Just so you know… the idea with the poetry-tea-gathering-thing from last chapter was not mine, but belongs to anyone but the great Gregory Maguire who originally gave the Wicked Witch of the West a name and voice so she could tell her side of the story. (Which is great. I can only encourage you to read it. I'm crying like every single chapter; it's so powerful. …but it's also very different from the musical, so beware lol.) Thanks very much to everyone who's left a comment so far... I love hearing/reading what you think.
Stay safe and healthy everyone (or get well soon...
Review, please? ;)

Started writing: 09.01.2020

Finished writing: 13.01.2020

Chapter 17
Night

When Elphaba opened the door, the conversation behind it immediately came to a stop. Four pairs of eyes found her face, and four noses wrinkled in disgust and annoyance.

"You," said Galinda snidely.

Elphaba raised an eyebrow. "Yes, me. Surprise, surprise."

She closed the door and started towards the bathroom. The eyes never left her, and slowly Elphaba turned.

"What is it?"

Pfanee rolled with her eyes, and Galinda exchanged a quick look with Shenshen.

She cleared her throat. "You know... this is a girls' night. Which means you are not invited."

"Such a pity," said Elphaba drily and turned to open the bathroom door.

"No, you don't understand," Galinda's voice sounded. "You are not invited means you have to leave."

The green girl blinked. "This is not just your room; you can't just throw me out."

For a second, Galinda kept quiet, but the mercy didn't last long, and she stood up. "Yes, I can. We are four, and you are one."

Elphaba shrugged.

"So you have three other rooms to go and do whatever you're doing," she stated.

Galinda crossed her arms. "But we are staying here. The others don't have a private suite."

"You don't have one either."

"Yes, I do. You're just an annoying thingy that's found its way into my room and now won't go away," Galinda snapped.

Elphaba rolled with her eyes.

"Ouch," she said drily. "That hurt almost as much as your shocking lack of synapses. And where should I go anyway?"

She shook her head. "No. I'm staying here."

Shenshen wrinkled her nose.

She had one hand on Milla's knee, fingers spread apart so her nail varnish could dry. It was red -of course, it was.

"No, you're not. It's four against one -we win," she said, and Elphaba snorted.

"This is ridiculous," the green girl stated.

"No one's asked you for your opinion, Artichoke," Galinda sneered and suddenly was so close to Elphaba that she could see every single grey spark in her otherwise blue eyes.

Her long finger almost stabbed into Elphaba's chest as she snapped, "Leave. No one wants you here."

She shoved Elphaba's coat against her chest and pulled the door open. "You're disgusticified!"

And within a blink of an eyelash, Elphaba found herself outside the room, her coat pressed close to her chest, and gaped at the closed door in front of her.

She heard the laughter from inside and Shenshen's sudden squeal -probably because she'd smeared her nail varnish- and slowly slipped on her coat.

Well then, she'd have to rearrange her evening plans, as it seemed.

Elphaba turned around, wandering down the hallway and starting to climb down the many stairs to the ground floor of the building.

The Winter in the Gillikin was a rather warm one this year, which seemed so strange to Elphaba, considering that Munchkinland had such a cold one. It had been raining the whole day, and the ground was slippery as the green girl stepped outside. The dark campus was lightened up by a few street lamps lining the paths.

In the dim light, Elphaba could see just as far as a few meters before her, and thus it was a little surprise as to where the path would lead her. Away from the centre of the university campus, it seemed as she followed it further down.

The quiet roar of water beneath her made Elphaba stop. The Suicide Canal, she thought. It made sense; the river crossed through the left part of the meadows and separated the small hill from the rest of the campus. A wooden bridge led across it but just here, right at the shore of the canal, the street lamp was broken, and the water was left in the complete dark. It looked absolutely terrifying, the water flowing beneath her like a racing stream of ink, and Elphaba stared into the depths of the dark with her eyes widened.

Slowly, not fully trusting her own sense of balance, Elphaba stepped onto the slippery wet bridge, took a few steps and then sat down on the wooden edge.

She had to think of the very first time she'd been at the Suicide Canal -in Autumn when the leaves of the large oak trees had fallen and bedecked the ground. She'd gone with Aurelion to help him with his Biology project but had ended up in Madame Morrible's fangs who'd somehow begun to question her about Sorcery in the middle of the afternoon.

Elphaba wrinkled her nose at the very thought of the fish-like Headshiztress. She hadn't seen her after the poetry gathering -not until her Sorcery class this afternoon.

It had been awkward from the moment she'd stepped into the room. She had sensed the Headshiztress' anger and from there on walked on eggshells around her. But Madame Morrible had criticised every single thing she did anyway, and when Elphaba had left the study one and a half hours later, she'd been sure that no one had ever been as exhausted.

"Don't get a fright!"

Elphaba winced terribly and whirled around, almost slipping off the bridge. There was a figure standing right on the spot where the street lamp should've provided some light -a tall and broad figure that held onto the street lamp's post tightly.

Elphaba narrowed her eyes. "Who-"

"You know," the figure interrupted, and as he said it, he slowly approached the green girl sitting on the edge of the bridge. "I wouldn't have thought... but the green is so easy to discern in the dark. It's much darker than fair skin."

Elphaba heard a faint slur in his voice, and as the figure sat down beside her, face turned in her direction, the smell of alcohol washed over her face and she wrinkled her nose.

"Who-" her eyes narrowed even more as she tried to make out his features in the dark. "Fiyero?"

He laughed, and the smell of his breath made Elphaba's head spin.

"Are you drunk?"

"I might be," he swayed from left to right and nudged her shoulder with his. "But just a little bit."

He raised a hand and formed a gap between his thumb and forefinger. "Just this much."

But he slurred so much that Elphaba almost couldn't understand him and she frowned. "For sure."

She tried to move away from him but right next to her was a post of the bannister, preventing it.

"What are you doing out here?" Fiyero asked, dangling with his legs, kicking against Elphaba's shoes.

"It's my favourite place to be at night, can't you imagine?" said the green girl with a raised eyebrow and tried to pull her knees to her chest to escape his kicks.

"Yeah, mine as well," Fiyero sounded absolutely sincere.

For a moment, they were both quiet. Then Elphaba said, "You know, actually I'm here because your girlfriend hates me."

"Girlfriend?" Fiyero asked. "Oh, you mean Galinda."

Elphaba raised an eyebrow but said nothing. It was none of her business, after all.

"It's difficult not to hate you."

"Excuse me?" she wasn't sure whether she'd prefer to push him off the bridge or strangle him with her bare hands.

"Well, you know…" Fiyero said, his slur as prominent as never before. "There is your sarcasm and your nerdiness and your know-all manner…"

Elphaba's eyes widened. "What? Know-all manner? That's not true. Just because I know much doesn't mean I'm a know-it-all."

The boy shrugged. "I'm just saying that, of course, no one likes you when you're always so… mean."

Elphaba jumped up, almost losing her balance on the slippery wood.

"I am mean?!" she exclaimed furiously. "What about the others?!"

Fiyero once again shrugged. He stared into the water that flowed beneath them for a second and then said, "They just don't like you."

"Oh, and that's an excuse, of course," Elphaba snapped. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "They can go about the day, insulting everyone and everything just because 'they don't like them' and no one complains -but I am the evil one, I'm the one that's mean."

She almost laughed at the utter ridiculousness of it all.

"Because you look evil."

Elphaba stopped. Her heart was pounding hard in her chest from rage, and her mind was racing a mile a minute as she stared at the drunk young man before her.

"I-I… I look-?" she stammered. "I look evil. Wow."

She turned around, a hand on her forehead as she laughed drily and without any sign of amusement.

"That's… original, I must say. I've never heard that one."

Her voice shook, and her fingers trembled, and she tried to suppress whatever was rising in her throat.

"That's not my opinion, though," she heard Fiyero say, and this time she couldn't contain her snort.

"Of course not," she said drily. "Why say such things to me when you don't mean them?"

She shook her head in anger and disbelief -and maybe in sadness, but who would know.

Fiyero slowly got to his feet. He was swaying as he approached her, but she backed away.

"Really, Elphaba. It's not what I think," he said. "It's just… the general opinion."

Elphaba pressed her lips to a thin line. "You mean Galinda's opinion."

He shrugged. "That might be one and the same."

When he took another step towards her, she didn't back away but waited until he'd found his balance again.

"Initially I'd wanted to apologise."

Elphaba snorted. "You're doing a shit job."

Fiyero nodded. "Probably."

"Starting with the 'it's difficult not to hate you'-thing really screwed it up."

"I know."

There was a pause in their conversation, and Fiyero wrung his hands.

"I know I'm not the best with words," he said slowly, every word harder to understand than the one before. "I'm sorry that I set your teeth on edge."

Elphaba crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"But I must ask this one question; how does it feel to walk around in the skin of a frog?"

And he laughed at the hilarious joke he made -and Elphaba slapped him across his face, whirled around and practically ran away.

She had tears in her eyes -and not from the cold wind that hit her in the face.

"What in Oz-?"

Elphaba pulled her coat tighter around her slim figure and set her jaw. "I need your help."

She quickly glanced into the room and saw it was empty. "Can I come in?"

And before he could answer, Elphaba had already slipped past him and closed the door with a thud. For a moment, she stood completely still, looking around in the room. Then she turned around.

"I was kicked out of my room, and now I have no place to go."

For the shortest of seconds, something like hurt shone in her eyes, but she blinked and gone were any signs of sorrow.

"That's… unfortunate," Aurelion stammered and watched wide-eyed how Elphaba wrung her hands and looked around, searching for a sign that they weren't alone.

But the second bed was empty, and the bathroom lay in the dark.

"You know," Elphaba started. "I'm pretty sure that there's an unwritten rule that says friends must let their friends sleep on their sofa when needed -which means you are practically obliged to let me stay here for the night."

Aurelion blinked in confusion and slowly pushed his hands into the pockets of his trousers.

"I-I," he frowned at his own stammering. "You see, I don't really know whether Nathaniel is going to return tonight but if he does-"

Elphaba shook her head. "I wouldn't mind. No danger of sexual harassment here."

The boy's eyes widened. "No, that's not- I mean…"

His cheeks were flaming in red. "I didn't know if you would be comfortable with two guys…"

Elphaba waved a hand dismissively. "I'm in no risk of any of you watching me in my sleep -that would only result in nightmares."

She hesitantly sat down onto the sofa and raised an eyebrow at him. "So, I can stay?"

Aurelion nodded. "I couldn't be so rude as to throw you out into the cold, could I?"

Elphaba shrugged as though she didn't care. "Everyone else wouldn't even think it to be rude."

She slowly shrugged off her coat and folded it over her arm. "Would you mind if I borrowed a blanket?"

Aurelion shook his head and quickly got to his feet, searching for one of the bedspreads that had been on their beds when they'd first moved into this room. He found it in the cupboard beneath the window and handed it to Elphaba.

"Do you need anything else?"

The green girl shook her head and pressed the blanket close to her chest. She smiled slightly, "Thank you."

"No worries," said Aurelion. "Consider it payback for the tie."

Elphaba blinked against the dim light that lightened up the room just the slightest bit. There was the smell of sleep and perfume in the air -hers probably, the one she'd gotten from her sister some time ago. Elphaba blinked again, and a shade above her slowly took shape.

"Fiyero?!" her voice was still heavy with sleep and a little bit hoarse from the not-crying she'd done yesterday night.

But it was surely Fiyero who was standing right beside her, staring down at her as though she was some kind of animal in the zoo. Slowly Elphaba pushed herself up onto her elbows and tilted her head to one side. "What in Oz are you doing here?"

The boy continued staring at her for a few further seconds, then he said matter-of-factly, "I couldn't find my jacket."

Elphaba stroked through her long black hair. The strands were all tangled up, and she grimaced slightly. "Are you still drunk?"

If she hadn't known any better, she would've said he was blushing. If just the smallest bit.

"No. No, I'm definitely not drunk anymore," he stroked over his forehead and gave her a lopsided grin. "But the headache… uh, it's awful."

Elphaba raised an eyebrow, "Aw, poor Fiyero."

She pulled her knees to her chest and hugged them close.

"How did you even come in?" she asked, chin resting on her knees.

"Well, you know…" said Fiyero with a grin. "I'm just very charming."

"And since Aurelion is gay he fell for that," Elphaba deadpanned.

"He is?"

She rolled with her eyes.

Slowly, almost hesitantly so, Fiyero sat down on the other end of the sofa, as far away from Elphaba as possible.

"Say, what happened yesterday?" he said. "I remember that we met, but I have no idea what happened."

Elphaba's lips became a thin line. "Oh, the usual, I guess you'd say."

He raised an eyebrow at her, and the green girl sighed.

"You were a total idiot, some insults, some sorry attempts at saying sorry."

Fiyero's brow furrowed, and he leant forward, elbows on his knees. "Oh."

Elphaba shrugged. "You could say that."

For a moment, it was absolutely quiet in the room. Then Fiyero stood up. "I guess an apology is in order."

He pushed his hands into the trousers of his tight white trousers and said, "I'm sorry, Elphaba. It was never my intention to hurt you. Or to nag you. Or anything else for that matter."

Elphaba raised an eyebrow at his formal tone. "I didn't even know you knew so many words."

Fiyero cocked his head to one side. "Now you've ruined it."

She blinked. "That's what I usually do; ruin everything."

She got up and stood there in a far too big t-shirt Aurelion had given her, her hair an absolute mess.

"So not true," said Fiyero fiercely. "In class, you're always the best."

Elphaba shook her head. "But that's class. Not life."

She turned around in search of her clothes and slowly made her way to the other side of the room where she found them laying on a chair.

"But you're smart, you can actually do something with your life," Fiyero said.

Elphaba snorted. "Really? You think anyone wants to work with someone who's green?"

He shrugged. "I don't think it will matter anymore once we've graduated. Then it's all about intelligence and ambition. Which means I am already screwed."

The green girl shook her head. "Maybe you should consider stopping all that 'Dancing through life'-nonsense."

She folded the bedspread and put it on the sofa she'd slept on, fixing the cushions.

"It can't be helped," Fiyero said with a shrug. "I guess I will just return to the Vinkus without a degree."

Elphaba stopped and looked at him with her head tilted to one side. "You could do better, I'm sure. If you'd just try a little harder."

Fiyero leant against the backrest of the sofa and tucked his hands into the pockets of his trousers. "You think so?"

She nodded with a small grimace-like smile. "You are not as stupid as you think you are."

Fiyero raised an eyebrow and Elphaba chuckled lightly.

"I must get ready now," she said and pointed at the bathroom in the corner of the room.

Fiyero nodded and turned away. "I'll be going then."

Elphaba collected her clothes from the chair and slowly opened the bathroom door.

"Fiyero?"

He turned around, a questioning look on his face.

"Don't believe that just because I've accepted your apology, we could be friends now," she watched his brows knit. "Because I still think you're a total douchebag."

But she smiled as she closed the door.