Chapter 4
On Tuesday night, I met Elphaba outside Mujant Hall. She looked positively ecstatic. "This is what college is all about, Nessa!" she said excitedly as we made our way to Linoleru Hall. "Advocating for change! You know, when Mama was here, she effectively shut down the dining hall to protest them not having vegetarian and vegan options. And Father helped her!"
I scoffed in shock. "Father helped her?!"
"Yeah, that's what she told me. Guess he became less fun once married life got to him." Her tight smile could hardly disguise what she really meant: Once I got to him. Still, it was hard to picture Father as a fighting revolutionary.
We arrived at Linoleru Hall, and found about twenty students milling around, chatting. Doctor Dillamond was at the front of the room, talking to a girl who looked like she could be a junior or a senior. Once he saw us, his face lit up. "Miss Elphaba! Miss Nessarose!" He led the girl over to us. "I'd like you to meet our president, Miss Skyla Parde. Miss Skyla, these are the Misses Elphaba and Nessarose Thropp, our newest members."
Skyla's eyes widened. "The governor's daughters?"
Amazingly, Elphaba and I nodded in perfect synchronization. "We thought you all could use a little fire power," Elphaba told her. "After all, little Nessie here is going to be governor one day!" She ruffled my hair good naturedly.
"Oh, stop it, Fabala!" I said jokingly, pretending to push her away. "What my silly sister means is that we'll be willing to help in any way we can."
Skyla chuckled. "Great! We appreciate it." I noticed, with silent approval, that Skyla did not talk down to me in any way, nor did she seem at all taken aback by Fabala's skin. So Shiz wasn't completely full of idiots. What a blessing.
Doctor Dillamond then motioned for everyone to be silent. "Welcome back to Shiz, students!" he greeted us. "And welcome to Shiz for our freshers. This is going to be an exciting year for the ADL, right?"
"RIGHT!" everyone chorused back at him. Man, Doctor Dillamond may have been a boring teacher, but he sure was an awesome faculty advisor!
He nodded approvingly. "That's what I like to hear. Now, Miss Skyla is going to tell you all about our first protest." Everyone cheered as Skyla walked up to the front.
"It has come to my attention that Shiz does not have gender neutral bathrooms," she began, "which, as you know, is very uncomfortable for transgender students. So, in two weeks' time, we will station ourselves outside the bathrooms in the Dingleberry Commons, and let our voices be heard! How does that sound, people?"
Another cheer went up. "Mujant is part of Dingleberry, right?" Elphaba asked me quietly.
I nodded. "Yeah."
She grinned. "Cool. You'll be close to the action." As the meeting went on, I grew more and more excited for the protest.
After the meeting, Elphaba and I went back to Mujant so she could shower me. "You don't have to put me to bed," I told her as we went down the hallway. "The floater can do that."
Elphaba looked confused. "The floater?"
"Yeah. There's always a PA on staff just in case …" I trailed off when I saw who was driving up the hallway. "Evit! Hi!"
"Hey Nessarose-za!" he said, making some strange gang sign with his hands. That made me smile. "Out partying?"
"Nope. Anti Defamation League."
"Ah." He turned to Fabala. "And … you are …?"
"I'm leaving," Elphaba said curtly. "I'll be in your room, Nessa." As she walked briskly away, Evit gave me a bewildered look.
"My sister," I explained. "Elphaba. She's a little … odd."
Evit chuckled. "I would say so!"
Anger flared up. "I wasn't talking about that! She's just … very anti social."
"Relax. Your sis could be rainbow colored and I wouldn't give a fuck. I don't have time for that."
"Well, good. 'Cause I don't tolerate people who mess with Fabala. And vice versa." We sat in awkward silence until I finally said, "Well, Fabala's probably waiting for me."
"Alright, Rose." He saluted me. "I'll see you tomorrow!"
I found myself giggling for no apparent reason. "Yeah, see you!"
When I entered my room, Elphaba smirked at me and started laughing. "Oh, Nessa!"
"What?"
"I don't pretend to be an expert at this whole romance thing, but …"
I scoffed. "Stop it, Fabala! I only met the guy a week ago!"
She held up her hands in mock defeat. "Fine, fine. But if you do start a relationship, know that if he tries anything … remotely inappropriate, I will personally cut off his testicles and hang them in my room as a trophy."
I cringed. "Lur! Nice imagery, Fabala!"
"I try."
The next day, Fralina and I had most satisfying fight over a multitude of things such as her many hair products, my "moodiness," her loud music and singing, my putting her shower chair in my room during my shower, and other stuff. I finally said, "I'm done, Fralina. If you can find a solution for where to put our shower chairs, by all means, lay it on me. But I'm done with this conversation."
Her little blonde brain could not come up with a good retort, so she only said, "Fine!" and then stormed back into her room.
Over the next two weeks, Evit and I grew closer. We woke each other up during Rehab 199, and he showed me his secret hideout in the backyard of Mujant. One night, lying in bed, I resolved to ask him if he wanted to go to the Peach and Kidney with me, just the two of us. I would do it after class. But the next day, Doctor Dillamond's class made all thoughts of romance flee from my mind.
