AN: 36 followers? What? Awesome is the perfect word! Thanks for all of the feedback that I posted last night and I can probably tell you that I'll be updating 1-2 times a day for the next week! I'm on spring break (woo) and my friends and boyfriend are out of town... So after this my next two projects will be the other couples in the les Amis. You can find out more about that on my profile if you're interested. The three trilogys will take place in the same modern AU with the same characters they just focus on different couples.
Anne: you're probably my favorite person because you tell me to calm
Chapter Six: You Can't Change the Past
Eponine's POV
This story begins at my birth. I was born into the Thenardier family, we owned a popular inn in our town. We were very skilled conmen and as children, my parents took advantage of my siblings and I's innocence. We had lessons on how to charge people whenever we would own the inn. "Charge 'em for shuttin' the windows Eponine" my father would say. And because I loved my parents I would do anything they asked me to do.
And one of those things was to befriend Montparnasse. We were children and we
played together everyday. My father treated him as a son, and he went on and on about how I would marry Parnasse. And from that time and until just a few years ago. I planned on doing just that. Marrying my childhood best friend.
Well everything changed when we went bankrupt on the Inn. For the first few years i would pickpocket the rich men in the city, but when I became I teenager my father would send me and Parnasse into stores to rob the cashier. I felt no guilt. I was just following orders. I didn't know I was doing something wrong. I was brainwashed.
When Parnasse finally asked me to marry him I was 19 and I accepted. Soon after that we bought a flat, that was when I got to know the scum that is Montparnasse. He drank. A lot. That was all that he used our money for. As soon as he could claim that he was an adult that was all he wanted to spend his money on. And my father was no better. If I ever went home to either of them I would be beaten for the simplest of things.
I was never good enough for them. I could never do anything right. And it emotionally scarred me. The beatings were bad enough, leaving physical reminders at how stupid or how unimportant I am. I was never shown any sort of kindness, before I met him.
It was just a normal day, walking the streets of Paris looking for any rich man I could take money from. That was when I saw him, short curly haired twerp who was probably rolling in money. I did my usual act and bumped into him, "Sorry mousier! I didn't see you there!"
I walked away with the twerp's wallet in hand, then someone caught my arm and I was ready to bolt it, "You know stealing isnt the right way to go about things." a man said.
I turned and saw a tall freckle faced man, I stayed silent. He looked me over, "Come, let me treat you to lunch. My girlfriend Cosette is meeting me at this cafe, she would love to have a new friend." he pulled my arm down the street, "What is your name by the way."
For some reason, I felt I could be honest with this man. I didn't have to hide around him like I had to in front of everyone else, "Jordette, Eponine Jordette."
"Marius Pontemercy, at your service mademoiselle." he bowed and we continued up the little street towards the cafe. That cafe became a safe haven for me, I had friends there. I met Cosette first, we became friends fast even though I envied her relationship with Marius. I should make things clear Enjolras, that my feelings for Marius only lasted about a year. I got over him quickly once I really looked at him and Cosette. They are indeed soulmates and I wouldn't want either of them to be unhappy.
I got a (secret) job at the cafe with Musichetta and met all of the boys. One night I went to Parnasse after my shift. And he told me he knew what i had been doing, he said it was a way for me to escape him. And in reality he was kind of right. I hated him and my father for the way they treated me.
I got the worst beating of my life that night. I waited until Parnasse passed out and I took a cab to Cosette's apartment. When she saw the state of health I was in she called Joly, he came over with Graintaire and Courf. It took me a week to make a full recovery and I quit my job and changed my name. I was now on the run. I knew that if my father or Parnasse found out where I had been they would do anything to get me back. I finished high school that summer (with the help of everyone) and got a scholarship to study in education.
I graduated at the age of 23 and moved back in with Cosette. I had kept my identity a secret from everyone I had ever met and kept tabs on where Montparnasse and my father were. My father is still in prison. Serving a twenty year sentence, I suppose the law caught up with him. Parnasse on the other hand keeps moving in and out of prison with his little robberies here and there.
That's why I was afraid to go to the jail house Enjolras, I didn't know if he or anyone in my father's gang would be there. But I had to make sure you and the others were ok. That place is too dark, it turns the hottest people cold. And I just couldn't bare to think of you and the others turning on me. The way Parnasse did.
I was just so scared when leaving the jail that all I could hear was him saying those awful things that he said years ago. And when Joly tapped my shoulder I went into what I was years ago a fighter, trying to protect myself from any harm that came my way. I know Joly didn't mean any harm but I just. I don't know. I'm so scared. More scared than Ive ever been in my life.
And I kept it a secret for so long because I didn't want any judgment from you. I couldn't live with myself if my past ruined our relationship. I can understand if you never want to see me again, since you're a rule follower.
"Eponine. I was just arrested for breaking the rules." he said. They were both sitting on the couch moments after Eponine had revealed herself. She still wouldn't look at him. Every sound around her she jerked at to see what it was. Finally he reached down deep inside of his marble stature and put his arm around her. She jumped, but finally turned to face him, "I'm here ok. So no one is going to come in here that you don't want to."
She nodded and leaned into his arms. She felt safe where she was, he hadn't judged her by her parents like she thought he would. His heart hammered inside of his chest. And he finally realized that the marble that made him who he was, was cracking. And she was the cause of that.