Ballet Shoes, Angel's Hair and Revolution (A Les Misérables fanfiction)

Chapter 2

All of the eyes in the room turned towards me.

"Victorie!" I heard the boys getting overly excited, "you've brought food!"

They immediately stopped doing what they were doing, and threw themselves my way to get cookies and the chocolate cake. I couldn't help but laugh as they surrounded me, pushing each other like little kids to snatch the best treats before they run out. Only one of them remained on his spot, unmoved like a marble statue. The leader who seemed to be too interested in his notes to care to eat... Let alone to acknowledge my existence. Enjolras was his name. He annoyed me; he thought of himself as someone better than others... funny to think that he was the leader of Les Amis de l'ABC, friends of the abased. Maybe that's why he felt superior. He saw himself as the savior of democratic France, but truly all he did was write stupid speeches to deliver, and plan battles that I knew couldn't be won. Such loss of time and potential! He seemed to be smart, and he surely was handsome, but instead of studying law and minding his own business, he decided to overthrow the monarchy.

I knew he didn't like me. I heard him saying that women are only a distraction and should never be allowed in their secret society. And he always gave me nasty looks when I entered the room. He was a little bit funny with this kind of thinking, I mean women are so much more than a distraction, and he has no idea how helpful would it be for his cause to employ some women in his plans. Of course I wasn't going to tell him that...

I looked at the boys, my boys, eating and laughing happily as if they were schoolboys allowed to eat their favorite snack with their afternoon tea.

"Oh God Victorie! The cake is amazing today!" Exclaimed Bossuet, scratching his bald head that reminded an egg. His premature balding was often a source of jokes among les Amis. They called him "the most unlucky member of les Amis de l'ABC" for various reasons, including but not limited to: repeating years of university multiple times, hair falling out too soon, and the lack of luck when it came to courting women. He never complained about his misfortune and always kept smiling but I never dared to joke about his baldness, and always sympathized with him. I knew a couple of things about misfortune, and I wish the world existed without it. But if not the misery and misfortune, this group wouldn't exist, and I would be deprived of some wonderful friends.

"I don't know what you and Madame Hucheloup put in it! I mean, It doesn't really matter but it tastes amazing" Added Joly who's face was already full of food, "But I do hope it is baked well enough, I do not wish to get sick!" Ah Joly... he is a true example of an extreme hypochondria... a small paper cut in his eyes is an infected sword wound, and he would never go out in rain without an umbrella, thinking it would probably kill him. It's seems bizarre that he is studying medicine on top of that!

"We have a secret ingredient or two" I said, laughing a little bit, "and don't worry, you won't die, it's just cake"

"Unless you choke on it" said Courfeyrac, and hit his friend playfully in his arm. The other one started coughing in an exaggerated way and the rest of the room burst out in laughter. Well... almost the rest of the room. In the corner, I spotted Enjolras getting more and more annoyed.

"You were trying to kill me!" Joly screamed, causing the always cheerful young man with curly brown hair to roll his eyes.

"Me?! Never!" Courf exclaimed and quickly changed the topic of the conversation, "So Victorie, you need to tell me what is in the cake"

"I don't know if you deserve to know... I need to think about it," I teased as he looked at me almost begging. I had to stop a chuckle that was about to come out of my throat.

Courfeyrac, the student of law, has lately taken an interest in the art of cooking. He used to be really secretive about it and at first told only me so that I could help him out with some basics. However, one time when I was showing him how to prepare a chicken broth, Grantaire walked in on us and told all the boys that Courf was doing "the girly thing." There was a lot of laughter in the meeting that day. Fortunately, boys quickly got used to the thought of Courfeyrac experimenting in the kitchen and moved on. I couldn't say the same thing about his parents... he has told me they would kill him if they found out that he loved spending days in the kitchen, doing the work of some 'filthy maids'. He kept repeating that he considered himself lucky that they didn't know about this little secret... but I think he should be more worried about them finding out about the revolution!

"Oh, please, Victorie!"

"Oh be quiet Courf, I said, I'll think about it" I smiled, and winked at him. Seeing my expression, he grinned back at me.

"Be careful Vi, if you let him drag you into the kitchen once, you will never be free" warned me Combeferre, his eyes lighting up from behind glasses.

In my opinion, he was the wisest of them all. The philosopher of the group, a student of medicine, and the best friend of Courfeyrac. The two of them were my closest friends in this group so I wouldn't mind spending more time with them... but there was a small problem that never let that happen. They had their own trio with the 'fearless leader'. The boys even called them "the triumvirate" of the group: Enjolras - the leader, Courfeyrac - the center, Combeferre - the guide. Technically, Courf and Ferre didn't  mind me joining their little group but Enjolras would never accept me as one of them.

"Oh I know," I leaned in to whisper it in Ferre's ear, "he's not gonna get any more cooking classes from me". The both of us giggled like two young children.

"Hey!" It was Courf, "don't make a laughing stock out of me!"

"We're not laughing at you" I said, but I kept giggling, so did Ferre.

"We're laughing at..." he paused to look at me questioningly, "what were we laughing at Victorie?"

"Oh nothing really," I grinned, and to escape I  skipped across the room, leaving Courf and Ferre to argue about nonsense, "Jehan do you by any chance have a volume of Lord Byron's poetry?"

Our poet's eyes light up with excitement when he heard my question.

"As a matter of fact I do!" He smiled at me, but then he made an expression as if he remembered something unpleasant, "the only thing is... it's in English"

"Oh, I don't mind" I shrugged. I was trying to make it seem pretty normal that I knew a language other than French. It was quite dangerous for me to be open about it. I should have stayed quiet and said that I didn't know English. That's what a girl of my status would do. I shouldn't be able to know English... At least not well enough to be able to read poetry in it. But I felt quite comfortable around the Amis; they never cared about status and differences. I mean, probably if they found out... no, they wouldn't take the advantage of that. Would they?

"I didn't know you knew English" he was surprised.

"There's lots of things you don't know about me yet" I blinked at him, "so will you be kind enough to lend me a copy?"

"Sure!" He smiled, "I actually have one with me," he started going through a pile of books that were set on the table in front of him. He handed me a thin black-leather cover book.

"Thanks Jehan, I can't wait to start reading it" I exclaimed, taking the book in my hands.

"Why did you wanted to read it?" He asked, curiosity displayed in his eyes.

"Oh, my sister recommended it to me" I answered, not thinking a second time during the day. I cursed myself but now I had to play along.

"You have a sister?" Asked Feuilly, who must have listened on to our conversation. I looked at him with a smile. He was still working on one of his beautiful fans. I never understood why he kept working on them outside of work but maybe this way he hoped to earn more money... I don't blame him for that.

"I have four sisters" I giggled.

"There's five of you?!" It was Courf again, he seemed really touched by the fact, "why didn't I know you had siblings?!"

"You never asked" I said, smiling innocently.

"What else don't I know?!" Courf exclaimed looking deeply touched.

"Courf, stop, you act like a jealous suitor" said Combeferre a tad too loud, and the curly haired boy's face turned red.

"No I don't"

"Yes, You do!" Exclaimed Ferre, and Bahorel with Grantaire started laughing. The two of them never took anything seriously, and I believe that Grantaire always wanted to get Bahorel drunk so that he wouldn't be the only one intoxicated. R was a difficult case. He was a cynic and it was difficult for him to appreciate anything apart from his art. I sometimes wondered why did he join the society in the first place. He questioned every single decision that Enjolras ever made.

"Will you all stop this nonsense!" The room fell silent as we turned to see annoyed Enjolras, who clearly was done with us all.

Our eyes met, and if one could kill with a gaze, I'd be very much dead right now... oh yes, he certainly does hate me.