"Well, what do you think?" René asked as she came out of the bathroom, distinctly smelling like hair spray paint.
Eponine turned and almost choked. Her friend's black hair held no more black. It was an uneven rainbow with some of the colors bleeding together (getting the back of her head was a bitch), her cheeks were painted with rainbows and the words NO H8, and she was dressed in the brightest colors she had. She wore a look of if they weren't going to the Pride Parade, Eponine would've called the guys in white coats.
"You look like you lost a fight with rainbow paint and a blender." Eponine answered.
René glared at her. "You jerk."
Eponine laughed.
"Do I look that bad?" René asked, feeling self-conscious.
"No. Just very out of character. C'mon, we don't want to be late." Eponine assured and wrangled her excited friend into the car.
The parade started exactly at 2:00, when Enjolras promised it would. They walked for a couple miles before ending at City Hall.
It didn't take too long to get to the center of the end of the parade, the meeting point of the Amis in case anyone got separated or was running late. Combeferre, Courfeyrac, Enjolras, Joly, Bousset, Feuilly and Bahorel were already there. And Enjolras looked like he was having a panic attack.
"He was supposed to be here twenty minutes ago! What happened?" Enjolras shouted, not really at anyone but his panic was getting to him.
"Calm down, Enjolras. I'm sure it's just traffic." Combeferre soothed.
"Yeah, they've never given us any trouble before." Courfeyrac said.
"What's wrong?" Eponine asked as the two walked over.
"The DJ still isn't here and has not sent a text nor called to say when he's going to be here! And none of the Amis knows how to work that equipment. I mean, we know how to set it up but that's about it." Enjolras panicked.
René looked over at the empty music booth and walked back to the car. She ignored the shouts from Enjolras, the questions from Eponine, the strange looks from the other Amis, and grabbed a couple CDs. She climbed up into the booth and looked through their collection. Lots of different CDs by plenty of artists. As she went through the CDs, she smiled. She knew exactly what her first song would be.
"This is a disaster." Enjolras moaned before he started to hear music over the loudspeaker. Grantaire was wearing the headphones reserved for the DJ and she was moving to the music.
The music.
The Beatles 'All You Need Is Love' was playing. When the song ended, he saw her pick up the microphone.
"Hey guys! How you doing?" She waited for the screams to die down. "I'd scream too but nobody likes feedback." She smiled when the audience laughed lightly at her joke. "Thanks for laughing at that. That's the stupidest joke I'll tell all day, I promise. Well, welcome to the annual Pride Parade. I'd say how many years it's been going on, but I don't know. I'm new. If ya'll don't recognize me, I'm René Grantaire, a freshman at the college over here, a music major so I assume I know something of what I'm doing. I'm a member of the Les Amis de l'ABC, and for those of you who are tourists or exchange students who don't speak much French that means 'friends of the oppressed'. Hopefully by the name, you can tell we're a social justice group. We raise awareness for things like student rights, health care, and why you're here today. Today is about being proud of your sexuality. Whether you're straight, gay, bisexual, transgender or anything in between. Society may tell you that you're a minority, even you allies, but today that doesn't matter. What matters is you are who you are and no one can change that. Be proud of yourself no matter what anyone tells you. But enough about the boring stuff. You guys ready to listen to some music?" More screams. "Well, all right then. Can't argue with the people want."
And she played Tom Robinson's 'It's Great to Be Gay'.
She made eye contact with him quickly, and waved him into the booth. He climbed up and looked at her in wonder. She took off the headphones and smiled at him, which faltered slightly.
"What? Was my little mini speech not good? Or is it the music? I can change styles." She rambled.
"No, no, it was great. Familiar but great." He said, still a little in shock that little Grantaire was DJing the finish line of a huge parade.
"I got most of it from you. Just what I remembered you talking about when you mentioned this." She shrugged, blushing slightly.
"You were listening?" He asked.
"Of course. Very few things still matter to me, and my brother is one of them. He could be an arrogant ass, but he was my brother, gayness and all. He would've liked this." She whispered.
Then he realized the booth held very low music, and the speakers were blasting, but blasting away from her.
"It's so you don't go deaf." She explained, as if knowing his thoughts.
"Interesting." He murmured.
"The song is ending. Do you want to say anything?" She offered the microphone.
"I think you covered most of it, but sure." He accepted it and when the song ended, she gave him a nod to say that he could talk.
"Hello everyone! My name is Julien Enjolras, and I'm the leader of Les Amis de l'ABC." People started screaming at him. He waited for it to end before he continued. "I'd like to thank all of you for this! Without you, we're just a bunch of kids trying to change the world. And I speak directly to City Hall now. We will not stand as homosexual, bisexual and transgender people are discriminated against! I speak to you today not as a straight man, a college student, or a leader of a social justice group. I speak to you as a human being! As are all these people! No matter if they're gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, questioning, allies, it doesn't matter! What matters is each of these people has a heart! They are all capable of love! It doesn't matter if they love someone of the same sex. They are people too! They should have every right to get married and enjoy the tax benefits' being married entails. We do not ask for much. We only ask for the rights promised to us in the Declaration of Human and Civic Rights. 'Men are born and remain free and equal in rights.' If we are equal, why must some of us suffer through life because of something we cannot change?! Orientation is as much of a choice as race is! Why must we struggle through constant ostracization and torment because we are not born into the majority! We did not rebel against the kings of old to have our rights taken from us and given to out to those who think they deserve them more! I ask you now City Hall, will you stand on the side of necessary progress or will you stand in the way of it?"
The screams that returned to him were almost deafening.
"Wow, Apollo. That was impressive." Grantaire whispered.
"Thanks." He smiled at her and she returned it, slyly pressing a button on one of the machines.
"When I was in the third grade I thought that I was gay…"
"Fitting." He said, pleased.
"I thought you would think so. Now do you know how important music is?" She asked.
"I think I'm understanding it better." He answered.
She nodded and started to dance. Feeling slightly awkward, he just stood there. Her hand motions invited him to dance but he didn't move. She rolled her eyes, snickering, and grabbed his hands. She pulled his arms in a way his hips moved and it was slow and slightly awkward but somehow they made it work. All the time, he didn't take his eyes off of her. He simply couldn't. With her rainbow hair, skin and clothes, she looked absolutely, well, fabulous.
"Easy there with the staring, Apollo. People might think you're falling in love with Hyacinthus." She teased.
He glared at her for ruining the moment.
"That's the Apollo I know. Here, give me the mike." She smirked and took the mike.
"All right everyone. If you'll indulge me this once, I dedicate this song to my brother. It was one of his favorites. Some of you may recognize it, some may not. If you do, sing along. If you don't, garble. My brother was gay, and he didn't let it bring him down. So whenever you feel down, think of this. He can't be with us anymore, but I know he is here with us in spirit. Ryan, baby, this one is for you."
She plugged her phone into the music equipment and fiddled with it for a minute.
"My hair is black and red
My hair is yellow
My eyes are brown and green and blue
My name is Jack and Fred
My name's Amanda Sue
I'm called Kareem Abdul
My name is you
I live in southern France
I'm from a Texas ranch
I come from Mecca and Peru
I live across the street
In the mountains, on a beach
I come from everywhere
And my name is you
We all sing with the same voice
The same song, the same voice
We all sing with the same voice
And we sing in harmony
Sometimes I get mad and mean
Sometimes I feel happy
And when I want to cry, I do
When I'm by myself at night
I hold my teddy tight
Until the morning light
My name is you
I have sisters one, two, three
In my family there's just me
I've got one daddy
I've got two
Grandpa helps me cross the street
My cat walks on furry feet
I love my parakeet
My name is you
We all sing with the same voice
The same song, the same voice
We all sing with the same voice
And we sing in harmony
I like to run and climb
I like to sit and read
I like to watch my TV, too
And when it's time for bed
I like my stories read
"Sweet dreams" and "Love you" said
My name is you
We all sing with the same voice
The same song, the same voice
We all sing with the same voice
And we sing in harmony."
"I know that song." And he did. He just couldn't place it.
"I'll send you the link." She winked at him.
"Enjolras, a reporter wants to talk to you!" Courfeyrac shouted. "You're gonna be on TV!"
"Duty calls. Go on, Apollo. I can handle this. I'm in my element. My zone." She shooed him out and he climbed down.
He wanted to go back up to the booth, but once one reporter had a shot at him, twenty others took their place. He figured he was going to be on every news channel and in every newspaper after that. Sadly, the parade came to an end. The Amis stayed behind to help clean up; it wasn't fair to just make the city do it.
"One last announcement my freaky darlings! (A.N. If you get this reference, I'll give you a surprise.) Actually two. One, if you guys could pick up a couple pieces of trash that'd be great. City workers jobs are hard enough without us going all Woodstock on them. And two, until the next time, be ready for whatever life gives you. It doesn't matter if other people hate who you are because they're afraid of you. Don't let their fear rule your life. Goodbye everyone!"
Sometimes he wondered why that girl could ever become a cynic.
"Ugh, I'm never going to get this!" René slammed her head into her Algebra textbook.
Eponine would've comforted her, but she was neck deep in studying as well. Midterms. All college students hated them. They were at least ten percent of their grades. The Amis were over at René's apartment, spread out all over the place. Cosette and Marius shared a kitchen chair, Bahorel and Feuilly shared the living room chair, Eponine, Combeferre and René were on the couch, Joly, Bousset and Musichetta were a pile of blankets and textbooks, and Jehan was all over the coffee table. Enjolras and Courfeyrac were on their way, coming back from class.
"What's got your knickers in a twist?" Bahorel asked, looking up from his law textbook.
"Algebra." She moaned.
"Well, who do you have? The midterm could just be homework questions." Feuilly asked.
"Javert." She answered and a collective groan echoed through the room.
"And no sympathy for me? I'm in his class too." Eponine grumbled.
"Hush, Ep. Everybody knows we only care about Grantaire. You just come along for the ride sometimes." Jehan teased.
A short laugh followed but soon the silence reigned. Everyone went deep into their books to see if they could retain some of the knowledge before midterms. It stayed like that for a couple of hours. They read, reread, and read again until they were sure they knew it. And of course, wanted to make sure they didn't forget it when they went to the next page. Until it was broken by Combeferre's cell phone, which started blasting 'Barbie Girl' by Aqua.
"Courfeyrac must've changed my ringtone again." He groaned, answering the phone.
"Yes, I am he… they're what… when… I'll be right there." Combeferre went from pleasantly polite to terrified in a matter of seconds.
"What is it?" Eponine asked as he hung up.
Combeferre turned an unsightly shade of pale. "Enjolras and Courfeyrac are in the hospital. They've been in a car accident."
Ooh cliffhanger! Mwa ha ha ha ha! I'm so evil! I'm sorry guys. And I had you thinking that the Pride Parade was the life-changing protest. Naw. Sorry. Anyways, a reply to my friend Almost an Actress, I am glad for the honest feedback. It was meant as a kind of filler chapter. As for the slow build, be glad I'm not making it longer. Mwa ha ha! Sorry. Got a little carried away there. And if any of you have been to a Pride Parade and it's not like that at all, I'm sorry. I've never been. I can only go on the Internet to find out what they're like. As for the song Grantaire dedicates to her brother, it's called 'We All Sing With The Same Voice'. For those of you who don't remember, it's a Sesame Street song. If only the world could be a little more like that, we might not be killing our fellow human beings so much. Okay, I'm off my soapbox now. Reviews make me write faster! Until the next time. Adieu, mon chers.