"Yes, my friends, this is academia," Tibbett laughed, indicating the full hall with a theatrical sweep of his arm.
"Even that?" Crope pointed at a table containing Pfannee, Shenshen, Milla and Avaric. The three girls appeared to be using the graduation ceremony as an excuse to either admire the physiques of or pettily insult their classmates.
"Critical mass," Tibbett explained, leading Crope to a table as far away from Pfannee and Shenshen's probing stares as possible.
Incidentally, this table also happened to contain Glinda, looking far more radiant than any of the other girls could ever hope to be. She was lavishing every attention on Fiyero, who looked the least like an academic of anyone Crope had ever seen.
"Crope! Tibbett!" Glinda beamed at the pair, leaping from her seat to shower them in air kisses. "I can't believe we're graduating already," she gushed, and her smile only slipped for a moment. Her unspoken meaning hung in the air: "I can't believe we're graduating without Elphie."
Tibbett reached across the table and squeezed her hand.
"Oh. Look! The crowning glory in… scholarship," Crope crowed, eager to lighten the mood, as Boq wheeled Nessarose into the room.
"Oh, Biq!" Glinda called, waving.
"Boq," corrected Tibbett, Crope, and Fiyero.
"Boq. Of course," Glinda frowned, momentarily flustered. She turned in her seat and caught Boq's eye again. "Boq! Over here!"
Boq manoeuvred Nessa's chair into the space between Glinda and Crope and sank into a chair opposite her, struggling to keep the relief off his face as Glinda engaged the younger girl in a mindless conversation about the weather.
"Cheer up, Boq," Tibbett whispered conspiratorially. "You won't have to put up with this any more after tonight."
"Freedom calls," Fiyero grinned.
"Right," Boq sighed.
The room fell silent as Madame Morrible's distinctive cough rang out across it.
"Children," she simpered, causing no end of smirks to ripple through the assembled student body, "We are gathered here today to celebrate a momentuous occasion: the largest ever group of students to graduate from Shiz university in all its years of establification!"
"Sometimes I swear she's not even speaking a recognised language," Crope whispered under the bemused applause.
"She's speaking Morrible," Fiyero explained, one eyebrow raised.
"I'm sure all of you will become valued members of society in your own way…"
"I'll say," Tibbett laughed, nudging Crope, who smiled knowingly and squeezed his knee under the table.
"…So I urge you, children, to use the valuable talents you have gatherated from your days at dear old Shiz to make your own distinctable path in the world."
"Whatever you say, Madame," Tibbett nodded. "When do we get to eat?"
"You and your one-track mind," Crope admonished. "Is there ever a time when you're not thinking about putting something in your mouth?"
"Crope!" Glinda was shocked. "There are ladies present!"
"And I'll offer them my most sincere condolences when I find them," Crope teased.
Glinda batted his arm fondly.
"I'll miss academia," Tibbett smiled nostalgically.
"Oh!"
The entire table turned to look at Nessa, who this last exclamation had come from. She looked around sheepishly.
"I… what Crope said. About Tibbett putting…" She trailed off, blushing.
Fiyero slapped Boq's shoulder. "At least she got it. You'll be made a man of yet."
Crope and Tibbett exchanged knowing looks but wisely stayed silent.
"We must meet up sometime during the summer," Glinda beamed, oblivious.
"Yes, I'd like that, Miss Glinda," Boq smiled, causing Nessa to glower at her napkin.
"I hear the Emerald City is lovely in summer," Fiyero added, in an attempt to lighten the tension.
"Yes, well," Glinda murmured. "I expect it is."
"Then again, so is Munchkinland," Tibbett joked.
"Munchkinland is always lovely," Boq joked.
"I've always thought so," Nessa agreed, as Boq's sarcasm flew over her head and landed in a heap in the corner of the room.
"We could always rent a summer home in the Uplands," Crope smiled, gently mocking Glinda.
"We could," she smiled.
"Or in Quadling Country," Tibbett put in. "That's probably in a few more of our price ranges."
"Hey, I happen to be perfectly well-endowed, thank you very much," Crope complained.
"Would you two stop it?" Glinda snapped, frantically trying to hide her smile.
"You love us really," Tibbett reminded her.
"I suppose," she shrugged grudgingly.
Altogether, Crope decided, it was a perfectly satisfactory evening, given that it was the last the six of them would ever spend together. He remembered it for the rest of his life, not just because of how he and Tibbett celebrated their graduation well into the next morning, but because for once no one deliberately tried to get on anyone else's nerves. Although he strongly suspected that was simply because Elphaba wasn't there. And that, he realised, was also the reason why none of them was as happy as they should have been.