Orientation could not come fast enough. Soon, Meg and I were in the auditorium, listening to the headmaster, Monsieur Lefevre, drone on about his orientation speech. Since it was so boring, I am going to spare you the agony and tell you the highlights:

Box five is for the High School Ghost

Do not piss off the High School Ghost

Don't do anything stupid

Dedication is required to succeed

No distractions allowed

Follow the rules

Do what the Ghost tells you to do

After the speech was over, Madame Giry took the new girls on a tour while Joseph Buquet, the Tech Theatre teacher took the new boys on a tour.

She showed us the quickest way to get to our classes, the ballet studio, the choir room, the orchestra hall, the practice rooms, and Box Five. She warned us not to go near Box Five unless the Ghost had invited us to do so.

After the tour was done, we moved into our dorms. Each dorm was named after a famous opera singer.

I moved into Christine Daae Hall and ended up in the old dressing room she had used when this high school was the Met Opera before the Met Opera moved downtown.

Meg was the only one who would share Room Five since everyone else swore it was haunted by the Ghost, but Meg said she would like to meet the Ghost.

After we settled in, Meg went off with her new friends, Sorelli and Cecile to go see Moulin Rouge! while I went to see The Phantom of the Opera by myself.

When I went to the Majestic Theatre's Box Office to pay for a ticket, I was told that my ticket had been paid for and that I was sitting in Box Five.

The concierge turned pale when I told her that I was assigned to Box Five. She said that no one but the Theatre Ghost sat there. She quickly showed me to my seat.

Once the show started, I forgot about the Ghost and became engrossed in the show until intermission when I heard a voice ask, "How do you like the show so far, Ms. Daae?"

I covered my mouth so no one could hear me shriek in surprise and squeaked out, "I have been brought to the seat of sweet music's throne."

"I'm glad to hear that because I was the one that created Phantom of the Opera, not Andrew Lloyd Webber. I let him take the credit so I wouldn't have to deal with the publicity. However, his version does not have what will happen to you and me. It has what originally happened when the fop won Christine, I mean you."

I snickered when he said "the fop" so vehemently. "Are you Le Fantôme de l'Opéra?" I asked.

There was silence when I asked the question.

"Sorry, I must have mistaken you for someone else," I apologized.

"No, ma Cherie, you didn't. I am indeed the Phantom of the Opera," he replied.

I paled and fainted.