"Marius, are you serious?" She asked him looking from him to the envelope with the money in it. She just couldn't believe that he was trying to sweep this under the rug and acting like it was no big deal. When she first found out she was pregnant, she had dreams of a future with him but now she was just disgusted by him. She couldn't believe she was actually in love with Marius Pontmercy.
"Yes Eponine come on. We can't have a baby right now. Let's not fool ourselves into thinking otherwise." He said sitting next to her and putting his hand over hers.
"I know it's inconvenient but an abortion? Isn't that a bit much?" She said.
"Not really girls do it all of the time. I'm sure you'll have kids when the time is right but right now it's not. I can't go off to college with a child on the way. You can't possibly be thinking of keeping it."
"I don't know Marius. I haven't thought about it yet and you are trying to make the decision for me."
"There is nothing to think about, Eponine!" he said raising his voice at her. She just shook her head sadly. She didn't want to have an abortion. She knew other girls did this without feeling any guilt but she wasn't one of those girls. She couldn't kill her baby and just go on with her life despite what Marius thought.
"Just promise me that you'll sleep on it?" he suggested.
"Fine Marius. I'll sleep on it," She said even though her decision had pretty much already been made. She tried to hand him back the envelope but he shook his head. "You keep it. In fact I'll even sweeten the deal. If you do this, you can keep that for yourself and I'll give you another grand to pay for the procedure. I know you can use the money." Now he was bribing her? Ugh, he was getting less attractive by the minute.
"I have to go. I'll let myself out," she said then quickly left the room. Marius was offering a good deal but she didn't want it. She put the envelope in her purse and walked out the house and down the street. She knew she was now on her own when it came to this and she had no idea what she was going to do now.
For the whole next week she made it her business to avoid Marius. She didn't want to talk to him. The one time she did he wanted to know if she made a decision yet and she said she hadn't and all he had to say was that she needed to do it before it was too late. She hadn't had any run ins with Cosette like she had in the restroom that day. The only thing she and her groupie friends did was occasionally call out "slut" in the hallway when she passed by. After school on Friday, she ran into him after school. "Eponine, I need to know if you've made a decision. I've given you a week. Now please tell me what you are going to do." He said sounding desperate.
"Gee Marius you are talking to me in school. Aren't you afraid Cosette is going to find out?" She said sarcastically. She knew that he avoided talking to her in school because Cosette had forbid him from doing it. They were both idiots and she thought they deserved each other.
"Can it Eponine. Just tell me right now are you going to get rid of it yes or no."
"Sorry Marius but I'm not." She said finally getting it out.
"What the hell are you thinking about?! You're going to raise a child in your house with your parents? And what about me? Have you thought about what this is going to do to my family if they found out I got a girl pregnant? Damn it Eponine!" He said frustrated.
"Look I said I was sorry but abortion is just not an option." He grabbed her arm hard and pulled her towards him as if that was going to scare her. Her father had done much worse to her in the past and even now occasionally. Marius was like a child compared to him. "What the hell is your problem? Why are you making this so hard?" She pulled her arm away from him. "It doesn't have to be hard. I'm sure we can work this out. There are plenty of people who go to college and have children in fact..."
"I don't give a damn about other people! I know I don't want this. Why don't you just get the damn abortion so we won't have to worry about it anymore? If not just give me back my money." He said which was just fine with her. She would be happy to give it back to him. She didn't like being bribed into doing something she didn't really want to anyway. She opened her purse for the envelope only to discover it wasn't there. What the hell? It was there a couple of days ago but she hadn't checked on it since. She had been robbed and had no idea when or who would do this to her. She looked up at him panicked.
"What is it now Eponine? You already spent my money?"
"No! It's just gone." She said shocked.
"Yeah right nice try. You got my money and now you've screwed me over! That's very low Eponine even for you." She shook her head. It just couldn't be. No one would even go anywhere near her purse unless. Oh no! Please, she thought anything but that. But even as she said it she knew it was the truth. "I have to go, Marius." She said and turned and ran off and out of the door to the school building ignoring the weird looks she was getting and him calling after her.
She ran into her house and saw her father sitting at the kitchen table drinking a beer. "Hello Eponine." He said dryly.
"Where is it?" She said getting right to the point. She hoped he would tell her he didn't know what she was talking about. She really didn't want to believe that her own father had stolen from her even though it had happened many times before. Her father always took money from her and Azelma's purses and drawers when they were asleep. They had to resort to hiding what little money they had in places their father would never look like tampon boxes, between the pages of their school books or in the bottom of the trash can. Why didn't she think of that especially with the amount of money she had? She was sure seeing that envelope was like Christmas to her father.
"I was wondering when you were going to ask about that. I took it two days ago." He said and smiled at her.
"I need it back, now." She said
"Where did you get? Those rich guys at school paying you for it now? Montparnasse told me all about you. What are you doing to our reputation in this town, you hussy?" He said getting up and walking over towards her.
"Well he's lying and plus our reputation is already ruined and it's not because of me." Before she knew it he slapped her hard. "Watch your mouth slut!" He spat out at her.
"Just give it back to me!" She pleaded. She knew it was fruitless. The money was long gone now and she would have to tell Marius that.
"No, it looks like you will have to whore yourself out again to get more. That's what you get for hiding money from know you whoring yourself out wasn't such a bad idea. I might have you do it more often. It looks like you might be good for something after all," he said suggestively.
"Fuck you! I hate you! You stupid son of a bitch!" She screamed and then turned to run before he could hit her again. She knew he was running after her and even nearly knocked down her mom who was coming in the door. "Eponine, what the hell is going on?" She cried but she just kept running. She heard Gavroche calling after her but she still didn't stop.
She felt the tears coming down her face. This was turning into an absolute nightmare and she had no idea where to go. She just kept running not knowing which way she was going and before she knew it she felt a car crashing into her. She fell over the hood and onto the ground. "Eponine?" She heard a voice say a second later. Her sight was blurred but she knew that voice. Enjolras. Did he hit her or what? She wasn't sure what had happened. "Eponine, are you okay?" He asked her. She heard other people's voices around them as well but before she could answer him everything went black.