Disclaimer: I don't own Wicked.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed! Thanks for the encouragement. (By the way, the chapter name may or may not have anything to do with the content of the chapter)

Chapter Two-Dear Old Shiz

Elphaba finally managed to open her eyes. The first thing she saw that the wood flooring of the old room, the one in her father's house. She sat up slowly, cradling her head in one hand. She started to get up, and a small hand held her elbow, supporting her as she rose off the floor.

"Thanks," Elphaba muttered as she gazed down at what she was wearing. She let out a low groan when she saw that she was still wearing her nightdress.

The small hand yanked on hers and she gazed down at the young child standing at her side. The small green girl had an eager look on her face and started to pull Elphaba towards the bed. Elphaba noticed that the other two versions of her were nowhere to be seen.

The door on the opposite side of the room creaked open and a three year old entered the room, her hand rubbing under her eyes in tiredness.

"Do you remember this?" The apparition asked of the adult Elphaba.

She shrugged. "Not really, should I?"

"Just watch." She was commanded.

So she turned to watch. The small girl came and sat on the bed and pulled a book out form under her pillow. She flipped a few pages in and began to read. She had already taught herself to do so after Frex had told he would not teach her.

After a few minutes her head looked up, having heard the footsteps on the old stairs that led up to her attic room. She quickly glanced at the page number and slipped the thick tome back under the mattress.

The door swung open just has she hopped down off the bed. Her father appeared in the doorway, a small squeaking bundle held in the crook of his arm. He slammed the door again, causing Elphaba to jump. But she recovered quickly and walked quickly over, never taking her eyes off the bundle.

"Papa? Is that-?"

Frex cut her soft voice off. "This is your sister, Nessarose. Here look at her." He beckoned her over with sharp hand movements. She ran the rest of the way over and, for the first time that she could recall, he picked her up.

In his arms, she had a clear view of the baby. She could see that something was wrong with her legs and Elphaba reached out a small finger to touch them. Frex swatted away her hand and she held it closer to her body, her eyes still locked on her younger sister.

"You see this, Elphaba?" Frex questioned. She nodded. "This is your fault."

Older Elphaba turned her head away from the scene, her mind filling in the blanks. Frex would tell her that it was her fault because she was green and that her mother was dean and it was all her fault.

"I've seen enough," She whispered, tears settling themselves in the corners of her eyes. She believed what Glinda had told her: that it wasn't her fault. But she had lived thinking that it was for the majority of her life and that was hard to stop thinking that way.

The apparition's hand held hers and she swung her short legs. "OK. Well, then I guess we should move on then?"

Suddenly, there was another flash of light and the toddler was replaced by the ten year old version of Elphaba.

This time older Elphaba stayed awake and she saw herself, her younger, memory self sitting alone in a classroom. She had a fierce expression on her face and she glared at anyone who might even look like they were going to sit next to her. The only reason they would would be to tease her and try to get her to let some of her tears spill over.

So she sat alone. She looked down at her desk as the teacher walked into the shabby room. Frex had only agreed to send his eldest daughter to school if it was free. So the room was practically a shack and most of the desks and chairs were wobbly. But it was worth it to Elphaba.

Elphaba was bullied mercilessly. She never let them see the tears and she had built walls in her mind to block out the mean stinging comments.

As the teacher droned on, she started to hear the whispering coming from behind her seat in the front row.

Frog.

Isn't she horrible? Like a cabbage, I heard that's how her father described her.

Why did she have to come here? Her father is the Governor of Munchkinland for heavens sake!

And so they continued. She managed to make it through the first two lessens without so much as turning around. It was when she went outside at the short break the children were given that things went wrong.

"Hey!" One of the older boys spotted Elphaba reading one of her books, her glasses perched on the end of her nose. He came over and grabbed the book.

Elphaba jumped up off the patch of grass she had been sitting on. "Give that back! It's mine!"

The boy's friends threw the book to one another, playing what they dubbed, 'Froggy in the Middle'. One even managed to grab Elphaba's glasses off her face as she passed him. She grabbed them back soon after but when she was turning around to carry on trying to get her book back, she heard a splash. She looked over to where she had heard it and the group started laughing.

The book had been dropped in a puddle. Elphaba quickly picked it up but the damage was done. The book was ruined.

"Oops." The head bully sneered. "Oh, well, Vegetable, your Daddy can buy you another one."

Elphaba didn't react.

"Oh no he can't, can he? He doesn't like you; he likes that cripple of a sister of yours. Doesn't he? No one likes you. No one!"

Elphaba's fury spilled over when he mentioned Nessarose and when he had finished speaking he was thrown about ten feet away from the small shaking girl. The others looked at her, their friend and then each other before running.

"Witch!" One of them called over his shoulder.

They left her alone after that.

Reviews inspire updates! (If there's any confusion over which Elphaba is which, don't worry there should only be one more chapter with more than the usual amount of Elphies.)