When We Were Young

Chapter 10

CHAPTER TEN

"Marius, you're late."

I stare at the blonde-haired boy in shock. Well, he seems anything but nice. Marius clears his throat. The boy finally looks up and that's when he notices my presence.

"Are you a student, too?" he asks, though I can tell by his tone he already knows the answer.

"Marius is going to teach me how to read," I simply reply.

"Good luck. He's the worst teacher ever."

That earns him a hard smack behind the head, courtesy of Marius.

"It is the truth," he finishes, rubbing his aching head. "I'm Enjolras, by the way."

"Eponine."

He nods a bit, but quickly dives back in his textbook.

"Come on, Marius," he urges. "You know nothing about this and the test is tomorrow."

Marius reluctantly sits down in front of Enjolras and opens one of the many books he seems to be carrying everywhere he goes. He subtly slides the book about the sea monster to me.

"Get a first look at it," he tells me with a smile.

I grab the small book and open the first page. Whoa. This is going to be harder than I thought. There are black lines everywhere, some curved, some not, all linked together weirdly to make, I guess, words. This is going to be impossible.

*

It takes the boys about two hours to decide their brain can't take it anymore. We all close our books and head to the park. Marius and Enjolras are talking to each other, and I'm basically just following them in silence. I know I'm not part of their group, but I don't care. Marius is going to teach me how to read. I don't need more friends from the bourgeoisie.

"Hey, Eponine, come on here!"

I look up and see that they had distanced themselves and are now standing under a huge oak tree in the middle of the park. Marius starts to sit down as I see Enjolras still hesitating.

"Well?" Marius says. "Are you waiting for it to snow?"

"I forgot, I have something else to do. I'll catch you later."

Enjolras briefly exchanges a glance with me before running off to the market place.

"Is he okay?" I ask. "Is my presence bothering him?"

Marius just hunches his shoulders before smirking.

"It's not that it's you, Eponine. It's that you're a girl." He starts to laugh. "Aww, man, Enjolras is still super uncomfortable when it comes to the opposite gender."

"Really?" I ask, dumbfounded. "That boy is scared of girls?"

"Yeah," Marius says, laughing harder. "Something like that."

He motions me to sit down next to him and I do as told. I pass him the book and he opens it to the first page.

"So I'm going to read it to you. Then I'll explain each word to you. And then you're going to read it. Okay?"

"Umm, sure..."

I wasn't sure about his technique, but I was willing to go with it anyway. I mean, what did I have to lose? If I didn't learn fast, that just meant more time with him.

"Are you ready?" he asks me.

I look down at the first word, the black calligraphy making no sense in my brain. I take a deep breath.

"Yeah," I say. "Let's do this."

He drags his finger on the page and points to the first part.

"So here's how they all start," he tells me. "Once upon a time..."