AN. There is a line in this chapter taken from one of my favourite movies- 10 Things I Hate About You. You'll know if when you see it!
Chapter 7
Elphaba loved being home, especially all the little things. Having lunch with her father, chatting with Annalie, catching up with Ottah and his family. She loved having her room to herself and being able to shut herself up in her room for hours to write and read in peace.
Well, moderate peace. Despite Tomaz insisting he "hadn't really" missed his sisters, he found a lot of reasons to hang out with them over Lurlinemas break. Unless it was after he was asleep, Elphaba couldn't be in her room for more than an hour without Tomaz knocking the door with one excuse or another to spend time with her.
As she'd predicted, Annalie, Frex and Nikita had all fussed over her the first few days they'd been home, until they were reassured she was fully recovered from the flu. They'd had a lovely, quiet Lurlinemas with just the five of them. Lilou and Pim, Annalie's parents, had been invited for the holiday but had declined to spend the holiday with Lilou's sister instead.
But as nice as it was to be home, she was eager to get back to Shiz. She was excited for all the classes she'd chosen for the semester and eager to find out if she'd made the Gazette staff.
Most importantly, she knew that Pinar wasn't returning until after classes started- from what Elphaba had heard her tell a friend, her family's ski trip was far more important than being here for the first day of classes for a new semester. That meant she'd have a few days alone in the room, and she was eager to make the most of them.
The girls returned to Shiz the Friday before classes resumed. One of Nessa's friends, Vicnia, was already back on campus when they returned, so Elphaba had no qualms about leaving her and Xia to keep Nessa entertained for a few days while Elphaba buried herself back in the stories of the Gide/Wilke family and their possibly lucky sewing machine.
Over the break, she'd asked Annalie and Frex about the message Nessa had imagined in the book.
"Is that not the message?" Frex had asked her.
"There is no message! It's about a family and a tradition… superstition. Legend. Something. But that's it. It's just a story," Elphaba had protested. "Anna?"
"I didn't get the concept about making your own luck, but I love it and it fits the story well," Annalie said. "But I did pick up the idea of if you wait for the perfect moment, you'll miss out."
Of course, that had sent Elphaba into a spiral of indecision, and she'd debated going back to do yet more revisions, but Annalie had persuaded her to "finish one draft before you start another" which Elphaba had agreed to.
Which meant when she had ideas to improve a section she'd already done, she had to scribble it onto any piece of paper that was within reach. All the scraps of paper were carefully stored in the chest, so she didn't lose them.
This semester, Elphaba had exchanged Literature for Philosophy, but was otherwise still continuing with her load of Law, History and Creative Writing class.
"Death, Pleasure and the Literary Imagination. It sounds terribly morbid," Nessa had said, wrinkling her nose when Elphaba had showed her the class outline.
"It sounds fascinating," Elphaba had replied.
There was less actual writing in this course- one big writing project and one or two short pieces, as opposed to the numerous writing assignments the last class had involved. Elphaba was actually glad about this, because even though her final project would be worth more, it meant she wouldn't be dividing her creative energy over as many projects.
Of course, the sensible thing would have been for Elphaba to put her novel aside when she had class assignments to write, but somehow, they were the periods when the novel consumed her most vividly.
Pinar returned to Shiz three days after classes resumed and entered the dorm room as Elphaba was curled up on her bed, supposedly doing a reading for her creative writing class the following night but was actually writing Chapter Twenty of her novel.
Inspiration always seemed to strike at the most inconvenient times.
Pinar, as was her trend, stopped in the doorway as though she was surprised to see Elphaba there.
"Ugh," she muttered under her breath, turned up her nose and ushered in two boys carrying her luggage.
Elphaba kept her nose in her notebook but made a face regardless.
"Ugh," she said in turn.
She saw movement in her peripheral vision but ignored her roommate.
The slam of the bathroom door told Elphaba that Pinar had clearly not mellowed over Lurlinemas.
The next morning before breakfast, Elphaba hadn't even gotten out of bed before Pinar had accused her of stealing her hairbrush.
"The hairbrush that you took away with you?" Elphaba demanded tiredly. "You only got back last night. Do you think I got up in the middle of the night to steal your hairbrush? Are you insane?"
"Well, explain to me how I had it yesterday and today I don't," Pinar retorted.
"Is it possible you left it behind on your vacation? Or that it's buried in the piles of luggage you've just dumped in the middle of the room? Or that you're a psychopath and you never had a hairbrush? I don't care, take your pick. Just shut up and let me sleep," Elphaba fumed, rolling over and buried her head under the pillow.
It was only seven am, and she had no classes that day until her writing class at five o'clock. With nothing to do on the paper that day, she had been looking forward to a sleep in and an easy day in her warm room.
"I know you took it."
Elphaba ignored her, so Pinar's response was to shut herself up in the bathroom again. Elphaba had never been more thankful that she had no classes that morning.
But she was awake now, if not thanks to Pinar than to her bladder, so she got up and dressed warmly before miserably heading downstairs to Nessa's room.
"I need to use your bathroom," she announced to a surprised Nessarose.
"Why? What's wrong with yours?"
"It's been commandeered."
Nessa frowned briefly and then her face cleared in understanding. "Oh, Pinar's back?"
"With added crazy," Elphaba replied and disappeared into the bathroom.
"I thought you had no classes until tonight?" Nessa asked when Elphaba returned.
Elphaba made a face. "I don't. But I got woken up by Pinar insisting I stole her hairbrush in the dead of night. So, I'm up now."
She hung around while Xia helped Nessa ready herself for the day, and then went with her sister to the dining hall for breakfast before Nessa's Art History class that morning.
It was a beautiful morning, which helped lift Elphaba's sour mood slightly. It didn't even feel that cold, and the air was crisp and fresh, but not icy.
"What are you going to do for the day?" Nessa asked her.
Elphaba shrugged. "Wait a bit and hopefully Pinar has classes today and is planning to actually attend said classes."
She sighed deeply. "If this is what the rest of the semester is going to be like, I think I preferred it when she ignored my existence."
"Maybe she had something bad happen over Lurlinemas?" Nessa suggested. "And she's taking it out on you?"
"Lucky me," Elphaba said gloomily.
When she returned to the room after breakfast, Pinar was still in the room, flicking through a pile of magazines amidst the piles of luggage she still had made no move to unpack. She didn't so much as look at Elphaba, but her message was received loud and clear- 'I am not going anywhere.'
Elphaba could have likewise settled back onto her bed and ignored the other girl, refusing to be shut out of her own dorm room.
But she was not in the mood to deal with it this morning. So, she simply grabbed the notebook that contained her novel, shoved it into her book bag with a handful of pens, and the collection of short stories she had neglected to read for class the night before. Then she left the room without a word to Pinar.
Her plan was to set up in the Gazette office preferably, or in the library as a last resort. But the fresh air enticed her, and she ended up in the courtyard, settling herself at the base of the statue of Elian Waurne, the founder of Shiz.
The courtyard was mostly deserted, apart from a few students hurrying on their way to class or the library, anywhere out of the winter air. But Elphaba was quite content as she balanced the notebook on her knee and began to write.
She lasted two hours before her fingers grew a little numb, and she decided to go get some coffee and admit defeat. The armchairs by the fire in the library seemed like a great idea now, if there were any free at this time of day.
She got lucky and snagged an armchair by the fire with ease, basking in the warmth of the fire and settling in with every intention of passing the afternoon in the library's solitude. Or rather, that was the plan.
Over the next few hours, the library grew busier and noisier, as those who had their class schedules arranged so they were done by lunch time filled all the tables and armchairs for study or quiet conversation. Elphaba, who was deep into the book of short stories by now, was increasingly irritated at those who refused to follow the very basic "no loud talking" rule of any and every library she'd ever been to.
With a heavy sigh, she grabbed her coat and book bag and headed for the door. Pinar or no Pinar, she was going back to her dorm. Even Pinar couldn't make that much noise, right?
She kept her nose buried in the book as he walked, the path between the library and Crage Hall was well trod now, and with people's tendency to move out of her way when she stepped into a three-foot radius of them, she didn't have to worry about walking into people. Out of nowhere, she dimly registered a yell and the sound of a horn near her, and she looked up from her book just in time to jump aside as a carriage frantically swerved and came to a halt.
Elphaba's book fell to the ground as she leapt aside, and her bookbag fell from her shoulder. She'd left it open, and the thud as it hit the ground resulted in its contents spilling out, loose papers flying across the immediate vicinity of the thankfully dry ground.
"Hey!" she yelled.
Her first priority was the notebook that contained her novel, and she desperately lunged for it, safely stowing it back in her book bag for beginning to collect her book and papers.
The carriage driver, a skinny young man who barely looked old enough to climb up to sit in the box seat, let alone actually drive the damn thing, jumped down hastily.
"I'm so sorry, miss!" he apologised. "Are you alright?"
Elphaba whirled around to glare at him. "Remove head from sphincter, then drive," she snapped at him. "Why in Oz's name don't you look where you're going?"
"You didn't look either!" he protested. "You just stepped out!"
"This isn't a road, you idiot!" she exclaimed. "It's a freaking walking path. Did the complete lack of any other traffic along here not alert you to this fact?"
The carriage door opened, and a young man stepped out.
"Av, what's going on?" he asked. "Are we here?"
Elphaba stopped in the middle of picking up papers to stare at him incredulously. "Observant, are we? What, were you sleeping in there?"
"Well, actually..." the boy started to say and then trailed off.
He seemed to see her for the first time, and his eyes widened slightly.
That was a mild reaction, as far as Elphaba was concerned, and she rolled her eyes, reaching for more papers.
"I, er, I think I took a wrong turn somewhere," she heard the driver say sheepishly and she scoffed.
She reached for more papers and jumped as a hand appeared suddenly, reaching for the same paper.
Elphaba quickly snatched it and shoved all the papers into her bookbag, ignoring the boy. She was at least thankful there was no snow on the ground currently, which meant the papers were cold but not wet.
"Let me help," the boy offered, reaching for another sheet of paper.
Elphaba grabbed it before he could get to it. "I'm good, thanks. You should just concentrate on paying attention to where your driver is going, because he seems completely incompetent at the task," she said coldly, and stormed away.
The boy took a step towards her, an introduction on the tip of his tongue. It died, however, as something crunched beneath his boot and he looked down to see she'd missed a piece of paper. He stooped to pick it up and skimmed it quickly.
Epigraph about luck?
Do we make our own luck?
Self-fulfilling prophecy
"luck is mere luck" – Denock [phil]
It could have been notes from a class, and in fact, that's what he assumed it was, until the final lines.
Syeira- lack of clarity over wants (search for 'luck') vs belief in serendipity.
Waiting for fate to play out vs luring fate into action.
If you believe in luck, are you surrendering yourself to being controlled by fate?
Put scene in ch 15- conversation between Syeira and Fawnie about why F thinks the machine brought her luck. (F and H wedding flashback?)
"Fiyero?" the driver spoke up.
Fiyero looked up from the paper and blinked as though he'd forgotten where they were.
"Yeah, Av. Sorry. Do you know where we are exactly?" he asked, looking around.
Avaric looked around and pointed to a building off to the right. "I think that's the administration building. It's where I was headed when…"
"You almost hit one of my classmates?" Fiyero finished, unconsciously slipping the piece of paper into his jacket pocket.
"I didn't know this isn't a road! It wasn't clearly marked!" Avaric protested.
They headed to the administration building where Fiyero signed in and then endured an unreasonably long lecture from the Headmistress about his lack of academic application at his previous schools and how Shiz would be different (nothing he hadn't already heard from his parents). At last he had his suite key and his class schedule, and he and Avaric were headed to find Briscoe Hall.
Fiyero had spent a lot of time in many a university dorm room. Usually his own.
As far as dorm rooms went, the private suite that was now his (for the next few months at least), was pretty good. It wasn't the best he'd had, but definishly not the worst. This one even had a small kitchen area, not that Fiyero had any intention of ever using said kitchen.
Avaric unloaded and brought up the luggage and then Fiyero walked with him back to the carriage.
"I guess I'll see you in a month or so," Fiyero said nonchalantly.
Avaric chuckled wryly. "Maybe two months if you're lucky."
They said goodbye, and when Avaric drove off, Fiyero pulled out his class schedule.
He had, tragically and regrettably, not arrived in time for his only class of the day and now had no classes until Monday afternoon. This was not at all done on purpose.
So now what to do with himself? He could unpack? He could explore the campus? Get some food?
Soon news would start to spread, that Fiyero Tiggular had come to Shiz University. Normally meeting one person was enough to get the gossip started, but somehow Fiyero doubted the girl he'd met would be much help in that regard.
'How does one become green?' he wondered to himself, almost absent-mindedly.
He still had the sheet of paper she'd forgotten in his pocket. He supposed he should return it to her- at least she wouldn't be hard to find.
"Are you looking for something?" asked a breathless voice, and Fiyero turned to see a pretty girl with blonde hair standing behind him, her cheeks flushed pink.
"Or… someone?" she added, curling a lock of hair around a finger and fluttering her eyelashes at him.
Fiyero grinned, switching on the charm. "I could be."
And just like that, Fiyero Tiggular had started his time at Shiz University.
Elphaba, meanwhile, had spared no more thought to them after she'd rounded the corner. People who chose to drive on walking paths were not deserving of her attention.
And it wasn't until the next morning when she and Nessa met for breakfast in the dining hall that she was reminded of his presence.
"Did you hear?" Nessa asked her. "Fiyero Tiggular's here."
"Who?" Elphaba asked distantly, her nose buried in her History textbook before their first class that morning.
Nessa rolled her eyes and placed her hand over the page, so that Elphaba had no choice but to look up.
"Fiyero Tiggular," she repeated.
Elphaba scrunched up her face. "The prince? Here? Oh," she said, as it clicked. "That was him?" she asked, almost to herself.
Nessa frowned. "That was him? You met him?"
Elphaba shrugged. "I guess. We crossed paths, you could say," she said dryly. "I didn't really recognise him at the time."
"What was he like?" Nessa asked curiously.
"Sleepy," Elphaba replied and returned to her textbook.
Nessa blinked in confusion. "What?"
"Never mind."
"I thought he was going to the Central Emerald College," Nessa frowned, munching on her toast.
Elphaba lifted her head. "That was like two schools ago, Nessie."
"Well, maybe Shiz will be the right fit for him," said Nessa, ever the optimist.
Elphaba scoffed sceptically and returned to her book for the second time.
By the time they got out of their History class just after ten o'clock, Elphaba had already heard enough about Fiyero Tiggular to last her a lifetime.
Students were comparing gossip, flinging around rumours about his escapades at past schools as though they were balls at a tennis match. Some claimed he was already dating a girl or two (Galinda Upland was a name tossed around a lot); others claimed the girl was a long-lost love that had been torn apart from him by circumstances and they had been passionately reunited in the drama room.
Elphaba ducked back up to her dorm after History to return her books, and on the way back downstairs, she almost collided with Pinar and some of her friends as they were hurrying upstairs.
"Move!" Pinar ordered her, almost shoving her aside, although without actually touching her.
"You know, if there's a fire, you're supposed to run outside. Not upstairs," Elphaba snarked.
One of Pinar's friends stared at her as though she was insane.
"This is what she wears to impress the prince?" she said to Pinar.
Pinar sneered. "Please. Like anything she could wear would make an impression on the prince. A snake is still a snake, no matter what it's dressed in."
Elphaba scoffed and rolled her eyes, although Pinar's words stung.
"Well, I'd say good luck with the clothes and makeup to hide your bitch spot; but you'd have to wear a paper bag over your head to cover up something that big," Elphaba retorted and headed downstairs before any of them could retort.
She wasn't even a flight down before she heard Pinar debating the odds of impressing Fiyero with her red leather miniskirt over her blue plaid skirt.
Elphaba rolled her eyes. She wasn't exactly walking around wearing rags. She may not dress in the latest fashions, but her clothes were always neat and stylish, that fit her well. Annalie had seen to that growing up, and Miss Shyla had always insisted that anyone who worked for her be dressed "respectably."
She would almost feel bad for Fiyero, to have all these girls vying for his attention; if she hadn't known that his reputation suggested he was more than happy to have the attention.
With all this, Elphaba had no desire to step into the Gazette office that day, which was sure to be the worst place on campus to be today. Despite Rais' insistence that they were a serious news organisation, as professional as any in Oz, the staff loved a good gossip and could be depended to know any and every rumour, speculation, innuendo and outuendo on campus.
Unfortunately for Elphaba, Rais had called a meeting for all Gazette staff at one o'clock that afternoon, where all new staff members would be announced. So, Elphaba kind of had to be there.
"Hey," she greeted Boq as she walked past him to get to her desk.
"Hey," he replied, rather gloomily.
Elphaba stopped. "What's with you?" she asked.
"Nothing."
A loud peal of laughter echoed through the room and Elphaba turned to see Galinda nearby, talking excitedly with two other girls. Elphaba didn't need to be a genius to know what they were talking about, and why Boq was so miserable.
"She's going to The OzDust with him tonight," Boq confirmed for her, without her needing to ask or say anything.
"Didn't ask, don't care," Elphaba retorted.
She rolled her eyes and kept walking to her desk, dropping her bag and coat on top of the desk and collapsing into her chair.
"It's one o'clock," she noted. "Where's Rais?"
"Somewhere in the mix," Boq pointed out. "He's as excited as Galinda is."
Then he frowned at Elphaba. "You don't look excited."
"About what?" Elphaba asked.
"About Fiyero being here."
"Why would I be excited? It makes no difference to me," Elphaba shrugged.
Boq looked at her as though she was crazy.
Rais eventually got around to calling the meeting to order, although the first fifteen minutes just seemed to be more discussion about the arrival of the Vinkun prince.
Finally, Elphaba raised her hand and caught Rais's attention.
"Elphaba?"
"Hi. Are we going to find out if we made staff or are we just here to make the room look busy?" she asked.
Some of the staffers laughed and Rais grinned sheepishly.
"Right. Sorry."
Both Elphaba and Boq had made the staff as it turned out, and so had Galinda Upland, much to Boq's delight and Elphaba's dismay.
"Are the standards for reporters always this low or were there slim pickings this year?" she complained to Boq.
Boq was staring at Galinda dazedly, as she gushed over Rais. "Huh?"
Elphaba rolled her eyes. "Forget it."
She got up and approached Rais. "Rais?"
"Hi, Elphaba," he greeted her. "Give me a sec."
He turned back to Galinda, who looked affronted that Elphaba had dared to intrude on her conversation.
"Two or three a week is fine," he told her. "We'll put a notice in this week's issue to drum up some interest."
Galinda scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Rais, there'll be plenty of interest. You may need to give me a whole page."
Rais, to his credit, just blinked at her while Elphaba scoffed sceptically.
"Let's start with the column for now," he said patiently.
Galinda sighed and stormed off.
Rais turned back to Elphaba and smiled. "Welcome to the Gazette- officially," he said.
"Thanks," Elphaba replied. "What's my next assignment?"
Someone handed Rais a paper as they walked past and he stopped to read it.
"Uh…" he said distractedly.
Elphaba waited, but he didn't continue.
Instead he grabbed a pen and scribbled something onto the paper.
"Rais?" Elphaba prodded, growing impatient.
Rais looked up at her and blinked as though he'd forgotten she was there.
"Right. Sorry. Um, I'm still working on a few things. I have a few ideas for you but need to check some things. You have classes tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow is Saturday, Rais," Elphaba reminded him.
"Oh, right. I meant Monday."
"Philosophy at nine, and a Law class at noon. That's all."
He nodded. "Great. Come see me at one, and I'll have something for you."
She nodded and left the office.
Elphaba spent the whole weekend wondering what kind of story Rais had planned for her. She was sure it must be a big story if he needed this kind of time to arrange it, although she wondered why it hadn't been given to a more senior reporter.
"What's the assignment?" she asked Rias, the minute she found him in the Gazette office just after one o'clock on Monday afternoon.
He grinned at her. "You'll like this one."
Elphaba raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
"Yeah. I had people begging me to give them this story. But I picked you."
That just made Elphaba suspicious. "Why?"
"Because your interviews are your strongest writing. Because enrolment for Dr Mustard's courses almost tripled after your interview with him last semester. And because Gyrtie has a Politics seminar she can't miss during the only time we could get this interview," he admitted.
Elphaba rolled her eyes. Gyrtie was a third year, and in Elphaba's opinion, she was definishly the best writer on staff.
"Ok, fine. Who am I interviewing and when?"
Rais beamed at her. "Fiyero Tiggular."
Elphaba gaped at him incredulously. "What?!"
"Yeah! You're welcome," Rais grinned and clasped Elphaba on the shoulder. "So tomorrow at three o'clock, ok? He's going to meet you at The Hare and Turtle, the pub in town? Back corner table. Don't worry about word count, this is going to be a big story. Just get me something I won't find in any issue of OzBeat magazine. I want a first draft by Friday morning."
And then he was gone, leaving Elphaba speechless.
She had to interview Fiyero Tiggular. She had to interview the prince who, from what she'd heard, had attended no classes and spent every night at The OzDust. She had to have a conversation with the prince who thought getting kicked out of university was a competitive sport, while she'd spent three years working her ass off to pay her own way into school.
She was pretty sure she'd rather write about another football game.
AN. On a scale of 1-10, how well do we think this interview is going to go? Elphaba's notes are pretty much the kind of notes I scribble while writing. I'm always finding scraps of paper in my bags, pockets and coffee table. If I'm really lucky, they still make sense when I find them lol