Daphné

Chapter 1 - Vive Le France

I stole a quick glance over my shoulder as I ran down the winding streets of Paris, my chestnut hair bouncing on my back and my sky blue dress flowing behind me. I made sure to stuck to main streets, because despite it being daytime, you can never be too careful in Paris especially when you look like a bourgouise. 

In all honesty, I had no idea where I was going or who I was running from. I had just gotten a sudden urge to run, as far as I could, so I did. I wasn't even looking where I was going, and only stopped when I crashed headfirst into something. The crash was so strong it sent me to the ground.

I looked up to see what I had run into, to discover myself eye-to-eye with a girl my age. Her black locks cascaded down her back and her olive skin was visible under the dirt that polluted her face. She was wearing rags and I couldn't stop the gasp that escaped my mouth when I saw how tiny her waist was, definitely from malnourishement. As I looked into her hazel eyes, I saw a flicker of annoyance before she looked me up and down and bowed her head.

I released a loud sigh at this, and felt a pang of sadness that she had to bow to me, just because I looked like a bourgouise, even though I wasn't. I'm not wealthy, my family just have excellent jobs, but now was not the time to clarify,

I got up and after dusting myself off walked up to the girl and extended my hand to help her up. She seemed shocked at first, but gratefully took my hand as I pulled her to her feet. "Are you ok?" I asked her to which she replied with a nod. "What's your name?" I probed further, desperate to get a word out of her. "Eponine", she simply replied, to which I said, "that's a beautiful name!" This caused a smile to appear on her face and when she finally looked up at me she said, "I'm sorry for crashing into you mademoiselle", to which I replied, "It's my fault, I wasn't even looking where I was going, and please, call me Daphne".

Eponine and I talked for a while before I excused myself and said I must get going. We said our farewells and I was so preoccupied that I walked into someone/something again. "Get a grip Daphne, honestly", I muttered to myself before hearing a childish laugh. I looked down to realise I had walked straight into a young boy of about 12, and his eyes widened like Eponine's when I apologised to him. I noticed how hungry he looked, so while he was still in shock at being apologised to I said "wait here", as I ran to a nearby bakery and came back with a bag full to bursting with loaves of bread, cupcakes and pasteries.

He took the bag gratefully and I laughed at the comic sight of his eyes expanding to the size of saucers at the sight of all his new food. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, he stopped as we both heard a pair of footsteps pounding towards us. I turned around from the boy to see a tall man with black curls running towards us from a building bearing the name, 'Cafe Musain'. As I stared at the cafe from which the man had appeared I felt a pair of eyes on me, so I allowed my eyes to travel up the building, finally stopping at a window at which stood a man. I have to say, the sight of him took my breath away. His crystal blue eyes shone in the sun as they stared straight at mine, his golden hair appeared to be spun from light and his burgundy jacket that he was wearing accentuated his straight, muscular posture. As I looked up at his eyes once more, I lifted one eyebrow as if to say, "can I help you?" and saw a smile flicker across his chiseled features.

I only tore my attention away from him when I heard a loud but polite "mademoiselle". I turned around to find the boy and the curly haired man staring at me. The man seemed embarrassed at something, but the boy on the contrary had the biggest grin on his face, it made my heart melt. "Mademoiselle", said the man. "Yes?" I replied. He took a deep breath before saying "Gavroche here tells me that you were kind enough to buy him all this food", he gestured at the bag, "and I want to thank you for your generosity, I'm Courfeyrac by the way." "It's really no problem Courfeyrac", I replied, "and I felt like I needed to make it up to Gavroche after I walked into him", I say with a smile and wink towards the young boy. He laughed at this saying "Thank you Miss, I really like you!" I gave him a warm smile as I lowered myself to his level before replying "Thank you Master Gavroche (he giggled at the title while Courfeyrac smiled), and please call me Daphne, we are not strangers", I said, directing the last part at them both as I grinned from ear to ear. 

It was then that I noticed the tri-colour pins that were attached to their jackets. I became very interested in them, but when I asked about them both boys refused to meet my eye. It then dawned on me that these were the boys who must be planning the revolution, which had become the number one topic of conversation in Paris recently. I grew excited at this, as I too despised the king and wanted to be involved. The only problem had been my inability to track down the rebel group, but now that I seemed to have found them I was positively brimming with excitement. 

I wanted to try my luck again, so I whispered "are you the boys planning the revolution?" As expected, I got no reply, but I continued. "I'd like to join", I said so quietly that only they could hear. Gavroche and Courfeyrac looked up at me in awe and amazement, as I said more audibly this time with a grin on my face, "Vive Le France boys, am I right?" 

Author's note: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Please review it so I can see feedback and I'm only posting chapter 1 for now to see if anyone is actually going to read this and if I do well, I'll post the rest!