A/N:
This is the first Wicked fan fiction I have published here. I've been reading Wicked fanfics for years, and now I've finally gotten around to writing one myself. Please tell me your honest opinion of this story. Flames are accepted, and CC's highly encouraged. Thank you for reading—or at least clicking the link to this story.
Disclaimer: Wicked is a copyrighted property which I am not rich enough to purchase the rights to.
Elphaba Thropp was used to being stared at, but the intense glares she was receiving from the table in the middle of the cafeteria—referred to as the "popular table" by the students of Shiz University—made her very uneasy.
"Elphaba," her new best friend called out from said table. "Come on. Don't be shy."
Elphaba walked slowly towards the table, carrying her lunch. She wouldn't be in that position if only she had just ignored her sister and skipped the party at the Ozdust. But no, she had to ask Madame Morrible to let Galinda join the sorcery program, and then the next thing she knew, she had a best friend. Normally, that would feel wonderful and surreal, but right at that moment, Elphaba just wanted to go back to being the girl everyone stayed away from.
The glares didn't lose their intensity as she got closer to the table. She could hear them mutter angrily about her.
"Galinda! I certainly do not want to eat lunch with the Green Bean." Shenshen whispered frantically.
"Yeah, and this is like the popular table." Milla added.
"Girls, give her a chance. She's not that bad. And besides, she's technically popular. I mean, everyone knows her." Galinda told them.
"But she's not the good kind of popular." Pfannee protested.
Elphaba dropped her tray on the table and sat next to Galinda. She kept her head down and stared at the table. She could still feel the glares of the other girls, but she tried to ignore them as best as she could.
"So, Elphie," Galinda said in an attempt to make her new friend comfortable. "How are your classes?"
"Fine." Elphaba muttered while stabbing her food with her fork.
After a few clock ticks, the girls finally dropped their glares and continued their animated gossip. Galinda shot her new friend an apologetic look. She whispered to Elphaba quietly. "Elphie, please stop murdering your mashed potatoes."
Elphaba ignored her. She released all her frustration on the already squashed root crop. She should've just eaten her lunch in an empty classroom or a secluded part of the library like she always did. She never should have accepted the blonde's invitation, but Galinda's puppy dog face could convince anyone to do anything she pleased. She considered just dragging Galinda to her own lunch spots, but then remembered that she, unlike Elphaba, had other friends.
She was too busy with her thoughts that she didn't notice someone approach their table until he cleared his throat behind her. Elphaba turned around and found herself staring at none other than Prince Fiyero Tiggular. Her heart rate sped up a little, but she forced herself to maintain her calm composure.
She raised an eyebrow at him. "May I help you?"
Fiyero stared at her intensely like he was looking deep into her soul. "That's my seat."
Elphaba looked confused. "Pardon?"
"You're sitting in my seat." Fiyero replied solidly.
"Oh," Elphaba looked around the table and gestured to the empty chair right across from her. "There's still a seat available here."
"But that's not my seat." Fiyero said. "This is my seat. I always sit here next to Galinda."
Elphaba rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry, Your Highness. I didn't know that you've already added this chair to your royal furniture. And in case you're wondering, no, the green won't stain the chair."
"You're really sweet, dearest, but you don't always have to be by my side." Galinda chided in.
Elphaba thought she saw a flash of hurt cross Fiyero's eyes, but it was too quick for her to be sure. Fiyero, still trying to get his chair back, tried staring at Elphaba until she would leave. Unfortunately, it didn't work. She just continued staring angrily at her untouched lunch.
Fiyero sighed and gave up. He unhappily sat in the chair opposite Elphaba and told himself that this was never to happen again. He was rather interested in Elphaba since it would seem that she has been the only female who has never shown any sign of attraction to him. She even openly scolds and lightly insults him despite his royal status. But despite his interest in her, once he starts staying in the same place for a long period of time and claims a spot as his, he will always consider it his no matter who tried to take it away from him.
He tried to tune into what the other girls in the table were saying, but it was uninteresting to him, so he spent his remaining time staring longingly at the seat across from him, as well as sparing a few glances at its occupant.
The next day before their history class, Galinda invited her roommate to sit at their table for lunch again. "Come on, Elphie. Pfannee's sick, and Shenshen has a lunch date, so only Milla, Fiyero, and I will occupy the table."
Elphaba was still reluctant, but she agreed. "Fine, but just this time."
Galinda squealed and hugged her friend before returning to her respective seat. Dr. Dillamond then walked into the classroom and the class began. It proceeded as usual with Elphaba answering every question the professor asked, and Galinda whining about Dr. Dillamond mispronouncing her name.
After class, the two friends proceeded to the cafeteria in silence until Galinda spoke up. "Hey, Elphie,"
"Hmm?"
"Have you seen Fiyero?" Galinda asked.
"No, I haven't. He's your boyfriend, not mine. His whereabouts are none of my concern." Elphaba replied dryly.
"Yeah, but don't you have any classes together?" Galinda asked.
"Just History for today, but he wasn't in that, as you may have noticed." Elphaba pointed out.
They walked the rest of the way in silence and eventually arrived in the cafeteria. They noticed that there was already someone sitting at their table.
"Fiyero?" Galinda exclaimed incredulously.
The prince looked up at them and grinned sheepishly. "Hello there."
Elphaba raised her eyebrows at him as she sat down on the chair which he had occupied just the day before. "I can't believe you." She sneered.
Fiyero smirked at her before placing his arm at the back of Galinda's chair as she sat down. She kept looking at him skeptically.
"Fiyero, I know you have a weird obsessed attachment to that chair, but I can't believe you skipped a class just so no one else would sit in it." Elphaba said.
"For your information, I skipped class because I thought I deserved a couple of hours off after attending classes yesterday." Fiyero explained. "It's really tiring, you know? It made me remember why I rarely did that before."
Elphaba rolled her eyes at him and proceeded to read the novel she carried with her. She would deal with him tomorrow.
As Elphaba was walking towards their table, Fiyero smirked triumphantly at her from his seat. Elphaba grinned mischievously back at him before sitting down. She opened her book and bit into her apple.
Fiyero watched her closely for any sign of retaliation, but she was calmly reading her book and eating her apple. He realized that she looked rather pretty with her eyes focused on the pages, completely engrossed in the words printed on them. Her eyebrows were slightly scrunched up, and her lips were moving slightly as she mumbled under her breath.
"Fifi," Galinda's high-pitched voice broke him from his reverie. "Can you please get me a bottle of water?"
"Sure thing." Fiyero tried to get up from his chair, but found that he was stuck. "What the—?" He glanced at Elphaba and saw her smiling lightly with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.
"What's wrong, dearest?" Galinda asked sincerely.
Fiyero grunted. "I'm stuck."
"Stuck?" Galinda asked. "What do you mean stuck?"
"Maybe his chair has finally realized how much it reciprocated Fiyero's feelings." Elphaba said, her eyes never leaving her book. "That's what you get for being too attached."
Fiyero glared at her and attempted to stand up again. He was successful, but the chair was still glued to his bottom. This made him lose his balance and fall face-first onto the hard floor. Galinda tried to hold back her giggles unsuccessfully, while Elphaba was laughing at him mercilessly. Fiyero couldn't get up without falling back down, so after a few more falls Elphaba took pity on him and muttered a spell to unglue him from the chair.
Fiyero was beet red. The other students in the cafeteria were staring at him. Some looked pitifully at him and others were chuckling lightly. Casting an angry glare at every student who was laughing at him, he hastily left the cafeteria without another word.
"Elphie, that was mean." Galinda scolded her best friend.
"You laughed too." Elphaba stated.
"But you did the spell. You're the one who glued him to his chair." Galinda said.
"Yeah, but he was getting annoying with his possessive issues." Elphaba defended.
Galinda sighed. "Look, Elphie. You two are my closest companions. I want you two to be able to have a civilized conversation without plotting each other's deaths. Just apologize to him. What you did was a little too much anyway."
"Fine. But I don't think that would prevent him from getting back at me tomorrow." Elphaba said. She grabbed her things and left the cafeteria, feeling just a little bad about what she had done to Fiyero.
Laughter still echoed in Fiyero's mind. The laughter of his persecutor rose above the others'. Despite his seething anger towards her, he thought that Elphaba's laugh was rather beautiful and melodious. She rarely laughed, and he believed that that was the first time he heard her laugh genuinely—even though that laugh was directed at him.
A knock sounded from the door of Fiyero's dorm room. He walked up to the door and opened it, revealing his green oppressor.
"What do you want?" Fiyero demanded, sounding angrier than he intended to be.
Elphaba flinched slightly. "I came here to, uh, apologize."
Fiyero cocked an eyebrow. "Really? You don't look like you want to apologize."
"Pssh . . . What are you talking about?" Elphaba exclaimed. Fiyero looked at her skeptically. She sighed. "Okay, I don't really want to apologize. Galinda asked me to because she wants us to get along."
"I figured as much." Fiyero said.
"But I do feel bad about what I did earlier. Not bad enough to regret it, though." Elphaba added. "But I didn't mean to embarrass you in front of the whole student body."
"That's nice to know." Fiyero said sarcastically. "Look, I agree with Galinda. Maybe we should just try to be civil and get along."
Elphaba looked at him disbelievingly. "After what I did to you, you actually agree to tolerate me?"
"Yeah," Fiyero said. "I mean, we're fighting over a chair for Oz's sake! That sounds a little immature, don't you think?"
"You're one to talk Mr. Dancing-through-life. Immature's your middle name." Elphaba replied.
"Fine, I admit I'm not exactly a picture of maturity and responsibility and all that useless stuff—"
Elphaba snorted. "That's an understatement."
Fiyero ignored her. "But what about you, Ms. Know-it-all? Aren't you the responsible type? Shouldn't you be the one to stop this whole nonsense?"
Elphaba gaped at him. "Well, in that case, let's stop this right now. Truce?" She held out her hand.
"Truce." Fiyero took her hand and shook it. Both felt a strange jolt of electricity from the contact and let go immediately. Elphaba blushed and looked down.
"I still haven't completely forgiven you yet, though." Fiyero said after a while. "I mean, that was really cruel."
Elphaba huffed. "You just think it was cruel because it bruised your rather large ego."
"Yes! And how is that not cruel?" Fiyero asked incredulously. Elphaba just rolled her eyes and muttered something about him being vain before turning around and walking away.
"See you later, Fiyero." She said as she left. Fiyero gazed at her until she rounded the corner and disappeared.