Hey everyone! I want to thank you all soooooo much for your kind reviews and for the first time since I started writing this fanfic I have an idea of where it's going! Woohoo! XD Anyway I really want to thank you all for reviewing! And of course I hope you'll enjoy the next chapter as well! XD
Disclaimer: I do not own Les Misérables.
Concrete Angel
Chapitre Sept.
Though classes weren't to start for another two hours the classroom belonging to Les Amis was occupied by students. They all sat, gathered around the makeshift table of put together desks, watching their leader as he stood from his place, his dark eyes looking at each and every one of them. Some of them were well awake and ready to go, others were clearly still waking up, and then there were...
"Does anyone know where in the world Grantaire is?" Enjolras demanded to know as he glared at the empty seat.
"It's Grantaire...what do we know?" Courfeyrac said with a sad smile.
Enjolras sighed.
"I'm right here!" the said boy said with a huge grin on his face as he dramatically threw the door open and entered with the air of a king. "Sorry to make you wait." he added, smirking broadly as he sat down in his seat.
"Alright." Enjolras grumbled, clenching his fists as he tried to calm down. "Now that we're all gathered, I have something important to discuss."
"Not to disturb you, Enjolras, but we're not all here." Combeferre said.
"Yeah, where's Éponine?" Marius asked, looking at the empty chair next to Anne.
"I deliberately didn't tell her about this meeting." Enjolras spoke.
"Why not?" Feuilly spoke. "Aren't Les Amis open to each other?"
Enjolras smiled weakly at his brown haired friend. "Yes, of course, but it is something concerning her which I wish to discus."
"So she shouldn't be part of it?" Anne asked in a soft voice, regarding the leader from under her long eyelashes, not sure whether she was courageous enough to look the guy straight into the eyes. Somehow he still frightened her, even though she knew he was there for every student or person who needed his assistance.
"No." Enjolras replied, his voice clear and strong. "It's the matter with her and Montparnasse which I wish to discuss."
"So what of it?" Marius asked, not sure he was following what the raven haired guy wanted.
"I think we all saw her reaction to Monsieur Montparnasse's special request." Enjolras continued, looking straight at Marius, and then from him to the rest of the boys who each and every one of them nodded knowingly. They'd all seen her flinch for one reason or another, yet none of them had an idea as to why she would react in such a way.
"As you all know Montparnasse had asked for an audience with Éponine."
"Yes, but she didn't seem very keen to do it." Combeferre said.
"She looked rather bad at ease." Lesgles spoke in agreement with his friend seated next to him.
"Yes, I noticed as well." Enjolras said. "So, my question to you is, how do we deal with this situation? Do we agree with Montparnasse's terms? Or do we find another way to let him meet with Éponine?"
It felt silent for a minute until Prouvaire spoke up. "If a queen is to fight a monster from another land, it is usually a champion who goes in her name."
It made them all smile. Prouvaire was a poet in every possible way, but whenever he used it in normal situations, it was clear what he wanted to bring across. Not like some of his homages to female beauty...
"So, should we send someone in her stead?" Marius asked. "Do you think this Montparnasse will be satisfied with that?"
"He'll have to." Enjolras commented, sitting down and folding his arms in front of his chest. "We're there for his benefit after all. If he cannot understand we cannot simply abide by his every wish, then we cannot defend him well if the need arises."
"But then maybe he'll go after Éponine himself..." Anne suddenly spoke up. Her soft voice made the boys look at her immediately and she fidgeted with her handkerchief. Then she dared to look up, her eyes finding Joly's who just returned her gaze.
"We all know how he can be...The facts speak for themselves."
"Do you think he'd go to such lengths?" Courfeyrac asked, raising an eyebrow at Anne's remark.
"I do not know, but I do know that it is not a good idea not to take precautions. You are boys, you can all easily throw a good punch, but we as girls do not have many ways to defend ourselves."
Once more it turned silent.
"Then we shall accompany the queen." Grantaire spoke up, his greenish eyes sparkling with interest. "If we're there we can assess the situation, and intervene when this Montparnasse guy doesn't keep to the rules."
Enjolras nodded. He hadn't liked the way Éponine, the girl who hadn't batted an eyelash under his mental pressure, flinch at just the mentioning of this lad's name. The look of defiance in her dark eyes had been a kick to his gut, and he'd be damned to see her distressed.
"Then shouldn't it be a good idea to get a talk with him first?" Joly asked, glancing from Anne, who still seemed unconvinced, to Enjolras. "I mean, anyone of us can go through a first talk with him, check how he is."
"He will not speak to us. He'll demand we bring Éponine." Combeferre said.
"But that will work against him." Feuilly commented. "If he really is as bad as the rumours say he won't take an easy bait as that, for he knows we can turn away from helping a student, though that wouldn't be too good for our image."
Enjolras flinched at that comment. They were indeed allowed to turn away from a case, but he'd do anything in his power to prevent Les Amis from doing so. It would only bring the students to distrust them, and that was something they couldn't have.
"That makes it easy then!" Grantaire once more spoke up, a grin on his face. "Me and Enjolras go talk to him, tell him we need to know why he only has trust in Éponine, and with that we find out whether or not we entrust the task of talking to him to our beloved queen."
Enjolras found himself nodding at that. It sounded like a good plan.
"But then we probably need a good reason why she isn't present at their first encounter." Courfeyrac said, pushing a lock of blond hair away from his eyes.
"Probably." Enjolras said, sighing. Never before had he been expected to deal with such an obnoxious student, and he found it annoying. Why in heaven's name did he just want to talk with Éponine?
"Well." Feuilly spoke up. "Let her go with Lesgles."
At that the dark skinned boy looked up.
"He's got a talk with another student that day anyway." Feuilly said, looking at his friend. "You remember right?"
"Of course I do." Lesgles said, a bit taken aback that the brown haired boy would think he'd forget an audience with a student. "But Feuilly are you alright not coming with me?" he asked.
"Of course." Feuilly said. "It's better like this anyway."
Lesgles nodded in approval. "Alright then."
"Then it is decided." Enjolras said, standing up from his seat and taking a look at his friends. They were such a trustworthy bunch, he thought with pride. Not only had they come sooner without knowing why, but they took what he said seriously and acted upon their senses of honour to do something about the situation. Montparnasse had better watch out.
"Today, after the last bell rings, Grantaire and I are going to have a chat with this Montparnasse." He looked at Lesgles. "And you, Lesgles, take Éponine along with you. Keep an open eye, we do not know how the guy is going to react when we go talk to him without Éponine."
Lesgles nodded, realising what Enjolras was saying. It was a bit far-fetched, he found, but he admired how Enjolras seemed to think everything through. There was off course always the slightest chance the guy would take it extremely bad and would try to take it out on the girl in question. He closed his eyes. He'd keep that from happening.
"Okay, now that that's settled..." Enjolras wanted to stop the meeting.
"Wait." Grantaire stopped the leader in mid-sentence. "Didn't we have another super-important mission today?"
Enjolras looked at him questioningly while realisation dawned on the faces of the other boys.
"We were going to find out where Éponine works." Courfeyrac helped the leader who stood to his right remember.
"Oh right." Enjolras sighed. "Let's do that another time."
The faces fell.
"Why?" Grantaire asked.
"Just focus on the important things for now." Enjolras reminded him of the situation at hand. "Then we'll see when we'll try to find out where she works."
"I can try to ask her." Anne suggested at which the guys' eyes lit up. It was true that she knew Eponine had multiple jobs, but the Thénardier girl had never wanted her to know more than that she had a few jobs, so Anne had no idea what she did.
"But that's no fun!" Grantaire protested.
"Pleas Anne, try." Enjolras said, trying not to sigh in exasperation.
She nodded with a smile. "I will."
Éponine limbed. She realised she was, yet there was nothing she could do about it. It was already difficult enough to keep herself from crying out loud with every step she took. Getting her books from her locker had been hell. Her muscles protested at even the simplest of actions, and the bruises cried out in agony every time something even came close to touching them. She feared for the day that had to come.
She had almost reached her History class when she saw Lesgles walk over to her. He smiled warmly at her as he greeted her.
"Bonjour Éponine." he said.
"Bonjour Lesgles." she returned his smile, albeit a little weakly. "What can I do for you?"
"Well, I have an audience with a student after school, and I hoped you'd be willing to help me."
"Me?" Éponine asked, cursing mentally. She was in enough pain already, and now even Les Amis were going to demand more attention from her!
"Yes." Lesgles replied. "You are the best partner in this particular case." he said with such joviality that it involuntarily made Éponine smile. This boy before her was very kind, unlucky, but kind. His voice invited a person to believe in a fair future, and if she hadn't been keeping up her barriers up for so long, she'd had trouble not to let a tear fall.
"Alright then." she agreed. "Where?"
"The classroom of Madame Thiery." he said, smiling even wider "Just after the last bell rings."
"Alright. I'll be there..." she wanted to add that she didn't have too much time but he beat her to it.
"Don't worry, it won't take too long."
She smiled warmly at the dark skinned man. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." he replied "But now I have to go. If not I'll be late in class...again." he smiled at his own bad fortune, for it was known he often got into some trouble along the way to his next class and was because of that often late, earning himself detention. The worst part for the lad was that it was never his fault. He just had the misfortune to appear at the wrong place at the wrong time.
"Yeah, see you after school." With that Éponine turned on her heel, trying to ignore the intense pain she felt at that movement and entered the classroom.
The whole day Enjolras had been wondering who this Montparnasse was. And now that he stood in front of the classroom in which they had asked him to meet up with them he found himself fighting back the urge to glare. The image of a frightened Éponine still haunted him, and despite himself, he hated it. Never before had he felt as worked up over such a stupid thing, but he couldn't help himself. He glanced at the brown haired boy next to him, who took another sip of his at school forbidden drink and smiled weakly. How glad he was Grantaire was always willing to cope with these kinds of things. He was a free spirit after all, and didn't give all that much for etiquette or rules. But he was intelligent and was a pro at understanding situations and not afraid to say what he wanted to, no matter the consequences.
At that Enjolras sighed. It was mostly because Grantaire didn't give a shit about consequences that Enjolras had found himself in perilous situations one too many times. Luckily for both boys though it had never been there fault, and therefore they hadn't gotten into trouble thus far.
Grantaire reached for the doorknob and glanced at Enjolras who stood to his left. "Ready?" he asked.
Enjolras nodded. "Yeah, let's get it over with."
With that Grantaire opened the door to the English classroom and entered, soon followed by the raven haired leader.
There, on the desk next to the window sat a raven haired boy, looking outside, swinging his legs, seemingly bored.
Enjolras threw Grantaire a sideways glance to which Grantaire nodded.
"So, you must be Montparnasse." the brown haired boy said easily as he sauntered to the boy.
"Where's Éponine?" the guy said as he turned his head to them, seemingly bored, yet a dangerous glint was visible in his eyes.
"Now now, don't give us that look." Grantaire continued. "This is routine." he spoke easily as he replaced a desk in the middle of the room and put one chair on one side, and two on the other.
"So it is custom to treat a student as a suspect in a murder case?" Montparnasse asked, voice dripping with sarcasm.
"So it is!" Grantaire, who didn't seem to mind the way in which Montparnasse addressed them, replied.
Enjolras walked over to stand next to the other member of Les Amis. "Come, sit." he said, motioning for the seat in front of them.
Montparnasse regarded them from afar at first, calculating his possibilities. He watched as Grantaire sat down and made it comfortable for himself, propping one leg onto the desk. It was the raven haired guy with equally dark eyes that caught his interest though. One look in those eyes told Montparnasse that this was a lad to be wary of. He stood with a sense of justice and self-confidence not seen much in one so young. The way he walked was a way of showing his superiority which didn't go unnoticed by Montparnasse. This one, he realised, was going to be trouble if he made a mess of things.
He thus decided to saunter over to the empty seat and sat down, never letting his guard down for the two boys in front of him. They were both keeping their eyes fixed upon him, analysing his every step. He glanced at the easy-going one. He didn't seem to be interested at first, as he took swigs from his drink which he noted, wasn't allowed by the school rules. But under that nonchalance, Montparnasse realised, he was the one to keep an eye on. One to be cautious of. One who would remember every little word he'd speak in the next hours.
His eyes went back to the second in the room whose dark eyes were still daring him to look him in the eye, and who hadn't sat down before him. He fought back a chuckle. This was an alfa male, he realised. Unknowingly he didn't allow one to be in a standing position when he was seated in a situation as this. A smirk crept onto his face. Two alfa males in one room, this could get interesting.
"So, what would the two gentlemen want with me?" Montparnasse asked as Enjolras finally sat down.
"I take that is our question." Enjolras said, putting his arms on the table and linking his hands. "You requested an audience."
"Yes." Montparnasse reacted "But I do remember for an audience with Mademoiselle Thénardier." A smirk pulled at his lips yet he kept a solemn face. "Why couldn't she make it?"
"Whoever said she could or could not make it?" Enjolras asked.
"Then why would you be here in her stead."
"As we said before." Enjolras replied, trying to keep the venom out of his voice "This is routine." With every moment he regarded the raven haired boy in front of him, an anger he didn't understand rose within him. This person was the reason of the distressed look on Éponine's face, yet he did not know why. She hadn't flinched the slightest when he was glaring down on her, yet the mere mentioning of the name of the boy in front of her mad her shiver involuntarily. What had happened between the two to make her react in the way she'd done? What was the connection between the two dots that were Éponine and this guy?
Montparnasse leaned back in his chair. "I haven't heard of this before though. I distinguishably remember the guy from class mentioning our right to ask of help from anyone of the group."
"That is true." Enjolras spoke. "After the first encounter with me, the leader."
Montparnasse raised an eyebrow. Of course the leader of Les Amis would be a confident young man like him. It explained a lot though. This lad in front of him was the founder of a delegation of students that were allowed to represent other students in matters of deep concern. Not only had they been able to keep a fight from going out of hand, but they had also prevented many students to be kicked out under false accusations. This guy would not let anyone fool him. Montparnasse gritted his teeth in annoyance and a slight panic, yet felt a smile tug at his lips. This was what he enjoyed more than scaring geeky students or girls. These mental battles were amusing beyond limits and the guy in front of him had already proven to be an equal match. He glanced at the brown haired lad once more. He'd nearly forgotten about the philosopher between the two, and he nearly cursed at that. While the leader had been talking to him, the other boy hadn't said anything but had kept looking at him inquiringly, and no doubt had not let a sign go passed him. He was like a tiger, waiting for a prey.
'Well' Montparnasse thought 'I'm not keen on becoming a prey when I'm clearly a predator.'
"Okay then. What do you want to know?" Montparnasse said, feigning innocence. Neither Enjolras nor Grantaire bought it though.
"Well, you wanted an audience because you've got trouble right?" he asked the raven haired boy from across him.
"Yeah." Montparnasse said, looking down. "I'm in a bit of a mess."
"Which is?" Enjolras asked.
"Well, I haven't been the best student, and I'm afraid that our English teacher, who hates me by the way, is using it against me to get me out of her classroom."
"That is a serious accusation." Enjolras noted.
"I know. That's why I wanted an audience with Éponine. She's in my English class so I took it she was somewhat aware of the situation. I mean, it cannot be that she didn't notice over the course of two years, right?"
Enjolras frowned. "How old are you?"
"Me?" Montparnasse was taken aback by the question. "I'm seventeen, eighteen next month."
Enjolras nodded, not able to say anything.
"Seventeen? Shouldn't you be in your last year then?" Grantaire blurted out.
Enjolras rolled his eyes. Grantaire didn't mind the consequences of his actions alright.
Montparnasse apparently didn't seem to like the way Grantaire had said it though, and he glared at the brown haired member of Les Amis. "I doubled, alright?"
Grantaire pulled up his shoulders. "I didn't say you were stupid or something."
Enjolras sighed, and he could nearly hear the boy from across them snap. His fingers dug deep into the wood of the desk in-between them, and he spoke through gritted teeth.
"I don't like to be addressed as such. I do not want you to even mention me having to do my year over for it is completely unrelated."
"Calm down." Enjolras commented as Grantaire wanted to say something else. "So, you have trouble with your English teacher. How bad do you think it is?"
"She's going to get the principal to kick me out." he said, voice angry.
"Do you think she'd go so far?" Grantaire asked sincerely.
Montparnasse nodded. "Yeah."
"Okay then." Enjolras said, thinking it through. "Then we'll see what we can do about your case, we will contact you when the time comes for a new audience with one of our members."
"Remember what I said." Montparnasse sneered in spite of himself "I want Éponine!"
A glint was lit in Enjolras' eyes and Montparnasse didn't know how to respond. Was it annoyance, jealousy, anger? He couldn't place his finger on it, but he knew it was dangerous. He should've played it smarter, but the last remark would make it more difficult for him now. Not only did the leader give him this look he couldn't even describe, but there was also the other guy who hadn't even been afraid to affront him in such a harsh way, who had heard.
"I mean, she's the only one who has English with me."
"We heard you loud and clear." Enjolras mentioned. "We'll treat you like all of the other students. We'll be there for you through this whole ordeal."
The last words were difficult for him to speak, but unlike the unruly figure before him, Enjolras could not afford slip ups, and he couldn't afford to show this person any sort of weakness. He was certainly up to no good, and he was going to keep Éponine out of harms way. She was a student under his protection after all.
The two Amis walked through the hallways, quickly leaving the classroom where they'd been behind them. Grantaire glanced behind them.
"It doesn't look like he's following us." he said, taking another sip of his bottle.
"What do you think?" Enjolras asked, looking straight ahead of him.
"He's trouble." Grantaire said, no hint of amusement in his voice. "I wouldn't let our Éponine alone with him for all the money or booze of the world."
Enjolras nodded. "Then we've got to find a way to deal with him."
"I may have a few vague ideas." Grantaire said, smiling.
"Good. I have a few myself as well." Enjolras said, though he immediately refused them, pushing them to the back of his mind.
"Then, alas, let us discuss them!" Grantaire said as he started to skip.
"Don't do that Grantaire." Enjolras sighed. "And please, put the bottle away."
"Alright, it's empty anyway."
Enjolras pulled up an inquisitive eyebrow. "How long has it been empty?"
Grantaire grinned. "From before we entered the classroom."
"You're shrewd my friend." Enjolras commented with a sigh, though a smile tugged at his lips.
Grantaire could only laugh.
And that's that for chapter seven! I cannot believe this story's going so fast! I mean the writing! (Whispers: Don't say that too loud Kunaigirl, you'll get yourself a Writer's Block again! .
Anyway as I said in the A/N above I know now where the story's going. Well I did have a plot in mind, otherwise you don't really have a story, but anyway to say it in RPG language, there are going to be three 'bosses' to defeat! Who that are...guess! XD
I hope you've enjoyed this chapter and that you may forgive my long A/N's! ^^" And I hope to see you guys at chapter Eight! XD