Stepbrother?!

By: NotUrAverageMusician

Cosette anxiously waited by the top window of her house. She was in her secret hideout, the upstairs attic. Whenever she wanted some peace and quiet or wanted to cry without her father detecting it, she'd always come up to the attic. It was quite a cozy place, really. She had fixed it up with rugs and throw pillows and there was a big window that let in the light. She had even gone through the trouble to tack up some of her favorite pictures on the walls, ones of her friends, the beach, and most importantly, her mother.

She looked out the window, watching each car go down the street and waiting for the one that would pull into her driveway.

She wondered what her new stepmother's car would look like. She wondered what her actual stepmother would look like. Her father hadn't wanted to introduce her to Cosette until he knew for sure that him and Mary would stay together. That was the only thing that Cosette knew about this mysterious lady, that her name was Mary. And of course there was the 'she's as beautiful as the sun' and 'she's so kind and sweet' all the time. It seemed like Cosette's father talked about her so much, yet Cosette still hardly knew anything about her.

She remembered when Jean Valjean told her that he was engaged.

"You're insane, dad!" She remembered yelling, "You can't just marry someone that you met at the soup kitchen!"

Valjean had chuckled at this, "Mary and I have known each other for a long time and I really do love her. And yes I met her while volunteering at the soup kitchen, but just because she needs the food doesn't make her any less of a person than you are."

"No, that's not what I meant, father. I just think that I should've met this lady before you flipping proposed to her!"

Valjean had sighed at this, feeling guilty, "I'm sorry, honey, but there just was never a good time. You're always so busy with cheerleading and scholastic decathlon, and all your honors classes."

Cosette reeled on him, "Oh, so this is my fault? I would have made time to meet her if you had just asked!"

"I'm sorry." Was all Valjean had said.

Cosette remembered running upstairs and into the attic and not coming back down until night. She knew it was a childish thing to do, but it was all she could really think of doing at the time. She was horribly mad at her father, the only other time she had been that mad was when he spelt her name wrong when he signed her up for middle school after being homeschooled. Everyone called her Colette for the better part of sixth grade.

And now she was back in the attic again. Waiting for her new 'amazing' stepmother. She was scared about this lady though. Of course Cosette had watched Cinderella. She feared about her new mother being evil like the one in the movie. When she voiced this to her father he just laughed and said, "Mary is so nice. She'd be the fairy godmother."

It was getting ridiculous how many compliments he was giving her.

And the bottom line was that Cosette didn't want a stupid stepmother. She liked things just the way they were now. Cosette did want her father to be happy of course, but this was taking away some of Cosette's happiness. She turned her attention back to the window and the busy vehicles bustling around the streets.

Suddenly, a car caught Cosette's attention. It was the only beat up truck out of all the sleek and fancy cars on the street. It had a huge dent in the front and chipping gray paint.

And Cosette watched in horror as that truck pulled into her driveway.

It was like a giant weight had been placed on her stomach. Her fate was sealed. Her stepmother had arrived. The lady in that car would be getting married to her father this weekend.

The door opened and a woman stepped out. Cosette noticed she was tall and had long blonde curly hair. Not unlike Cosette's. She had brown eyes and she wore a huge smile on her face. She had blue jeans and a green T-shirt. Cosette wasn't exactly sure what she was expecting her stepmother to be like, but she most certainly wasn't expecting that!

Mary actually looked nice and she had one of those happy and confident auras. Cosette was shocked. She had been planning on staying in her attic as this new lady arrived, but now she had some interest in what this lady was like.

But then, things went downhill.

Then the passenger side door opened. A boy stepped out. He had curly blonde hair and blue eyes. He wore a red flannel shirt and dark jeans. Cosette watched, eyes wide, as he looked around at his new surroundings, a scowl on his face.

Cosette knew who this boy was. AJ Enjolras. The most annoying guy in her grade.

"Cosette!" called her father, "They're here! Come down."

What's Enjolras doing here? Cosette thought, There's only supposed to be Mary coming.

"Cosette," her father yelled again, "Come down right now."

Cosette reluctantly jogged down the stairs in her sweatpants and varsity cheerleading T-shirt, her hair pulled up in a ponytail. She decided she wasn't going to jump to conclusions. It was completely realistic that Enjolras was just a friend of Mary's and helping her move in. Cosette reminded herself not to panic.

She waited with her father in the living room until there was a knock on the door. Valjean visibly brightened as soon as the noise came and jumped up to open the door.

Mary walked in first and hugged Cosette's father immediately. Cosette could see Enjolras behind her making a face at the gesture.

"Cosette, meet Mary and her son, AJ. AJ, this is my daughter, Cosette."

That was when Enjolras actually looked farther than the doorway to see Valjean's daughter. His blue eyes grew wide and a look of horror flashed across his face that was mirrored by Cosette's. They locked eyes and both of them came to the horrible reality that was now their life.

"WHAT!?" The two children exclaimed at the exact same time.

"You two know each other?" Mary asked, innocently.

"We go to the same school." Was all Enjolras said.

"Well now you're brother and sister." Cosette's father smiled, as if he was telling them that they were getting a puppy.

"Step." Cosette grumbled under her breath, "Step brother."

"Well, technically." Mary admitted.

There was an awkward silence that hung over the group.

Valjean was the one to break it with a cough to clear his throat, "Why don't you show AJ to his room. You know, the one across from yours."

"You mean the guest room?" Cosette sneered at her father. Enjolras rolled his eyes.

"Ah, yes." Valjean said uncomfortably, "The guest room. Now go on."

Cosette reluctantly stood up from her spot on the chair and started off upstairs, leaving her new stepbrother to follow behind her.

On the way up the stairs Cosette realized just how dire the situation at hand was. Now she would have to live with AJ Enjolras. The one who got suspended for a week because he tried to campaign to get better school lunches by having the kids go on a hunger strike. The one who wouldn't be seen without wearing his weirdo red fleece jacket. The one who was the star of the soccer team, but hangs out with the art nerds. AJ Enjolras was an enigma that no one really cared to figure out.

And now he was living with Cosette.

A stepmother was bad enough, but now a brother turns the entire thing into a 'blended family' situation. Cosette had always been an only child. It had always been her father and her. A new mom she could deal with. Not a brother.

"So here's your room, I guess." Cosette opened the guest room door. It was a small room with a bed with a green blanket, a table, and a closet. Nothing really fancy, the Valjean's never really had guests anyway so it wasn't a top priority. She took out her iPhone and started to text Eponine about how horrible her life was now.

"Not for long." Cosette heard Enjolras grumble under his breath as he pushed in front of the other blonde and slumped his backpack on the floor. Only bothering to take out a beaten up soccer ball.

"What did you say?" Cosette said, jerking her head up from her phone.

Enjolras chuckled as he fell back onto the bed and started passing the soccer ball back and forth in his hands.

"Oh, you think you're the only one who doesn't like this?" Enjolras sneered, "Well newsflash, princess, I hate my mom marrying your dad as much as you do. And I'm not sitting around and letting my whole life crumple around me. I'm going to do something about this." Then he went back to juggling his soccer ball.

Cosette was shocked to hear him say such a thing, "But they're getting married!"

Enjolras laughed, "Hey, they aren't married yet. Just leave it to me."

Now it was Cosette's turn to laugh, "Yeah, okay, because that good school lunch campaign went so well." The Cosette saw the writing on the walls. She could break her dad up with Mary. She and Enjolras could go back where they came from and things could be how they were before. She could deal with AJ for a little while in order to get her dad back. She made her decision right then and there. "I want in."

"No." His answer was immediate and blunt.

"I know this house like the back of my hand and I know what makes my dad tick. Face it. You need me."

Enjolras looked like he was going to protest, then he relented, "Okay, fine. Now get out of my room."

"Gladly."

And Cosette stormed across the hall to her bedroom where she slammed the door behind her and for the first time in her life, clicked the lock on the knob.

What do you guys think? I really want to hear from you so review, review, review!

I've been loving Les Mis for a while now, but this is my first story in the section. I had always thought that Enjolras and Cosette could be really good friends and that's how I came up with the idea of this story. There won't be anything romantic between them, but there will be some romance between other characters in the story, don't worry!

Have a great day!

-NotUrAverageMusician