I AM SO SORRY.
You all must hate me. Ack, I'm so sorry!! My computer broke down and I was without one for the longest time, so I had to write this chapter on paper during school. I have hardly any time to write anymore because I'm taking three AP classes and I have a boatload – no, a shipload – more like a spaceship-load – of homework. It sucks.
So I wrote a few lines at a time, and they all added up. Here they are.
I'm so so so so so so so sorry, and I'll try never to let it happen again! Thanks to all of you who are still reading despite the (very very very) long delay!
Thanks to:
Parukia Agent 007: Sure, as soon as I get time I'd love to try out some of your stories. It'll probably have to be on a weekend, so I won't get to do a lot at once – I usually do homework from the time I get home until 10 at night on schooldays! (I'm slowly but surely going insane.) Thanks for being the first to review the last chapter – you rock!
kissbangx3: As always, you're the coolest. Yeah, I should name this chapter Shopping: Pt. II, but I feel like naming it something else… and you'll love it, I'm sure!
Mrs. Gerard Butler: Aww, I didn't get the favorite parts list… but that's okay. I know the whole thing is too awesome to put into words! (hehe just kidding) Anyways, thanks for being a loyal reviewer as always. I love you!!! Please forgive me for the wait!
Dani Blues: Believe me, you haven't missed much in not shopping downtown. It's really, really crowded. And I didn't know that much about the Fox before I went there a few weeks ago. It's really beautiful, though – if you ever get a chance, you definitely have to go there! Fellow Georgians unite!!!!
Phantom mega phan: Yeah, I'm not that big on shopping either. If the shopping chapter was real, I would definitely be Paul! I'm sorry that your first week of school was disappointing for you. Mine was too – I have so much work! I'll try to get these chapters out faster to cheer you up. Feel better!
TheRainCan'tHurtMeNow: Thanks for your praise! It means a lot. I forgive you for not being able to review (how could I not forgive anyone for a delay when it took me… um… three months to post this chapter? Heheh….) Keep up the reading and thanks so so much for reviewing!
Snape's Opera Rose: Hehe, I love the song too. I actually sing it when I'm bored… which is quite often, as a matter of fact. Thanks for taking the time to read.
MonMaskedAnge: Yeah, that's actually not a bad idea (Phantom trapping Alex in the cave). Since this chapter leaves off with her still down there (don't worry, that doesn't really give anything away) I could still use that… hm… thanks for the ideas! I love you guys!
Kyre Alder: Yes, I love to keep Alex witty. It's fun. I hate downtown, too… it's so crowded and smoggy. It's not too pleasant. But yeah, there are a lot of nooks and crannies to disappear in! I'm so sorry it took this long to update. Forgive me? (starry eyes)
absurdtheatre: I agree with the creepy-yet-beautiful thing. When I got the idea for this story, I was sitting in the Fox, and I swear I kept feeling like there was someone on the top of the turrets watching us, like Buquet from POTO. That's where I got the idea from. Thanks for your review! It really does make my day to see that someone's been thoughtful enough to leave one!
KyrieofAccender: You rock for reviewing so many times! I don't know how to respond to them all. I'm really glad you like the story, and Alex's witty comments. This is the first time I've tried writing this way. I usually write old-fashioned stuff. I'm really glad you like it! Good call on the schizo guess. GASP – you don't like Gerard Butler? I guess even I (an avid Gerard fan) have to admit that he's far from perfect, but there are parts where he's great. No hard feelings though! And I definitely agree with you about shopping and Great Expectations. That book should be banned purely for its pointlessness. I'm sure Dickens meant for it to have a point, but I failed miserably in trying to find it. And shopping – well, I've had bad experiences, but it's safe to say that this chapter will have some interesting parts during the shopping episode! Anyways, thanks so much for reviewing! (By the way, a comma splice is when you join two sentences that shouldn't be joined, like: "I went to the car, I took out my keys." They bug me.)
Thank you everybody! Enjoy!
Of course, I don't own POTO. Or the Fox. Oh, if only… heh, if wishes were fishes I could fill the Grand Canyon. (Picture that in your mind.)
Yeah, on with the story. Sorry for babbling!
Saturday finally came. Paul's parents had said he could go, and his sister had agreed instantly.
Paul was scrunched down in the seat of the car when it pulled up at my house. Jenny and I were waiting on the front steps with Jill, who wouldn't shut up about how awesome everything was.
"Oh, come on, Paul," I said with a laugh as we all piled into Ashley's car. "It won't be that bad."
"Yes, it will," he sulked.
"Will not."
"Will too."
"Oh, shut up," Ashley said to Paul, steering back out onto the street. "You're such a wuss."
Paul glared at her and then at us. "You all suck."
"We know," Jill said happily, and Ashley grinned at her before zooming off down the street towards downtown Atlanta.
We made dumb jokes and laughed the whole way there. It was great. Jill and Ashley kept teasing Paul mercilessly, and Jenny and I were hunched over in our seats cracking up at the look on his face.
At last, we reached Atlanta. It was cool – we parked in the same parking deck as when I'd last been here, at the Fox. I could see the alleyway where the hidden door was, but I knew I couldn't go there yet – I needed to find the right circumstances under which to disappear.
Hah, that makes me sound like a spy.
Anyways, we set off down the street, looking for stores. The first one we found was a shoe store. Ashley and Jill insisted on going in. Jenny and I aren't really the shoe types, so we sat with Paul by the door and watched the other two try things on.
"I can't believe I'm doing this," Paul groaned.
We laughed. Jenny smiled at him winningly. "We love you."
"Yeah, you better." He still sounded disdainful, but we could see laughter in his eyes. He was having fun despite himself. "I'm giving up a day when I could be sitting around playing video games, all so that you can go shopping."
"Oh, come on," I said, rolling my eyes. "You know you secretly wanted to come."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
Jenny joined in. Paul was so fun to tease. "You know you love shopping with us," she laughed. "You know you secretly live for it."
I clutched his arm dramatically. "Don't deny it. You die a little inside every day that you're not out shopping with us.
Paul closed his eyes and groaned. "Yes, I do. How in the world did you know."
We looked up as Jill walked by, holding a shoebox. She was heading for a cashier's desk. She looked frustrated. We quieted and listened in on her conversation.
The salesman looked up at her. His hair was longish and black, with purple streaks in it. His shirt, the only part we could see over the counter he was standing behind, was a Kinks shirt. "Jill's dream guy," Jenny whispered to me, and we both chuckled and nodded. Jill loved the Kinks.
"Hi," she said, plunking the shoes down on the counter. "I found these checkerboard Vans, but they're red, and I want them in black."
"Ah," he said with a grin. "Like Charlie Pace, right? Sweet."
Jill's eyes widened and seemed to sparkle. Jenny and I laughed under our breath. Paul rolled his eyes towards the ceiling and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "Here she goes."
"You like Charlie Pace?" Jill gasped.
The salesman's grin got even bigger. "Yeah, man, he's an awesome bloody rock god."
Jill was unable to speak. She let out a little squeak of happiness.
"Hang on," the salesman chuckled. "I'll go see if I can find you those shoes."
And then he walked out from behind the counter and started towards one of the aisles. Jill's eyes got even wider, and Jenny and I curled over ourselves with laughter at the sight and the perfectness of it.
His pants were almost exactly like Roger's from Rent – plaid pajama pants.
The guy walked over and picked up a pair of shoes from the top shelf before bringing them back to Jill and holding them out to her.
Slowly, she reached out and took them. Her mouth was still hanging open. She was stunned into silence, for the first time in the long time I'd known her. The salesman gave her a weird look. "Umm… is everything okay, dude?"
Jill found her voice. In a perfectly calm, straight tone, she said, "You are my idol."
The man blinked a few times, surprised, and then grinned.
Paul turned to look at us. "Is this really happening?"
Jenny put her fist over her mouth to stop herself from laughing hysterically. "I didn't know Jill had that much guts." We nodded agreement and turned back to the scene.
The salesman held out a hand to introduce himself, still smiling. "I'm―"
"Nicholas Pewterschmidt!"
The salesman dropped his hand and grimaced. He slowly turned around and faced the man who had yelled at him. It was a man dressed in black, obviously his manager, and he looked furious.
"Yes, Mr. Smith," the salesman said in the sort of voice you use when you know you have to be respectful even when you don't want to.
"How many times have I talked to you about this, Nicholas?" the manager snapped. "I've told you over and over that you can't just waltz in here and work in your pajamas! It is unacceptable! Look at this!" He gestured to Jill, who still had her mouth gaping open. "You're disturbing the customers! I've had enough of you! You're fired!"
And he walked away.
"Wow," Jenny and I said at the same time.
"For wearing pajamas," Paul said with a shake of his head. "What is the world coming to?"
Nicholas sighed heavily and turned to look at Jill. "Sorry about… that."
Jill blinked.
Nicholas waved his hand in front of her face. "Hello?"
Jenny and I got up, unable to stop laughing, and stood on either side of Jill. "Come on," Jenny said, taking her arm and leading her to the register to buy her the Charlie shoes.
Nicholas looked at me, raising his eyebrows.
"My sister," I explained, still grinning. "I think she's in love with you. You wear Charlie shoes and Roger pants."
He chuckled, obviously having seen Rent before. "Well, give her my number. She's pretty cool, too." He scribbled down a phone number on a scrap of paper and handed it to me. We both chuckled as Jill tripped over her own feet on her way to the counter.
"Come on," I said, helping Jenny lead Jill out of the store. Paul and Ashley followed us.
Jill turned around and shouted to Nicholas, "Will you marry me?" He laughed again, and then we were out on the street.
"You're insane," Jenny chuckled.
Jill sighed wistfully and clutched her new shoes. "I've found my Phantom."
Jenny and I exchanged a look and shook our heads, amused. My mind flew back to the guy under the Fox. He was my Phantom, and I still had to figure out how to get down there.
"Hey," I remembered, and held out the piece of paper to Jill. "That Pewterschmidt guy said to give you this when I told him you were in love with him."
Jill took the paper and gazed at it as though it was her long-lost lover. We all snickered.
"Hey, here's a cool shop," Ashley said suddenly, and we all turned to go in.
It was huge – clothing lined every wall and at least a hundred aisles. It was one of the most gigantic stores I had ever seen. And this, of course, meant that it would be so much easier for me to disappear.
We went inside and started milling around. Jenny was looking for a skirt, Jill for belts, and Ashley for whatever she could get her hands on. By the time five minutes had gone by, she had a pile the size of Wisconsin in her arms. Paul and I were wandering the aisles together. He didn't have anywhere to go – he was only there to humor us, and I couldn't just slip away when he was with me.
"So," he said, putting his hands in his pockets. He smiled as Jill skipped by with a bunch of clothes and belts over her shoulder. "I guess Jill's having a good day."
I nodded. "Yeah. Nicholas is pretty cool."
We were both silent for a second. That was small talk, the kind of stuff you say when you don't know what to talk about. We went on without conversation for a moment, awkwardly, before he spoke again.
"I guess some people are just lucky that way," he said wistfully.
I thought I heard some hidden meaning behind his words, but I paid it no attention. "Yeah," I said instead, and hunched my shoulders a little. My thoughts went to the Fox again. What if the guy was waiting for me?
Paul crossed his arms and looked down at his feet. "Yeah." He looked back up at me hesitantly and opened his mouth as if to say something more.
I looked up at him and met his eyes, waiting for him to speak, but he didn't. He just gazed at me.
I saw something in his eyes, something that made me pause. I stopped walking and swallowed. He stopped, too, and turned to face me nervously. I studied the strange thing I had noticed, and slowly it dawned on me what it was.
The beginnings of love.
Paul had a crush on me, and now we both knew it.
Carefully, Paul reached out and took me by the arm. "Hey, you okay?"
My mouth opened and closed, but for a moment, no sound escaped. "Uh," I said finally. My vocabulary seemed to have deserted me. I blinked, closed my mouth, opened it again, blinked one more time, and then suddenly, before Paul knew it – even before I knew it – I was gone.
It took me a second to realize I was running. I heard Paul following me and sped up, weaving through aisles, trying to get away. I didn't even know why I was running in the first place, but for some reason I had latched onto the belief that I just had to escape somewhere away from him.
Jenny looked up in shock as I dashed past. "What are you―?" she started to ask
"Help!" I hissed.
She looked behind me and blinked in confusion, wondering why I was fleeing from Paul, who couldn't possibly mean me any harm. Without asking, though, she quickly stuck her foot out, just in time to trip Paul and then catch him as he fell. I ducked under a row of trenchcoats as she helped him up, stalling him as long as she could.
He left her behind and kept running, but I was well hidden by then. I held my breath as he raced by, trying to find me.
"Excuse me, sir!" I heard one of the sales attendants call to him. "Please, no running in the store, you may upset the customers or the merchandise. I'll have to ask you to settle down or leave."
While he was distracted, I slid on one of the trenchcoats and snuck out of my hiding place. Again, I don't know why I did what I did, but for some reason I believed that I couldn't get out of the store unseen unless I bought the trenchcoat, so I did. Then I slid out the door.
Well, I hadn't quite made the inconspicuous exit I'd been hoping for when I came up with the shopping idea, but at least I was out of the store and free to wander.
Behind me, within the shop, I heard Paul call my name. "Where are you, Alex?"
"Calm down," Jenny said to him, sounding exasperated. "Whatever's going on, she'll catch up with us again eventually. Let's just sit down over here and wait for her."
"Thanks, Jen," I murmured, and set off down the street.
I found the alley easily enough. It was almost invisible unless you knew where to look for it. I made sure no one was watching and then crept inside, making my way to the door.
It was unlocked, so I opened it slowly, wincing at the creaks it made. I slid inside, feeling sneaky and detective-ish in my trenchcoat, which reached the floor and trailed behind me, sweeping over the dust on the ground and dredging up clouds of it.
If I only had a magnifying glass and a pipe right now, I thought in amusement.
It was dark inside the hallway once I shut the door. I held onto the wall with one hand and made my way down past the various locked doors. At last, I came to the end of the hall. I was in the room with the harp.
"Hello?" I called softly, turning in a circle and looking for signs of life anywhere. "Are you here?"
No answer. I gave up shouting and started to wander.
The place wasn't that big, considering all the doors were locked, so I ended up going to the torch room and up through the trapdoor out of boredom. I slid it shut once I was through and set off down the passageway.
It was the one I had first come through to find the underground lair, and I had a sense of deja-vu as I went down it again. I passed the entrance I had come through the last few times and continued on up the tunnel. It sloped upward as I advanced, and my legs started to get tired.
While I walked, I forced myself to confront my newest problem. What was I going to do about Paul? How long had he had a crush on me? How serious was it? Because I didn't really know what I thought about it, but knowing that Jenny was seriously in love with him, I couldn't just turn around and get together with him. That would hurt her, and then I could never forgive myself.
An idea hit me then. Raoul. Paul having this crush on me was like Raoul with Christine - an old childhood friend, one she had been fond of since she could remember.
I shook my head. This was getting more and more like the story. It had to be a coincidence. My life couldn't be exactly like Christine's. That would just be too weird. My parents were still alive. I had a sister. And what about Jenny?
Meg. Right. But Meg wasn't in love with Raoul!
Or was she? Who really knows? Maybe she was! Maybe he would have ended up happy with her and then Christine would never have had to leave the Phantom in the first place! Ooh, that makes me mad. If only she hadn't been an idiot, everyone could have ended up happy!
Anyways, back to Paul. I didn't know what to do. Should I avoid the subject? Tell him flat out that I didn't like him? He'd want a reason why I couldn't give him a chance. Maybe I could tell him about the Phantom... but that would be betraying him, so I couldn't do that. Ugh, what to do? What to do, what to do, what to do?
Suddenly I was distracted from my thoughts. I turned a corner and the hallway ended. I was standing at the edge of a little platform overlooking the stage.
It was amazing. I was hidden in a dark corner over the audience with the huge theater spread out in front of me. The stage was completely in view – no tall people sitting in front to block my view, like in the seats down below.
"Wow," I heard myself murmur. It was incredible.
"What are you doing here?"
I jumped and almost fell off the balcony. The Phantom of the Fox, who had appeared at my side without me even noticing, caught my arm and pulled me back to safety.
"Thanks," I said in relief.
He gave me a long glare.
Ah, so it was the bad side of him that I'd met with.
"What are you doing here?" he asked again, looking angry that I had dared to come back and disturb him. I guess that had to be pretty annoying.
"I came to visit…" I realized I didn't have a name for either of them. "Your other half. He asked me to come back."
The Phantom narrowed his eyes. "I asked you not to come back."
"Yeah, but he asked nicely," I pointed out.
"So why did you come here?" he asked, managing to sound both curious and angry at the same time.
"Well, I checked your lair, but you weren't there."
This earned a chuckle. I blinked in surprise – I hadn't known the evil side of the Phantom was even capable of laughter. I stared at him, stunned into silence (for once).
He noticed and shook his head. "My lair. You make me sound like the Phantom."
"You are," I replied. "You live under a theater, too. Seriously, have you never noticed the similarities before? It borders on the seriously freaky."
"Yeah." His voice was a little bit wistful.
I shot him a playful smile. "You just live in different centuries, that's all. He was the Phantom of the Opera, and you're the Phantom of the Fox."
He chuckled again at the name and shook his head, turning his attention to the stage. Christine and the Phantom were just descending into his lair under the opera house. It was one of my favorite scenes in the entire thing, because Christine was entirely carefree – she wasn't obliged to stay true to Raoul, and she could just enjoy herself with her wonderful, handsome, beautiful, charming Phantom…
The look on my face must have been pretty weird, because when I blinked out of my thoughts, the Phantom of the Fox was giving me a strange look out of the corner of his eyes.
"Sorry," I muttered. "I was spacing out."
He turned his attention back to the stage. Hmph. I guess I wasn't even worthy of a response.
"Come on," he said after a second, taking my arm and pulling me backwards, away from the ledge and back towards the passageway I'd come through.
"Hey," I protested, trying to pull away from him. "I want to watch."
"No."
"But it's the Phantom of the Opera!"
"You've seen it before." His voice was cold and uncaring. "The night you first stumbled on us and ruined our lives."
I yanked my arm out of his grasp and stuck my finger in his face. "Look, you might not like me very much, but the side of you that's not a jerk wanted me to come back. He's lonely. He's afraid of you. And he should be! I don't blame him! You're a creep! But if he wants me to come back and keep him company, then that's what I'm going to do, and you can't stop me!"
He stalked up to me, eyes blazing with anger, and glared down into my eyes. I tried to stand up straight and glare back at him, but it wasn't easy, considering he was almost a foot taller than I was.
"Is that so?" he hissed, drawing out each word threateningly.
I was silent and clenched my jaw, willing myself not to shake with fear. I wasn't usually afraid of people who tried to intimidate me, but considering I was standing on a ledge between open air and a person who hated me, a person who could have shoved me off the edge to the mercy of the fifty-foot-drop… well, I had a right to be afraid.
"You're afraid," he said with a smirk, taking another step forward and forcing me back a step.
I swallowed, but narrowed my eyes. "Am not."
"You are," he said, and I could see laughter back in his eyes, but this time it was far from harmless giggles. It was maniacal, evil, twisted. If he was Lex Luthor or some other notorious baddie, he would have thrown his head back and laughed aloud, and then his laugh would have echoed theatrically in the theater and the audience would gasp in shock, and it would be a perfect Hollywood moment.
"You are afraid," he smirked, taking another step closer. "Because you know just as well as I do that there is nothing stopping you from going… over… the edge." He took that final step forward, and I took one back – and my food landed on air.
I started to fall and opened my mouth to scream.
For the second time that day, he grabbed my arm and pulled me back. Despite how angry I was at him, and how afraid I was of him, I reached out and grabbed him, pulling myself back onto the ledge and burying my face in his chest. He might have been a jerk, but some part of me insisted that if I clung to him, I wouldn't fall again. I was still in shock that he had gone as far as he did.
He snorted at me. "You believed I would let you fall? Pathetic. If you had, the cops would have tried to find where you fell from, and that would have led them to me."
I jerked back and looked up at him, punching his chest with my fist angrily. "You care more about the cops finding you than me dying?"
His raised eyebrows and amusement answered that question for me.
"That's sick," I spat.
"It's called self-preservation, kid," he said, and turned around, pulling me down the passage after him. I was too shaky from my former near-death encounter to object.
"Kid?" I said instead, slightly offended. "I'm your age."
"You don't act it."
"And you do?" I retorted sarcastically. "You're a hundred times worse than me!"
"At least I know where I'm not wanted." We reached the trapdoor, and he pulled it open, gesturing for me to go first.
I crossed my arms, refusing to do as he wanted. "Believe me, I know perfectly well that you don't want me around. I wouldn't be too disappointed if you weren't here, either. But you're not the only person who lives down in that lair. You're not even the only person in your own body!"
"I know that," he growled, and shoved me towards the trapdoor. Rather than fall through, I climbed in and waited for him to come down after me, which he did, with all the grace of the true Phantom himself. "There isn't a day that goes by that I'm not reminded of it."
"Well, I'm not here for you. I'm here for him."
"And he's not here right now." He stalked past me into the harp room.
I followed him, not finished with my argument. "Then I'm staying here until he comes back."
Abruptly, he stopped walking and turned around to look at me. I stopped quickly so that I wouldn't run into him and looked up into his eyes, but I found more confusion than hatred there.
"How does this not freak you out?"
The question took me by surprise. It was a very Phantom-esque question, now that I thought about it. Of course he would assume that his split personalities normally weirded people out. That was probably why he was down here – everybody treated him differently because of his disorder.
"It does freak me out a little," I admitted finally, "but not enough to make me leave."
I thought that might possibly inspire him to smile, or say something even remotely nice, but instead he narrowed his eyes and glared at me even harder. "I get what you're trying to do. You're trying to play Christine to us. You're playing the good and noble game – be nice to the freaks. Right?"
I blinked in surprise. "I'm not being nice to you just because you're―"
"Just because I'm what?" he cut in, furious. "A freak? A psycho? Or maybe you would use a euphemism – because I'm different, or because I'm special?"
My mouth opened and closed.
He towered over me again, and this time I couldn't stop myself from shaking. "You can try all you want to play the saint," he said in a quiet voice that was somehow more terrible than his shouts, "but I am not going to play your Phantom."
And with that he turned on his heel and left the room.
I stood where I was and gaped.
Heheheh. It's so much fun to write about evil-Phantom. Can you say "drama?" And now picture the screen going black on Alex in the lair and the little TNT logo coming up with the little we know drama! thingie, and those creepy voices whispering "TNT… TNT…" while it pulses, sucking the life out of you bit by bit as you sit on the edge of your seat and wait for the drama to consume your otherwise drama-less life……….
Okay, I'll stop now.
(Beware the pulsing TNT.)