Hi!
What? Did I actually post another chapter without making anyone wait forever with never-ending frustration? AMAZING. I'm actually surprised.
I know some of you who are definite die-hard fans of POTO would be utterly shocked to know that I hadn't read the book yet (the one by Gaston Leroux that I got for my birthday), but I would like all to know that I have at least started reading it. I'm about half way through and I just love it! It's extremely well written, and a bit hard to follow, but still really really good. I give it a 10 out of 10…yes, I like it that much.
And since this is the original book, with the original story, all the characters from the musical and movies start and blossom from those in this book. And the best part is…the original Christine is actually BLONDE! For all who know Christine as a brown eyed brunette, think again! Since she's Swedish (which they point out very often) it's pretty normal actually for her to have blonde hair and blue eyes. I, being a blonde blue eyed girl myself, think that this is the single greatest realization EVER!
And…I REALLY hate to say this Raul haters, but since I am a Raul/Christine phan, I think I like this story more because of that. You see, the story is in 3rd person, but basically shows all of Raul's perspectives and how much he is head over heels in love with Christine, who is actually very cryptic about revealing what's going on between the Phantom and her. In the book it really makes you see the side of how Raul should get Christine. He just loves her so much; it's almost tear-jerking. Raul himself is a very sensitive person and has cried over Christine more than once. She even goes as far as pushing Raul away from her and forbidding him to see her again so that the Phantom wouldn't hurt him. And this Phantom doesn't have a mask (FOR SHAME! HE SO NEEDS THE MASK!). Well, he actually does, it's just that he only wears the mask in front of Christine, but the mask itself is black and covers almost all of his face.
Oh, yes, and might I add that Meg, in my opinion, is basically described as a Goth, except from the 1800's. She's a bit of an outcast, has black hair, black eyes, and always tells the other ballerinas how stupid they all are. I think it's quite funny, seeing as the musical version of Meg is SO much different than that. And the fact that Bouquet was killed in the first chapter was actually quite a shocker.
Anyways, you can tell I'm enjoying myself. But you can totally tell that the musical was based solely off that book alone. I mean, just look at this quote:
"Little Lotte thought of everything and nothing…she wheedled her mother, was kind to her doll, took great care of her frock and her little red shoes and her fiddle, but most of all loved, when she went to sleep, to hear the Angel of Music."
I mean, COME ON! Some of the quotes in the musical are actually word-for-word from the book.
Alright, alright, I am now finished raving about how much I love the book. I am sure most of you are relieved. And since I am finished talking too much, I can answer reviews…finally.
Smart One- oh, I know, almost everyone was confused with the lyrics in my story in one point or another, I'm just glad you like it now! I feel so flattered that you think I write it well… blushes…
Strodgfrgf- thank you! And you never saw the whole thing of Phantom! Oh, my! Well, you certainly should, I must say, or else I believe you are missing out on a whole lot! You can sing really high, too? I love to sing high, I actually annoy my friends by singing every song an octave higher than everyone else. That's why I love Phantom, because I can (and will, on demand) sing every note in the musical. It's so fun! Go Sopranos!
GS Dragono- I can't wait to see how the final chapters go too, I can say that I simply CAN'T WAIT to write them! The last chappies are always the best ones with the most tension!
StarGazingMoonPrincess- oh, it's okay that you didn't review the last chapter! As long as you review at all it's fine with me. Thanks, too, by the way!
Jaina12- I'm gonna be SO sad when this thing is over! Man, I didn't even think about that! Well, just so you know, the end is pretty far down the road, I have to say. With the speed at which I write these, and all the songs I have yet to write, I would estimate another six or seven chapters would be posted before this story's over. And the Raven and BB thing…yes, I love them too. I just love describing how two people act when they like each other but just won't say anything! It happens a lot in my life, trust me…
Rose- first off, I have to say how I just LOVE looking forward to your long reviews! They're just so fun to read! The Raven/BB thing, yeah…I'm gonna officially say that it's not friendship. It's MORE than that! YAY! The fact that I made you think the Raul character played a good role is shocking to me. I'm really happy you liked it and were impressed. And, might I add that most people AWAYS forget the lines and tunes of "Notes II" and "Twisted in Every Way". Those two songs just aren't as clearly sung, seeing as a lot of the characters sing all at the same time. I just spread the lyrics out so that they can be fathomed and understood without being jammed together in one line and expecting everyone to understand what the heck is going on.
Wylkin- I feel so special! And you are so nice in your reviews, every time I read one of yours I always walk away smiling. Thank you so much for your positive reinforcement!
Also, Alan (aka:Aqualad) and Henry (Hotspot) appear in this chapter. So just in case some of you see the name Alan or Henry and you totally forget who the heck they are, well now you know. I have had reviewers see names and have to go all the way back to the first chapter just to check and see who a certain person is. I hope I helped.
I think my author notes get longer with every chapter…geez…
It was a chilly, frost-bitten Wednesday morning in the first week of February. It had taken all of January for Gar and Victor to plan and cast the play and, most importantly, to do it right. They were extremely wary at even picking out the chorus, fearing another unexplained "disaster". None occurred, so the Thespians considered their precise precision of plans worth while to say the least. They finally thought it ready to announce to the school that a different performance was to take place than the one planned before the Opera Ghost intervened.
The majority of the student body, and some of the teachers, were surprised and appalled at the sudden cancellation of the former spring musical. When Gar Logan and Victor Stone announced that an entirely different play was to be performed, some students went as far as retaliation. The teachers were confused, but cared not nonetheless, and let the situation pass without suspicion. They had no power nor whim over what musical was to be sung, as long as there was one.
"Don Juan Triumphant" had indeed taken a long while for the cast to comprehend musically. But as far down the road as they were, most of the cast could barely understand the plot itself, the play being so cryptically written. Almost each line held a double meaning, and most just went along with it and sang their lines, not having a clue as to what the words meant. The few who could understand what the actual plot was about were either offended at its crudeness or in awe at the genius at which it had been written and composed.
Again, as stated, it was Wednesday. Kori's least favorite day of the week, to be exact. She always seemed to have bad days and horrible luck on Wednesdays, and was really in no mood for rehearsal.
She was, however, the lead of this play, so she had to show up for every gosh darn practice that existed. She, being a person who was in no favor of the spotlight, found having all the attention on her to be overly pressuring and moreover irritating.
She felt extremely uncomfortable with her character who she was to play. The character who Kori was portraying, Aminta, seemed to her a bit of a 'loose' person. "Easy" would be a more accurate word that the boys would use.
She knew that the specter had placed her in this role on purpose, and for reasons she didn't want to know. And when she thought of why it depressed and angered her. She would block the ideas out of her mind and refuse to let them enter her brain, lest she let herself fully understand the ghost's calculation.
She sighed, with a waging war of sadness and frustration beginning insider her. She heard her name call to her and she spun around,
"Kori!"
She turned her head, hoping to see a friend, only to see Steven beckoning her to him to practice lines. Steven was, after all, the male lead, meaning she would obviously be paired with him. She clutched her manuscript and trudged over to her sister's current boyfriend. She began to repress her crabbiness and soothed herself with the thought that she would at least get to sing her frustration away.
Over the many previous rehearsals, and after what seemed to be an eternity of practicing lines with Steven, Kori and he had become somewhat friends. To be certain, they were nowhere near buddy-buddy to say the least, but they at least held a mutual respect for the other. Mostly the two would ask for advice on the other's performance. Usually Steven would ask for Kori's input to see if she thought his line could have been said better; or Kori would make sure with Steven that she hit the right note. Those were the usual compensations that the two exchanged, seeing as they had nothing at all in common otherwise.
They hadn't gotten very close, but they had to have some like for the other to not let the entire play go to ruin. At first Steven thought her annoying, and Kori thought him pompous and proud. But soon their hostility turned into tolerance and the two soon had no problems getting along cordially. They now had no particular like for the other, but still cared about each other's thoughts and concerns. In this way did the two leading roles come to understand each other's views without complaint or disagreement.
After Steven had called her over, they practiced the scene ahead that they were to do that day. She broke him off after a few minutes, assuring him he was doing fine, and requested that they took a break.
"What for?" the carrot-haired boy quirked an eyebrow. "We have all this extra time, we should use it wisely."
"Wisely," Kori sighed, "Or to our advantage?"
Steven folded his arms.
"Our advantage? Just because you already memorized most of your lines doesn't mean you can just bail…"
"I merely want to watch the scene they are practicing," she motioned to the stage, "and observe how everyone else is contributing. I am not partaking of the 'bailing' of which you speak."
"Whatever," the tall boy answered, "I might as well take a break too, seeing as I'm the only one left who actually wanted to get this done."
"The time will come," the green-eyed girl turned her vision to rest on his, "when you will know all of your lines and nothing will go wrong."
"Pffft…yeah, right…" the senior sneered.
"I bet you a million bucks this thing is gonna go wrong somehow," Steven said, looking around the set.
"What makes you say such things?" Kori asked, becoming distressed. She had that sickening feeling for a long while now, but she dared not say a word of it, for she knew far more than any of them did.
"Well," Steven began, starting to number his fingers,
"First of all, some psychopath who threatens to kill more people that he has already wrote it."
He paused, looking for a reaction from the girl; he knew all too well how close she had been entwined in the Phantom's plans.
"Secondly, most of us don't even get what in God's name is going on in the storyline."
Kori shifted her eyes; it was true.
"And I must admit that I understand the plot very well, including all the double meanings he's thrown in," he added, "and I think that whoever wrote this is a very sick man. I feel pretty sorry for you, considering you are the reason he wrote it."
Kori felt like a blow had struck her in the stomach. She knew it was true, but no one had ever said it out loud to her before, and so bluntly. She immediately felt uncomfortable and wanted to leave.
"Alright, alright, I understand," Kori spat uncontrollably.
Steven saw the look on her face and knew immediately that he had hit a nerve. He felt a feeling of remorse, but also one of self-praise. He did not like to make anyone feel bad, but when he did, he still got that prideful feeling that meant he had conquered them in a battle of wits, whether it had ended in fists or tears. She had defeated him numerous times in wit wars such as these, but this time, he won.
The prideful feeling did not leave him as the younger girl continued.
"Maybe there is something strange about all of this…"
Steven gave her a look of one who was scoffing at a stupid person.
"You, of all people, should have figured that one out…"
The crestfallen expression that entered her eyes caused immediate resentment from Steven. He immediately felt ashamed at what he had said, realizing how hard all of this must be for her. It had been awhile since she had shown how difficult it was to fulfill all that was needed of her.
She fell silent, and said nothing more. She didn't look at him, small tears beginning to form. Steven noticed all of this and felt even worse, starting to stutter. He was never good at apologies.
"Wait," he spat quickly, just as she was running off in a fit of tears, "I'm…uh, sorry. I didn't mean that…"
She stopped in mid-run, swishing her long hair with the snap of her neck in a total about face. Making eye contact with him, she cringed at his sudden attention of her feelings, afraid he would make another hurtful comment. He approached her awkwardly, only to make her back away at tiny smidges.
"Look," he sputtered uneasily, trying to console her "I know this is probably…hard…"
He had trouble keeping still, trying his best not to upset her.
"…for you…"
Kori stopped her total fixation of her gaze on the floor and looked up to face him. She held no happiness, but he had her attention.
"And…" he continued, still fidgeting, "it…isn't my place to…well…"
"Please continue." Kori said warily but a bit coldly, "I am listening."
"What I said was…out of line."
"Agreed."
"And…like I said…um…sorry." Steven said with a giant exhale.
"Apology taken and accepted." Kori smiled widely. Steven was a bit surprised that she had recovered so quickly. Apparently just a small amount of happy news could turn her frown completely upside-down. He inwardly smiled, lifting a heavy weight off his conscience.
"May we now," she replied earnestly, a little more normal, "Partake of the viewing of the rehearsal?"
Steven rolled his eyes slightly. She was so childlike.
"…Yeah, why not."
Feeling no use of doing anything else, the senior followed the girl to where she stood gazing at the stage. She stopped near the orchestra pit, as to be closest to the instruments. Yes, she now loved music that much.
Kori and Steven watched the rehearsal go by pretty smoothly for about fifteen minutes before a slim black-haired boy approached them in a whirl of black and blue. Alan ran up to the two, grabbed their arms, and yanked both of them backstage with the speed of lightning. Kori stuttered, out of breath and confused.
"Alan! What are you…"
"Come on," he pulled them to the side stage, "you're both going on in like, 3 seconds."
"Huh?" Steven asked, bug-eyed.
"That scene's over, smart one, we're skipping to the beginning of scene two."
"Scene two?" Steven blurted out, "We haven't practiced that one yet!"
He paused awkwardly, looked at Kori, then turned back to Alan and said in a small voice,
"Well…I…haven't practiced that one yet…"
Alan smirked and turned to Kori.
"And, let me guess…this one did," he said, still smiling, pointing to Kori. She had an infamous goody-goody reputation of always getting things done when it needed be.
"Uum….yes?" Kori said with a weak smile that was showing how obvious her soon to come laughter was.
"Oh, well," Alan said with a quick push of the two redheads onto the stage, "you've already been over this part, Steven, so I'm sure you'll remember at least some of it."
"But…but…dude…" Steven didn't get to finish before being shoved into a prop.
"Ow!"
"Oops…" Alan said with an evil grin. Steven in turn glared daggers at the boy before Henry began to bark at him.
"I don't know my line yet! Give me a break here!" Steven almost yelled.
Henry just stared for a few seconds and then yelled out to the boy,
"Steven! Don't move!" the boy stood as still as a statue.
"What?" he said with a nervous tone. Henry just rubbed his forehead.
"It's not your line yet…" Steven stared blankly.
"Oh."
Kori scooted beside him and inaudibly whispered to him,
"Just stay where you are, and take your cue from me. My line is right before yours."
"But…"
"You've done this line before, just silence yourself until then. Henry's already in a mood of badness. Again."
Steven did as he was told, and the two stayed on stage as they diverted their attention back to the chorus, also on stage. Kiona was singing in the chorus with the rest, who was not very pleased to be doing so. So she resolved this problem by singing louder than everyone else, which most people ended up ignoring. Over time her voice blended in with the rest. Just before Kiona could wave to her boyfriend, the chorus began to sing their song:
"Hide your sword now, wounded knight!
Your vainglorious gasconade
Brought you to your final flight…
For your pride, high price you've paid!"
Kori took her cue and sang her line.
"Silken couch and hay-filled barn,
Both have been his battlefield."
She gave Steven an expecting look and the boy immediately remembered the very short that he was to say.
"Thos who tangle with Don Juan…"
Henry interrupted him with vibrant waves of his hands.
"No, no no! Chorus, just wait a sec."
Henry then seemed to capture his cool and calmed down a bit.
"Don Juan…that's you, Steven," he said, pointing to him.
"Yeah?"
"Okay," Henry began, surprisingly normal. It was as if he knew and expected him to mess up on this part.
"—here is the phrase, Steven:
Those who tangle with Don Juan…"
"What's the difference?" Steven asked inquisitively.
"Use emphasis on the 'tangle'."
"Oh. Okay, lemme try…
Those who tangle with Don Juan…"
He just repeated what he had done before. He hadn't even improved. Alan had to suppress a snicker. Henry reproached him again.
"No, no—nearly, but no:
Those who tan, tan, tan…"
"Okay, let me try again:
Those who tangle with Don Juan…"
Again getting the line wrong, some of the more immature cast members snickered quietly. Kiona only smiled, as if thinking that her boyfriend messing up was cute.
"His way is better." She said practically. She then added venomously, "At least he makes it sound like music!"
Raven, who had been there also, obliged to teach the dancers, eyed the girl viciously. She stepped up from where she stood at stage left and rung out her warningly low voice into Kiona's ears.
"Kiona, do you find it wise to speak that way in the presence of the composer?"
Kiona, practically deaf to the Goth's implications of this remark, merely shot back at the deadpanned ballet instructor.
"The composer isn't here!" she yelled maliciously, "And if he even were here, I would say to him…"
Before she could finish, Raven cut in again, much to everyone's relief.
"Are you certain of that, Kiona…?"
Kiona herself was beginning to stomp across the stage to approach Raven, who hadn't moved a muscle, keeping her same flat face. Henry quickly intervened before Kiona did something she would definitely regret.
"SO…once again, Steven. After seven…
Five, six, seven…"
"Those who tangle with Don Juan…"
Many of the cast and crew were now sighing, rolling eyes, or throwing their hands into the air. Everyone else just started to talk freely. Some others just started to practice the phrase themselves simultaneously.
"Ugh!" Kiona screeched, "This is ridiculous! What does it matter what notes we sing?"
"Have patience, Kiona…" Raven said, keeping her monotone, but still adding her own mocking tune to it.
Kiona then stumped over to the piano, slammed onto the keys, slapped her fingers across several, and complained further more.
"No one will know if it's right or if it's wrong! No one will care if it's right or if it's wrong!"
Most of the cast just began to ignore her. Steven was still trying to get the phrase right.
"Those who tan, tan, tan…"
He turned to Kori, "Did I get it right that time?"
"Not quite, Steven:
"Those who tan, tan, tan…"
Henry began to try to get order back into the rehearsal, for almost everyone had begun to get distracted by their own means. He left the piano and went to the stage, trying to get their attention with signals.
"Ladies…Steven…Kori…please!"
Kiona, not one word sinking into her very little brain, finally got fed up and mockingly belted out the infamous phrase.
"Those who tangle with DON JUAN!"
In that instant the piano keys thumped without aid. By some unknown force the piano began to play the song. It demonstrated the music for the song with increasing force and exact rhythm. At first this startled everyone, but soon that changed.
Every student in the room immediately fell silent and froze, some for different reasons than others. All of a sudden, the chorus began to sing the piece with extreme accuracy. They sang it with increasing loudness as Kori slipped off the stage fearfully. But, what Kori noticed, was that the way they were singing seemed too perfect. It seemed…robotic.
"Poor young maiden!
For the thrill on your tongue
Of stolen sweets
You will have to pay the bill,
Tangled in the winding sheets…"
She slid behind the scenes and slipped in between a banister and a backdrop, looking about her expectantly. She knew he was here. There was no other way the piano could have played on it's own. And it was playing his music. She gazed up into the drafts of the upper stage, seeing no one. But she knew better than that. She felt his presence, and she knew he could see her. He always could. She began to shake slightly and her lip quivered as she spoke out warily into the awaiting darkness.
"In sleep he sang to me,
In dreams he came.
That voice which calls to me,
And speaks my name…"
She heard the orchestra crescendo as she felt her fear increase. As the playing instruments reached a high forte, her fright became unbearable and she ran out of the deserted area and back into plain sight of her classmates. She continued the rest of the rehearsal with no complaints whatsoever and tried her very hardest to perform the best she could, for she knew the consequences if she didn't.
Finally. I was hoping I would be able to update earlier than usual. YAY!