Cassie continued to sleep in the rose room with all the mirrors covered with afghans. Though she was still terrified of the masked man, she knew she had to man up and finish this thing, no matter what. The night before the gala, Mr. Villefort came to her room.

"Cassandra, I was wondering if you were alright…."

"Yes, no problems since the last time." He laughed.

"I hope so, anyway, I just wanted to say goodnight and wish you luck tomorrow."

"You'll see me before the performance tomorrow, won't you?"

"It's a possibility, but just in case." Villefort bowed and then left the hallway. Ten minutes later Mia knocked at the door.

"Dude…." She burst through the door and launched herself on Cassie's bed. "I figured we'd chill tonight prior to the big gala tomorrow."

"I would expect nothing less." Cassie laughed flinging herself onto the bed beside Mia. They lay on the bed watching a movie on Mia's DVD player and then lay down on the floor looking up at the ceiling.

"Are you scared Cass?"

"A little."

"Of the mystery dude?"

"I don't know…"

"What're you scared of then?" Mia leaned up and looked down into her best friend's face.

"I don't know….I just have this feeling of absolute…anxiety."

"Yeah." Mia flopped back onto the lush oriental rug and sighed.

"So what's up with you and Matt?" Cassie asked trying to change the subject.

"We're fine. I'm so in love with him….but it scares me."

"Why?" It was Cassie's turn to sit up and look down into Mia's face.

"He's graduated Mia….I'm still in school. I don't want to hold him back. I don't want him to feel obligated to do something."

"You guys have almost gone all the way."

"Cassie, you sound more and more like Anne everyday."

"Fine, you want to hear it the old Cassie way? You two have nearly fucked each other….well, that's not right either cuz you two are into it way more than 'fucking.' You two are way into each other…you've almost made love, but you're too scared, and might I say smart, to let it go that far. You're head over heels. You just have to talk to him…I'll bet anything he feels the same way; scared, and yet so in love with you he doesn't know what to do."

"Maybe. But I'm not so sure….sometimes I see the way he looks at some of these Parisian chicks when we go out and I think 'wow, I can never match up to that.'"

Mia and Cassie talked long into the night and then snuggled down into the big bed.

"Just like old times." Mia sighed into the fluffy pillows.

"Always."

The next day they ran through the play from start to finish for what seemed like the billionth time. Then Mr. Giles gathered the cast around him and made announcements.

"The ladies will be going with Mrs. Giles to get their hair done down town. Gentlemen, we get the opera house to ourselves." Several of the guys whooped for joy at the prospect of not having to deal with scared chorus girls for the rest of the day. "Ladies, you will return to the opera house, we'll all eat dinner and then you can prepare yourselves for the gala."

"What about make-up?" Davette asked. "Won't someone be here to help us with that?"

"Well, I suppose someone might be able to help you when you go to the salon, but no, you'll be doing your make up alone….here." Davette pouted and sulked off down the hall to collect her purse for the outing to the Salon.

A large bus picked the girls up and departed the theater for the salon that had volunteered their services for the evening. The salon owner welcomed the girls to the salon and brought them sparkling cider and soda as they sat and waited for the hair dressers to come and choose them.

"Ah, mademoiselle….your hair! It's so long!" The girl said when she saw Cassie come through the door. "You must be Miss Davagé…I have heard so much about you already." Cassie shook the hand offered by the salon owner and followed her back immediately to a chair. "Do you have any ideas of what you want done?" The woman asked to Cassie's reflection as she ran her hands through Cassie's long silky hair.

"Not a clue." Cassie said smiling shyly. "I mean, usually if I get it done for a formal, we just put it up in a twist and curl it."

"Ah, but that is so ordinary….we shall do something very different, if you will allow me."

"You're the expert."

"Now, your dress….what color is it?"

"Black and white…"

"Very classic?"

"very." Cassie responded.

"I know EXACTLY what we'll do then."

"No dying it though…"

"Ah, no…..we cannot dye your hair. I wouldn't dream of it, it's such a lovely color." Cassie's hair was washed and dried slowly. The woman took large rollers and began to put Cassie's hair up. By the time she was finished Cassie's head felt heavy with the weight of the large plastic rollers.

"Hey Cassie, what'd she do? Use coke cans in your hair?" Mia laughed as she saw Cassie sitting beneath a heat setter.

"I don't know…..my neck can hardly hold my head up." Cassie giggled from under the dryer. "I can't wait until this is done." Mia's stylist came back and took Mia away speaking in rapid French to an absolutely clueless Mia. When Cassie went back to the chair, the mirror was covered and the chair was facing the aisle between booths.

"I want you to be surprised, ma cherie. You will kiss me when you see your hair!" Cassie closed her eyes and relaxed and let the woman pull and roll and unpin her hair and then re-pin it up. The air around Cassie's head was filled with the sound of hair dryers. She'd never been so happy to have an ipod since the small wire was out of the way of the stylist and Cassie could drown out the sound of the hair dryer. Finally Cassie was turned back towards the mirror and the sheet was pulled from it carefully.

Cassie's hair cascaded over her shoulders in large heavy curls. The left half was pulled up out of her face and pinned back with a large magnolia type flower. Cassie had never believed she'd be able to wear her hair down and have it look elegant. She stood up quickly and hugged the stylist.

"Oh my God…it's fantastic!" Cassie said. Mia came around the corner with her hair pulled back and twisted into an elegant up-do.

"Wow Cassie….you're gonna knock 'em dead tonight."

"Wow." Cassie said again. She hugged her stylist again and then went to wait on the other girls.

The dancers had their hair done in the same tight bun with jewels and flowers pinned in for their dance number that evening. Many of the singers had hair styles that were simple up-do's, like those worn at proms.

Cassie went back to the Opera house and sequestered herself in the rose room. None of the men were around….they'd gone down to an arcade down the street and were missing. Cassie sat down to her desk and began writing in her journal about all the things that had happened in the past few weeks. At three o'clock she began the process to finish getting ready. She painted her toes and nails and put her stockings on. Then she applied her make up. She outlined her eyes in eye liner and applied a little bit of eye color. She'd talked to the make up artist at the salon and asked some questions about what her make up should look like for the big night. Mia came down and the two of them sat down to the dinner that they'd arranged to have brought to the Rose room. Cassie finished applying a light sheen of lip gloss and then she and Mia zipped each other into their gowns.

"You two look stunning." Matt said when Mia and Cassie walked down the hall.

"Thanks hun." Mia said kissing him. Mia's bright green gown accented the green in her eyes and was a perfect contrast for her tan skin and dark curly hair. Matt was wearing a tuxedo as most of the boys would be for the evening.

"Where's Ryan?"

"He had to help Villefort with something out in the foyer."

"Oh." Cassie nodded, sort of disappointed that she wouldn't be escorted by Ryan.

"Well, shall we go out to the foyer and get ready for this shindig then?" Matt asked.

"Of course." Mia answered. Matt extended an arm to each of them and escorted them to the lower foyer where everyone was assembling to enter with the rest of the guests.

Mr. Giles made a series of announcements and told them all how the evening would go, the order of performances and how the evening would progress.

"Davette will be singing first, followed by Mia, Matt and Ryan. Cassie, you're going to be the fifth singing performance." Mr. Giles said. "Mark will follow you. You'll all be singing from the second level of the foyer."

"You mean we won't be on the stage?"

"No. That will wait for opening night. You have to remember the whole of the Opera house was refurbished so the Opera wants to keep some secrets."

Everyone understood how the evening would work and left to get ready for the performance. Cassie went to the stage area and went through her scales, warming her voice and preparing for her aria.

"Cassie?" Cassie spun and faced Mr. Villefort. "My…you look stunning this evening."

"Thank you very much Mr. VIllefort." Cassie smiled at the praise.

"Are you prepared?"

"I think so sir." She nodded.

"Very well then." Mr. Villefort reached out and brushed his hand over her arm. "You'll be fantastic." Cassie looked at the place where his hand touched her arm and then back into the blazing emerald eyes that had haunted her dreams when the ordeal had begun so long ago. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have…." Mr. Villefort removed his hand from her arm and retreated towards the shadows.

"Thank you Mr. Villefort." Cassie called out. He stopped and looked over his shoulder.

"Thank you?"

"For letting me play Christine in the play. For letting us enter this contest. For everything." Mr. Villefort nodded and then retreated farther off stage and into the shadows away from the beautiful woman standing in the limelight.