A/N: This is why I'm always scared of starting a new story…a lot of people will read it, but barely any of them will actually review. Like, right now, when I'm writing this, the story has 88 hits, yet only 4 reviews.

(sigh) I guess nothing can be perfect. My only hope is that some more people will review…if you're wondering why I'm so obsessed with reviews, it's because I am a review whore. A lot of fanfiction writers have this problem; I am one in many.

Please, support my addiction and read and review.

And apologies for the long hiatus. Work and school have been killing me recently, and my own mind isn't helping.

I own nothing from Phantom of the Opera.

Courtney

Chapter 2

"I'll have one grande Vanilla Bean Frappuccino and a tall Caramel Macchiato, please."

Christine waited while the girl at the till punched in her order. She looked like she was in high school still; her hair was tied back in a tight bun and freckles and pimples dotted her pale face. Christine noticed that she was wearing contacts…they were a light green and contrasted sharply with her dark brown eyes underneath.

The girl told Christine the price, and Christinepaid her. She flashed a quick smile at the teenager, and moved down the line to retrieve the coffee.

While she was waiting, she quickly looked at the clock on the wall. 8:50. Well, they were only 50 minutes late.

"Here's your coffee ma'am…" The girl behind the counter wasolder than the one at the till. Long brown hair flowed gracefully down her back and blue eyes stared back at her. Christine gratefully accepted the beverages. She defiantly needed something to wake her up. Walking back outside, she climbed into Meg's red car, and handed her the cold drink.

"I still can't believe you can consume something cold and frozen in the morning!"

Meg just shrugged as she drank her frappuccino and started the car. Christine just rolled her eyes as the vehicle rolled out of the Starbuck's parking lot and down the street.

Christine put her coffee into the cup holder and grabbed her purse. It was a large white purse; big enough to fit a sketchbook, pencils, charcoal, a tablet, her black iPod nano, her dark green cell phone, and all her money in it. These were the normal things she carried around; on the odd day she would bring her laptop as well, but the staff each had their own computer at work.

Christine and Meg, along with Sorelli, all worked together at Galatea Designers. Sorelli was the only good one out of the three; she always came to work on time. Christine and Meg were good at what they did, but their timing was a bit...off.

Meg parked the car in the staff parking lot. Christine grabbed her coffee and purse and headed in, closely followed by Meg.

When the reached the top of the flight of stairs leading to their workplace, everyone was working diligently. Before they could take another step, Sorelli appeared form her cubicle and rushed towards them.

"Where have you two been? Today was not the right day to come in late! Firmin has been in an awful mood all morning! He's going to throw you two out of here for sure!"

Meg looked around. Christine shrugged her shoulders and walked towards her desk.

"We have a good explanation…"

Meg sat down at her computer and flipped the power switch on. Sorelli rolled her eyes and sat down.

"And what in God's name would that be?" she asked.

"Christine was throwing up when I went to pick her up." Meg blurted it out so suddenly that Christine didn't even have to time to tell her not to say anything.

"Meg!" Christine hissed whilst plugging in her tablet.

"Well it's true!" Meg shot back. "She's been having problems keeping her meals down lately," she explained to Sorelli.

"I've lost all faith in you, Meg…" Christine muttered, plugging in her iPod to charge.

Meg flashed a winning smile. "But you still love me, right?"

Christine shrugged and zoned out Meg and Sorelli's conversation about the guys that they dated the previous night. She kept all her attention focused on her computer screen. She felt sick again. Christine glanced at her coffee, and then looked at the vending machine in the corner. Suddenly, any thought of food or drink seemed repulsive to her. She didn't want to eat; she felt as if she would be sick if she even touched food.

She realized that Meg and Sorelli had suddenly stopped their conversation. Christine saw why. Firmin was making a beeline towards their group of three cubicles, and he didn't look pleased.

Sorelli and Meg went back to their own seats. Before, they had been sitting on Christine's desk corner. Christine now felt vulnerable, which made her even sicker to the stomach.

Great… she thought as Firmin stopped right in front of her. I'm so lucky to be sick, have my landlord yell at me, and now my boss is screaming in my face. What sin have I done to deserve this?

"Meg!" Firmin cried out. Meg came around to Christine's desk, looking more confident than usual. Christine knew that her own face was as pale as a ghost.

"Christine, Meg, I was wondered why you were late this morning?" Firmin asked them this question with an unnatural coolness.

Meg glanced at Christine and Firmin followed her stare.

"Miss Daae? Can you inform me of you and Miss Giry's lateness?"

Christine gulped down the rising bile. "Well… when Meg came to pick me up this morning, I was sick for a while before my stomach settled down enough for us to go…so that's why we were late."

Firmin considered this for a moment. "Yet…you still have time to go to Starbucks and order coffee?"

"Oh no, sir! That coffee is old. Christine got it yesterday from the Starbucks across the street." Meg jumped into the conversation.

"Is this true, Daae?"

Christine laughed to herself quietly. She had thought that this discussion had been about them coming to work late, and now it had switched to coffee. Firmin was the type of boss who let things go easily, got mad easily, and talked enthusiastically about… coffee.

"Yeah, it's true." She answered calmly, even though her insides were churning.

Firmin sighed and ran his hand through his graying hair.

"Just…get to work, you two, and please don't be late again…"

"Yes, sir," they mumbled in unison. Firmin walked away, and Sorelli popped up from behind her computer.

"Good thing coffee was there to save the day," she said happily.

"I told you Meg, he wasn't going to get mad…" Christine threw out her full coffee and clutched her stomach.

"Why did you throw out a coffee you just got? You only took one drink out of it…" Meg glanced into her trashcan at the Starbucks paper cup.

"…Christine, are you all right?" Sorelli looked into her chalk-white face in concern.

Breathing in deeply, Christine stood up.

"I'll be right back…" She said, and then she ran into the ladies washroom.