Becoming Eponine *A Les Misérables Story*

Chapter Eleven

The next week in real life consisted of three days of a dream. My double life was getting more and more hard, with tech week approaching and with the revolution. Within the week I had managed to perfect my belting technique, perfect "One Day More" with the cast and not cry during "Epilogue," while carrying the weight of strategizing the June Rebellion on my shoulders. I had not seen my mother, thankfully, and I had kept what I heard at the bookstore from Pearl. She had too much on her plate at the moment anyway.

"Oh my god... " Vi whispered to me as we walked from our last period class to the theater. "We'll be in this building for hours... Tech week started... I'm performing in front of a broadway auditioner in a week!" Vi took deep breaths, her pale face reddening as I smiled at her.

"Calm down." My voice came out oddly. I was surprised I had managed to stay calm as of late. Enjolras' excitement and compassion made me feel immensely sad on the inside, yet I had still managed to plot out everything with a fake smile. Something told me that today would be my last day of simplicity, before the funeral. Before we would fight. I swallowed hard and Vi looked at me uneasily,

"Seems like we both need to." We head to the theater, grab our costumes and change into them quickly. Vi rushed around to drop her coat backstage.

"Lucas is coming today!" She said excitedly, "All of the crew is, and the sets are coming out, and I'm so excited!" She smoothed out her brown button up top and looked at the lettering "24601" emblazoned upon it. I pulled my trench coat tighter around me as I fixed my cap in the mirror. My eyes glinted in a foreign emotion. It was sort of a mix of panic and excitement.

"Don't waste all your energy, we'll be here until midnight." I grinned weakly at her, realizing the limited sleep we would be getting until the show goes up.

"Friday, Saturday and Sunday!" Vi said as we headed back down to the seats. I adjusted my belt and waited as everyone filed into the theater. Pearl skipped out, her ragged Cosette skirt fluttering with her motions. I pinned the rosette Daniel had given me to my coat. Miles had given the revolutionaries and I permission to wear them, which Daniel was very happy with. He came out as well, his tan coat also boring the rosette. Bella moved towards us, looking more graceful than ever and Sierra came in, touching her locket.

Miles and Hazel were backstage with tech crew, assigning jobs and giving them a quick tour. They did this as we were changing and when they did come out I immediately spotted Lucas. He moved down to us, wearing a grin.

"I've missed you guys, and I'm operating the spotlight so I'll pretty much get to watch the show!" Lucas grins and I give him the thumbs up,

"Awesome you'll do great."

"You won't mess up, I mean with a harder task you probably would but with the spotlight-" Derrick teased him before Bella elbowed him. Lucas grinned at them before Miles was calling him back over, he ran over to him. Orion came out into the theater a few minutes later with the classic Enjolras vest.

"Tech week." Was all he said before sighing in exhaustion, Sierra smiled,

"Hopefully it's not as bad as last year, because we went two hours overtime. I was practically falling asleep as I was singing." Sierra smiled as if remembering,

"I remember that." Orion said, "This show is so much more entertaining than The Music Man."

"I'm so excited for opening night!" Bella said, bouncing on her heels excitedly, her blond hair bobbing up and down.

"I heard Hazel saying that most advance tickets are already sold out." Sierra said, her eyes were wide and they glinted with excitement. "They also ordered the playbills to be printed!" Sierra seemed to be reaching towards her locket every few seconds, it reminded me of her character. Fantine, was a character I had always loved and admired, in a way I was disappointed I had never gotten to meet her in my dreams, and in a way I was relieved for her life was so very sad.