Meg was in a good mood that Friday, mostly because it was Friday. She had made plans to hang out with Christine and Cosette after school which sounded good, especially since she wouldn't have to see her mother.
It was terrible- it was awful even in her head- but she didn't want to see her mother that day. Mrs. Giry, the head of Alfred's dancing studio, was a seasoned professional. Any dancer wanting to start a career in the area-, really in the Northeast, wanted a lesson from her. In her earlier years, she was a Rockette and even in a few Broadway shows, most notably "A Chorus Line." Meg had seen the pictures, her mother was once slim, beautiful and smiley.
Meg's mom was still in good shape and was pretty in her own way, but was not much of a smiler anymore. She had her moments, but was certainly the opposite of Meg. There was no room for humor or too much laughter in her life, it was all strict dance training.
In a way, she was extremely grateful for her mother, her strictness and devotion to dance helped Meg become a great dancer. She had started lessons when she was two years old and honestly loved it. There was nothing she wanted to do more. On the other hand, though, there were no breaks. Everyday was a day for dance, Meg practiced all the time. Even when she was sick, Meg was still expected to put in at least twenty minutes of practice. Their house had an entire room set up like a real dance studio and it was suppose to be put to good use.
Now, Meg was applying for early admission at the Tisch School of Dance, one of the best in the country. It was actually her (and Mrs. Giry's) dream school, both hearts would be broken if Meg was rejected. To avoid that, she was forced into more practicing than usual. Meg had devoted nearly fourteen hours of her last weekend putting together an audition routine. She wanted it, but her mother wanted it even more.
Meg deserved one day off from it, in her opinion. Besides, if she didn't get back until later, she could still put in an hour or two afterwords if she was awake enough. So, by the time the last bell of the school day rang, she was overjoyed to leave. Her last class of the day was History, which was with Cosette anyway, and they quickly left class to go find Christine.
Both she and Christine were sort of surprised how well Cosette had fit into their friendship. In a matter of days, their best friend pair was slowly turning into a trio. It was awkward at first to hang out with Cosette so much, but she was almost like a smaller version of Christine. However, she did have a secret, sarcastic and witty side that only rarely came out, which Meg appreciated.
And how could they not take her under their wing? Even though they were the same age, Meg looked at Cosette as some kind of younger sister, almost. Maybe it was because she was new to town, or because she was so innocent, but Meg and Christine had both watched over her in an almost protective way.
They had found Christine waiting where she said she would be, outside by where the buses were lined up to take other students home. Luckily, Christine had her own car, which was in the back of the school's crowded parking lot.
The three girls drove back to Cosette's house. Christine never wanted anyone at her house and Meg, of course, couldn't bare to be with her mother for the night. Cosette explained to them a few days ago that her mother had died and Jean Valjean was her adoptive father. The story seemed complicated and sad, so neither of them decided to press her on it.
Cosette's father seemed like a friendly, but aging man. Meg thought it was very odd that her friend just lived with an old man not related to her at all, but Cosette didn't seem like the kind of girl going through any kind of abuse by him, and he certainly did not appear to be like that kind of man. In fact, he welcomed the two girls and teasingly scolded his daughter for not bringing them to their home sooner.
They were definitely wealthy, the Valjean's lived in one of the nicest neighborhoods in town, if not the nicest. Cosette's own room was a cozy, purple color that had not fully been moved into yet. Quickly, she apologized for the boxes lying everywhere and an unmade bed.
The three girls talked for a little while- mostly about Marius Pontmercy, but about other things, too. Cosette, Meg noticed, finally had gained the courage to ask about Raoul Chagny, and what was going on between him and Christine.
"Oh, Raoul? No... I- Just, no. I've known him since we were in... gosh, Kindergarten, I think."
"Awww, that's cute," she commented, a bit embarrassed that she'd asked about it, "I still think it would be cute."
"It won't. He doesn't like me like that," she continued, trying to dispel the idea from Cosette's head for good.
"Hey, we should go to the game tonight. You know, to go see Raoul and Marius," Meg suggested, half because she wanted to ago and half because it would keep her out later. Both of her friends agreed. A few hours later and a trip to Subway's, they were sitting in the bleachers of their school for the second game of the season.
It actually wasn't that cold, so no one minded sitting and socializing at night. The air was pretty pacified, the home team was losing by a lot. They had lost the first game of the season and everyone was hoping for a better outcome that Friday night. Meg tried to look for some of her friends she knew on the field, but she had no idea who was who. All in all, the football games could be sort of boring, especially when the home team was losing.
To everyone's surprise, the team pulled through by the very end, resulting in a win by 42 points. To no one's surprise, there was going to be a victory party at Jamie Gardel's house.
Jamie was a girl Meg had known for a long time with parents that were rarely home and a big house. Parties were almost always thrown there, and they were usually the best parties of the year. Not going would be stupid, because it was almost a guaranteed good time. Since Meg was pretty friendly with Jamie, they felt it would be a good idea to go. It was going to be Cosette's first Mackintosh party, anyway.
By the time they arrived, Jamie's party was already in full swing. Most juniors and seniors were there and Meg couldn't help but feel gratefully she was with two of her friends. Quickly, Raoul had managed to find Christine and quickly walked over to them.
"Hey, congratulations!" Christine said to him, giving him a half hug and trying to sound as excited as she could. Everyone knew she couldn't care less about football. He thanked her and led the three girls over to a couch.
"You'll never guess what happened to me before I came here."
"What?"
"Some recruiter came to talk to me from Yale." No one could really tell how he felt about that, he didn't sound very enthusiastic about it. Nevertheless, Meg and Cosette smiled in a chorus of praise.
"So you're going to Yale now?" Christine asked, a bit suspicious about the whole thing. She knew football wasn't really his passion.
"Ummm... I don't know. It's not really my thing, I couldn't do college football," Raoul admitted.
"I don't know, you were doing pretty well out there," Meg encouraged him. She wasn't really sure if he did well, but she had heard plenty of rumors that Raoul Chagny was Mackintosh's best player.
"Whatever."
Christine could tell he was torn by the situation and was very thankful Marius and another one of Raoul's friends sat down beside him. That would have to be another conversation between them for another day.
"Hi Cosette!" Marius greeted, waving stupidly. About two seconds later, he realized that he sounded like an overexcited second grader and turned a shade of pink. "Uh... hey, Christine. Hey, Meg," he said sheepishly, looking at the two girls.
"Nice one," his friend, Meg remembered him to be Enjorlas, commented not-so-subtly. Both Cosette and Marius blushed.
"You guys were awesome out there!" Cosette said happily, trying to act as if the redness on her cheeks was something natural. Eventually, the conversation turned to other things and they had ended up talking for a while.
Meg couldn't help but notice Raoul. She had known him for years now, but something about him and Christine had changed. His voice grew sort of shaky and nervous when he was talking directly to her. Christine was just herself when talking to him, but maybe Cosette was actually on to something. Maybe Raoul actually did have a crush on her best friend.
Jamie came around to their group, looking very drunk, and happily offered the group some beer. To no surprise, Christine refused the alcohol. She was one of those people who wouldn't even drink soda in fear of harming her singing voice. Raoul took a can for himself, and impressively had no problem stomaching the drink. Cosette took one sip of her own beer and quickly gave it to Marius, who was rushing to finish his own drink in order to take hers.
"You're not going to take one?" Meg asked Enjolras, the boy she knew least of them. He shook his head.
"I have this friend, and he drinks too much... I just would rather not. Are you?" Meg thought about his question.
"I really shouldn't..." she told him, glancing at the drinks left out on the table.
"Good for you," he encouraged.
"Eh, you know what? I'm going to, just one. Believe me, I deserve it."
With some sadness, Enjolras watched Meg drink a can of beer which quickly turned into another can and an added shot of vodka.
By the time Christine had driven both girls home, Meg was the one who had discovered she was a light drinker when it came to alcohol. Her head was throbbing and her throat burned, it seemed like her world was spinning as she got out of her friend's car.
"Marguerite Giry!" her mother's piercing tone just made her head ache worse, "Where have you been?" Her eyes barely open, she looked at the clock; 12:06 AM.
Instead of an answer, Meg replied by throwing up on the kitchen floor. She was afraid to look up at her mother, and could feel herself shaking in fear.
"Go to your room," Mrs. Giry wasn't even yelling, she just was talking an icy, terrifying tone. "Now."
There was no hesitation for Meg to run straight to her room. Lying down on a bed felt good, but nothing else about her felt good. Meg heard a beep and reluctantly picked up her phone. It was a text from Enjolras. She vaguely remembered hanging out with him a lot that night.
How do u feel? The text read and touched, Meg responded back.
Now I know why you don't drink
Thank you for reading! Jamie isn't a completely random character, I promise, she's based on one of the girls in the Ballet Corps in Gaston Leroux's Phantom of the Opera named Jammes. Please review!
