warning for the use of transphobic slurs/pretty intense transphobic sentiment (no violence).

Chapter 4; Hunt

That Friday, as I put away my books and got my lunch, Boq arrived with an unusual letter in his hands. He was positively beaming. He had this big daft grin that made me laugh.

"What's that look?"

"This is the look of someone who was invited to a party by their crush," Boq said, offering the letter. "It was in my locker this morning."

I unfolded the letter. It read:

'Dear Boq,

First off, I want to apologise for that ugly business before. I was mean and rude. I have been thinking about it, and what Miss Thropp said at the time, and have decided to make amends. I would like to be friends, if you would have me after the way I talked to you. This Sunday there is a party at the edge of the Mudgrove farm, by the woods. I'm inviting you. I really hope you come, and again, I'm sorry. Miss Thropp is welcome to come along too.

Love,

Galinda Arduenna'

"Can you believe it?" Boq said excitedly as I folded up the letter.

"No. No, I can't."

"What?"

I closed my locker. "Well, its clearly a joke. They even invited me. It's fake. Best throw it away now."

He snatched it back. "I will not! As unlikely as it may be, if it is true and I simply ignored it, well… I would regret that for my whole life."

"It is overwhelmingly unlikely," I said. I was honestly a little concerned now, he looked so serious and set on it. "You don't know what might happen. What if its something cruel? Even something dangerous?"

"Galinda has no reason to pull a trick like that."

"Her friends are malicious as demons. And anyway, you're assuming she even wrote it."

Boq looked at the letter in his hands. He looked up at me. "I have to try. Look, no one has ever done anything really violent. Just shoving and stuff. If it is a trick, maybe it's just that nothing is there, or something stupid." Boq took my hand; I snatched it away instantly. "I have to try. I… I love her."

He was daft as his bloody grin. "Is there anyway I can talk you out of this?"

"No," He said, adamant.

I didn't have a good feeling about all this. In fact, I had a distinctly awful feeling about it. But I had grown a bit of care for this idiotic little boy, and couldn't let him march into harms way without at least some back up. "Do you have a car, at least?"

"My dad has a truck, but I can't drive."

"Bikes, then?"

"I have bikes. One is a little beaten up, but I could work it. Why do we need bikes?"

"To get away," I said gravely. He rolled his eyes at me.

"You are a very dramatic sort, Elphaba," He said, like I was very tiresome to be around. He sounded just like my sister, and it both irritated and warmed me to him very sharply.

"Really, Boq, this is stupid. You can't honestly think that letter is genuine at all?"

"I can hope," He said. "I must."

"And you call me dramatic."

"You're allowed to be dramatic when you're in love." He was a lost cause. I didn't understand all the fuss he made over Galinda Arduenna anyway. She was certainly beautiful - she was the most beautiful girl in the school - but she struck me as overwhelmingly vapid. I had an idea.

"Why not ask her if she wrote it?"

He stared at me like I had grown wings. "What, just go up and talk to her? No. No, that's impossible."

I huffed and snatched the letter from him. "Fine. I will." Galinda was lingering with her prissy friends across the hall. Boq cried out in vain as I marched over to them.

When they noticed me they looked at me as if they were trying to magic me out of existence, before they all exchanged various grimaces and such. I focused on Galinda. "I need a word with you, if you wouldn't mind." She ignored me. "Are you really this childish? At least have the grace to acknowledge me."

She turned her head. "Leave us be, please."

"I will leave you be the moment I have a word with you," I said shortly. She glanced around self consciously. People were starting to stare. "I'm not moving till you talk to me," I said lowly. "Do you really us want to be seen talking?"

She sighed. "I'll be a tick, girls." She nodded at the girl's bathroom. I followed her in. She checked the stalls, and when a girl - about fourteen - went for one of the sinks, she gave her a look and said, "Out." The girl fled quickly. Galinda Arduenna glanced at me very briefly then looked down at her dress, plucking at it pointlessly. "What do you want, freak?"

"Only decent in public?" I said warily. "I had a bit of hope you were at least polite, but you're truly all as bad as each other."

The look she gave me was genuinely a little scary. A simple look had never scared me before. I was almost impressed. "You're lucky I'm even talking to you, witch," She said coolly. "I am in a murderous mood. Tell me what you want."

"Honestly, you have already answered my question," I said stiffly. "Me and my friend received a letter, apparently from you. I wanted confirmation." I held out the letter. Her expression shifted, carefully indifferent as she unfolded the letter and read it. She refolded it.

"It is from me, yes," She said quietly. "Honest, I don't give a fig about you, but I do feel bad about what happened then. I only invited you because I figured… he would want me to." I was stunned. "But you can come, if you really want to, I suppose. It would be exceptionally rude to offer an empty invitation."

I stared at her critically. "You really wrote this? Truly?"

"Truly," She said casually.

"I don't believe you," I muttered. She looked at me.

"I don't care if you believe me," She said slowly. She had this way of talking that was very mean. People rarely really got to me, but she got to me. I could feel my hands trembling.

"I'll tell Boq," I said, and left quickly. I heard her come out a minute later. Boq was staring at me anxiously.

"Well? What happened?"

"She claims it was from her," I said. He looked like Lurinemas had come early. "I don't trust it," I went on quietly, but he wasn't listening.

"Oh, Elphaba, I might have a chance with her! Or at least at being her friend. Can you believe it!? We must go. This is going to be brilliant! We must go! Say you will, Elphaba, please?"

I really didn't trust it. If it was from her, it was still some cruel trick. I couldn't let him go alone.

"Yes," I said reluctantly. "I'll go."

I spent Saturday worrying about the party. I looked around the house for something that might help, and found nothing, except an old, mysterious knife in the kitchen. It wasn't any kind of normal kitchen knife. It was long and gently rounded, but definitely sharp. It had a simple wooden handle. It was tucked into a little leather pouch. I decided to take it with me, concealed somewhere in my dress or something. I didn't know what I expected, but that knife might give me a little confidence, if nothing else.

I met Boq at the path leading to the Mudgrove Farm late in the evening, already dark. He was very excited, and had two bikes with him, along with a simple torch. He looked even cleaner than he had on our day out. "Looking very nice, my friend," I said. He gave me the eye.

"Don't sound so tickled. I think I look pretty good."

"Oh yeah?" I took a bike off his hands. "Come on then. Let's woo your lady love." We rode up the path, him in front with the torch shining the way. It was very, very dark. We heard the party before we saw it, and then we saw a little road off the main one. There were was a rough path of lit posts lining it. We followed cautiously.

We saw the smoke and the drifting ash of the bonfire, and then the light and the fire of the bonfire itself in the middle of a clearing. There were a herd of teenagers all gathered around it, laughing and yelling and drinking, poking it with sticks. They were all the rich kids; the year twelves, a mixed unit of pseudo-adults; Avaric and his pack of hedonists; Shenshen and Galinda and their little clique; Crope and Tibbett, and the other handsome boys. We got off our bikes and walked up, the whole lot turning to look at us. A hush fell over the entire place.

"What the goddamn are you doing here?" Avaric asked, the fire casting long, dark shadows over his face. There was a little sqeal of excitement and Shenshen came rushing over to him, Pfannee following.

"We tricked them here," Shenshen said, pressing herself into his side. "For a bit of a lark, you know?"

"It was my idea," Pfannee said. Shenshen gave her a hard glare. I felt the first tug of anxiousness. I didn't feel good about any of this.

"Thank you ladies," He said, staring at us. "Well, what shall we do? It would be rude to send you off so fast." He glanced back at the year twelves. They watched, all seated on a semicircle of logs, silent and judgemental. Avaric's older brother was among them, a broad young man. He looked back at Avaric. Avaric looked at us, and gestured to the bonfire. "Come, sit. You must be cold."

"How about we just leave," I said, grabbing Boq's arm. Boq looked pretty ready to leave too. Two of Avaric's boy's moved to stop us.

"Oh, I insist," Avaric said. "You're our guests of honour. Please."

Boq came forward, because he didn't know what else to do. I stood stock still. One of the boys pushed me forward, and I went along, scowling back at him. I looked at Galinda and saw she was staring, eyes very wide. She looked worried. I couldn't imagine what would happen if she looked worried. Boq had his head down, face very red. We sat where Avaric had gestured. "What did that letter have in it?" Avaric asked, still staring at us. Shenshen relayed it to him excitedly. Boq curled in on himself. I glared up at Avaric.

Avaric came nearer to Boq and squatted. "Galinda, was it? You thought she wanted to be your friend." He looked over to Galinda. Galinda looked back impassively. "I don't think that's very likely." Avaric leant over, so Boq was looking at him. "Girls like Galinda don't associate with girls like you, Biqqi." He suddenly smiled, looking around the camp. "You know, I heard Biqqi was going around as Boq! That made me wonder." He stood and paced around the bonfire. "See, Biqqi, I thought you were a girl! But now I'm not so sure. So I thought we should make sure, if you don't mind."

He stared at Boq expectantly. Boq looked back, confused and afraid. "What?"

Avaric huffed. "Stand up and drop your pants."

"Open your shirt!" Another boy called. There was a ripple of laughter, some crude exchange between Avaric's boys. Boq was shaking with terror.

"Either you get up and do it, or we'll do it for you," Avaric said with a hard edge. The laughter died. The girls looked uncomfortable, the handsome boys watching with their hands gripped up into fists. Shenshen moved back to sit with the girls, Pfannee following. It was very tense. I felt cool sweat trickling down my neck and back.

Galinda broke the silence. "If I didn't know better, I would think you were interested in that shemale, Avaric. Like your girls with a little boy in them, do you?" She gave him a harsh, flirty kind of smile, and all his amusement and bravado was shaken. He stood up.

"What's that meant to mean?"

She gave him a challenging look. He glanced around and flushed defensively. He looked at Boq. "You're right. I don't reckon any of us want to see this fucking freak." He worked his jaw. "Get out of here, freak." Boq scrambled to his feet and made off, getting a bike as he went. I started to stand up, but a hand around my arm stopped me. "Not you."

Boq looked back at me, his expression warring between ashamed and afraid. I knew he couldn't do anything anyway, so I just nodded to him. He went off in a hurry. Avaric let go of my arm quickly. "What do you want with me?" I asked, my voice steadier than I felt. Avaric stared at me, then looked up at Galinda.

"Now this one we really don't want to see," Avaric muttered. "You're the fucking freak overlord." The laughter rippled again. "I mean, what the fuck are you? Are you an animal of some kind? I can't even tell."

The jeering calmed me somewhat, because I knew how to handle that. I stayed indifferent. This wound him up. He was a very fragile boy, I realised as he stalked around me, throwing out insults, the others sniggering along. I got bored. "If you're done," I interrupted, "Can I go now? I've heard all this a thousand times."

He laughed shakily. He smoothed back his hair and paced around. He went over to a log where a packet of sausages and marshmallows were and picked up a long iron two-prong fork. He came to stand by the fire beside me, and skewered a sausage, holding it over the flame. The fat cracked and sizzled, dripping from it. "No, I'm not done." He looked up. "Hold her."

Two boys came forward and grabbed me, wrestling my hands behind my back. I kicked and lurched against them, and one of them pressed his knee into my back, the other putting all his weight forward, pinning me to the grass. He took off the sausage and did away with it. He put the fork back in the fire until it was stained dark black, all the fat from the sausage burnt away.

"I want to experiment a bit," He said. He pulled out the fork, spat on it, watching it spatter and dissolve instantly. I couldn't keep up the indifference, I was looking all around the place, seeing the others watching, their eyes wide. Galinda was looking at her lap. She wouldn't help. Nobody would. Avaric grabbed my jaw, his fingers digging into my skin. He brought the fork close to my cheek, close enough that I could feel the heat pouring off of it. The second he pressed it to my skin it exploded with pain, and I cried out. The hands holding me slackened. I saw my chance.

I kicked off from the ground with a burst of strength, throwing the boys back, Avaric stumbling away instinctively. Time lagged. I thought of the bike but before I had even thought of it I realised I would never reach it in time, and went off sprinting where ever I was faced; I was faced right at the girls. The girls fanned out while Avaric's dogs moved in, stumbling and grabbing at my heels. I ran past the last of them, pushed myself between the thickets around the clearing. I cleared a short fence and found myself in a corn field.

I stopped after a few minutes when I heard nothing, and peered back. It was dark. I let myself get my breath back, and turned to walk to my right, where the road in had been, I hoped. I couldn't see a thing for the corn in my face, towering over me. I glanced a little light from the corner of my eye.

I saw, from the direction the camp had been, spots of fire light bobbing over the tops of the corn. Then I heard the laughter and the yelling, and the distant crunching and shifting of leaves. Fuck the road, they would catch me too easily if they had fanned out. I went the way I had been going. When I realised how loud they were getting, I ran as fast as I could. I hitched up my skirt and everything. It kept getting caught in the corn, and the corn kept whipping me on the face, whipping the burn on my cheek. I could hardly feel it though. All I could feel was the solid thumping of my feet on the ground and the strain of my legs.

I flew out of the corn. I leapt over another fence, but my boot clipped it and I went shambling, almost right off my feet. Beyond was a stretch of grass and beyond that was a forest. Forests were good for hiding, but they also made running harder. Hiding was seeming pretty attractive, though. I didn't know how long I could run. I didn't know if I could outrun that whole pack of evil boys. I was eager on the forest.

In a moment of foolishness, right on the forest edge, I glanced over my shoulder. I saw the posts that had lined the outside of the camp poking from the tops of the cornfield and emerge, their bearers moving forward in a dark, menacing front. It was more than Avaric's boys, it was the year twelves, and the handsome boys too. They advanced, bristling with fire and fists and sticks and forks, yelling and cackling. I wove my way through the trees, sweat dripping from me.

I fell behind a thick tree, listening. I could hear the distant jeers. I shifted so I was ready to go off. The boys fell quiet, occasionally calling to eachother. I heard a cry too close for comfort that sent me on my way. I stopped again beneath the thick foliage of some low tree-bush, and then again at another tree. They continued to advance. I considered doubling back and trying to break the line, but I knew that was a bad plan. I continued through the forest.

I staggered over a rock and fell into a small clearing where the moonlight managed through the leaves. My left hand went right into some pathetic creek, and I thrashed away wildly, falling down a short hill and into a tree, gripping my hand to my chest. I heard the splash of feet in the creek, and a call of, "The witch is close!" I saw him standing above me on the cusp of the short hill, the moonlight dragging dark green shadows down his face. He saw me. He stooped down for a rock as I was blundering to my feet - it hit me in the back, but I was already off running. He called again, "The witch!" They called back.

I ran harder than ever and put some distance between us, then stopped, then ran, then stopped. I jumped over a short ledge and, with no thought to it, glanced behind me and saw a log. The log was beneath a thick cover of moss and lodged between a rock and a tree. It was almost entirely hollowed out. I dropped to my belly and wiggled into the space there. The stopping made me aware of my ragged breath, and I pressed my hands to my mouth, staring out of the gap of the log. I heard the calls coming closer. The log creaked, and feet thudded down in front of me. Their shoes were fine leather, polished to a shine, and their pants were baby blue and folded very neatly at the bottom. He walked on. He stopped, and called, "No witch!" He glanced around, and then he looked at me. He squinted. He came forward.

I saw his gentle wave of hair, honey-brown, and recognised him as Tibbett, the most handsome boy in school, or so it was said. He came very close, and I am sure he saw me. I hissed and launched myself out of the cover of the log, slamming my fist into his stomach. He fell back onto the mossy ground, gripping himself and wheezing. He would not call for a while, at least. I stopped behind another tree further on, and listened. They were pretty distant now. I couldn't see any of the torches. I kept running, though.

I ran until I saw a ditch filled with long grass and heavy with bush cover. I toed into it, making sure the bottom was dry. It was. I walked along it, keeping low. A branch snapped right above me. I looked up, my hand jumping to the knife I just recalled I had brought for this exact situation. It was a girl in a pretty pink dress, a torch in her hand. She put it out immediately, before I could recognise her. I saw her silhouette duck. "I know these forests," She said quietly. "They are close to my house. I can get you out of here without them finding us."

"You really think I'm going to trust that?" I said raggedly. I slid out the knife. "Come any closer, and I'll - I'll do what I need to." The knife glinted between the rust. She saw it and shifted. "If you want to help, just don't call out."

"These forests go on for ages," She said gravely, and I placed her voice now. It was Galinda Arduenna. "Please, my home is not so far-"

"I would not trust you as far as I could bloody throw you! You got us into this mess!" I lowered my voice to a harsh whisper. "Why did you tell us you wrote that letter!?" I heard a sharp intake of breath.

"I'm… I figured it was a joke, and so I went along with it, to not ruin the fun." Her voice trembled. "I know it was stupid and - and cruel, and I'm so sorry. I never would have thought Avaric would go so far." She sniffled, her silhouette moving indistinctly. "He has always been a beastly boy," She muttered.

I laughed. She wiped at her face. "You're crying. Okay. You can't really expect me to go with you."

"You must!" She whispered fiercely. "You must get out of here unharmed! I'm not gonna let you wander around and be found and - and burnt, or whatever they plan, and have that on my head!" She stuck out her arm. "Come on!"

I heard the calls again, from the opposite side of the ditch. She glanced behind her and shook her hand desperately. "Now! You must take my hand now! Please!" They were so close. I made some strangled noise and grabbed her hand, clawing up to the top of the ditch. She pulled me into sprinting.

She soon pulled us onto a trail that she said was a deer run. Her hand squeezed mine tight and trembled very faintly. She warned me of a drop and we jumped down a short manmade ledge, and then emerged from the forest, a dirt road before us. She dropped my hand. "My house is up here," She said quietly. I stood stock still, staring at her. The adrenaline was gone. I could feel the burn, feel my lungs and legs straining as if the muscles were about to snap.

"I… am going to go home," I muttered. She made a face.

"No. No, that's a stupid idea. What if one of them find you? And you don't even know this part of North Dixxie." She turned her head. "Stay at my place. Just for the night. You can go home early tomorrow morning."

I had wrapped my arms around myself, and was trembling hard. Harder than the warm night called for. I wanted to complain, or ask what the hell she was even doing, but I could hardly think. She took my hand again and led me down the road to her house.