At first, Eponine was embarrassed because of how she broke down crying in front of Enjolras, one of her closest friends, but then she quickly got over it. If anything, it was nice to get the ancient secret off her chest and Enjolras was definitely the type to keep it a secret.
Since then, she had become completely dedicated to Enjolras and tried to make him her new Marius. He had tried to accept the role of Eponine's best friend, but she was so attached to him it was kind of annoying.
In fact, it was a Thursday afternoon when Eponine was doing homework in the library, waiting for football practice to be over. Enjolras approached her, waving as she finished her final paragraph of her English essay.
"Are you ready?" Eponine asked him, looking up at her friend standing near the table.
"Actually, I was going to go hang out with some friends... like, Marius, and everyone," Enjolras commented, a bit shyly. While he wanted to be friends with Eponine in her time of need, Marius was also one of his best friends, they were like brothers. He hadn't spent time with him in a while. "Do you want to come?" he offered, although he knew the answer would be no.
Eponine paused, as though she may have said yes, but shook her head. "No, I think I'll just walk home."
"Well, I can give you a ride home and then come back..."
"No," she stopped him, "You go ahead. You can't worry about me forever, Enjolras." Eponine told him, standing to give a hug. "Really, I'm thankful for everything you've been doing since Marius," she said, trying to force herself to smile.
Enjolras gave her a sad smile in response, knowing that she wasn't okay. Still, he decided to go with what she wanted and bade her goodbye. Alone again, Eponine decided to just go home, meditating on her thoughts.
Eponine had talked to Cosette Valjean since their fateful meeting the first day of school. She was a sweet girl, to Eponine's dismay, and was actually very nice. Cosette even invited her to hang out a few times, although it never actually happened.
The fact that Cosette was, well, the Cosette, was too coincidental. It couldn't have been true. It couldn't have been the Cosette.
The Cosette was a little girl from long ago. She was an orphan and nothing more than a servant to the Thenardier family, when the family still ran a motel in Augusta, Maine. Cosette preformed a series of impossible tasks for a toddler. Eponine's mother in particular was cruel to the girl, and Eponine followed in her mother's footsteps.
It was a snowy, Christmas Eve when a mysterious man came to the motel that night, his name lost to Eponine's memory. However, the next morning, he presented Cosette with a doll, her first Christmas present, and they were gone within the hour.
She remembered watching the little figure holding hands with the big, tall man. She didn't stop looking at them until they became nothing but specs in the distance. Eponine was seven, maybe eight, and it was heartbreaking. Why hadn't anyone come to save her?
Eponine spent the rest of her childhood waiting for her own hero to come in the form of a father-like man, but he never came. She waited for him all through her move to New Hampshire to a small town called Alfred, where her parents became teachers. He never came.
By fifth grade, her imaginary hero became Marius Pontmercy, a boy from a rich family. However, as good of a friend as he was, he coudn't save her from her parents or her life. At the age of fourteen, Eponine finally accepted no one was ever coming to save her.
Since then, she had always found a way to resent Cosette, the miserable child servant of the Thenardier's motel in Maine. But, was this the same Cosette? It couldn't have been. It would be just too random. How could have both girls found their way to the same town in New Hampshire? It was just too impossible.
Begrudgingly, Eponine entered her home again. Gavroche was trying to do focus on his homework, but as usual, was failing. She suspected her little brother had some kind of attention disorder that hadn't been addressed ever, and she tried to help him in any way she could.
"Hey, 'Ponine," he greeted happily.
"Hi," she responded, taking a seat next to him. She looked down at his homework, reading Shakespeare. Eponine was positive he would have trouble with that.
"Do you remember Cosette?" she asked, nervously.
"Cosette?" her brother repeated.
"Yeah, we sometimes called her the Lark, she worked at the motel..." Eponine tried to hint, noticing the look of recognition in his eyes.
"Oh, yeah! I forgot her name. I was really little when she left... where did she go, anyway?"
"I don't know, some man came and took her one day, then she was gone." Eponine shrugged, trying to look indifferent.
"Why ask?" Gavroche questioned her. She shrugged again, lying through her teeth.
"I... I guess I was just thinking about her because I thought of the motel. Hey, have you seen Mom?"
After being pointed in the right direction, Eponine decided to ask her mother. Mrs. Thenardier was a generally nasty, unattractive woman, but she did have some strange Maternal instinct for her only daughter.
"Mom?" she asked, approaching her mother as cautiously as possible. At the sight of her daughter, her usual ugly, scowl turned just a slight bit softer.
"What is it?" she sounded both annoyed and interested, it was sort of fascinating.
"Do you remember Cosette?"
"Cosette?" Mrs. Thenardier asked, as though she didn't remember the girl.
"She was the girl who used to work..." Eponine tried to explain, which only made her mother more angry.
"I remember the girl! Why would you think of her, of all people?" She probably should have dropped the conversation, but Eponine just had to know more.
"I was just wondering, do you remember why she left?" Her mother shook her head.
"No, some weird man came and took her to do God knows what. At least she's out of our hair," she commented simply, causing Eponine to be shocked. How could her mother speak so casually about a girl they abused for years?
She bit her tongue, quietly thanked her mother for the information, and left to do math homework. However, before she could even think about starting she had to call someone. No answer. Well, at least she could leave a message.
"Hey, Marius it's just Eponine, we should hang out tomorrow, I haven't really heard from you. Bye."
Thanks for reading! Sorry this chapter is so short, but I'm updating soon because I am home for two weeks. Happy holidays!