You Matter To Me

Chapter Two: Spilt Tea And A Caged Bird

And though this girl made such an entrance, seemingly in distress, the large table of friends, most of which have been mentioned, seemed to have been the only ones to notice.
Was she hurt after her trip and fall? No one could tell yet.
What had gotten her in such a state in the first place? One could only imagine.
Did she need help? There was only one way to find out...
Musichetta, the sweet, but slightly overweight girl who majored in the same field, the medical field, as her fiancé, Joly, was the first one to get up from her chair and to rush to the aid of the fellow student; she was probably a new student from the looks of it, as presumably, no one recognized her.
Musichetta kindly knelt down beside the girl, carefully moving the spilled cup of tea and the now wasted and dirtied slice of pie that the girl had dropped on the floor, out of the way before she then gently offered a hand to the girl, unsure just how she would react.
"Excuse me... Are you all right?" Musichetta delicately asked, with her voice soft as always, and she wore the most benevolent look of concern on her round face. She kept her hand outstretched, that is until she then realized that the girl flinched; presumably startled by someone approaching and speaking to her, so Musichetta backed away slightly, but still stayed a few feet away from the girl on the floor.
"I'm not going to hurt you... I'm truly sorry that I startled you, I didn't mean to..." Musichetta softly insisted, waiting for the girl to answer her or at least let her know that she was all right.
After what seemed like a long minute, the girl merely nodded her head of ringlets, then spoke, more like whispered, with a posh, but trembling little English-accented voice. "A-All right," She simply sniffled, speaking so quietly, and speaking in between soft sobs, so that she could barely be understood.
"You're not hurt? You fell... it's slippery from the rain outside, I know..." Musichetta concernedly spoke, offering her hand out once more as she stayed at the girl's side, cautiously inching closer on her knees.
The girl shook her head in reply at first, but surprisingly, and to Musichetta's relief, the girl soon shakily reached her petite, ivory-skinned hand out and took ahold of Musichetta's hand, slowly getting to her feet as Musichetta helped her up and stood up with her.
"My name is Musichetta," Musichetta gently introduced herself, feeling a combination of genuine concern and pity for the strange girl as she helped her to her feet and made sure she really was all right.
It was then that Joly, Musichetta's fiancé, decided that it was time to help as well. He wondered why their table was the only one who seemed to acknowledge this poor girl, let alone pay any mind to what had just happened when she entered. Wrapping one arm around Musichetta, staying at his fiancée's side as he approached the two,  Joly then looked upon the other girl, the crying one, with concern and compassion. "You're sure you're all right?" He concernedly asked the crying girl, seeing that she had fallen silent, even as more tears were streaming down her ivory cheeks.
She seemed to be avoiding eye contact with both he and Musichetta now, as if she were a frightened deer standing in front of oncoming headlights.
"You can talk to us..." Musichetta added to her fiancé's comment, and she was perhaps trying to speak even more softly now, sensing that the girl was either very afraid of them, just in shock resulting from some trauma unbeknownst to them, or both.
"Sit down with us and our friends..."
After what seemed like a few moments, the girl finally, but fearfully obliged, and she shakily walked over to the table and found an empty chair, one at the end of the table, and Joly and Musichetta kindly pulled the chair out for her and helped her sit down, then the two of them sat across the table from her.
Looking closer at her now, one could see that the poor thing had been crying so much that not only did she have many very visible tear stains all over sweet, youthful ivory skinned face, but her chocolate brown eyes were red, swollen, and puffy, so one could only imagine how much she had been crying and why. Her beautiful and soft, curly pale blonde hair that would be otherwise lovely when cared for was tangled and knotted as if she had not brushed it today, or perhaps for a couple days.
All of the friends at the table tried their hardest not to stare at her, not to be rude, but out of curiosity and genuine pity for her.
The table fell awkwardly silent for a moment, yes, even the rowdy boys had been silent, until finally, someone else gently spoke up in an attempt to engage the poor thing. "Like Joly and Chetta said, please don't be afraid of us." The married and pregnant girl, Cosette, sitting beside Enjolras kindly engaged the newcomer. "We may not know you, but we all care about you and we want to help you, in whatever way you need help," She offered in hopes that she could get the girl to open up about whatever was going on, Indeed, Cosette did have a way of being there for people;  she was known for that amongst her husband and their friends, and even total strangers. She had a very caring heart, Cosette did.
Miraculously, Cosette's kindness paid off, because the traumatized girl finally looked up, glanced across the table, and made eye contact with Cosette, even though the girl's eyes burned with warm tears that threatened to continue falling, "T-Thank you." She simply spoke, but with a sort of heartbreaking gratitude audible in her accented voice; and then she opened and closed her mouth a few times before she could even bring herself to say any more. "I-I was sent here, but I d-don't w-want to be here, r-really..." She honestly admitted, with her pink lips trembling violently; it seemed like a great effort for her to have even made herself explain that much.
"Why don't you want to be here, if you don't mind me asking?" Cosette's best friend, Éponine, cautiously chimed in after a moment, from where she was sitting on one side of Cosette.
For a moment, you would have thought that that question intimidated the poor girl even more and that it would have made her keep the rest to herself, but just when everyone thought she was sure to shut them all out and fall back into her fear, she said something that shocked them all.
"H-He forced me to c-come. M-my Father Turpin d-did..."
She flinched as the name left her lips, and she flinched so much so that you would think someone had just struck her. Even more shockingly, she continued on before any more questions could be asked. "H-he sent me here without telling me much at all about where I was going... Told me that education w-was important and t-that he wanted me to be a g-good, proper woman and go... I-I had... have... n-no choice..."
"That doesn't seem very fair. Forgive me for being forward, Mademoiselle, but this father of yours..." The wise friend in the group, Combeferre, began to input, but the girl quickly explained more.
"Y-You see," She sniffled, her posh voice hoarse with a grief so deep that one could hardly bear to hear it in another human's voice. "F-Father Turpin... is not... oh, he's n-not my real father... H-He has always told me that my r-real father got himself arrested and t-that my mum...died... and I've always b-believed it..." She honestly revealed, and no one in the group dared to speak at this moment, as this girl who seemed far too traumatized to speak only a few moments ago was suddenly opening up and sharing such raw information about her life.
"B-But as I've gotten older, I'm n-not so sure I want to believe it anymore... as I've grown, the t-thought of it is too g-gutting for me... I can't b-b-bear it..." Her lips suddenly began to tremble so much more violently that she couldn't so much as manage another word, and her face suddenly fell into her arms that were resting on the table; her entire body now shook with inaudible sobs.
A silence fell over the table once more and all that could be heard was the girl's soft crying, which made all of the friends around the table either bow their heads, at an obvious loss for words, or made them share unsure glances with each other, none of them quite sure what to do or how to comfort the distraught girl who was clearly in an unspeakable situation.
Not only had this man who claimed to be her guardian kept her locked up all her life, like some sort of pet- a caged bird, forbidden to fly, rather; but he had possibly been lying, or partially lying, to her for the whole time she had been under his care or lack thereof.
Who could compare their lives to such a horrible thing as that?
One could not blame the girl for her emotions and for her current state given this piece of information.
Finally, after the girl seemed that she had cried so much that her body grew tired, as her head lie there on the table, Cosette finally got up out of her seat, with some difficulty due to being pregnant, and approached the girl, cautiously and gently putting a hand on her shoulder.
This small gesture of kindness made the poor girl lift her tear stained face from the table and look up to see Cosette smiling so kindly down at her.
"I'm terribly sorry that you had to go through that," Cosette sensitively started, being careful to speak as softly as she could in order to not traumatize the girl any further. "But maybe we could all help you... you know, if there is hope..." She smiled encouragingly, doing her best to be a friend to this girl who seemed to need friends and support in this dark moment. "What's your name?" Delicately asked Cosette, asking this not just because it could be useful information,  but because she, and the group, cared enough about this poor girl to want to know her and to make her feel noticed and cared for.
"My n-name is Johanna. Johanna Barker," The girl, now known to be named Johanna, finally gathered enough strength to reveal her name.
Internally, her heart leapt and her stomach turned at the thought of there being hope, that her father, or perhaps her mother too, could still be out there, and that she could have a family again; and she couldn't pass up this offer that could possibly help her find this out, so that's why she had answered so quickly.
"Well, then we promise to do whatever we can to help you, Johanna," Cosette smiled even more kindly, and everyone around the table nodded to attest to her statement, all wearing very friendly and equally welcoming smiles on their faces as well. This said it all- they vowed to help Johanna and they would be there for her no matter what.
Before Johanna, or anyone else, could say anymore, though, something, or someone rather, made themselves known and cut in. Someone standing nearby must have observed and overheard all of this...