fancy and elaborate this quickly. I will be shocked if you do not win the costume contest."

"Oh, we didn't make the costumes, Father. At least not the dresses...Erik designed them." Adam said with a glint in his eyes.

Oh god. He did not just say that. I felt my face go white and my mouth opened but nothing would come out. CeeCee luckily was able to say, "What he means is my Aunt Pru made the dresses for me and Suze. She was joking around how the ghost of Erik, you know, Phantom, helped her come up with the costumes because he was a genius especially when it came to opera and costumes and music." She then shot a warning look at Adam as if to say shut the hell up!

I was still speechless and having troubles talking. I so did not want to tell Father Dom about the possibility of there being another ghost who is taking special interest in me. Especially one who was supposedly only a character.

Father Dom frowned slightly but then said, "Well anyway, the costumes are amazing. Now get into the dance and have fun. Jesse, Suze, do not forget to make the announcement!" He then walked away.

We walked towards the mass of dancing people, Jesse's arm out for me to hold on to like people back in his time were. Adam was already jumping all around to the song "Lets get it started" by the Black Eyes Peas which the DJ was blasting through the gym. CeeCee was watching him laughing and taking his picture through her digital camera. She then turned to Jesse and me and said, "Ok Erik and Christine, it is time for you to get your picture taken."

I rolled my eyes and Jesse sighed and then put his arm around me. His cape moved with his every movement and wow! It looked amazing. I put my arm around him and my head on his chest and said to Cee, "make sure you can see mask clearly!" Hey, I still thought the mask looked very handsome on him.

CeeCee took our picture and then said, "Ok, I need one of the four of us too." One of our friends from school walked by and CeeCee made her stop so she could take our picture.

CeeCee and I stood next to each other in the middle with Adam next to her and Jesse next to me. Jesse was standing there in a typical "Phantom stance." His arms were crossed, his cape half covering him and his mouth set in a serious "I'm so sexy and mysterious" look. Once our friend took the picture I turned to Jesse and put my arms around him and looked into his eyes and said, "You have no idea how sexy you look right now...I need a copy of that picture." I was grinning at him. He chuckled and smiled down at me.

"Thank you very much, Querida." He said in a deep voice still smiling. He then looked at the clock hanging on the gym wall and said, "It looks like we should make our way towards the stage so we can make our little 'speech."

I frowned slightly and said, "I have no clue what to say! I am so bad at things like this!"

Adam laughed and said, "You are kidding right Suze? You are great in front of people. Just pretend you are talking to us or something and Jesse here just needs to smile and say hey and all the girls will basically faint anyway." He winked at Jesse to let him know he was at least halfway joking with him.

I took Jesse's hand in mine and noticed that he even had on black leather gloves like Erik. Wow, he really got into this costume thing. I have the best boyfriend in the world! "Come on, lets get this over with...Cee and Adam you better be somewhere where I can see you."

We started walking to the stage dodging around dancing bodies. I had to make sure no one stepped on my dress because over my dead body was this thing getting ruined. Right before we made it to the stage I heard a high pitched girl's voice screech, "SUZE! Oh my GAWD!" and a deep guy's voice from the opposite direction going, "Jess-Man! You made it dude!"

I turned towards the voice addressing me and said, "Hey Kelly, what's up?"

She was wearing a skimpy little red dress that was so short it was almost to her butt and so low that her boobs were in fear of popping out any second. She had little red sparkly devil horns on her perfect hair. I raised an eyebrow and said, "Playing the devil tonight, eh?"

She smiled and said, "yeah, I saw this dress and thought it was adorable, don't you agree?"

I held back my sarcasm and said, "Yeah, cute."

"Your dress is very...old fashion, but oh my god it is so adorable. What are you from? Gone with the Wind or something?" She then saw Jesse and his outfit and her eyes went wide. "Wow. Ok, never mind you are...Christine? From Phantom?"

Whoa, I am utterly and completely shocked. Kelly was found the brain capacity to figure out who I am. I grinned and said, "yes, and Jesse, obviously, is the Phantom."

"Erik." He corrected smirking at me. Ok, I guess that is what I get from doing it to him the past few days.

I then told Kelly that I had to make the welcome speech and she said goodbye and walked away. I then turned to Jesse to see what he and Kyle were talking about.

"Dude, I want your cape. That thing is fricking amazing. You can like swoosh it every time you turn and such. I wish we could wear capes all the time!" Kyle was saying to Jesse.

I burst out laughing at that one. I might not know Kyle that well yet, but he is one funny guy. He was...well I could not really tell what he was. "Hey Kyle!" I said brightly. "What are you suppose to be?"

He looked at me, and his eyes light up. "Whoa, Suze-Girl. You look stunning. I am Legalos, from Lord of the Rings. That dude is so cool being an elf and all."

I nodded my head and said, "I agree, he is so cool. You look great." He grinned and I noticed he had a dimple on his right cheek. So adorable. "Well I am going to have to steal Jesse for now, we have to make the welcoming announcement for the masquerade."

"Cool, I will catch you two later."

We then walked on to the stage and told the DJ what we were doing. He handed us a microphone. Oh god, what am I doing? I have no idea what to say...I am going to look like an idiot! Ok...ok...just be like Christine. She always got in front of crowds and sang. You aren't even singing, just talking, you can do this. The music stopped and then suddenly, "DUH! Duh duh duh duh duuuuh!" The first few measures of Phantom of the Opera blasted thought the speakers. The whole crowd stopped what they were doing and looked up at us. I looked at the DJ and smiled. "Wow," I said into the microphone. "I was not expecting the music like that...well I guess it works since I am dressed as Christine and Jesse DeSilva is dressed as Phantom from Phantom of the Opera. We are here to welcome you to the very first Masquerade and thank you for coming." I took a deep breath. Ok, I am doing fine. "As I scan the crowd I see so many different costumes...it looks so amazing from up here. I am so happy people actually decided to dress up for the theme instead of blowing it off and making it like every other dance. You people rock and I hope you have fun tonight!" I then looked at Jesse who was standing there in his Phantom Stance again. I almost started giggling into the mic. I offered him the microphone and he shrugged and took it.

"Hello. I am Jesse DeSilva, I don't know how many of you know who I am since I just started here at the Mission." I swear to God almost every female in the crowd swooned when they heard him talk. He then said half smirking, "Truthfully I do not know what I am suppose to say, Padre...er...Father Dominic kind of force me up here. I think he like everyone else liked my cape or something," I rolled my eyes at him and he went on to say, "So, yes, have a great time tonight."

He then turned so his cape went around both him and me and we disappeared off the stage. Ok, I am lying, but that would have been so cool, wouldn't it? He did swoosh his cape as he turned from the crowd and took my arm in his. As soon as we were off the stage I burst out laughing uncontrollably. "Oh my God, Jesse you are too much!" I gave him a huge hug and kissed him on the cheek and he grinned at me.

"Ok, so I am having a bit of fun dressed at Erik, and I do admit it does feel nice being in clothes like my old ones. I am glad we are here."

"Me too...Dance with me?"

"Thought you would never ask." He then took my arm and led me towards CeeCee and Adam. Right then a swing song started playing and Jesse grinned widely at me and said, "Do you care to swing?"

We started spinning and dancing all over the place. It was amazing! After some other songs, rock, rap, the usual dance things, Jesse said, "I am thirsty...would you care for a drink Susannah?"

I nodded my head and said, "Yes! I am dying!"

"I will get us some, I will be right back, do not move." With a spin of the cape he was gone into the crowd. A slow song started playing then. Great. My boyfriend is gone during the first slow song of the night...this sucks! CeeCee and Adam started to sway back and forth together with her head resting on his shoulder. They looked so adorable together! It made me wish I could put my head on Jesse's shoulder too.

I suddenly felt someone next to me so I looked up from watching Cee and Adam and saw Jesse was back...but he didn't have any drinks...weird.

"Would you care to dance with me, Susannah?" He murmured in my ear.

I smiled and slipped my arms around his neck but said, "You didn't bring back drinks!"

His face fell for a split second but then returned to its normal self and he said, "I will get them, but I did not want to miss the first slow song with my Angel of Music." His arms tightened more around my waist. Wow, Jesse really is getting into the whole Phantom thing, calling me his Angel of Music and all. I sighed happily and put my head on his shoulder like I was just yearning to do. His lips lightly brushed the top of my head and his hand gently stroked my back as we moved to the music. I felt so comfortable...so at ease...

I lifted my head towards his, and he moved his down towards me. Our lips met half way. The kiss was gentle at first but then he became more and more eager to kiss me. Mmm, Jesse is such a good kisser. I could feel it all the way down to my toes...I really liked kissing him as the Phantom too, it gave it a whole mysterious thrill to it! I am a dork I know, but I cannot help it. Jesse then deepened the kiss. Ok, I am so not complaining but he and I had not kissed THIS much in...well...ok...the only person I can think of who has kissed me with this much force and passion is...Paul.

We broke apart and I looked him in the eyes smiling. His beautiful dark brown eyes...Oh god. My stomach suddenly knotted up and I think my heart just about stopped. These eyes were not a deep brown...

"I shall be there, and you shall be my Christine..."

To be continued...

I TOLD you I would update quickly. Technically that is two updates in one day because I wrote chapter 22 at 2 this morning. REVIEW OR PHANTOM WILL GET YOU!

Hmm...ok...if that were me I would WANT the phantom to get me...hehehe.