Chapter Text
The very second Cosette Tholomyes found out that her high school would be performing Aladdin, she knew that she had to be Jasmine. Not only did she feel an incredibly strong desire to play the role, but she knew that she could play the lead role better than anybody else in her high school. She had been taking voice lessons since she was eight years old and had been gifted with a heavenly, smooth toned voice since the time she was a tiny little girl singing the alphabet over and over until her father would rub his temples and tell her that her shrill little voice went right through his head.
Her constantly disapproving father contributed to her need to be the star. Nothing she did ever seemed to impress him, her accomplishments only made him dismiss her and go on about how everybody at work absolutely loved the way he pitched an idea for an interrogation question or something else that completely bored his discouraged daughter. The teenager sometimes wished her father hadn't come back after he had walked out on her and her mother all those years ago, when Cosette was only a year or two old. Cosette never knew why he came back, as he never seemed to care for her mother Fantine as Fantine cared for him.
It was at the dinner table that she lifted her head and announced quietly that she had plans to audition for the role in her senior year musical.
"Euphrasie, if you'd like me to even have a chance at hearing whatever you're going on about, could you please speak up for God's sake?" Her father, Félix, spat, clearly already in a foul mood. Perhaps he had not gotten a favorable amount of applause at work that day.
"I'm sorry, father. I was saying that m-my school will be putting on a musical and I was thinking that maybe I'd like to try out."
"That sounds like a wonderful idea, sweetheart." Her mother piped in as she placed a dish of chicken on the table before Cosette and her ever growing father. "I know you'll get a lead role. You always have had such a beautiful voice."
"Thank you, mama. The tryouts are next week, and I guess I'll start practicing the audition song. It's A Whole New World."
"Ah," Félix let out a short laugh, "I take it we will be listening to quite a lot of your singing in the upcoming week?" He grimaced slightly.
"Cosette has a beautiful voice, darling." Fantine interjected softly, timidly pushing a lock of graying golden hair behind her ear.
"Euphrasie is a fine singer, I suppose, but that doesn't mean her silly songs don't bother me."
"I'm sorry they bother you, father, but I really do need to practice at home if I want to do well..." A lump grew in her throat as she felt her father's cold stare beating down on her.
"Fucking Christ! What, are you going to cry now? You are such a damn baby, you know that? Self-advocate! Don't expect your mother to do everything for you!" His plump face grew red with anger as his fist slammed down on the table. Fantine, who hadn't yet had the chance to sit down, jumped back and let out a small involuntary yelp.
"Félix, darling..." Fantine stepped forward tentatively, her voice barely above a whisper. Now that he was upset, she knew it would be difficult to make him apologize to Cosette for making her feel badly.
"I will not deal with this right now. I have paperwork to fill out." Félix pushed his chair out roughly and stomped upstairs loudly.
"I'm sorry, Cosette." Fantine murmured, running a hand gently through Cosette's chestnut hair.
By now, tears were streaming down Cosette's face and her bottom lip was trembling uncontrollably. "W-what did I do?"
"Shh, you did nothing, little angel. Your father just had a difficult day today and he's just a bit on edge. Come sit with me and we can talk, Cosette. I feel like we haven't gotten to have any of our little chats since you started school again." She spoke softly, patting her daughter's head once more before she cleared the untouched food and dishes.
Fantine and Cosette sat for hours afterwards, Cosette lying against her mother as she braided her hair into a series of intricate braids and twists.
They talked about anything on their mind, the upcoming audition of course being too sensitive considering that it had just started an argument with Félix. Cosette went on about her wonderful math teacher Mr. Fauchelevent and how he was so kind and intelligent, which she could appreciate even though math was incredibly difficult for her. Fantine smiled distantly through the conversation, her insides becoming warm at her daughter's bright tone. Still, she knew a loud argument awaited her once she gathered the courage to head upstairs.
"Mama?" Cosette murmured after a few minutes of comfortable silence.
Fantine's head snapped up. "Yes, dear?"
She wanted so badly to ask why her mother persevered through her dreary life with Félix, why she didn't turn the awful man away when he came back after walking away. But now wasn't the time, and she didn't want to upset her mother, who was clearly already distraught.
"I-I'm tired. Goodnight." Cosette sputtered.
"Goodnight, my sweet Cosette. Tomorrow will be kinder."
-----
Monday was far from Courfeyrac's favorite day. He was always bright and bubbly, but even his spirit was dampened when he was forced to wake up at six o'clock in the morning, usually after a weekend of staying up late with his friends. Of course, his mother always told him that going to bed early would be beneficial, but still he stayed up until the wee small hours of the morning playing call of duty.
One thing that could brighten his dull morning was the presence of his dear friends, those who he considered to be the most important people in his young life.
His dark-haired sidekick, Marius Pontmercy was in a particularly clumsy state that very Monday morning in late January, Courfeyrac's very least favorite time of the year. The way he saw it, January was a hell hole that must be endured to get on to February and Valentine's Day (his most favorite day of the year) and of course, February break.
"Marius, where the hell is your backpack?" Courf inquired, his eyes narrowed at his friend's empty hands and missing backpack.
"Darn it-" Marius murmured, running a hand anxiously through his mop of silky dark hair.
"Dude, it's fine, though. You'll live without it." Courfeyrac noticed that Marius's breathing was becoming ragged, a sure sign that he was becoming truly anxious. He couldn't call home to have his backpack dropped off to school for him, and it was too late for him to try and bike back home to retrieve it.
"No, I won't! That has my homework in it! I didn't bring my homework yesterday either..." His stomach began to twist as he paced nervously around the little tucked away corner of the tiny hallway that Courfeyrac and him occupied.
Marius could not under any circumstances call home for the missing backpack- he was screwed. Surely, his cold grandfather would be absolutely furious if he found out what a flake Marius had been that morning. He felt so idiotic. How the hell does one forget their most important belonging?
"You can take my homework, dude. We've got all our classes different periods."
"You'd do that for me?" Marius's expression filled with sudden hope. He wouldn't have to be embarrassed or lectured or yelled at.
"This sounds cliché, but that's what friends are for."
---
Teachers start calling home after three days of unexcused absences. Éponine Thénardier did not need to add truancy to her record, which was already rather lengthy for a sixteen year old girl- robbing a convenience store, countless traffic tickets (most of which were amassed while she didn't have a proper license), underaged drinking, driving under the influence and probably some more that she couldn't remember and therefore did not matter or count.
So, on a particular biting Monday morning in mid-January, the reluctant girl pulled herself out of bed.
Not to her surprise, her parents were not present in the dingy, hole-in-the-wall apartment. They'd been on 'business' for a couple of weeks and she hadn't seen them since. She occasionally saw her siblings, but mostly she was on her own. Azelma stayed after school every day until they turned the lights off, desperately grasping for an excuse to escape the fuck hole that was her home life. Gavroche disappeared almost as frequently as her parents, and the little ones had been carted away to foster homes years ago.
Éponine hummed softly as she got ready, digging some old, crusty toothpaste out of the rusty medicine cabinet and brushing her teeth under the tap with her finger as a toothbrush, throwing a granola bar and a pack of cigarettes into her threadbare bag and jogging out the door moments before her ride pulled into the parking lot in his beat-up pick up truck.
The bus didn't come to her part of town and she wasn't allowed to drive anymore (that's not what stopped her from doing so, it was really her lack of a car) and so Montparnasse drove her to school. He showed up at the dank apartment complex daily. Most days, Éponine didn't bother to go to school. On those days, Mont would sit in the car impatiently and wait three minutes before he deemed it a ditch day. He did not take ditch days, as he was far too cautious about getting into trouble that way.
"You decided to show up today." He smirked lopsidedly, his dark hair gelled in place in a way that made Éponine grimace.
"Not by choice. Teachers start calling home after three days in a row." She sighed irritatedly, laying against the beat-up seat facing away from her chauffeur.
"Don't you wanna do anything with your life, 'Ponine?" He sighed, his usual booming tone becoming softer, his typical arrogant smirk becoming a slight frown.
"I wanna die young." She answered, her tone devoid of any emotion whatsoever.
"Fuck, 'Ponine! Don't say shit like that." Montparnasse growled, swatting her blindly as he kept at least a bit of his attention on the road before him.
"Whatever. D'you know where my parents are? I haven't seem 'em in weeks."
"It's none of your business." He answered flatly, turning away from her completely.
She was always a bit pissed off that her father seemed to have more trust in Montparnasse than he did in her when it came to matter like this. He'd always bring Montparnasse over and they would talk about 'serious business', but when Éponine would so much as enter the room, she'd be shooed away because she was 'an immature little hussy'. She knew she could do anything Montparnasse could do, and she could do it ten times better.
"Yes, it is. Mont, tell me!" She whined, kicking her feet indignantly under the glove compartment.
Montparnasse didn't speak for the remaining ten minutes of the car ride in fear that he would blurt something out to Éponine completely on accident. He didn't understand why Thénardier kept things from his daughter; Éponine was a clever girl who could do some great work if allowed to. But, if Thénardier found out that he told Éponine even a tiny piece of information, he would have his head.
"Thanks for nothing, asshole." Éponine spat as she jumped out of the car sluggishly, planting a scowl on her face the second she felt the school environment surround her.
----
Cosette took it upon herself to run copious charity events at her school. Her father always told her that she mustn't be a useless member of the community, she must work her ass off and get her name out there so that people would know that she was ready to live a successful life. Well, that's how he put it. To Cosette, it meant that she was able to interact with new people and make new friends, and most importantly she could help people. That always made her endlessly happy. Knowing that she improved someone's day - or even something more significant - put a smile on her face.
Only, she did not particularly enjoy how rude some people were when she was passing out flyers.
One girl in particular, a surly dark-haired girl who looked as if she would kill anyone who came within ten feet of her, terrified Cosette to no end. She was supposed to be in Cosette's math class, but she never showed up and on those rare days that she did show up, there was a seventy percent chanced she was drunk or reeked of cigarette smoke. Cosette shuddered at the thought of doing such things, but she had to get the word out and her father always told her that cowardice would bite her in the ass in the end.
"Excuse me, um.." She stammered, her body positioned awkwardly so that she could give the intimidating girl the flyer without risking sudden death.
"What?" Éponine snapped, irritated that her self-assigned 'free period' was being interrupted by the little charity girl, as she knew her.
"I'm sorry if this is a bad time," Cosette's eyebrows were furrowed anxiously, warily eyeing the cigarette hanging out of Éponine's mouth, "but um, I'm supposed to give you this." She abruptly stuck the flyer in Éponine's face and immediately turned on her heel and started to run off.
Éponine took one look at the brightly colored flyer and ripped it into as many pieces as she possibly could. Why the fuck would she donate to the local animal shelter? What money was she supposed to bring in? Her family could barely afford to live in the shitty apartment that they did and most of her clothes were stolen or from goodwill.
Fuck that.