Christine was sitting in the chorus room, waiting fairly patiently for rehearsals to begin. The Light in the Piazza had consumed her mind for hours at a time, but it never seemed to fall at the same time as the actual practices. There was always something to distract her and make her look to the side.

Whenever Mama Valant asked Christine how her rehearsals were going, she would always respond with a single word just like any other teenager: "Good." Frankly, it wasn't that much of a stretch of the truth. There was nothing extraordinary about the rehearsals for the Light in the Piazza.

There were parts she dreaded, knowing that Carly would be flaunting her new lead role. But she enjoyed learning her own part, despite knowing that it would be far more suited to the prima donna of Garnier High School herself. Franca Nacarelli was a fun role, it was true. But she was sassy, full of herself, rude, and manipulative. Christine wasn't sure how she got put into a role like that. 

Sometimes the thoughts that ran through other people's heads were like complete mysteries to Christine. It made her feel almost like she was seperated from the rest of the world in a strange way. A thought at the back of her mind made her question if this was actually why the Angel of Music had singled her out. Her voice had some part to do with it, but why would he have put so much effort into training her and becoming her guardian of sorts?

After a long day of school, all of this deep thinking was making Christine's head hurt. She shook out her curls and tried to focus on what was going along with the rehearsals. She had been blanking out from the rest of the world when it came to retreating back into her thoughts. After shifting around to make herself more comfortable, she sat up straight in her seat. 

Most of the beginning rehearsals were focused on the music. It was all very difficult, but the students of Garnier were dedicated. At least that was something Christine could be thankful for. Her fellow performers always worked to do their best, no matter what the conditions were. She had been in far too many groups where no one cared, and nothing ever got done. 

But despite all of this, she couldn't help but let out a sigh as she relaxed in her seat. People had been flooding in until the entire cast was enclosed within the chorus room. The buzzing excitement of the beginning of a show was still with them, but it had faded significantly. 

On one side of Christine was Bridget Hadley, playing one of the main female leads. On the other side was Paul Chandler, playing the male lead. Christine in the middle was playing a supporting character. Even without a single word, she found herself reminded of how she had failed to get the role she wanted. 

She wished she could have leaned over and whispered something to Meg, but her friend had arrived far later than her and wasn't able to sit next to her. Besides, she had her boyfriend and her former costar sitting beside her-that had to be worth quite a bit. Nevertheless, she found herself with her mouth clamped shut as she waited for rehearsal to start.

"I believe it is time for us to begin again," Mr. Montegomery said, clapping his hands together. "I honestly can't say how much I love the beginning songs of this show. Carly, Bridget? We're going to run through the overture quickly and then Statues and Stories."

Bridget gave a thumbs up, standing up to make her way over to the piano. While Carly vainly flipped her hair over her shoulder while holding her nose up in the air, Bridget turned around briefly and gave Christine a smile. She just couldn't understand how such a nice girl could possibly be compared to someone like Carly. It simply didn't make any sense to her.

The two girls went up to the chorus teacher who began to explain what they were going to do, what he wanted them to work on. Christine watched them intently, wishing that she could be up there nodding at every other sentence just as they were. 

She felt an elbow jut into her side, causing her to fold up in a moment of pain. Turning around to Paul, she gave him a dirty look. "What was that for?" she asked, trying to keep her voice low so that she could avoid any sort of potential trouble that might come up.

"You look like someone just told you that your phone has been stolen or something," Paul replied. "Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong," said Christine, shaking her head. "I've just had a long day."

"Then it'll be nice to be able to let it all out here at rehearsal, yeah?" Paul said, tilting his head slightly. He slipped Christine's hand into his own and gave it a squeeze. "All you've got to do is sing. You're the best singer I know. Don't forget that."

To herself, Christine thought that if she were really the best singer he knew then she would have gotten the lead rather than Carly. But this fact would have only made Paul upset with her. It was easy for him to go along in the Light in the Piazza, he was playing the male lead! Before she could allow herself to get more worked up on the subject, hearing Mr. Montegomery counting off to begin the music.

Mr. Montegomery played a toned down version of the overture on the piano, as he did not have the orchestra to back him up yet. But he played the piano beautifully, and everyone was getting goosebumps on their arms as they listened. Christine had felt her eyelids flutter shut so that she could listen to the divine music. It was nearly as spectacular as the music of the night, which meant something.

Carly began to sing, a long "ah" held out to the music. It was the first instance of singing you heard in the entire musical, and Christine's favorite part. As Carly sang Christine felt tears come to her eyes. This was the moment she had longed to sing. She felt her heart soar with every note, yearning for the music to be coming out of her mouth. She could almost feel the sensation of her singing it. Christine could have sung it better than Carly, she just knew it. The voice, the Angel of Music, had taught her very well. 

But it was hurting Christine to hear someone else's voice on the notes of Clara's part. Her heart started to sink even as it tried to fly along with the music. Christine wanted to do nothing more than sing out, louder and far more beautiful than Carly ever could, and cover up her music. But Christine could do nothing of the sort.

She glanced down at the pile of music in front of her. Her eyes glided over the part that Carly was singing at that very moment. In her heart, Christine could feel that she could easily sing those notes and stun everyone with them. But the problem was, she couldn't, because she was Franca Nacarelli.

Just as Christine thought she was about to take her music and crush it in frustration, she looked over to the other side of the room and spotted Meg. Her best friend was mouthing the music melodramatically, every last muscle in her face exaggerated as she pretended to vocalize along with Carly.

Almost immediately, a laugh pushed its way up against Christine's lips, causing them to tilt up at the edges. She resisted the urge to part them and allow the giggle to escape, but it was such a trial trying to keep it all back. Finally, she forced it all back but not without making a sort of choking noise that immediately made everyone around her jump a bit.

But only person actually mentioned something about it to her. "Christine, are you okay?" Paul whispered. "You've been sort of off lately..."

"It's nothing," Christine immediately responded. "Absolutely nothing. There's just a lot on my mind."

"Oh, so then it is something?" Paul said, noting how unconvincing her response was. "I mean, obviously there has to be something going on for it to be on your mind."

Hidden underneath her score for the Light in the Piazza was the Angel of Music's handwritten music for the music of the night. She had kept it with her always, trying to sightread it and hear it in her head. 

She wasn't quite musically talented enough to do this, but she tried her best nevertheless. Realizing that she likely wasn't going to be doing much singing at this rehearsal, she switched her focus onto the pencil-written notes in front of her.

Even with her struggling to block out the sounds of the Light of the Piazza playing out behind her, she managed to begin to go over it all in her head. She ended up missing the parts of the beginning songs where the entire cast was supposed to pop in. In fact, her focus was so great that she ended up taking quite longer than she had expected. 

"Oh, rehearsal is over already?" Christine murmured as the rustling of bookbags and sheet music pulled her out of her trance. "I thought it would have been longer." She raised her eyes to meet Paul, who was doing the same packing up as everyone else.

"It's just music," Paul said with a shrug. "I mean, it's not like we're doing blocking or a run through." He stopped speaking for a moment as an enormous smile came onto his face. "I love getting to use those words again. I feel like I haven't spoken in theatre talk for ages!"

Christine, who had mostly just been talking to herself upon speaking those words, nodded as she tried to make her way back into a conversation. She knew that she should have been able to have half a million responses for her boyfriend, but this didn't seem to be working out quite correctly. 

"Paul," she said. She was tempted to say something to get him to stay longer, but she understood that he really did have a place to go. 

"Yeah?" he said, turning around. He didn't waste a single moment in putting his focus back on Christine and whatever was going on with her. The sweetness of this dedication was enough to make her heart do a flutter like a hummingbird's wings, but she tried to ignore the feeling to focus on what was truly important.

"Oh, nothing," she mumbled. 

"Is that your word of the day?" Paul laughed. "That's what you keep on saying today."

"Well, actually, goodbye," Christine said, realizing that she hadn't said it yet. 

"I'll see you tomorrow, Christine," Paul said in response. He leaned over and gave a small peck against her check. But as he began to pull away, Christine draped her arms around his neck and brought his lips to hers. It was just a simple impulse, but it was almost irresistable. 

With a start, she realized that this sort of longing was a familiar feeling. She had felt it when she had been dazed and trying to plant a kiss on the Angel of Music's lips. Almost immediately guilt began to run through her veins and she pulled away quickly. Paul attempted to hide his disappointment, but it was quite clear.

Without another word, the couple seperated. Christine glanced around to see if she could tackle Meg and get a conversation out of her, but the blonde ballet dancer seemed to have vanished into thin air. She would just have to text her later and hope that she could in touch. 

But now the soprano was looking for something to do. Mama Valant wouldn't be around for a while, as Christine had told her that the rehearsal was going to end quite a bit later. Even if she sent out a text, it wouldn't do much good. 

There was no one on the piano. After glancing around, Christine moved forwards to take her spot. Yes, people would hear her, but it didn't matter. The music of the night was meant to be heard. Everything else in the room began to fade away in the young soprano's mind as she moved towards the instrument. 

She tried to harness what the Angel of Music had taught her, to try to see an instrument as more as just a stationary item. It was a producer of music, and that made it more than anything else in the room. It was like everything else was inanimate, but because it could create a melody it was closer to life. 

Ever since Christine had seen the man under the mask, she had began to doubt some of her teachings from the Angel of Music. He was no longer her heavenly tutor, but she still decided to believe in what he had told her. After all, her voice had increased in ability immensely under his guidance. Even if he was just a glorified music teacher, he was still a music teacher. 

Christine pressed down on her fingers, cracking out her knuckles. Mama Valant would always chastise her for doing that, but she would always just roll her eyes. It was better than having stiff fingers, that was for sure. She would want to be her best when playing the piano, as she never knew just who exactly would be watching her practice the music of the night.

Despite not being judged by anyone, she felt nerves about this. After all, she had fainted the last time she had attempted to perform the music of the night. It was like her soul hadn't been ready for it. Thinking about those words made it seem so preposterous, but she attempted to just shake them all away.

She placed her fingers in position, but quickly took them away as she straightened out the sheet music with shaking hands. Again she felt herself beginning to freak out. But Christine reminded herself that this was just music, and above all she could do music best. The Angel of Music himself, even if he wasn't an angel, had told her so.

Her fingers ran over the ivory keys, her mind racing to imagine all the previous people to sit where she had sat and played music. It was like there were ghosts of the music they had played, whether it be a classical nocturne or a botched version of Heart and Soul. 

These thoughts made Christine's breath catch in her throat. She loved music unlike anything else, but ideas like this hadn't come into her head before the Angel of Music had been there for her. It was like her mind had been rewired. She was beginning to open up her mind to the darkness held within the melody of the music of the night.

There was no more holding back. Adjusting the sheet music in front of her one more time before she began, she straightened herself accordingly. She knew she was capable of singing, even though when she had allowed the music of the night to float out of her lips the last time she had found herself unconsious from the sheer beauty. That would be an embarrassing way to present such beautiful creations.

The heat of eyes began to fall on Christine, making her cheeks flush up. But she continued playing, losing track of what she was doing as the music became the most important thing in the room. In that moment, there was nothing more special than the music in the entire universe. 

As she was getting into the middle of the song, she heard a voice from behind her that stuck out immensely. She began to falter, but quickly whipped herself back into shape.

"I am proud," the voice exclaimed. "Christine Daae, I could not be prouder at this moment."

A/N Sorry for this being a day late, but I'm actually quite happy with it. You get to see a different side of Christine. After all, she is a normal girl after you look past the amazing talent and the ghost following her around. She gets jealous just like anything else. This chapter was all of my own creation, and over on the side you can listen to the gorgeous piano piece that I imagine would be similar to what Christine is playing at the end. Sort of.