"You ungrateful girl!"

Thenardier brought his belt upon his daughter, Azelma. She shrank away in the pain that he inflicted upon her. She had had to miss school that day to go do a robbery with her father because at this time of the day, everybody was at work or school, and the houses were practically empty. Perfect for thieving.

15 year old Azelma had went to the site, but refused to steal anything. She had put up an argument with her father, which earned her this beating. She heard a door slam. Eponine was home with Gavroche.

Both Azelma and Eponine went to Lamarque High School, while Gavroche went to Steven Middle School. Every day, Eponine and Azelma and ride the bus to the bus stop before their home, and walk a block to Gavroche's stop. Then they would all walk home. Azelma didn't want Eponine to be home, though. She would most likely run to Azelma and take the beatings for her. Eponine was still recovering from the hits last night.

Eponine hung her and Gavroche's coat on the flimsy coat rack by the door. Gavroche pulled his backpack into the room all three siblings shared. Most likely he would start listening to music instead of doing homework. She sighed. The 16 year old suddenly heard a scream. Azelma. Eponine ran into the tiny living room. There was her father, towering over Azelma like a giant, holding a belt with one hand. As he brought the makeshift whip down, Eponine threw herself in Azelma's way.

The pain came quickly and spread to her leg after being whipped on her waist. Before she could move, a fist came flying at her, and landed on her cheek.

"So, you're taking another beating fer yer sister, eh?" Thenardier sneered. He threw another punch. "Well, I don't mind rearranging your pretty face. You have no friends to help yeh anyway. "

"The boys are my friends!" Eponine cried. She received another blow.

"Shut up!" Thenardier roared. He whipped her back, then put it back around his waist, giving her a swift kick in the side. "Those boys are your friends out of sympathy! They don't really care about you!" He stormed out of the room. Azelma ran to her sister's side.

"'Ponine, are you okay?"

"Yes, 'Zelma, I'm fine. Why don't you go and find 'Vroche?" With that, Azelma sped away to find Gavroche in their tiny bedroom. Eponine groaned and picked herself up. There was no blood, but she was sure that she would have quite a few dark bruises. Her phone vibrated.

Marius: R u ok? U haven't txt me in a while.

Eponine: Ya, I'm fine. 'Zelma was getting beaten so I jumped in the way.

Marius: God, 'Ponine. The things u do. R u hurt? Usually those beatings r harsh. I can pick u up.

Eponine: Don't u fret, Monsieur Marius. I don't feel any pain. A little fall of rain, can hardly hurt me now.

Marius: It's not raining.

Eponine: Whatever.

Marius: Do u still want me 2 pick u up? Enjolras, Grantaire, Courfeyrac, and Combeferre r at my place.

Eponine: That'd be great. C u in 20.

Eponine had only told Marius about her beatings, she didn't want the rest of the guys to start worrying about her.

Another thing that really bothered Eponine was Cosette. Eponine and Cosette had known each other since preschool, where Eponine had been the pretty, well-dressed, popular mean girl up to fourth grade. Then Cosette had taken over once her father had been promoted to president of the law company he worked for. Cosette had always been bullied by Eponine when they were young, so she took all her time to make Eponine feel bad in high school.

Marius had been crushing on Cosette ever since he laid eyes on her, and Eponine had been crushing on Marius since they became friends. Who wouldn't? He was kind, sweet, caring, cute, handsome, talkative, funny, and sympathetic. Sympathetic. Was he friends with Eponine just because he felt sorry for her? Was Thenardier right? Oh, she hoped not!

The ring of the doorbell brought Eponine out of her worries. It must be Marius. Eponine ran to get the door and threw it open.

"Hey 'Ponine!" Marius exclaimed. He hugged her. Eponine winced in pain as he touched one of her bruises from last night. He drew back immediately. Then he saw the damage and his eyes widened.

"Oh! Here! Get in my car quickly and let's go back to my place before it gets any worse! I have some ice back home." Eponine smiled gratefully up at him.

"Thank you, Marius." They walked towards the car together. Then Eponine finally brought up the courage to ask Marius the question that had been nagging her the past few minutes.

"Marius, are friends with me simply because you feel sorry, or because you really like me?" Eponine asked quietly. Marius looked at her in surprise.

"'Ponine! Of course I like you! If I were to just feel sorry, you wouldn't be my best, best friend. No. 'Ponine, you're my friend because of who you are." That statement made Eponine feel a lot better.

The first thing Marius did when he got home was grab some ice. He handed the pack who Eponine, who accepted it gratefully. Even though Eponine was not a popular girl, she was still friends with the jocks of the school.

Marius, Enjolras, Courfeyrac, Combeferre, Grantaire, Feuilly, Jean Prouvaire, and Joly were all on the football team called the Revolutionaries, Enjolras being the team Captain. All the girls adored him. He was smart, handsome, popular, and athletic. Grantaire had dark hair, and fairly smart but refused to show it. Combeferre wore glasses, and also had dark hair. He was very philosophical. Courfeyrac had dark hair with green eyes that were always thinking of trouble. Feuilly was a wonderful artist with blond hair. Joly was a medical student and worried about everything. Jean Prouvaire was a romantic, end of story.

Once her bruises started to stop swelling, Eponine walked into the huge living room. The boys greeted her with a huge whoop, which made Eponine smile. Grantaire and Joly moved aside so that she could sit next to them. She felt a lot better.