Here's a fluffy chapter for y'all
Eponine's P.O.V
Enjolras sat me down in my seat and grinned as he took the one beside me. While this was one of the few classes we had together, with only the two of us, it was still one of our least favourites. Because of our Teacher, Javert. Unless they demanded it, we didn't call our teachers mister or miss. Luckily Javert didn't want us to do much. But he was harsh in punishments. And he seemed to have it out for the les amis. And he apparently had a personal vendetta against Valjean, so when show time came around, you bet your sweet sweet ass that there'd be homework. We turned to the black board, where Javert was luckily just coming in. We sighed in relief, he hadn't seen us come in the way we did.
"Good morning all, so today, let's pick up from last class..." He kept going and going. When his back was turned I turned to Enolras. I smiled and tapped his shoulder. He looked up from his book towards me and almost choked. I was doing my best impression of Javert, flapping my lips up and down, puckered up and scrunching my nose, my brown eyes narrowed. I smirked as Enjolras held his hand over his mouth to keep from bursting into laughter. Eventually my fun ended and he got a hold of himself. Javert went into a loooooong booooooooooring lesson about ballads and I decided to pass a little message along to Enjolras.
Shoot me now or shoot me later, just do it before class is over.
I passed the note inconspicuously under the desk to Enjolras. I soon saw a piece of paper land on my desk.
Why shoot such a pretty face?
I blushed a little at this, but smiled and replied.
You flatter me Enj, but don't lie
I'm not lying, you are pretty
Sure. Whatever you say
I mean it.
Really?
Yeah. And smart, and funny, and stubborn, and spunky, and cute. :)
Okay, who are you and what have you done with Enjolras?
I'm serious, you are one of the most amazing women I have ever met. Granted that isn't many, but still.
I chuckled at this. The bell rang and we walked out together. I sighed and put my arm over him.
"This is nice, just the two of us, none of our friends to be them, no people to ruin our conversations with snogging." I smiled as we entered AP music. Combeferre and Feuilly were there, so we wouldn't need to worry about teasing, only our horrid teacher, Miss Elliot.
"Yes, it is. Hey, remember when you and I would sneak out every second friday of the month?" He remembered. I smiled, remembering when we nearly got caught.
"Yeah, we should do that again some time."
"Let's do it."
"What?"
"Let's do it, let's skip, let's run around town like wild teens and have fun for a day." He spread his arms. He didn't even wait for my answer as he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder.
"Enjolras, what are you doing?!" I pounded on his back. He didn't listen as he ran to the window. Luckily we were on the ground floor.
"Enjolras, Eponine, what do you think you-" Elliot started to come towards us but Enjolras cut her off.
"So Long Elliot, we have places to be, lives to live, fun to have, good bye!" He jumped out the open window, me squealing in delight and terror as he raced down the hill. I smiled as we were now out of sight. Enjolras let me down and panted.
"That, was the stupidest thing, you have ever done, and you once made a barricade at ikea." I remarked. He fell over, laughing at the memory.
"I wanted to reenact Les Devastes, it was fun. Remember when Gavroche complied by pretending to be the army and soon there was a Nerf war?" He smiled. I did too as I remembered, Gav had come over and had been shot shortly after me, Marius was the only one to 'survive' and then ran off to find Cosette in the office department. Enjolras had promptly lifted a towel, saying it was the french flag, as his character he was imitating had done so in the movie, and was shot so many times he had bruises, Grantaire had joined him. I had even sung the tiny platter of dew song when I 'died'
"Yeah, that was fun." I nodded."So, what are we gonna do?"
"We should go to the fountain." He smiled. There was a large fountain in the town square of the flower scene in Alice in Wonderland. Either way it was giant and basically had a pool around it, with the statue/fountain in the middle. I nodded and we ran to it, whilst I rode upon Enjolras's back.
"ONWARDS!" I yelled. The rest of the day was filled with a lot of fun. We swam around in the flower fountain pool and generally had fun. When someone asked if we were supposed to be in school, I had only replied with
"Yolo." I shrugged. She had smiled and walked away and Enjolras had burst out laughing for the third time that day. I had never seen him so happy except when working on a rally or song. The day was fun, but we had to head back eventually. So we did and made it back in time for lunch. Gavroche and the others only looked at us before shrugging, they had been at the great Nerf barricade, they had seen stranger things. I only smiled as we sat back down.
"So, what's for lunch?" Enjolras broke the ice.
I grinned as we walked out of school. We had been lucky enough that Elliot was too stressed to report us to the principal, so other than by those who had been in the classroom, our little escapade had been a secret, which of course meant getting our ears chewed off by Combeferre and Joly.
"Could have gotten a cold from the fountain-"
"Might have been suspended-"
"Seriously hurt-"
"Or expelled-"
"Possible rat bites-"
"Had us worried sick-"
"Or fish bites-"
"After we specifically told you to take it easy-"
"You ought to have been here-"
"You took a beating-"
"And you almost got in trouble again-
"Could have been arrested-"
"Or could've met poisonous leeches-"
"Long story short-"
"DON'T EVER DO THAT AGAIN!" They both yelled. We both looked at each other and promptly started giggling.
"Lighten up you two, you look like Missus weasely." I told them. Enjolras nodded.
"Honestly, calm down before you pop a blood vessel." At this Joly started going into one of his worrying fits and Combeferre had to calm him down. Sometimes I wondered if they would make a good couple. I sighed. "Guys it's fine, we dried off and we stopped at our place and got some clothes."
"So is that why she's wearing my 1D t-shirt?" Grantaire asked. I blushed a little. Even Grantaire's shirt, who was nearly twice my size, was tighter than what I normally wore. Gavroche seemed to notice this because he was looking at me, asking a silent question. I shook my head no and he relaxed a little, but it seemed that he was disappointed. I put that off to the side for later and focused on Enjolras, who was still talking.
"-you have the most girly clothes out of us, no offense."
"None taken, I take pride in it." He puffed out his chest and I giggled. I smiled to myself as lunch passed by without much more happening. Joly had guilt tripped us into letting him make sure we weren't getting sick. He raised an eyebrow at me when mine was a little higher than normal but I shrugged and told him we had dropped at a coffee shop for hot chocolate. It was rubbish of course, but nobody else heard as they were lost in conversation land. Joly hadn't really bought it, but figured it'd be best to check later. I sighed. I had already had two close scrapes with someone seeing my scars, first the fight with Montparnasse, then my shirt clinging to me in the fountain. I had sold the idea that they were creases to Enjolras, but he had been having too much fun to care. Now if Joly decided to check for anything else...I was having way too many close calls today. Luckily it was only two classes after lunch until rehearsal and that meant two classes of near solitude. Art was next, so I could continue my painting in peace. Now that I thought about it, my dream was similar to Les devastes. I shrugged and made my way to the eisel. I had decided to do a few paintings of it and was starting on one scene that was my personal favourite. It was simply our group inside a pub, still in the same clothes, still us. I smiled. I would have to give these to someone eventually. Dad didn't like having anything we made in the house. Even our acceptance letters had been used as fire fuel after they were of no use. I frowned but pushed it away. I focused on the painting and making it as life like as the last.
A few hours later I sat on a prop bench as Joly took his medical look at me. Luckily he hadn't looked anywhere other than my face and wrists. Pulse or something. His thermometer once again sat under my tongue and was starting to get very uncomfortable. But soon Joly pulled his tool out and looked at it. His eyes widened and I bit my lip.
"Well?" I prompted him. He didn't speak, only looked at the white stick in surprise and shock. I tapped his hand. He jumped.
"Eponine, you have a temperature of 190 degrees fahrenheit!"He informed me. I felt my eyes widen, and now that he mentioned it, I felt like I was a boiling lobster in hawaii. Apparently Valjean had picked the worse time to come check on us and heard Joly's 'diagnosis.'
"What? Eponine, why are you here, you should be at home, resting." Oh no, oh no, quick think of an excuse.
"Um, I would, but Dad's out on a business trip and has the only key." Phew.
"Okay, in that case, you go on over and use the bed we're using for scene 14."(Popular song scene) I nodded and stumbled over to the bed. I tripped over a cord on the way over and braced myself for impact, for the second time that day, and once again, it never came.
"Easy there Thenadrier, don't wanna hurt yourself." I sighed. Of course it was him, it was always him. Enjolras helped me over to the bed and laid me down."Let me know if you need anything okay, Joly's gonna bring over a cloth for your forehead." I nodded and muttered a thanks as he walked away."Don't mention it." He smiled and went over to Cosette and Marius, where they were running lines for Dancing Through Life. Joly came over with a rag and a bowl of cold water. And thank the higher deity if there be one, he brought cold medicine. He wrung out the wet cloth and placed it on my forehead. 'i instantly felt more comfortable. He seemed to noticed and smiled.
"Come on, in you get." He lifted up the covers and pulled them up to my shoulders. I smiled at how nice my friends were being about this.
"You'd make a great doctor, you know that?" I told him, feeling somewhat giddy. He smiled.
"I'd like to think so, thanks." He poured some of the probably horrid tasting medicine into a small cup. "Come on, drink it." He held it near me. I pulled the covers over my head and shook my head no. I could practically hear him roll his eyes."Do you want to miss rehearsal?" He prompted me. I still refused to come out. "Eponine, how do you think your dad would react to this, angry, or annoyed?" That got me up and scared. I pulled down the covers and looked at him.
"How long have you known?"
"Since Cosette and I looked at your back after you fainted." He out down the cup and crossed his arms."Come on, you show a lot of the signs, and that confirmed it. Also, you just confirmed it." Crap, he had me there. "Come on Ponine, you think i don't read about mental health as well as physical, I'm a hypochondriac. I know more than I probably want to. And I know the real reason you don't want to go home." I felt gloomy and sick so I only looked down as a response, unwilling to look him in the eye."I won't tell anyone, I promise, but Gavroche knows I know too, and I think Cosette-"
"She already knew." I interrupted. He sighed.
"Look, I won't spill about it, and you don't want to go home, so I'll say it again," He held out the foul smelling liquid. "Drink it." His eyes were soft and kind. Trust worthy. And besides, this was Joly, he could keep a secret. I sighed and took the cup from him. "Come on, bottoms up." He prompted. I rolled my eyes and downed it in one go. I saw him wince as I did so, and soon found out why. I began coughing and wheezing."Sorry, that's my fault, I should have told you to sip it." He chuckled and took the cup from me and filled it again. "Here, you need two anyway with your fever." I took the cup and sipped it slowly this time. Joly was called over for something and promised me he'd be back later. I sighed. Joly knew. I told myself it'd be fine. He wouldn't spill, he promised me. Eventually I put those thoughts to rest and let darkness envelop me.
Enjolras's P.O.V
I went over to the bed Eponine was in and took the vacant chair beside it. I replaced the cloth on her head and just looked upon her for a bit. She was stunning. Even when sick she was beautiful. Her hair cascaded down her shoulders and onto the bed. Her sparkling chocolate brown eyes were hidden beneath makeup-less eyelids. Her slender fingers poked out above the blankets. Little tiny freckles danced across her nose. I smiled to myself as I took it all in. She was amazing. It was official, I was in love with Eponine Marlene Thendarier.
Some time later, Marius sat down across from me and frowned.
"She's not looking to good, is she?" I sighed, inally able to see just how bad she was. She was pale and flushed at the same time, and beads of sweat dotted her forehead. I nodded in response to Marius's statement."Do you think she'll be okay, she's never been this sick before...Enjolras, look." I looked down. Eponine had pushed down the covers in her sleep. Her sweat shirt had been pulled around her, showing her, ahem, unmentionables, and her ribs. .One. My eyes widened. How little had she been eating? Had Gavroche? Why was she so thin? Then It came to me. My brain put the pieces together. Brushing off crazy bruises as something minor, not eating nearly enough, over protectiveness of each other, baggy clothes, her parents never coming to her shows, no religion after being alive for 16 years, and lastly, that incident with her back, and with montparnasse, he had quickly been close to winning, and had kicked and punched only in certain places. It all made sense. It all came together as one horrible picture. Eponine and Gavroche came from the same kind of life i did. Eponine and Gavroche were victims of abuse.
