CHAPTER ONE: A DARE
When Nessa had finally had enough of badgering Elphaba about her religion (more precisely, her lack of religion), she announced to the table that she was, "ever so slightly tired," and requested that Nanny return to the dorms with her. Elphaba could feel the relief flood the table as they left. Between Nessa's religious rants and Nanny's watchful eye, they could sometimes ruin the lively mood of the rest of the group. "Thank Oz for that."
"You're telling me," Crope held up his glass for a toast. "If I have to hear one more thinly veiled comment about how homosexuality is a sin," he glanced playfully at Tibbett beside him, "I might just have to show her how that works."
"Please don't!" Avaric blanched. "The two of you naked…" He shuddered.
"But really," Glinda interjected, "it's nice to be able to get away from the two of them for a bit. Nanny can be funny, but the point of having a chaperone is so that you can ditch them every once in a while!"
Elphaba raised her eyebrows at her roommate. Glinda wasn't one to admit to enjoying something like breaking the rules. She usually just went along with things silently and only protested when things got out of hand. Elphaba eyed the wine glass in front of her roommate. Most of the time, much like Elphaba, Glinda didn't partake in the drinking. It was usually only Avaric, Tibbett, Pfannee and Shen-Shen; but tonight Glinda had changed her mind. She decided it'd be best to keep an eye on her roommate that night to make sure no one took advantage of the girl.
"Why don't the boys have chaperones?" The usually quiet Fiyero piped in.
"Because society is sexist," Elphaba replied. "They think women can't fend for themselves and," she added sarcastically, "on a college campus, who knows what trouble us weak, frail women could get ourselves into!"
"You're an exception that rule, aren't you, Elphaba? Your skin gives off poison when triggered. That's why no one likes you." Avaric laughed.
No one else laughed with him. At this point, the rest of the group had pretty much learned to let him say his piece and get it out. Except for Fiyero, who said, "That wasn't very nice, Avaric."
"Oh, thank you, observant one," Elphaba snapped. What had she just said? She didn't need anyone else defending her.
The boy looked hurt. "I just meant that he shouldn't say things like that. It's rude and it's hurtful."
"And what do you care if he hurts me?" Elphaba challenged.
"I just meant… I mean…" Fiyero's face was flushed. "What if he goes after one of us next? How long do we put up with it?"
"Always in it for your own good. Human nature." Elphaba shrugged.
The boy looked confused and went back to drinking his water.
"Let's order another bottle of wine and head over to Suicide Canal."
"Why don't we just stay here?" Glinda demanded. "It's getting colder at night now."
"Because I want to play truth or dare. And we can't play that here."
"Why can't we?" Elphaba asked hesitantly. "What kind of sick version of that game do you play, Avaric?"
"I promise it won't be too bad," he snarled. "You juveniles are too cowardly for that."
"Then what are the rules? You need to set limits, Avaric. No one really trusts you not to do something awful, otherwise." Boq added.
"No one may dare a player to touch another player below the waist. Anything else is allowed. No backing out. That's just cheap."
Elphaba thought this might be amusing, at least to watch. She doubted anyone was going to dare her to do anything scandalous, anyway. It wasn't as though she was Glinda, whom every boy wanted to kiss. Which reminded her, she'd better keep an eye on that. No one was going to be taking advantage of her roommate if she could help it. But it wasn't as though the rules included anything too awful. She supposed Glinda had probably done most of the things the rules included before, anyway. She decided she might as well go along.
Glinda bounced excitedly. "Oooh, I love asking people personal questions."
"That's an understatement," Elphaba muttered.
"Then let's go already," Avaric said impatiently. He got up and purchased a bottle of wine from the bartender and headed out, the rest of them following him eagerly.
The canal was lit only by the moon as they arrived. Glinda began to remove her jacket, placing it on the ground so as not to get her dress dirty.
"Wait. Everyone sit boy-girl-boy-girl!"
There was a groan from Crope and Tibbett, but no one else complained. Elphaba found herself beside Fiyero and Boq. Better than sitting beside Avaric.
"I shall go first," Avaric decided. "Let's start off easy. I dare you to take no more than three steps out of the circle and drop your trousers for five full seconds."
Elphaba thanked Oz it was dark. "You call that starting off easy?"
Boq did as he was told, turning away from them as he took three large steps (well, as large as his little Munchkin legs could take) and dropped his trousers. Avaric chuckled (again, no one else did) and counted to five. The minute the word was off his tongue, Boq pulled his trousers back up quickly and sat back down.
"Seriously, Avaric, no one wanted to see Boq's ass. And that includes Crope and Tibbett."
"Oh, curse you, Elphie!" Boq snapped. "Is it my turn now?"
"Yes," Avaric sneered.
"Elphie!" Boq pointed at her, resentment glowing in his eyes. "Truth or dare?"
"Dare." Elphaba believed words had just as much impact as actions, if not more. She'd rather do some silly stunt than say something she might regret.
"I dare you to kiss…" Boq's eyes fell on Fiyero, "Fiyero! With tongue! That's allowed, right?"
"I never said it wasn't." Avaric was grinning devilishly, and it made her uneasy.
She sighed. They thought she was such a prude. It wasn't necessarily that. She simply thought love and sex were not in the cards for her. "Only if Fiyero is okay with it." Elphaba replied. She wasn't going to make the poor boy do anything he didn't want to.
"It's fine." Fiyero said. She supposed he'd only said it because he was the newest member of their little clique and didn't want to refuse anything if it might get him scorned. But she couldn't call him out on that.
She swallowed and turned to him, meeting his eyes for a just a moment before their lips met. Her eyes closed and she felt his tongue tease gently at her lips. She opened her mouth to him and felt his tongue circle the inside of her lips gently before meeting hers. Completely forgetting her surroundings, she wrapped her arms around his neck. His arms found her waist and he pulled her closer, one hand moving up to cup her breast. She moaned softly into his mouth.
Someone gasped then and Elphaba snapped out of whatever sort of trance she'd been in, tearing away from him quickly. Her face burned with heat and she resisted the urge to cry out of embarrassment. Instead, she composed herself, straightened her dress and met Boq's eyes without flinching. "There. Are you happy?"
Everyone simply stared. Glinda's mouth hung open.
Elphaba lowered her eyes. "What? I did what you told me to. I suppose it's my turn now." For one moment, a traitorous thought crossed her mind of daring Fiyero to kiss her again, but she shook her head quickly. "Glinda," she found her ground in her roommate. "Truth or dare?"
"Truth," the blonde said, still looking somewhat confused.
"If you had to date any of the boys here, who would it be?" Elphaba found herself hoping the answer would not be Fiyero, and she didn't understand where the thought had even come from.
"Ew!" Glinda seemed to forget what she'd be so concerned over (although Elphaba was certain she'd hear about it later). "I don't like any of them. But Boq, I think."
Boq's eyes brightened and everyone laughed.
Elphaba felt eyes on her and turned to see Fiyero was staring at her. She quickly turned away, but she swore she could feel his stare for the rest of the evening. The tension only began to fade as the boys and girls separated to walk back to their respective dorms.
Glinda didn't harass Elphaba right away, which surprised her. She waited until they reached their room. "What in Oz was that, Elphie?"
"What was what?" Elphaba knew exactly what she was talking about, but she didn't want to talk about it.
"That kiss! With Fiyero!"
"A dare," she replied shortly.
"You made more than good on that! That was one long kiss."
"If we'd kissed any less someone would have insisted it was too short and made us do it again."
"I'm relatively sure him feeling you up was not part of the plan. And Elphie… when he touched you… you made a noise."
"I… I forgot myself for a moment."
"You sure did! You liked it when he kissed you, didn't you?"
She shrugged. "I have nothing to compare it to. It was a different feeling, that is all."
"You are blushing."
"Of course I am, Glinda! That is not something I do every day."
"I didn't think it was something you did at all, Elphie."
"It isn't."
"You've never been kissed before, have you, Elphie?"
"No I haven't. Thanks to Boq, my first kiss was only a dare."
"I'm sorry, Elphie."
"I don't much care. I've never much intended to kiss anyone."
"And after this kiss? It certainly seems like you wanted him to kiss you. And more."
"I already told you. I forgot myself. It was just an intense moment. It doesn't matter, does it? He doesn't like me. And I don't like him." But the words felt wrong coming out of her mouth.