Author's Note: Santa didn't pull through. Still don't own Phantom of the Opera. "Pompeii" belongs to the infinitely talented Bastille.
24
"Well, now that we've all promised not to die," Germaine began amusedly. "What now?"
"I am going to eat this piece of bread," Kayla declared dramatically, snatching a slice of sourdough and smearing butter over it.
"Oh, I know!" Clemens yelped, slamming the floor with his palm. "Let's play Coward! I'll be referee this time!"
Loud cheering met his pronouncement. "Oh, is this like Truth or Dare?" Kayla clarified.
"Explain Truth or Dare," Leo requested. "Is that a game you play in Canada?"
"Someone gets asked 'truth or dare', and if they pick truth, they have to answer a personal question, and if they pick dare, they have to perform a task," Kayla explained.
"It's exactly the same, except for the questions. Questions are for wussies," Jamie chortled.
"I'll start! I'll start!" Xavier shouted, sitting up and bouncing on his heels.
"Who would like to issue the first challenge?" Clemens grinned, looking expectantly at the group.
"I will," Claude volunteered. "I want you, Xavier, to go a fetch Madame Giry's staff."
"Her cane?" Xavier asked, his eyes widening.
"Yes," Claude smirked. "I believe she's in a private rehearsal at the moment, so you'll have an audience. I give you five minutes to find and retrieve the object. Off you trot, laddie!"
Xavier's face went completely white, prominently displaying his marvelous black eye, but he gamely stood and bolted off the stage.
"Am I the only one who thinks Xavier just got handed a death sentence?" Kayla queried.
"Not at all," Dennis interjected with a wide yawn. "This is just a warm-up."
"Stealing Madame Giry's cane is a challenge usually issued about once a game," Marius added, leaning forward and grinning at Kayla.
"I was challenged to retrieve one of her hairpins once," Jamie commented proudly.
"And did you?" Kayla chuckled, reaching out for a second apple.
"Of course he did!" Germaine exclaimed, smiling approvingly at the younger man. "He got away with two, in fact."
"But Madame Giry likes him," Antonio protested from where he was sprawled out on the floor. This was the first time Kayla had heard him speak, and she noted that he had a slight Italian accent. "I'd bet it wasn't too difficult."
"You try getting through a room of ballerinas without being the recipient of unwanted attention," Jamie snickered, straightening his shirt collar smugly.
"Flirting? Oh, you poor soul; how you must have suffered," Marius cooed sarcastically.
"You and Xavier," Gaston shook his head. "Madame Giry approves of you or something, cause neither of you have much trouble getting the cane."
"I'm a likable guy, what can I say?" Jamie smirked.
"Who's timing Xavier?" Claude barked. "I have a watch, but I don't know when he left."
"It's been two minutes," Clemens replied, glancing at his own timepiece.
Thirty seconds later, Xavier marched triumphantly out of the wings, holding the contraband above his head.
"What did I tell you?" Antonio groaned, slumping to the floor again. "Too easy."
"Okay, next challenged!" Clemens called as Xavier reverently placed the cane on the ground and sat down.
"Me!" Gaston volunteered, waving his arm in the air.
"Challenger?" Clemens asked next.
"I will," Leo offered. Turning to Gaston, he demanded, "Return the cane to Madame Giry."
Gaston moaned, but straightened hopefully and glanced at Xavier. "And Xavier's not allowed to tell you where they are!" Leo amended hurriedly.
Gaston swore, snatched up the cane, and stormed off. "Madame Giry doesn't really like Gaston," Jamie muttered to Kayla. "He's gonna get an earful."
"No reason for him to be a bad sport though," Leo pointed out good naturedly.
"Xavier, follow him and make sure he actually returns it," Clemens requested. Xavier saluted and hurried away.
It took ten minutes for Gaston to return, empty handed, with Xavier smirking behind him. Gaston sank to the floor and snatched up a piece of chicken. "Congratulations, Gaston," Clemens grinned. "You are not a Coward."
"He would gotten away clean," Xavier snickered. "Except for the fact that he started flirting with Gaelle Leroux the minute he got through the door."
"The other prima ballerina?" Rene exclaimed. "I would have paid to see that!"
"Madame Giry was not amused," Xavier concluded, his hazel eyes twinkling.
"When you're all quite finished," Gaston snapped through a mouthful of meat. "I challenge Claude."
Claude straightened, cracking his knuckles. "What's my task, laddie?"
"Hang over the edge of the third balcony and pull yourself up ten times," Gaston declared.
The fifty-year-old shrugged and stood, walking determinedly towards the stars.
"Chin ups?" Kayla questioned skeptically.
"From off the third balcony," Jamie emphasized, watching Claude's ascent with a smirk playing about his mouth. "This'll be interesting; we've never tried this one before."
The crowd craned their necks back to watch Claude, who was moving steadily up the stairs and onto the balcony. Swinging himself over the railing, Claude gripped the wooden beams tightly. He let himself drop, his weight supported purely by his arms. The rest of the crew started counting as Claude began to lift himself up, thick muscles straining. Claude reached twenty before he hauled himself back onto the wooden slats and headed for the stairs, his fists raised in triumph. All the stagehands applauded. "All right, who's next?" Clemens shouted gleefully.
"I'll challenge Jamie," Kayla ventured.
Clemens grinned as Germaine clapped Jamie on the back. The other teens started whooping. "Do you accept?" Clemens inquired mockingly. Jamie nodded, a feral smile lighting up his features.
"Okay," Kayla began, clapping her hands together. "I want you, my friend, to flirt with a girl."
Jamie threw back his head and laughed. "Call that a challenge?"
Kayla nodded her head vehemently. "Yep. Because you are going to doing exactly what I tell you, and you are going to be using a pick-up line."
Jamie frowned, thrown off. "What's a pick-up line?"
"It's a cliché sort of phrase that guys back home often use when trying to 'pick up', or flirt with, girls," Kayla chuckled. "And if this is going to work, you are going to have to do exactly what I say."
And that is how Kayla and Jamie came to be leaning faux-casually against one of the round walls of the lobby, watching cast members scurry through on unknown business. It was just after half past two, so the doors were still barred against the public. All of the teenage stagehands, plus Germaine and Claude, were scattered on the level above, leaning over the railings and arches to observe the spectacle.
"Okay, you know what to do?" Kayla muttered as her dark blue eyes spotted Christine and Meg approaching from across the foyer.
Jamie looked slightly concerned that his target had back-up, but he smiled gamely and nodded.
"Off we go, then," Kayla snickered.
Walking side by side, she and Jamie strolled towards the two approaching dancers. Meg and Christine, engaged in their own conversation, did not notice. As they drew nearer, Jamie slipped and fell, landing on his back as his feet flew out from under him. There was a loud thump, and a collective gasp rose from the stagehands above. Meg and Christine started at the sudden noise, whipping to face Jamie and Kayla with looks of horror. Schooling her features into what she hoped was a mask of shock and concern, Kayla willed herself not to laugh.
"Oh my goodness, are you hurt?" Meg shrieked, hurrying forward. Christine followed her best friend, her doe eyes wide and frightened.
Jamie popped up into a sitting position, a pained look in his dark brown eyes the only indicator that his wipe out had actually hurt him. Supporting himself on one knee, he placed one hand on his heart and shot Meg a dazzling smile. "I'm sorry," he exclaimed brightly. "But I just fell for you."
Meg stared at the stagehand in stunned silence for a moment before her creamy skin flushed bright red. Grabbing Christine's arm, she dragged her friend away, holding one hand over her face in disbelief. But Kayla could tell the ballerina was smiling, holding back hysterical giggles.
Jamie forced himself to his feet and watched the two girls' retreat with a look of satisfaction. "Do you have any other lines that work that well?" the brunette stage-hand inquired.
"Perhaps," Kayla smirked. "Bravo, my young apprentice."
On the floor above, the spectating crew burst into applause. Kayla watched Meg and Christine scurry on, stopping in one of the halls to talk to Madame Giry. Blushing ruby red, Meg appeared to speak rapid-fire, gesturing towards Kayla and Jamie. The ballet mistress frowned and turned to face the two crew members, her eyes narrowing. Kayla and Jamie blanched, and without a word, they bolted.
Dashing up the stairs, they sprinted past the other crew members, who quickly followed. Together they sprinted all the way back to the stage. The older men watched their arrival, entertained. "Well done, laddie," Claude praised.
"That was beautiful!" Clemens howled, dropping to the floor. "Did you see her face?!"
Kayla smiled modestly as Germaine told the older stagehands what a success the challenge had been. "I'm going to have to try that again," Jamie declared proudly.
More dares were issued. Rene dared Baptiste to dance ballet, and, much to Kayla's amusement, the fourteen year old actually was not bad. "Join the cavaliers!" Dennis suggested, only half-joking. In retaliation, Baptiste dared challenged Rene to run and find out what colour cravat Maestro Reyer was wearing, with Marius accompanying him to keep him honest. As Maestro Reyer kept the locations of his private orchestral rehearsals very secret, this task took a fair bit of time to complete. But after twenty minutes, Rene and Marius did return, and Marius confirmed that Rene's answer – green – was indeed correct. Henri then challenged Germaine to dance a hornpipe, which he did to loud applause. Dennis then dared Kayla to descend into the storage area below the back stage, nicknamed "Hell" for its terrifying darkness and ghoulish props. Tasked with finding a bottle of rum that Bernard and Claude had stashed there in the beginning of September, Kayla willingly entered the gloomy basement, with Jamie's accompaniment for moral support. The only light came from a small weak gas lamp, and beyond the reach of the small flame, the room was pitch black. Through sense of touch almost exclusively, Kayla eventually found the glass flask hidden inside the mouth of an extremely large dragon head. Prize in hand, Kayla and Jamie scampered out of the basement as fast as their legs would carry them. She tossed the rum to Bernard as she collapsed back onto her place by the pile of food, silently vowing to never again return to that particular area of the Opera House if she could help it.
Xavier, almost as some twisted form of revenge, dared Jean to ask Christine to dinner. Jean returned ten minutes later, grinning like a lunatic, with a bright red handprint accompanying his black eye. "Meg Giry slapped me," he informed them as he sat back down. "And Christine didn't seem to know what to do." He was still beaming.
"I think she's engaged," Kayla mentioned slyly. Jean, Gaston, Dennis, Antonio, and Leo all visibly deflated. Ladies and gentlemen, Team Daäe, Kayla thought. "But I don't know if it's serious," she added. All five brightened.
"Well, he completed the challenge," Clemens declared. "He's not a coward, that's for damn sure," he added, nudging Jean roughly with his shoulder.
"Oh! Oh!" Jamie yelped. "I've got one! I'm challenging Abbots!"
Kayla leaned forward and bared her teeth at Jamie. "Bring it on!" she crowed.
"Sing."
She stared at him blankly. "What?"
"Sing for us," Jamie smirked. "Stand up and sing." He gestured to the front of the stage.
"Why on earth would you want me to sing?" Kayla demanded. "And what the hell would I sing?"
"A song, of course!" Marius exclaimed cheekily.
Jamie shrugged. "Something you like," he suggested. "Something we might not have heard before."
Those were fairly easy qualifications, but Kayla was slightly paralyzed. Who was she to sing on the stage of the Opera Populaire? Granted, she already had yesterday morning, but not for an actual audience.
"Or are you a coward?" Jamie teased.
That settled it.
"I'll sing," Kayla snapped. "Just give me a minute to get myself sorted."
"Let's clean up the lunch mess," Germaine decided, casting a satisfied glance over the few bits of food that remained. "And then we'll come back and watch Abbots complete her challenge."
There were murmurs of agreement to the plan, and everyone started helping; the seniors stood an gathered up empty plates, while the juniors busied themselves with stuffing their mouths full of whatever had not yet been eaten. Kayla contributed to this, vengefully snatching a piece of bread right out of Jamie's hand and cramming it into her mouth. The carrots he picked up met the same fate. The chestnut haired stagehand glared at her. "You force me to sing, I eat your food," Kayla commented saucily. "That's how the system works."
In no time at all, all the food was polished off, and the crew began to ferry plates and utensils back down to the kitchen. Kayla perched nervously on the end of the Il Muto bed and waited, mentally running through her selection, silently reciting the beats and lyrics she knew off by heart. She almost wished she had chosen to sing right away, just to get it over with; the anticipation was, as Firmin would put it, "doing nothing for her nerves". When the stage was completely cleaned up from their impromptu picnic, the crew hopped off the stage into the orchestra pit, then clambered up into the auditorium. They all sat in the front row, seeming strangely at home in the gilded velvet seats. Jamie leaned on his elbows on his knees and stared at her expectantly.
"This feels more like a performance than a challenge," Kayla squeaked nervously.
"You don't have to sing an opera, lassie!" Claude encouraged, settling comfortably into his chair.
"Just a song!" Jamie added. Clemens smacked him in the back of the head, and the teen lurched forward, spluttering indignantly.
Pleased with the reception of his blow, Clemens leaned back and grinned. "Whenever you're ready, Abbots," the redhead announced simply.
Kayla stood and paced toward the centre of the stage. She felt her phone resting in her pocket, and fleetingly wished for musical accompaniment. Unfortunately, music originating from a mysterious source would be incredibly difficult to explain to her coworkers. Calming herself with a few deep breaths, the opening chords began to play in her mind.
"I was left to my own devices
Many days fell away with nothing to show
And the walls kept tumbling down
In the city that we love
Great clouds roll over the hills
Bringing darkness from above…"
She tapped out the beat softly on her leg, hoping she was in tune.
"But if you close your eyes,
Does it almost feel like
Nothing changed at all?
And if you close your eyes,
Does it almost feel like
You've been here before?
How am I gonna be an optimist about this?
How am I gonna be an optimist about this?"
This was actually kind of fun, she realized. She was singing one of her favourite songs, with a group of new friends, and for the moment she had not been booed off the stage; so far so good. Kayla's gaze drifted unconsciously to Box Five, and she hoped neither of its regular occupants was present.
"We were caught up and lost in all of our vices
In your pose as the dust settled around us
And the walls kept tumbling down
In the city that we love
Great clouds roll over the hills
Bringing darkness from above…
But if you close your eyes,
Does it almost feel like
Nothing changed at all?
And if you close your eyes,
Does it almost feel like
You've been here before?
How am I gonna be an optimist about this?
How am I gonna be an optimist about this?"
Kayla grinned. She loved this song. Walking closer to the front of the stage, she flipped her braid back over her shoulder.
"Oh where do we begin?
The rubble or our sins?
Oh, oh where do we begin?
The rubble or our sins?
And the walls kept tumbling down
In the city that we love
Great clouds roll over the hills
Bringing darkness from above…"
Kayla bounced up and down and beamed at the crew. Laughing, she struck a pose and began to dance.
"But if you close your eyes,
Does it almost feel like
Nothing changed at all?
And if you close your eyes,
Does it almost feel like
You've been here before?
How am I gonna be an optimist about this?
How am I gonna be an optimist about this?
If you close your eyes, does it almost feel like nothing changed at all?"
She slowed and stopped, continuing to sing softly as the music in her mind began to wind down.
"Eh-eh-o eh-o, eh-eh-o eh-o, eh-eh-o eh-o, eh-eh-o eh-o
Eh-eh-o eh-o, eh-eh-o eh-o, eh-eh-o eh-o, eh-eh-o eh-o."
The rest of the crew burst into applause, hooting and cheering proudly as Kayla bowed bashfully. It was strange, Kayla pondered as the crew began to climb back onto the stage, that she had never had any real skill sets in performing. And yet here she was, singing onstage for a group of men she had essentially just met.
"Abbots!" Marius yelped as he crawled back up from the orchestra pit. "Why didn't you tell us you could sing? Sacre bleu, we could have replaced Christine a while ago!"
"Agreed!" Xavier exclaimed loudly, ignoring the death glare which Jean bestowed upon him.
"She doesn't really have an operatic voice, though," Jamie commented thoughtfully. "It's nice, obviously," he added lazily as his fellows swivelled to glare at him. "But it's more smooth and rich that either Carlotta or Daäe. She's not a soprano."
"Still, the managers ought to be told," Germaine interjected, laughing.
"Three divas, could you imagine?" Claude chuckled.
"I'm not singing with Carlotta or Christine!" Kayla protested. "I am in no fit state to compete with either of them, and I don't want to start a world war, thank you very much."
"A world war?" Henri boomed. "Don't be ridiculous!"
Kayla blinked, but decided to abstain from any further historical comments.
Germaine pulled a battered pocket watch out of the pocket of his vest and flipped it open. "Quarter to four," he announced after a look at the silver hands.
"Why?" Dennis moaned, dropping to his knees dramatically and banging his forehead against the floor. "There are still hours to go until the show!"
"Man up!" Kayla barked. "We'll find something to do."
Author's Note: So, first off, apologies. Christmas was crazy, with lots of family drama juggling to do, so there's that. Then my mom, my little sister, and I got super sick, so that screwed up our holiday for a couple days. And I've been working. So yeah, this one's pretty late. But one of my New Year's resolutions is to keep this story going, so I will try my best not to be late in the future.
To all the readers, reviewers, favouriters (that's not a word, but whatever), and followers, thank you all for the support, you're the best. To Samantha, Guest, E-man-dy-S, and Katie, my guest reviewers, thank you as well. Love you all.
This one was pretty fluffy, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. I've only got a couple more pre-written chapters to go, so I'm going to have to start writing like crazy. Anyway, thanks for reading this far, and review or PM with any questions, comments, or critiques!
Thanks, and Happy New Year!
Tierney