Sorry for the shortness of this chapter, but another chapter is soon to come! But a fact about me...I am hopefully going to start ballet and opera lessons soon just like in Phantom of the Opera!

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"Christine has become a cocky girl with her new found talent. At least she has a back bone now." A deep voice filled the air in the small closet I was in. Unfortunately I knew this deep voice.

I lifted my wet face from my knees but saw that I sat alone. "Gee Erik, aren't you one for starting conversations." I stood up and sighed. "Now I'm just going to leave now." I reached for the door handle but a man dressed in all black fell from no where and stood before me. "Ah!" I let out a scream.

"It's just me Jemma." Erik said in a soothing voice. He reached his right arm out and rested a hand on my shoulder. I pulled away though.

"Don't touch me!" I stood my ground and looked up. "No if you would ever so kindly MOVE!" I stepped up to Erik. We were about a hair away from being chest to chest.

Erik let out an almost evil chuckle from the pit of his stomach. His chest shook and so did mine. I took a step back. "Gross." I muttered under my breath.

"I may go where ever I please." Erik's white mask was painted black in the darkness. "Did you forget who own this Opera house?"

"How can I forget?" I could feel Erik's smirk in the blackness and so I as well plastered a smirk. "Monsieur Firmin and Monsieur Andre." I placed my hands on my hips.

"Do not test me child."

"First off, do not ever call me a child again! And second, I am ninety-nine percent sure that if I gave you any type of test, you would be to dumb to pass it." I could feel the tension build in the small space.

Erik poked me in the chest right between my bosoms. For some strange reason, I didn't move his hand out of weirdness. Instead I let his finger linger between my breasts. "But it is that one percent of my greatness that makes you love me." If Erik was trying to apologize, he could just add this to the moments that he would need to say sorry for.

I let out a laugh. "Love you? Ha! It seems everyone thinks that I love you!" Really. "Now please move." I was a bit calmer.

Erik moved his finger from my chest and placed both hands on my shoulders. It was completely dark in the closet so I wasn't able to see Erik's facial expression. I wondered if it was anything like mine. Shocked. I felt those wild sparks when he touched me.

"I never was good at saying sorry." He said in a hushed voice, sending shivers up and down my spine and making the hairs on my neck stand up.

"I can tell." I swallowed a lump that formed in my throat for some reason.

"I may not be good at saying sorry, but I can try." Erik's words sounded like they came from the heart. A small smile formed on my face.

"Jemma, I apologize greatly for harming you both verbally and physically. You didn't deserve it. Also, I am sorry for telling you that you should die with your parents. You are my only friend and if you died I would literally go insane." I was stunned. Here he was, the Phantom of the Opera, spilling his heart out to a measly ballet rat.

"And you are much more than a stupid ballet rat." My first thought was that he read my mind. Then I remembered the comment he had made more than once about me being a stupid ballet rat. "You Jemma Leon, are my friend." I didn't know that he knew my last name. Maybe I told him and forgot. Or he heard it around. Any way, he knew it.

Then my smiled faded. I was his friend. My slight hope of ever becoming more than friends faded at his comment but still, being friends was better than being the subject that he tested his new pranks on. He had Carlotta for that. "We are friends?" I asked in a much smaller voice than his.

"That is what I was lead to believing." His voice had an odd edge to it.

"Would you ever hurt me?"

"No, why would you ask that?" He sounded a bit offended.

"Well, you dropped a dead Joseph Bouquet on top of me while I was dancing." I decided not to bring up the time he pushed me when I took off his mask because that was my own fault.

"You really think I would harm you." He stated.

"Maybe if you got mad." I was unsure but still scared.

"Well we must be great friends if you don't believe me when I say that I will never hurt you." He was raising his voice.

"Erik-"

"Goodbye Jemma." With a breeze of air, Erik was gone and I was left standing alone. For a moment, the place was a sanctuary for mending friendships, but now I was just standing in a closet.

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Do you think that Erik would ever hurt Jemma again?