Marius leaned miserably up against the palm of his hand, staring off into nothing. He could not believe that he had been dragged into six cafés already. Why am I letting Courfeyrac do this? Marius thought. This is terrible. I don't belong here. And all those girls are giggling at me. It must be my clothes. He sighed. I really don't belong here.

Marius was right about one thing; at every place he had visited thus far, groups of girls had congregated behind him, laughing and talking amongst themselves. What Marius did not realize, however, is that they were giggling because they found him attractive, not because his clothes were getting worn. But Marius had no way of knowing this. His experience with the opposite sex was extremely limited. So all day long, whenever a girl had approached him, he staunchly looked the other way, silent, but with his cheeks blushing furiously.

Courfeyrac was another story. At every location that day, he had found at least one girl who caught his eye. Marius looked over at him to see what he was doing at the moment. About six girls were gathered about him, chattering and flashing smiles, and there were several more eyeing him from various places around the room. Courfeyrac lapped up all of the attention with unabashed zeal, Marius noticed. So Marius sat alone over in the corner, trying desperately not to be noticed.

Presently, a pretty brunette wearing a high cut grey dress came over to Marius' table and sat next to him. Marius tried to ignore her.

"Hi," she said, batting her eyelashes.

Marius didn't look at her. A bright flush could be seen creeping over his shapely cheeks.

"My name is Danae," said the girl, continuing to flutter her long black lashes.

Marius still tried to ignore her and said nothing.

Not discouraged, Danae asked him, "What's your name?" while her eyelashes bat so intensely they looked like hummingbird wings.

Finally, Marius looked at her. Danae's heart leapt at seeing how beautiful his face was. She winked him one last time to cement his attention. Marius was concerned.

"Is there something in your eye, mademoiselle?" he asked. "It looks rather silly, the way you keep fluttering your eyelashes. You can use my handkerchief, if you would like."

Danae's face fell. "No, monsieur," she replied, hurt. She sidled away.

Marius watched her go, confused. He then saw Courfeyrac, holding a big blonde girl in a cream-coloured dress, coming over to him.

"Marius!" Courfeyrac exclaimed, clapping his friend on the back.

Marius winced. He looked at him wanly, and said, "Hi, Courfeyrac, who's your friend?"

The blonde girl stuck out her hand instead and introduced herself. "I'm Fiera."

Timidly, Marius took her hand, and replied, "Pleased to meet you," unsure if he actually was pleased or not.

"Isn't she great, Marius?" Courfeyrac beamed. "Anyhow, Fiera tells me that her friend, Julie, the small girl over in the corner with the curly brown hair, likes you."

"Oh."

Courfeyrac leaned in, eyeing the boy expectantly. "Don't you want to meet her?"

"Of course he does!" Fiera answered for him, grabbing his arm, and hauling him over to where her diminutive friend waited.

Courfeyrac beamed again, and whispered in the struggling Marius' ear, "Isn't she great?"

"Julie!" Fiera called. "Hello!"

Julie jumped up, her gigantic grey eyes wide open. She clasped her hands tightly in front of her chest, and breathed, "Hello."

Marius did not like the looks of this.

"Julie, this is Marlon…"

"It's actually Marius…"

Fiera waved him aside. "Either one. Anyhow, Julie, he's a friend of…of…um.."

"Courfeyrac…" he supplied.

"Yes. And Marcel-"

"Marius."

"Yes. Marius. He's quite intelligent. He speaks several languages. And I think he's a lawyer."

"He's awful pretty," Julie intoned dreamily, inching towards the panicked Marius.

"Isn't he though," Courfeyrac agreed.

"Marius," began Julie in a sing-song voice. "Would you like to come for a walk with me? You can gather some flowers for me. Please?"

Frozen with fear, Marius just stood there silent. After a moment or so, Courfeyrac nudged him in the ribs. "Pontmercy!" he hissed. "Say something!"

But Marius chose another alternative: he backed away for several paces, tripped over a chair, clumsily pulled himself up, and ran out the door.