Phantom Read Online Free Page A

her. She was pretty sure her mouth was hanging open. Beside her, Carmen was wearing a big grin, apparently amused by the whole thing. But Rebecca didn’t think it was funny. Wendy wasn’t the kind of person she wanted angry with her. Her entire high school life could be over with one word from Wendy Wright.
     
    “Geez, Wendy. I guess the concept of being a graceful loser is foreign to you,” Tom said with a smug smile.
     
    Wendy snorted and turned her rage onto Tom. “Oh yeah, Mr. Perfect? Let’s see how gracefully you take it. I’m not the only one who’s been upstaged by some usurping loser from the geek squad.” Tom’s smile faltered and Wendy was the one who looked smug now. “If you don’t believe me, check out the casting list for yourself.”
     
    Wendy stalked off with a toss of her blonde hair, and finally they were standing in front of the billboard. Tom tried to act cool, but it was obvious he was a little more nervous now than he had been about reading the results. But he was still nowhere near as nervous as Rebecca. She almost forgot to breathe as she looked for her name on the list. She started at the bottom, still in some way expecting to see her name down there, even after what Wendy had said. But her name was much higher up. It fact it was the second name listed on the cast.
     
    “Christine – Rebecca Hope”
     
    Her breath caught in her throat. She thought maybe she was imagining things. Or maybe she was dreaming. It couldn’t be true. She couldn’t have gotten the female lead in the play. She couldn’t be Christine. It was just too much to hope for. Yet, there it was in black and white. She was the star. For one glorious moment, she reveled in it. She felt all the excitement and pride that the accomplishment deserved. Then reality set in.
     
    What had she been thinking? How was she going to do this? How would she stand in front of an entire auditorium filled with people and sing? Maybe she should follow Wendy into the teacher’s lounge and tell Miss King that she agreed with her—that there had been some kind of mistake. Maybe Rebecca had been suffering from temporary insanity when she had tried out to begin with.
     
    Luckily, no one noticed that she was having a panic attack. They just went right on talking, not even noticing that Rebecca had long since stopped breathing.
     
    “I got Meg Giry!” Carmen bounced up and down in excitement. “We get to be best friends. Just like in real life.”
     
    Meg Giry was Christine’s ballerina sidekick. It was a role that called for more dancing than singing, which was perfect for Carmen. Plus, it was the biggest role she had ever landed, so Rebecca understood her excitement. Tom, on the other hand, didn’t look quite as happy as he examined his placement. His name wasn’t above hers as they had all expected. Instead it sat one line below.
     
    “Raoul – Thomas Rittenhouse”
     
    “Congratulations Tom, you get to be the hero!” Carmen was trying to break the sudden strained silence that had fallen around them. But it wasn’t working. Tom was still fuming.
     
    “I can’t believe they gave that vampire freak my role!”
     
    Rebecca wasn’t sure what to say to calm him down, especially since she could understand why Miss King had cast Justyn in the role of the Phantom. He really was perfect for the part. Besides his amazing voice, Justyn’s presence was ghostlike. He resonated the soul of a tormented artist. He probably didn’t even need to act very much. And Tom was really much better suited to play the handsome, lovable Raoul. They both had the same boyish good looks and charismatic charm. At least normally Tom was charming. But at that moment he was too angry to take the casting as a compliment.
     
    “It’s not that bad Tom,” Debbie said. She had come up behind them just in time to see Tom’s reaction. “Raoul’s part is just as good as the Phantom’s.”
     
    Tom was past listening to reason. “And what would you