The lights coming from the mansion cast a warm, cheery glow over the entire street. This could mean only one thing: some upper class family was holding a ball. Eponine silently crept up to the mansion's window and peered inside with wistful eyes. She took in the women's beautiful dresses and the men's tailored suits, the marble floor and the elegant hangings. Eponine wished she could be one of the ladies being whirled around the floor by dashing gentlemen.
There was a dull reflection of herself in the glass pane in front of her. She arranged her stringy brown hair in several different styles, but couldn't find one that made her look remotely like the gorgeous women in spiraling around the ballroom. Then she examined her skirt and blouse. Right away, she knew that a comparison to the fancy dresses she saw was hopeless. Her clothing was strewn with tears and a few failed attempts at mending. "I was pretty once," Eponine murmured, and it was true. When she was younger, Eponine had been a beautiful girl. Her maman used to instruct her carefully on how to be beautiful. She taught her to give her hair one hundred strokes with a brush to make it shine and keep her skin a perfect shade of ivory.
Then everything changed. A mysterious stranger paid Eponine's parents a good deal of money, she never knew how much, to take away the Thernadiers' servant girl, Cosette. Monsieur Thernadier had run after the man to try to demand more money for Cosette, but couldn't find him. For a while, Eponine had enjoyed a brief period of luxury. Another servant girl was hired, and things ran smoothly. But the money was soon gone and a year later the inn went bankrupt. Then the family had moved to Paris and got themselves into their current situation.
Eponine could never go back to the little girl she once was, and she knew that. That was why should could never been like the fashionable women she saw through the window.
Suddenly, one of the women walked up towards the window, saw Eponine, and screamed. "Abel!" she cried, "A thief! A thief!" The woman caught everyone at the ball's attention, and they all flocked towards the window. Eponine knew she had to run. She took off into an alley and flung herself against a wall, panting.
The faint strains of a stately waltz coming from the mansion, where order had been restored, still made their way to Eponine's ears. Slowly, under the veil of night, she began to dance.
"One, two, three, one, two three," she counted aloud. Eponine performed the steps of the waltz. After all those nights of watching aristocratic women do the dance, she had learned to do it herself. She wasn't that good at it, but she could execute the steps in a rudimentary and coarse manner.
A warm voice behind her asked, "Care for a partner, 'Ponine?" She started and turned around. She could make out the figure of a man. The moon sent a ray of light over his face.
"Good evening, Monsieur Marius," Eponine replied with a rushed curtsey.
"Good evening, 'Ponine." There was an awkward silence, neither of them knowing quite what to say. Marius repeated his question, "So, do you care for a partner, 'Ponine?"
Eponine didn't know how to respond. She had daydreamed of dancing with Marius before, but somehow she never believed that her fantasies would become reality. Somehow, her lips managed to form the word, "Sure." Marius took her in a dancing hold and they began to whirl around the alley. It was just how Eponine had dreamed that it would be, besides that fact that they werewaltzing in a dark alleyway. Marius was such a good dancer. His feet glided over the pavement as he smoothly went through the steps.
The dance ended. Eponine sighed. Her Cinderella night was over. Slowly, she plodded off into the darkness.
Marius cried from behind her, "Wait, 'Ponine!" She immediately stopped and turned around. Marius ran towards her and she thought she felt his lips meet hers…
"Will you deliver this to Cosette for me, 'Ponine?" Eponine head jerked up at the sound of Marius' voice.
"Sure." She took the slip of paper from his hand and headed off towards the Rue Plumet. It had all just been another daydream. No such dream would ever come true, no matter how much she wanted it to.
A/N: What do you all think? Please R&R. Flames are welcome!