It was the next day and Eponine, Enjolras and Marius were waiting for Liz to show up. She came a minute later, smiling at Enjolras. Marius introduced Enjolras to Liz and the four of them looked for a table to sit at. They found one ten minutes later and started eating. Since they only had forty-five minutes to eat, which wasn't an enough time to talk, they just focused on their food. A short while later, the bell rang and Liz, Enjolras, Marius and Eponine headed towards their fourth hours. When Eponine and Marius reached the choir class they shared, Marius opened the door for Eponine, following closely behind. Mrs. Marcus, the teacher, told the class said that they would be working on their pieces from The Phantom of the Opera for their concert on Saturday. The fall play was The Phantom of the Opera, and Enjolras had gotten the part of Raoul but was the understudy for the Phantom, which was a big deal for Marius and the rest of his friends, and Eponine of course.
It was after school and Eponine and Liz were at Liz's horseback riding lesson. Today, Liz was riding a light gray Belgian/Quarter Horse mare named Olympian Dream, Dream for short. Eponine had gotten permission from her parents and Liz's horseback riding instructor to ride a gentle pure black Morgan mare named Katie's Dusty Spin, called Katie around the barn. Today, the girls were doing a posting trot around the outside of the arena. Eponine had to admit that Liz was such a better rider than she was.
"Let's canter," said the instructor. She motioned for Eponine to canter Katie.
"Just gently squeeze with your legs and ask her to canter," said the instructor. Eponine did what Shelbi (the instructor) told her to do.
"Nice canter, Eponine. She works well for you. Are you planning on riding again?" asked Shelbi.
"I'm not sure if I am or not, Shelbi," said Eponine as she cooled Katie down.
"Well I hope you are. You're a good rider. Liz, I want to talk to you about that open show...." Shelbi went over to Liz and talked to her about an open show she wanted Liz to ride in.
Eponine walked Katie to her stall and gave her a pat. Liz's mom was picking the girls up after their lesson. Liz kept checking her watch and looking towards the direction from which her mother would come. Two minutes later, Liz shouted,
"She's here! C'mon Eponine," Liz tugged on Eponine's jacket to get her to follow towards her mother's van.
"Hey girls. How was your lesson?" asked Mrs. Drake.
"Fine. Oh! Eponine, this is my mom, Lisa Drake. Mom, meet Eponine Thenardier. She just moved here," said Liz.
"Eponine, what language is that?" asked Mrs. Drake.
"It's French. I was named after my great-great-great grandmother on my dad's side. Do you like it?" asked Eponine.
"I think it's purty," said a male voice from the backseat. Liz turned around and said,
"Theo, she has a boyfriend already,"
"Where do you live, Eponine?" asked Mrs. Drake.
"Turn right up ahead," said Eponine.
"Do you have a nickname or do people call you Eponine all the time?" asked Liz.
"Well, Marius calls me 'Ponine or Eppy, but you can call me 'Ponine" said Eponine.
"Whose Marius?" asked Theo.
"Her boyfriend, doofus. Eponine, meet my twin brother, Theodore, Theo for short. Theo meet Eponine," said Liz.
"Where's you house, Eponine?" asked Mrs. Drake.
"It's the only inn on this block," said Eponine.
"You guys own an inn? Cool!" exclaimed Theo.
"Here it is. Thank you for the ride, Mrs. Drake. Nice meeting you, Theo," Eponine got out of the car and thanked Mrs. Drake again for the ride home. She went up to the door and opened it.
"Eponine! There you are! The pub's busy today!" yelled her mother.
"I'm coming!" said Eponine.
"Wait on Table Seven tonight. Your mother, Azelma and I already have the other tables covered," said her father. Eponine walked towards the table sitting in the left-hand corner of the pub.
"Eponine, what's wrong? You look tired. What's up?" asked Liz as she, Eponine, Theo, Marius and Enjolras headed to lunch.
"I had to work in the pub late last night. I didn't g-get to sleep until t-three thirty," said Eponine. She, Marius, Enjolras, Theo and Liz sat down and their usual table and Eponine rested her head on Marius' shoulder. Marius put his arm around her and kissed her forehead.
"That's the third time this week that Eponine had to work in her parent's pub," whispered Marius.
"So that's why she's been sleepy and in a bad mood," said Enjolras as Marius nodded sadly. The first-warning bell rang somewhere in the distance a few minutes later.
"'Ponine, wake up. It's time to go to choir," Marius spoke to Eponine softly. He waved goodbye to Enjolras, Liz and Theo.
"Wh-where did everybody go, Marius?" asked Eponine in a sleepy voice.
"'Ponine, sweetie, they went to class already," said Marius. They hurried to choir and just made it when the final bell rang. Marius hurried to his seat in the Tenor section while Eponine made her way to the Alto section. Mrs. Marcus, the choir teacher, took role. After role, she said,
"Today, we will be working on our duets. Let's start with Eponine and Marius. Chop, chop," Eponine and Marius made their way down to the front of the class. They stood next to each other and the beginning of "Somewhere Out There" began to play. Eponine started singing her part of the song. The second verse came and both Marius and Eponine did their duet. When they were done, everyone in the class applauded for them. Marius and Eponine smiled and went back to their seats.
"That was wonderful! Now let's hear from Daryl and Cheryl," said Mrs. Marcus. Eponine rolled her eyes and watched the Jamison twins do their duet. Today, they were doing "Tomorrow" from Annie, which wasn't a duet, anyways. When they were finished, Mrs. Marcus pulled the twins aside and said,
"That wasn't a duet. You two had three weeks to prepare for your duet. What happened?"
"Well," said Daryl, looking at his sister.
"We were out of town and we left our music at our grandparent's house. We'll do it tomorrow," said Cheryl. Mrs. Marcus nodded and guided the twins back to their seats. The bell rang an hour later and Eponine and Marius gathered their book bags and headed out the door, saying goodbye to their friends.
"Ugh! Math next! I hate math!" said Eponine. Marius put his arm around Eponine and said,
"Don't worry. Only twelve weeks left till Halloween."
"Marius, you're always counting down the weeks till Halloween, Spring Break, Summer, Start of School, my birthday, your birthday and Christmas. I'll IM you tonight if the pub isn't too busy, 'kay?" said Eponine. Marius agreed and walked towards his Drawing Two class.
It was after school and Eponine decided to run a couple laps around the track. She put on her headphones, gym shorts and an old T-shirt. She was about to get started running when two boys came running by her. Her jaw dropped when she recognized them as Marius and Joly. They had decided to take a break when they saw Eponine.
"What are you doing here, 'Ponine?" asked Marius.
"Yeah, I didn't know you were on the Tennis team," said Joly.
"I'm not, but may I run with you two, please?" asked Eponine.
"Sure," said Marius.
"If you can keep up," said Joly and with that, he and Marius put on a new burst of speed. Eponine sat down her headphones and ran to catch up with them. She had run cross-country all four years of high school and was just as fast as Marius and Joly. She was almost to Marius when she lost her balance and fell hard on her left ankle. Marius turned around, just in time to see Eponine fall.
"Eponine!" Marius yelled as he ran towards her. "Are you okay?" he asked when he got closer. Eponine shook her head.
"I fell on my ankle and oh God, Marius, it hurts!" Eponine burst into tears as Marius touched her ankle.
"OW!" yelled Eponine. She burst into tears again.
"Oh, God, 'Ponine. Let's get you inside. Joly! Help me!" called Marius to his friend. Joly grabbed Eponine's left arm while Marius grabbed her right. The boys put Eponine's arms over their shoulders and slowly walked Eponine to the nurse's office.
"Hopefully the nurse's office is still open," said Marius. Eponine burst into tears when they reached the front of the nurse's office.
"Shh, 'Ponine. It's okay," Marius soothed her. Joly rolled his eyes at Marius and Eponine. The school nurse, Nurse McKenna, was just leaving her office as Marius, Eponine and Joly entered the school.
"What's going on here?" asked the nurse as she looked from Marius to Eponine to Joly and back to Eponine. Her blue eyes focused on Eponine's ankle.
"What happened to your ankle, Eponine?" asked the nurse gently.
"I-I was out running with Marius and Joly a-and my ankle gave way," Eponine explained.
"Which ankle did you injure?" Nurse McKenna asked.
"My left one," said Eponine.
"You know what, Joly, I'll stay with Eponine if you want to go home," said Marius.
"Okay, see you guys later. I'm really sorry about your ankle, Eponine. I'll grab your CD player and give it to Marius," Joly said as he headed out the door.