This has been updated under threat of death by La Patron-Minette.
She was so glad that Enjolras wasn't there to see her. She wasn't sure that she would be able to handle his judgmental, ice-blue stare. To be fair, she couldn't help herself. The twisting pain that tore through her heart was a grounding to reality- it reminded her of where she belonged and that this temporary reprieve was more than she would receive for the rest of her miserable life.
Seeing the two innocent souls together in their chaste love was torturous to Éponine, who was positive that she was destined for hell (so what was the point of living?). If Enjolras knew where she went, he would purse his lips and turn away in a vain attempt to hide his disapproval. She didn't even understand why she wanted him to approve her in the first place.
She went most days to watch them from a distance. But that day, as she watched the russet-haired girl giggle with the dark-haired hunk of her dreams, she felt a smile etch its way onto her thin face. A lighter feeling was in her chest. Sure, it still hurt, but it was a duller pain. Maybe she was getting used to it; maybe emotional pain required the same tolerance as physical.
The night fell around her as the stores around the jewelry store closed, cars speeding out of the dingy lot. Eventually there was nothing in the premise but for the Fauchelevant's Prius and a sketchy van that was parked on the opposite end of the lot.
Deep within her own thoughts, she failed to notice the particular people that came out of the van. Had she noticed them, she might have run and this story would have turned out differently. However, she noticed nothing until a terribly familiar face appeared behind her in her reflection in the store's window.
"Who is this hussy?" Thernardier asked, scowling and shoving Éponine away.
She coolly regarded him, never wavering as she said, "Your daughter."
She felt rather than saw the ominous presence of Claquesous, Gueulemer, Babet, Brujon, and Montparnasse. They circled her, moving slowly as to remain in the shadows cast by the nearby street lamp. Gueulemer held a crowbar in his meaty hands, and he slapped it in his palm menacingly.
"Why are you here, you crazy bitch? What do you want?" He hissed, grabbing Éponine's upper arm rather roughly.
"I'm here because I'm here, is it so bad to hang out in a strip mall? You shouldn't be here. Aren't you supposed to be in jail?" She snapped. He grudgingly released her, and she stumbled back, keeping close to the window so as to be seen by Marius and Cosette. Hopefully they would see what was going on and be able to get help.
"Yeah, I ain't inside no more. Go away, we got business to take care of." He said, dismissively. She was free from the circle, but Marius and Cosette weren't.
"But I don't want to go!" She lunged forward and seized Thernardier around his waist. "You've been in jail for a good few weeks and you don't even hug your oldest child?"
"There, now you've hugged me." He pulled away, grumbling.
"But how? And where's Azelma? Is she out too?"
"She's fine. Babet's got himself one hell of a lawyer." Thernardier further tried to push Éponine away- she was succeeding in being quite a distraction.
"This is bullshit." Babet murmured, indicating the father-daughter pair.
"We need to get this shit done before the cops come." Gueulemer said loudly and obviously. Éponine took notice of the others then and dispatched herself from her angry father.
"Hey there, guys. Don't you think this is a stupid mission? Why are you following my father blindly?" She asked, her desperation shooting through the roof. She spotted Montparnasse and went to him. "Come on, 'Parnasse. You've heard of this place. Ya'll might as well just go home."
She reached out for his hand, but he jerked back, flashing his open pocket-knife. "Don't want our dearest 'Ponine to get cut, now do we?"
"Montparnasse, baby," She tried to flirt, sliding up to him and putting her small hands where she knew he liked them in non-explicit places. "Tell them to get on home! It's worthless."
Her grammar got better as her means of stalling got worse. When her father noticed this, he growled and narrowed his eyes in her direction. However, she kept talking. As she did, she grabbed the second youngest's hand, pressing her fattening fingers into Gueulemer's palm.
"You know I'm not stupid. I've been useful before, right? Well, I've been in this store and looked around. I promise you that there's absolutely nothing here that you can use. You'd just be arrested for o good reason."
"It's just the cashier girl at this time of night." Brujon raised his eyebrows, probably thinking of all sorts of things to do with Cosette.
"No, there's another guy in there!" Éponine threw out.
"Yeah, a skinny little pubescent scoundrel." Babet snorted. "Easy enough to take care of."
Éponine looked at all the men's narrowed eyes. If they weren't in public, she would have been beaten into a bloody heap by now. She clung to that sentiment as she tossed out one last effort. "They're poor! No one buys anything from that store- the cash register would be empty and all the stuff's worthless!" She had no way of knowing this, but she knew that the group of jailbirds knew even less than her.
"Go to hell, stupid bitch." Thernardier pushed her to the ground, and she stood hastily, knowing the dangers of staying within kicking reach. "When we've ransacked the place, we'll know if you're telling the truth."
"Montparnasse! Please!" She begged, but he just spit in her face. He smirked, reaching forward a dirty thumb to wipe the saliva off her cheek.
"Maybe there'll be something other than spit on that ugly face tonight." His suggestive threat made her sick to her stomach, and she actually had to hold back from retching in disgust. He chuckled at her discomfort.
"Get out of here and just let us do the damn job!" Thernardier snapped at his daughter, who flinched but then stood erect, straightening her shoulders and narrowing her eyes. She pulled away from Montparnasse and stood in front of the door, crossing her arms.
"You're damn determined to break it, aren't you?"
"We're going to." Claquesous, his face concealed by shadows, murmured. She shivered at his unseen gaze.
"No you won't." She spoke with a strange determination, although she knew that she might as well seal her death wish. "Listen, you worthless bastards. If you try to rob this store, if you so much as look at the merchandise through the window, I'll scream." When they laughed, she drew up her last bit of confidence and repeated, "I'll scream. This is the suburbs, if a teenage girl screams then people take it seriously. They'll have the lot of you arrested."
"I'd like to see you try." Montparnasse scowled, stepping close to her.
"Stay away," She warned, and he drew back, muttering curses.
"What's gotten into you, it's that rich boy club, isn't it? You're looking fatter, too." He snarled.
"So what if it is?" She considered the second part and added, "Thanks."
"Screaming won't really do that much, will it?" Gueulemer asked Claquesous who shrugged.
"Say what you want to, think whatever the hell you want. You're not going to get past me. My dad's a dog, but I've grown to be a wolf. There's six of you and only one of me, but I'm not fucking afraid of you. You're not going to do this robbery because I won't let you. I'm a watchdog for them, and if you try anything, I'll bark. So go away and stay out of custody for a bit. Go anywhere else you fucking like, but not here. I won't let you."
Éponine took a step towards them, pleased when she saw a few of them back away. She laughed again in their faces, feeling energy now that she knew she had the upper hand.
"Why the hell would you think I'd be scared? I'm used to fucking picking the trash for food and nearly dying every winter. You dumb asses think you can scare me because you've got cowardly little sluts back at home who run for shelter when you curse at them. But I'm me. I'm a fucking Thernardier. I'm not scared." Her even glance met her father's. "Not even of you." She looked around the little group again, her eyes flashing with a strange amusement at the situation. "I don't care if my dead body's found in the Hudson tomorrow morning. I'll become a martyr for child abuse! Beatan to death by my own dad! So what if I'm found in the dumpster behind the McDonalds with the other garbage? I have nothing to lose!
"I ony have to yell, you know, and the entire area will wake up. There may be six of you, but I've got everyone else on my side. You have a squad, I have an army." Her father made an angry move towards her and she pressed her back against the glass, yelling, "Stay back!"
"All right," Thernardier tried a kinder tactic on his stubborn daughter. "I won't get any closer, but keep quiet, won't you? My girl," He reached out his hand to pat her head, but she ducked away. "This is my job!"
"Some job." She snorted, cynically.
"We have to earn a living somehow, after all. Don't you have sympathy for your daddy?" He asked, pouting.
She snarled, "You sicken me."
"We've got to eat!" Thernardier said, trying to keep his tone mild.
"I could care less if you starved." She sat down in the entrance of the store, claiming her spot and daring any of them to try to remove her from it. She crossed her legs and rested her elbow on her knee and her chin rested in her hands. She nodded along to a song in her head as if there weren't six criminals standing above her. The street lamp illuminated the girl who was so overwhelmingly healthier than she was the last time they saw her.
They retreated far away into the parking lot, out of her hearing range. She watched them closely, her well-tuned ears picking up what most others couldn't.
"There's got to be some reason." Babet insisted, indicating the teenage girl. "Do you think she's a lesbian for the owner's daughter?"
"If she is then she's no daughter of mine." Thernardier hissed back.
"It's just such a shame to pass up. Just a little girl and a weakling boy in the store with nothing to protect them but your damn daughter and thin glass. They probably make more money than she gives 'em credit for. I say we should go through with it."
"Well, you can go in." Montparnasse smiled wickedly. "I'll stay with 'Ponine. If she dares to even whisper…" He flicked open his pocket knife and it caught gleam of the street lamp.
Thernardier appeared to be in deep thought, but in reality he was content with letting the others decide what to do with his own daughter. Hell, if they decided to take her back in the van (and proceed to take her in more ways than one), he'd be fine as long as they payed him a hefty sum.
Brujon was deep in thought and hadn't spoken because of this. He once had broken into the local police station- he was willing to rob anything for the smallest price of a dare. Babet sensed his silence and glared at the other man.
"Why are you being so quiet, man?"
"Okay, listen. I know y'all ain't superstitious, but I saw a black cat earlier today and this afternoon I bumped into some chick and she dropped her mirror. It shattered into a million pieces, it did. Those are bad signs. Let's go." Brujon said. The others reluctantly agreed.
Montparnasse muttered, "All the same. She's long overdue for a good shank."
They walked back to their van and Éponine followed to endure that they didn't return. Her father was the last to leave and the only to notice her. He quickly snuck out his hand and slammed it around her throat, pressing her against the building. She hid her struggle for breath and he eventually let her sink to the ground.
Éponine stood up and ran to the Enjolras household, passing Enjolras in his study and going straight up to her bedroom. The blond boy shook his head in confusion, wanting to ask what was wrong. Thinking it had something to do with Marius, he let her be.
He didn't know that she cried herself to sleep that night, carefully rubbing the impending bruise on the back of her neck and wondering about the strange emptiness in her stomach as if from the loss of love for Marius. Somehow, in the chaos of that night, she'd come to terms with the fact that she no longer felt for the Pontmercy boy.
So I know that most of this chapter is just a modernized scene from the brick, but it's necessary for Eponine's character development and the little bits before and after are important for her developing feelings for Enjolras (she has them, she just doesn't know that yet). Sorry for any typos... This was a bitch to write and so I skipped on the editing... I need a beta.
Next chapter is mostly R and his 'Plan' and then after that is an all Enjonine chapter. You're welcome. Just... Don't hate me for the one after that.
Review!