The Opera Ghost

DISCLAIMER: Sadly, I do not own the Phantom of the Opera, but I DO own this new guy…and Liana…and Madame Bellamont…and Mademoiselle LaViola…and all those other characters that you do not recognize. They’re mine. And I keep them in my closet. Enjoy!

The first thing Liana heard when she woke up the next morning was the last thing that she had wanted to hear.

“Aiden Peirce!” one of the girls cried out. “He’s here! Madame Bellamont was taking me to, ahem, her private lesson last night when I saw him walking down the hallway!”

Liana slowly raised herself onto her elbows and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. All of the girls in the room, besides Liana of course, had gathered themselves around a single girl, the one who had been talking previously.

“Ahuh!” she continued, all of the girls squealing about her. “He’s just like in all of the photos I have seen! Blond hair, green eyes, and a body like a GOD!”

Liana shook her head and rolled her eyes, not impressed with the teenage, girlish immaturity of the lot of them. She grabbed her alarm clock that lied on her nightstand, and it read 7:02 am. Obviously that girl had been lying; a. the only girl who had private lessons was Liana. b. she wouldn’t have waited until very early in the morning to tell everyone that Aiden Pierce was there. c. she had a record for lying. She was probably walking to the bathroom and she saw him.

Slowly, Liana rose out of her bed and reached toward the ceiling in an attempt to stretch out the numerous knots that had decided to take residence in the muscles of her back.

“I heard he gets to dance with one special girl,” another girl added. “Just hope it’s not, her, again.”

Liana knew very well who this ‘her’ was. They hadn’t even bothered to keep their voices down. She was sure they had done it on purpose.

“Yeah, she doesn’t deserve anymore special treatment.”

She could feel fifty or so glaring eyes on her back. Liana decided that there would be one good thing that would come from dancing with the arrogant pig; she would get to see, once more, the jealous faces of the girls who already hated her so much.

Then again, she thought to herself, this could be a liability.

Liana was dressed in a matter of minutes, having soon mastered the art of putting on the uniform of a ballet dancer, and made her way to the attic/dance room. She heard music playing, and she was afraid to enter. Instead, she pressed her ear closely to the door and listened to the familiar tune.

Our games of make believe are at an end. Past all thought of if, or when. No use resisting, abandon thought and let the dream descend.

She listened intently to the sweet, yet powerful voice of the phantom, and forgot that the door swung inward, and not outward. Liana fell into the room, landing with a slight ‘thunk’ on the old wooden planks. She was surprised that the floor did not give out on her.

The music stopped, and Liana slowly lifted her head and looked into the enchanting, and rather surprise-stricken eyes of Aiden.

“This is the girl I am going to be dancing with?” he yelled into the air cynically, humiliating Liana with his very tone of voice. “She can barely stand without falling as it is. And plus, she has a problem with running into things.”

Liana glared at him, and was not surprised when he did not help her off of the floor.

“You two have met?” Monsieur Fantôme’s voice drizzled down from the ceiling. Liana could have sworn that he had sounded pleased with himself.

“Sadly yes, the klutz had run into me the night before,” Aiden answered, sneering all the while. He crossed his arms and gave her another look over. “Quite literally.”

“It’s a mystery how I missed that enormous ego,” Liana shot back, earning her a glare from her former idol.

“Now now, my child.” Monsieur Fantôme chuckled. “Let’s be nice to our new guest.”

“Yeah, an unwanted guest,” she murmured to herself, making sure that only Aiden had heard it. Which he did.

“Excuse me sir, but I will not be tolerating this kind of childish insolence from such a, pathetic wannabe of a ballet dancer,” Aiden ranted and insulted, as if he owned the place.

Monsieur Fantôme grew furious suddenly; the fool had insulted Liana. He was about to say something, when instead, he heard Liana shouting. He shut his mouth and listened to her beautiful, angelic voice.

“Listen here you arrogant piece of crap,” Liana growled at him. One could practically see the hatred seething off of her brown hair. “You should not go around judging people by the way they look. You should not assume the dance stature of anyone just because you’ve won a few awards. And you will not address him as ‘sir.’ You will address him as Monsieur Fantôme, you got it, buddy?”

Monsieur Fantôme could almost feel a tear in his eye. She was standing up for him. She was fighting for him. Liana was a small, pink, blooming flower, blossoming into a fiery red rose, thorns expelling themselves in defense.

The boy simply gaped at her. It was quite obvious that no one had ever spoken to him that way before.

“Monsieur Fantôme?” Liana suddenly called out purely, looking up innocently at the ceiling. “Fast forward to the Christine part.”

He silently obeyed, not willing to cross her. Not that he would, anyway.

Aiden leaned up against the bar, facial expression still the same.

Liana began to dance. She turned, she leaped, she lunged, she danced. She was the most amazing thing that Monsieur Fantôme had ever seen. Of course, he had seen her dance before. Then, she had been dancing merely to impress Monsieur Fantôme, but now, she danced to prove the foolish boy wrong, she danced because she loved to do it, she danced with a passion. One could see the zealous expression on her face. She was quite the spectacle, dancing as seductively as the devil, yet as purely as an angel.

Monsieur Fantôme did not even notice when the song had ended. All he saw was her fervent face, dripping with sweat.

******

Aiden had never seen anyone dance so beautifully, well, other than himself of course. Even she rivaled him in grace, but she won in purity, in innocence. She was the girl he had been searching for his entire life.

She was beautiful. Maybe not in the way he had originally wanted, but there was something about her that was pure.

She was perfect for the role of Christine.

******

When Liana had finished, she was out of breath. She fell to the floor, for her legs had given out on her. She wished she could do the same, but did not wish to give the satisfaction to Aiden.

But she need not worry about that no longer. Aiden’s heart had softened towards her, ever since he had seen her dance.

Liana felt an arm on her back, and saw a hand in front of her face. The hand of a man, and the touch of a loving one. Her heart stopped for a brief second. Surely, Aiden would not be helping her right now. It must be Monsieur Fantôme.

She eagerly looked up into the soft face of…Aiden. And her face dropped and her heart sank. She had dearly wanted to see his face.

“That was…” Aiden began to say, but he could not finish his sentence. “I am, er, very excited to dance with you.”

He suddenly had turned into a nervous young man. He did not know what was wrong with him.

They stayed there, starring into each other’s eyes. Well, more like one starring and the other glaring. Liana was not ready to get up yet, and she did not want Aiden’s help.

“Just dance,” Liana managed to breathe out. “Sha-show me what you got.”

Aiden nodded his head and made his way to the center of the room, while Liana crawled her way over to the side of the room. Monsieur Fantôme only had eyes for Liana, but reluctantly played the music from the beginning.

Surprisingly, Aiden had at least thirty seconds of his part of the song finished. Liana assumed that they had either choreographed last night, or this morning. She was wondering why Aiden had accepted Monsieur Fantôme so easily.

Liana knew that Aiden was a fantastic dancer, and this was no different now. He leaped, he spun, he danced. He was amazing. Liana did not want to hate him, not after seeing him dance this close, and only for her eyes. Well, her eyes and Monsieur Fantôme’s eyes.

When he was finished, he bowed slightly and bashfully, starring straight at Liana. Monsieur Fantôme could not help but notice what was happening between these two students, and instantly regretted ever having let Madame Bellamont dissuade him from letting himself dance with Liana.

“Ahem, let’s begin the part where you two dance together,” he said reluctantly, closing his eyes. He could feel a stabbing pain in his heart, and knew he was doing it to himself. “We can complete your part of the routine later, Monsieur Pierce.”

The two on the floor below him simply nodded their heads, as if in a daze.

******

It was lunchtime, and Liana made her way to her room to get changed, followed by a love-struck Aiden Pierce.

“You’re a lovely dancer,” he complimented her…again. He could not stop staring at her, and flattering her, obviously.

“Er, thank you…again,” she answered, rather annoyed. They reached the door to the girl’s dorms. “Well, I must go get changed now. I advise that you do that as well. You don’t want to eat lunch in a leotard, now do you?”

His ballet-shoe-clad feet did not move. Instead, his torso leaned closer to her, until she was almost pinned against the door. He grinned at her cockily, and she saw his eyes start to close.

As many times as she had dreamed of this moment, she did not want it to happen. Not now, not after all that has happened. Right now, her former crush on Aiden Peirce was like…like a ten-year-old’s crush on Robert Pattinson. She now had a crush on a much greater man.

But despite all of that, she could not help but shiver in pleasure at the mere idea of this happening. She could not help but take a deep breath, nor could she help wanting to lean in closer.

Just as his lips reached her, and she could feel his body heat, Liana quickly opened the door and slipped into the girl’s dorms. She could hear the ‘thunk’ of Aiden against the door, and she giggled.

“Hey!” he exclaimed, not angrily, but amused. “Alright, then I’ll see you at lunch. I’ll save you a seat.”

Liana slid down the door in exasperation. Not because the lesson was too much for her; no, his charm was too much or her.

“Why does he have to be so damn perfect?” she moaned to herself quietly, thankful that everyone else was already at lunch.

Liana sucked it up quickly, and changed into her regular clothes, glad to be rid of the sweaty leotard and tights. Not because she wanted to see Aiden. No, of course not. She was just really hungry. Yes, hungry.

******

“Hey, Liana!” Liana heard a voice call out her name as soon as she had entered the cafeteria. She looked over and saw Aiden situated at the most populous table, surrounded by a majority of the girls from her troupe. There was one vacant seat located at his right hand side.

Aiden was calling her over, his right arm waving to her and his left draped over the shoulders of one of the girls. Liana closed her eyes and shook her head. He still was a cocky idiot. She walked into where the food was being served and grabbed her usual plate of salad and a glass of apple juice. Monsieur Fantôme’s orders, of course.

Liana walked to her usual, empty table, and set her tray down, not even glancing at Aiden. He was starring at her incredulously. She had rejected him, twice now.
He blew out his nose, and made his way over to her, making sure that none of her admirers were following behind.

“I, er, saved you a seat,” he told her casually, pulling out the chair next to her and straddling it.

“I prefer to sit here, thank you very much,” she answered just as casually. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not a big fan of some of those girls. Well, all of those girls, actually.”

“Oh come now,” he said, looking at her skeptically. “If you’re with me, they’ll love you. Come on.”

He grabbed her arm, and she yanked it back, glaring at him.

“I am also not a big fan of people who try to get others to do something that they don’t want to do,” she growled at him with the same ferocity as she had in the attic earlier that day. “Besides, they’ll only pretend to love me. On the inside, they all hate me.”

Aiden looked behind him at the table, and just saw a table full of jealous and catty girls.

“Christ, what did you do to them?” he asked her, thinking that this was obviously all Liana’s fault.

“Nothing.” Was all she said.

She ate the rest of her food in silence, as an awe-struck Aiden Peirce sat starring at her. She was full of surprises.

When she had finished, she picked up her tray and returned it to the kitchen. She found after returning that Aiden was still sitting there, and still starring at her chair, which was not occupied with the girls in her troupe, all trying to get his attention.

Once again, she shook her head, and returned to the girl’s dorms where she changed into a fresh leotard, only allowing one tear to slide down her cheek.