Chapter 6
"Christine?" Her Language Arts teacher was positioned right in front of her desk.
Carlotta and her gang were laughing like hyenas in the back of the room. Christine blushed. "I'm sorry.. What?"
"Well, I was asking about your thoughts on the story."
"Oh. I, well, umm.."
"Page 234, Ms. Daae."
The girls in the back continued to laugh. It was the day of her third voice lesson, and Christine couldn't stop daydreaming. She would get to see Erik in four hours! And, better yet, he was picking her up. Her mom was told that rehearsals were changing times. Luckily, Erik volunteered to drive. Christine had to admit that she was very ok with this.
Truth be told, she was developing a crush on her teacher. She'd never actually liked a boy before... It was a feeling she didn't know how to handle, which was leading to teachers calling her out in class.
When class ended and Christine was leaving the room, Carlotta strolled by and shoved past her. "You are such a loser, dumb Daae." Then, she was gone.
While, in the past, she would have shrugged it off, Christine now couldn't help but want to clobber the little snob with punches. Erik will help, she kept telling herself.
So, she pressed on through the day barely paying attention to anything. Not even choir could hold her interest, and Mrs. Giry could tell.
She decided not to comment on it, but Erik would definitely be receiving a phone call from her.. Mrs. Giry knew the girl's far off look had to have something do with her voice teacher.
When the bell rang, Christine ran out of the choir room without saying bye to anyone. She hurried to her locker, got her books, went to the bathroom to make sure she looked ok, and walked outside.
Erik was parked right out front in the same car she remembered riding with him in before. Christine walked to the vehicle shyly. The window was rolled down. "Hi, Erik." She spoke softly.
"Good afternoon, Christine." Erik leaned over and opened the car door for her.
Erik was, at the moment, very happy with his situation. His plan had gone perfectly, and now he could get to know his soon-to-be diva. He smiled to himself feeling like some sort of babysitter. Or perhaps the leader of a fan club.
"How was your day?" she asked while he drove along.
"Do you remember what I said when you asked that very same question last lesson?"
"Yeah."
"Well, today was the exact same."
"Oh." She sort of felt sorry for him.
"But how was your day?"
"Pretty bad." She looked down at her hands.
He truly hated to hear that. He didn't like it when she was unhappy. "How so?"
"Carlotta was mean, again."
"That girl needs to stop bullying. Or else." He grinned sneakily.
Christine did, too. "Or else what, Erik?"
"Well, I have come up with some nice attacks for you to use." Before she could say anything, he continued, "But, these attacks can only be used at certain times. It all depends on the situation. You must be careful."
Now she was confused. "Attacks? I don't think I want to hurt her.."
"No, of course not. That would get you into trouble. The attacks I have prepared are not painful, not physically at least. You will not be caught if you use them correctly."
"Oh wow, that's awesome!"
He didn't want her thoughts to be consumed with revenge. There were more important things, such as her voice lesson. "I have chosen a new piece for us to work on today."
Christine's thoughts immediately went to their upcoming voice lesson. "What is it?"
"It's called, " 'Se tu m'ami'. It's another Italian aria. However, in my opinion it is a bit more challenging than 'Caro mio ben'."
Christine nodded, wishing she were more knowledgeable about music.. I should have listened more to Mom singing. Or, at least, asked her questions about songs. She would probably know this one.
When they arrived at the apartment, Erik led Christine to the music room and proceeded to go through the usual routine of getting tea and spying.
Christine very much liked the routine they followed. It gave her a chance to one- get settled, and two- do a little spying of her own. The new song was on the piano stand, and it looked like Erik was right. It really did look difficult.
When Erik returned and gave Christine her tea, he said, "If it is alright with you, we will discuss the attacks against Carlotta after our lesson before I take you home. First let's focus on your voice." Christine nodded attentively and downed the rest of her tea before standing.
"Warm-ups. Same as usual." He started her off higher than in previous lessons and kept her voice in that range.
"Now, 'Se tu m'ami' is a piece that involves a lot of dramatic expression. It describes a woman telling a man that, yes, she loves him, but she loves other men, too. And so she pursues more than one man at the same time, which was quite frowned upon during the period this piece was written."
"Ok.." The subject matter seemed a little mature for her, but she would strive to do her best.
"Pronunciations first." He spoke, she repeated.
Ten minutes later, it was time to sing. Over and over again, Christine messed up. It was either her expression not matching the piece, her pronunciation being incorrect, shakiness, or just catastrophe.
Eventually, she became far too angry at herself to continue. "Why can't I sing it right?" She let out a growl of frustration. "Is there something wrong with me?"
"Nothing is wrong with you. You're twelve years old singing mature material. Frankly, I am surprised you have done this well. Don't get discouraged. We will try it again when you are a bit older."
"But, I hate giving up. I'm not a quitter."
Erik was glad to hear her say this, and his eyes twinkled in delight. "That's the spirit. Your determination will take you far in life, Christine."
Erik moved to sit down, and Christine followed suit.
"Now, let us discuss Carlotta. As an example situation, tell me about one mean thing she has done to you."
It wasn't difficult to think of a scenario. There were just so many. "Well, one thing she likes to do, almost every day, is shove me and call me a loser. "Dumb Daae" is her nickname for me." She shrugged, her shoulders slumping.
He could see how much this was hurting her, and he loathed this creature named Carlotta. She tries again and again to break this angelic, innocent girl. I won't stand for it. Very seriously, he leaned forward and put a hand on her shoulder. "You must listen to me, Christine. Nothing she says is true. She doesn't know a thing about you, and she blocks out the truth. And the truth is that you are a beautiful, intelligent, caring girl with a bright future. She is just a mean girl with no future, and someday she will feel regret because you will be a star."
Christine's mouth gaped open in awe. He really had a way with words, and all she could think to say was, "Thank you."
Erik sat back and said, "I am only stating the truth. Now, when she shoves you and calls you names, you can either allow it to continue or... you can retaliate." He could tell which option she wanted to go with. "Before she walks away, you say loudly so that she and others can hear, 'I'm starting to think you're the dumb one. You do this same thing over and over, and between me and you, it is becoming old. Let's see, what can I say about you? Aw, easy. You look like a cockroach! Carlotta the cockroach! Maybe I'll copyright it. Make t-shirts!' " He noticed that she looked thoroughly impressed. "And I'll write it down so you won't forget it." Erik reached for a paper and pencil off his piano and proceeded to write what he'd said.
"Wow, that's amazing," Christine said while he wrote. "I love it! I only hope I can say it the same way you did.."
Erik handed her the paper and said with confidence, "You can and you will. It will stun everyone. I only wish I could witness it. But I will be waiting eagerly to hear how it goes." Moving forward, Erik asked, "Christine, what classes do you have with this girl?"
"Umm.. Language Arts, Gym, Communication Skills, and Chorus. Luckily she never bothers me in chorus. In fact, I forget she's in that class with me sometimes."
"A nice compilation of courses. Let us start with Gym. What sport is she best at?"
"Definitely volleyball. She thinks she awesome at volleyball."
"Why don't you try hitting her a few times with the ball? Pretend it is an accident, but make sure she knows otherwise." He watched as Christine laughed.
"I would, but I've always tried not to play when she does. I've always been afraid she would hit me with the ball. So I'm not very good at volleyball because of that.."
Erik could definitely understand her reasoning there. "Hmmm.. Does she take showers before going to her next class?"
"Yeah, she always does. She's all about her looks." Christine rolled her eyes at this.
"Excellent. I will be right back." Erik left the room with a curious Christine watching after him.
Seconds later, he came back carrying a few things.
"This," he held up a bottle, "Is a bottle of shampoo." He waited for her to nod before continuing, "It is a shampoo that will turn her hair green."
"Oh, my gosh! Are you serious? That is the coolest thing ever!" She took the bottle and put it in her backpack.
"Make sure she doesn't see it. Try being late to gym once. No one will mind. Then, when everyone is gone, go to her things and pour this shampoo into her own bottle. Trust me, it will work."
"Thank you so much, Erik."
"Ah, but that's not all. You say you have Communication Skills with her. How about we take the communication away? I have a powdered substance here that will make her lose her voice. It wears off after a day or so." He held up a small plastic bag. "You must be careful. No one can know you are the culprit. But you will feel immense pleasure watching the results of your work." He handed it to her.
Christine was feeling a combination of excitement and fear as she handled the bag carefully. "I understand. But how do I give it to her without her knowing?"
"When she is not looking, slip this powder into her drink. Perhaps she keeps a water bottle with her other belongings in the locker room during Gym? It would make things a little easier if you could accomplish both tasks at the same time. Pour the shampoo in her shampoo bottle and then slip the powder in her water bottle. There will be less complication if it is all done at once."
"Ok."
"You can do this, I know you can." Erik wanted to convey to her how capable she was.
She nodded with a smile. "I can, thanks to you."
Erik chuckled. "Well Christine, that is all I have prepared. I hope it works sufficiently enough."
"It will! I know it!"
"Just remember, none of this will physically injure her, it will just injure her pride. You have put up with her antics for far too long. You deserve this." He stood then, and Christine did the same.
She wanted to let him know just how grateful she was. "Really, thank you so much. You are the coolest.
Erik laughed loudly at that. Only you see that, little one. "Well, I'll drive you home now." They walked to his car and they began their drive. "You did well today, Christine. Most of our focus will be on your singing next time, though. Today was...special."
Christine smiled feeling 'special' was an understatement.
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The next day was going by smoothly until Language Arts. Again, Christine was day dreaming. But it wasn't that she chose that particular class to zone out in and no other. It's just, this teacher was more into involving the students and being more observant than the others. Again, he asked her a question and she didn't answer.
"Christine?"
She blinked. "Yes, sir?"
"This is the second time in two days, Christine." The girls in the back of the room laughed loudly.
"I know.. I'm really sorry."
"Just don't let it happen again." He moved onto another person.
At the end of class, Christine knew what would happen. In fact, she lingered longer than usual in order for Carlotta to catch up.
"Dumb Daae, the second time in two days? How much of a loser can you be? God, no wonder you don't have any friends. You can't pay attention long enough to talk to anybody." She laughed and was about to walk away when Christine grabbed her wrist and twirled her around.
Carlotta instantly snatched her hand back and was about to speak when Christine beat her to it. "You know what? I'm beginning to think you're the dumb one, Carlotta. I mean, you say the same thing again and again, it's getting really old. How about I think up an insult for you? Cockroach. You look like a cockroach! Carlotta the cockroach! I think I'll make T-shirts. Oh, and let me fill you in on the only reason you have friends. It's because they're scared of you. Maybe we'll all be a little braver after I make the T-shirts!" With that, Christine walked away. There was complete silence behind her, which she took as a compliment. She was pretty proud of herself.
The rest of the day went smoothly. Christine forced herself not to feel bad about what she'd done, instead focusing on Erik's words. She deserved to stand up for herself for once.