Cassie waited in the dancer's foyer and listened to the sounds of the people above moving about and talking.
"Davette you're needed upstairs." Davette pranced past Cassie and Mia, the smug look on her face radiating her pleasure at being the first to perform. Cassie and Mia slipped to the back of the dancer's foyer with Matt and snuck up the back passageway to where they could hear Davette sing better.
Davette walked out to a smatter of applause after a man spoke. She began singing her aria slowly. Cassie and Mia looked at each other and shrugged. It was under tempo to the piano accompaniment and she missed several notes completely. That was not normal for Davette under any circumstance. Mia and Matt raced back downstairs since they were next. Cassie thought about staying in the secret passage but decided against it with the mystery man possibly still prowling the theater.
Cassie stood in the entry way up to the second level and listened as Mia sang an Irish Ballad. It was beautiful and sad all at the same time. It made her wish that Ryan was standing beside her, holding her and promising her all the future.
Matt was next and as the applause came to an end for Mia he took his place on the opposite side of the foyer from where Mia had sung. Cassie could see as the people milling about the foyer turned to look at Matt as he sang something from an old German Opera.
Cassie was starting to feel nervous. Butterflies danced in her stomach and she felt faint. She saw Ryan ascend the stair case and then the beginnings of his song. It was an Irish Ballad just like Mia's had been. She smiled….it fit his voice as far as range was concerned, but did nothing for the power that she knew he had. Mark walked past her to go up to sing his number, a beautiful religious piece in Latin. He placed his hand gently on her arm and brought her gaze to meet his.
"You're next Cassandra. Take a deep breath and let's get up there." Cassie smiled a dazzling smile and went up so Ryan couldn't see her. She steeled her nerves….she could do this.
"Just a second Cassandra." Mr. Villefort came out and stopped her before she could enter the staging area. "Mr. Giles is going to make his speech now, you and Mark will sing after."
"Oh…OK." Mr. Villefort joined Mr. Giles on the rail and they made a very gracious speech, thanking the Young Actors association, the City of Paris, Gaston Leroux, Andrew Lloyd Webber and any one else they could think of.
"Of for goodness sakes….let us get out there and sing!" She heard Mark hiss as Mr. Giles went in to a story about rehearsals and how hard the students had worked. Cassie took a shaky breath and calmed herself once again.
"It is now my honor and esteemed privilege to present to you Miss Cassandra Davagé, our lead female singer!" There was quite a bit of applause from below and Cassandra went out onto the second level to get a good view of the entire foyer.
Waiters below were carrying silver trays with hors d'erves and Champaign flutes. There was a swirl of color amongst black as the men were in tuxedos and the women in fancy gowns. Cassandra looked out, longing to see a familiar face when her eyes centered on Ryan. He was talking to someone, it looked like Matt and Mia. Cassie smiled, he hadn't seen her yet, but she was going to love every moment of this.
The music started and her voice was as clear as a mountain stream. She trilled through her aria as if she were singing 'row row your boat.' At the end, when she'd hit the last piercing note the lower level of the foyer burst into applause. Mr. Villefort and Giles flanked Cassandra and together they bowed. Cassandra went quietly down the stairs as they introduced Mark to sing next.
"Cassie!" Cassie was half way down the stairs when Ryan sprinted part way up and stared at her. Her black dress accented a perfect hour glass figure, the white accent on the dress only adding to the provocative curves of her body. Her beautiful gold hair in it's heavy curls and the white magnolia in her hair made her look like a classic beauty.
"Hello Ryan." Cassie said grinning as she walked up to him. He stood baffled and absentmindedly held out his arm to her and escorted her down the stairs.
"I told you she looked beautiful Ryan." Matt said, his arm around Mia's waist.
"You think Carmen Electra's boobs are real." Ryan said picking up a flute of alcohol free champagne and handing it to Cassandra. Mia raised an eyebrow at Matt as he nearly snorted something out his nose.
"Nice Ryan…very gentlemanly."
"I'm sorry….I've been waiting to use that line on him for a while now." Cassie smiled and touched her head to his arm laughing. "You sang like an angel and look like a Goddess." He said bringing her hand to his lips and kissing it gently.
"Shh….." Mia admonished as Mark began to sing. Mark did very well, coughing slightly at the end of the piece. Everyone applauded. Mark looked down on the people gathered in the foyer as a king would have looked down on his subjects. He nodded his head politely to the crowd and then departed into the shadows.
"Cassandra…may I have the honor of this dance?" Ryan asked bowing low. Cassie nodded and Ryan whisked her over to the dance floor. "As I was saying earlier, before I was so rudely interrupted, you look fantastic tonight."
"So you've said." Cassandra said smiling up at him. "You sang beautifully tonight."
"Thank you." He twirled Cassie gracefully around the dance floor, his smile getting bigger with every turn they made.
"What's that big grin about?"
"Oh, it's only because I'm dancing with the most beautiful woman in the room and everyone is staring at me."
"Ha! You flatter yourself sir." Cassie said flirtatiously.
"You're right…they're all staring at the beautiful woman in my arms, totally ignoring me."
Mr. Giles walked through the crowd whispering to students…their faces lighting up. He approached the spot where Cassie, Mia, Matt and Ryan were talking quietly and placed his hands son the shoulders of the boys.
"You all did very well this evening." He said with a grin. "And you ladies, you look superb."
"Thank You Mr. Giles." The girls smiled at the praise.
"I just came to tell you that you may sing your contemporary pieces any time you like."
Cassie had nearly forgotten. They'd all been told days ago that if they wanted, they would have the opportunity to sing something of their choice for fun during the gala. It was their chance to showcase talents…their last night to have fun before performances started the next evening.
"Have fun this evening….enjoy it! This is your night!" Mr. Giles said smiling as he disappeared amongst the rich and famous of Paris and the theater world.
Most everyone had decided on three songs and several were doing duets. The lesser cast members went first, alternating amongst themselves. At the end, they all got together and sang a series of songs in French as a choir. Cassie and Ryan mingled together and spoke with many of the theater representatives there, and were offered many spots in productions.
"Ryan, you wanna go now?" Matt asked as Ryan and Cassie stood talking quietly beside a pillar.
"They're plotting something Cassie. I don't trust them." Mia said coming up beside her friend.
"I know they are."
"Us? I'm scandalized….insulted even."
"Oh, just go sing." Mia admonished as Matt and Ryan sidled through the crowd.
"So what do you think they've got planned?" Cassie asked as they watched the two boys go up to the second level.
"I have no clue, but it can't be good." Mia said as she watched the piano player get up from his spot and leave. "They're liable to break into Queen or The Rolling Stones or something." The foyer of the auditorium was filled with the music of a small orchestral group and everyone looked around to see where it might be coming from.
Ryan was standing up on the railing looking down at the crowd. Matt suddenly appeared on the opposite side of the foyer. Mia suddenly grabbed Cassie's arm.
"Dude, that's…"
"Josh Groban…I know." Cassie said smiling, recognizing the tune of the song "Remember When it Rained". Matt sang the first verse and then Ryan the second. Cassie had tears in her eyes as the song moved into a powerful movement. Ryan sang out, his voice exploding perfectly from his chest. It took Cassie's breath away, Mia had tears in her eyes.
The foyer was silent for only a moment when the song ended, it soon exploded in a thunderous applause from everyone present. Ryan and Matt came down the great staircase and went right to where Mia and Cassie were still standing. Matt took Mia one direction while Ryan led Cassie to a pillar in the shadows.
"That was spectacular….my knees are weak." Cassie said as she and Ryan skirted behind the big column. Ryan looked about furtively and then bent his head to kiss her.
"So you like Josh Groban then?" He asked when they'd broken the kiss.
"I like you singing Josh Groban…." Cassie smiled kissing him again. "My God Ryan, that was absolutely incredible!"
"So what are you and Mia singing?"
"Nothing now….you just killed everyone's hopes of singing tonight." One last kiss between the two of them and they were back on the dance floor.
"So you two were going to get up there and sing 'Hard Knock Life' eh?"
"We most certainly were not." Cassie said indignantly. "That was a one time performance."
"So what ARE you going to sing?" Ryan asked spinning her out away from him. She grinned, catlike.
"You'll just have to wait and see."
The dance music stopped again and Mark sang two of his songs; his only two as everyone found out. They were both from older operas, and beautifully done. Many people commented on the Classic value the young man's voice carried.
Mia and Cassie stood to one side as the boys were engaged in conversation with a Frenchmen interested in how they learned to sing.
"Should I go now and get it over with?" Mia was going to sing from Evita and Les Miserables. She and Cassandra had prepared a minor duet of Gershwin but were questioning that performance now.
"Well, you go do your two solos, then I'll come up, we'll do the Gershwin bit, and then I'll sing my solos."
"Are you sure we should do the duet?"
"The show must go on." Cassie said smiling to herself.
Mia ascended the stairs and began to sing "Don't cry for Me, Argentina". It wasn't the best song for her, but it was a challenge and she did well at it. Next she sang 'On My Own' from Les MIserables. It was a song that had become Mia's anthem during school. Cassie had tears in her eyes as she realized that during the next school year Mia truly would be on her own….Cassie had moved on, and Matt would be moving on as well.
"And I know it's only in my mind! That I'm talking to myself and not to him…."
Cassie went up beside Matt and pressed her hand into his. When he looked down at her he had tears in his eyes as well.
"Cassie…."
"Quiet Matt….just listen."
"I love him….If only on my own…."
Even though the song ended on a very quiet note there was still an incredible amount of passion, energy and, Cassie thought, pain, radiating from the last note.
"Talk to her when she comes down….she loves you Matt."
"I love her too, Cassie." Matt had to shout over the sounds of the crowd's applause.
"I have to go….I'll be down in a bit." Cassie raced through the crowd and up to where Mia stood staring down, her face radiant. Cassie touched Mia's shoulder and the two girls embraced tightly.
"That was incredible Mia….absolutely incredible!" Cassie said in her ear.
"Was he listening? Did he understand? I know you did…but did he?"
"I think so…I really do." Mia and Cassie looked down to where Matt stood with eyes only for Mia. He blew her a kiss…Mia's face lit up and turned very red…she hoped no one saw the gesture. "Let's do it Mia…for old time's sake."
Cassie and Mia had worked and choreographed the whole duet. They were singing 'Who could Ask for Anything More." Cassie and an older girl had done it during the review two years before….now it was Mia and Cassie.
Several people whooped when they heard the opening piano piece. Halfway through the song though, they broke into French.
"Le vieil ennui d'Homme, je ne l'ai pas des objections. ..you ne le verra pas que pendant, autour de ma porte !" (Old Man Trouble…I don't mind him. You won't see him hanging, Around my Door."
It had been difficult to work the French out to the melody, but Cassie and Mia delivered it effortlessly.
In the end Mia took the French and Cassie the English. Their voices blending, the low notes to Mia and Cassie hitting an incredible clear high note.
"Qui pourrait demander n'importe quoi plus ?"
"Who could ask for anything more?"
The room burst into applause, the Parisians loving the fact that these two young ladies had taken so much time to translate a song into their tongue. The two girls embraced tightly and Mia descended down to Matt. Cassie watched from the rail as they went off into crowd to talk.
Cassie smiled down at the crowd and picked Ryan out.
Her first song was an old fashioned Jazz number that Mr. Giles had helped her pick out. Even though she was singing something classically now, Cassie loved Broadway style music more. It fit her personality and Mr. Giles had understood that. People applauded politely…not everyone was a huge Jazz fan.
Cassie nodded to the piano player who got up and went back to the stereo system the boys had used for their Josh Groban number. The music that came out of it made Cassie smile. She looked down and found Ryan staring up at her, a smile twitching at the corners of his lips.
"Empty spaces-what are we living for? Abandoned places- I guess we know the score! On and on, does anybody know what we are looking for?" Cassie heard someone shout and cheer for her as she continued with the song.
"The show must go on, The show must go on…" Cassie glanced down at the crowd from where she'd been looking at the opposite wall and saw a man dressed in red velvet standing below. She almost missed the note.
"My make up may be flaking but my smile still stays on."
She searched for Ryan or Mr. Villefort or Mr. Giles but could find none of them in the crowd below. When she looked back for the man in red, he was no where to be found.
"Whatever happens, I'll leave it all to chance, another heartache, another failed romance…" Cassie was terrified; was she going crazy? She made it to the end of the song. "I'll top the bill, I'll overkill, I have to find the will to carry on with the on with the on with the show!"
"Cassandra!" Cassie looked down to the shout, it had come from Mark. She looked beside her and saw the man in red jump from the shadows. Several people screamed as the man lurched forward and grabbed her.
"The show must NOT go on!" He shouted loud enough for everyone to hear. No one could see his face, it was covered by beard and a mask. "You can not go on with this…the show must not go on!"
"Why not? Why can't the show go on?" Cassandra asked. She saw Mr. Giles and Villefort racing up the stairs to corner the man. "Who are you?"
"Because of him….because of him and what he'll do to you….you must not go on with the show…"
"Him who?" But Cassandra never got the answer to her question. Mr. Villefort cuffed the man hard behind the head and he crumpled to the floor taking Cassandra with him.
"Not to worry ladies and gentlemen, please…." Mr. Giles announced as Mr. Villefort helped Cassandra up from the floor and whisked her towards the back wall and out of the line of sight of everyone in the foyer.
"Cassandra, are you alright, did he hurt you at all?" Mr. Villefort asked, concern etched deeply into his face.
"No sir.' Cassie looked back at the man on the floor. His clothes were shabby, like he'd stolen them from the costume loft rag pile, his chest rose and fell softly…she knew he wasn't dead. "I'm fine…..he just said I can't go on with the show…." Ryan was up the stairs and beside her in a minute.
"Mr. Alexander, take Miss Davagé to her dressing room. Have Mr. Howard go to the Office and call the police."
"Yes Sir."