Éponine chewed on her pencil. The paper that sat in front of her might as well have been written in a different language. Well, to be fair, a something foreign would be easier to comprehend. She sighed and clamped her teeth on the metal end of the pencil loudly. Enjolras looked up from his place at the desk, annoyed.

"Stop that, will you?" He snapped. She rolled her eyes.

"It's not affecting you, is it?" She rebutted. Then, after a second's hesitation, she smirked and added, "Mrs. Turnblad."

Enjolras scowled and put his nose back into his history textbook. It was more often than not that he was reading it, and he even would take notes when his class didn't require it. Éponine, who did the bare minimum, found this more than strange and was on the verge of telling Enjolras that herself. However, she kept her thoughts to herself and turned her attention once again to the impossible work in front of her.

Finally she groaned and crumpled her paper. She tossed it to the ground and folded her arms over her chest. "I give up." She professed. Enjolras looked disapprovingly at the paper ball.

"You know, if you need help you can always, uh, I don't know… Ask for it?" He kicked it back over to her and she reluctantly picked up the wadded paper with a stubborn look in her eye.

"I don't-" she began, hotly, but Enjolras cut her off.

"Ask for help? Yeah, I figured." He got up from the leather chair and strode over to her. He took the paper from her hands and smoothed it out, laughing at what he saw there.

"What?" She asked, defensively. He said nothing, instead settling down beside her on the couch. It was unfamiliar to see the marble man showing any emotion, let alone laughter.

"You're kidding me, right? This is geometry. It's possibly the easiest math there is."

"Well I'm sorry that we can't all be fucking math fucking geniuses." She growled, shoving her shoulder between him and the view of her paper. He leaned away from her, clicking his tongue.

"I think that was one-too-many 'fucks'." He pointed out. She growled a little at him.

"Shut the fuck up." She snapped. He sat up and leaned over her, nearly resting his chin on her shoulder. He pointed at the first problem with his capped pen.

"Y equals five and X equals negative six."

She jerked a little, not expecting his voice to be there and most certainly not expecting him to be right. "How did you do that?" She looked at him with an expression just short of awe. His lips split into a half smile and he took her gnawed-on pencil and sketched out the work that he'd done inside his head.

"It's easy, let me show you."

"Miss Jondrette," Mrs. Salonga said. Éponine paused, her stack of loose papers very nearly shoved in her old bag. "May I talk to you for a moment?"

She nodded and tossed her bag over her shoulders. She stood beside the desk, a little nervous. Her hands shook as she fiddled with the hem of her t-shirt (actually, it belonged to Enjolras' neighbor's daughter. She'd broken into the house the night before) and she avoided her teacher's bespeckled eyes.

"Don't worry, dear. You're not in trouble." Mrs. Salonga pulled out something that Éponine recognized as the test that they had taken the day before. In fact, it was the same test that Enjolras helped her study for. "Congratulations."

Éponine's jaw dropped. The woman smiled and patted the girl's hand. "I'm assuming that you invested in a tutor?"

"Something like that…"

"ENJOLRAS!" She yelled, not caring that some girls from her grade glared at her with sneers plastered on their made-up faces. He looked up from his smart phone at the sound of his yelled name. If it was anyone else she was yelling for in the hall, they would have at least had the decency to be embarrassed. Enjolras, however, didn't feel emotion the same way as the others. Instead, he raised a hand in acknowledgement.

Combeferre, who was standing next to him, mumbled in his ear, "What's got her riled up?"Enjolras shrugged in response and put his phone in his back pocket. Combeferre then said, casually, "Based on what Gavroche says, I wouldn't want to be on her bad side. Good luck, mon ami."

Ever since Combeferre went to France for the summer, he'd taken to using random French words in his everyday sentences, so when Enjolras heard this he rolled his eyes and went to go see what Éponine wanted. When they came face-to-face (Éponine had to look up quite a bit, being as Enjolras towered over her), she did something that he didn't expect.

She threw her arms around him in a rare display of affection. She pulled away rather quickly, her cheeks flushed. Enjolras barely had time to react, the hug was so quick. "What was that for?" He managed to ask, priding himself on the steadiness in his voice.

"I got an A on my math test!" She exclaimed. He grinned and awkwardly patted her shoulder.

"And I had something to do with this because…?"

"You helped me with the study guide. I had no fucking clue what the midpoint formula was until you told me!" She beamed up at him, causing his grin to grow even more.

"Well, you're welcome." He said, and she hesitated before embracing him again. This time, he managed to give her a little squeeze before she pulled away and practically skipped down the hallway. Combeferre came up behind him and nudged him.

"What?" He asked, and Combeferre shook his head, the corners of his lips tilting upwards.

"You'll find out soon enough."

Éponine could tell that Marius was incensed by the way he slammed his textbook on his desk and threw himself into his seat. It was the last period of the day, and as far as she could tell, everyone else was in a good mood. She carefully tapped his shoulder.

He flipped around, glaring. Not at her necessarily, but glaring nonetheless. "Yeah?"

"What's wrong?"

He groaned and ran a hand through his perfect dark hair. "Enjolras and I got into a debate last period and it almost got physical. And, since Enjolras is a fucking teacher's pet, Mr. Unimon sided with him and I got detention." Marius huffed.

Éponine nodded, trying to be understanding. Deep inside, however, she was irked. Was this all it took for Marius to get worked up? Éponine rarely got mad even when Azelma slipped up and Éponine got a beating for her sister's mistake. She forgot her annoyance and all her coherent thoughts stopped when Marius's eyes lit up and he looked at her as if in a new light.

Was he finally seeing her?'

"Éponine! Would you do something for me?" He asked, and she nodded excitedly. "I was supposed to meet Cosette at the park after school. Could you maybe tell her that I can't meet her?"

Éponine's heart crashed, but she gave him a weak smile and said, "Of course."

After class, Éponine rushed to get out of the building and meet Cosette in time. Grantaire and Enjolras were sitting in the courtyard, talking about their AP Art History class, the only thing Enjolras could stand to talk to him about. They saw the girl as she dashed by, and Grantaire reached out and grabbed the back of her shirt.

"Whoa there, Éponine. Where are you going?" He asked, and she looked nervously at him, her eyes darting around and showing her skittishness.

"Somewhere." She finally answered, shortly. Grantaire released the cloth; this was a good-enough answer for him. However, Enjolras' deep voice stopped her before she could resume on her hurried way.

"Montparnasse?" He asked, disapprovingly.

She scowled at him. "My life is my life. And, no." She added, noting the way disbelief flickered across his chiseled features. Suddenly, Grantaire noticed the note in her hand labeled 'Cosette' and he grimaced in sympathy. Enjolras saw it too and frowned.

"Who's Cosette?" He asked. She pushed past the two of them, trying to shake them off with a laugh.

"A friend of a… friend. Guys, I've got to go."

"You're going to miss the meeting." Enjolras called after her, and she full-out gawked at him. Who did he think he was, other than her… guardian? Friend? Éponine honestly didn't know anything about where Enjolras was in her heart.

"Since when have I been part of your little rich-boy club? I have somewhere to be." She snapped.

Enjolras spared a glance in Grantaire's direction. "Tell the others that I'll be late." His golden curls caught the October sunlight, refracting the rays so that it seemed that he was glowing with a light that emerged from his core. Éponine absentmindedly caught herself looking at the tense muscles in his neck that led to his powerful shoulders. Once she realized that she was staring, she shook her head and averted her eyes so that she met Grantaire's navy ones. With a pang of guilt, she realized that he'd caught her checking out his unrequited love.

"Will do, sergeant Apollo." Grantaire's eyes broke away from hers so that he could give a fake salute. He sauntered off, a familiar square container in his hand. When she caught on to what was happening, she crossed her arms and stared pointedly at Enjolras.

"I don't need an escort." She said, watching as an unreadable emotion filled his icy eyes for a second.

"What if Montparnasse shows up?" Enjolras had already started walking towards the parking lot. When he realized that she wasn't walking with him, he aimed a look back at the stubborn girl who hadn't budged.

"I can handle him. He's my…" She spit out the next word as if it was poison on her tongue. "boyfriend."

However, her biting tone didn't make it past Enjolras and he narrowed his eyebrows and crossed his arms as well. "You don't seem too pleased about that." Before she could reply, he added, "I'm coming."

"Fine." She spat, ignoring the smug look on his face. The two walked in uncomfortable silence through the maze of gleaming cars and chatting students. They made it to the sidewalk and Éponine leaned against the button for the crosswalk, causing a monotone beep to fill the air as they waited for the red light.

"Would. You. Stop. That?" Enjolras finally hissed, and she pulled away, a smug look of her own plastered on her face.

"This is all your fault, you know." She said as the perpendicular flow of traffic stopped, allowing them to cross the street. "If you hadn't gotten into a fight with Marius, he wouldn't have detention and I-"

"Oh, this is for Pontmercy." Enjolras said as if that explained everything. She narrowed her eyes, trying to ignore the way the breeze blew his golden curls around his temples as if caressing him.

"What does that mean?"

"Do I really have to explain myself?" He said, pleased to see how angry she'd gotten. For some reason, it made him feel something to see that fire in her eyes.

They reached the pond in the middle of the park. There was a pretty girl sitting alone on a stone bench, her shiny hair styled in long curls that poured over her purple cashmere sweater. Enjolras watched as Éponine uncomfortably handed her the letter. The girl obviously tried to make small talk with the other, motioning towards Enjolras. When Éponine obviously didn't say anything about him, the girl gently pushed past her and glided over to where he stood.

"Hello! You must be Enjolras. Marius has mentioned you." She said, warmly. He nodded and she stuck out her hand. "I'm Cosette."

He took her hand and kissed it, bowing slightly. "Enchantée." Éponine crept up to the two of them, somehow managing to return to Enjolras' side as he released Cosette's hand.

She giggled, slightly blushing. She winked at the smaller girl. "Wow, 'Ponine, you've got yourself quite the Casanova!"

"You don't have to call me that. And anyway, he's not my-" she started, but Cosette's blue eyes were fixated on something in the distance, and her delicate features scrunched up to form a cute frown.

"My dad… What is he doing here?" She murmured, as if to herself. She spared a glance at the two of them and smiled once again. "I have got to go. Thank you for delivering the letter, 'Ponine. It was great to see you. And it was lovely to meet you, monsieur." She laughed in her bell-like voice as if she'd made the funniest joke in history. In a flash of perfume and fabric, she was gone.

"Well," Enjolras said, shifting a textbook from the crook of his right arm to his left. "She's nice."

Éponine just growled slightly in the disappearing girl's direction. "Yeah, she really is." Her tone was angry, but he could tell that she meant her words. He understood that she was actually mad about how nice the other girl was.

"The only weird thing is that she talked as if she was from the 1800's." Enjolras said, making Éponine smile a little. Then he nodded in the direction of the school. "So, you coming to the meeting?"

She sighed. "You never give up, do you?"

"It's something I pride myself on." He said, simply. He exaggeratedly offered her his arm, and she took it, her smile widening the smallest fraction.

"Fine. Lead the way!" She raised her free arm as if holding an invisible sword. He chuckled at her antics and couldn't stop himself from being grateful for the night that Gavroche had begged him to help her. He didn't know what the strange feeling in the pit of his stomach was, but he knew that he wanted to help her whenever he could.

A/N: So... This chapter should make up for their lack of interaction! I hope Enjolras wasn't OOC... I feel like he was... Oh well. I feel like any fic that stars Enjolras in any sort of relationship is OOC.

Review, please!

I have twenty four people reading this... That's a little overwhelming!