Melody woke up, noticing the single red rose(thorn-less and with a black ribbon attached to it) which was lying on her bed stand. Next to it lied a brief note:

Our dearest daughter,

We hope your first day at school was enjoyable. Although we had hoped you'd have given us a little visit to discuss your first day. Anyhow, we sincerely hope that everything went well and will be going well in the near future.

Yours,

Your father and mother

Melody smiled and wonder how her father got in last night. But then she reminded herself that she was talking about the infamous 'Opera Ghost' and that he could get in anywhere. She then got ready to go to school. She took a bath, got dressed and then made some breakfast.

She had still some time to get to school, so she decided to walk to school. But 5 minutes later she ran in to Phillipe. "Melody, wait," he called to her the moment she was about to ignore his presence and continue to walk. But now she was obliged to wait. "Wow, what a coincidence that that we meet on the way to school," he began.

"Or maybe someone is spying on me and noticed I left my building," she said sarcastically. He looked at her as if she said something confusing. "Never mind," she said. "I can see you're still a bit angry," he said trying to make a conversation.

"Like I said yesterday, it's not because I accepted your apology that I have forgotten everything that happened." "Well, would you forgive me if I took you out for lunch this afternoon?" he asked her. Melody smiled. "Well, what about this: make it a candle-lit dinner and we have a deal," she joked.

"Consider it done," was all he said. "W-What? I was just joking," Melody tried to get out of this arrangement. "Well I certainly wasn't. I'll pick you up at 7 pm"

"Just don't consider it a date. Consider it a business meeting to smoothen the communication," Melody warned him. "Who was talking about a date?" Melody could hit herself at that moment. Why on earth did she just say that. Before she could say anything to make this conversation even more awkward, Jean-Jacques showed up and joined their walk to school. "Wow, you two made up?" he asked. "Not yet, I only…" Melody began. "But after tonight, all will be alright," Phillipe said confusing Jean-Jacques.

"I sort of agreed in forgiving him after he take me to dinner," Melody said with a sigh. "Okay than, well, I guess thing will be a little calmer in class than huh," Jean-Jacques said. No response came. "Too bad actually, the tension between the two of you was becoming funny," he tried once more. Still no response. He then gave up and the three of them continued their walk in silence.

Arriving at school, Katerina was already waiting for them (well not for Phillipe). When she saw them, she walked to them, eying suspiciously at Phillipe and Melody. Jean-Jacques noticed and quickly said:"They talked things trough. That means no more fights during classes. Such a pity" Katerina continued to look at Melody and Phillipe and then told them they were about to be late. So everybody went to the classroom.

After the first half of the day

"Hey Melody, do you join the rest of us for lunch?" Jean-Jaques asked. "Not really, I have some other business to attend to" "Does your business involves Phillipe?"

"God no, it's worse enough I have to have dinner with him tonight, so I'm not going to spend my lunchtime on him," Melody said with a look of disgust. "Ok then, make sure to get back in time" "I will"

Melody walked away and ventured into the city. She knew it would not take long to reach her destination, so she didn't bother to walk fast. She was going to enjoy her little walk. She saw a lot of people running down the streets, some more in a hurry than other ones, and no one seemed to notice her. She didn't mind, it was better than to get starred at. All of the sudden a small child stopped in front of her, so Melody stopped. She looked at the child, it couldn't be older than 5.

"Hello there, where's your mother? You couldn't be walking the streets all by yourself now can you?" The child still just looked at her. It was starting to annoy her, making her feel uncomfortable. "Where is your mommy? " she tried again.

"Why are you wearing that?" the child asked pointing at her mask. Before Melody could say anything, a woman, running around the streets, came to them. "My goodness, Louis don't ever just walk off again! Mommy was very worried"

"I'm sorry mommy," Louis said. The woman turned to Melody and her eyes were going wide, as if she was afraid of her. Before anything awkward would happen, Melody said: "Well you found your mother, so I'm going" and then she started walking. "Wait," the woman called. Melody stopped dead in her tracks and turned around to face the woman. "Thank you for finding my son, he tends to walk away without me knowing it". "It was my pleasure," Melody answered and took off again.

Melody continued her walk and stopped at the building she knew so well, the Opera Populaire. She walked towards Rue de Scribe in order to find the secret passage. When she easily found the passage, she once again returned to a world of darkness. She tried to be as silent as possible, trying to not let her father be aware of her presence.

"You always were bad in trying to outsmart me," a voice that seemed to come from the darkness itself said. "Well, that's because you are different from others, I do outsmart them," she said smiling. She was almost certain he could see her smiling. "Why don't we continue our conversation somewhere more illuminated," he said.

They walked trough the dark hall before they arrived at the living part of the underground home. Christine, who had heard some noise from the tunnel, turned her head towards it. From the moment she saw Melody, she practically ran to her only daughter.

"Melody, how nice of you to stop by," Christine said squeezing the air out of Melody's lungs by hugging her tightly. If she squeeze me to death when I'm only 2 days gone, what is she going to do if I stay away a bit longer, Melody thought.

Christine let go of her daughter and practically dragged her to sitting corner while asking if she wanted some tea. After they all had something to drink and were seated, Christine asked Melody about the events in school. She started to tell what had occurred between her and Phillipe. She could swear that one split second, her father's eyes seemed to darken.

"And finally I kind of got me a dinner with him. I mean I was only joking, who could have thought that he'd take it serious," Melody said. Then she sighed. "What's the matter dear, it's only a dinner. After it's over, you aren't obliged to speak to him again," Christine said.

"Oh that's not the problem, believe me I'm not going to get myself in such situations with him ever again. No, the problem is that I don't know what kind of dress to wear: if I wear something very pretty, it would seem that I'm actually glad to go to dinner with him. But I have no intention to look ordinary, for it's still dinner. What am I to do mom?"

Erik grinned. "It seems that I leave this matter to your mother, so if you excuse me," and with that he stood up. "Where are you going?" Chrisine asked a little suspicious. "To my organ, why?"

"Knowing you, you'd be able to hunt the poor boy down and frighten him to death whilst telling him to leave Melody alone," She said. Melody grinned a little by the idea, it sure would be funny if he did.

"Hey, that's a good idea. I thought playing some music on the organ would be fun, but your idea is much more fun" and with that he turned to the dark tunnel.

"Erik wait," Christine yelled at him, jumping out of her chair in pursuit to follow Erik. From the moment she ran in the tunnel, she bumped into Erik chest. "You really think that I would go after him?"he asked.

"In fact, I do think that you're capable to do it," her response was. Erik smiled. They heard a distant voice: "If you need me, I'll be in the kitchen" and with that Melody went into the kitchen.

She grabbed something to eat, it was almost time to go back to school. She decided to come back after school hoping her mom would have any idea on what to wear. Melody quickly left the kitchen, told her parents she was going to get back after school.

She ran to the building hoping she would not be late. Luckily, Mr. Mélèze wasn't there yet. Melody went to her seat, grabbing her things. The exact same moment, Mr. Mélèze entered the room and they all continued the lesson.

Playing the violin, Melody remembered the times her father had played it for her mother. Involuntary, memories from her childhood came back to her. As daughter of a musical genius and former opera star, these memories were filled with music. One specific music piece came to her : 'The Resurrection of Lazarus'. It was a piece her father played a lot for her mother. Come to think of it, he always played it on specific time of year. Melody didn't know why and she never bothered to ask.

"Mademoiselle Destler, could you please stay focused," a voice called to her. Melody looked up, and saw the face of her teacher. "Excusez-moi, monsieur(Excuse me sir)," she replied. "Make sure it doesn't happen again," was all her teacher said.

The two and a half hour flew past and Melody found herself ready to go back into the Phantom's Lair. She still found it fascinating that nobody looked in the 5th cellar of the old opera house, especially now, since they're renovating it. This time her trip went without any lost children or other obstacles.

She wandered in the dark tunnel, wondering if Erik would show up this time. Alas, no company this time. She continued her trip until she came to the living part. There her mother was already awaiting her arrival.

Soon Melody was seated next to her mother and they were discussing Melody's clothing for the night. Melody wanted to look pretty, but not too pretty. She didn't want to give Phillipe wrong ideas about her feelings towards him. Erik, who was seated not too far away in order to follow the conversation, protested when Christine would propose that her daughter would wear something low-cut. Melody found it amusing, but secretly she agreed with her father.

Eventually the chose that she would were a red gown with some black accents ((.)

She liked the dress a lot and couldn't wait to crawl in it.

"What time you said he would pick you up?" Erik asked suddenly. "Uhm, I think he said he'd pick me up at 7, why?"

"Well, because it's already half past six," he stated casually. "WHAT? Now I'll never be on time," she yelled while jumping out of her seat.

"There's no need to worry my dear," Erik said "Grab the dress and say goodnight to your mother. I'll bring you to your apartment, if you don't mind it that is"

"And how are you planning to do that, I mean I know …" Melody started. "Have you forgotten Ceasar already? Poor horse, he liked you a lot and if I can recall clearly, you liked him to"

"Oh Ceasar, how on earth could I have forgotten about him," Melody stated. And with that she went to her mother, bid her goodnight, grabbed the dress and followed her father to the stables of the opera house.

The ride to her apartment didn't took too long. Melody had enough time to get in the dress and apply some make-up. While doing this she didn't thought she would have enough time to do her hair, when all of the sudden she felt someone brush her hair. She looked in the mirror to see the reflection of her father.

"You can thank me later, for now just keep focused on your make-up," he said to her. Soon she was ready and so was Erik. She turned around to face him, with a smile on her face. Then she hugged him. "Thank you," was all she said.

"It was no problem", he answered and then he hugged her and kissed her forehead. How Erik hoped this moment could last any longer, but then someone knocked on the door, most probably Phillipe.

Melody looked up, looking at the door and then at her father. "I'll hide me in the kitchen until he's gone. Then I'll go back home," he whispered to her. She nodded and released him. A second knock was heard. "I'm coming," Melody said watching her father go into the kitchen.

Then she went to the door, taking in a deep breath before she reached for the handle.

Author's note: i have put a site were you see a picture of Melody's dress on my profile, for those who want to visualise the dress

I'm sorry for the late update, I had some things to attend to before I could finish the new chapter. I'll try to update more frequently .