Chapter 6

"Christine, your hair is just not wanting to cooperate tonight!" Meg said in frustration. She and Madame Giry had offered to help me change costumes between our performances. The plan had been to have me hair done up into a tight bun, but my chocolate locks had decided to stage a revolt. Meg savagely tried to run the comb through it once more and nearly managed to pull me over.

"Ouch! Good Lord, Meg! Pulling it out of my scalp will not help the situation. Can you at least pin it back away from my face?" A look of determination crossed the blonde's features as she nodded and grabbed the box of hairpins. A full box of hairpins, half a can of mega-hold hairspray, and several bouts of screaming later, my ringlets had been tamed back out of my face and two large red flowers had been added to complete the look.

For the first time since I had stepped into the dressing room, the two women let me turn around and examine myself in the large mirror. I still could not believe the gown Erik had managed to make for me. It was long sleeved, with a neckline that rested at my collarbone, and a skirt that reached to the floor with a high slit running up the right side. The under layer was bright red which was then darkened by a top layer of black lace. Just below my waist, a sheer black material replaced the lace. There was an abundance of ruffles and the fiery red showed from beneath when I swished the skirt of the gown. (A.N. Think Stacy Keibler's tango gown from Dancing with the Stars) It was perfect for our special freestyle tango/paso doble. I smiled and got shivers just thinking about it.

"You look wonderful, dear," Madame Giry said with a smile as she knelt down to strap my black-heeled dancing shoes to my feet and then smoothed the skirt. After what seemed like fleeting moments, it was time for me to help Erik get ready for our final performance of the night. I left the dressing room with my small entourage and found my partner pacing in the shadows looking quite agitated. He looked up and gazed at me as I approached. I could see to emotions running through his eyes: wonderment (probably at how his gown looked on me) and frustration.

"Where have you been? Does it really take three capable women over forty-five minutes to do a costume change?"

"Shows what you know," Meg hissed under her breath as she held up a piece of bright red satin, the very same material that my dress had been made out of. "Strip your coat, please, sir, " she instructed. Erik jumped as if he had just been shocked, and stared at the girl with wide eyes and a horrified expression. Oh to know what was going on in his mind right then!

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"What!" My sanity was on the verge of becoming extinct and for some reason when Meg had said 'Strip…' my mind went haywire. The three women must have thought me mad. Meg just rolled her blue eyes and held up the material again.

"Take off your coat! I cannot very well put your cummerbund on over your tailcoat, can I?"

"I suppose not," I removed my tailcoat which was promptly snatched away by Madame Giry. Watching in confusion for a moment as she disappeared into the costume room with it, I held out my hand as if to beckon my beloved article of clothing back to the safety of my person, but to no avail. It was gone until such time she would chose to return it. I sighed and turned my focus back to Meg who was doing a wonderful job of putting my cummerbund on upside down.

"Meg, the folds face upward," I corrected her as gently as I could at the moment. No need to make someone else upset tonight. The girl blushed sheepishly and quickly corrected the problem, then stepped back to admire her handiwork. I felt naked without my tailcoat and was about to say as much to Christine when Madame Giry returned with it…sort of. The sight before me made me grateful that there was a wall to lean against.

"Whaa…what have you done to it! What have you done to…. my precious…" I gaped. She had mutilated my tailcoat. It was barely recognizable, and I was finding it hard to breathe. I groped at Christine for support as I had a strange suspicion that my knees were about to give out.

"Oh, cut the theatrics!" Madame Giry snapped. "Your 'precious' is safely locked away in my room. I had this coat tailored and lined with red satin to better match the dress. I figured that you needed extra flair in your ensemble." I cocked an eyebrow, quite skeptic.

"Just put it on and I do not want to hear one word of complaint," came her gruff response. I have to admit that it was not bad. The coat itself was good quality and the fit was fair. It still felt somewhat foreign to me. In addition to the red lining, a trim of black lace had been added around the cuffs and an intricate design that I could not decipher was embroidered with shiny little black beads on the back across the shoulders. The swirling pattern then wove a single line down each of the arms to the cuffs. I had to admit that it did add some flash to the outfit, but I just hoped that this last-minute change would not have an adverse affect on my performance.

All of us turned our attention back to the main area as the first group to dance their freestyle began. Christine deftly pinned a flower similar to hers on the lapel of the coat and smiled up at me.

"Relax," she said. "We made it through the tough part. This is our song. It will all be fine."

"Fine?" I teased, remembering her acronym of 'fine'. "Freaked out, insecure, neurotic…"

"…and emotional. I know! I'm the one who taught you that, remember?" she laughed, lightly hitting my sleeve.

"And the student becomes the master," I whispered to myself.

I finally began to relax. Christine was standing patiently to my left, her arm through mine, and just the feel of her standing at my side was enough to calm my nerves to a tolerable level. Carlotta and her partner performed right before us. Of course Carlotta was clad in the most revealing costume that was acceptable in ballroom dancing (not a whole lot), and they had done a saucy number that to me looked like pure sex on the dance floor.

"Oh my God!" Christine said in horror, as Carlotta twisted around in her bright pink feathers. "What is she doing?"

"I did NOT know a body could bend that way!" Meg whined. I glanced over at her and the poor girl looked like she was witnessing a train wreck.

"Meg, be serious. You ballet dancers contort yourselves into all kinds of odd positions. This really should be nothing new to you," I lightly chastised.

"I know, but we don't do anything like this. Oh, the horror!" She covered her eyes as Carlotta bent herself in a way that would make even a Kama Sutra master blush.

Madame Giry remained silently appalled with her hand over her mouth and was shaking her head slightly. To me, it appeared as if she was a stripper and her partner, Jacques, was her pole. That was just my opinion, of course, and I am no expert on ballroom dancing; however, the judges seemed to agree with me and gave low scores to their raunchy "dance".

"That was absolutely appalling!" commented the first judge. "I do believe that was the worst routine I've ever had the displeasure of witnessing. There was no dancing at all…" The second judge quickly cut him off before he continued his tirade.

"I love the costume, but I have to agree with Simoné on this one. I saw passion, but I simply did not see the style of dancing this competition calls for," the second judge remarked as kindly as possible.

"That would only have been acceptable if the Cat Scratch Club was hosting auditions for new dancing girls," interjected Simoné.

I found it amusing to see Carlotta's face turn crimson and then purple with rage. The first judge did seem like he had dealt with his fair share of Prima Donnas before, but I had a sneaky suspicion that the evening may turn exciting very soon if he continued to degrade the diva in front of the majority of Paris.

Finally, the third judge gave a simple, "It just didn't do it for me." He was a smart man and left it at that. Carlotta stormed off of the dance floor in a huff, feathers flying everywhere and dragging poor Jacques behind her. Christine and I made our way onto the floor in a round of applause as the judges' scores were being tallied. When they were announced, a murmur went through the crowd. Carlotta had received the lowest scores of the competition thus far. Some even cheered for the low score, which I found highly amusing. I quickly did the math in my head and realized that although Carlotta had been in first place after the first dance, we only needed to achieve a mediocre score to take her champion title away.

"WHAT!" came the diva's shriek from the sideline. One thing I have to give Carlotta credit for is that she is a very quick woman. It did not take her long to come to the same realization I just did.

Christine and I had taken up our starting positions on opposite sides of the floor, me being closer to the entrance. Trying to concentrate on my posture and running the opening steps in my head one last time, I suddenly saw a flash of bright pink in my peripheral vision. Turing just in time for the outraged woman to leap up and grab at my face from behind, I felt a cool breeze on the now-exposed right side of my face. It was then and there that my fragile sanity officially snapped once and for all.

A.N. Well, I do believe the is only one chapter left :'-( Sorry for the terrible lack of updating, but Itried to make it up to you by posting 2 new chapters. Hopefully, the final installment will soon follow.