"The show must go on!" Mrs. Richard announced, her voice carrying over the entire auditorium. "We know you have been under extreme stress in recent events, but we must continue to focus."

"We're almost done with blocking the entire show," Mr. Montegomery piped in. "I know everyone already knows their music and has it memorized. At least, you should."

There was a general grumble throughout the cast, everyone promising that indeed they did have their music memorized and were ready to go. At the moment everyone was getting anxious to begin rehearsal and then get it over with. The sooner they could get through with everything the sooner they could get away from the threat of the Auditorium Ghost, the Phantom.

"Now, let us begin with our rehearsal!" said Mrs. Richard, clapping her hands together. "We're starting off with the Hysteria scene. Places!"

Everyone scurried off to get into their places, Christine making a beeline for the center of the stage. This was one of Clara's big moments and she had to make sure that she performed it all correctly. With the Phantom's eyes watching over everyone, she couldn't help but feel even more obligated to give it her all.

"Let's make this scene the best that it can be," Mrs. Richard said, reflecting Christine's thoughts right back to her. "I personally think this is the strongest emotional moment for Clara in the entire show.

I know you're not really saying any words, but you still have to pour all of the distress into it as possible. Okay, Christine. How do you physically want to portray Clara as she panics?"

Christine thought for a moment, trying to make sure she could figure the best possible response.. She knew the Light in the Piazza well, and had seen several versions of it. Within a few seconds she had come up with her answer.

"Shaking," she answered. "Mostly hand shaking, that is. I would also add a little bit of rocking back and forth."

Mrs. Richards smiled, while simultaneously Carly's face drooped into an enormous frown. She glanced over towards Ian, trying to get some sympathy for her problem. Unfortunately, this did not work out.

"Well then," Mrs. Richards said. "How about we practice Clara's Interlude and you can demonstrate."

Christine nodded, and everyone else who was in the scene quickly got into their places.

She was still trying to get used to this feeling of being thrust into the spotlight. It wasn't the first time it had happened, of course, but it was still so sudden and frightening due to the Phantom. Now that she knew she hadn't even been given into the role, that the directors had been forced to make her Clara by the ghost that was haunting them all, it only felt worse.

But when it came to performing, Christine just had to push all of that away and hope that she shined bright enough in order to make up for all the pain that had been involved in putting her in this role in the first place.

"We're going to sing through this once before we start staging it," Mr. Montegomery said. "Now, Christine. Just go ahead and do what you've learned."

"Clara's Interlude," she whispered to herself. "Yes. I can do that. I can do it...well." Christine had found herself sometimes talking to herself in certain situations, which she had to admit was rather odd. Several times other people had noticed it, but that hadn't been enough to make her stop.

Mr. Montegomery began to pound down on the piano, playing the music. Christine's heart began to race as if she were running around as Clara would be in the scene, but she tried to prevent that from affecting her or her performance.

Christine just let herself sing. If the Angel of Music had taught her anything, it was the ability to just let go.

"Beautiful, Christine! Absolutely beautiful!" Mrs. Richard said once she was done, applauding Christine along with the rest of the cast and crew in the area. The rest of the cast except for two, that was.

"Beautiful if they were comparing it to a dying cat," Ian murmured over towards Carly. She snickered, sending a smirk in Christine's direction. The girl saw the nasty look out of the corner of his eye, but she refused to let it get to her.

"Now, the blocking here is very simple," Mrs. Richard said. "Since you've already got the singing down, this should be easy. All you have to do is run around. First head stage right and then go upstage. Then you run to down center."

Christine nodded, walking through the pattern with her hands folded in front of her.

"Then you drop down to the floor and sing. Make sure to emphasize your hand motions for Clara's hysteria, yes?"

"Yes," Christine said, nodding.

"Okay, let's run through it!"

Christine ran around stage, curls flying out behind her. The music seemed to control the beat of her feet against the ground. Finally she ended up in center stage, dropping to the ground. Then she opened her mouth and sang, shaking her hands all the way.

"Yes, yes, perfect!" Mr. Montegomery laughed out.

"Now, Fabrizio will enter stage left." Paul walked out from the wings, smiling over towards Christine. "You two have a little conversation, and then...well...Love to Me will be performed entirely with Clara's back turned from Fabrizio. This way when Clara finally turns around and looks at Fabrizio, it will be more dramatic," Mrs. Richard explained.

Christine and Paul shared a look, and then nodded together at that. It all made sense, even if it was a bit out there. After all, Christine had seen far stranger things from directors, ideas that she had dubbed "creative visions." Oh yes, those things were creative alright.

The two ran through their song and scenes, but soon Christine found herself in the wings yet again. It was time for Bridget to sing Fable, which was Margaret's biggest song in the entire musical. Soon Clara and Fabrizio would have to be back on stage again, but for now she didn't.

"Meg," Christine hissed, noticing her friend leaning against the wall. "Meg! Look over here!"

"No need to get all snappy, Christy," Meg giggled, rushing over to her friend. Unfortunately her lighthearted air didn't seem to help her friend's mood at all.

"He's here," said Christine. "The Phantom."

"The Phantom?" Meg asked. "Christy, you're not making any sense."

"The Auditorium Ghost!" Christine exclaimed, reaching out to shake her. "He's a phantom, he is the Phantom!"

"The Phantom..." Meg echoed. "The one who broke Chandelier."

"Yes, yes!"

"I've been trying not to think about him," Meg sighed. "I've been trying to keep a smile and my face and not think about him. I don't know, Christy, but you might want to try that yourself."

"I don't think I can, Meg," Christine replied.

"Then you should talk it out. I know this is really personal to you because of the whole Clara thing. We can talk about it. You and Paul can talk about it. You can do this."

"I can't talk to Paul about this," said Christine. "He hates talking about this...we can't..." In her distress, she began to rub at a chain around her neck. She had been keeping on that particular necklace for so long that she had just about forgotten about it.

"But he's your boyfriend," Meg said, shaking her head. "You two are so close!"

"No," replied Christine. "No, no on this." She pulled the necklace out so she could stare at it in front of her. It was the piece given to her by the Phantom on that fateful night where he had taken her away into the music of the night. This had been a pendant that represented those hours. It had mystified her at first but now she was only terrified.

Despite this, she felt unable to rip it off. The necklace felt as if it were a part of her, something that she could not possibly remove. The weight of the chain seemed to grow heavier around her neck, now making sure she knew of its presence.

"Then talk to me about it," Meg said, snapping Christine back to reality. "I'm here for you, always. We're not best friends for nothing."

"Maybe later," Christine said, sighing again. She ran her fingers down the chain one more time and found her hand coming to rest on the ring pendant. After squeezing her eyes shut, she dropped the chain and tossed out her curls.

"Bridget sounds great, don't you think?" Christine said.

"Way to change the subject," Meg laughed. "But yes, she sounds amazing. I'm not surprised she got the part...especially because she's playing your mother. Must run in the family, amazing voices."

"I guess," Christine replied, closing her eyes. She had been trying to get her mind off of things just like Meg had been saying, but she had failed at that. It seemed as if nothing was going to stop her focus on the Phantom and everything he had done in the past.

He was consuming her mind piece by piece. Everything related to the Light in the Piazza was already poisoned in her head, and this was beginning to spread. The Phantom had made it difficult to talk to her boyfriend and her best friend. She took a deep breath and attempted to clear her head again.

"Christine!" Mrs. Richard called her name from the auditorium, causing Christine to break out of the confines of her mind.

"Yes?" Christine said, meekly popping out from the wings to make eye contact with her teacher.

"This is the musical interlude where you, as Clara, come back on stage to get 'married' to Fabrizio. Just enter from upstage left and walk across as if you were going down the aisle."

"Oh, okay," Christine replied, nodding. "Should I just go now?"

"Yes, that would probably be best," Mrs. Richard said, sighing. She sounded a bit disappointed over Christine's cluelessness, but she didn't mention anything about it. Mr. Montegomery resumed his piano playing so that she could scurry about the stage.

Paul was already standing on the other side waiting for her, a small smile on his face. There were many members of the ensemble filling in their places on each side to form an aisle. Unfortunately for Meg, she was supposed to be up there as well. Soon both Christine and her best friend were rushing out to get to their places.

Bridget, who had been standing center stage in order to sing her solo, turned around to see where all the giggles were coming from. She lifted her face to her mouth as she was about to laugh herself.

"Come on, everyone!" Mrs. Richard yelled. "Stay focused."

"And one, two, three, four!" Mr. Montegomery called out. It was time for Bridget to come back in with her singing, but her laughing made it difficult for her to control her voice correctly. Before she knew it, the only sound she was able to produce was laughter.

Christine couldn't help but think that this was just anoter thing to add on the list of things that Bridget could do perfectly. She could sing, she could act, and her laugh was perfect. It was almost enough to make her own lips perk up-but unfortunately, this was not the case.

"Hey, Christine," Paul whispered, gently pushing his elbow into her side. "You're feeling okay, yes?"

"Mmhm, I'm fine," she murmured in reply. "I..." She was about to begin explaining why her mood was rather down, but then reminded herself that Paul hated talking about the Phantom. She decided it would just be better for her to change the subject.

"Bridget sounds wonderful today," Christine said. "I only wish I could sound that beautiful."

"With my help, you could. And you have, Christine Daae," the Phantom whispered, seemingly right behind her. She could even feel her curls being slightly blown out of the way as he murmured into her ear.

As Christine whipped around to spot him, she found nothing there. Absolutely nothing.

A/N So. I got this story updated. That's always a good feeling. You know, Clara's Interlude is one of my favorite songs from The Light in the Piazza. I have included it over on the side so that you can experience it yourself. I hope you enjoy it, heh. I love how well this musical fits in with my story. Hope you enjoyed this chapter overall, also!