"Where are we?" A voice said from underneath me. It was Valjean. I jumped up, embarrassed that I was laying on top of my arch enemy.
"In Paris, you idiot! Stop trying to confuse me! You will go to prison!" I said, pointing at him and making a scene in the hope that somebody would send backup to help me get this dangerous man in prison. I looked around and saw a world that was definitely not Paris. It didn't even look like it was 1832 anymore. Two girls were staring at us like we were crazy. One had auburn hair, glasses, and hard gray eyes while the other had dyed brown and black hair and soft excited brown eyes. The gray eyed one gave me a look that mirrored the one I was giving her, which almost made me think she could be a part of the force.
"Mademoiselle, I am Inspector Javert. I seem to be lost. Where am I?" I asked her politely. Her eyes widened and she scrutinized me before crossing her arms and giving me a sarcastic smile.
"You're in Lansdale, Pennsylvania. It's 2011."
"So, this is not Paris in 1832?"
"Nope." I looked with surprise at her partially unbuttoned red polo shirt and tight denim jeans. That could not be legal. Surely society would not let upstanding women wear something like that!
"Ma'am, is that outfit legal?" She smirked.
"Of course. And don't call me ma'am. It's Sarah." All of a sudden, the girl with the colored hair ran forward and hugged the convict, who had stood up next to me. Sarah and I backed up I looked at them with disdain. Sarah just rolled her eyes.
"Kaitlyn, leave him alone. You can't just run up and hug people. It's assault. That's against the law." The girl said, sounding quite a bit like me.
"But Sarah, it's Jean Valjean! He's, like, the best literary character ever!" The girl said, making me look at Sarah for an explanation.
"Literary character? How does she know Valjean? What's going on?" I asked, confused. Sarah reached into the brown messenger bag at her hip and pulled out a really long book. She put in in my hands, and I looked at the title. It was Les Miserables. I flipped it over to the back and read about how Jean Valjean was a noble peasant unjustly arrested and pursued by the cruel, heartless, and obsessive Inspector Javert.
"I'm the villain?" I asked Sarah in disbelief. Kaitlyn let go of 24601 and turned to me, previously happy expression now full of contempt.
"You're the worst. You need to just let Jean go. He didn't do anything to you."
"Kate, stop. Inspector Javert was in the right. 24601 was a criminal!" Sarah defended me, for which I was grateful. She would be quite useful back in Paris, if she were male. Women were not allowed in the police force. Kaitlyn tried to glare at Sarah, but Sarah just glared back, making her friend shrink back.
"So, we're in a book? What happens?" I asked, not wanting a fight to break out in the street. I wanted as little attention drawn to us as possible, since we didn't know anything about the time period I was now stuck in. Sarah looked at me and answered.
"It's a really long story."
"I can see that." I replied, nodding at the 1500 page book in her hand. I smirked at her.
"Your sense of humor amuses me." She said sarcastically. "Let's go back to my house and I'll explain the story." She pulled a small rectangular box out of her pocket, slid it open, and started hitting buttons on it.
"What is that?" I asked her, hoping it wasn't a stupid question. Kaitlyn looked at her and started laughing. "What? Remember, Mademoiselle Kaitlyn, I am from 1832. I don't come from this period of time."
"It's a cell phone. I can type here and it will send a message to somebody. I'm telling my father that I'm bringing Kaitlyn over." Her cell phone thing made a loud noise and she flipped it open and read the message on it. "My family is not home, but they said Kate can come over as long as we don't make a mess." Kaitlyn started chatting with Valjean as they walked down the street. Sarah and I walked behind them in silence.
"Javert, you don't have to glare at everybody that walks past. You aren't an inspector here. You're scaring people." I blinked and turned to look at Sarah. I hadn't even noticed that I was patrolling the street as I walked. It was just so natural.
"Sarah!" A boy ran up to us. He had a sketchy look in his eye, which made me take a step closer to Sarah.
"Oh! Hi, Tiago. What's new?" He looked her up and down before looking at me glaring at him. He looked at my outfit, which clearly did not fit in with the times.
"Who's he?" He asked, looking at Sarah again.
"He's my French teacher." She lied. It was not a great lie, but it took care of Tiago's questions. He looked at me again, expecting something.
"Sarah, you take German. And I haven't seen him around school."
"He tutors me after school. My parents said to learn as many languages as possible for college. I mean, what's one more? I already know English, sign language, German, French."
"So, Sarah, let's get to your house and we can get started. Vien sur!" I said, wanting to get away from this guy that was looking at Sarah hungrily.
"Oui. Aur revoir, Tiago!" Sarah started walked away and I followed close behind her.
"Who was he?"
"He's a friend."
"He seemed to think it is more than friendship."
"Yeah, he does that."
"Be careful."
"Thanks! I will." She smiled at me and we walked into her house. Kaitlyn and Valjean were already sitting on the couch, still chatting, now about Fantine. I wrinkled my nose at their topic of conversation. She was dead! Valjean needed to move on. Find somebody else.
