Settle Down

"Eponine! Hurry up! You'll be late for school!" Leanne shouted down to her room.

"Yeah! I'm coming!" Eponine shouted back. "Maybe if these uniforms weren't so complicated I would be up there faster…."

It was the first day back to school. Eponine was heading to her new school with Gavroche and Azelma. The school wasn't too far, just about five blocks from their place. It was private, and Eponine was sure she was going to hate it.

She ran out of her room, grabbing her new adidas backpack before she left. She ran up the stairs, and her siblings stood there waiting for her. Gavroche looked uncomfortable in his new attire, tugging at his collar. Her aunt was swinging her car keys on her finger.

"Here's a granola bar. You woke up a bit too late for an actual breakfast," her aunt informed her as she passed Eponine a granola bar. "Now, let's get through this day!"

"I never caught what your job actually is Anne," Azelma said. They started calling her Anne because "Aunty Anne" was too long and sounded like the pretzel place. They walked down the hallway and got into an elevator.

"I never told you over the three months we spent together?" their aunt wondered. They all couldn't believe that three months had already passed. The children were growing up and getting healthy. They settled quickly into their new life.

"Nope," Gavroche said, popping the "p".

"I work as an interior decorator and sometimes a dancer," their aunt explained. She opened the metal door to the garage. Quickly, they made their way to the car.

"Is that why you signed 'Zelma and me to a dance center?" Eponine asked, still grumpy about the new arrangements.

"You have to make friends and meet new people!" their aunt exclaimed. "Don't be so anti-social. Dancing is a great way to release your feelings and be healthy!"

Gavroche chuckled. "You have to go to dance class! You have to go to dance class!" he taunted.

"Don't make me take that chocolate bar away from you," threatened Azelma.

"Chocolate bar?" their aunt asked, and then she grinned, "And by the way 'Roche, you have piano later."

He groaned in response, and the girls chuckled.

Eponine walked up to the new school. It was a large, brick building, with many glass windows. She made her way inside, then she said goodbye to Gavorche and Azelma. They had their classes on the other side of the building.

She walked down the linoleum staircase and into the basement, where the middle school was. Immediately, she was bombarded with paper airplanes, running boys, and gossiping girls. She pushed her way through, and to her locker. The locker was blue and could fit a whole body in it. Rich kid school, Eponine thought. She opened it up, stacking her books in the shelves. She set up a calendar, a whiteboard, and a picture of her and her old friends.

"New kid?" a vice behind her said. She turned to face a red head girl with teal eyes. She was smirking and opened the locker to the left of Eponine's.

"Um, yeah. My name's Eponine," she responded.

The girl smiled back, "I'm Musichetta. Welcome to Prestige. Try not to get run over by the boys."

"That seems hard considering the fact that they all keep running in here."

"True, but I think you'll manage. Do you know you're way around?"

"Not yet, but eventually. I always know my way around."

"Little Miss Independent. I like you. I can show you around. First class?"

"Geography with Mrs. Hamer?"

"Same here," Musichetta agreed. Eponine smiled at her, thankful that she already had a buddy. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.

"Welcome back 'Jolras!" Courfeyrac sang as he swung his arm around Enjolras's shoulder.

"Hey! How's summer?" Enjolras asked back happily. Back to school meant seeing Eponine again, and going three months without her was way too much in his opinion.

"Enjolras!" Grantaire cried.

"'Taire! A beautiful day isn't it?" Enjolras asked.

"Whoa," Combeferre said, joining them, "Is it just me or does Enjolras sound like Shakespeare?"

They all opened their lockers which were right next to each other this year.

"Have any of you seen 'Ponine yet?" Joly came up to them asking.

"No. She usually gets here early. That's weird," commented Courfeyrac.

They all looked around the hallway. Kids in different colored shirts walked by, but none were Eponine.

Enjolras decided to take the situation into his own hands. He walked over to the office, the boys following him. He looked up at the receptionist at the front desk.

"Hi, hon! Can I help you?" she asked sweetly.

"Yeah, um, do you know where Eponine Thenardier's locker is this year?" he asked kindly.

"Let me check," she told him. A couple minutes later, she looked at him with pity. "I'm sorry, but Ms. Thenardier isn't enrolled to the school. I don't think she came back."

"Oh. Thanks," Enjolras muttered, leaving the office. All the boys looked at him questioningly.

"Did you get the locker number?" Combeferre asked hopefully.

"She doesn't have a locker here. She's gone," Enjolras replied dully.

"What?"

"She's gone, ok? She isn't enrolled into the school this year," he explained. They all nodded, and then they walked away. Enjolras stayed back a little bit. How could she leave him just like this? Was it some kind of joke? If it was, it wasn't funny to him. I'll see you soon? He remembered asking. 'Course! She replied. Bullshit. His sunny day darkened up, and he felt a cold exterior build up around him.

The rest of the day, he was grumpy. He barely smiled or laughed. The rest of the year, he wasn't the same. He was cold and barely liked another girl. How could you when you were severely disappointed with the one girl you liked the most. He felt used. He buried himself in his grades. He stood stone-faced all day. His friends were worried, and then they learned to cope with it. He wasn't changing anytime soon, and they knew that. All throughout middle school, he was called "Marble Man" or "Apollo". Everyone was soon used to it, but that didn't stop the girl's crushes.

Enjolras graduated middle school as the valedictorian. Combeferre was the salutatorian. The boys got ready for high school. All of them were going to attend Hugo High.

Eponine made a lot of friends in Prestige. Musichetta, Bossuet, and especially Marius. She had a huge crush on him all throughout middle school. She followed him around everywhere. She followed him so much, she gained the title "Shadow".

For her first three years of high school, she went to Olympus, another private school. Musichetta, Bossuet, and Marius had all moved to Hugo High. She missed them, but she still had some friends from Prestige.

During her summer of her third year of high school, Leanne joined her on the couch.

"We have to move," she said blatantly.

"Wow, that was pretty straight forward," Eponine muttered.

"Sorry Nina, but my job is needed in another place. It pays better," Leanne explained.

"Where are we moving too?"

Leanne bit her lip, "Back to your old town, Charlottesville."

A/N: Hello! I hope you all liked this chapter. The story is about to get some action! *Does weird dance to emphasis what she was saying* Anyways, what do you guys think? Please! Review, comment, or like the story! I apologize for any mistakes, too. The more reviews, the better! I don't own anything! Except for cookies…. -Franky