Les Amis de l'ABC secondary school was an old building, dating back to the Victorian period possibly, no one had really looked into how old the building was or bothered to ask. Its red brick walls nearly covered by the ever-growing dark green moss climbing the many levels of the old school. The inside of the building matched the historic exterior, the long corridors lit dimly by the small rusty lights hanging loosely from the ceiling, the old walls covered by the ugliest shade of green ever to be created. Of course the classrooms unfortunately had the same wall colour but each room managed luckily to hide around eighty percent of the colour by the many pieces of work and posters involving the particular subject that were pinned up. Yes the school was ancient and yes it did not win any beauty competitions but the results they received put them at the top of the list, for ten years now the school had kept their position of best school in the country. This was why so many parents wished for their children to attend, this of course was excellent news for the small town that the school was located in. Les Amis de l'ABC sat at the very top of the town of Musain, it was a good half an hour away from any house or shop by car or school bus. The school had been the biggest asset to the small town for years, after all when you're living in the middle of nowhere you need ways to attract more 'tourists' to the many businesses surrounding the town. It was a chilly December day, and there was a thin layer of snow already on the ground, and the Christmas holiday was looming, multi coloured Christmas lights hung across from the houses while the shop fronts where decorated with trees covered in bells, tinsel and baubles. But the one piece of 'decoration' that was out of place was the many 'Missing Child' posters tapped to every lamp post and fence in sight…

"Dude I'm telling you this year's party is going to be THE one to beat! I will eat my hat sir if it's not." It was already halfway through the schools lunch hour and Courfeyrac's voice could probably be heard from the very opposite end of the school as he was that excited. He was sat with his big group of friends on their usual table outside in the upper college courtyard, they didn't care if it was lightly snowing or that the air was a bit nippy, they just wanted to get away from the horrific green walls that seemed to suffocate them. Courfeyrac leaned back in his chair with a proud smug look on his face, he was in a heated debate with Grantaire about how his end of term Christmas party was going to be way better than the party Grantaire's held the year previous.. And of course Grantaire was defending his own event with his life.

"Okay, firstly you don't even own a hat and secondly there is no way you will be able to obtain as much drink as I did last year, plus we had two policemen knocking telling us to keep it down! You know the rules, if one knocks the party is epic but if two knock… that means its legendary!" He ranted waving his fork in his friend's face. This had been going on since the second the bell went out for lunch and the rest of the gang were more than entertained as they watched the two boys defending their parties. But after twenty minutes they soon found the debate boring and went to to talk amongst themselves. The conversations varied between the members of the group for examples Joly was talking about the state of the school toliets and hygiene to Jehan, why you ask, nobody really wanted to ask.

"Seriously do you have any idea what kinds of germs and bacteria could be spawning and growing in there? For all we know we could all catch a horrible virus that makes us miss the entire Christmas period! Which is dangerous enough if you consider the high possibility of at least three out of the ten of us catching the common cold!" Jehan just sat and listened to the hypochondriac ramble on, occasionally nodding and muttering a response, but in all fairness Jehan was far too distracted in his own work. This work included plaiting Cosette's long blonde hair, weaving snowdrops he had picked from the schools flower bed earlier that day into her long locks. The young girl herself giggled at the poet's pathetic responses and let him continue his work as she snuggled up against Marius, every so often as she listened to him ramble on about his ideas for their holiday plans she would slip her hand into his crisp packet without him noticing.

"Also I was thinking that we could go to the town center and go on the ice rink, after all you still need to teach me how to skate; we don't want another performance like last years." The performance in question being that he let go of Cosette's hand for a quick second and he was flat on his face causing him to have a black eye for weeks. Cosette let out a small chuckle at the memory,

"Don't worry sweetie, this year with my tutelage you will be skating like a pro. I pinkie promise." As the two lovebirds locked fingers their moment was interrupted by a small shriek from Joly,

"Please, please tell me you guys washed hands! It's so easy to pass on germs these days!" this quickly received in a packet of crisps to the face from Musichetta, who although loved the hypochondriac with all her heart had limitations of how long she could stand his rants. Musichetta before turning her attention to Joly was in a deep discussion with Eponine on who they wanted to be cast in the new Wicked movie, as both were major musical fans this particular new movie was important to them both. Well more specifically who they wanted to see as the leading man.

"I'm telling you Chetta, if they do not cast Aaron Tveit as Fiyero I will lose all faith in the world! I mean I have his new album and if he can make a Taylor Swift song enjoyable, then he will do Fiyero the justice we all deserve and more!"

"Oh I know what you mean, plus I would not mind seeing him in those tight pants if you know what I mean!" Both girls erupted into a fit of giggles and carried on debating passionately who would be the perfect Elphaba: India Menzel or Samantha Barks. The last two remaining group members, Enjolras and Combeferre weren't talking. Instead they had their heads down and pens in their hands keeping their reputation of 'Let's do school work instead of creating a social life' alive in the group. Normally the rest of the group would let this nonsense slid but considering the fact that they had only just received the political homework in their last lesson the two boys had a more than just crisp packets thrown at them. Lunch was drawing quickly to its end when another figure entered the courtyard,

"Ah there you guys are, I'm glad I caught you." They all turned to see the owner of the out of breath voice, even Enjolras and Combeferre looked up from their books to be polite. Montaparnasse was heading over to them with a few sheets of paper in his hand, Grantaire was the first to speak, standing up immediately to salute the young man.

"Oh my we are indeed honoured, Head Boy Parnasse wants to talk to us!" he teased giving the boy a cheeky grin, the groups friendship with the young head boy was an odd one, Parnasse was a great friend to them but of course he was not always fond of the group. When the lot of them first stared in their first year of the school, Montaparnasse was not the best pupil: always getting into fights, always behind classes, detention almost every other day. He was nearly expelled due to his record and behaviour, but soon after Eponine knocked some sense into him (half literal half metaphorical) and after the group befriended him his grades quickly got better, his behaviour took a turn for the better and now in their final year he was given the role of head boy. The group was proud of him and thought greatly of him but the look on his face as he now stood before them made them all slightly worried. Parnasse gave a small lighthearted chuckle at Grantaire's salute and before catching his breath,

"I'm not sure honoured is the word you're looking for Taire, it is bad news though I'm afraid. I need to guys to take these home" he passed a sheet of paper to each of them before continuing, "there for your parents, as you know Megan Howell from the year below has been missing for a few weeks now and as a school we want to do everything we can to try and help the police in their investigation. So if you can make sure you show this to everyone you know, it would be a good comfort for her parents knowing the school stands by one of their own."

"Sure Parnasse, we'll do that and if you want I can scan a picture of her and send it to my dad over at Scotland Yard see if he knows anything new about her case." Cosette offered, they all knew about Cosette's family, her biological father Jean Valjean was the most respected figure in Musain, he was always the one to go to if anyone wanted to talk about their troubles as he had a kind heart and the wisdom of man twice his age. Her other father was a highly respected detective inspector who had recently been called for by Scotland Yard for a huge gang related case which involved the famous criminal gang The Patron-Minette. Having two fathers never bothered Cosette and why should it she would always say to those who made pathetic homophobic comments to her face, her life was no different to those who had a mother and father and she received just as much love and affection from both her fathers. Parnasse gave a small sad smile and nodded,

"Thank you Cosette that would be most helpful, well I've got to go hand more of these out, but Courf before I forget I will be able to make it this year just text me your address later." And with that he left the group alone in the courtyard. Five minutes later the bell rang for class and they all took off to their next lessons without saying a word expect of course for Grantaire and Courfeyrac who were still somehow back to their party debate.

It was about six o'clock in the evening and Enjolras was in his marble decorated kitchen plating up his food, he had the house to himself for a week or two while his parents were on a cruise around the Mediterranean, a birthday present for his mother he had surprised her with the month before. He had saved up all of his money from the last year working double shifts at the local café but he knew she deserved a holiday, she had just survived her fight with breast cancer and Enjolras had never been more proud of her. He was slightly disappointed that she decided to take his step-father whom he had never really got on well with as her plus one, but it was her choice and that gave him an empty house so he didn't complain. Once he had plated up his food he placed it in the oven to keep it warm as went upstairs to get changed from the tacky and slightly corny school uniform they were forced to wear into dark skinny jeans and a red shirt (most of his shirts that hung in his wardrobe were a colour mix or either red or black). By the time it took him to get downstairs he heard a small knock at the backdoor.

"It's open" he called from the hall knowing all too well who it was, and it wasn't a surprise to him when he walked into the kitchen to see Eponine sat on the table top with a smirk on her face, her legs swinging in the air. She too had changed from her uniform and was now wearing a white woolly jumper that hung loose over her brown skinny jeans, Enjolras saw the snowflakes resting on her infamous brown cap slowly melting. He remembered the day he gave her that cap for Christmas years ago, she had always moaned and whined that her head was always cold. From then on she had never taken it off not even in the summer. She had already taken off her trench coat and rested it on the stool around the small kitchen island, she quickly noticed he was staring at her for longer than she has expected.

"Are you going to stand there all day gawking or are you going to serve me dinner?" She teased her smirk growing wider as she hopped off the counter and letting her arms wrap around his waist she placed her lips onto his own, Enjolras didn't hesitate in responding, resting a hand on the small of her back pulling her closer while the other found its way to her neck, his thumb softly caressing her check. When they finally parted to breathe Enjolras grinned and answered her question,

"You have actual come at the right moment, dinner is ready." He said as he walked around to get the plates out of the oven, Eponine chuckled and leaned against counter,

"I'm so lucky I found a boy who can cook, and what do we have tonight Mr Gordon Ramsay?"

"Well you know how always say Chinese food is the greatest invention in the history of the world…"

"Which it is!"

"And how I always remind you that-"

"That eating it every night for two weeks straight wasn't the best idea in the world so you made it a rule in our relationship that we can only have takeout food once a week because you're such health freak." Eponine said bluntly.

"I wouldn't say freak but there's nothing wrong in actually eating a piece of broccoli once in a while. Anyway I have managed to combine the two together!" Enjolras said proudly as he placed the two plates on the counter, his own smirk starting to form on his face "Home cooked Chinese food! And I made sure I bought extra fortune cookies as I know that they are your favourite part of the meal." Eponine was speechless, he had put so much effort into this and all she brought over a cheesy DVD to watch and a packet of chocolate MMs (although she had already eaten half of them).

"Oh my god, Enjolras! Have I ever told you your my favourite out of the group!" She teased, jumping up and kissing him quickly on the cheek causing Enjolras to blush slightly, after composing himself he quickly tired to find a way back into the conversation,

"Well I hope so, do you want to eat here or on the sofa?"

"Sofa, and to add to this lovely evening I have brought the best, most classically awesome Christmas film of all time to watch."

"Classily awesome? And what would that be?" To answer his question she took the film case from her pocket and held it up with pride, Enjolras laughed when he saw the front cover.

"A Muppet's Christmas Carol!? Come on we watched that last year and the year before that might I add!"

"Hey! Do not insult this masterpiece! Think of it as the first of many traditions of ours, come on you put the film on while I bring the food in."

They were halfway through the film now, and the ghost of Christmas present who slightly reminded Enjolras of Hagrid from Harry Potter but would never say out loud, was singing his musical number. The plates were now empty and discarded on the coffee table in front of them, Enjolras looked down at Eponine who was snuggled up next to him her head resting on his chest and fingers interlocking with his. She looked so peaceful, happy and it was times like this Enjolras was glad they kept their relationship a secret from the group. He knew that if the group knew they together wouldn't leave them alone, it took them at least five months to stop teasing Marius and Cosette when they finally got together last year after years of constant flirting and stupid little love notes passed around the classroom. So if the group found out how long he and Ep had been together the group would have a field day, without thinking he lowered his head to plant a small kiss on her head but he kept his nose buried in her hair. Eponine sighed and relaxed into his touch

"What's that for?" she giggled with her eyes still on the screen,

"I just can't believe it's been three years. I thought you would get sick of me in the first two months." Eponine couldn't help but laugh, she turned her head slightly so that they were face to face, their foreheads lightly touching,

"Well I was, but then I found out you could cook so I thought to myself 'hey why not stick with this one, maybe he washes up too!' now shall we continue watching, Tiny Tim is about say his famous line!" And with that they continued their anniversary night in, after the Muppet's Christmas Carol Enjolras suggested another film one of their favourites, Love Actually (Enjolras kept that a secret from the gang as well) Enjolras swapped the disks whilst Eponine raided his freezer on the lookout for the cookie dough ice cream. It was a beautiful evening.