Phantom

by Laura DeLuca

  “You kids need to clear out of here so I can clean up this mess!”

  Mr. Russ had come in, pushing along his cart of cleaning supplies. He gestured to the auditorium floor. It didn’t seem particularly messy, but Rebecca hardly wanted to argue with the odd, old janitor. He stood there, watching them with his one good eye, until they all climbed down off the stage and moved toward the nearest exit. He had blocked most of the aisle so they had to squeeze by him one by one. Rebecca tried to get by without disturbing his cart, but before she could shimmy past him, he roughly grabbed hold of her arm.

  “Accidents aren’t always accidental.” His voice was hoarse and she could smell his stale breath in her face. Rebecca gasped and tried to pull away, but he only tightened his grip on her wrist. “You need to be careful, little girl.”

  Rebecca wasn’t sure what to say. Was that a threat or a warning? Or was Mr. Russ just babbling meaningless nonsense as usual? She had always thought he was harmless. But now she wasn’t so sure.

  “Leave her alone, you freak!”

  It was Debbie who came to her rescue. She grabbed Rebecca’s hand firmly, and pulled her free from the janitor’s grasp. And since she was significantly larger than him, he could only glare at her for a moment before turning back to his cleaning cart and pushing it down the aisle as though nothing had happened. But he had left Rebecca trembling for the second time that day. As if things hadn’t been bad enough. The last thing she needed was to be stalked by the dusty looking janitor.

  “What is his problem?” Carmen asked as the three of them scampered out into the hallway, trying to put as much distance between them and Mr. Russ as possible. “He is seriously brain damaged or something.”

  “Don’t let him scare you, Becca,” Debbie added. “There really is something wrong with him. I don’t think he knows what he’s saying half the time.”

  Rebecca sighed. “You’re right. I really have to stop letting things get to me. At this rate, my hair will turn gray before I graduate.”

  “Hey, girls!” Tom had just rounded the corner. He spotted them and waved. “I was just going to meet some of the others across the street at Sam’s. Why don’t you come with us?”

  Rebecca’s heart started to hammer again, but this time it had nothing to do with fear. It couldn’t be considered a date since he had invited all of them. But still, Tom Rittenhouse had asked her to do something with him. It was at the very least worth a diary entry.

  “Sure. That sounds like fun.” She hoped she didn’t sound too anxious.

  Carmen’s smile couldn’t have been any wider as they walked to the pizza shop across the street from the school. It was a small place with only about ten booths, all adorned with red and white gingham table clothes. As soon as they walked in the door, they were greeted by the scent of savory tomato sauce and grilled hamburgers. Rebecca felt her stomach rumble, and realized she was starving. But she lost most of her appetite when she saw that Wendy and Jay were already sitting in the extra-large booth in the corner. Wendy sneered at Rebecca, but with an unexpected and uncharacteristic burst of courage, Rebecca smiled broadly at the blonde girl as she slid into the edge of the booth beside Tom.

  “Who invited the Amazon woman?” Jay asked. He blew the cover of his straw in Debbie’s direction. She turned red and stared at the tabletop.

  Tom reached across the table to punch Jay in the arm. “Dude, don’t be a jerk, okay? We’re a team now. We have to get along for the next few weeks if want the play to be a success.”

  “Not much chance of that when we’re dealing with a bunch of amateurs,” Wendy said, and she looked right at Rebecca.

  Tom was doing his best to keep the peace. It was a heavy order with the company he was keeping. “Wendy, come on, lighten up!”

  Wendy smirked. “If you’re such a great team player, Tom, why don’t you invite him to join us?”

  She gestured to the table behind them and Rebecca couldn’t resist turning around with everyone else to see who was sitting there. She shouldn’t have been surprised to see that it was Justyn. Who else would Wendy use to get under Tom’s skin? He was sitting quietly at his booth, with a glass of water in front and him, and a book opened in his hands. It didn’t even appear that he knew any of his cast mates were there. Or maybe he just didn’t care. Tom, at first, seemed annoyed and even a little disgusted at the possibility of having Justyn join them, but then with a shrug he yelled out across the little restaurant.

  “Yo, Lord Justyn.” Tom called. Justyn lifted one eye from his book. “Want to join us?”

  After all the animosity between them, Rebecca didn’t really think he would accept the invitation. Tom obviously didn’t expect him to either, because his eyes practically bugged out of his head when Justyn closed his book, slipped wordlessly from his seat, and glided down the row of tables. He slid into the end of the booth on the other side of Rebecca, brushing her leg with his own and sending that strange electric current through her in the process. Mouths fell open all around the booth, and only Jay was able to think of something to say, however rude and inappropriate it might have been.

  “Hey vampire, does this make you nervous?” He picked up the bottle of garlic salt and waved it near Justyn’s face.

  Justyn smiled calmly. “Jay, if the smell of garlic could scare me away, I certainly wouldn’t be able to tolerate sitting across the table from you. Have you ever heard of breath mints?”

  Carmen and Debbie both chuckled, and Rebecca couldn’t help but smile. It was the first time in his life that Jay seemed struck speechless. He apparently couldn’t think of any retaliation because he put down the garlic salt, and leaned back into the booth with a pout. He could dish it out, but Jay wasn’t quite so good at taking it.

  “What are you reading, Justyn?” Debbie asked politely. It was the first light topic of conversation anyone had come up with since they walked into the restaurant.

  “Tennyson,” Justyn replied flatly.

  Again the diverse Gothic surprised Rebecca. By now Justyn should have ceased to amaze her with what he did and said. But their common interests still shocked her—by all outward appearances, they should have been as different as night and day.

  “I love Tennyson.” Rebecca gushed. “The Lady of Shalott” is one of my all time favorite poems.”

  “The leaves upon her falling light—

  Thro' the noises of the night,

  She floated down to Camelot:

  And as the boat—head wound along

  The willowy hills and fields among,

  They heard her singing her last song,

  The Lady of Shalott.”

  That swooning feeling was back with a vengeance as Justyn’s fluid voice recited the verse from the poem. His voice created a magical tapestry in which Rebecca could clearly see the scene come to life before her eyes. Her cheeks burned brighter with each word, and Tom certainly noticed it because she felt him grow stiff beside her.

  “Oh please,” Wendy said with a roll of her green eyes. “I can’t believe you two would actually read that dribble on purpose.”

  “Just because you’re at a third grade reading level, doesn’t mean the rest of us are,” Carmen snapped, even though she wouldn’t have touched a book of poetry with a ten foot pole.

  Now Wendy and Carmen were staring daggers at each other across the table. The whole evening was going poorly and Rebecca was relieved when the waitress came to take their orders. It gave her at least a ten-minute reprieve from playing referee. But the peace wasn’t destined to last long. Justyn was the last to place his order. Following a string of requests for pizza and hamburgers, his strange choice was bound to start off a whole new round of taunting.

  “I’ll have the veggie burger, please.”

  The young waitress smiled at Justyn as he handed her back his menu. He was the only one who said ‘please’, and his musical tone of voice apparently made other people swoon sometimes too. Rebecca felt just the slightest twinge of jealousy when his fingers brushed ag
ainst the waitress’s hand. But she didn’t have time to dwell on it for very long.

  “Veggie burger?” Jay snickered. “What are you, a rabbit?”

  Justyn raised one pierced eyebrow. “I’m a vegetarian.”

  “Poetry spouting? Salad munching?” Tom laughed, and it wasn’t at all good-natured. “Dude, you really shouldn’t try so hard to be manly.”

  Justyn’s voice was not quite hostile, but was openly sarcastic when he responded. “And what makes a man, Tom? A pretty boy face and a string of basketball trophies?”

  “It makes me a better man than you, vampire! And who do you think you’re calling a pretty boy?”

  All pretense of friendliness was gone, and Rebecca was worried she might get caught in the middle of the crossfire if fists were thrown. “Whoa, boys,” she said, and laid a hand on each of their shoulders. “No one is questioning anyone’s manhood here. Let’s all just settle down and try to have a good time.”

  If settling down translated to sitting in tense silence, then they all complied. Having a good time was a little too much to ask for. Rebecca twisted her napkin under the table nervously while she waited for her pizza to arrive. When it did, she nibbled at it gingerly, hardly hungry anymore.

  The tension didn’t hinder the appetites of the teenage boys nearly as much. Both Justyn and Tom dug into their dinners heartily and Jay tore into his hamburger with reckless abandon, practically eating the whole thing in three huge bites. But the girls were only picking at their meals. Especially Wendy, who was more interested in shooting Rebecca dirty looks across the table than she was in eating. Even Carmen and Debbie looked like they felt completely out of place, making Rebecca feel even worse for having dragged them into her soap opera existence.

  She was relieved when Justyn finished his veggie burger, and picked up his book to leave. He tossed a ten-dollar bill on the table.

  “Thank you all for allowing me the pleasure of your company this evening.” Only Justyn could sound so overtly polite and yet at the same time have his voice drip with such obvious sarcasm.

  “Freak,” Wendy mumbled under her breath.

  Justyn ignored her. “Becca, I hope I’ll see you tomorrow at rehearsal.”

  “You’ll see her all right,” Tom told him through clenched teeth. “Standing right next to me.”

  The two boys exchanged one last hostile stare before Justyn turned back to Rebecca. He bent over, picked up her hand, and kissed her fingers with every bit as much grace and poise as any eighteenth century aristocrat. The whole restaurant faded away for a second as their eyes locked. When he finally let go, her hand still tingled.

  “Goodnight, Becca,” he whispered.

  Then he appeared to float out the door. It seemed that there should have been a swirling mist at his feet to complete the exit scene. Rebecca watched him go, and she could hardly breathe. She didn’t even realize she hadn’t replied. Tom took that lack of response as confirmation that she wasn’t interested in Justyn at all, which was probably for the best. Still, Rebecca had to admit to herself that she was interested, at least a little. Of the two, Tom seemed the far safer choice, and Rebecca had never been one to take unnecessary risks. And really, once Justyn was gone, she hardly thought about him anymore. Hardly.

  When they were done eating, Tom insisted on paying her share of the bill, and insisted even more adamantly that he walk her to her car. She had to drive Debbie and Carmen home, but they lingered knowingly behind to give Tom and Rebecca a chance at some private time. Halfway through the parking lot, he reached out to take her hand. Rebecca hoped her nerves hadn’t made it clammy or sweaty.

  “So . . . .” Tom said, and leaned back against the side of her little golden Suzuki.

  “So?” Rebecca repeated awkwardly when after at least a full minute had passed in which he said nothing else.

  “Next week is the Halloween Dance.”

  “Yeah.”

  “I was thinking maybe, you know—if you were planning on going, you might want to go with me.”

  Might want to go with him? This was the moment she had been dreaming of for four years. In those dreams, she had always swept him away with some brilliant, romantic response. Real life wasn’t usually quite that interesting.

  “Sure, that sounds like fun.”

  Tom smiled. He was really cute when he smiled, all boyish charm. “Great. Then I guess I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “Yeah, you bet.”

  Tom leaned down over her, and very gently brushed her lips with his own. There were no electric currents or swooning, but it was definitely nice. It was sweet and gentle, and she thought it was cute that he was actually blushing just as much as she was. Popular surfer or not, Tom was still a little shy.

  “Bye, Becca.”

  “Bye, Tom.”

  Rebecca had to lean against her car to support her somewhat wobbly knees. Tom waved as he walked away and before he had even turned the corner, Carmen and Debbie were pouncing on her for details.

  “I smell love in the air,” Debbie said. “Tell us all about it!”

  “Tom just asked me to the dance next week.”

  “He didn’t!” Carmen exclaimed. She was actually jumping up and down. “I don’t believe it! You go girl!”

  “Believe it.” Debbie smiled. “Our quiet little Becca has become the belle of the ball.”

  They all smiled as they climbed into her car. Rebecca was still feeling a little dreamy after she dropped her friends off and pulled into her driveway. Before she reached the door, her cell phone started ringing and vibrating simultaneously from somewhere deep inside her handbag. She dropped her keys in her haste to dig it out before the call went into voicemail, even though she knew it was probably just Carmen calling to gush about her and Tom and their possible couple status. Finally, she pulled the phone free, and flipped back the cover without even looking to see who was calling.

  “Hello?”

  The voice that responded was unfamiliar, and in fact, it didn’t even sound human. Distorted and garbled as it was, it was impossible to tell for certain whether it was a man or a woman. But it was threatening and terrifying, and the few lines it spoke made her blood run cold.

  The words were meant as a threat in the play when the phantom spoke them to Christine as he yanked the engagement ring Raoul had given her from the chain around her neck. And those same words were certainly just as ominous to Rebecca as she listened to them in the dim light of the autumn moon.

  “A chain cannot bind you,

  Nor take you away.

  Your soul I’ve taken captive.

  Beside me you must always stay.”

  Chapter Seven

  The next day, the weather was every bit as threatening as the strange phone call had been the day before. Thunder crackled and rumbled, and lighting flashed across the skyline. It was so overcast that the morning sky could have passed for night. The wind was whipping at least sixty miles per hour, and the rain was coming down in torrents. It was hurricane season at the Jersey Shore. There was no question about it.

  Rebecca’s hair was plastered to her head when she finally ran into the school. Her hooded raincoat did as much good as the inside-out umbrella she had discarded in her driveway. She was soaked, and freezing, and miserable. She wasn’t really paying attention to where she was going while she tried to shake the water off her clothes, and she collided with Wendy as she turned the corner. She dropped her book bag in the impact, and everything inside tumbled onto the floor.

  “Watch where you’re going, moron!” Wendy snapped. As she walked away, she made sure to step on as many of Rebecca’s papers as possible.

  Carmen came up beside her with her hands on her hips. “Someone should really take that pole out of her ass.”

  Rebecca shrugged as she bent down to pick up her assignments, hoping she might be able to salvage at least half of her soggy homework. “She hates me. I guess I better get used to it.”

  “She’s just jealous,” Debbie told her.
“She’ll get over it eventually.”

  “I sure hope so.” Rebecca shoved the last paper back into her bag, a little more roughly than was necessary. “If she’s the one trying to scare me away, she’s doing a pretty good job. I don’t know how much more of this my nerves can handle.”

  Carmen narrowed her eyes. “Did something else happen?”

  Rebecca told them about the phone call, and shuddered as she remembered the menacing voice. Someone was definitely out to get her. She was starting to feel a little afraid, and it wasn’t a good feeling.

  “I still think it’s Justyn,” Debbie said adamantly. “He obviously has a thing for you. And I’m sure he doesn’t like it that you chose Tom over him.”