Hey! I know I haven't been on in a while! I am working on a huge French project and I have just started rehearsal for Shrek the Musical, so it has been pretty hectic. So anyway, thanks so much to PlainJane101 for my first review on this story! So please read, review, favorite, follow, and enjoy.

Chapter 3

Keeping Secrets

Madame Giry slams her hands together, keeping time to the music. When the music stops, she slams her cane down on the ground and she grabs the ballerinas' attention. "You need to be practicing! It is not improving! And Ella, you are usually so focused, so on point. Where is your head lately?" Ella feels her cheeks get very hot. "I-I am sorry, Madame. I have been…thinking of other things." But she just furrows her brow. She dismisses the other girls, but she calls Ella over to talk.

"What have you been doing, Ella?"

"What do you mean?"

"This behavior is very familiar to me. Are you…seeing anybody?"

"Do you mean dating?"

"No, just going around with anybody."

"U-um…."

"Are you seeing…him?"

"W-what? You mean the Phantom! Oh, Lord, no!" Ella tries to lie, but her voice is clearly very overdramatic, and her eyes and wandering around the room.

Madame Giry sighs and rolls her eyes. "You may go, Ella."

She bows her head and scurries off of the stage. That was close! Gosh, I am such a terrible liar. She probably knows I am going around with-

"Erik!" she yells when she sees him standing in the middle of her room.

"I'm sorry! I know you weren't expecting me, Eleanore, but I thought I would stop by."

She smiles calmly. "It's fine. So what were you here for?"

He starts fiddling with his hands and he looks down at the floor. "Well, I was wondering if"- he gets cut off by a knock at the door. Both of their heads shoot towards the door and Erik immediately runs behind the mirror, but stays there. Ella scurries over to the door and opens it. She is surprised to see the patron, Charley, standing there.

"Oh, hello, Charley!" she says with a smile at the end.

"Hello, Ella. How are you today?" He says it quietly with a touch of seductiveness at the end.

"I am doing great! How about you?" she says all light and bubbly, even though she wants him to leave and talk to Erik.

"Well, I am hoping it will be a wonderful day." He says, acting very secretive. Ella furrows her brow and smirks. What is he up to?

"I am was wondering if you would go out to dinner tonight?"

Ella is shocked, so she bulges her eyes. "Oh, Charley! I wasn't expecting this. Yes, I will go to dinner."

His eyes light up and his smile just gets bigger. "Wonderful! I will pick you up at seven o'clock."

She nods ever so slightly. And then shuts the door, before he even walks away. The second the door closes, Erik slips back out from the mirror, and say with a clenched jaw, "I can sense something not right about him." Ella nods. "I know. I can feel it too. But that's the reason I went am going to this dinner. I can probably find out a lot about him." He nods. "Good." Ella looks at the floor for a few seconds, and then her head shoots up. "Weren't you going to say something before Charley came?" He opens his mouth to talk, but he just closes it and shakes his head. "Nothing. It was nothing."

Ella nods. "Sorry, Erik, but I should get ready." She looks down at her watch. "I only have two hours before Charley comes for dinner." Erik nods. Then he soon walks up close to her. "I feel great danger in him. Please be careful tonight, Eleanore. Please." She smiles. "I will. Thank you." He nods and walks away, exiting through the mirror.

At seven o'clock, Charley is exactly on time when he knocks at the door. He smiles at her when she opens the door, and he smiles back. "You look beautiful." She peers down at her dress and smiles. "Thank you. You look very handsome." He nods, extended his hand. She grabs it and shuts the door.

Charley takes Ella to a nice little café right next to the opera house. "This is so nice." Ella comments as they sit down. As they look over their menus, Charley looks up at her and says, "So, tell me about you."

"What would you want to know?"

"Your interests, hobbies, your childhood. Anything, really."

She shrugs and giggles. "Well I obviously dance and sing. But I also love art. I love painting nature. Something about nature just makes me feel beautiful and free. And my childhood wasn't really that interesting. I have been dancing since I could walk, then I learned to sing because my father could play the piano. And it just went from there." She shrugs once more.

"What about your mother?"

"I don't know a thing about her. I don't know if she is, or was, alive or dead. She was just never around when I was a child. My father never talked about her either."

"Oh I am sorry."

"No! It's fine. So what about your childhood or earlier in your life?" His eyes bulge for a few moments, but then he quickly puts his face in the menu. "Uh…shall we order?" Ella nods slowly.

There is something wrong with this man. There must have been something about his childhood, or maybe a couple years ago, that he doesn't want me to know. I will find out. I must.