Okay, so no questions so far. The deadline for questions is August 29, so hurry and get them in! And yes, this is an actual chapter, although it's more of a filler chapter than anything else, so you won't have to kill me (or sucker my blood so that I look like a deflated whoopee cushion - thanks for that mental image, anonymous reviewer...) Shoutouts to Vixter9339, copycat667, Randall Boggs, Princess Serenity Angel, UltimateOne, StopEatRead, MoonlightFirefly, xForeverGamerx, DisneyCraze, Elvira Silver, fawnie85, , anna3311234, Ameliapond109, beauty and the beast master, and hatter sammy. Also, fanart is still open to anyone who wants to send it in :)
Chapter 31
The next week went by in a flash. Nothing but waking up in the morning, running through the choregraphy and songs with Madame Giry, Monsieur Reyer, and the dancers, going over the songs again with Erik, spending quality time with Erik, and sleeping. I barely had time to breathe.
The time had finally come for the performance. I was still nervous about it, but felt a lot better than I did last time. Now, I was mostly excited. During the deliberations with the managers, I had made them promise that this would be the last performance like this. The next performance to be held at the Opera Populaire was to be an opera, and I would NOT be the lead!
They listened to the first part, but they still wanted me to sing.
That aside, the night of the performance was hopping. Stagehands rushed around to get the stage ready, the dancers made sure that everything was perfect with the costumes and choreography. While that was going on, I was getting ready in my dressing room. Erik had visited me already, giving me a bouquet of roses and carnations and a good luck kiss. Once he left, I started in on my outfit. I wore a emerald green dress that reached just above my ankles to show off my black cowboy boots that somehow ended up in my room. They weren't from the future, so that led me to believe that Erik put them there. When I asked him about it, he denied it, but the look in his eyes told me otherwise. How or where he got them, I did not know, but one thing I knew for sure was that I was thankful for them. They weren't my Airwalks, but they sure were comfy.
It soon came time for me to go on stage. From the wings, wishes of good luck were thrown to me silently, as well as a whisper from above, which could've only come from one person.
When Firmin and Andre announced my 'name', the curtain lifted to reveal me to the audience. Once I was fuly visible, everyone in the audience went wild. It shocked me, to be honest. I had never had a reaction like that before.
I motioned for everyone to calm down. "Wow, what a reaction. I love y'all, too."
Once the laughter died down, I let them down with the news. "So, as some of you may know, this will be my last performance." Through their groaning, I continued. "But, thanks to the managers' insistence, I may or may not be in the first opera of the season."
After the cheers rang through the opera house, I introduced the first song, which was The Voice by Celtic Woman. From there, I went on to sing Windsong from Mighty Joe Young, A Thousand Years by Christina Perri, Defying Gravity from Wicked, Safe and Sound by Taylor Swift, and Shining Bright by Echosmith. The last one was dedicated to Erik (not that I announced it) because it reminded me of the night we sang together on the roof.
"I think the universe is on my side,
Heaven and Earth have finally aligned,
Days are good and that's they way it should be,
You sprinkle star dust on my pillow case,
It's like a moon beam brushed across my face,
Nights are good and that's the way it should be,
You make me sing ooh la la laa,
You make a girl go ooh ooh,
I'm in love, love,
Did you see that shooting star tonight,
Were you dazzled by the same constellation,
Did you and Jupiter conspire to get me,
I think you and the Moon and Neptune got it right,
'Cause now I'm shining bright, so bright,
Bright, so bright,
And I see colors in a different way,
You make what doesn't matter fade to grey,
Life is good and that's the way it should be,
You make me sing ooh la la laa,
You make a girl go ooh ooh,
I'm in love, love,
Did you see that shooting star tonight,
Were you dazzled by the same constellation,
Did you and Jupiter conspire to get me,
I think you and the Moon and Neptune got it right,
'Cause now I'm shining bright, so bright,
And I get lost in your eyes,
Did you see that shooting star tonight,
Were you dazzled by the same constellation,
Did you and Jupiter conspire to get me,
I think you and the Moon and Neptune got it right,
I think you and the Moon and Neptune got it right,
I think you and the Moon and Neptune got it right,
'Cause now I'm shining bright, so bright,
Bright, so bright,
Bright, so bright,
And I get lost in your eyes tonight..."
It finally came time for the violin portion of the performance. It captured everyone's attention when someone brought out the beautiful instrument. As I was singing, the dancers subtley made their way onto the stage, one by one. Now, they were sitting on the edge of the stage, waiting for the fun to begin. I motioned to one of the guys and said, "Give me a beat."
The only response was a blank stare. I mentally rolled my eyes and tapped my foot on the stage, giving him the beat. He started to clap to it, then the other dancers joined in when I played the intro to the song Roundtable Rival by Lindsey Stirling. Once the opening was done, the drums took over and the dancers got up and began dancing.
The whole thing went off without a hitch, unless you call Erik with a flesh-colored mask crashing the performance a hitch. But hey, at least he didn't crash the chandelier.
After we had all taken our bows and exited from the stage, I was following Erik to my dressing room when Christine pulled me to the side. "Who is that?"
I struggled to find an answer. "Um...what answer isn't gonna get me in trouble?"
She gasped. "Mandy! Why didn't you tell me you had a suitor?"
"Well honestly, I-girl say what?"
Christine gave a wide smile. "I've caught you now. Who is he? What is he like? I want to know everything!"
I backed up a step or two. "Alright, calm down girl. I'll tell you everything, but not right now. I have somewhere to be right now."
As I walked off, she yelled after me, "Don't have too much fun!"
I do not own the nice song in the chapter or any of the characters other than my own...