Eponine's round face heated up as she felt her eyes well up.
"Ep, it's okay." Cosette told her friend, putting her arm around her.
"Should-Should I go and talk to Enjolras?.." Eponine practically muttered, looking at Cosette with an anxious look on her face.
Cosette honestly hated seeing her friend so upset.
Cosette remembered what it was like living with the Thenardier's. Madame Thenardier was never kind to her- not one bit. But yet, she found a friend in the wretched woman's daughter.
Eponine was there to comfort Cosette when the small child was feeling the weight of the world on her shoulders.
Once she was adopted by her Papa, her and Eponine rarely ever saw each other, and with Cosette gone, Eponine couldn't help but to feel lonely.
Cosette was now on the other side of town, living in a nice house with her new father and all she could ever wish for. Eponine, on the other hand was still with her family, living in what she felt was absolute hell.
Her parents, while they loved their daughter, didn't give her the attention she longed for. The hug of a father, the compliments from a mother. Whenever she asked for them they simply went "I'm busy, honey. Play outside for awhile."
And that's exactly what Eponine did. She went outside and scavenged for herself. She wheeled-and-dealed for money and sat alone reading under the stairs of her home's entry-way.
Eponine went through her school not having friends; she would sit alone at lunch and read or write at break while all the other kids ran around in a game of tag or played jump-rope.
She couldn't help but think about Cosette from time to time; to remember the feeling of having your trust in someone and having their trust in return.
Upon entering middle school Eponine had found herself in dance. She looked fondly on the elegance of ballerinas, and how they swished and twirled through the air like they were weightless.
She would go to the closest theater-which was a 45 minute walk from her home- just to sneak through the back door of the theater to watch the ballets which would travel from town to town.
When her parents were busy swindling people in their inn, Eponine would sneak into the living room and watch whatever ballet was playing on the small TV. Through all this, she finally taught herself the art of dance.
It came naturally to Eponine, whom seemed to have just as much elegance as the beautiful ballerinas whom she had adored.
One day in seventh grade the weather had made it so they couldn't do their normal outside gym activities, so the gym coach had told the class that they could have a "free day".
Instead of changing into the normal type of clothes the girls wore in gym, she changed into what she wore to practice her ballet; which she always had in her backpack. She slipped on the short tight black shorts and the dark blue tank-top she wore when she practiced. Eponine then laced up her baby-pink ballet shoes which she acquired from an old woman who was giving away her nieces old dance-wear.
Eponine discretely left the locker room-long after the other girls did- and went to the farthest corner of the gym away from everyone else. She stretched, then began to dance.
As she danced she felt all of her worries and loneliness wash away. The swiftness in her steps and turns made her look like a glamorous beauty.
"Oh my God, look at Thenardier! What a slut!" Eponine's dancing drew to an abrupt halt. She looked up to see a group of girls staring at her, and laughing; some with disgusted looks on their faces. "What is she doing? What is she wearing? She looks like a hooker! Is she actually trying to dance? That's probably what she wears when she's walking the streets- probably inspired by her trash mother!" Eponine could feel her heart drop into her stomach. Tears welled up in her eyes as she continued to hear the comments coming from the girls who were standing there, laughing at her.
Eponine stood there and stared in shock until she realized she had to go.
As she ran into the locker room she felt the tears that were once welling up fall down onto her cheeks, coming harder and harder.
That night she went home and tried convincing her mother that she had become ill and felt horrible. "You're not tricking me, miss! You're going to school tomorrow, end of discussion!"
Eponine then went into her small bedroom and cried until she fell asleep. The next day she went to school and was greeted with the same comments she heard the day before.
"Slut! Whore! Go back to your corner, you bitch!" Eponine just lowered her head and hugged her binder as she walked through the halls.
Even though she was being harassed, she continued to dance; and dance beautifully. But as the harassment continued, it seemed to get worse.
She slipped into a depression, and with this change her school work dropped. Eponine would come home and lay in her bedroom for hours, only getting up to dance. Her parents never saw the change in their daughter, because they were always caught up in their own dealings.
Finally towards the end of the school year, Eponine's homeroom teacher decided to confront Eponine on her change in character and grades.
"Eponine, honey, you seem as if you haven't been doing to well lately. Are you ok?"
All of the piped up emotion suddenly spilled out of Eponine's mouth as she cried to her teacher. The girl who never spoke of her feelings finally shared.
When she was done telling her story, she was nearly in convulsions. Her teacher had a disgusted look on her face.
"Miss Thenardier, how dare you lie like that! Those girls are angels in this school, and to lie about them in that way as an excuse for your grades dropping makes me quite sick!"
Eponine stared at her teacher in utter shock. She finally thought that she was going to have someone to put her trust in again- someone who would listen to her and let her vent.
She should have known that her teacher wouldn't have believed her; those girls were her absolute favorite in the school.
"No, Madame, I promise you I am not lying! I haven't been myself for the past two months because of this- this constant torcher!" Eponine couldn't believe the accusation her teacher was making about her.
"Leave, Eponine. You're lucky that I don't send you to the deans for this."
Eponine went home, still in shock from what her teacher had said to her. Over the next few months the girls started to believe what people were telling her. She was actually believing that she was a slut, a whore, and a bitch.
Once school ended she felt a huge relief, but it didn't last for long. Summer seemed to fly past the girl, who found herself once more at school, still being harassed by the girls.
But now people were getting more aggressive. Girls started to pull her by her hair, and boys by her clothes.
They pulled her by her clothes and would smack her butt as she walked in the hallway.
A day in the middle of her eighth grade school year, Eponine was at her locker after school ended; the hallway nearly empty by now.
A boy she recognized from the nearby highschool was walking down the hallway and approaching her.
Before Eponine could even walk away from her locker, the boy had pushed her up against it- his grip surprisingly tight on her wrists.
"Hey, Eponine." He said, looking deeply into her eyes.
"What in the hell are you doing?!" Eponine squealed at the boy, who's head was now nuzzling her neck. "Let go of me!"
The boy didn't listen. He kissed her neck, and started pulling her by her wrist into the bathroom. Eponine protested loudly, and tried pulling away from him all she could.
Once in the bathroom, the boy undressed her and took advantage of the poor girl, who did all she could to make it so it didn't happen.
When he was done, he put on his clothes and smirked at the girl who was crying, trying to gather her clothes to cover herself.
"Can't wait to tell my friends about this. Thanks, slut." He left, leaving her alone in the bathroom needing to dress herself.
She ran home and into her mothers arms.
"Eponine, why are you so hysterical?"
Eponine choked out what happened to her mother,
"Mamma, please, Mamma! I'm so scared; why did this happen?!"
Her mother looked at her horrified.
"Eponine, darling, are you being truthful?"
She nodded her head yes as tears continued to stream down her face.
"Eponine, sweet heart, my love." Madame Thenardier hugged her daughter tightly, and let her cry until she was done. "Come come, child."
"Where are we going, mother?"
"To the school." Her mother brought her to the school and demanded to see the principal.
Upon telling him what had happened, she showed him her wrists. Her wrists had black and purple bruises on them, from where the boy had gripped so tightly, not letting go.
The principal looked at the girl just as her mother had upon hearing this story, but she just looked at the ground.
The principal picked up his phone and reached the highschool, which then brought it to the authorities.
The boy was convicted, and put away, and for once, Eponine felt like every one was on her side again.
One thing stood out about her no matter what happened to her- she continued to dance. Through the depression, the anxiety, and the horrible incident with the boy, she remained dancing.
When she found out that she could get a scholarship to a preforming-arts highschool, she auditioned and her elegance in dance got her in.
Her first day made her horribly nervous- until she saw a familiar, round, fair face.
"Cosette." she whispered to herself.
She saw the girl at a locker by herself, looking anxiously at a schedule.
"Cosette?" Eponine said to the fair-haired girl with a nervous smile.
"Eponine!" The two girls embraced in a warm, tight, hug, and Eponine felt the warmth and sense of love she hadn't felt for years.
Ever since her reunion with Cosette in her freshman year of highschool, Eponine's life had been much different than her years in grade and middle school- and by different, it was happier.
Yet that didn't stop issues from arising.
She didn't find that any of the other students enjoyed her company. She would smile at them, and wave, and they would return with an odd, unwelcoming look.
The girls that were in the same ballet program as she would huddle up, and slowly move away from her whenever she entered the room for practice. She couldn't ever understand why; she was always so kind to them.
Even though those girls wouldn't talk to her, and the people in her other classes would barely acknowledge her, she still had Cosette.
One thing that drove Cosette crazy about Eponine is that she wished she would talk to her. Oh, yes, they would talk, but any time Eponine seemed upset it would take Cosette all night to get it out of her what was wrong.
Eponine felt in a sense that she couldn't help it. Once you were nearly grown and used to not sharing things, it's hard to change that.
Another problem had occurred for Eponine though- her father.
Upon entering her sophomore year of highschool, Eponine's father had started a drinking habit. To put it bluntly, he became a drunk.
With his constant drunk-ness he also became abusive. Whenever he thought Eponine did something wrong, he would constantly hit her- even though in actuality she didn't do a thing.
He also hit her mother- which made Eponine's heart ache. She could take the hitting herself, but she couldn't bare to see-or hear- her Mamma get hit by nothing but a drunk.
She then begged her mother to leave her father- and not for herself, but for her mothers own good. So her mother did.
It was a messy divorce- starting in her Sophomore year and ending long into the senior year. Her father would claim he wanted custody of the child, but she begged her father to let her go.
He found the last shred of sanity in his heart to let his daughter go with her mother.
Once it was settled, Eponine and her mother now lived in a very small apartment in a not-so-great part of town. It was actually quite a horrible place, but the apartment was fine enough and it seemed like heaven to the two girls who were now away from their old home.
So all together her senior year was a good year. But especially when she dragged Cosette to a rally.
People were all grouped up waiting for someone to start talking.
A tall man with golden curls and a red jacket came up, along with a man with brown hair that was somewhat spiked up.
Eponine stared at the blonde man, thinking about how beautiful he looked. But that wasn't what she was there for- she was there to listen.
When the rally ended, she was in love with the man's speech and wanted to join their group.
She did-same as Cosette- and as it turned out, the man with the brown hair complimented her friend and flirted until she agreed to a date, leaving Eponine trying to talk with the blonde boy, who got caught up in telling her about the revolution. She didn't mind though- that's obviously what he was passionate about.
Their senior year ended, and Eponine and Cosette both got into the same college they longed to get into. Eponine moved into a small town-home, taking in her brother Gavroche from her father and starting college- which was mostly online for her. Cosette lived a 10 minute walk away, and so did the cafe where all the meetings held by the blonde boy- whose name she found was Enjolras- were. From then on, Eponine had a good life, full of friends, laughter, and happiness.
Yet now, here Eponine was, nearly in tears, which a mix of anger, frustration, and embarrassment.
"Yeah, 'Ponine. I would just to check on him. Just don't get him too angry..." Cosette said, which a small smile and chuckle.
"I'll try, but I will most likely fail with my hard headed self... Thanks for always being there, Cosette." Eponine replied, hugging her friend.
"Of course, Eponine. We're always there in the others time of need."
Eponine nodded her head yes, then went to find Enjolras, knowing where he'd be.
(Authors note: I was planning on doing something different for this chapter, but I decided to make it mostly an Eponine backstory. Hope you don't mind it, loves! Xx)