The Phantom and the Ballerina

Birthdays and Bad Actions

After Juliette's triumph that night she was able to cement herself as part of the corp. Of course, this didn't really help with the ongoing feud with Marietta. The girl's attempts at bullying were quite annoying to Juliette. It was always little things that could never be pinned on Marietta for sure.

Occasionally she would be delayed because of some accident. Or be subtly pushed out of place. Much to Marietta's dismay Juliette rarely retaliated. At most leaving a sarcastic remark. She did not wish to give Marietta the satisfaction of making her furious. Unfortunately, there came a day in which Marietta's campaign towards raising Juliette's ire finally worked.

Ever since the night of her first performance Juliette had worn the locket that Erik had given to her. She refused to remove it, usually choosing to keep it beneath her leotard when she was dancing. The only time it left her person was when she had to perform. On such occasions, she would carefully place the necklace between two pieces of cloth inside of a small wooden box by her bed.

Unfortunately for Juliette, on one of these occasions Marietta noticed her. Juliette then left for the show. It was an average night and she smiled, happy at the thought of performing. She normally had a few butterflies in her stomach but once on stage, she felt confident.

She got in place and the curtain rose. As was her habit she glanced at box five for less than a second before the dancing began. In the dark of the box, she could just barely make out Erik's form. If one did not know where to look, it would have been nigh impossible to see him.

It was after the show that things began to go wrong. She entered the dormitory and headed to her box to retrieve her necklace, but to her shock it wasn't there. Fear built in Juliette. Noticing her expression Meg said,

"Something wrong Julie?"

"Meg, when was the last time you saw my silver locket?" Juliette said slowly, her worry was evident in her voice.

"You were wearing it before the performance but I haven't seen it since. Are you sure you put it away?" Meg said coming to Juliette's side and helping her look around her bed.

"What's up?" asked Mary Ann, who had just noticed the two girls searching around Juliette's bed.

"Juliette lost her silver locket. It has to be here somewhere," Meg told her.

"Has anyone seen a silver locket lying around?" Mary Ann called to the other girls. There was murmuring but nobody seemed to have seen it until a snide voice spoke up.

"Would you mean this locket?" It was Marietta and she was swing the locket back and forth from her hand.

"Give it here Marietta," Juliette said slowly as she stood up, there was an underlying threat in her voice.

"No, I don't think I will," replied Marietta.

"Give it back Marietta. That doesn't belong to you," said Mary Ann.

"You think that you are so much better just because you are the youngest in the corps and are Madame Giry's daughter. I used to be the best before you came along," she hissed.

"Marietta if you harm that locket, I swear you will regret it. All I want to do here is dance. It isn't my fault if people are driven away by your nasty personality," Juliette was filled with fear and anger. She couldn't bear to lose that locket.

"Oh really. Well let's see this locket," Marietta told her.

"Come on Etta this has gone far enough," said Elenore who was one of Marietta's usual followers. Marietta ignored her.

"To ma petite danseuse -E," she read out mockingly. "Who is this admirer of yours Julie?" she mocked.

"Only I get to call her that!" said Meg angrily. Juliette took a step forward.