A/N: I got a really interesting PM from a Marius fan about why I'm making Marius a jerk and I'd like to apologize to them and to everyone else who is offended by it. I do like Marius but him being a jerk is what helps the story and just a warning I want to apologize to Cosette fans in advanced for this chapter, so anyway please read and review!
That week was the longest for Eponine. Marius had been avoiding her which made her come to the conclusion that Enjolras words were right and she felt stupid. How could she allow herself to be used that way? Now she was in a situation that she had no idea how to get out of. Marius wouldn't even talk to her about it. She tried texting him but got no response. When he saw her coming down the hallway he usually went the other way, and he wouldn't even look at her in Chemistry class.
Plus it seemed as if everyone knew about Marius kicking her out of his car and they had made their own conclusions about what was going on. The most popular one was that they had sex and he kicked her out of the car which led to what had happened Friday afternoon. She was in the girls' restroom in between classes when she was cornered by Cosette and two of her cheerleader friends, Kirsten and Clara. They were waiting for her when she came out of the stall. "What are you doing with Marius?" Cosette had asked her.
"None of your business," She said and tried to go around them but they had her trapped in and wouldn't let her go around.
"Marius is my business. You think you can just fuck my boyfriend and get away with it? You're nothing but a slut and you better stay away from him." Cosette said. Eponine guessed wasn't so nice and perky after all. She wished she could video this and show it to everyone especially their teachers, so they can see what a bitch Cosette really was.
"We aren't doing anything Cosette. We were just friends," She said.
"Yeah right," Clara said.
"Yeah don't believe her Cosette. She's a slut just like her sister and her friend Lauren," Kirsten said.
"Don't call my sister a slut. You stupid bitch!" She said getting angry. It didn't matter what she thought of her but she wasn't going to let this girl insult Azelma.
"Don't be stupid everyone knows your family is nothing but trash. You, your sister, and don't even let me get started on your dad," Cosette said shaking her head.
"You don't know what the hell you are talking about!" She attempted to go around again but Cosette grabbed her arm.
"Oh please my dad told me all about your dad and how when he's not drunk he goes around scheming and robbing people. You're probably the same way." She pulled her arm from Cosette's grip.
"Leave me alone Cosette! Go find something better to do!"
"No you go find something better to do than my boyfriend. He would never like a girl like you! He put you out of his car right after didn't he? So I guess you better find some other girl's boyfriend to mess around with because if I see you around Marius again I'll make you regret it, Hoeponine!" Hoeponine? Seriously? Was that the best she could come up with? She wanted to laugh out loud. She was supposed to take the threat of some silly rich girl who thought saying Hoeponine was an insult?
She didn't realize she was smiling until Cosette said "You think this is funny you piece of trash?" Then all of a sudden she pushed Eponine and she stumbled back into the stall onto the floor almost hitting her head on the toilet.
"Stay away from Marius or you'll get much worse!" She said then Cosette and her band of followers left the bathroom. She wasn't scared of the threat since she knew she could kick Cosette's ass if it came to it but she was shocked that it had happened. She hoped the fall didn't hurt her baby. That was the end of her bad week. She had talked to Azelma about what Cosette's bitch friends had said and she had explained to her that she had made out with a couple of Marius' friends but nothing else. She told Azelma not to get too involved with any of those guys without giving her an explanation. She just hoped her sister would listen. She spent the weekend at Lauren's apartment since she knew Montparnasse would be at hers with her dad and she didn't feel like dealing with that after the week she just had.
Now it was Monday and she was hoping for a better week than the last. It seemed like most people had forgotten all about the whole situation with Marius or maybe they found something better to talk about because hardly anyone was looking at her and whispering anymore. Cosette gave her dirty looks every time she saw her and when she was with Marius she would engage in some kind of PDA with him that Eponine figured was to prove her point that Marius was hers. It burned her up but she wasn't going to give her the satisfying of letting it show that she was upset. She spent her free period in the library studying for her upcoming History exam on the French Revolution. She didn't want to be around anyone right now. She was reading over her notes when Enjolras sat in front of her. She hadn't talked to him since that day in the parking lot but it wasn't like they were friends in the first place. She did feel bad for the way she treated him though.
"Hey Eponine," he said to her.
"Hey," she said.
"Look I'm sorry about last week. I never meant to hurt your feelings."
"No it's okay. It turned out that you were right and I just didn't want to admit it to myself." She said trying to keep from crying about it again.
"For what it's worth, I hoped you were right and he wasn't really using you. Don't worry about it though one day you will find a guy who is worthy of a great girl like you." He said and put his hand over hers and squeezed. It felt good to have someone comfort her. She was surprised that it was Enjolras, though. She heard someone gasp and looked up and saw Cosette and Kirsten looking at them. She quickly pulled her hand away.
"You move pretty fast," Cosette said to her then turned to Enjolras and said "You better be careful messing with her. There's no telling what diseases she has." It was on the tip of her tongue to say if she had any diseases it was from Marius who obviously gotten it from her even though that would be stupid since Cosette was a virgin. However it would be a very good comeback.
"Lay off Cosette," Enjolras said to her.
"I can't believe you're sticking up for her and I really can't believe you are with her after knowing she was with Marius who knows who else. Do you guys just pass her around and it's your turn now? Is that what this is?" Eponine felt her face burning up. It was taking a lot of willpower not to beat the hell out of this girl. "Walk away Cosette now," Enjolras said sternly.
"Fine come on Kirsten," Cosette said to the other girl who followed behind her like a loyal puppy. The bell ran signaling the end of free period.
"Thanks," She said and smiled at him.
"No problem. Come on let me walk you to class," he said standing up with her. She was starting to realize that Enjolras was a good guy after all. A part of her wondered why she wasted so much time with Marius and a sad part of her realized it was too late to even consider it.
Later that day, she got a text message from Marius telling her to meet him at his house at six since they had to talk. A part of her didn't even want to go since he had been treating her so bad lately but there was still the issue with the baby. She caught the bus to Marius's place and rang the doorbell of his mansion. She always envied Marius's house. She wished she could live in a place even half the size of this one. Marius opened the door himself and let her in. "Come on let's go upstairs so we can talk. My grandfather is here and so are the servants I don't want anyone to hear us." He said and led her to his bedroom and closed the door behind him. She chose to sit in the sitting area instead of on the bed. She never wanted to sit on that bed ever again.
"I didn't mean to act the way I did the other day."
"Well it really hurt me. How could you treat me that way?" She cried.
"I was shocked okay? I have plans to get into Harvard and then go to Harvard law. It's what my family expects. I can't have a child right now." He said with his voice filled with desperation. He sounded pathetic and not to mention selfish.
"Oh and I don't have plans for my future? I was planning on auditioning to get into Julliard's musical theatre program during my senior year but now that's out of the question! You aren't the only one who has to sacrifice their plans Marius!" She said loudly and he quickly told her to keep her voice down in case someone heard. She didn't see what the big deal was about them hearing. They would have to find out anyway.
"No we can fix this everything's going to be okay." he said softly.
"What? What are you talking about?" She said. He went over to a drawer and pulled out an envelope and handed it to her. She opened it and saw some hundred dollar bills.
"It's a thousand dollars I withdrew it from my savings account. You know Joly? Well he's really into medicine and he's going pre-med but anyway he has an uncle who helps girls like you secretly if you pay the right amount of money. You won't even have a medical record of this."
"Marius, are you saying…" Her voice trailed off.
"Yes, it's the perfect solution. I told him about you and he even offered to drive you to his uncle's office where you'll have it done. Then he said you can recuperate at his house and since you said your parents don't seem to know if you are there or not then it doesn't matter if you are gone for a few days. He's being really nice about this. I'm so happy I confided in him about this because if I didn't then I would be freaking out. We don't have give up our futures because of one mistake. It can be fixed right away." He said sounding really excited about it. It did seem like the perfect solution but Eponine wasn't sure if she wanted to take it or not though. What was she going to do?