Distractions (Phantom of the Opera Fanfiction)

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Erik paced the floors of the music building basement obsessed with resolving this new distraction in his protégé's life. Christine's voice resounded in his mind. "Ok, so you'll pick me up at 5 tomorrow. I can't wait!" Erik slammed his hand against a nearby wall. Curse that insolent boy! He is out to destroy everything!

He ran a hand through his hair with a growl.

I cannot allow this meeting to take place! Something has to be done! I must intercept their rendezvous!... But no, I can obviously never do that…

A puddle of water lay on the stone floor nearby and he stared into its translucent depths. I cannot be seen because of this! With a hard swipe of his hand, he removed a black mask that was covering his face. Tears streamed down his now uncovered cheeks, and he sank to the ground. Damn this face…

Christine drank from her water bottle fervently while walking to the music building. Having voice lessons at 8:30 in the morning was insane, in her opinion.  Her voice was never at its best at the crack of dawn... 

But there was no choice.Carlotta Gratsia would have it no other way. A frown appeared on Christine's face at the thought of her voice teacher. It was bad enough having to sing so early, but it would be better did she actually like her voice teacher. But no, Dr. Gratsia was, most of the time, unbearable.

Christine always wondered why the lady couldn't have just stayed in her own country, because she was definitely not American. Half of the time she couldn't even understand what the lady was saying, and, for some reason, Christine was under the impression that she purposely made her speech so incomprehensible just to throw her off. All of her other students seemed to be able to understand her perfectly during their lessons. Why does she feel the need to give me such a hard time?

She reached the anticipated hallway and that odd feeling of being watched returned. Christine glanced behind her nervously and was relieved to see Bill, her piano accompanist. He was a junior majoring in piano performance. "Hey," she greeted him.

"Hey, Christine. How's the voice this morning?"

"I guess it's as good as it can be at 8:30," she replied with a roll of her eyes. "How are the fingers?"

"They're ready to accompany you," he replied with a laugh.

"That's good to hear.  At least one of us will do well..." She reached Dr. Gratsia's office and sighed. "I'll get you in a few minutes."

"I'll be waiting.  Good luck!"

"Good morning," Christine sweetly greeted upon entering her voice teacher's office.

"Yess, ah 'ope eet veel be ah gut morrrning! Only ah can deecide zat. Now, letz beh-gin." Carlotta sat at her grand piano and began playing scales for Christine to warm up. Immediately, however, Christine was forced to stop. "Ah, ah, noo! Yuu zound like uh toad theez morneen! Yuu awe naht avake!"

Oh, how her words hurt! No one had ever compared Christine's voice to a toad! "I- I'm sorry, I'll try harder," Christine murmured, still stunned.

The warm ups continued for another ten minutes before Dr. Gratsia proclaimed her voice to be hopeless and called Bill in. Christine recognized that Carlotta was being ruder than usual, and she found herself forcing back tears after each horrible criticism.

When the lesson finally ended, Christine and Bill left the office. Even he had to admit Dr. Gratsia was being too hard on her.

"I mean, man, you're a freshman! And a damn good one at that! I'm telling you, that woman's hearing is messed up."