The Underground Music (Phantom of the Opera Fanfic)

Chapter 4: Dared

When I opened my eyes Sunday morning, light flooded my eyes. I had a deja vu feeling as I put my appearance in order- which didn't require much effort, of course, for I don't need to do much to make myself presentable- and put on my glasses, and skipped into the sunroom. Ah, I know why I'm having this sensation of deja vu- the scene before me was an exact replica of Friday morning's scene; Papa was in his chair, reading his newspaper, except today's headline had nothing to do with the Opera Ghost.

"Goodmorning, papa!"

"Goodmorning, Jenny. Ah, I have a question for you- are you going to go back out to the market today to sell what wasn't bought yesterday?"

"Oh, I didn't know you wished that of me. I'll do as you say. When do you want me to go out?"

"As soon as you can. I'll be needing more pounds to pay the landowner by tonight."

"He's on you again, is he? That man must know his manners. A single father and his fragile daughter must be made an exception for!"

"Unfortunately, the world does not work in that way. But not to worry dear, we've been making it through life without one eviction. That's how it will stay-" he stood up, walked to me, and ruffled my hair- "especially when you become a doctor, my smart girl."

"Thank you, papa!"

"Well-" he said, in his hearty, exaggerated mountaineer voice, "Are you going to show the world what Jennifer's made of?"

"Yes, papa!"

~

Soon, I found myself back at the market. I hadn't planned on this, and I must say, I'm not too thrilled about it. I can be studying and or getting ahead in my anatomy and physiology class- but wait, my professor has ordered me to stop reading ahead by the time I've gotten five chapters ahead of the rest of the class. I must be an obedient student and listen to what he asks of me. But I must say, I'm a bit peeved, because what if there's someone secretly scheming to get ahead of me and wanting to take my place at the top of the class, and so he- yes, such a person would certainly be a he- is clandestinely reading ahead of the class? Nonetheless, I must be a good girl.

So instead, I pulled out from my bag the book that is assigned for my Literature class- Shakespeare's Hamlet. Shakespeare's works would be so much better had he not put them in play script format; theatre makes every literary work so unofficial. Why must we act works out? That makes the works fake. It kills the real characters inside of the work and replaces them with fake actors, and it makes the story even more unbelievable and unconvincing than it already may be. But aside from my professional opinion, I believe Hamlet to be an interesting, riveting story. I've read it six times.

Right when I opened it up to the page where I had left off, I heard my name being called. I looked up.

It's the boy who had helped me!

"Oh, hello there!" I called back to him.

He came up to my table. "Me and my friends have finally come up with something you could do to return my favor."

"And what would that be?"

"We want to dare you."

My heart sank, and I felt myself blanching. A dare? Surely he must mean something else...!

"What do you mean, 'dare'? Do you mean, dare me to get a full mark on the next Literature test?"

He laughed. "No, I mean a dare."

I giggled nervously. This is ridiculous- I shouldn't be this nervous. No-one would never have any ill-will towards me, so what he may want me to do shouldn't be that bad.