Chapter 9: Friends
While her mother was having a conversation with Nessarose over leaving her behind, Elphaba was cleaning up the house for her mother's party next week. When she finished cleaning up, Elphaba answered the door and saw her new friend Chistery on the front door. "Hey Chistery. What's up." Elphaba said.
"Hey Elphaba, I just wanted to let you know that we're going to have a sleepover tonight. My brother said I can bring of my some friends if I want to."
"Okay, so who's going to be in the sleepover."
"Erm, my brother of course, a couple of human friends, and two people you might know, Johnny and Layla. And one of my friend's eighteen year old brother. We're gonna have the sleepover in a place that my friend's family is almost finishing building an apartment complex."
"Okay. But I need to talk to my mom first." Elphaba then went to her mother's room, who was busy grading papers and Nessarose sitting quietly. "Hey mom, can I go to a sleepover with some friends tonight?" she asked.
Melena looked confused. "A sleepover? But where?"
"My friend said in a place where his family are building. It's pretty much finished."
"And is there a chaperone?" Melena asked and Elphaba nodded. "Your phone charged?"
"Fully charged."
Melena smiled. "Okay. Just write the address on the counter and you can go." Before Elphaba could leave, Melena stopped her. "Oh, but before you can go, your sister wants to say something."
Elphaba turned to her sister and found her a little bit sad. Nessarose sighed and started talking. "Fabala, I'm sorry for leaving you behind at school. I was selfish and I won't do that again."
Elphaba smiled. "It's alright, Nessa. I forgive you." she said and hugged her sister.
Feeling a little good inside, Nessarose hugged her sister back. "Thank you, big sis." Nessarose told her.
Later that night, Elphaba met up with her friends in one of their family's building for a sleepover. There was no TV, little food and the building had very little electricity, but they know how to get some fun. What they do was break any spare wooden board lying around the building.
"Hey check this shit out. This one's gonna be bad ass." one of the older kids said. The older kid headbutted the wooden and broke it in half and everyone cheered.
"Okay my turn." Chistery said. Chistery got another board and he punched it so hard it broke and everyone cheered.
"Step aside, boys. I'll show how a lady does it." Elphaba's friend Layla said. Another was laid in front of her and she kicked it really hard.
"Hey, Elphaba why don't you try?" Chistery said.
"No, I don't want to-" Elphaba said but the whole group wanted her to do it and she does it. Elphaba picked up a broken saw blade and threw it the wooden board, which pierced it right through.
"Amazing! With that throw, that would be fatal!" Johnny said said.
When they were done breaking boards, the group had a conversation about their life about high school? "So do any of you freshmen nerds know what's going to happen later on in your high school lives?" one of the older boys said.
"Well, yeah." Johnny said.
"And do you have 'the talk' with your parents yet?"
Layla looked annoyed. "Of course our parents told us that. We're pretty much more forward thinking than the rest of the adults in Munchkinland."
"And are you going to do it in high school?"
"No and I would kick their ass if they tried to ask me or do it on me." Layla threatened which made the older boys stopped asking (and a few stopped snickering).
"Erm, Elphaba, what are you planning to do after high school?" Chistery's brother said.
Elphaba hesitated. "I... I still don't know."
"Well, you better come up with something now. You might not even know how fast high school life is."
"I'm not worried. But if I am, I might stick around in Munchkinland for a bit." Elphaba said and everyone congratulated her.
"Good idea, Elphaba." Johnny said.
"Thanks, guys."
"Hey, guys. Before we hit to bed here's some trick I learned for over a month." one of the older kids said. The older kid got a beer can and when he took a bite out of it, the beer splattered all around the room and everyone cheered for him.
A week later, Melena held a holiday dinner party at her own apartment. Since the party was mostly attended by adults, Elphaba and Nessarose barely knew anyone except a few of their mother's friends. The guests were mostly Melena's colleagues and friends from the college she works in and half of the guests are animals, which didn't bother some of Melena's friends.
While Elphaba was getting a food to eat, she was met up with Professor Everene, a friend of her mother's. "Oh, I'm sorry Miss Everene I didn't see you coming." Elphaba said.
"Oh don't worry. I didn't see coming as well." Professor Everene said, "You're Melena's daughter, Elphaba right?"
"I am."
"Well your mother always told me about how wonderful you are. And in my opinion, green is a beautiful color for you."
Elphaba felt uncomfortable. "Thank you. I've been getting that a lot." Elphaba started to get uncomfortable. "I... better meet up with my sister." she said and went to Nessarose.
"It was great meeting you." Professor Everene said.
Elphaba then met up with Nessarose, who was sitting by the counter all by herself. "So how are you liking the party, Fabala?" Nessarose asked Elphaba said.
"A little terrible. I felt a little embarrassed whenever I talked to one of mom's friends."
"Me too. Maybe that we're just too young to understand or only college professors understands it."
"I hear you. Hey, I better get back to my room. My friends are probably getting impatient waiting for me." Elphaba said and ran off to her room, but stopped for a moment. "Oh I almost forgot. I told Chistery that I wanted to bring you to the sleepover next week and he said he's fine with it."
"Hey thanks, Fabala." Nessarose said and ran back to her room.
At the other side of the room, Melena and Professor Everine were looking at a man in his early 30's, Melena never noticed him before. "Who is that?" she asked.
"Oh that's Gus Maidens. He's this new coach at college." Professor Evirene said. Gus noticed Melena and waved at her and Melena waved back.
At her room, Elphaba met with her friends Johnny, Layla and Chistery, who were looking around her room. "Cool room, Elphaba. Did you paint that mural on your wall?" Layla asked.
"No, my uncle and my new aunt painted it, but I helped them. So are you okay that you're not with your family at this time of the year?"
Johnny shrugged. "I think my parents don't mind.
"Mine's too. They don't mind as long as I hang with my friends." Layla said.
"And my family's never in celebratory mood for this holiday. Lurlinemas, sure. But this one, not so much." Chistery said.
The three focused back to Elphaba. "So what do you most of the time?" Johnny asked.
"I mostly draw, take some photographs and do some choir, but I don't want to sound like some Mary Sue. I still don't know I wanna do want do. I'm not as smart as mom or my sister. I just want to do something that seems fun, but a little challenging though." Elphaba said.
"Just stick to your guts. Overtime, you'll find it what you wanted." Layla said.
"Layla's right, Elphaba. Like you said last week, you don't need to worry about it." Chistery told her.
"And who knows. Maybe you can be a politician or an actress or something." Johnny said.
Elphaba smiled at them. "Thanks you guys."
"Hey don't sweat it. We're here for you." Layla said.
At dinner, Melena sat with her friends, Nessarose and Gus, who was interested to meet the group she was eating, Gus told them a story. "So anyways, while me and my friends are driving in a the middle of a snowy road, the car broke down and we only have one phone, right. Well, while my friends are waiting for help, I made a snowman fast and scared them into thinking I was a living snowman. You should have seen their faces."
The group laughed at Gus' story. "How long were you in the army?" Melena asked.
"About two or three years tops."
"And were you enlisted?" Nessarose asked.
"Yeah. I was enlisted in the Gale Force, but when the Wizard declared war, I was shipped off. During my years in service, my squad never had any casualties. Not one."
The group was impressed. "Wow. Even though I'm against war, that story is impressive." Nessarose said.
"But isn't that impossible?" Melena asked.
"It's impossible. But the major doesn't want us to do what we do and we go replaced a week later. When the new guys got shipped off, twelve were killed off."
"How much experience do you have in the army?"
"A lot but not enough for most higher paying jobs. That's why I coach the kids in college. It helps them than joining the army before going to college."
The guests were impressed even more. "Did the students like your teaching methods?" Nessarose asked.
"Well half said I'm good and half said I'm bad. But anyways..."
While Gus was telling a story, Elphaba was outside with her friends as they stared the scenery of their town.
