What is Love?

Chapter 13

"You what?" asked Enjolras through gritted teeth.

"It was me who asked her out" said Marius proudly, sitting down next to Éponine and taking her hand.

Éponine squeezed his hand gently and looked to Enjolras. "Yeah Marius asked me out!" She said happily.

No one said anything. Everyone was trying to decide what side to take. Musichetta finally cleared her throat, "Well I hope you guys have a good time tonight" she said sweetly.

She then nudged Joly and he quickly fumbled for words, "Yeah I hope you have a great time" he said quickly.

The others murmured their agreement all except for Enjolras.

"Enj, are you alright?" Asked Éponine concerned. She let go of Marius's hand and reached out towards Enjolras but he flinched away before she could touch him.

He jumped onto his feet and brushed off his clothes, "Actually I'm not. I-I" he began.

Éponine stood up too, "What is it? Enjolras please tell me what's wrong" she pleaded.

Enjolras backed away from her with each step she took towards him his eyes occasionally flashing over his shoulder, "I just don't feel good right now. I think I need to go to the nurse. Excuse me" he said quickly turning on his heel and bounding away.

Éponine felt her heart sink. What was wrong with him? He's never acted like that before. Éponine sighed and turned back to her friends. They all stared, wide-eyed, except Marius. "What?" She asked. No one said anything so she went and sat down. Marius took her hand and stroked it lightly. The rest of the period was quiet, so quiet a pin could be heard if dropped. Éponine silently begged for the end of the period to come soon. However the next period would only be worse, she would have to face Enjolras again.

Finally the bell rang and her area emptied faster than it ever had before. Usually the group loitered around the grounds but many were already gone by the time Éponine had stood up. Éponine sighed and began to walk away.

Marius took hold of her hand, "What's wrong?" he asked gently.

"I don't know. My friends are never like that, I just don't get it. Maybe it was because of Enjolras's behavior, which was really odd. He never acts like that" Éponine replied sadly.

Marius squeezed her hand, "I'm sure everything is fine, Ponine" he said reassuringly.

Éponine felt her spirit lift just from his kind words. She hoped he was right, she didn't need any drama in her life right now. She had bigger things to worry about.

Finally they reached their next period class, but there was still no sign of Enjolras. Éponine felt herself begin to worry. What if he was really sick? She really wanted to know what was wrong with him.

She turned to Marius. He looked clam, his shoulders were slack and his legs were stretched out under the desk. His hand was casually doodling in the margin of his notebook instead of taking the notes the teacher had up on the board. Marius turned his head and caught her staring a him. He winked and smiled kindly at her before turning back to the board. She felt her cheeks color slightly.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door. The teacher crossed the room rapidly and collected the pass from the student. It was Enjolras. Éponine watched as he walked into the room stiffly and finally sat down with her, refusing to meet her eye.

Éponine felt her heart sink further into her chest. Why was he so mad at her all of a sudden. He took out his notebook and put his head down, immediately taking the opportunity to do something as an excuse for not looking or responding to Éponine. Éponine tried to ignore Enjolras but she couldn't. He had never acted so coldly to her in the past until the most recent 2 days of their school year.

She felt her eyes begin to water and she raised her hand.

"Yes Éponine?" Asked the teacher annoyed by the interruption to his lesson.

"May I go to the Lav please?" She asked her voice quivering slightly. She saw Enjolras sit up slightly out of the corner of her eye but she ignored him as the teacher nodded. She stood up, smiled to Marius and left the room. She walked hastily to the bathroom and locked herself in a stall. She placed her back against the door and took deep breaths. She held her hands to her eyes. Suddenly she stopped crying. It wasn't her fault, she shouldn't let one person control all her emotions. She relaxed herself and took a quick look at herself in the mirror before going back to the classroom. She held her head high, if Enjolras wanted to give her the cold shoulder, he could expect the same thing back. Two could play at this game.