D. JAVERT
There he was! He was the one that she suspected of… Well. She wasn't exactly sure what she suspected him of, but she'd seen the nine of them around. And He- the tall blond one, a year younger than she- He seemed to be the 'leader'.
So what was he doing out of class? It was last hour; he should have been in class, not in the library scribbling furiously on a sheet of paper as though he was pouring his very life force into it.
She approached him. Something about him intimidated her, and so she was slightly more hesitant than she generally was. Oh, if she could have mastered what her father said about having a heart of stone! But something was trembling inside her.
"Ahem. Excuse me."
The blond boy blinked as if pulling himself from a different world. He set his pen down slowly, but when it clicked against the wood of the table the sound seemed to snap him completely from his revere of extreme concentration. Swiftly, he flipped the page on which he had been writing so desperately over. Dominique saw only two words as she strained to see what he had written: "governmental corruption." How odd.
"You needed something?" The blond boy prompted her, courteously but with a slight tone of irritation that did not go unnoticed.
"Um. Yes. I was wondering…" What was happening to her?
The boy raised an eyebrow. "Yes?" His face was relaxed but one might have detected a slight trace of cool amusement at Dominique's flustered state in his dark blue eyes.
"What class…?"
The boy reached into his book bag and retrieved a neatly folded schedule. Handing it to her, he raised an eyebrow. "This should answer all of your questions."
She unfolded it. Study hour. Oh.
She handed it back. "And what are you studying, then?"
He glared upwards at her, and it was all that Dominique could do to suppress a shudder, even though she was standing and he was seated, giving her a good foot and a half on him.
"That is none of your concern. I will bid you good day, now." He nodded and picked up his pen, evidently waiting for her to leave before turning his paper back over.
She wasn't moving. He turned the pen over in his slender fingers and glanced upwards again. "What are you doing?" He asked brashly.
She drew herself to her full height. "I am an officer of this school."
"Yes. And, unless I'm greatly mistaken, your duties as such are filled in your first two hours."
"It is, nonetheless, still my duty to ascertain…"
He cut across her coldly, like a steel knife slicing into warm butter. "You have ascertained, Javert, that I am well within my rights. If, in fact, you are still on school official duty, I suggest that you commence with your task. Go catch other miscreants. However, I am sure that you have a class this hour- do you not?"
She stepped back, smiling as coldly as she could manage under the circumstances. "It's an excused tardy." She walked quickly out of the library and threw the double doors open. After checking that nobody was there to bear witness, she slumped down against the wall opposite the library doors, breathing hard. He was terrifying, he honestly was.
And he was definitely hiding something- all nine of them were. As an upstanding citizen, what more could she do but attempt to find what it was?
ENJOLRAS
He flipped the paper over, wondering exactly how much Javert had seen. Combeferre emerged from behind a bookshelf, a large tome clutched firmly in both hands.
"Her head could fit through a mail slot, honestly."
Enjolras sighed. "I have a feeling that we might have some trouble from her. She is narrow-minded, yes; but she is in a position of power within these walls. We must be careful of what we plan here."
"This doesn't concern the school, in all honestly. Everything on this page"- here, he gestured to the piece of paper covered in Enjolras's writing- "concerns outside forces. Not the school."
"Precisely. And when we leave the school, we are in the outside world."
"So?"
"Then, we must deal with her father."
Combeferre sighed. "Ah. Daddy dearest." He paused. "I wouldn't worry about it, Enjolras."
"I am not worried. I am simply weighing every consequence that might occur as a result of our actions. One must be vigilant in this sort of thing." He turned his attention back to the paper, running a hand through his hair in an attempt to regain his concentration.
What concentration he regained, however, was broken by Combeferre not a minute later. "Still. I wouldn't worry. Do you want to know why?"
"Enlighten me."
"Because she's terrified of you."
Somehow, Enjolras was not surprised by this assessment.
EPONINE
This sort of thing had always been easy for her. Perhaps it was genetic, she mused, waiting for the secretary to waddle into the bathroom. If the idiot would not drink so many milkshakes, maybe it wouldn't be so easy to put laxatives into her system! Her fault, really.
When Eponine heard the lock on the bathroom click, she rose stealthily from her hiding place and slipped behind the desk. There was the book with all of the students' names and information perched precariously on the left corner; this is what she gravitated towards.
She flipped to the "F" section, and found Cosette with little difficulty. On a small slip of paper, she copied out the address listed. No email address or phone number. How odd.
The sink in the bathroom was running now; Eponine knew that she had little time. She reached for the box of office passes and slipped one out, ducking out of the office as the door to the bathroom opened.
Seated in an alcove in the hallway, Eponine forged the secretary's signature with practiced ease. After all, one got used to this sort of thing. Wondering vaguely in the back of her mind what she had missed, Eponine walked idly to her Geometry class. She could take her time; after all, she had been "assisting in bathroom maintenance."
What a joke.
It was, in fact, almost enough of a joke to allow her to forget what Marius would do with the information she retrieved for him.
D. JAVERT
A good day's work done. Yes. She had taught that little freshman never to run in the hall again! Yes- he would be serving a detention with Hammernith. Didn't they all know that such protestations as "I'm going to miss my bus! My four-year-old brother will be home alone for hours!" were falling on deaf ears when directed to Dominique Javert?
Queen of the school.
As for those nine- oh, they'd better watch their backs! If she caught them at something- at anything- they would feel the wrath of her authority! Oh, and they knew it already! She'd put that tall blond leader back in his place in the library! She knew she'd won that one! Regardless of interpretation. It had been a confrontation. And she had won- she knew it.
They were up to something and she would find out what.
A good day's work done.
MARIUS
Eponine had done it. Here he was, holding Cosette Fauchelevent's home address in his hand. Why was he not going to her? Was he simply nervous?
He shifted his weight agitatedly from foot to foot. It was late afternoon, and he was standing outside a bookstore close to Cosette's home, trying to find a way to visit her and not appear to be a perverted psycho, as Azelma had once called Montparnasse within Marius's presence.
It was in the course of these deliberations that the door to the bookstore swung open, almost hitting him in the back, and two young men emerged.
They passed by him, not paying him any heed, or so it seemed, until one of the young men turned. "Marius Pontmercy?"
Marius turned his head curiously. "Yes?"
"From LMHS?"
"That would be me." There was a slight pause. Then- "Not to sound rude or anything, but who are you?"
The young man laughed. "You were absent from Hammernith's class today."
Marius shrugged. "So?"
"So I tried to get you out of detention by answering for you during roll call."
The other boy spoke from behind him. "He basically ended up taking your detention for you."
Marius swore. "You should have just let her write me up…"
"Ah, but I couldn't just do that." He extended a hand. "I'm Lesgle, by the way, and I'm pleased to make your acquaintance."
As Marius shook his hand, he looked curiously at Lesgle's accompanist.
"Courfeyrac," Lesgle said with an offhanded gesture.
"It's nice to meet you," Marius said somewhat distractedly before turning his full attention back to Lesgle, dropping his hand. "I appreciate what you did, then. Is there anything that I can do to repay you?"
Lesgle turned to Courfeyrac and exchanged a wink. Marius raised a curious eyebrow but said nothing.
"Yes. As a matter of fact, detention with Hammernith makes one both tired and thirsty. So tonight, you can meet me at the café on the strip close to the school- you know the one- and buy me a coffee. At seven."
Marius shrugged, faintly bewildered. "I'll be there."
"We look forward to it," Lesgle said before walking away with Courfeyrac. Both were talking in low voices, but a few words were still carried to Marius's ears:
"Enjolras… Not too mad, I hope?"
"He was a bit… but changing it wasn't too much trouble…"
"I must imagine… Ripped into you a bit…"
"Just a little… 'Disappointed in you'… Only two hours later anyways…"
"Didn't lose… Temper?"
"Of course not… Never does…"
Marius watched the retreating backs. When he could no longer hear their conversation, he shrugged and decided that if he were to meet them at seven, he would not have the time to find Cosette.
There would always be another day.
