What is Love?

Chapter 11

Éponine could not focus no matter how hard she tried. All she could think about was what Marius said to her, his facial expressions that haunted her mind. He looked betrayed, but he had the story all wrong. She liked him, a lot, and she couldn't help it if Enjolras was her best friend. She just had to make him less, well, clingy.

Suddenly she was pulled from her train of thought by a sharp jabbing in her shoulder. She looked around and saw Enjolras. She widened her eyes as if to say what do you want, and his eyes flickered up to the teacher. She turned and looked at the teacher, who was staring at her expectedly.

"I'm sorry Ms. Thenardier did I interrupt you?" He asked giving her a look of mock concern.

"No sir" Éponine stuttered back.

"Good, now will you please tell me what this is?" He asked pointing to a triangle on the board.

She glanced down at Enjolras's notes and saw that he wrote largely and underlined the answer, as if he knew she would need it later. She looked back up to the teacher, "It's the Greek letter delta" she said.

He nodded, "Yes, glad to see you picked something up Ms. Thenardier. Now students..." He said before Éponine zoned him out again.

She nodded to Enjolras, expressing her gratitude and he smirked at her before continuing his notes. She stared across the room to find Marius. He was staring straight ahead expressionless. She continued to stare, but his gaze never wavered from the board. She sighed and decided to direct her own attention to the board and began to take her own notes. However she couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching her. She turned the other direction and saw Enjolras.

He looked concerned and mouthed "you ok?" to her.

She nodded quickly and looked back to the board.

Finally the bell rang indicating the conclusion of that period. She nodded quickly to Enjolras before racing out the door to catch up with Marius. Marius shot up immediately as the bell rang and was already halfway down the hallway. Éponine weaved in and out of people, which was easy to do with her small size. Eventually she caught up to him. "Marius", she called, "I need to talk to you".

Marius shook his head and quickened his pace, "I don't want to listen" he said sternly.

Éponine huffed and ran infront of him.

"Get out of my way" he muttered.

"Marius please listen to me" she pleaded, "I'm not with Enjolras, he's my best friend".

He scoffed, "Maybe you should tell him that because I don't think he knows".

Éponine scrunched her face in confusion, "What? Never mind. I live at his house-"

"Seriously, I don't want to listen Éponine, now please get out of my way" he said moving around her.

"No Marius, I live with him because my parents are in jail" she said sadly.

Marius stopped, "In jail? For what?" he asked.

Éponine sighed, "They're in jail for child abuse. Enjolras was kind enough to take me in and I've been living with him for 4 years. He's like my brother" she said.

She felt Marius move closer and take her hand, "I'm sorry I didn't listen to you. I get stubborn when I'm angry, and I get tough to deal with, but you stuck with me. Thank you. Now come on let's get to class" he said pulling her by her hand through the hall.

Éponine's hand tingled and her mind raced, she couldn't think. He was holding her hand. The electricity ran through her body and she felt like she was flying.

They arrived soon in their art class and Marius finally released her hand. The electricity died and Éponine felt herself fall slowly back to Earth. They sat down and took out their sketchbooks and began to draw. Éponine occasionally looked up at Marius only to find him staring back at her. She blushed and quickly dropped her eyes back down to her paper. She could see Marius chuckling and she smiled to herself.

Suddenly he tapped his pencil on his desk and Éponine looked up just as he flicked a note towards her. She opened it staring at him with a suspicious smile and read the note: would you want to go out on tonight, since it's Friday. Dinner and a movie?

She felt we heart leap. He just asked her out. She tried to contain her emotions as she wrote back to him: I would love to. She slid the not back to his desk and his eyes lit up when he saw her response.

"I'll pick you up at 6" he said with a wink.

Éponine blushed and nodded just as the bell rang. Marius waved goodbye to her and she waved back. She raced to her next class. She had to tell Musichetta.