A/N: I feel I've made this apology a thousand times, so 1,001 can't really hurt can it?

I'm sorry for waiting so long in updates. Speech drained me and my weekend writing energy, and when it wasn't that it was 100 other things I had to do. I swear the school system has no respect for busy teenager, especially ones who are preparing to go to college. You know when they said senior year was easy, THEY LIED!

Anyway, thank you to those who reviewed, I love you all! (and the Enjonine 'I love you" was long overdue don't you think?)

Please keep reviewing, only 2 chapters left after this and I really want to finish this with a BANG!

"That's a lie!" Combeferre exclaimed as he slammed his hands on the table, "I refuse to believe that!"

Eponine held back a laugh as she sat back on the beanbag chair, "No I promise its true."

Combeferre shook his head in disbelief, "I refuse to believe that there are at least 6 people in the world who looks just like me."

"Not to mention there is a 9% chance you will meet them in your lifetime." She added with a smirk, causing Combeferre to glare at her. "Wanna know something else?"

Bahorel grimaced, "I'm not sure if I do…"

A wide grin spread across her face, "High school students today have the same anxiety levels as insane asylum mental patients during the 1950's."

"I knew it!" blurted Courfeyrac with wide eyes, as he shot up from his seat, "I knew schools were pushing us too hard! They are literally pushing us closer to the brink of insanity!"

"Well I heard somewhere that science does prove schools start too early. Our brains don't start fully functioning until about 10 am." chimed in Bossuet as he took a sip of his coke.

Feuilly nodded, "Not to mention all the stress put on us due to college apps, community service, extra curriculars. I mean the schools basically tell us that we don't do well we are going to fail at life and-"

"Stop!" Exclaimed Eponine as she buried her face in a pillow and let her body go slack against the bean bag. "Just thinking about this stuff hurts my brain." She said though the pillow in a muffled voice.

"And thus we solve the mystery of why we are all slowly going crazy." Combeferre joked, causing the lively basement to be filled with laughter.

"I blame junior year." Commented Grantaire from his spot on the bottom of the stairs, startling everyone as no one had even noticed him descend down.

"Yea well you can leave that in the past R, seeing as you are a senior." Joly chirped.

Grantaire chuckled, "I'm living proof you can survive it."

"Just because you can," mumbled Eponine through the thick pillow on her face, "doesn't mean I will."

"Way to be optimistic 'Ponine." Bahorel commented with an eye roll

"Shut up!" She snapped, lifting the pillow from her face for a split second before slamming it back down rapidly.

With graduation right around the corner the group decided they needed to get together and just hang out together to attempt to take all the stress out of their lives, which of course was higher for some compared to others. At the current moment most of them were hanging out in Courfeyrac's basement - game of "Apples to Apples" long forgotten within the messy bowls of cheetos, lays and multiple cups of soda, on the large coffee table. Anyone who walked down at that moment would have been automatically able to tell how close these teens were.

Several of them were seated on one of the various sofa seats in a small semi-circle while the rest were scattered around the floor on bean bags, sofa cushions, and-in the case of Gavroche and Grantaire- each other. Abby was snuggled at Combeferre's side while Feuilly and Jehan were seated at arms chairs, and Eponine drowned in a unusually large, green bean bag chair- her feet stretched out so they were almost lying on top of Bossuet's legs.

Somehow the focus of discussion moved toward facts that were completely odd, but strangely true. Gavroche and Azelma turned out to be regular Einsteins in this area as their childhood days were filled with borrowing books in the library that spilled nothing but those types of facts. The Thenardier children thought it was cool how they could impress people with their odd, but completely interesting knowledge of completely random facts- they weren't useful in the least bit but they were facts a lot of people didn't realize or know, making it all the more fun to discover.

Eponine was no exception. An ongoing gag in AP Government had started the day she walked into class a bit early; she found their teacher eating baby carrots from his lunch -being the outgoing student she was, and unaffected by what people could think of her, Eponine often had a lot to say in each class she had, more so if she actually enjoyed it- and she nonchalantly mentioned that if you were able to eat a baby carrot, you were also able to bite off your own pinky finger. Fair to say Mr. Lamarque was unable to finish his snack that morning.

However, it didn't end there- what was meant to be a quick laugh ended up spanning over the course of the semester. Evidently baby carrots were now ruined to Lamarque thanks to Eponine and unfortunately for him, Grantaire had overheard them both and being the joker he was, things quickly expanded. The following day Grantaire and Jehan had brought in baby carrots and not only placed them on his desk, but went so far as tape a few onto the board and onto his paper. If it was just Grantaire that would not have been too much of an issue but soon it expanded to over half the class. Thanks to Eponine's fun fact, Mr. Lamaque was not receiving gifts of baby carrots on his desk almost every morning and pictures of carrots were sketched at the bottom of several papers and test. They were all very lucky Mr. Lamarque had a good sense of humor- and the fact that Eponine attempted to lessen the blow by giving him Almond Joys, a candy they all knew was his favorite.

"Hello?!" chimed a clear voice from the stairs, "We're here!"

"Sorry we are late." echoed a tenor voice

Everyone turned to see Marius and Cosette standing near the foot of the stairs with his arm wrapped around her waist. His hair was a bit ruffled and Cosette's make-up was smudged, neither on the large scale but noticeable it looking closely.

"If you hadn't been making-out then you wouldn't be late." commented Courfeyrac, making them both turn three shades redder. "Don't even try to deny it. We can all see the signs."

From behind him he heard snickers that most definitely belonged to Combeferre and Abby.

He called them out, "Oh like you two are any better."

"Oh leave them be Courf!" snapped Jehan, "we have more important matters to get to."

"Right, like getting back to Apples to Apples." Abby replied sarcastically

"Please that game was over as soon as Azelma said shrimp could see colors that don't exist to humans." Grantaire scoffed

"Well it's true!" Alzema shouted in her defense

Marius walked over with a raised eyebrow as he looked over all his friends- their odd speeches telling him being late was never a good idea when it came to them- his gaze stopping at the girl with her face buried in a pillow. "Did you all break Eponine?"

"Don't even Pontmercy." She growled from under her mini barrier.

"What's gotten into you?"

"School, school and all the stress that comes with it."

"Way to be a spoil sport." muttered Courfeyrac, resulting in a pillow to his head. "Was that really necessary?!"

Eponine smirked and sat up in the bean bag, "Yes, yes it was."

"Remind me again why you never went out for sports like softball?" Asked Feuilly, trying his best to hide a chuckle, "Your aim is near perfect."

Eponine rolled her eyes, "Sports aren't my thing. They require effort."

"Doesn't everything?" asked a confused Bossuet

"Its the principle of a thing and- wait why am I explaining myself?!"

"Because deep down inside you really do care about what we think of you," Courfeyrac answered smugly, "and because we are your friends and there is a seed inside of you that is dependent- WILL YOU STOP THROWING PILLOWS AT ME!?"

The basement filled will the sound of teenager laughter as they all began to do so hysterically at Courfeyrac's expense. This pillow had struck him right in between the eyes and cut him off mid-sentence, his outburst only adding to the humor.

"Yeah yeah," he sneered, "Let's all make fun and throw pillows at Courfeyrac."

"Well it was bound to happen eventually." stated Eponine sweetly.

Courfeyrac narrowed his eyes, "You are an evil she-devil."

"I take pride in that."

Abby giggled, "She's got you there."

"Well I… I…" He stuttered

"What's the matter Courf?" snickered Grantaire, "Cat got your tongue?"

"Oh whatever!" He snapped playfully.

"Score one for me!" chirped Eponine, beaming with pride.

"What is it now? 250 to 3 with Eponine in the lead?" teased Feuilly

"256!" Corrected Eponine, clicking her tongue as she reached up to grab her can of Sprite off the wooden table.

"Is it really?" Inquired Marius, taking a seat next to Courfeyrac and Bahorel.

"I believe so," Eponine answered, taking a sip of her soda and sitting back on soft chair, "If you want the real score you'll have to ask Enjolras. Knowing him he has a score sheet somewhere, probably in the back of one of his notebooks."

"Speaking of Apollo," interrupted Grantaire, "where is he?"

Eponine shrugged, "I'm not sure. I texted him over two hours ago but he hasn't responded."

"Now that's something!" exclaimed Grantaire, "Enjolras would never ignore you."

"I know, but he just hasn't responded."

That was odd, even for Enjolras. While he wasn't the kind of person who had his phone on his person every moment of everyday, he usually responded to text with half an hour, or even an hour at most. The only time he ever went over that was if he was at a game or tournament, especially in regards with regards to Eponine.

"I'll admit I was surprised he didn't come with you." stated Joly as he adjusted his glasses, "It seemed like you two were attached at the hip ever since prom."

"Well he and I are two separate people." Stated Eponine nonchalantly, "We don't have to constantly be where the other is just to function."

"Unlike those two over there." Commented Bossuet under his breath, gesturing to the corner where Cosette and Marius had escaped to in order to do who knows what.

Eponine giggled, "Oh yea definitely not like those two."

"Just because we aren't looking at you doesn't mean our ears aren't working." Chimed Cosette in an overly-sweet voice.

"Oh I am just shaking in my boots." Teased Eponine

"Its the quiet ones you have to watch out for 'Ponine." Countered Alzema smugly

"Thanks Zema!" Called Cosette

"Alzema!" yelped Eponine, mock-pain filling her voice, "We are sisters! You are supposed to be on my side."

"Nobody's on nobody's side!"

"Just keep saying that Zel, we'll see how that turns out."

Azelma rolled her eyes at her older sister before popping a chip into her mouth, "So there is really no word from Enjolras?"

Eponine shook her head, "Not a peep since yesterday."

"That's odd."

"Yea I know."

"You guys seem a lot closer lately." Jehan commented lightheartedly, "You seem so much happier since prom."

"Well that is the day we got back together." Eponine smiled fondly at the memory, "So it makes sense."

"Are you sure that's all you did?" Courfeyrac asked as she wiggled his eyebrows. "You two were gone for awhile."

"For the last time, we did not do the nasty in the yard behind the hall!" She sneered. "Get your mind out of the gutter Courf!"

"How can you blame me?! You were gone for quite a bit."

"Not really, it was only 30 minutes really, maybe 45. All we missed was Galinda winning prom queen."

"And Velma Kelly finding her boyfriend doing the spread eagle with her sister!" added Courfeyrac, "Now that's when the claws came out!"

"I love me a good catfight!" exclaimed Grantaire

All the girls in the room rolled their eyes at the boys who were seeming to recollect the memory very happily.

"You know one of these days you will all get bitched slapped and no one is going to do anything about it." commented Azelma

"Hey there are sensitive ears in here!" Exclaimed Grantaire

Gavroche puffed his chest, "I'm not a little kid, I can handle this."

"I was talking about Jehan Gav."

Jehan pouted, "Just because I am in touch with my sensitive side does not mean I can't deal with these things in a healthy and proper way that doesn't lead to me being forever traumatized."

"I think you just proved my point….."

"Oh shut up R!" yelped Eponine, coming to Jehan's defense.

"Oh bite me Ep."

"Don't tempt me." She taunted, causing everyone else to laugh.

As soon as conversation started to flow again, Eponine slyly took out her phone from her pocket to see if there was anything from Enjolras, there wasn't.

If she were to be honest, things had been a bit off lately. Since they had gotten back to together- and although Eponine admitted she loved him- Enjolras had seemed almost afraid to lose her again, whether he admitted it or not, but it was something more than that.

While Enjolras was never the type to be overly affectionate or complementing, Eponine couldn't help but notice the little things he did here and there, and the more frequent they became. When they first started dating, the two barely held hands if not for reassurance or pulling the other along, and while Enjolras had no problem with Eponine sitting on his lap or putting his arm around her in public it only occurred once or twice when they were first starting to date. Their general actions with each other were those of two people who were completely comfortable with each other, they didn't need the physical displays of affection to show they cared.

However lately Enjolras had been shifting toward it more and more. When walked next to each other their hands would brush against each other's more than usual until Enjolras grabbed a hold of it. Eponine also noticed that there would be times when he would sneak in a kiss when they studied together or tenderly brush a strand of hair out of her face and behind her ear. Eponine for one wasn't complaining, but she was a bit worried. Added with those gentle moments were a look of apprehension on Enjolras' face, as if he wanted to tell her something but was afraid to do so. She had tried to bring it up many times and ask him what was wrong, but he always changed the subject before she could.

"Well I told him we were all hanging out here." She finally said after scrolling through her phone, "I'm not sure what's keeping him."

Combeferre shrugged, "He's probably working on getting ready for that internship."

Grantaire nodded in agreement, "Yes you know Enjolras, that man plans a month ahead for everything and anything."

Eponine turned her head to look at the two boys, "What internship?"

Combeferre and Grantaire shared a wince before the former froze in place and gulped, "You mean you don't know?"

Eponine cocked her head in confusion, "Don't know what? What the hell is going on?"

"Um… Ep…" Began Combeferre, "I'm not really sure how to tell you this-"

"Just spit it out!"

"But it's not really my place to say." Combeferre argued

"You are really starting to worry me. Can you please just tell me what you mean?!"

Grantaire sighed, "Well I guess you might as well know…"

Enjolras gulped as he looked down at his phone for what seemed like the 15th time. His eyes stared blankly at the last text on his screen. It was from Eponine and it read "we need to talk". That alone would have scared him out of his wits, he knew it couldn't be something good, especially since his voicemail currently had one message from her saying the exact same thing and Combeferre had texted him soon afterwards warning him Eponine wasn't happy.

He never knew what to expect with Eponine, it was both a good and bad thing. That fact kept him on his toes all throughout the time he has known her, but it also frightened him at times- like the time she showed road rage when a rude man not only cut her off in traffic but decided to flip her off when she honked at him, the words that spewed out of her mouth were words he hoped to never hear again, fair to say he offered to do all the driving from that point forward. As of now, he felt as nervous as he did when he was sitting in the passenger seat of Eponine's car. It was not a pleasant feeling in the least bit.

Currently he was sitting at a bench in the park waiting for her arrival- she had been the one who requested to see him that day, the words that followed after told him just how serious she was and he knew he couldn't refuse her request. He quietly stared off at the orange horizon as a few birds flew between the trees. It was late afternoon, and he had spent his entire day locked in his room on his laptop filing some paperwork. His phone was at his desk the entirety of the day but each time he looked at his phone looking at the messages his friends and girlfriend sent him he found that he couldn't form words.

He had been feeling like that for the past few weeks, ever since he got that letter in the mail right after Spring Break. For awhile he was able to push those anxieties aside by focusing on other things, but as deadlines came close and closer he knew he couldn't put it aside anymore. He knew his stress has his own fault in part, he kept putting off telling everyone what was going on and that guilt only built up upon his stress. Uncertainty about what to do didn't help in the least bit either.

The rustling of leaves behind him gave away the arrival of the girl on his mind. He knew it was her just by the tension he felt radiate off of her. As childish as it was he kept his back to her in an attempt to compose himself a little more before meeting her eyes, he had a feeling he was going to need all the preparation he could get.

"Hey…." She greeted in a small voice.

"Hi." He echoed, sighing deeply as he turned around to look at her only to feel his heart drop. Eponine's apparel was nothing out of the ordinary- ripped jeans with her scoffed brown boots, a maroon tank top, her green jacket and her cap- but what really threw Enjolras off was the look on her face. He knew Eponine was upset but she didn't look angry, bitter, or even sad, just conflicted. "A-are you ok?"

"I was just about to ask you the same thing. You haven't answered me back all day."

"Yeah…." he replied nervously as he ran a hand through his hair, "I've been busy."

"I noticed….." Eponine bit her lip and crossed her arms over her chest, "Why didn't you tell me Enjolras?"

He looked at her in shock, "I don't know what you mean."

"The internship Enj! Ferre and R told me that you got the DC internship!"

"Oh yea… that…."

"This is great news Enjolras. Not only did you get into Northwestern, Princeton, and Stanford but you got this great opportunity." She said, a sad smile plastered on her face, "It could really help with your future."

"Yeah I know, that's why I applied."

"Why didn't you tell me!?" She asked again, "This is kind of a big deal…."

"I wanted to." He admitted, "But I didn't know how…"

"I don't see why, I just thought as my boyfriend you would tell me these things. What's important to you is important to me."

"It's difficult Eponine." He sighed, "I wasn't sure how to approach you with this."

She raised an eyebrow, "What's so difficult about it?"

"I have to leave three days after graduations." He stated, "And from there I am going straight to Princeton. I'm not going to be able to come back in between."

"So basically you are leaving for school three months early….." Eponine stiffened at the realization, "Well….. I guess that's that."

Enjolras shrugged, "I was unsure about accepting this."

Eponine looked at him in disbelief, "Why!? This is all you ever worked for!"

"I have to leave in two weeks Eponine. That's not a lot of time… for us…."

Eponine nodded sadly, no longer able to push away the exact fear that was running through her mind. She didn't want Enjolras to lose this opportunity, but she didn't want to lose him either.

Enjolras stood up and put her hands on his shoulders, "Eponine I love you, going away from you is not something I want in the least bit. Especially not so soon."

Eponine licked her lips, "I know….. I feel the same."

"You know," he said tenderly as he cradled her face, "the moment I got that acceptance letter my mind went straight to you."

"Enj… I don't know what to tell you. I just got you back, I don't want to lose you. I would hate to have you slip through my fingers again but…..I would hate it more if you wasted this opportunity because of me." She placed her hands on top of his, "I love you too much to let this pass you by. There are more important things right now than us."

Enjolras took a step back from her, "What do you mean?"

"What I said, there are more important things you need to focus on than us. I don't want to hold you back. "

"That doesn't mean we can't be together 'Ponine."

"You're going to leave for Washington DC in two weeks and I won't see you till Christmas."

"Thanksgiving." Enjolras corrected.

"Still, that's 5 months! And after that who knows when I will see you."

"Eponine, like you said I just got you back. I don't want to break up again. I was a walking zombie the last time."

Eponine chuckled, "I was too…."

"Then we should stay together."

"For what the next two weeks?!" Eponine snapped, she did not want to get her hopes up only to have them crushed later on. "You're going to be gone Enjolras, I don't want to distract you."

"You won't! If anything you help me focus more."

"But what if, you find someone else…." she trailed off, her secret fear exposed

He stared at her in disbelief, "How could you think that?! I love you!"

"I love you too, but we are going to be apart for months and feelings can change in that time, especially since you are going to be working with so many new people and then you'll be going to school with even more! People right up at your level!"

Enjolras shook his head, "Eponine, I love YOU! You and you alone. You don't need to worry about that kind of thing."

"I'm a teenage girl, worrying about these things are in my description."

"But you aren't like other teenage girls, that's why I love you. That's why I am so hesitant about going there."

Eponine pursed her lips before moving to throw her arms around his shoulders and resting her head against his shoulder. "I love you too, and I want you to take this internship. I am willing to try a long distance relationship if you are."

"Oh I am more than willing."

"Good." She said with a smile and she stepped back to look at his face. "We will work this out together."

"That sounds perfect to me."

Eponine reached up to meet his lips with hers when the park sprinklers suddenly turned on and splashed them with water. Eponine squealed and Enjolras wrapped his arm around her waist as they ran down the green pathways in an attempt to escape the cold water to the sanctuary of Enjolras' car.

Enjolras: You just can't help yourself can you?

Me: So i like a bit of drama, don't judge me!

Enjolras: I think we are past that point

Me: Oh whatever Enjy, go back to writing speeches!