Eponine's first class of the day was Psychology AP but she was surprised to see someone she could recognized from over the weekend.
Wearing the same red hoodie, he sat in the back of the class, right next to her, it was the boy that nearly knocked her over on Saturday and didn't even apologize, and there he was.
She mentally hit herself for just standing in front of the classroom like an idiot. Avoiding any contact with him, she took her seat.
Mrs. Tara, their Psych teacher entered with her usual cup of coffee that always looked it would spill because her hands were so shaky, "Good morning class, as you probably have noticed, we have a new student in the class. Would you like to tell us your name, son?"
Eponine heard him clear his throat but dared not to look at him, "Enjolras," he spoke.
Some of the students murmured about how 'weird' his name was. Eponine didn't judge though, they always teased her for her name too.
Then class began and the worst part of it all is that she could feel his eyes on her even when Mrs. Tara began her lecture.
Forming every ounce of strength she had in her, she turned her head towards him, and he didn't even flinch to look away. She got a better glace at him this way. He had very sharp features including his piercing eyes. It was almost as if he were glaring at her... turning away from him, she tried her best to listen to the lecture.
She eagerly looked up at the clock and scolded it for being so slow when, for the first time, didn't want it to.
"I'll now ask that you work with the person that sits to your right and begin the partner assignment," Mrs. Tara announced.
How about you just kill me? It's as if Mrs. Tara encouraged Eponine's suffering. It seemed that the whole world did.
Taking a deep breath, she flipped to the book page and took out a pencil and paper. She glanced at the new kid, Enjolras and knew she had to be mature about it.
"Don't worry about it," he spoke.
The words didn't exactly commute with Eponine, "Wait what?" For a guy that looks so angry and careless, he had a very soft, delicate voice.
"I understand that...well-you know," he rubbed the back of his neck, "as long you don't want to work with me, then I won't work with you,"
She tilted her head to the side.
"I mean-" he sighed, "I don't mind but-you mind-so..." he shook his head and began working on the partner activity by himself.
She wanted to bring up about what happened on Saturday and apologize but she was somewhat okay with it all. He wasn't bugging her at least but at the same time, it looked as if he didn't hate her...
She faced forward once again and did the same thing he did. Work by herself.
At lunch, well was supposed to be lunch, she went to the library and was greeted by Enjolras again with his piercing eyes. And he was in her favorite section too! Calming her nerves, she went to the old literature section which was only a shelf away from her favorite, poetry, which was unfortunately occupied by the new boy.
She was scanning at Hamlet when she caught his eyes through the shelf, "That's a good one," he commented.
Eponine wanted to be friendly but she was still unsure about him, he still seemed like a jerk...and he hasn't apologized still, "Yeah, I've read it a couple times,"
"You a fan of Shakespeare?" He asked hesitantly.
Was he nervous? "Yeah, what about you?" ...she let the question slip and regretted it right away.
He just gave her a crooked grin, "Othello is a good one but nothing beats Hamlet,"
She pretended to be uninterested and put her focus back on the book, "Yeah?"
He nodded, "You have good taste,"
Stop being so nice so I can be mad at you, she screamed in her head, "Thanks,"
He stood there for a beat before making his way to the politics and government section.
For an odd reason, their conversation was playing through her head over and over. Shaking her head, she just continued looking through books.
At the end of the day, it was pouring outside. The streets were completely vacant as Eponine made her to Gavroche's school. Her hair was soaked by the time her got there. Gavroche wasn't outside though, which meant he was waiting inside.
Walking into the school, she didn't see him outside the office like he usually was when waiting for her. Going to the lady behind the desk, Eponine awkwardly waited for her to get off the phone. When she did, she attended to Eponine, "Can I help you, dear?"
"Yes, I'm looking for my little brother Gavroche Thenardier,"
She lowered her voice just a little bit, "He's in the nurse's office at the moment. It's right around the corner, first door to the right.
Eponine quickly took the instructions and rushed to the nurse's office. Had he gotten in trouble? Was he alright? Her thoughts made her imagine the worst of things. Opening the door she immediately saw Gavroche sitting on a chair with a black and purple bruise around his eye.
"You must be Eponine, Gavroche's sister," the nurse came from around the corner with an ice pack in her hand, "I tell ya, I've been trying to contact your parents but the line wasn't working at all. He told me that you would come and pick him up so maybe you could deliver the news to your parents, yes?"
Eponine grabbed her little brother's hand, "What happened?" she asked, examining the mark on his face by lifting his chin. His eye was swollen and a dark ring formed around it.
"He said he was playing 'tetherball' with the other kids and it hit him in the eye. He was sent from his teacher, he refused to be here awhile."
"But then she gave me a lollipop," Gavroche grinned but then winced at the pain in his eye.
Eponine nodded, "Well thank-you, I'll make sure he's well taken care of at home,"
Once they were at safe distance from the school Eponine rolled out the questions, "Alright, how did you really get the bruise, 'Roche?"
"The nurse told you-"
"The nurse told me the lie you came up with!" she tried to keep her eyes open in pouring rain, "What really happened, Gavroche?"
He just walked quietly and looked straight ahead.
"Don't you ignore me, young man,"
"I wanted to play with the other kids today. I took your advice, they were talking about toys and I told them I liked toys too. We had a conversation about games and toys..." he kicked a puddle, "They asked me if I wanted to play 'red rover'...I didn't know how to play and they laughed at me...They taught me how to play though. There were two teams and they all held hand-like a wall. A team would call one member from the other side to come over which means that person tries to break their grip so they can break through-
"Anyway," he continued, they called Ethan over and he ran to my arm and I did my best to not let him through...and I was good at it because he didn't break my grip...then he started kicking me and I didn't know they could do that. He kept hitting me and I still didn't let go. I was excluded from the game because I was weird."
Eponine narrowed her eyes, "I will make sure that Ethan kid-"
"Don't, Eponine,"
She wasn't used to hearing her brother call her by her full name.
"You can fight your own battles, so I can fight mine,"
She shook her head, "Are you insane? He hit you! That is not okay-"
"Please just don't, he'd hate me for the rest of my life!"
"You don't have to be friends with someone like that!"
Gavroche pulled his hand out of hers, "I was close to making a friend today-and I messed that up because I'm weird,"
"No, you didn't mess anything up, kiddo, it was-"
He interrupted her again, "You don't understand, you have friends!"
Their complex was just ahead, and he ran the rest of the way by himself, leaving Eponine out in the rain alone, "No, I don't," she muttered as she walked to the building without her little brother by her side.
R/R! I must know what you thought of this chapter!
-Ophelia
