Disclaimer: I do now own anything related to Phantom of the Opera, sadly.

Chapter 6

Aubrey raised her eyebrows at what Erik said. "Of course it isn't true, it's a story Gaston Leroux came up with way back when!"

"What if it wasn't just a story, what if he got it directly from his mouth?"

Aubrey started laughing. "Erik you really are funny."

Erik just shrugged and started eating pizza again, but it got Aubrey thinking. Where was the proof that it isn't a true story?

There was a loud bang that came from the upstairs, instead of the main floor and it made Aubrey jump. Erik scowled at the ceiling.

"Excuse me, I'll be right back."

Aubrey just nodded at him as he left, and wondered what all that was about.

After about twenty minutes Erik came back into the room with a snarl on his face.

"Is everything okay Erik?"

"Fine."

Aubrey didn't really know what was going on, but decided not to ask him about it, at least not yet. After a few moments silence Erik motioned for Aubrey.

"Come on, lets go" Erik said.

"Where are we going?" Aubrey asked confused.

"I just can't stay here any longer, I'm taking you home." Erik said quickly.

A small shock went through Aubrey's body. "Oh, okay." She stood up and grabbed her bag. She walked with Erik silently to the car.

He walked around the front of his eclipse and opened the door for Aubrey. When she got in she put her bag down in between her feet.

She looked over at Erik while he was driving and noticed that his knuckles where white because he was gripping the steering wheel so tight.

"Erik, are you sure everything is okay, you look like you need to get something off your chest."

"Damn it woman! Can't you take a hint I don't want to talk about it, so just piss off and mind your own business!" Erik shouted which sounded so much louder in the closed off car.

Tears sprang to Aubrey's eyes. For some reason when she got mad instead of getting red in the face, or shaking, she cries.

"You don't have to be an ass about it, I was generally concerned for you and you bite my head off." Aubrey said coolly. She turned and looked out the side window trying to make the tears dry up before they leaked down her face, but having no such luck.

When they got to the house, before he could stop the car completely she had taken her seat belt off and opened the door. She reached down for her bag and Erik's hand shot out and grabbed hers halting her.

Aubrey angrily pulled her hand away from his. "No wait, don't go like this. I'm sorry about what I said, you didn't deserve me yelling at you. If you want to I was going to go hang out at this park on the other side of town and you can come with me." He said all this very quietly, but she heard every word.

When Aubrey turned and looked at him he had his head down.

"Erik, I have a boyfriend and I don't think he would appreciate it if you and I were hanging out. We aren't friends, and if someone saw us they could take it in the wrong way. I already had to stop being with him when you called, so I don't think I will."

Erik's jaw seemed to tighten at her words. "Fine, are you going to come over tomorrow so we can finish our project?"

Aubrey sighed. They really did need to finish, but she wouldn't blow Harry off like that again. She placed her finger tips to her temples and started to rub them. She was starting to get a headache. "I have a date tomorrow."

"What time, maybe you can come over in the morning."

"Okay that will be fine. I can have my dad drop me off or something. I'll be there about 10 o'clock."

She got out of the car quickly and walked up to her bedroom. Aubrey was in a very foul mood. How could Erik expect her to just go and hang out with him after the way he had treated her!

When she reached her desk she saw a note scrawled by her sister. She picked it up trying to decipher what it said but had no luck. Aubrey rolled her eyes and was pounding on the door of her sisters bedroom.

When she opened it she saw a whole bunch of girls laughing on her bed. "Delilah what in the world does this note say?" Aubrey said holding out the note for her to read.

"Duh, it says that Harry called, and that Jane called and they both want you to call them back." Delilah said looking at her like she was stupid.

Aubrey scowled at her. "You need to learn how to write then, I can't make out a word of that!" And stomped out of the room.

She went and picked up the phone and decided to call Jane first. After three rings someone picked up the phone and yelled for Jane to pick it up.

"Hey Jane, how are you? Did you call me?"

"Oh hi Aubrey, yeah I did, I was wondering what plans you had tonight. I'm going to have a sleep over. Alice and Danielle are coming."

"Well I would, but I have a headache and I don't think I would be very good company right now." Aubrey said sighing.

"Aww, why not?" Jane asked with concern in her voice.

"I was over at Erik's house working on our project and we didn't really get along."

"What! I thought you had that finished."

"Well we had, but it got deleted from his computer, and we have to do it all over again."

Jane suddenly gasped. "Aubrey, maybe he deleted it on purpose to spend time with you, you said he didn't like you going out with Harry!"

Aubrey felt like a brick had been hurled into her stomach. Why had she never though of that before?

"Oh my gosh Jane, your probably right! That would be just like him too! He is one of the biggest jerks I have ever known!"

After a few minutes of Erik bashing she got off the phone and decided to call Harry back.

When the phone had rung seven times Aubrey hung up the phone. No one must be there. Aubrey felt a little sad, she had been hoping they could talk for a while since they didn't really get to hang out much today. Maybe in an hour or so she would call again.

Aubrey plopped on her bed and plugged her headphones into her ears. She flipped through her IPod and looked for some kind of angry music she could really let her hash out all of her angry thoughts.

She came to her Hinder songs and decided their music would do the trick.

After an hour of that she felt much better and decided to give Harry a call again.

She dialed his number and waited as the phone rang. After two rings a woman picked up.

"Hello?"

"Is Harry there?" Aubrey asked hopefully.

"Oh honey I'm sorry, Harry isn't here right now, he is out with friends."

Aubrey's hopes fell. Who could he be out with? "Oh, do you know where they went?"

"He said something about a basketball court, but I'm not sure which one."

Aubrey thanked her and got of the phone. She looked out the window and thought it was rather dark to be playing basketball, but maybe they had lights there.

She heard a bunch of laughing that came from Delilah's room and got angry at their loudness. Aubrey walked downstairs and decided to watch some T.V. but her parents were there and a basketball game was on.

Yeah another reminder that Harry couldn't spend time with her that was exactly what she needed.

"Mom can I go for a walk?" Aubrey asked.

"Why don't you just walk Spunky?"

"Fine." Aubrey said. She called their wiener dog beagle mix and put a collar on him. As soon as fresh air hit her face she knew this is what she really needed.

Aubrey had strolled down the block and decided to go to this basketball court that wasn't far from her house. Maybe Harry would be there.

It took her fifteen minutes to reach the court and saw someone playing, but when she got closer it wasn't Harry. It was a very tall man playing with someone who was short and squat.

Deciding to give it up as a bad job Aubrey turned and started walking back to her house when one of the guys called to her.

"Hey baby! Come over here and keep us company." The tall man shouted at her.

Aubrey turned and rolled her eyes. "No thanks." Aubrey said and kept walking. She could hear the two guys running to catch up with her and she turned to face them.

"Baby don't be like that, were your friends" The short guy said in a slur.

"Look just leave me alone, or I will scream!" Aubrey said starting to get scared.

They two guys started laughing and nudging each other. The tall guy got closer to her and grabbed her arm. Aubrey screamed and dropped the leash she was holding. Spunky started growling and tried to bite the man holding her, but he kicked him out of the way. She heard him squealing and run off. Aubrey was not alone.

The man holding her spun her around where he pressed her back to his front. Aubrey tried to scream again, but found there was nothing in her lungs to get released. The squat man started to move forward and Aubrey waited until he was close to her, she could smell his breath on her face. It smelled like alcohol.

She kicked her foot up hard and kicked him in the place he knew he couldn't get up from. Aubrey lifted her elbow into the tall guys face and got him in the jaw. She was now thankful that her mother had made her watch some silly self defense thing on T.V. now. As soon as she made contact she started running towards home. She had made it about half a mile before she realized she didn't know where she was.

Tears sprang to her eyes as she looked around helplessly. She heard someone shout at her and she took off again. Aubrey could heard pounding steps behind her, they sounded like they were catching up to her.

Panic overrode her and she started stumbling. Finally the guy she heard behind her grabbed her left arm and spun her around. Her scream pierced the night. She raised her fist and threw it hard, hitting the man in the cheek bone.

Aubrey took off again, but heard something she didn't expect.

"Damn it you hit hard!"

Aubrey stopped in her tracks and turned around. She saw Erik standing a few feet from her holding the good side of his face.

"Erik! I'm so sorry, these guys were chasing me, and I thought you were them, are you hurt?"

"Yes I'm hurt, I think you broke my cheekbone. How did you learn to hit that hard?"

Aubrey rushed to his side and gingerly took his hand down to look at the damage she had done. It was very swollen and red.

"Do you need to go to the hospital?" Aubrey asked softly.

"No I'm okay, we should get back to my car if someone is after you. I parked down this way."

Aubrey looked around and noticed a familiar house. "My house is just right around the corner, you should put some ice on that before it gets much worse."

Erik started to walk with her, but before he could take two steps he stumbled. Aubrey lifted his right arm and put it around his shoulders helping him walk.

When they reached their house Aubrey explained to her mom and dad what happened.

When they had calmed down they went and got an ice pack for Erik's face.

"Erik I'm really sorry I hit you." Aubrey moaned seeing his face in the light. It didn't look like it felt good at all.

"I'm okay. I heard someone scream, and I wanted to make sure they were okay. I never expected to get hit in the face for it."

After thirty minutes of him icing his face, Lacey and James drove him home.

Aubrey went to lay down on her bed. Her hand was aching from hitting Erik so hard.

She had fallen into an uneasy sleep where she started to dream, once again, about Erik.

So I know I said Aubrey would find out if Erik really did delete their report on purpose, but my fingers took over once again. You will find out in the next chapter I promise. So did you like it? I thought I would have Aubrey get in a little trouble! Please review and let me know what you thought about it!

Desiree'