Disclaimer: Once again, I do not own The Phantom of the Opera. Dammit.
IAR (Insistent Author Ramblings): Okay, I know that the format of the first chapter was LYKOMGPSYCHO, as is this one. I'm too lazy to go and change it, so deal. XP; Oh, and be warned, EC readers. There is a bit of RC fluffiness towards the end of this chapter. (prepares to hide from torches and pitchforks) I hate to do it, but it must be done!
GoldenLyre: Heh, yes. I know Christine was a little harsh on her dad, but I wanted a change in her character from the usual quiet, shy girl she really is. Or, I could blame it on hormones. Either way works, really. n-n And don't worry, Erik shall be arriving soon enough. ;D
Shadow of the Phantom: Yes, poor Christine! Things shall get better though! And thanketh you for the compliment. :D
Now, without further adieu, Chapter 2! And, no, I wasn't trying to make that rhyme. XP
-& -
I groaned with annoyance as my best friend, Meg Giry, admired herself in her graduation gown for what seemed to be the hundredth time.
"Meg, honestly! Could you be any vainer?"
She whirled around and glared at me.
"Well, sorry! But I look absolutely dazzling in violet, don't you think?" She giggled, spinning around and stumbling.
I sighed and rolled my eyes, grinning.
"You look fine in anything, Meg. You know that!" I laughed.
She grinned back.
"I know, I know. I just can't hear it enough, though!" Meg spun around again, this time much more graceful. She was a ballet dancer, just like her mother before her.
She wrinkled her nose in disgust at her cheesy rhyme.
"Slap me the next time I do that."
"I'd be more than happy to, your majesty." I mock bowed in my seat. Meg narrowed her eyes and threw a discarded dress at me, which I dodged easily. A smirk crossed her face as she picked up a hat and threateningly swung it around in her hands.
I chuckled and stood up, peering around the clothing shop we were in. We had been in there for almost two hours, looking for my perfect graduation dress. It was hopeless. I'd tried on red dresses without straps, green dresses with straps, blue dresses with frills, yellow dresses that came up way too short, everything!
I sighed sadly and sat back down. Meg looked over at me from the full-length mirror and frowned.
"Christine!" She scolded, wagging a finger at me.
I looked up from staring contentedly at the ground.
"Stop being lazy and look around…Again." She smiled.
"Fine." I mumbled unwillingly. Slowly, I stood back up and stalked over to a far side of the shop where we actually hadn't been to. There were old dresses, some of them new, some people just didn't want. I browsed lazily through the racks and found nothing. Just like I said. Hopeless. I was heading back towards Meg when I felt something slip under my feet. Before I could do anything, I had tripped and landed with a face plant on the hard carpet.
"What the-?" I muttered, rubbing my nose and sitting up, gazing back to the spot I had tripped.
Under a clothing rack, a large portion of a cream white fabric laid there, a footprint implanted on it thanks to me. I crawled over to it, still shaking slightly from my fall. Carefully, I pulled it from under the rack and laid it in my lap.
I gasped. It was the most beautiful dress I had ever seen! The main torso was made of cream white silk, decorated up the center with ribbons that made it seem like a corset. It turned into white lace at the sleeves and right in the middle of them, a cut went down, dividing them to show some of the wearer's arms. I ran my hands over the upper half, astounded. The lower half was also made of the same lace, and a cut up to the middle of it divided to show part of another layer of cream white silk beneath. It looked so Victorian…This was the one.
Trembling, I stood up, the dress in my hands.
"Meg!" I cried. "Meg, you have to see this dress!"
In what I swear was less than two seconds, Meg came rushing over to me, pulling up the bottom of her gown as if not to trip. She had an excited gleam in her eye.
"You finally found one?" She squealed happily, looking from me to the dress in my palms.
I nodded slowly, grinning.
"Well, go try it on!" She giggled.
I practically ran over to the dressing rooms, pulling my shoes off as I went. As soon as I was in one, I ripped my t-shirt and jeans off, slipping the dress on eagerly. It fell gracefully to the floor and trailed behind me, being as long as it was. I whirled around to look at myself in the mirror, and my mouth fell open.
I actually looked good in this dress! It was the perfect size, hugging my shape at every right place, showing off my slender waist and my legs. Happily, I turned around once more, admiring the back.
"Christine?" Meg called, "Are you ready?"
I smiled and walked out of the dressing room. Meg was digging for something in her purse, and I waited patiently for her to look. When she did, she dropped her lipgloss, spilling it onto the floor. I grinned.
"Too much?" I asked, turning around slowly for her to see the whole of its beauty.
Her mouth opened as if she was going to say something, but closed it and blinked, wide eyed.
A few moments passed without her opinion and the grin disappeared from my face. I gulped and let out a nervous laugh.
"Any time, now!" I said weakly, starting to regret my choice.
"What can I say, Christine? My God, that dress is beautiful on you!" She burst out finally.
I sighed with relief and grinned again.
"Good. Because either way, I was going to get it!" I teased playfully.
Meg stuck her tongue out at me and bent down to clean up the glossy mess that splattered the carpet.
She sighed while standing back up.
"No one appreciates my superior fashion sense anymore…Especially miss Olden-Aged Clothing over here…"
I elbowed her before going back into the dressing room and changing back into my regular clothes. When I came out, Meg was back in hers too, adjusting her hair that lay falling around her face in graceful bounces of pure blonde.
Folding up the dress carefully and laying it across my arm, we walked up to the cashier, talking of our soon to be college years.
"I hope I'll find the man of my dreams!" She said dreamily, paying the attendant.
"Yeah. Obviously the whole 'high school sweetheart' thing didn't work out exactly as we planned, huh?" I stated bitterly, taking the bag the man handed to me and heading for the door.
"I forgot all about our vows! You still remember those from four years ago?"
"Hmm. I really thought we'd find our men, too."
"But what about Raoul? He is all you asked for, isn't he?"
"Well…Kind of. Not really. He's really sweet and all, but he isn't really my…Type, exactly."
"Type? You don't even have a 'type'!" Meg snorted with laughter, reaching the street corner.
I felt my face grow hot as I stood next to her.
"Well. Alright. Maybe he is the one." I stammered quickly, trying to cover up what I said.
"Christine Antoinette!" Meg warned.
"What?" I asked, choking slightly.
"Don't you go lying!"
"Lying? I am not lying!" I lied.
"Yes, you are! Don't deny it!" She planted her hands on her hips.
"I am not! How do you know for sure, hm?"
"You know as well as I do that the speed of talk you're using now is a sure fire sign that you're lying!" She said triumphantly.
She had caught me there. I tried desperately to slow my pace.
"Meg, I do love Raoul. I love everything about him. Why can't you believe me? Your best friend?" I said solemnly, my eyes wide with sadness. She could never resist those eyes, I knew it. It had worked for the past nine years and it wasn't about to fail me now.
"Well…I believe you. But I don't believe anything about those eyes." She sniggered.
Well. So much for using my secret weapon from now on.
At least she believed me. It really was true! I loved Raoul so much I thought I would kill him from suffocation. But I did think he wasn't my type. When people saw us together, they really couldn't get used to it. He was incredibly wealthy and his head was always held up high, while I, on the other hand, wasn't the wealthiest person in the world nor had as much self confidence as him. It may sound a little bit shallow, but I knew it was true. And that's all that mattered. Right?
- - -
As usual, Raoul greeting me with a smile and a kiss. He pulled out my chair and gestured for me to sit down, a gleam of happiness in his eyes.
I nearly cried out at his cuteness. He was just like a puppy; following me around and loving me unconditionally. He even had the big, blue wide eyes to show it.
I sat down and picked up the menu off the table we sat at in a new corner café near the park. Examining the types of coffees they had, I peered out from behind the folder and watched him playfully as he tied his hair back in a ponytail with a dark blue satin ribbon. His honey blonde hair was abnormally long for a guy's, just a little past his shoulders with a bob at the end. But I loved it all the same.
He laughed as he spotted me and I grinned, ducking behind the menu. I saw his hand reach up and pry it away, and I gasped with fake surprise. His hands found mine and he leaned across the table to kiss me. A moment later I pulled away, my eyes flicking over to sniggering classmates of ours who were watching from the other side of the room. Raoul pulled a face at them and called a waitress over.
"Yes, I'd like the deluxe deli sandwich with a bowl of tomato soup, and a small coffee." He said, his eyes on the menu.
The waitress took out a pad and pencil and scribbled it onto the paper, then looked at me.
"The same, thanks." I replied and laid the menu down, staring fixedly on a speck of dust that had landed on my fingernail.
She nodded quickly and scurried over to the counter where she rang a bell and ripped off our sheet of paper, clipping it with a clothes pin to a string tied in the window that led to the kitchen. I smiled. I loved how different this café was. The other two in town were so high tech and busy that I barely went there anymore since Mum died, seeing how she hated both of them.
Raoul noticed my silence and glanced up from observing the menu.
"So, how was shopping with Meg? Not too tortuous, I hope." He smirked.
I grinned back and shook my head.
"Actually, it wasn't all that bad. I found a dress," I said as nonchalantly as I could.
It failed miserably. Raoul instantly perked up and smiled so wide I could have sworn it was going to fall off his face.
"Really? That's great! It's about time, too! Honestly, you women and your obsessions with looking good…"
I rolled my eyes and slapped him on his hand.
"Hey! Look who's talking!" I pointed at his hair and clothes, all extremely expensive. Well, his hair was his own, but what he paid to care for it was another story.
He donned a hurt look grabbed my hand, kissing it gently.
"But, of course, you would still look beautiful without the help." He nuzzled my hand with his cheek and put on his puppy-dog eyes. Even I couldn't resist his. I laughed and kissed him on the cheek.
"I don't know how those eyes can work on me when I practically invented them!" I whined, putting on my biggest, watery eyes. Raoul cocked an eyebrow in amusement as I tried my best to get him to feel bad for me.
"Don't even think about it." He laughed, pulling me into another kiss. We were interrupted this time by the waitress who had timidly come up during our 'moment'. I giggled as I saw Raoul blush furiously. The waitress couldn't resist a chuckle and she placed our orders in front of us and scrambled over to another table with waiting customers.
Thirstily sipping my coffee, I looked around the room. My eyes widened and I sputtered, coffee flying everywhere.
Raoul blinked and wiped his face off with a napkin before rushing to my side.
"What's wrong? Are you alright? Do you need the Heimlich Maneuver?" He asked, the last sentence sounding a little hopeful. I looked at him dangerously and called him a pervert under my breath.
Shaking my head, I gestured to the window where I saw Carlotta Giordano standing outside with her posse, laughing about something and looking in at us like we were zoo animals.
My fists clenched and I felt my face getting warm. I started to stand up, but Raoul pushed me back into my seat.
After a few minutes of pure torture, Carlotta and her cronies left, but not without one last sneer at me. I knew she had been after Raoul for months, and she would never let me live it down that I had gotten to him first. I had always felt evilly happy when she saw me and Raoul together, whether it be holding hands or kissing. Especially when we were kissing.
Raoul pat my hand worriedly and was about to sit back down when I stood up sharply.
"All of a sudden, I'm not hungry anymore." I muttered bitterly and stomped out the door, leaving Raoul in the café with a worried look on his face.
- & -
LYKOMG. I wonder which dress Christine got? ;D It isn't really the exact same dress, just inspired by it. I'll save the actual dress for later, I suppose.
I know it's still pretty short, but I'm hoping they'll get longer eventually. Pray that Writer's Block is far away! Hm, and I hope my sentences don't seem too drawn out. Stupid commas. I can't get enough of them!
I send huge Erik plushies to my two reviewers so far, GoldenLyre and Shadow of the Phantom. You guys made my day! If anyone else reviews, they'll get one too! n-n;
Now, once again, let the magic begin!
REVIEW!