She found Nina and Lizbeth both waiting for her as soon as she walked out of the room. Outside in the hall Lizbeth quickly took the phone from her hand and huddling close with Nina turned their backs to her. Eponine sighed in agitation and embaressment. Every other second one would scoff or laugh, Liz pretending to swallow her own vile and Nina poking her head out at her and wiggling her eyebrows. Eponine pressed her back to the hallway wall and felt static pass through her as Enjolras walked by with Leslie on his arm. She followed their retreating figures with her eyes and smirked when she noticed that right at the first step on the stairs Enjolras turned to look straight at her. He immediately turned away but it was too late she had already seen his tell.

"Orpheus and Eurydice man." Nina pointed out having obviously seen the interaction.

Eponine pushed herself off the wall and looped her arms through her best friends in a Wizard of Oz fashion.

"I really don't want to end up in the underworld forever Nina, let's jump into closets and look for Narnia instead!" Eponine cried out in fake childish wonder.

"Adrianne will be super excited with that comment for all the wrong reasons." Lizbeth joked as all three of them skipped to the quad.

Nina halted their steps and told them to stay still.

"They're like gazelles, one sudden movement and they'll flee like bats out of hell to the natural order of highschool life." They all crouched and looked at their table where Joly and Suzy sat in a deep conversation. Suzy nodded at every word he said and her big blue eyes widened as he leaned in and kissed her on the cheek quickly then disappearing off to sit with the rest of Les Amis.

Adrianne barreled into them and squealed in delight. "DID YOU SEE THAT!? OH GOD WE SHOULD GET OVER THERE SHE LOOKS LIKE SHES GOING TO EXPLODE INTO FAIRY DUST AND UNICORNS. "

They rushed over to the table and Suzy opened her mouth but nothing came out but a squeak and if her smile got any bigger they might have a black dahlia on their little minx. She pushed a piece of paper into Lizbeth's hand and Eponine perched her chin on the blonde girl's shoulder to read the print.

Immediately she arched her eye brow. " You wanna go? You Suzy queen of all that is shy and manic pixie….want to go …to this….thing?"

Suzy nodded eagerly and bit the corner of her bottom lip….The girls all looked back to the paper in trepidation.

'LES AMIS HOMECOMING AFTER PARTY SHOW YOUR TICKET AT THE DOOR AND GET YOUR DRANK ON!'

Friday the 22nd from 9 till – till you pass the fuck out!

Enjolras's House

Eponine took notice of the brightly colored pamphlets being passed around from table to table and Javert and Valjean at either side of the quad pretending nothing was going on.

"Suzy you realize if we want to go, we have to go to the game right? Like …football…and…people…and ugh..spirit." Adrianne added reading over the lines again and fake shuddering.

Eponine stood tall and looked Suzy's hopeful face and pinched her nose. "You really,really want to go, don't you?"

Suzy nodded enthusiastically and jumped up to wrap her arms around her. " Please Ponine! Joly asked me himself."

She sighed in defeat and agreed. "Yeah ok. We'll go, but the second me or Liz say something doesn't feel right we leave. All of us. Is that clear?"

All the girls jumped up in anticipation except for Lizbeth and herself. They looked over at one another and realized they were in for war tomorrow.


"Adrianne, do you think I can spend the night?"

Adrianne looked at her over slides with cells that needed to be classified for Javert's biology class.

"Yeah, it's no problem. Has your rump in the sack with the Captain finally spurned you into my arms" She asked dramatically in a Scarlett O'Hara imitation and leaned onto the table with a finger wave and a wink in her direction.

"Nothing else can ever satisfy me again except the female coital area! I aspire to a future where I have secret rendezvous in the twilight with women who previously thought they were heterosexual." Eponine added and spanked Adrianne's ass. The other girl pushed off the desk with an exaggerated 'OH MY! WHY I NEVER' expression written across her face.

They started laughing and two girls from across the room looked disgusted by them.

"Hey mister, she's my sister" Adrianne said wrapping her arm around Eponine's waist and pretending to kiss her so that Eponine's hair covered the action and she leaned back fanning herself.

"We're close." Eponine added.

The small brunette one dropped a box of slides and they shattered on the floor causing Adrianne to laugh.

Javert walked to the back and ordered the girls to move to the front. " And for heaven's sake I've told you girls a million times no open toed shoes in my lab. "

He turned to look at Eponine with a look that clearly said 'what did you do now 'and she shrugged apologetically.

" What can I say, some people can't handle their lesbian jokes and Rent references. "

"That's all just one giant gay joke." Adrianne joked poking her in the ribs.

Javert rolled his eyes.

"Get the broom kiddo."

She felt Adrianne shove her to the supply closet and she walked back out to see Javert ignoring Adrianne's flirty advances. It was no secret she had a crush on the man, but of course the by the book man paid no heed.

" I may be a lesbian, but he is one damn fine looking member of the Parisan education system."

She came back and helped Javert pick up the shards with a duster. He put a hand on her shoulder in thanks and she made her way to the front of the room to throw the shards in the dangerous materials bin. Two pairs of hands shoved her hard from behind. Eponine dropped the duster and she caught herself on her hands.

The pain was sudden and sharp leaving her heaving to regain a breath.

Eponine trembled when she lifted her hands to see two large shards embedded into her left hand.

She heard Javert and Adrianne run up to her and Javert yell at her best friend to get the first aid kit and another girl to fetch a nurse. He tried to pull her up but she pressed her right hand to him to push him away gently.

Taking the shard in hand she braced herself and pulled. It came out clean and blood came streaming out. She let the glass fall to the floor and bit her bottom lip to repeat the action on the other shard. Blood made it slippery to hold onto but she shut her eyes tight and tugged with all her strength. The cuts were deep but nothing worse than she had faced before. She clutched her hand to her chest and only then did she allow Javert to put his hands under her arms and lift her off the floor. Small pieces pf glass clung to her jeans but they were stuck on the tough material.

Javert pushed her to the sink and together they let water run through her wounds. He uncapped a brown bottle and she winced at the sight. He looked as if to as for permission but she took the bottle from him and clenched her teeth shut. She poured the liquid into her palm and the stinging made her shake. She got a cotton swab and gently rubbed to see if any fragments were left embedded in the skin. When that was done she finally took a strip of precut gauze; she wrapped it tightly around her hand and forced her fingers to close and hold it in place while she inserted two safety pins. Once that was done she wiggled her fingers and hoped it cauterized soon the pain lessening but leaving the knowledge that she'd gained two new scars.

Javert was silent through the whole process, well aware that though social services did not find it necessary to remove her or her sister from her parents' home, there was one thing Eponine excelled at and it was how to mend the cuts and bruises that frequented her and her sister too often. She caught his eye and he used a wet napkin to clean the blood that had fallen down her arm without a word. Looking at Javert as he dabbed the skin she felt her heart go out to him, maybe she hadn't seen her dad as a father anymore but knowing that there was a man out there who cared about her in a way that wasn't dirty or wrong filled her with soft joy. She was glad Javert was her Pai Mei.


By the time the nurse had come in Eponine was sitting on Javert's desk drinking orange juice and eating the brownie he planned on eating after class.

Adrianne sat next to her while her sensei led out a full fleshed out investigation as to who was the person to push her, nobody was talking but while it felt suspicious she just tacked it down to a prank gone wrong.

The bell rang and they left the lab with Javert's promise that he would not let the situation stand and he would find the culprit and their accomplice.

"It's ok Javert, it's just a few cuts. I can deal." Eponine joked with a hand to his shoulder but shrugged it off. Clearly upset that she wasn't taking it seriously.

She gave him the last bite of the brownie and he took it from her with a roll of his eyes and ruffling of her hair.

Eponine and Adrianne walked out of class in silence both contemplating what had happened. Being bullied was nothing new to anyone of the four horsemen but it hadn't happened since they had all found eachother. Adrianne was adamant that something felt off.

She was an outcast, it wasn't the first time or the last that someone would try to trip her of spill something on her, this was nothing to be concerned over. Soon the air cleared and they quickly started joking about different ways they could make people feel uncomfortable by pretending to be gay.

"Let's hold hands and wear wedding bands. I'll find my rainbow dress." Adrianne ranted off as Eponine shook with laughter at the thought of her in a tux proposing to her friend in scientific terms.

"Would you homosapien."

"It's homosexual dear.."

It wasn't until their way to the stairs that Nina and Lizbeth both ran up to them demanding to see her hand.

Eponine looked over at Adrianne who looked everywhere but her and said she sort of might have kind of text the girls what happened, and made it sound extra gory.

"When did you even get the chance I've been with you the entire time you haven't whipped out your phone in like the last ten minutes?"

She blissfully ignored her and Lizbeth announced,"Suzy's got dual enrollment so she can't see this but she just text me to tell her who you want dead and to consider it done."

Eponine assured them it was no big deal and told them all they could all draw a penis on her fake cast later. That placated them well enough. Nothing placated the four horsemen like the thought of drawing penises on all things.

The girls made their way to art which all four shared and Eponine was thrown off guard when she felt a boney shoulder bump into her and a heavy purse smack into her injured hand.

"FUCK!" She cried out noticing the bandage slowly flood with crimson.

"WHAT THE FUCK SNOW!" Lizbeth yelled at the blonde who was walking away.

The snobby bitch turned around and crossed her arms in the middle of the hallway which was deserted at the moment.

"What's the matter Ponine?" She sneered her nickname out." Did you get hurt? You should be more careful, god knows you can be so accident prone. Getting glass in your hand must hurt, you wanna be safe okay sweetie, next time it could be worse.I heard next week you all are going to be playing with lye in bio…make sure you wear your gloves. Acid burns aren't pretty. "The threat hung in the air and Eponine let her hand drop to her side.

There was an empty dread hanging over them and tension could almost be seen in waves rolling off both parties. Leslie was the one to break it with a deliberate hair flip.

"You should probably get your neck checked out too Ponine; those bruises look pretty bad too." The sound of her name on the other girl's lips confirmed what she had subconsciously feared. She started to turn away as full understanding dawned on the rest of them. They realization sent chills through them and left at least two of them breathless. That was terrifying.

Leslie fucking Snow was the reason her hand was torn to shreds and bleeding profusely. Snow had made the accident happen because she knew Eponine and Enjolras had slept together.

How could someone their age be willing to physically hurt another person for something so petty?

The thought made her seethe and her sight burn. If she was upset she should take it up with her cheating boyfriend. She should have grown some balls and told him it was either her or nothing at all.

She opened her mouth to cuss her out but Lizbeth went over to the smaller girl and pushed her into the lockers arms locked making her unable to move.

"Look you cunt, you ever so much as think of hurting one of my friends again I'll bash your brains into the concrete and make damn sure that stupid brother of mine never finds you attractive again. Do you understand?"

Leslie turned red in outrage and clawed at Lizbeth's face. When Lizbeth flew back with her hands over her face Eponine went cold when she noticed in her small hand she held the keys to her car, a different key to each knuckle.

Adrianne and Nina ran over to check on Liz but all Eponine saw was red.

She rammed into the smirking girl who was looking with smug satisfaction at Liz's hunched figure. Using her injured hand she pushed Leslie back into the lockers but instead of just keeping her in place she lifted her the girl's feet off the ground with a strength not even her friends knew about.

She felt possessed. She wasn't this girl anymore, she only stole what she needed to survive, she didn't hurt others or sabatoge. She was different now, she didn't hate the world anymore. Her mind threw these thoughts at her but she only clenched her hand tighter on the girl tears of rage building on the corner of her eyes.

Blood seeped from her cuts into Leslie's neck and blouse and the sight made Eponine recoil. She lifted her eyes to meet the struggling girl and she dropped her unceremoniously to the floor without preamble.

She felt the numbness start at her hand and build it's way up.

She crouched down in front of Leslie's gasping face and furrowed angry eyes. Even bloodied and crumpled on the floor she had a proud and unforgiving face.

"You can do anything you can think of to ruin my life here Snow, but I'm a Thenardier and while you can try to push me and hurt me and keep me away from Enjolras, the streets and everywhere outside these four walls are my turf. And believe me…" She took the girls chin in her hand and turned her to the window at the end of the hall" out there…I can make it hell for you too. And I can be much, much worse." Eponine stood up and turned her back on the other girl. She had never done something like that to someone, if that snob didn't walk away now she was afraid of what she would do.

After a minute Nina stood up and picked up the girl's bag and tossed it down the stairs.

"Go fetch bitch."

The sound of heels racing down the stairs filled the silence of the hall and Eponine struggled to control her breathing.

She slid down to the floor next to Lizbeth who had an angry red mark vertically down her face and had long ago taken a seat there. Adrianne was silently crying next to her and Eponine felt drops of blood fall from her fingers to the linoleum tiles in ribbons.

"Fuck." She took out a cigarette from her almost empty pack and handed the case around. Lizbeth took out her lighter and lit it for her with trembling fingers and curled her fingers around the empty box.

"Here." Nina handed her a new piece of gauze from her art bag.

All of a sudden Adrianne bursted out in manic laughter and the smoke from her lungs scattered everywhere.

" Oh …of course you would" she said through bouts of laughter.

Eponine couldn't help but join in despite the tears now falling from her eyes. It never bode to hurt another person, her parents had taught her that.

Lizbeth took Eponine's hand in hers and started to pull the red bandage off.

Looking into her best friends eyes, the same color of grey blue like Enjolras she saw her own terrified reflection. Lizbeth took the new band from Nina and waved it in her face before she started wrapping.

"Aesthetic man."