Dislcaimer: I do not own Les Misérables, I do own the same mentality as Les Amis though. ^^"

Concrete Angel.

Chapitre Un.

Wednesday. The cold autumn wind flew about her as she bravely pedalled on. She only had two more papers left to deliver and then she'd be done. Bravely the girl rode to the last two houses on her block. Once she was finished she allowed herself a small smile as she tried to enjoy the ride home. It was still early in the morning, yet the seventeen year old girl had been up and about for over an hour already. She expertly manoeuvred her bike so that she stalled it cleverly out of sight, for she didn't own a decent lock, and she needed to bike to get to her various part-time jobs.

Pushing open the door she looked at her watch. 6.45 it read and she heaved a deep sigh, putting down her beloved brown cap on a small cupboard in the hall.

"Bonjour Éponine." she heard her younger sister say from the kitchen. It had become a routine. She and her younger brother would go out and deliver news papers, and as they came home Azelma, her younger -and only- sister would be up preparing them lunch for school.

"Gavroche here yet?" Éponine asked as she dropped herself onto the nearest stool in front of the table.

"No, not yet. He must be very busy." Azelma said.

"Perhaps." the older sister replied as she took a sip from the glass of water that her sister had placed in front of her. Gavroche was the oldest of the boys, and though he wasn't exactly old enough to take on part-time jobs, he hadn't let that keep him from getting one at last. Unlike Éponine, he had gotten a rather crowded block with many small houses and a fair amount of older people and young families. Éponine sighed. She was perfectly glad with her block. It was bigger than most, but that was only because it were all big houses where the rich people lived. If she'd compare the amount of newspapers she had to deliver to Gavroche, he'd easily win. She grunted. Gavroche was very charismatic, and liked to talk to everyone. So it wasn't so uncommon to have him home later than her, even though his block was closer to home.

'Well...' she reasoned, that's how he got himself a fair amount of cakes and sweets every time he cam back. Something to keep the littlest among them happy.

"Éponine, you should eat." Azelma tried to urge her sister on.

"I'm not hungry." the older sister quickly responded, pushing the small plate away from her and standing up. She had to brush out her hair a little before leaving for school.

Looking in the mirror she frowned. Her own dark chocolate eyes watched her, and she found her dark brown hair was already a mess. She quickly drew out her brush and frantically tried to style it somewhat. A pity her last hair tie had given up on her the day before. Well, she'd have to live with it for the time being. Then she regarded her outfit for the day. A long sleeved white shirt with over it a khaki green t-shirt. She loved combining these two kinds of shirts, because nor her friends, nor her teachers would see how 'used' it was. The holes and torn spots were camouflaged easily by putting the two of them aside. And besides -her grin widened at this thought- it looked rather cool. Underneath she wore jeans with holes in it, but luckily for her, that was what made it look cool as well. The girls in her class found it enormously cool how she dared to go out with trousers that 'looked' stitched up, and where one of her knees nearly peaked through. The truth was...she had no other choice. Underneath she wore her ancient boots. Through the years they'd gotten a rugged look, and the occasional change of shoelaces, and a fair amount of shoe polish were ideal to make her boots look new every few months. She sighed as she thought about it all. Her fathers gambling and 'high-class living' had caused all this. And what did he do to make it all better? More gambling and lying, trying to earn some money back, not even caring about his debts. That was something his kids had to worry about.

Without her realising her hand had clenched into a tight fist and she gritted her teeth. As she once more looked at herself in the mirror, she found her own reflection glaring back at her. And she knew well enough why. She hated her father for being so stupid, and even more for remaining so stupid. On top of that when he got drunk -which was more than occasionally-, or when he just did no longer see an exit out of their trouble, or got stuck lying, he'd beat the heck out of them. Unconsciously her hand went to her ribs on the right side, where he'd kicked her the week before. Her own reflection glared at her. Eyes full of hatred. Because she did not only hate her father. She hated her mother too. She hated her for letting it get this far. For never telling her dad to stop gambling and dealing in dubious things. On top of that she allowed him to beat her children! If Éponine ever became a mother, she'd do anything in her power to keep her husband from ever touching her children in such a way.

"Éponine!" she heard Azelma yell from downstairs, and that was her cue. She quickly ran out of the bathroom, grabbed her sister by the arm, and pulled her out of the house, quickly followed by the rest of the gang of children that had just woken up.

"Have you lost your mind?!" Éponine snapped, turning towards her sister. "Have you forgotten how 'he' gets when you scream in the morning?!"

Azelma understood. She'd slipped up. Something she'd never do. "I'm sorry 'Ponine." she said, feeling extremely guilty, especially as she saw her older sister's hand go unconsciously to her ribs. Fifteen-year-old Azelma understood. It had been kept from her for a long time, but now she knew on how many occasions her big sister had saved her from getting a beating herself.

"Just stay here." Éponine said, once more taking the few steps towards the front door. In her hurry to get her sister out, she'd forgotten her bag.

Silently she sneaked in, and grabbed the coats of the children, their bags, and the lunch Azelma had prepared for them. Upstairs she could hear a grumbling.

"Get away!" she whispered to Azelma and the children, and they quickly ran to hide behind the corner of their streets, bikes by their side.

Luckily Azelma had taken Éponine's white bike as well. She held it out for her as Éponine gave everyone their stuff.

"Thanks 'Zelma." she said, putting her brown jacket over her sober outfit before putting on her cap. After pushing her lunch into her worn-out khaki green messenger bag which she'd gotten her hands on years ago, she got onto her bike.

"Gavroche?" she asked once more.

Azelma smiled weakly. "He came by long enough to grab his lunch and left."

Éponine sighed. "He should eat something before going to school."

Azelma regarded her sister, but decided not to say anything, for she realised well enough. Both Éponine and Gavroche were pushing themselves for their sakes. Both of them regularly missed meals, and often pretended they were not hungry when it was clear there wasn't going to be enough for all of them. It wasn't like her mother wasn't trying to help them, she truly did. But she was often occupied herself. Whether it was by trying to keep an eye onto her husband, or trying to earn some money by washing laundry for the neighbours.

"Alright then." Éponine announced to her younger siblings. "Time for us to get going."

The younger children -barely 6 and 8 years old- nodded enthusiastically before dashing off on their bikes, Éponine and Azelma following close behind. This is how it always went. Éponine and Gavroche would get up extremely early for their first part-time job for that day. She'd get up a bit after they left, getting everything ready to go to school by preparing breakfast and their lunch. She'd also wake the two youngest children and feed them as good as she could. She'd long given up on preserving enough for her parents. They were old enough to get something for themselves. By the time she'd gotten the two younger children ready for school Éponine and Gavroche would show up, only to grab a quick bite, and to get ready for school. Normally Gavroche accompanied Éponine and herself to get the smallest of them to school, but he seemed somehow preoccupied since a few weeks. Azelma fought back the urge to frown. Éponine would notice, and then the older sister would try to get her to smile, taking even more responsibility and trying to get some burden off of her younger sister. She didn't want that. She only wanted things to be the way they were before they got bankrupt, and chased by people to whom her father was indebted to.

Then, after they'd gotten the two to school, they'd make their way to their own high school. From that moment out Azelma would not see her sister for long. They'd part ways inside the building, each meeting up with their own classmates and friends. After school it would be only Azelma, getting the children from school, and she wouldn't see her sister for a long time.

"Bonjour." Éponine greeted her friends as she made her way over to the sole figure, reading on a bench.

"Bonjour." the girl replied before closing her book and looking at Éponine. Anne was her name. She was a beautiful young girl from a normal family. Kind and level-headed she was, and the only one who knew about Éponine's multiple part-time jobs. She'd never asked why she worked so much, realising from the look on Éponine's face that she didn't want to talk about it at all.

In the distance she saw a figure walk, and Éponine dropped her chin onto her open hands. She didn't care if her elbows painfully dug into her legs as she did so. All disappeared when she saw 'him'. Marius Pontmercy. One of the most popular guys in school. She loved him. She'd had a crush on him for years, but she knew she was way out of his league, even if he did talk to her rather often.

"Why don't you just tell him?" Anne asked as she followed her friend's gaze towards the dark haired boy, meeting up with his buds.

"Are you crazy?" Éponine retorted, sitting up and looking Anne straight into her eyes. "We're like night and day, there's no way he feels the same way. He made it clear more than a few times that he sees me as no more than a friend."

"But friendship can turn into something deeper, right?" Anne tried to cheer up her friend.

Éponine shook her head violently. "No. No way in hell." she said, looking away and trying to find another subject to talk about. It was there rather quickly.

"How's it going with that new group on school? Les Amis de...what was it again?"

"Les amis de l'ABC." Anne corrected her, pushing her glasses up. "They're getting a rather big amount of support from the students, but they've hit a wall with the teachers."

Éponine pulled up an eyebrow. "They hit a wall?"

"Yes, it seems that they need to keep their administration in check, and it seems that that is their weak spot, so they must find someone to fill it in."

"You mean like an employee?"

"Of some sort it seems." Anne replied. "They are a group of students, so all must be done by students. And that's where they got themselves into a bind."

"Because there are enough people to join their cause, but not enough to stand up to help them with such an obnoxious task?" Éponine guessed.

"Precisely." Anne replied, turning to put her book back into her rucksack.

"Hmm. Then why don't you do it?" she asked, getting a rather flustered look from her friend.

"M-Me?"

"Sure why not? You've got the hots for that Joly-guy right? It would be a good opportunity to get to know him."

"B-But...He...I..." she struggled.

"You just said to me: 'Just tell him.' Now I'm not telling you to do something so drastic, but it might be a good idea to try and blend in into their group."

Anne sighed. "I'm no good at that 'Ponine. Unlike you I'm not so brave."

"Me? Brave?" Éponine asked, rather taken aback by her brown haired friend who once more pushed up her blue glasses. It was a pity she wore them, she had amazingly green eyes. "You must be kidding me." she laughed, standing up from her spot on the cold bench.

"Don't deny it 'Ponine." Anne said, remaining seated. "You work so many part-time jobs...I'm sure I wouldn't be able to get myself even one..."

"It's not that hard. I'm convinced you would be able to do it." Éponine said, giving her friend a confident smile.

"Perhaps."

"Why don't you just give it a shot?"

"Maybe."

"Look." Éponine said, standing akimbo. "Think about whatever you want to say to them. As to why you want to take the task off of their hands. I'll go with you to confront them with your decision. I'll be there right beside you."

"Perhaps..." Anne said, looking away shyly.

Éponine was about to say something when the bell rang.

Trying to focus during the classes was rather hard for the eldest Thénardier daughter. She was constantly sleepy, and she longed to sleep in for once, but instead she knew she'd had to get up early for at least three two more years. But then, she realised, things would only start. There was no money to get her into college, so she figured she'd just get herself a full-time job. If she dared she'd get out of house, get herself a small house or a big apartment and get her siblings away from her abusing father. Her mother could stay there though. She felt no pity whatsoever for the woman who'd married the beast years ago. Her mind wandered through the options, and was glad with what a future with a good job she'd settle, but then her mind would reel back to the time when they'd been just a regular family, no, a rather well-doing family, before their tavern went bankrupt. She'd had the option to go to college and to study whatever the hell she'd want to study. She'd stopped thinking about law school years ago, but it still lingered somewhere in the back of her mind, like a virus-like longing. She blinked a few times, getting both her thoughts and the sleepiness from her head. Instead she focussed on the course and the clock that hung efficiently above the teachers head. It was both reassuring and depressing at the same time. A few more hours and she'd help her friend put her first steps towards talking with her long-time crush. Her chocolate eyes then glanced at her own watch, and watched somewhat frightfully when she noticed the band was nearing the end of its life. Would she be able to buy a new one? Perhaps a second-hand one?

Finally it was time, and Éponine didn't waste any time getting towards her friend who regarded her hopelessly nervous. Standing outside of the building, where they usually met up.

"Ready to go?" Éponine asked the brunette.

"I'm not so sure Éponine." the girl started, fidgeting with the book in her hands.

Éponine had to fight back both a sigh of frustration and a chuckle. The first one was because she had absolutely no reason to be so nervous, and the second was because she was still clutching to her Jane Austen book. 'Pride And Prejudice' huh?

"Well, I'm sure in your stead." the slightly taller girl said, grabbing her friend by the arm and pulling her towards the building.

Things only got worse for Éponine once they had to get onto the stairs. The normally empty classroom Les Amis were allowed to use was on the third floor, highest up. It was the sole used classroom in school, for a fire had destroyed all the rest. No one ever got up there, it was deserted. Except for the classroom with Les Amis. They were loud and agitated. Students could hear them talk business and laugh throughout the whole hallway one level lower. Though no one could really tell what they were saying.

Éponine was quickly out of breath from pulling her friend along. It wasn't that she didn't have the strength, but the bruise she suffered was making everything harder, as it hurt with the slightest movement she'd make.

"We're here." she stated, making her friend tremble even more in fear.

"Éponine, I..."

Not listening to the girl Éponine knocked onto the door.

"Oh, come on Anne, there's no need to be..." she spoke, looking from her friend to the door which had opened. Only to reveal Pontmercy Marius. Her crush.

"B-Bonjour." she greeted.

"Bonjour." Marius spoke, bowing slightly to which Éponine nodded her head, curtsying slightly. Next to her she felt Anne do the same in a more elegant way.

"'Ponine? Do you need something?"

Quickly shaking her nervousness off of her she turned slightly to Anne. "My friend heard about your little 'problem'."

"What's the matter with you Marius!" they heard a voice from a known figure throughout the whole school. Grantaire was well known for not being shy of acting stupid the whole time. But at the same time, he was by far the most jovial of Les Amis. He would let anyone join them. No matter who, why or for how long. As long as they had a good time, it was all good for him.

"Where are my manners." Marius excused himself, moving to let the girls in.

Looking around Éponine noticed how all the guys -and there were many- looked them up and down. Some wary, some grinning like no tomorrow.

"What do you need with us?" she suddenly heard a deep voice speak up. Looking at the source Éponine found herself in front of Enjolras Jonathan.

"Bonjour Enjolras." she said friendly, though her tone made clear she wanted him to be a little kinder. He quirked an eyebrow at this. He was used to having people respect him, and immediately do as he said, but this girl, for whatever reason, stood up to him. He felt a shudder go through him.

He did not give in to her though.

Éponine sighed mentally, she couldn't deal with him now, nor with the annoyed feeling that went to her stomach like a thousand jolts of electricity.

"We're here for the 'problem' you're facing." she said, motioning for her and Anne.

"Problem?" Enjolras asked. He hated how fast news travelled.

"About the administrative side of your group." Anne spoke softly, seeing Éponine wasn't going to reply.

Éponine resisted the urge to just turn on her heel and get the hell away from there. The young man in front of her annoyed her beyond limits, and then she had a friend next to her who replied to his every question.

Enjolras regarded the smaller girl next to the defiant one that annoyed him. "Administration." he mumbled. "Yes, we could actually use someone who could do some things for us." he motioned for the girls to follow towards a desk.

They sat down.

"Could you tell us some more of the requirements?" Anne asked in such a shy way that Éponine felt sorry for her, and she was her best friend!

"Well as you know Les Amis de l'ABC are a group of students aiming for the equality of every student. At this moment in time, it is not so. Not by a long shot. So, we have representatives in almost every class, among which me."

Anne nodded. Éponine just folded her hands in front of her chest and regarded him intently. He didn't seem to care and continued.

"It brings a lot of work along with it, seeing as the representatives are now not only responsible for the needs of Les Amis, but also serve as a voice from the students towards the teachers. It's a lot of work."

Éponine fought back the urge to roll her eyes. What did the rich boy think a lot of work was?

"I see." Anne spoke. "So it's more than just the group, but more the entirety of it all for which you need help."

Enjolras nodded. Looking rather pleased with the girl in front of him. The girl with the glasses caught on fairly quickly. The defiant one however...he did not know what to think of her. She seemed nice, but she had a rough exterior which kept him from seeing what she was really about, and most of the time, he could read people fairly quickly. She was interesting. An enigma. A fierce one at that.

He cleared his throat. "So, I do not know whether or not you still feel up to the task..." he trailed off expectantly, throwing a glance at Joly, Combeferre, and Grantaire. Marius stood a while back, regarding them closely.

Within seconds his friends had made clear what they wanted. Enjolras felt like kicking Grantaire, but realized well enough how smart the guy was. So he really had to do that then, eh?

To his relief the shy one of the two nodded hefty. "Of course I do." she replied with a kind smile.

"And you?" Enjolras asked the Thénardier.

"Huh? What?" Éponine asked as she realised she was addressed. "Oh no, I'm not here for that purpose."

He raised an eyebrow. "Then why...?"

Sensing Anne's distress she sighed deeply. "I was just curious." her eyes travelled towards her watch. She could only afford to lose another ten minutes. This was taking far too long. It was supposed to be enough to just get Anne in, and then she'd dash out before they could do anything else. She cursed mentally. Her shift in the diner would start in twenty minutes. She'd have to make a dash for it to still make it on time. She frowned as she thought about the bruise. Would she be alright dashing? Well, she'd have to wait and see. She still felt Enjolras' gaze on her, and she now realised well enough the impact the young man had. She'd heard it from other girls who swooned over him like no tomorrow, but it really was something to be in his presence, though she only felt annoyed. His dark hair and eyes seemed to pierce through her, examining her very core.

"So you're going to leave your best friend with all the work?" Grantaire chimed in.

Éponine turned around wildly. "What?!" she snapped. The last thing she wanted to be charged for was leaving someone in need. She wasn't like that! She wasn't like the scum her father hung around with! "I'd never!"

"Then why don't you join?" Grantaire went on, receiving a glare from the girl.

"Look you..." she started, standing up from her seat and looking the tall boy into the eyes. "I did not come here for that purpose..."

"So you are leaving your friend alone with the work." Enjolras joined into the conversation.

Éponine, horrified, turned to both guys.

"Just look at her." Grantaire teased. "You leaving a girl so cute and kind all alone with us? And all the work?"

Éponine felt trapped. In guilt. She'd sworn never to become like her father. Sworn never to become scum that left behind friends for their own good. She'd sworn to become strong, and to be there for anyone who needed her. She glanced at Anne, who smile rather sadly and somewhat nervously.

Enjolras noticed the look of distress onto the girls face and felt a pang of guilt. He stopped talking her into joining, but it seemed Grantaire was sure to have her in their team, going on relentlessly.

"Then join." he said, holding up another copy of the paper he'd laid down in front of Anne, who immediately started to fill in the forms.

Éponine was in horror. She didn't want to let down anyone, but the mental pressure, along with the time pressure was pushing down on her. She really had to leave in five minutes, or she would be scolded for being late, and who knows, she might lose one of her precious jobs.

"I need to go." she spoke, but Grantaire didn't give up.

"You're really letting down your friend?"

At the door Éponine gripped the doorknob firmly, and she felt locked. She'd sworn. But she didn't have time. She'd sworn. No time. Sworn. No Time. Oath. Time. Money. Time. Brothers. Sisters. Friends. Time. Money. Job.

Before she knew what was going on she'd grabbed the damned paper from Grantaire's hands and -with a pen that appeared from out of nowhere- filled in the form, signing it without as much as a thought. A sign that bound her to an enormous amount of work, and an enormous responsibility she'd soon have to carry.

And that was how Éponine became part of Les Amis.

Hey you guys! This is my first Les Misérables fanfiction, and I'm so excited to go see the movie tomorrow that I thought, why not throw a fanfic up on the internet. The 'sad' (?) thing is this just kept growing and growing from a simple thought for a one-shot into this. It's going to be huge, and I'll need a long time to get it all written down. Especially since I want to show how hard it's to be poor in the world of today. And -even if it annoys even me- I want to show how the revolution is far from over. If you open your eyes, you'll find that the world of today doesn't differ too much from that of Victor Hugo's time. Wow, enough of the 'Revolution' peptalk. Let me think what you thought of the first chapter and make me happy! XD