I was late. I knew I was, right before I entered the ABC. Nearly by now I was a member of ‚Les Amis de l'ABC', and being late for my first meeting was no good omen. I shut the door behind me and ran up the stairs. As I stood in a silent room, ten guys staring at the young woman that was now taking a gasp. „Hello Guys, I'm Valentine!", I tried to grin, but it wasn't so easy. A blonde boy with a flag of France around his waist stood up and said: „So you are the new member Grantaire told us about. I hope you don't drink with him. " He didn't smile, though, but I thought he was great. And his hair…! Grantaire now grinned at me, I grinned back and walked over to him. „Hi Granny. " , I greeted and sat down beside him. Grantaire has told me about their leader –Enjolras-sooner and I thought he was even better how you imagine this tough young man with his good-looking hair who didn't smile at all. Well, it seemed that he was angry about a boy named Marius who sat on the other side of Grantaire, who talked about love and a girl he has met but just didn't know her name. Granny made some jokes about Marius behavior and Enjolras –what a name! I will call him Enny in the future because it sounds cuter- said he didn't care about his lonely soul, there was a larger goal to reach and that our lives didn't count at all. He was right and I found him more sympathic minute by minute. I came to know that I didn't like Marius at all-and that girl he was talking about all the time, for god's sake, what a bi… pity I mean.
After the meeting I came over to Enny who looked out of the window, down on the street. „I wanted to apologize for coming late. ", I grumbled, because Granny sent me to make a good second view of me. Enjolras turned and looked at me suspiciously. I gulped and took on a little smile. „I hope you know that we all will die if we fight for our aim. " I nodded. I knew long before I stepped into this room. "So what are you doing here, a young woman who surely could do something else then planning a revolution?" I grumbled again, because that was what all other boys think. "My father works for the government and it's just not fair what he does. I want to help the people so that they can get a better life. I don't care about whether I am living or not after the fight!", I said ambitiously and took one of the French-flower-stickers and put it on my blouse at the height of the right side of my chest. "I can't stand the government being like they are to the poor and the weak people." He nodded, it seemed as if he was convinced. I started to speak again, when he opened his mouth to say something, so for a second or two there was silence between us, I looked up to him and then he spoke: "What's the matter with you?" I needed a second to understand what he meant and so I said in an anxious behavior: "I wanted to know the lyrics of your songs, I didn't get all of 'em during the meeting." Again he nodded and began to sing with his voice of an angel. A very dark angel, but it sounded heavenly. As I couldn't stand it anymore I jumped in and sang with him together. My heart pumped my blood through my veins, it sounded weird in my ears, but you couldn't say there was no harmony between our two souls. I nearly expected him to kiss me in the moment the song ended, but I heard Granny before he put his arm around my waist and said gently: "Drink with me, Valentine, drink with me!" In his left hand there was one of this greenish glass bottles and I could smell the alcohol from his mouth. Enjolras, now again impatient, grumbled: "Put the damn bottle down Grantaire." Granny grinned and pulled me close to him. "But Valentine wants to drink with me." I rolled my eyes and said quietly: "No, Granny, not today." I smiled wearily to Enjolras. "Excuse me, I think Granny needs to sleep now. I'll carry him down into one of these rooms.", I decided and took the bottle out of Grantaire's hand. Enjolras shook his head and went on the other side of Granny to put his arm around his shoulders. I watched every movement closely and then began to walk. Enjolras followed and we went down the stairs to one of the bedrooms. When Grantaire was 'arrested' in one of the beds, Enny and I stepped outside again and he excused his best friend: "I'm so sorry he was like that, he's drunk." I smiled wearily. "Oh, I know him good enough to not care about that fact." I twinkled and grabbed his hand in order to pull us to one of the table. "Do you drink too?" He laughed silently and answered: "Not with him, but I think today we have to thank our dear friend General Lamarque." Some of the boys were also still in the ABC, so we began to drink wine. "General Lamarque may be dead, but the hour of faith has come. The people will come one and all, they will come when we call!", Enjolras repeated his words from the last hour again and drank his glass of wine in one gulp. I nipped at my glass of wine and began to get an overview of the group. I met General Lamarque three years ago at a meeting of the Generals, my father wasn't there so that I had to go, as his daughter. Sunken in my thoughts I didn't really notice Enny sat besides me and looked at me. I noticed it in the moment he began to grin. I looked at him, nearly surprised. "For how long do you sit here, again?", I tried to not feel captured, but it didn't work so I played with one of my dark brown strikes of hair. I stopped thinking about my mad father and smiled a bit caught. He grinned, that was surprisingly cool. "You should laugh more often.", I said, no louder than I had to. He understood and said: "And what about you? You aren't thirsty I see." I nodded, I was no Alcoholic and I didn't want to become one in the future. He reached for my glass and I gave it to him so that he could put it on one of the tables. I was sitting on a seat from where I could overwatch everything and so I did notice that the most boys were going home now. "Are you going too, soon?", I asked to come up with a conversation. He shook his head. "Home is where the heart is." I didn't understand what he meant yet, but I nodded. "That's right. But if that would only be the truth I would be homeless like so many other people.", I answered and he laughed again. But he didn't laugh at me. That was nice. The phrases I said were much too poetic than anybody could take them for real. I grinned a bit unhappy. "Oh c'mon I like the way you talk. Sure, it's too much to say you are like me, by now, but you think like you should." I didn't know what to say. So I said: "So you stay here? 'Till morning? When I go home now, I would stay the night in empty halls." I sighed. My father never comes home and my mother was dead, so nobody waits for me. Nobody. Somehow I hoped there was somebody who waited for Enjolras, so I asked: "Is there anybody waiting for you?" He shook his head again and pulled me closer to his chest. "You are tired, I can see that you are.", he said. I took it for an answer and closed my eyes. He smelled as good as he looked like and somehow I sighed again. "You have to sleep too, Enny." I didn't recognize that I called him Enny because I fell asleep partly right after I said it.