Auditions are here! I just finished this chapter and, even though it may not be that good, I'm uploading it anyways! I am already working on the next chapter, so that one should be up any time. I hope you like it.

Chapter 46

"Mandy? Are you in here?"

After Antoinette and I had made it back, I went straight to my room to put everything up and relax a bit after the crazy day that I had. It was a few hours later when Christine came knocking on my door.

"Yeah, I'm here. Come in."

She timidly came through the door and shut it behind her. She stood awkwardly stood there until I finally said, "You can come sit down. I'm not gonna bite, you know…"

It took her a few moments, but she finally relented and sat down beside me in the bed. She started talking first. "I know I should have talked to you first about telling Raoul everything-"

"I know, I know." I said. "You just had to tell someone and he was the best option."

She nodded, guilt written on her face. "Exactly."

I stood up from the bed and walked to my vanity. "Listen, I understand. Just make sure you come and talk to me before telling anyone else, please. And you know you can always come talk to me if you need anyone. Remember that next time."

"I will. Again, I am really sorry."

I waved her apology off. "It's fine. I'm already over it. What I do want to discuss, however, is the song that you and your 'partner' are going to sing." I stated as I pulled my tablet out of my vanity drawer.

We went through the motions of 'what is that?' and 'how does it do that?' fairly quickly. We finally got to the point past disbelief and began to look for songs that would fit her criteria. We found one that was so ironic that I could have slapped myself. I had thought of it, yes, but I wanted to look through my other options. Of course, she just had to fall in love with this one. ''What song might that be?' you might be asking. Well, let's just say you'll find out soon enough…

Two days later was audition day, and it seemed all of Paris knew it. We had everyone from your common seamstress to Vicomtes show up at the theater to audition. They were all gathered in the seats of the auditorium when I took the stage.

"Thank you all for coming today! I just want to let you know that I appreciate each and every one for coming out here to audition. I know, this may not seem normal, or maybe even sane, but I hope that you have some fun while you audition and listen to others. I would like everyone to stay here until after auditions are over so we can give everyone the results at one time to eliminate any uncertainties you may have. I also expect everyone to be courteous to each other. That means no booing, no speaking while people are on stage, and, overall, no disrespect. I wish you all good luck!"

With that little speech over, I exit the stage to go to my seat in the first row with the other judges, who are Antoinette and Monsieur Reyer. It's easier to have 3 judges, so there are no ties and not as many people to convince. Once I settled down in my seat with my note clipboard and pen (they furnished me with a fountain pen, which I guess is better for this kind of thing than a quill), we called the first person forth. "Ruth Perrault!"

About halfway through the auditions, I came across a pair of very familiar names. I almost laughed, but somehow kept a straight face.

"Christine Daae and Raoul de Chagny!"

Gasps of shock came from all around the auditorium as Christine and Raoul made their way forth onto the stage.

Raoul cleared his throat as the piano began to play, clearly looking nervous. But, as soon as he caught Christine's gaze, his nervousness melted away.

"No more talk of darkness,

Forget these wide-eyed fears,

I'm here, nothing can harm you,

My words will warm and calm you…"

Yes, I gave them this song. Why? Well, it was originally for them, so I figured they should have it. As it turns out, they were even cuter than any couple who played them on stage. Yes, even cuter than me and the guy who played Raoul way back when. The chemistry they had was of the sweetest kind, and I totally shipped it.

Once all the auditions were through, I went on stage. "Okay, it is time for deliberation between myself and my fellow judges. If you would like, you may convene in the café across the street for lunch. We have provided a meal for you all. Be sure to be back by 3:30."

As everyone filed out of the auditorium, Antoinette, Monsieur Reyer, and I went to the managers' office. They didn't come in that day due to the auditions, therefore they thought that I would have everything under control. Little would they know that I handled everything way better than the two of them combined as they get too frazzled to do anything other than lay responsibility onto someone else. I guess it was all those years working in the junk business…

Our deliberations went smoothly and we came to a decision of who we wanted easily. Once 3:30 came around, we went back to the auditorium to find everyone back in their seats. The three of us gathered on the stage, Antoinette and Reyer on either side of me.

"Again, I want to thank you all for coming. You all did a fantastic job today. I can proudly say that most of you have been selected to star in our show. Sadly, though, due to the size of the group that has auditioned and the time allotted for this show, we cannot accept everyone. Do not let this discourage you. We may have another show like this in the future. It depends on the success of this show. If we do have another show, the ones who did not make it this go 'round will automatically be put into the next one and will also be given a great discount on ticket prices for this show.

"Now, we will need the people I call out to please stay after the entire list is called. We will need to go over some dates and things of the sort. We are proud to have…"

As I called the list out, I realized that we had nearly 15 acts out of the numerous auditions (which I could not keep an accurate count of…there were so many!). These acts included, of course, Christine and Raoul, the street performers who had no name, Meg and a fellow male dancer (I think his name is Peter), and a man who reminded me of Aaron Tveitt's Enjolras. When I first saw him, I instantly thought a barricade was about to be built on the stage. No barricade was brought about, but he sang good.

I had everyone who was chosen come onto the stage so I could get a closer look at what we were dealing with. We had a pretty good variety of people. Someone for every audience member's preferences, from the seasoned singer to the Cinderella story. Yes, I thought, this is going to be a hit…