Chapter VII

Phone Calls/Disney Ate My Childhood

(A/N: Okay, I think I owe you a bit of explanation on the title. It's a parody of Notes/Twisted Every Way. Instead of Notes, we have Phone Calls. And the story isn't quite Twisted Every Way yet (key word being 'yet'), and Addie goes on a bit of a Disney rant.
I was born in the nineties, during the Disney Rennaissance, so, as a matter of fact, Disney DID eat my childhood. And I can assure you I enjoyed every minute of it.)

At about five til eleven, Adeline slipped out of her apartment, locking the door quietly behind her. She headed down the staircase, making a minimal amount of noise, so as not to wake anyone.

Once outside, she let out a deep breath, not even remembering having held it in the first place. She looked around, trying to find Erik. There was a small cough from behind her. She spun around, and glared at him. "I really wish you'd stop doing that."

Erik shrugged, and began walking in the direction of the abandoned theater. Adeline followed quickly, trying to keep up with him. Once they reached it, she let out a big sigh of relief. "Well, glad that's over with."

Erik looked at her, shook his head, and walked down a side passage, motioning for her to follow. A bit weirded out, she did so.

After about five minutes of this, they reached the underground lake. Slightly surprised in the fact that this was definitely not they way they'd come the last time, Adeline climbed into the gondola. "That's funny," she said, as Erik rowed (or, since it was that big pole thing, would it be pushed? Propelled?). "I don't remember ever hearing about a lake under this theater."

Erik didn't say anything, he just kept rowing/pushing/propelling/bugger all this for a lark, I want a sandwich. Adeline sat in silence for the rest of the boat ride. When they reached the opposite shore, she stepped out and turned to Erik. "Is something wrong? You haven't said anything."

Finally, he spoke. "Nothing is wrong. I'm just a bit tired, is all." He led her to the organ. "We'll start with your scales."

"M'kay," Adeline said, trying her best to look professional, but more likely she just looked slightly stupid.

Erik smirked slightly and began playing. Adeline sang her scales, but when she hit the high C, her voice lost nearly all vibrato and dropped a half step. She sat down in a chair, defeated. "Dammit," she muttered rubbing her throat.

Erik looked at her, the visible eyebrow raised slightly. "Does that happen often?"

Adeline sighed. "No. It all depends on what day it is." When he looked at her funny, she explained. "The highest note I've ever been able to hit is the F above high C, and that only happened once, when I was in the seventh grade. On a good day, I can hit the E. On normal days, the D. And on bad days, high C. On really fricking uber suckish days, I can't even hit that." She smiled. "Apparently this is one of those days."

"How do you know all the specifics of that?"

"I have an electric piano hidden in my hall closet. I usually practice for a while every day, but lately, with the Spring Program coming up, I haven't had much time."

Erik smiled slightly. "Does that explain all the Disney music?"

"Hey, Disney is freaking epic. Except for all that Hannah Montana and Jonas Brothers and High School Musical and- Well, Disney used to be epic. Except for Snow White. God, I cannot stand that woman's voice. I mean, I know it was the first full-length animated movie EVER but her voice sounds like an English speaking cockatoo that just inhaled a helium baloon."

Erik blinked. "That's quite an analogy."

Adeline grinned. "Isn't it?"

"Er, yes. Anyway, what would you like to sing?"

Her answer was automatic. "Air Des Bijoux."

He turned around on the organ stool. "You're kidding, right?" he asked, incredulous.

"Nope," Adeline said proudly.

"Well, then," Erik said, still bewildered, as he began to play.

Adeline smiled. "Ah! Je ris, de me voir si belle en ce miroir! Ah! Je ris, de me voir si belle en ce miroir! Est-ce toi, Marguerite? Est-ce toi? Reponds-moi! Reponds-moi! Reponds, reponds reponds, vite!..."

(TIME change)

Adeline followed Erik out of the abandoned theater an hour later, rubbing her throat. "I told you it was a bad day for my voice. Why did you make me practice the high C so many times?"

"You're the one who chose the song. I was just helping you practice the final note."

"Actually, the final note is an F, and I still say it was cruel and unusual punishment." Adeline looked back at the theater, seeing one of those platforms that move upwards so you can cut branches off of really tall trees. "Hey, what's with the platform-thingy?"

Erik paused. "Oh. I guess I haven't told you. The city has decided to restore the theater."

She nodded. "Is that why you're so tired?"

"Er, yes."

"I guess that would explain things-" In the middle of her sentence, Adeline grabbed Erik's arm, pulling the sleeve up so she could see the bruises. "I knew it! That's why Tuesday wouldn't work! You have to go meet that Jules Bernard guy to get more morphine! And that explains why you're so tired! You've been overdosing to get rid of the headache from the construction being done on the theater!"

Erik removed his arm form her grip, tugging the sleeve back down. "I would appreciate it if you wouldn't yell."

Adeline rolled her eyes. "Everyone's asleep, anyway. It doesn't matter. Watch. Hey, world! My vocal teacher's a morphine addict!"

Erik clamped a hand over her mouth and began dragging her back towards her apartment. Reaching it, he let her go, and she promptly burst out in a fit of giggles. "Will you shut up?"

She grinned. "Look who's yelling now."

(TIME change)

It was the last block of the school day, and Ms. Everard looked positively frazzled. "Okay, fine, whatever. Just don't fling any more spitballs into Courtney's hair. Everyone up on stage. We're going to work on the opening song."

The second graders clambered up onto the stage, wondering what the opening song would be. No one was really certain, but it would most likely be from a Disney movie. Preferably the '90s.

Once everyone was up, Ms. Everard smiled tiredly. "Okay. You're all wondering what it is we're going to sing. And, here's a real shocker. It's not Disney."

Darren whispered to Courtney, "I think Ms. Everard's gone off her nut."

"Hush up," she whispered back. "I want to know what it is."

Ms. Everard continued. "It's a sort of farewell to winter type song." She paused. "Actually, no, I just really wanted to use it. You will be singing 'Once Upon a December' from Anastasia. Does anyone know it?"

Ellie raised her hand, as did a couple of other children. Mostly, they knew it because they had an older sister that had grown up in the nineties. Ms. Everard smiled. "Good. That makes things a bit simpler." She passed out the sheet music, in the choir booklet form. "Okay, now try your best. I'm not expecting you to be perfect the first time through."

She began playing the song on piano, and the children tried to follow along. A couple of them had it pretty much down pat, but for the most part they were completely lost.

When the song finished, Ms. Everard looked at the clock. "Okay, time to go." As the children filed out of the auditorium, she called after them. "You can look the song up on YouTube, or ask an older sibling, or something. You know, so you can learn the song easier."

(TIME change)

Adeline dropped her purse on the floor of her apartment, slumping down onto the couch. She let out a groan, then looked over at her answering machine. There were no messages.

That's odd, she thought, picking up the phone and dialing Brandon's office number. Surprisingly, he picked up. "Art department, Brandon Wicherly speaking."

"Hey! It's Addie."

"Addie? This is a welcome surprise. What brings you to the phone on such a day as this?"

She laughed. "I saw that you hadn't called yet today, so I decided that I'd call you for once."

"Oh. Yeah, sorry about that. I haven't had any free time today. As a matter of fact, I was just about to call you."

"Guess this worked out pretty well then, huh?"

"Yep. So, how's school going?"

"Ugh."

"That bad?"

"No, I'm just freakishly tired today. I didn't get much sleep last night."

"You're still having those nightmares?"

Adeline debated telling him about the new ones. "Nope." It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't exactly the truth, either.

"Good. If they start up again, maybe you ought to see a professional, or something."

She frowned. "Brendan, I'm not crazy."

"I know, I know. Sorry I brought it up."

"It's okay. How's work?"

"Like I said, I am utterly swamped in paper work this month. The museum's getting a new piece, a Degas, I think, so there's a whole bunch of legal crap to go through."

"I'm sorry. That's gotta suck."

"Definitely. Wait, hold on a sec."

Addie could hear him yelling at an intern to "Put the bloody vase down! It's worth more than your house and car combined!"

He came back on. "Sorry, I have to go."

"That's fine. Talk to you soon."

"M'kay. Bye."

Adeline put the phone down and sighed, switching on the television, attempting to find something to capture her attention.

(A/N: Okay, quick note on the speed of my updates. I always make sure I have at least one chapter past the one I'm posting written before I post it. So, by the time you're reading this, I have finished chapter 8, but I won't post it until I'm done with 9. Does that make any sense?
Anyway, keep reading and reviewing!)