Pen a Pal (Phantom of the Opera Fanfiction)

Chapter 1

Full Summary:

Christine Dupree has just graduated from high school and is taking a year off in order to raise enough money to pay for college. After becoming bored with her unchanging and repetitive lifestyle, she gets on the Internet and discovers Pen-a-Pal. There, she is introduced to Erik. Through emails, she gradually becomes closer to him. What she doesn't know is that Erik has many secrets...

Erik Destler is a masked genius. His primary talent is music, and the famous but faceless name he goes by when composing and publishing his work is Noah Wellington. Becoming bored with his reclusive lifestyle, he does something completely out of character- he discovers the interactive website, Pen-a-Pal, and begins emailing a girl named Christine. Through emails, she becomes more and more intriguing to him.

Eventually, Erik's interest in Christine becomes too much to handle, and he decides he must visit her workplace. Things become more complicated when they finally meet, for Christine has no idea who Erik really is.

What happens when she finds out?

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Chapter 1

Christine Dupree found it to be sunny outside her bedroom window. For once, it matched her happy mood completely. This was the first morning of summer after having completed four years of high school. She felt alive and free, which was the exact opposite of how she had felt during her years at school.

While smiling and humming a simple tune, she put on workout clothes and tennis shoes intending to enjoy a nice walk outside.

This summer was going to be different. It was a decision she had made during her senior year. Christine was going to enjoy her year off, for she'd decided to wait a year before attending college and work a full-time job as a waitress instead. She didn't have any choice, really. In order to pay for college, she needed to make as much money as possible, and that's where working came in.

Her family didn't have an abundant amount of money to pay expenses. Christine had grown up without a father. He'd died when she was very young, leaving just her, her brother, and her mother. This being said, her three-person family was not wealthy. Her mother was an elementary school teacher and didn't make enough to support herself and two children.

It's ok, I'm fine, Christine always forced herself to say. She felt blessed for what she did have and didn't really mind having to work to pay for things.

But, though she hated to admit it, Christine was rather lonely and pretty sad most of the time. It just wasn't right for her to want so much more out of life than what she had, especially when there wasn't a way to have more, at least not at the current time. She'd always been like that- daydreaming about wanting a fuller, richer life when, in actuality, it wasn't really possible.

However, this wasn't to say that she only hoped for a better life. No, Christine worked as hard as she could to have as much as she had. Despite her hard work, though, life was still lacking so much. It would be so nice to go to college at the same time as all of her high school classmates. It would also be nice to think of her job as a mere part-time way to make some spending money. And it would be nicer still to be able to rely on her parents' support.

But, it wasn't 'nice', because it was all a dream. She had to work hard to have more, and there was no parental support. She rarely saw her mother anymore. It seemed her mom just couldn't adjust to life without her husband, even after all these years. Her father had been the love of her life. They had been so happy and content together, or so she always used to say.. back when she associated with her children. Now, when her mom wasn't working, she was either sleeping or out for various reasons.