Disclaimer: Okay, a lot of things in the first chapter were taken from the T.V. series "Boy Meets World" (yeah, like you didn't notice), and I was going to do the whole thing like that with Les Miz characters.  However, I got a different idea!  Anyway, please be sure to tell me if you like it, or not.  Thanks!

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Fearing that Marius would disapprove, Cosette decided to keep her diet a secret.  She had been wandering aimlessly through the streets of Paris for the past two hours, when she finally decided to go home.  She barely touched the doorknob when Marius swept her into the room. 

"Come in," Marius beckoned.

Cosette tsk-tsk'd herself as she looked around the kitchen.  "I'd really better clean up this mess before I get started cooking.

"No, no.  You just sit down.  I'll do all that myself."

Cosette wondered why Marius had a sudden interest in housekeeping, then had a horrible thought.  'Marius doesn't love me anymore.  He hates my cooking and now I'm not even good enough to sweep his floors!  I bet he thinks I'm ugly, too.  Compared to other women who admire Marius, I look too young and naive.'  Cosette felt an onslaught of tears rising as she watched Marius try to scramble up a lunch.  If she wasn't good enough for him, then she'd just have to change.  But how?

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"Excuse me, is this Madame Bouvier's School of Refinement, where you learn to be a lady in under seven days?" Cosette asked an elderly looking woman at the door of a large building.

The elderly woman had sharp, piercing eyes, thin lips, and a heap of gray hair poofed up on her head as if it were awaiting the homecoming of its master, the sparrow.  Cosette had been trying hard not to look at that.  "Yes it is," the lady snapped.  "But I don't see what a person like you would be doing here."

"I'm here for the seven days of  free lessons."

"It seems like they're letting anyone in these days.  Oh well, I guess I've seen worse. . . I guess.  Come with me.  Fill out these forms and then join the ladies in the parlor."

After filling out the forms, Cosette was led into a small room where there were about ten other females, ranging in age, lined up against the wall.

"Good evening," Madame Bouvier barked.

Cosette went to join the other girls.  "Good evening, Madame Bouvier," they answered.

"Today, you will be carrying several books across the room, and showing proper table manners.  Cosette Pontmercy, you're first!"

Cosette had no idea what Madame Bouvier had meant by "carrying" books across the room. 

Madame Bouvier sighed impatiently.  "Now would be a good time!"


She still didn't know what to do, but Cosette picked up the books that Madame Bouvier had placed on the table and started walking to the end of the room.

Madame Bouvier looked at Cosette as if she were the most stupid creature on earth.  "No, no, carry the books on your head."

"On my head?"

"Oui, on your head."

The other students laughed.  "She can't balance it on her head 'cause it's too full of air," one of them cried out.  

"Here," a quiet girl who appeared to be near Cosette's age said softly, "let me show you."

Cosette spent the next two hours learning how inadequate she was in the world of high fashion and high society.  'At least,' she thought to herself, 'now I know how to be the woman Marius wants me to be.  I was so ignorant.  I didn't realize how hard it is to be a proper lady nor how important it is.'  By the end of her first session Cosette was able to balance one book atop her head while taking a few steps, could identify her "underclass accent" and pronounce words with " the proper French refinement," and discovered that she had absolutely no fashion sense, whatsoever.  None!