Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with The Phantom of the Opera beyond the 2004 DVD, the 1987 Original London Cast Recording, and an unhealthy fixation on Gerard Butler.
Chapter Three : He's a hot one.
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"Erik, this is Christine de Chagny."
Hearing Christine's name with that boy's was like a punch to the gut for Erik. Nevertheless, he managed to force a smile and take the hand she had offered him.
"Pleased to meet you, Miss Da- De Chagny." Idiot, it's de Chagny...he mentally berated himself.
"Christine, this is Erik Webster."
"Wonderful to meet you as well, Mr Webster." She returned the formality with a twinkle in her eye...and Erik fell all over again.
"Christine, Erik, classroom. I will give you both your schedules now so you can show him where classes are, Christine."
"Yes, sir."
Ten minutes later, armed with schedules, Christine was pointing out various rooms.
"That's Mrs. Connelly's class," she said, pointing. "She teaches music."
Erik was sure you could've seen his ears perk up. "Music?"
"Oh, something interests you!" She teased. "Yes, music. She's very good, trained in Paris for quite a while. I don't know why she's wasting her time in school. Anyway, that's Mr. Brown's room, he's Bio 11, we have him first thing tomorrow, not good because he's not quite a morning person, but he's alright."
"Christine!" A feminine voice came hurtling towards them, along with its source- a tall, lithe girl with dark hair and sparkling brown eyes. Quite the opposite of Christine's blonde hair and blue eyes, though they both had the dancer's form. "There you are! Mr. Khan said you were showing his-" She froze at the sight of Erik. "Well, I don't actually remember what he said. But-"
"You can't remember anything except your dance combinations, Meg," teased Christine.
"As opposed to you, who memorises everything!" She turned to Erik.
"Meghan Gibbs, generally known as Meg," she said with a bow. "Best friend, comic relief, and dancer extroardinaire."
"Pleased to meet you," Erik replied.
"Out of three proper sentences he's said, that's been two of them," Christine told Meg in a stage whisper, laughing at Erik rolling his eyes. "He does that a lot though."
The conversation was broken by a bell ringing.
"Oh, that's first bell! Well, gotta run, Chris, see you in Bio!" Meg took off back in the direction she'd come from, and Erik and Christine started back towards Nadir's classroom.
"So, where'd you grow up?" Christine asked, hoping to draw Erik out of his shell.
"I lived close to Nadir," he replied, drawing on what Nadir had told him. "He knew my parents. I went to live with him after my parents died."
"Oh, I'm so sorry."
"It's alright. I didn't even really think of them as parents. I didn't see them often."
"Did they travel?"
"No, they couldn't stand the sight of me." A bitter laugh accompanied that answer. How alike my childhood was to his, he thought for the millionth time since learning about 'his' past.
"That's horrible!"
"They were only human. What about you? Where did you grow up?"
"The countryside, near Paris. The de Chagny estate is near there. I'm the only child in my family, but my dad, he's a real stickler for tradition, so of course he wanted the oldest child to be a boy to pass the family fortune on to. I was sent to live with Meg and her mother, Madeleine, when I was seven. I'm pleased to say, however, that as of yet, I have no little brother." She grinned evilly as they entered the classroom to the stares of twenty other people. Erik wished he could turn around and leave; Christine appeared unfazed.
"Hey Chrissy, is that your boyfriend?" One girl called from across the room.
"Yeah, Chrissy, who's your hot boyfriend?" Another girl chipped in. Hot meaning...? Erik thought.
"My name is Christine," she responded coolly, "and not that it's any of your business, but no." She kept on walking toward the two seats she and Erik had claimed earlier and Erik just shrugged and followed her. Another bell rang and Nadir stood and moved to the front of the room.
"All right, all right, settle down, sit in your own seats! Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to grade eleven! I'm sure this will be your favourite year yet!"
"That's what they say every year," the girl in front of Erik and Christine muttered. Christine kicked the girl's chair.
"You should have all gotten your schedules by now. Does anyone have any questions relating to that?" A chorus of assertions in the negative prompted Nadir to move on to what Erik had been dreading:
"And now, as a few of you have noticed," here he broke off to stare pointedly at the girls who had spoken to Christine when they came in, "we have a new student. People, this is Erik Webster. He's been living with me since last February and he'll be with us for a few years."
As a unit, twenty heads turned and stared right at the uncomfortable boy.
"Where did you go to school before?" One girl demanded.
"I was homeschooled."
"Where'd you live?"
"A few streets away from Mr. Khan."
"Do you have a girlfriend?"
"Miss Whitmire, that will be quite enough," Nadir barked at the girl who had asked that. "I will not have poor Erik put through that on his first day. If he is interested, he will tell you, if not, leave him alone."
She nodded and turned back to look at Erik, who pointedly pushed his seat back and farther from her. Closer to Christine- who he could tell was biting back a laugh- but that was just an added bonus.
Yet another bell sounded, this time followed by a woman's voice coming from what Nadir had explained was the PA system, used to play the national anthem and for the principal to make the announcements. The strains of the national anthem came through, slightly distorted due to the PA, and Erik cringed at the sound. Christine, beside him, having caught the slight movement, covered her mouth to keep from laughing outright.
"Welcome back, boys and girls, to yet another year!" The woman's voice was back. "To those of you just starting out here, and to those of you coming back, we will be staying in our classrooms until lunch time to get situated, and get aquainted with everyone!"
"She always talks like we're babies, or like she's one of us, or both, which is generally worse," Christine whispered to him, ignoring Nadir's frown.
"After lunch there will be an assembly in the gym. Regular classes will be starting tomorrow! Your homeroom teachers will be getting your lockers assigned, as well as telling you about the school's rules and answering any questions you may have about anything. Have a great day!" The click as she turned the machine off resounded in the quiet of the room, and then the buzzing of conversation started up again.
Nadir stood again at the front of the room and whistled to catch everyone's attention. "You have approximately one hour to...get aquainted," he said, earning a laugh from most of the students. "After that, we will be assigning lockers. Those of you who are taller will be glad to know that I assign lockers by height." Another laugh, and Erik looked at Christine quizzically.
"Later," she mouthed at him, and he nodded.
"I will assume from your earlier responses that you have no questions about your schedules, so consider the next hour free game," he finished to applause from the students, who immediatly started splitting up again into the groups they had been in before being told to take their seats.
"What was that about taller people and lockers?" Erik asked finally.
"Oh, that. See, the lockers here are kinda stupidly arranged. They're all about this high," she gestured with her hands to indicate about three feet, "and stacked in twos, one on top of the other, along the walls. Bottom lockers are pretty much the bane of everyone's existance, particularly taller people. I've never had that issue, however," she finished with a pout.
Erik laughed. "It's not that great being tall," he replied. "Although it is useful once in a while."
"Whereas being short is not useful at all unless you're five years old," she retorted.
"So, Chrissy, how was your summer?" One of the girls who had spoken to her earlier came over and sat down near the two of them.
"Christine," the annoyed girl answered shortly.
"Gibbs calls you Chris."
"Meg calls me Chris. Not Chrissy. And she's always called me that. Now if you don't mind I was talking to Erik."
"Right, Erik," the other girl said with a smile that, for some reason, annoyed Erik almost as much as the girl's obvious attempts at annoying his Christine. Not yours, the little voice in his head reminded him, she would never choose you, she didn't before... Banishing those thoughts he simply stared at the girl in annoyance.
"Yes, Erik is my name."
"I'm Caroline," she answered with another sickly sweet smile. "Perhaps you've heard of me. I've been in the newspaper numerous times, all because of my acting and singing, although there was that one time-"
"I'm sorry, I don't generally pay attention to current entertainment," Erik broke through coolly. "I have more important things to think about."
"Oh." She only seemed fazed for a split second. "Like what?"
"Like things that interest me. Such as the conversation I was having with Christine before you so rudely interrupted."
Several people who had been pretending not to pay attention turned around and stared at him in surprise.
"Excuse me?"
"Can't you take a hint, Henson? Get lost!"
The infuriated Caroline turned to Christine. "You think you're so special, little miss I'm-a-dancer-and-smart-and-better-than-you!"
"Says little miss I've-been-in-the-newspaper-three-times," Christine shot back. "If you honestly think anybody cares, you've got something else coming."
A slap resounded in the now silent classroom. Caroline smiled smugly, turning away, only to have the smile wiped from her face as she was turned back forcefully by Erik.
"Touch her again," he growled, "and it will be the worse for you." He flung her arm away from his hand and turned to Christine. "Are you alright?" he asked, lowering his voice a little.
"A little shocked, and it stings, but I'm fine," Christine answered with a nod. "You didn't have to do that."
"Yes, I did. She was being an insufferable idiot, and she slapped you," Erik said quite calmly, as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
"Still. You've just made an enemy of one of the most powerful people in the school."
"Better than being associated with her." Truth be told, the girl reminded him all too much of La Carlotta, that prima donna of now-ages past. He was glad he had had the chance to be rid of her so quickly. His moment with Christine, such as it was, was interrupted by Nadir bustling over.
"Are you all right?" he asked anxiously. "She'd been sent to the office."
"I'm fine, it kinda stings but I'm good," she repeated, then laughed. "Did you see her face when Erik talked to her? She looked about ready to fall over."
"Yes, about that." Nadir turned to Erik. "What precisely did you say to her?"
"That if she touched Christine again, she should watch out."
"That's a threat."
"Yes, it was intended as one."
Nadir sighed. "This one time, because it was not serious and it was in defense of Christine, I will not write you up. Erik, threats are against the rules. I am advising you not to carry it out."
"Oh." The tall boy looked slightly taken aback. "Noted."
"Thank you." He looked down at his watch. "Well, half an hour." He looked around at everyone watching them silently. "As nobody is taking advantage of this opportunity to talk, we shall begin assigning lockers. Line up at the front of the room."
Slightly puzzled, they all did as they were told. Nadir walked down the line, pointing at certain people and telling them to move to the other side of the room. Erik realised immediatly what he was doing: seperating the taller people from the shorter ones, for locker assignment. He and Christine, unsurprisingly, were in different groups.
"Wow, stood up to Caroline Henson on your first day. I'm impressed." The voice behind him caused Erik to turn. A boy slightly shorter than himself was looking at him amusedly. He held out his hand. "Ron Lucas. Friend of Christine's. Horrible name, Ron, isn't it? What parent names their son Ron, beyond the Weasleys?"
Erik laughed at that. Harry Potter, by chance, had been the first book he had picked up, and he had read straight through the series. "It's alright as a name. Better than, say, Mundungus?" The two laughed, and Erik was glad at finding common ground with someone.
"Amazing, as popular as Harry Potter is, how few people have read the books," Ron said thoughtfully. "It's that way with a lot of good books. Lord of the Rings, Lemony Snicket..."
"You can never get better than books," Erik agreed.
"Alright, ladies and gents, you will each pick a number." Nadir held out two containers, one to each each line. "Evens on bottom, unevens on top."
Erik waited impatiently to get his number. Ron got his first.
"163."
Erik got his. "I've got 165."
"Great! Now let's hope Christine's 164 or 166," Ron said loudly, obviously wanting Christine to hear.
Looking over to her just as she got her number, Erik couldn't suppress a smile as she pumped her arm in the air and called,
"166!" She bounded over. Ron glanced at Erik.
"I pity you, man. She'll probably want to share with you, cause you're right over her."
"For once, dear old Ronald has it right," she said with a grin. "I see you two have met. Anyway, yeah, Erik, you get the honour of sharing lockers with me. It's a lot easier than having one. Binders and books go in one, normally the top, and coats and stuff go in the bottom. Everything just fits better like that," she explained. Erik nodded.
"It makes sense."
"She's a neat freak," Ron warned.
"Good. If she wasn't, there would be a few problems."
"Oh, Christine has met her match! See, now you have someone like you, you won't have to bother me as much!" Ron exclaimed.
"Get over it, Ronald, I will still be on your case. Now I'll have an ally." She turned a stern eye on Erik. "Right?"
"Of course." Little did she know, he could refuse her nothing...
Once again, they were interrupted by Nadir yelling at the whole class to calm down.
"Everyone, out in the hall. You have ten minutes to get everything in your lockers!" Laughing, Christine, Erik and Ron made their way outside.
"Ooh, end lockers, they're the best!" Christine proclaimed with a grin as they found theirs. "People on only one side," she explained at Erik's questioning look.
"You have the locker above mine!" An incredulous voice followed its owner over to Ron. "I can't believe I have to have one of her friends' lockers over mine. Mr. Khan!"
"Meet Kimberly Thompson, Caroline's best friend, and almost as bad as Caroline herself," Christine muttered with a roll of her eyes.
"I heard that, Chagny!"
"De Chagny! Honestly, you'd think these people would have a slightly better respect for the name." She turned to Erik. "They don't like me because, while my name is apparantly 'royalty', I choose to hang out with commoners like Meg and Ron," she informed him with a laugh. "Not to mention I hate their version of royalty- aka, Miss Priss herself."
Erik shook his head. He was still slightly fazed at the girl he thought of as his Christine being exactly the same...and yet so different.
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Erik's first day of school was nothing short of horrendous, in his opinion. Not the worst that had happened to him, by any means, but most definitely not a good thing. The whole confrontation with that girl- Caroline?- had almost been the best part of the day; it took second place to, obviously, being with Christine the whole day. Lunch had been interesting; the food in the cafeteria had looked almost as bad as the orange stuff Nadir had tried to feed him for his first meal. Kristine, Meg and Ron had all laughed at him when he took one glance at their trays and immediatly stated that he was never buying anything from there.
The assembly was the worst part of the day. It had started out all right, with the principal giving out her messages, basically the same as she'd said over the PA, so it was a waste of time. She had given a welcome speech to the tenth graders and then had spent time pointing out the new students in eleventh and twelfth grades. She had called on Erik as 'the boy in the mask' and the entire student population had turned and stared. Christine and Ron, to their credit, glared at everyone until the majority had turned away. Erik had felt like going back to Nadir's house- he almost considered it home, now- and staying there for the rest of the year, but he laughed it off and had been rewarded by a beautiful smile from Christine.
When he got home, he muttered something to Nadir about a book he wanted to finish and holed himself up in his room. Christine had asked him about something called MSN and he had just told her that he didn't use it much and wasn't sure of the address, but he would get it to her. Now, he had to figure out what this MSN thing was.
Several hours later, when Nadir called him down for supper, he had all but forgotten the assembly. He had figured out MSN without much of a problem, and had discovered that he already had the program. Unfortunately, he didn't know the old Erik's password, so he decided to not waste time trying to crack it and just come up with his own. That had taken up about twenty minutes, and he had finally just typed in fantomedemusique and pressed the button. With that accomplished, he proceeded to find the book he had been reading earlier and finish it.
"Not every day will be like this one," was the first thing Nadir told him when he entered the kitchen. "People will forget about it."
Erik stared at him blankly. "Forget about what?"
"You don't remember?"
"Oh, the assembly. Doesn't matter," Erik said unemotionally. "What's for supper?"
Nadir had learned from the beginning not to bother trying to get things out of Erik if he didn't want to let them out.
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Later that night, when Erik had finally gone to sleep, the shadows seemed to darken. Nondescript shapes flitted around his room.
"Oh, he's a cutie all right!" One voice broke the silence.
"Do be quiet. You'll wake him," another broke in.
"Not this one, he's out like a rock." The third shape, as if to prove a point, settled itself down in front of Erik's sleeping face, the disformed side pressed into the pillow.
"The expression is 'out like a light', dimwit."
"I don't care!"
"All of you, be quiet," a fourth voice, obviously the leader, broke in. "Leave the things and let's go, we have much to do tonight." The shadows flew around the room, depositing certain items on the desk before all but one left.
In the morning when Erik awoke, he felt that he was being watched, but there was definitely nobody there. Shaking it off, he got up and walked toward the door, stretching. On his way out, something on his desk caught his eye, and he froze mid-stride.
Don Juan. The manuscript was sitting there, on his desk, along with a sketch of Christine, and a blood-red rose. Suddenly overcome, he moved over to the desk chair and sat down, staring. He didn't move for close to fifteen minutes, until he was broken out of his trance-like state by Nadir calling to him to get up for breakfast. Casting one last half-frightened look at the desk, he left the room to grab breakfast and a shower, ignoring the presence of the leather-bound manuscript that had been a turning point in Paris.
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Author's Note: All right, Chapter Three out of the way. Joy. So, just had my computer re-formatted because it crashed on me. Have not had it in my possession for quite a while. The result? I no longer have my drafts, my write-outs, or the chapters I had written for This Is The Choice. I'm working on re-writing what I had of that and am definitely seeing the advantage to having hard copies of everything sigh ANYWAY. So I have chapter three of this; working on re-writing chapter eight of This Is The Choice, that will be up ASAP. Also, have a new Harry Potter fic. Not for anyone who a)hasn't read HBP, or b)sees Draco as a bad guy. Cheers.
xoxo CSIVixen.