Hello, welcome and thank you for coming to my story! Prepare yourself for cheesy rom-com tropes. I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 1: Cause and Effect
It was a blazing hot day in late June, and the last thing Christine Daae wanted to do was trek door to door with a clipboard in hand, but the Gothenburg Elementary music program wasn't going to save itself.
The program had been her father's second child, and now that the long standing elementary music teacher was gone, the district was cutting the budget. Well, if that's how it was going to be, Christine would go down fighting. It's what her father would have wanted.
Christine embarked on her mission early one morning, before the summer heat evaporated the dew from her front lawn. With high hopes, she marched up her next-door neighbor's path, but the day was off to a slow start. Her chipper knocking received no answer. Christine hesitantly backed away from the front door, glancing over her shoulder to make sure she could escape undetected. Maybe she'd started too early in the morning; after all, it was Sunday. The doorbell had likely woken her neighbors from a peaceful slumber, and they'd be in no mood to discuss trivial local politics. Christine bolted across the freshly cut lawn and hopped the pristine picket fence. Let 'em think it was just some kids playing ding-dong ditch.
Her luck was better at the next house. Mrs. Valerius, the elderly woman two doors down, was an early riser, even on weekends.
"Oh, Christine! How kind of you to call on me!" gushed the old woman when she answered her door and found her favorite neighbor standing on the front porch. "Come on in and we can chat!"
"I'd love to, but I can't. I'm drumming up support for the elementary school music program," Christine explained, proudly holding up her clipboard for Mrs. Valerius to see.
"Well, you deserve a break. I'm sure you have been working tirelessly."
Despite Christine's protests that she most certainly did not deserve a break, Mrs. Valerius whisked the young woman into the living room of her craftsman style bungalow.
"Oh, stop being modest, Christine," Mrs. Valerius scolded. Christine shook her head and plopped herself down on the plush sofa. No one could get a word in edgewise with Mrs. Valerius.
As the old woman putzed about the kitchen, her guest examined the collection of porcelain figurines and glassware dispersed around the living room, but they didn't hold Christine's attention for long. As a child, she'd memorized the placement of each knick-knack down to the last china dog on the fireplace mantle. Christine was about to make a run for it when the high pitched screech of a tea kettle wailed through the house. Mrs. Valerius appeared in the doorway with a tray of tea things.
"I wish I'd known you were going to stop by. I would've baked something for you," lamented the old woman as she opened a package of the store bought biscuits she set out for disagreeable company. Desperate times called for desperate measures. "Now, tell me about this campaign of yours," Mrs. Valerius continued as she settled into an armchair with her knitting.
The old woman accepted Christine's flyer and listened with great interest as the young woman explained her cause.
"What would the elementary school music program do without the Daaes?" Mrs. Valerius clucked. "Christine, your father would be so proud you're following in his footsteps!"
"Thank you, Mrs. Valerius," Christine said politely, hoping the old woman was right. Christine had never planned on teaching music until she'd stepped in as a long-term substitute last autumn, but working her dad's old job was better than being unemployed.
While Christine wondered what her father would think, Mrs. Valerius took the young woman's silence as an opportunity to drone on about small town gossip. Christine attempted to gracefully excuse herself multiple times, but the entire pot of tea was finished before she could elude her chatty hostess.
"Feel free to take the rest of the biscuits," said Mrs. Valerius, "and visit me again soon, Christine. You're such pleasant company."
"Thank you, Mrs. Valerius. I will."
When Christine stepped onto the front porch, there was a dramatic rise in temperature. She dreaded the transition from the cool shade into the scorching summer heat, but she'd wasted too much time having tea with her neighbor. Good thing Mrs. Valerius gave her the biscuits, because Christine would have to skip lunch if she wanted to finish the territory she planned to cover today. At least the visit hadn't been for nothing. The fiery Mrs. Valerius had pledged her full support to Christine's cause. Every member of the school board would have an answering machine exploding with messages from the impassioned old woman.
Christine's one-woman campaign, however, was met with less enthusiasm from the other citizens of Gothenburg. No one called Christine an idiot to her face, but few believed change could be achieved. Damp blond curls stuck to Christine's flushed face by the time she crawled onto the Giry's porch. It couldn't hurt to ring the doorbell, but Meg and her mother were likely working at the ballet studio.
When Meg opened the door, however, Christine's jaw dropped. Judging from her pajamas and dark hair styled in a messy bun, Meg had rolled out of bed at the chime of the doorbell.
"Oh. Hey, Christine. What's up?" Meg glanced nervously at the clipboard in Christine's hand.
"You know exactly what's up, Marguerite Giry!" Christine roared. "And you said you were too busy to help!"
"Okay, I'm sorry, but this is my first day off in a long time and I wasn't giving it up so easily!"
When Meg wasn't teaching ballet classes, every spare minute was spent in the dancewear store on the second floor of the studio, but Christine was unsympathetic to her friend's excuses. While Meg had been sleeping, Christine had been roaming the streets of Gothenburg, making a fool of herself in front of her neighbors. Her shorts and tank top were drenched in sweat, and the biscuits from Mrs. Valerius had been finished long ago.
"Get out here and help me!" Christine dragged her backstabbing friend onto the front porch. "To think you've been my best friend since kindergarten!"
"Can I at least put on decent clothes?" Meg whined.
"You have five minutes!...Oh, and may I use your bathroom? I had like three cups of tea at Mrs. Valerius's house."
"Yeah, sure. You know where it is." Meg chuckled. It was impossible to escape Mrs. Valerius' house without gorging oneself on tea and scrumptious baked goods.
After using the bathroom, Christine collapsed on the couch in the air conditioned living room. Meg emerged from her bedroom six minutes later, but it was still record timing for the high maintenance woman.
"Here. You look like you could use this." Meg pressed a granola bar and a glass of water into her friend's grateful hands. Christine greedily gulped the water and pocketed the granola bar for future snacking.
On their way out the door, Christine hastily rehearsed the sales pitch with Meg who unenthusiastically tried her best to be an enthusiastic assistant.
"You head up towards Main Street," Christine instructed through a mouthful of granola bar. "I'm going to go down this way."
"Do you actually think this is all going to work?" complained Meg as she straightened the stack of flyers in her hand.
Christine pursed her lips. The honest answer was "no." She was wasting her time and energy on this cause. If the district didn't have the money, it just didn't have the money. Even if they did, they wouldn't invest in the elementary school music program.
"Well, it can't hurt," grumbled Christine as she hurried away from Meg's bad vibes and negativity.
After slogging through another street of tidily kept bungalows, Christine arrived at the house of Mr. Richard, who owned and operated the Royal Garnet, the only community theater-only theater-in Gothenburg.
"I really like what you're doing here, Christine," the man said in his usual lively manner. "Start 'em young. That's what I always say."
"Exactly my thoughts, sir," Christine replied. Finally, after hours of rejections and half hearted acceptances, she'd found someone of equal mindset!
"Do you remember that annual summer camp the Royal Garnet used to run?" Mr. Richard asked nostalgically.
"Of course I do!" Christine had discovered her love for the stage at that camp. Her nine year old self had been devastated when it was cancelled the following year.
"Well, maybe it's time for a revival!" Mr. Richard suggested.
"I think that'd be amazing!"
"I thought you might agree." Mr. Richard chuckled. "I don't suppose you'd be interested in running it. It'd likely be free for the kids, so I don't think I could pay you, but-"
"I'll do it," Christine answered hastily.
"Really? You're wonderful, Christine. Let me give you my number," Mr. Richard flipped to the blank side of his flyer, and Christine pulled a pen from her blond ponytail. "Give me a call when you get the chance. Maybe we can slap something together by the end of the summer."
When Mr. Richard bid her good day, Christine was still outpouring words of gratitude as he shut the door. Her heart leapt for joy knowing something came from her ill-fated campaign, something even better than she'd expected.