Okay, Shiz again, back to see how Glinda and Boq are doing. Oh, and a disclaimer I suppose. I don't own Wicked or the Wizard of Oz or anything else associated with it. I won't remember to do this a lot, so that goes for the whole story.
Crashing Waves
Boq crossed the room in a drowsy way, his slippered feet shuffling across the floor, rubbing his eyes.
His hands falling from his face, he called "Fiyer-" and stopped mid-step. "Oh, for the love of Oz!"
He walked briskly to Fiyero's bed and threw back the covers, as if hoping to find Fiyero hidden among the sheets.
He heaved a huge sigh and sat himself rather forcefully at the foot of the bed. It was the second time that week that Fiyero had disappeared. I wonder if he's planning on pulling an Elphie he thought bitterly, but immediately regretted his resentment, his heart sinking even lower. Where is Elphaba? Where is Fiyero?…
…Where am I? He had been mentally retreating into the hole free of emotion deep in his chest, when the question hit him square in the face. He certainly had changed a lot lately. Then again, so had everyone. He wondered for a moment why love was so cruel. If your heart let you live without someone your entire life, then why wouldn't it let you live again once that someone had come and gone?
Elphaba had left for a reason, he knew. And although he wanted to, he couldn't be mad at her for it. She had done what she had to- he wouldn't have been able to stop her. He realized that now.
So why do you still blame yourself? a small voice in the back of his head asked him.
He tried to ignore it, rising from the bed firmly.
You're not in love with Elphaba. You miss her but now she's gone and you need to get over it. the voice said, more persistently.
"I won't," Boq said stubbornly to himself as he stormed defiantly from the room.
• • • • •
"Yes, yes, I'm coming, Master Boq," Glinda called in a frenzied reply to the knocking at the door.
It opened slightly and Boq peered his head in. "I'm in no hurry, Miss Glinda, take your time."
She stopped rushing about immediately. "Oh, thank goodness! I'm so sorry! Normally Nanny wakes me up, but today- and now I'm running late…" her voice trailed off as she turned her attention to sorting through the books she would need that day.
"What did you say?" Boq's interest had evidently been piqued by her words, but she couldn't remember what she had said.
She glanced over her shoulder at him, confused. "That I'm running late?" she asked quizzically.
"No. I mean. Where is Nessa?" he raised his eyebrows at the question.
"Oh. Right." She stopped fretting with her shoes and tried to gather her thoughts. "She, uh, went to the infirmary last night. Something about nightmares?" she sounded uncertain. "I was half-asleep…" she muttered.
"Oh." His face fell slightly. "We should go see her after class."
"Yeah," she said, picking up the last of her things and setting them on the bed. She glanced around the room for the first time since he'd entered. "Where is Fiyero?" she asked.
"Gone," he replied, almost inaudibly.
"Again?" she asked. "Where could that kid be going?"
"Who knows."
As she gathered up her books in her arms, he rose from the bed and they left together. They walked to class in silence. She could almost feel the constant thought and emotion flowing through the figure next to her, and yet she felt oddly disconnected from him.
She had a faint, whisper-like thought, wondering why she couldn't talk to this person that was standing so near to her, suffering through the same problems as she. But the thought was circulated away as quickly as the rest, lost in a tumult of waves, crashing in a stormy sea.
Goodbye
They walked quietly into Dr. Nikidik's classroom and sat near the back of the room. Glinda pulled out a piece of paper and a fuzzy pink pen before positioning herself in her desk, ready to begin.
Boq sighed and pulled out a piece of paper. "What are we covering today?" he asked her as he searched through his bag for a pen.
"Dunno," she said, squinting her eyes at the board. "Can't read it."
Dr. Nikidik came drifting through the door and everyone looked up from their conversations.
"Humm…" Boq sighed and settled into his seat. He was never that interested in life sciences to begin with.
"Today we will… mumble… mumble… Something different… mumble mumble…" Boq's eyes slid out of focus and his mind wandered.
His was jerked from his trance and glanced aboutthe room in an urgent way. A hissing sound had filled the room as the students began to whisper in an unabashed way.
He turned quickly to Glinda as she rose from her seat. "What's going on?" he hissed at her, but she did not look back at him. See what I get for not paying attention. He mentally scolded himself as Glinda headed down the stairs in a hesitant way. She approached Dr. Nikidik almost fearfully, stopping about ten feet away from him, with her eyes flashing, though from anger or fear he could not tell.
Dr. Nikidik approached her and whispered something as he handed her a piece of paper. She stood still for a moment, looking at it, and he nudged her to the front of the room. The class quieted and looked at her.
"Ahem," she cleared her throat and began reading uncertainly.
• • • • •
She positioned her hand above her paper, ready to begin. She'd never been very interested in life science, but now she paid attention, a subconscious act of honor to Elphie's memory.
Boq asked what was scheduled for the day, but she couldn't read the board. She silently wished he would stop fidgeting so much.
Just then, Dr. Nikidik glided into the room, and Boq sat back in his chair. "Today we will be reading a little bit of literature," he began, as Glinda strained to hear him properly. "Something different from normal, just to wake our brains up a bit?"
Glindawrinkled her brown uncertainly. Dr. Nikidik never did things out of his normal routine. And literature wasn't a common addition to his schedule. In fact, she wasn't completely certain that Dr. Nikidik knew anything about literature. How could anybody with any respect for language mumble so much?
"How about a student to read a little poem?" he asked.Nobody volunteered. "Well, then," he continued, unperturbed by their obvious lack of enthusiasm. "Why don't you read… Miss Glinda?"
She could feel her face flush as she stood up. Everyone began whispering at once, glad it wasn't them that had been chosen.
She paused at the top of the stairs, wishing to be anywhere but there. It didn't work, of course, her feet coming down upon the steps just the same.
She walked hesitantly to the front of the classroom. The whole situation was just so weird. Dr. Nikidik approached her and handed her a sheet of paper with some words printed on it. "Thank you, Miss Glinda. If you could just read that to the class."
He nudged her forward.
She cleared her throat.
"Goodbye…" she began in a shaky voice.
"A mystery of circumstance, time, place,
lurking behind the surface of our lives.
Reminding always of that unchangeable."
Her voice gained some confidence as she continued.
"A parting of souls for a moment or eternity,
but eventually eternity will pass like a moment.
Regretfully if you never forget."
"Always avoided because of lack of need,
for I will never be without you.
You'll be in my heart to protect me-"
Her voice cracked and she bit back tears. "From Goodbye."
She dropped the paper and stumbled from the room, her vision blurred by the onslaught of tears. Nobody stopped her as she flew down the hall and out the doors.
• • • • •
Boq listened to Glinda as she read uncertainly to the class. He strained his ears to catch every word. It's not a normal event to be reading poetry in Dr. Nikidik's class. he thought. There must be some importance to this.
Glinda's voice cracked suddenly.
"From Goodbye," she uttered the words into the silence, then dropped the paper and ran from the room.
The class sat, stunned for a moment, watching the paper flutter to the floor.
He jumped from his seat and ran through the doors, the sound of his footsteps echoing around the room.
"Goodbye" is an original poem by me for this story. I never said I was a poet (I never said I was much of a writer either, but I do what I can). So, anyhow, I tried. lol, reviews on it as well as the chapter would be great.
