A/N: This was written in response to a prompt from the lovely, sweet, beautiful Thea (unicornesque on , youarethesentinels on tumblr) for Thea Appreciation Weekend and also to say thank you for all the times her beautiful words have made me cry. Thank you Thea, I hope I haven't let you down!
The prompt was 'Enjolras/Éponine IB kid problems', and it is exactly that. (And if I said I didn't base this off my own IB experiences I'd be lying...)
I hope you enjoy, and if you're a fellow IB alumnus I hope you can relate!
Éponine silently curses herself. Of course I would be foolish enough to take my second language as a first language subject.
Much to the chagrin of Éponine, the Common Room in the IB Suite was abuzz. Their Theory Of Knowledge presentations were set for the following week, and everyone was either practicing or arguing with their group (if they had chosen to be in one) over Knowledge Issues.
Frankly, Éponine couldn't give a fuck about TOK, and if she heard someone mention the Ways of Knowing again she was positive she would punch them in the throat. All she wanted was a pass, because the rest of her grades were good enough, her final Works in Translation essay was due this Friday and her Extended Essay supervisor had rejected her draft (again).
Éponine felt a migraine coming on, so she decided to take a break from Santiago Nasar, Gabriel García Márquez and Chronicle of a Death Foretold. She shut her laptop and placed her head in her hands, rubbing her temples in the process.
Cosette looked up from her own laptop and placed a hand lightly on Éponine's shoulder. "What's wrong, Ep?"
When Cosette and Marius first became an item back in sophomore year, the latter tried desperately to get his childhood friend and his girlfriend to interact. Although at first Éponine had no desire to be friends with the lark beside her, IB tends to bring people together; having three classes with Cosette (two of which were Higher Levels) meant they spent a lot of time together, whether Éponine liked it or not. When they were partnered for one of their Biology experiments, a dreadful Internal Assessment on the enzyme catalase, Éponine realised that Cosette wasn't so bad after all. It wasn't Cosette's fault that the boy Éponine had (stupidly) pined over for years was quite oblivious. Besides, now that they were in senior year Éponine had no time for relationships; deadlines were looming, university deadlines included. She sometimes wondered how Marius and Cosette even managed to spend time together, since neither took any of the same classes nor had the same CAS activities.
"It's just so fucking loud in here. How can you guys write like this?"
"What can I say, Bulgakov is calling to me." Jehan, too, closed his laptop. Éponine retaliated by sticking her tongue out at him, to which he sniggered. "I'm kidding. But this damned essay is due in two days, Ep. We gotta finish it whether we like it or not."
"I know, but I singlehandedly blame IB for making me hate one of my favourite authors. Seriously, I didn't realise that writing about Márquez was such a pain in the ass."
Jehan frowned. "Hey, you think Márquez is a pain? I had to change my title three times because it was 'too broad.' I love The Master and Margarita but Bulgakov's novel is so deep it's hard to keep within 1,500 words!"
At this point, Cosette joined her two classmates and shut her laptop. "It's not like The Reader is a piece of cake either, you guys. We're all having a tough time."
Éponine sighed. "Why the fuck did we take our second language as a first language subject? Where was our logic in taking English Literature HL?"
The trio looked at each other in silence for a full minute (with the background noise of TOK presentations) before bursting into laughter.
"It's true! Why on earth did we take French as a second language and not first!" Cosette was barely audible between her fits of laughter.
A loud bang near them interrupted the group's mirth. Startled, the trio looked up to see a red-faced Enjolras standing next to the doorway (why they sat next to the door, Éponine did not know). He appeared to be scouring the room for someone to vent at, but seeing as his slamming of the door did not catch anyone else's attention, he did not see any of his friends.
Jehan stuck his left arm up and waved. "Enjolras, over here!"
The blonde boy looked over at the trio on the table and made his way over, plunking down in the chair next to Jehan's.
Great, Éponine thought. The one person who could interrupt our moment of happiness and make my mood worse than before.
Cosette smiled at Enjolras, always being the most patient of their circle of friends. "What's wrong, Enjolras? You look like a steam engine, I can practically see you fuming out of your ears!"
Éponine knew that had anyone other than Cosette said that she would currently be listening to a shouting match. The lark seemed to be blessed with the inability to incur wrath.
Although his facial expression did not change, Enjolras turned to look at Cosette, before glancing at Éponine and Jehan. "Damn that man, Monsieur Javert!"
Jehan, Éponine and Cosette glanced at each other quickly. Monsieur Javert, their school's CAS Coordinator, was a strict man, following all the rules by the book. CAS proposal forms had to be in before the activity started and blogs had to be updated every week, otherwise Javert would not hesitate to take away their much needed CAS hours. While they didn't really get along, Javert and Éponine respected each other because she was one of the few who had completed her 150 hours of CAS, as well as her CAS project, in junior year and without a hitch. Éponine didn't believe in forging CAS signatures and was pretty anal about her blog – she couldn't sleep if it wasn't in order. Although she was lacking in Action hours, her Creativity and Service hours made up for it. Éponine knew, however, that there were people who were awful at CAS and had therefore fallen into Javert's bad books. Enjolras was one of them.
Jehan handed his water bottle to his friend. "Did he reject your CAS project proposal again?"
Enjolras took a sip and nodded. "He said my proposal 'wasn't CAS' and that if I don't complete my project by Christmas he'll fail me."
The three English Literature students took a sharp intake of breath. Failing CAS meant failing IB.
The blonde boy sighed. "CAS is ridiculous anyway. 150 hours of Creativity, Action and Service plus a project and we don't even get bonus points for it!" Wary of disagreeing with him, his friends nodded. "I don't even see what's wrong with organising a protest! I was gonna do it anyway but I thought I might be able to use it as my CAS project." He sighed again. "I don't want to fail IB…"
Éponine rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well at least you don't have to re-do your Extended Essay draft for the third time."
Cosette gasped. "Really, Fantine rejected your draft again?"
"Mm-hmm. Something about 'not following the IB guidelines." She turned to face Enjolras. "So quit complaining, because at this rate you're not the only one who's gonna fail IB."
Cosette frowned deeply, a look that did not suit her. "I don't know why Maman is being so tough on you, Ep. Do you want me to talk to her?"
"No, she's just trying to be safe. She likes my ideas, but isn't sure they fit the guidelines so wants me to change my title again to be safe."
Enjolras leaned forward. "What's your Extended Essay on? English Literature?"
Éponine nodded. "Yeah, I wanted to do something about comparing how accurately literary interpretations of the French Revolution portray reality, and was thinking of using books like A Tale of Two Cities. I've done all the research but I need a new title…" She sighed. Her migraine was returning.
"You could focus on how literary techniques portray the reality of the situation? For example, in A Tale of Two Cities, the broken wine cask is a symbol of the literal and metaphorical thirst the people feel…"
Éponine was pleasantly surprised by this suggestion. "Hey, that's a good idea. Thanks, Enjolras."
Jehan suddenly lit up. "Guys, idea! Enjolras, you're pretty much an expert on the French Revolution, right?" The boy in question nods. "And Éponine, you still have contact with the nearby children's home, right?"
To say 'still have contact' was the understatement of the century. Éponine spent long hours at the children's home volunteering, and while her friends thought it was because of kindness and good rapport (and sometimes CAS hours), the truth was much closer to her heart. The children's home did not only house orphans, but children whose parents could not afford to care for them. It broke Éponine's heart, the day her parents had to leave Gavroche and Azelma at the home. Éponine was lucky that she was at school on scholarship, and that being almost 18 meant she could have a part-time job on the weekends. Still, she spent as much time as she could at the home, spending time with her siblings and also volunteering, as the staff there knew her well.
But instead of telling Jehan this, she gave him a small nod.
Jehan clapped his hands together. "Excellent! Enjolras, you could help Éponine with her EE a bit, and in return Éponine could put you in touch with the staff at the home!"
Enjolras looked at Éponine, raising his eyebrows.
She shrugged.
The next few weeks seemed to fly by faster than usual. With TOK presentations out of the way, the IB students were left to focus on their Extended Essay, whose deadline was rapidly approaching.
All of the Amis faired well on their TOK presentations; to her surprise, Éponine and Grantaire not only passed their TOK presentation, but also managed to scrape a B. Their group presentation on 'How do you define a language?' was, in true IB fashion, a night-before effort that they had only teamed up for because neither could be bothered about TOK. However, with this B, Éponine became more hopeful of being awarded some bonus points in her final score – Enjolras' suggestion for her EE had proved most helpful, and Éponine was finally getting some writing done.
Enjolras was also optimistic, for once, as Éponine was true to her word – Javert had finally accepted his CAS project proposal and the planning was well underway. Because the CAS project was a group effort, Enjolras managed to rope Éponine into joining him, as she knew the home better than anyone else. They decided to organise a fundraising concert for the home, as well as the entertainment of the children, which was set the weekend after the Extended Essay deadline. Although Éponine was reluctant at first, she agreed for two reasons. One, she did not want to have to be blamed for Enjolras' failing of IB and two, for Gavroche and Azelma; any penny the home received was put to good use.
Neither of them would have chosen the other as their first choice to work together, but somehow they both made it work. Enjolras, being the people person, did most of the work – collecting performers, promoting the concert and selling tickets – while Éponine did most of the coordinating with the staff at the home.
Éponine found it odd, spending so much time with Enjolras. At lunchtimes they sat together to discuss the project but often found themselves deviating from the topic, getting to know each other instead. Enjolras would sometimes give Éponine some advice for her EE, and Éponine in return would help him improve his Calculus and Trigonometry skills.
"If you like history so much, why didn't you take it?" he asked her one day.
Éponine frowned. "I wanted to. I really did. But if I am even going to consider medicine or science in the future I need chemistry. I'm not that bad at it, and it'll get me where I want to go. I can always read a history book or something if I want to learn history…"
Enjolras nodded. The two ate in silence for a few minutes before he piped up again. "So then why did you take English Lit HL instead of Maths HL?"
"I like literature." She shrugged. "And Monsieur Mabeuf only teaches the Statistics option for HL. I would never be caught doing Statistics at HL."
He pursed his lips at her response, considering her words. "I've heard that they have more than eight different types of distributions at HL… and I thought standardised, inverse and binomial distributions were terrible."
She caught Enjolras' eyes at this, and they both burst out laughing.
The following Tuesday morning, after months of work and dozens of title changes, Éponine handed in her final Extended Essay.
When she signed the paper, acknowledging that she had handed it in and she had not plagiarised, Éponine almost felt like crying – this damned essay was finally over with.
She almost skipped to the Common Room from Fantine's office. Éponine was normally among the first in school (she had her reasons), but she knew Enjolras was often early as well and she wanted to share her good news with someone. She felt weird over the fact that she was skipping to see Enjolras, whom she had disliked for most of secondary school, but he had helped her a lot with her EE and she wanted to give him a final thank you.
Éponine threw the door open and scanned the room. As she guessed, the only person she could see was nestled on one of the couches with his back to her, golden curls bouncing to whatever was playing on his iPod. She immediately ran across the room and leaned over the back of the couch next to him, startling Enjolras out of his reverie.
"Geez, Éponine, you frightened me for a second there."
Éponine bit her lip. "It's DONE! I handed in my EE!" she squealed, holding up her hand for a high-five.
Enjolras smiled, putting down his book to return the five. "Congratulations, Éponine. I'll follow suit."
He ruffled in his bag and produced a handsome leather folder with his initials on the front. Éponine rolled her eyes – of course Enjolras would have fancy stationary to hold his EE in. Enjolras got up and started to leave, but seemed to remember something when he was halfway to the door.
He turned to face her. "So how did the meeting with Javert go? He's okay with our final plans for the concert?"
Éponine lowered her head, her eyes darkening. "I thought you were meeting him."
Enjolras' eyes bore into hers. "No, you were supposed to meet him." He spoke through gritted teeth.
Éponine's heart sank. If neither of them had met with Javert, their last meeting with him had been two weeks ago. That meant that he had not been updated on their progress and could potentially stop the CAS project now, failing Enjolras.
They stared at each other for a few minutes before the shouting began.
"YOU SAID YOU WERE GOING TO DO IT!"
"I SAID NO SUCH THING, YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I'VE BEEN STRUGGLING WITH MY EXTENDED ESSAY BECAUSE OF ALL THE WORK I'VE BEEN DOING FOR THIS DAMN CAS PROJECT!"
"IN CASE YOU DIDN'T REALISE, YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE DOING IB. I WAS ALSO BUSY WITH MY EXTENDED ESSAY WHICH I RE-DID THREE TIMES!"
"WHO HELPED YOU WITH YOUR EXTENDED ESSAY?! AND YOU HAVEN'T DONE SHIT FOR THIS PROJECT, I'VE BEEN DOING ALL THE WORK!"
"WELL I'M NOT THE ONE WHO NEEDS IT!"
"YEAH AND NOW I'VE FAILED BECAUSE OF YOU!"
Éponine glared at Enjolras. "I've done enough for you already Enjolras. You better be grateful for all the time I gave up for you."
And with that she exited the IB Suite.
Fuming, and not wanting to see her friends, Éponine went to the only place she could think of for comfort – Monsieur Valjean's office, the school's IB Coordinator.
Éponine didn't even bother waiting for a reply to her knock before entering – he had always told her to come to his office anytime. When she entered the office she went straight for the large stuffed animal in the corner, named Ruby the IB Dog, and buried her face in its faux fur.
Valjean had won the stuffed animal at a charity auction and not knowing what to do with it, brought it to school for his IB students to hug when they were having a rough day. It was a wise decision – the dog comforted at least fifteen students every week.
"Goodness, it's not even 8am yet and you're already hugging the dog. What's wrong, Madame Jondrette?"
Without pulling her face out of Ruby's fur, Éponine told Valjean about her fight with Enjolras.
Valjean removed his glasses and sighed. "Éponine, sit down."
She complied.
"Today is a big day for you. You're ticking off things from that checklist, and you're almost done. You're done with most of your Internal Assessments, your TOK presentation and your Extended Essay. I'm sure both of you are just lashing out at each other because of the IB stress, and that's normal." Valjean put his glasses back on and opened up his calendar. "You're so close to finishing, Éponine. And you've done so well; don't let something as petty as this get you down. Now, go to class. Don't worry about anything, I'll talk to Javert."
Éponine smiled. Monsieur Valjean could always calm her down with his kind words. "Thank you Monsieur."
When Éponine and Enjolras got word from Javert that their project was still on (although he did treat them to a stern warning about progress updates), neither were willing to apologise for the things said. However, because both saw how far they'd come and how futile it would be to back out now – not to mention how Enjolras would fail if they backed out – the pair mutually agreed to cooperate with each other at least until the project was over.
At the concert, Cosette's drama class performed a hilarious pantomime that the children loved, Jehan did a recital of some of his poems and Musichetta even sang a few songs. Grantaire also auctioned some of his artworks to the attendees – the whole event was a success.
After the concert Les Amis stuck around to help clean up the cafeteria, although Éponine, Combeferre, Enjolras, Marius and Cosette ended up doing most of the cleaning. Courfeyrac and Bahorel had found themselves two college student volunteers to chat up, Grantaire was trying to sell his last piece and Joly, Bossuet and Musichetta were playing with some of the children. Éponine, however, was not annoyed with her friends; she found it quite funny, especially when one of the younger kids bit Joly and he insisted on going home to treat his 'wound.'
Eventually Éponine and Enjolras were the only two left in the cafeteria, the other Amis having either gone home to work on Internal Assessments or to the Café Musain to procrastinate. Éponine snuck off to quickly say goodbye to Gavroche and Azelma since she had to learn some Seamus Heaney for her English Individual Oral Commentary next week.
When she returned, Enjolras was waiting for her with her coat in his hands.
"Good job today, Éponine."
She smiled. "You too."
The pair shrugged into their coats, said thank you and goodbye to the staff and exited into the cool December air.
"It's already dark out. I should walk you home, Éponine."
She laughed and started walking. "You can walk me to the Musain, my house is way too far from here. I'll grab some dinner at the Musain and catch a bus from there."
Enjolras smiled. "Mind if I join you for dinner, then?"
"Of course not. But I won't be much fun. I've got my IOC and some IAs due next week so I need to leave early to study."
He rolled his eyes. "Ugh. IB. It's such a pain in the ass – when one deadline is over, the next one is practically in our face again!"
"I know right! It's so annoying. And now we have our bloody TOK essay to do… Which title did you choose?"
"I'm still deciding. I might do the one about emotion and reason, though. What about you?"
Éponine paused to think. "I think I'm gonna do the one about imagination. TOK is so fucking aggravating though, it's like a language on its own."
Enjolras laughed. "Well, I enjoy TOK but I suppose that's because Combeferre and I are quite interested in philosophy. But I get where you're coming from, because that's how I feel about maths!"
It was Éponine's turn to laugh. "Maybe you can help me with TOK and I can continue helping you with maths."
He turned to face her. "I'd like that."
As the Musain was not far from the home, the pair spent the rest of the walk (about two minutes) in companionable silence.
They stopped right outside the Musain, breath fogging in the crisp evening air.
Éponine looked up at Enjolras and half-smiled. "You know, you're not so bad."
He held her stare, smirking. "Neither are you."
Suddenly the prospect of having an Internal Assessment due and her IOC on Monday didn't seem so bad anymore.
And because Éponine was genuinely glad the worst was over, she reached out in the semi-darkness and pulled Enjolras into a hug. "Thanks for everything."
Though at first Éponine sensed his surprise (she smirked into his chest for that), she eventually felt his arms settle around her, returning the embrace. "And thank you, Éponine."
Maybe things weren't so bad after all.