Soon the last Friday of the school year came around and the school was buzzing, the Christmas production Eponine and Musichetta helped organise and direct was a huge hit with the school, Enjolras and Combeferre led the school debating team to win the championship and everyone had managed to finally convince after a week that Joly did not have cholera. So overall they were ending the year on a high. Eponine and Enjolras were in the library studying in their free session or as Eponine saw it one of the only times they could be together without anyone else bothering them. Enjolras decided to at least try and get half of their Christmas work done, as much as Eponine found his need to finish work the second he received it annoying and an overall waste of precious time together, it was a decent idea. With most of her work completed she would have more time to hang out with the others and Enjolras, so she didn't complain, just as Enjolras didn't complain when Eponine used his shoulder as a pillow.
"So…" Enjolras finally broke the silence, there was no one in the room apart from themselves so they could talk as loud as they wanted. "Are you excited for Christmas?" Eponine snorted,
"That's like asking Courfeyrac if he's excited for his party, and I think we all know the answer to that. Speaking of which, you do realise that according to our group's tradition it is going to be us this year!" With the groan that emerged from Enjolras's lips Eponine knew Enjolras wasn't going to like this conversation but she liked to see him squirm.
"We will cross that bridge when we get there," Was his only response on the subject, which only made Eponine's smirk grow. "but I believe right now we should start walking out to lunch, lessons end in five minutes." After packing all their papers and books away they headed out of the library and down the many halls towards the courtyard, there was no forecast for snow today so the tables would not be covered in a sheet of snow. After walking past a small number of rooms the bell rang out for lunch, as if on cue children were running in all directions, heading either to the cafeteria or to the school grounds. Chaos was the best word to describe the scene in Enjolras's mind. Eponine saw Jehan and Combeferre heading out of their French class and called them over to join them.
"So guys, how was French?" Eponine teased knowing all too well that their teacher was an ass.
"Il était ennuyeux comme l'enfer!" Jehan exclaimed pronouncing every word poorly, the boy was nowhere near a tiny bit fluent in the language, he regretted taking the course the only reason he took the subject was so that he could speak 'The language of love' as well as extra credit for his college application. But after finding out who would be teaching the class… lets just say a time machine would be most helpful! "The only phrases that I can barley pick up are what you could say 'colourful phrases', anyway I thought you loved all this French stuff Ep, how come you're not taking it?"
"I'm already fluent in the language my friend, my mother is French remember, she has taught me everything she knows." It was true that out of both her parents Eponine loved her mother the most, she remembered mother-daughter days they spent together when she was younger of making a complete mess of the kitchen when attempting to baking and eating whatever they managed to make. But all that changed when her father's business went down the drain. Mr Thenardier ran the town's only hotel, however after years of trying to wriggle his way out of paying his taxes he lost the hotel due to his debts, the loss of his business was what drove him to the alcohol and on occasion drugs. The line was drawn when one night he had gotten so drunk he came home smashing everything in sight. A young Eponine not realising what was happening had gotten in the way. Her mother immediately called for a divorce and claimed all rights to keep Thenardier as far away from Eponine as possible, as for Thenardier he left the town and found a new life in running the criminal group known as The Paton-Minette. Eponine and her mother now lived in the small apartment above the café, which Madam Thenardier managed to buy out of her own savings. Eponine helped her mother run the place but occasionally part time jobs where offered out to students, just like the one Enjolras managed to get. (After some persuasion from Eponine of course.)
The group carried on walking towards the courtyard, talking about a variety of things when suddenly they heard two loud noises from behind them, they didn't even need to turn around to know who it was of course. In all honesty the majority of the older students knew, the younger years however who were not aware of the two jokers of the school were looking around searching for the bodies that the voices belonged to. Soon enough they emerged, Grantaire was running down the hallway with hysterical Courfeyrac perched on his back, who in turn was waving tinsel and paper chains in the air, as well as clinging to Taire for dear life!
"MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL BITCHES! PARTY AT MINE IN ONE WEEK SEE YOU ALL THERE OR MISS OUT ON THE SINGLE GREATEST NIGHT OF ALL TIME!"
The small group of Eponine, Enjolras, Combeferre and Jehan just stepped back into the lockers and watched the two boys run around the corner, Courfeyrac's voice becoming quieter and quieter by the second. It was Combeferre who was first to make any kind of response.
"They do realise we still have two lessons left until the end of school right?" The rest of them just laughed,
"Yeah but don't tell them, I'd hate to be the one to wipe those smiles of their faces, it's too cute." Jehan argued.
"I can't believe they are that hyper before they've even eaten." Enjolras stated,
"Yeah well that's what we are dealing with, after all they did devour a whole box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts this morning for breakfast." Eponine sighed, shaking her head with a smile on her face.
"WHAT!" All three boys asked at once.
"Yeah, it was a box of twelve. I walk down to the bus-stop with them remember, I tried to stop them but they were having none of it! I was not going to risk getting bitten by either of them."
When the four of them finally reached the courtyard, they saw Grantaire and Courfeyrac tucking into their lunches, Marius and Cosette and Joly and Musichetta were also at the table. Jehan took his usual place between Cosette and Joly before turning to the two jokers watching in amusement at the speed the two were digging into their food. Courfeyrac was now wearing the tinsel he was waving around before as a crown and Grantaire had a new paper chain necklace.
"So, you guys are excited then huh?!"
"Were we not subtle enough?!" Grantaire teased, "Come on it's Christmas and I will not be the humbug of the group. That's normally Enjolras's job." Grantaire joked, looking up at the humbug in question.
"Hey, I'm not a humbug, as a matter of fact I'm very excited for the party this year." Enjolras defended, as he took his seat next to Eponine and Combeferre. Courfeyrac and Grantaire gave each other a knowing look.
"Really?" Courfeyrac asked leaning across the table resting his head on his hands, "Well then it will be a comfort to know then, that me and Taire managed to invite the entire cheerleading squad." Couf added wriggling his eyebrows at an irritating pace.
"Why would I find that comforting?"
"Dude, dude dude dude dude dude…." Grantaire sang out amused at his friend's complete confusion "Our goal, well mine and Couf's goal for this party is to get you laid, and I think we're going to succeed." Everyone around the table snickered at the plan the boys had announced, even Eponine chuckled. After working on the school plays for the last 3 years Eponine had picked up some good acting tips, this meant it was easy for the two of them to keep their relationship a secret. Choosing to ignore Enjolras's glare to keep her eyes on Marius as he too started to speak up.
"Therefore, I would like to place a bet right here right now that Enjolras, our fearless leader Enjolras will get lucky at the party. Drunk or not." Slamming the table for added theatrics, Marius gave Enjolras a wink as he made his declaration, Enjolras didn't want to say it but he really found this whole thing really to be quite amusing, so he joined in.
"How much are you willing to bet Pontmercy?" The entire table went silent, everyone looking at awe at Enjolras. This was going to be fun.
"If we win meaning that you manned to get yourself laid, you will have to drive all of us wherever we want for a whole month. With no complaints." The table all reacted to this in hysterical laughter, Enjolras was the only one of the group who had a car with more tun 2 seats, so this meant lots of opportunities such as coffee and McDonald runs. Enjolras however didn't even flinch,
"Fine, however if I don't 'get laid' which of course would mean I would win. You Pontmercy would have to be the entire groups pack mule for the same amount of time. Whenever we want, wherever we are. In school and out." The group watched the two lay down their rules with some of the weirdest expressions on their faces, if anyone walked into the yard they would think a miracle has occurred.
"Deal!" Both boys stood up and shook hands and returned back to the rest of the group. Eponine just shook her head in laughter,
"Well Marius I think we all know who has the advantage here, we all know Enjolras has absolutely no experience in flirting with the opposite sex. I bet he hasn't even kissed a girl, so god knows how he would attempt to get himself laid." She smirked not even daring to look at Enjolras. One look and it would probably set her into a laughing fit. So he just turned her attention to Joly and Musichetta who were talking about their own Christmas plans.
Lunch came to an end faster than they fought and soon the group departed off into different directions, Cosette and Joly went off to Biology, Marius and Jehan to Maths, Grantaire to Art, Courfeyrac, Enjolras and Combeferre to law whilst Eponine and Musichetta walked down to drama. They were halfway there when suddenly Eponine felt her phone go off in her pocket, she opened the text and read what was sent.
If I'm so inexperienced at kissing, how come I don't see you complaining? ~ Enjy
The text made her laugh a little too loudly,
"What's so funny?" Musichetta asked seeing the girl next to her almost in a fit,
"Nothing really, I'm fine. Come on were late." She didn't want Chetta to ask any more questions knowing too well that she would probably blurt out the real reasons she has been acting 'weirdly' as Chetta had told her countless times over the past three years.
Halfway through the boys law lesson a man in a police uniform interrupted the class, immediately Enjolras and Combeferre looked over to Courfeyrac. Courfeyrac raised his hands in defines stating that it wasn't his fault, at least not this time anyway.
"I'm sorry to interrupt your class boys and girls but this will only take a moment or two," Enjolras felt his phone go off in his pocket but decided not to get it out just yet, "As you are fully aware a student for your school has been missing for nearly a month now. We have been working non-stop to find any new evidence that could be of any use to find Miss Howell. Unfortunately we have not." Enjolras felt another three or four text messages come though, guessing that everyone is probably having the same conversation in their own classes. Again deciding not to pull out his phone kept his attention on the officer standing at the front of the class. "So I am here today to ask, is there anyone here who can remember seeing Megan the day she disappeared, and if so was there anything about that day that felt or looked suspicious? Maybe she was talking with someone you didn't recognise, or she wasn't being herself?" The police officer left a small pause, hoping people would raise their hands, after a while he just sighed "Well if anyone recalls anything we are only a phone call away. Thank you for listening, we will find her, I promise you all this." And with that the man left the room. The classroom suddenly erupted with whispers and words of worry and questions, Enjolras took this time to check his phone and he had missed five messages.
What has Courf done now and why was I not informed? ~ R
Are the police in your lesson too? What's going on? ~ Pontmercy
Okay it wasn't Courf my bad force of habit, do you believe them when they say they have no new evidence? ~ R
What's going on why are the police here? I thought statements from students were taken weeks ago. ~ Joly
They've found something, they just don't want to freak us out. What do you thinks happened? ~ Ep
The bell rang for last lesson and everyone left their rooms in silence, Joly was right, if the police had already taken statements then why were they back asking more of the same questions? Maybe Eponine was right, maybe they had found something. Enjolras tried to shake the thoughts from his head as he headed to History, Eponine was in the same class maybe she would have some idea.
Eponine was making a quick stop before walking to History, she wanted to get her textbook from her locker knowing that if she tried to borrow Enjolras's again he wouldn't be as nice as last time. Especially not after her comments from lunch. While she was trying to figure out her locker combination to the lock she heard the sound of tiny footsteps.
"Excuse me?" Eponine turned around from her locker to find a worried looking first year looking up at her. "Can you help me?" Eponine knew from experience how scary it was for a first year to attempt to talk to the older students, so she just smiled and nodded,
"Of course sweetie, what's wrong?" the young girl looked quite calm now, grateful someone was nice enough to help her,
"My names Casey, I was waiting for my friend to come out of her lesson but she hasn't and I don't know what to do."
"It's okay Casey I'll help you, who's your friend and where was her last lesson?"
"Her name's Emily and she was meant to have P.E but she hasn't come out of the changing rooms. Everyone else has and they said they haven't seen her." Eponine was shocked about how worried the girl was, maybe the visit from the police officer freaked out the younger years. Those bastards.
"Okay Casey, let's go and she if she's still there, maybe she's trying to bunk her next class. I know when I was in my first year I tried to bunk a lot!" Eponine said with a wink, causing Casey to let out a small giggle.
As they walked down the long corridors towards the changing rooms Eponine couldn't help but shiver, had the heating broke? She knew that the changing rooms were located in one of the oldest parts of the school but come on, could see her own breath for goodness sake. There was no one now walking the corridors apart from them, classes started ten minutes ago so they were going too late, but Eponine didn't care knowing all too well that Enjolras would try and make some excuse for her. It felt weird to be in the corridors alone, it was so quiet that Eponine could hear the drip of water from the toilets across the hall, creating a haunting sound. They had finally walked to the changing rooms, Eponine stood and listened out for any kind of movement but heard none just the drip drip drip of water, she sighed and turned to the small girl hoovering at her side.
"Maybe Emily did come out but you just didn't see her through all the crowds? She could be waiting for you in-" her sentence was cut short however by the flickering of the dim lights. So the heating's out and the lighting is faulty? Seriously what did this school spend there budget on? Eponine sensed Casey shuffling closer to her, the school was dark enough even with the lights on, no wonder she was getting scared. "No she definitely did not come out." Casey mumbled quietly, Eponine just made out the girls words,
"Okay then, let's go see." Eponine took the girls hand and they walked into the girls changing room slowly. The lights kept flickering causing Eponine to get slightly irritated, she felt Casey's grip on her hand become tighter as they finally reached the center of the changing room. From here you could see the inside of the P.E teachers office, the door to the showers and the fire exit.
"Emily?" Was all Eponine could think to say, what else would you say? Suddenly the sound of water dripping became louder, the lights flickered more frequently, Eponine irritation quickly dissolved into fear. What the actual fuck was going on? Her hopes were lifted when suddenly footsteps were heard, getting closer.
"Emily, is that you? We've been looking for you for quite a while, your friend Casey here was getting worried." Eponine spoke directly to the entrance of the office, through the lights flickering Eponine could just make out a small shadow in the office. "Isn't that right Casey?" The lights went out fully and al Eponine could see was darkness, she expected Casey to say something or at least squeal in the sudden change of lighting but when there was no response Eponine looked down, "Casey?"
She was gone.
This was impossible, Eponine was holding her hand, if Casey had let go she would have felt it. Wouldn't she?
"Casey?!" Eponine ran out of the changing rooms expecting Casey and Emily to waiting right outside for her. Hoping that the two girls just got scared of the dark and ran out. It wasn't the case. When Eponine emerged from the changing rooms the halls were empty and there was no sounds of girls running off to class. "Casey? Emily?" Eponine called looking down each hallway. What on Earth just happened? She took one more look behind her when suddenly she shrieked in surprise. The schools caretaker was stood right before her with a snow shovel in hand. Now this was the kind of man that no one wanted to even cross eyes with. The man was in his late fifties, his face pale and haunting covered in small scars that matched the ones on his hands. He always wore his big black trench that covered every part of his body apart from his feet, which were covered by big heavy snow boots. The whole image was terrifying but it was the look in his eyes that scared everyone. It was a look of coldness, a look of anger and rage.
"Why aren't you in class?" Even his voice matched that anger and coldness, Eponine averted her eyes and quietly mumbled
"I was helping out a first year, she was trying to find her friend."
"Yeah well you shouldn't be out here during lessons. Go now before I report you."
Eponine didn't need to be told twice she nodded her head quickly and started heading towards the History block, just before she turned the corner the caretaker called out to her.
"I'd be careful if I were you missy. The school has eyes."