Éponine walked slowly through the school, her lips tingling from the surprising amount of kissing she had been doing that day. Marius was close behind her, lugging his backpack, which he had left in the room after the meeting. She wondered if Enjolras was angry with her for leaving him; she hoped that he was not too mad. She and Gavroche still needed a place to stay.

And, whispered a little voice inside her head, you don't want him to dislike you.

"Thanks for helping me find my backpack, 'Ponine." Marius said. Éponine shrugged. It really was nothing. "And, about that kiss—"

"You can tell Cosette." Éponine said, "It wasn't a big deal, just an experiment of sorts."

"Uh, alright," Marius said. They parted at the entrance; Marius was walking back to his RV and Éponine to Enjolras's parking space on the off chance that he waited for her after all. She paused before turning around the brick corner to watch Marius's retreating back. She felt suddenly as if her heart was released from a cage; she no longer loved Marius Pontmercy.

Then who…? Éponine did not want to think about that, because the answer most likely involved the boy that was possibly waiting for her in a car.

Her heart sped up upon seeing the familiar car in its parking space, accompanied by a halo of blond curls. She hopped into the passenger seat, remembering the burning of her lips as they met his. She hid her blush.

"Enjolras. You waited,"

Something was wrong. Enjolras's hands were white around his cell phone and he was staring at the blank screen. A few seconds after she spoke, he looked up. Éponine winced at the anger that burned in Enjolras's icy eyes. It seems like it's been so long since he's been so closed off to her.

"I saw," Enjolras's voice was clipped, but it was as if by speaking he was ripped from his state of immobility. He turned the key in the ignition and the engine started. Éponine was confused until she looked up and saw that Enjolras's car was parked just under a window.

The window that looked into the drama classroom.

Well, shit.

"Enjolras, I—"

"You don't need to say anything," as if realizing how harsh he sounded, he sighed. "It was just a kiss," he was hiding something, but she couldn't tell just what. "It was nothing."

Éponine didn't know which kiss he was talking about, but for whatever reason it felt like a blow in her heart at the thought that he meant the one they shared together.

The car backed out of the place and drove away. Éponine kept the tears firmly burning in her eyes.

-line-

"Éponine, I need you to run something home for me," Enjolras confronted her after French class. She raised her eyebrow.

"It's a long way back to your house," she pointed out. "What's all this about?"

All day, every single one of Les Amis de l'ABC acted particularly strange. Even Gavroche, that morning, had avoided her eyes when she handed him the lunch she made out of Enjolras's gluten-free bread and peanut butter. Enjolras was acting the strangest of all. Sure, for the past few weeks since the kissing day (as Éponine quickly took to calling it), things had been generally awkward between them. But that day was different. He had a strange mix of guilt and apprehension in his eyes when he approached her.

It worried her. Was he going to kick them out? Thernardier was on the streets and probably out for his daughter's blood. Éponine would be damned if she would put Gavroche into that situation.

"Nothing," Enjolras said. He avoided her eyes. She was tempted to yank down his chin so that the tall youth would be forced to look at her. "Meeting is cancelled today, by the way."

"What?" Now Éponine knew something was wrong. "But you have one every Thursday!"

"Not today. Hey, you know my phone number, right?" He asked. Éponine recited it quickly and nodded. "Good."

"What the hell is going on?" Éponine asked.

"Nothing of importance." Enjolras was cold, and he left her standing there. She frowned for a moment before realizing that he didn't even give her anything to bring back to the house.

-line-

"Hey, it's just me. Where are you? It's almost eight. Also, is Gavroche with you? I'm not being clingy and if any of them try to tell you that I am, they can fuck themselves."

"Enjolras, seriously. Pick up the damn phone! Gavroche still isn't home. I might need help looking for him!"

"Okay, I am fucking done. Where the hell are you two? It's past ten! On a school night! I sound like a fucking mom, and I'm not. Please, please call back."

Éponine put down the hand-held phone after her third voicemail left on Enjolras's cell phone. Her heart was beating quickly as several different scenarios ran through her head. What if they got into a car accident? What if there was a flood? What if Thernardier found them?

The last one was the one that was the most daunting. She tossed and turned on the office couch as she waited for them. Gruesome pictures darted through her head of Enjolras and Gavroche being pulled into that nondescript van, of Gavroche crying. Of their hands and feet being bound, of their blood soaking the pavement of somewhere far away, where Éponine could never save them.

Thankfully, her nightmares were interrupted by a furious pounding on the door. As Éponine came to, she realized that there was rain outside that was almost as loud as whoever was knocking. The air was cold; Enjolras must set the thermostat on high at night, for usually Éponine was warm rather than freezing. She pulled Joly's jacket as tightly as it could go. Still, the breeze bit through the fabric.

"Who's there?" She was nervous in asking, and too late thought to disguise her voice. Thankfully, she recognized who was standing out on the porch when she peeped through the hole in the door. She flung open the front door and allowed a shivering, wet Gavroche to stumble inside.

"What happened? Why—"

Gavroche's eyes were puffy from crying. Éponine knelt quickly at his side. He stuttered out, just barely, "We didn't mean for it to get violent, but the police were called and—"

"What? For what to get violent?" Éponine was lost. Why was her ten-year-old brother alone on the outskirts of a big city at midnight?

"The-the-the protest." Gavroche mumbled. "Don't be angry! Enjolras just wanted you to be safe. I threatened to tell if I couldn't come along. He told me to stay in the car and I did. Grantaire came back to tell me that everyone…" He burst into tears.

"Everyone what?" Éponine was close to seizing her brother's shoulders and shaking him. "Tell you that everyone what?"

"They're in jail," Gavroche's blue eyes were bloodshot. "They've been arrested."

DO NOT BE AFRAID TO REVIEW!

Also, check out La Patron-Minette's one-shot called 'If I Loved You'. It's sad and she tries to put the blame on me but really everything is always her fault.

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