Bzz. Bzz. Bzz.

"Ugh, what!?" Éponine groaned. She turned her head to the side and saw her phone screen was lit up. One new message was sitting waiting for her. It was from one of her friends, Musichetta.

Can you come at 7:30 today? The sub for you yesterday sorted everything wrong, it's a mess.

Bzz.

Fraure wants you to come.

Éponine turned her head into her pillow for a moment, wanting to stay in bed for as long as she could. Then she unlocked her phone and replied I'll be there as soon as I can.

Éponine swung herself out of the bed and dressed herself. From the bathroom while she brushed her teeth, she could hear Azelma and the boys laughing and talking to each other as they got ready for school.

Éponine sighed and looked at herself in the mirror. Dark brown hair that had a bit of a curl in it fell down her back. Her eyes matched her hair, but were a shade of brown that was neither endearing nor captivating. They were simply brown. Éponine supposed with a bit of makeup she could look pretty, but she was perfectly content with non-striking look. Besides, she didn't have the time or the luxury for such frivolities like cosmetics.

As soon as she entered the kitchen, the talk stopped. Éponine's siblings stared at her.

"What are you doing up so early?" was Azelma's greeting. No hello, no good morning.

"Musichetta says I'm needed at work." Éponine brushed past her sister and grabbed up her bag. "Sorry, but I need to go now." She waited for an answer while Azelma watched her get ready.

"Okay," Azelma said. "See you later."

Éponine bit her lip and turned away to put her coat on. Then she scanned the little room. "Well, I'm off. Have a good day at school."

"Okay," Azelma repeated. The entire time, none of her brothers had said anything. Éponine hesitated for moment. She seemed to want to say something but then thought better of it. She opened the door quickly but shut it with a slow click.

For a moment, she stood outside the door completely still. Chatter had started back up inside, almost immediately after the door had closed. Éponine closed her eyes and listened. That was how it always was. Azelma and her brothers were so at ease with each other, but as soon as Éponine came into the room, they all seemed to shut off. Short, abrupt answers were all she could manage out of them when she tried to keep a conversation going. She felt like no one at home even knew her name; it was so rarely said in the apartment.

Gavroche, Laurier, and Théo treated her they same they might to a cousin they'd never met: it was awkward, forced, and tense. Azelma was just reserved. Not unfriendly…although not friendly either.

It was to be expected, though. Éponine's siblings hardly saw her since she worked so late and they had school. There was absolutely no relationship between her and the four younger ones.

Between Azelma and the boys, though…

Azelma was the one the boys turned to when they needed help, not Éponine. Azelma was the one who walked with them to the Metro, the one who made sure they were warm enough when they went out in the winter, the one who played with them when they were bored. Not that Éponine didn't want to do the same things Azelma did; in fact, it was the exact opposite, only the boys shied away when she tried to do anything with them. She kept her distance so she didn't make them feel uncomfortable.

What Éponine longed for were all big sister things. Azelma was the big sister in the house, not Éponine. How could someone be a big sister when she was only around her siblings three or four hours a day?


"I'm here," Éponine called into the empty bookstore. She headed towards the back after putting her things down in the staff room.

She had just made it to storage when coat whipped around a shelf. "Musichetta...?" Éponine asked hesitantly. Making her way around the corner, Éponine found herself in front of her friend, who was nervously reading a clipboard.

This surprised Éponine, because Musichetta wasn't one to get nervous. Or if she did, she did a remarkably good job of hiding it, considering that she wore the biggest heart Éponine had ever seen on her sleeve. Musichetta was the epitome of emotional. Some days she was sweet, other days as bitter as a spinster, other days downright depressed. Most of the time she was a bundle of sunshine, but out of Éponine's (albeit limited) number of acquaintances, Musichetta was the one with the broadest range of feelings.

Her appearance was one to accompany her personality, looking a bit like a child's doll in a young woman's body. Musichetta had light brown hair that she enjoyed fixing up into elaborate but elegant fashions every once in a while. She was shorter than Éponine's middling height, but not very noticeably. Musichetta's real allure, though, were her large dark eyes: they were both puppy-like and mysterious.

Upon hearing her name, Musichetta jumped. "Oh, it's you! I thought it was M. Faure. He's already yelled at me once today."

"He yelled at you—?" Éponine began indignantly.

"Well, more of a snippy greeting, really. I forgot to submit my daily report yesterday, so he had no idea about this—" Musichetta gestured around. "He says if he'd known there wouldn't be as much work to do, so now he's working me double time."

"Oh. Did he say anything about…" But Musichetta had taken on an alarmed look, so Éponine dropped it. "What do you need me to do?"

"Tell him that you're here, I suppose," Musichetta said. "He'll give you a job. I've got to redo all the new mystery novels that came in yesterday."

Musichetta went out into the front, leaving Éponine to find their manager. He was a few shelves over, inspecting a label on the side of a box. Éponine cleared her throat to announce herself.

"Ah, Éponine. I assume you are aware of the fiasco that's happened."

Why else would I be here? Éponine thought, but she held her tongue and instead nodded.

"Idiot girl," M. Fraure muttered. "She'll never be working here again." He gave a short laugh. "We can't risk our reputation for her."

"Musichetta?" Éponine asked, worried.

M. Fraure frowned. "No, not her. The girl who came in for you yesterday. Frankly, I'm surprised she ever got past her application interview with everything that happened."

Éponine cringed. M. Fraure was mostly a nice man, but The Idle Hour was his life, and a well-liked, popular life at that. This meant a strict regiment for all the behind-the-scenes work, so it was perfect for customers. Anyone who violated the tradition of being an employee performing to the best of his or her ability was immediately sacked. M. Fraure insisted it was for the good name of the bookstore that these dismissals were necessary. Anyone who wasn't able to keep up didn't deserve to work there.

In the year that she'd been employed by M. Fraure, Éponine had considered resigning due to the disciplinarian atmosphere, but eventually decided against it. Her job really wasn't that bad. All her coworkers were friendly, the store itself was a respectable establishment, and M. Fraurer was a normally very amiable person. He was only to be feared if a toe was put out of line, which never happened to Éponine. Her job was far too important to be fooling around. Then of course, there were the books. Being surrounded by reading material was certainly a way to ensure she'd always have a way to satisfy her literary wants.

"What would you like me to do?" she said, changing the subject.

M. Fraurer patted the box he'd been examining. "These were part of the substitute's work but she never got around to them. They're children's books. Go shelf them. When you're done, I'll have some inventory for you to correct."

"Yes, monsieur." With a heave, Éponine picked up the box and made her way to the area for children. She set the box down on the ground and began to sort her way through the titles.

So began another day of long work that would end with Éponine eating with only a book for company.


A/N: Thank you for all your lovely reviews for the first chapter. It's great to know that you all enjoyed it. It really encourages me!