Just so you don't get confused; the last scene is a flashback scene, but I'm sure you would've figured it out all by yourself;)
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Stay healthy, everyone!

Started chapter: 15.01.2020

Finished writing: 19.01.2020

Chapter 19
Discover

"You're late," Elphaba said with a laugh that was surely not meant to be nice.

Fiyero raised his brows at her. "Really?"

He threw a look at his watch. "Two minutes is not late."

Elphaba shrugged. "I'm just saying that you're lucky Professor Graeling isn't here, who knows what she might've done."

Fiyero waved a hand dismissively.

"Oh, she's a softie," he said. "She could never punish someone as nice and charming as me."

The green girl snorted. "'Nice and charming' -don't make me laugh."

She shrugged off her coat. "Anyway, let's go inside."

Fiyero tilted his head to one side and grinned. "Venture into the lion's den."

Elphaba raised an eyebrow. "Comparing children with lions now, are we? You must've been bullied in day-care."

She made her way through the hallway with the Winkie boy right behind her and opened the door to the playroom.

"I never was in day-care."

"Me neither," said Elphaba with a shrug and grinned.

For a moment, she felt Fiyero's eyes on her.

Three boys ran to Fiyero as soon as they saw him enter and gathered around him.

"Fiyero, Fiyero!" they shouted in excitement. "Will you come and play with us? Will you let me show you my new toy? Will you go outside with us?"

Elphaba chuckled lightly. She'd let the others play with the children; they'd only be afraid of her. She turned around to go and find herself a corner to read in. But when she'd found the perfect spot and made her way to the large armchair that stood with its backrest to the room, she was surprised to find a little girl crouching on the floor behind it, nose stuck in a book.

"Who are you?"

The girl started and whirled around. Her eyes grew wide.

"I'm sorry," said Elphaba quickly and backed a step away. "I didn't mean to frighten you."

She hesitantly sat down in the armchair, crossed her legs and pulled out her own book, still looking at the little girl. She had her brown hair fastened in two pigtails and looked at Elphaba from dark green eyes.

"I-I'm Alivia," said the little girl in a whisper. "A-and who are you?"

Elphaba smiled.

"I'm Elphaba. I'm one of the students from Shiz."

The girl's eyes sparkled with excitement. "Shiz University? It must be so great there."

Elphaba tilted her head. "It's a really good university, we learn very much."

She opened her book and took out her reading glasses. "What are you reading?"

Alivia looked at the book in her hands for a short second. "It's a fairy-tale. It's called 'The Lion and the lioness' Do you know it?"

Elphaba couldn't help but smile. "Of course, I do. My mother used to read it to me when I was young."

She turned to the page she had last read. "Now I read to myself just as you do."

Alivia shook her head. "No, no, I can't read. I'm too young, my father says. I'm just pretending to read -I know all the words in the book."

Elphaba tilted her head. "You can't read? That's such a pity. Reading is so great."

She closed her book again and slowly slipped onto the floor and settled in next to Alivia, knees drawn close to her chest.

"Would you like me to teach you?" she asked and couldn't contain a chuckle as the girl's eyes flamed up with excitement.

"Yes, please," said Alivia. "I'd love to know how to read."

Elphaba reached out for the thin book in Alivia's hands. "May I?"

The girl nodded and let Elphaba take it from her grasp.

The green-skinned woman opened it on the first page and smiled at the familiar words.

"See?" she said and pointed at the first word. "This means 'once'. The circle at the beginning is an 'o'. Look, it's in the next word, too."

Elphaba saw the curiosity sparkle in Alivia's eyes. She could remember vividly how her father had taught her the first words to read. It had felt magical to her -as though suddenly her world had become so much bigger.

And Elphaba couldn't help but wonder if her father had felt the same pride that she felt when Alivia read the first sentence for the first time on her own.

"Elphaba?"

The green girl turned around in search of whoever was calling her name. For a moment she saw nothing but the dark blue cushions of the armchair, then a familiar face appeared right above her.

"Oh, here you are. They asked us to get the children outside, want to come?" asked Fiyero and stroked through his blonde hair.

Elphaba gave Alivia a questioning look, and when the girl slowly nodded, she turned to Fiyero and said, "Sure."

She stood up and hesitantly offered the girl beside her, her hand. A smile formed on her lips as Alivia took it and she closed the fairy-tale book and gave it to her before she sent her ahead.

"So, you've been reading?" Fiyero asked when the little girl had run off, his hands stuffed in the pockets of his trousers.

Elphaba glanced at him suspiciously. "Yes, I have, what else did you think I was doing back here?"

The young man tilted his head and shrugged. "Nothing. Just... well, nothing, I guess."

Elphaba quickly put her book into her bag and already set off to the wardrobe with her coat when Fiyero suddenly handed it to her.

Her eyebrows rose high. "Thank you."

As they strode across the room and followed the children outside into the backyard, her brows slowly knit together.

"Why are you so nice to me?" she asked and closed the buttons of her coat.

Fiyero blinked. "Me? Nice?"

But he grinned and Elphaba nudged him in the side. He cleared his throat.

"Well, you know," he said. "You said we couldn't be friends and I'm going to prove you wrong -we could be friends, I tell you."

Elphaba snorted. "No, we couldn't."

Fiyero raised an eyebrow. "Really? I don't see why not."

The green girl shook her head.

"Well, firstly, there are your friends -they're absolutely mental. Secondly, I'm a horrible friend and thirdly, I don't want to be friends with you. Which means -long story short- we won't be friends. Ever."

Fiyero was just about to say something when suddenly a young boy stood beside him, pulling at his sleeve.

"Fiyero, come play with us. There's a ball; we could play football."

Elphaba saw Fiyero's eyes flaming up with boyish excitement as he said, "We could? Well, let's go."

And as he hurried forward, he turned around once more and flashed her a broad smile. "We will be. I'm persistent."

But Elphaba only rolled her eyes. She didn't need a Winkie prince that thought much too highly of himself as a friend; she did very well on her own. She tucked a strand of black hair behind her ear and-

"We have a question."

Elphaba raised an eyebrow at the three children in front of her and sighed almost inaudibly, "Go ahead."

They exchanged a hesitant look before one of them raised his voice, "Have you always been green?"

Elphaba wrapped her arms around herself. "Yes, I have. From the moment I was born."

She fought the urge to scream out loud. Oz, how she hated these questions.

But they were only children, she said to herself, they're curious, they had never seen anything like this.

"And is it contagious?"

Elphaba simply shook her head.

"Are your parents green too?"

"No."

"Is it an illness?"

"Or a curse?"

"Did your mother eat green paint and that is why you are green?"

"No, that's impossible-"

"Are you related to a frog?"

"Do you speak to frogs?"

"No, I'm-"

"But what about the-"

"Hey," a loud voice sounded, and the children whirled around. Fiyero was standing a few metres away, a football tucked in the crook of his arm.

His brows were knit together in a faint frown, and he looked at them with a slight growl as he said, "We need more players for the match."

The children strode away at that, one boy trying to steal the ball from Fiyero's arms. But the prince simply held it a little higher, his eyes never leaving Elphaba. She wrung her hands, awkwardly shifting from one foot to the other.

For a second or two, the slightest hint of—what? Hurt, confusion, pity—crossed his face. Then he mouthed something like 'You're welcome' in her direction.

He beckoned her over with his free hand, and she rolled her eyes and followed him to the football pitch. She sat down on a bench nearby, pulled her knees to her chest and grabbed her ankles, trying to warm herself up.

Later, when Aurelion would ask her about her day, Elphaba would surely want to talk about nothing but this football match. It was nothing like she had ever seen. Not that the players were overly good -they were only children after all- or that they scored so many goals, but it was the way they were playing.

How they threw themselves into the match, cheering when they scored a goal and booing when the other team did. How suddenly everyone was the same age again -student, youngster, toddler; it made no difference at all, how they ran after the ball as though they were running for their lives, and how everyone was rolling over the muddy ground in excitement and joy -boys and girls, equally.

And Elphaba found her cheeks to be flushed dark green and her eyes to be glowing when they all got back inside.

It was an awful lot of work to clean up all the toddlers' wellies, but in the end, it was worth it.

When they all sat down for an early dinner -they had soup and bread- she couldn't help but smile at the children's happy chattering. She met Fiyero's eyes, and he grinned broadly at her, and when Gimes and his friends brought the soup in they'd had to cook, Elphaba was sure she'd never ever in her life felt such triumph.

"Wait up," Fiyero shouted, and Elphaba stopped right at the corner of the street, not sure whether she should roll with her eyes or smile.

"What is it?" she asked as he shuddered to a halt beside her and Fiyero grinned.

"I just think that -as friends-"

Elphaba turned around and began to proceed down the street. "But we aren't."

Fiyero quickened his steps to keep up with her fast pace, and when he was right beside her, he said, "Why are you making this so hard? I'm genuine here; I want to be friends."

The green girl shook her head. "You're never genuine."

Fiyero shuddered to a halt, and when Elphaba didn't stop, he took her arm and held her back. And even though she tried to free herself from his hands with all her strength, she couldn't escape his firm grip.

"Now, that's not fair," said Fiyero fiercely and stroked through his hair in a jerky movement. "I've always been genuine with you."

The green-skinned woman snorted. "Oh, really? No, Fiyero, you are never genuine with anyone, you're always pretending."

Fiyero's brows knit together in a deep frown. "Pretending? What exactly is it that I'm pretending? And why?"

Elphaba tucked a strand of hair behind her ear with her free hand. "The 'why' I can't answer. But no matter how hard you try to pretend to be shallow and self-absorbed, I know you aren't. It's all such nonsense."

He let go off her elbow. "I'm sorry? Nonsense? Nothing about that is nonsense -and certainly not pretension."

Elphaba shook her head. "Yes, it is. Or you wouldn't be so unhappy."

He looked at her, stunned, for a second.

She clutched the handle of her bag harder and turned around, "Goodbye, Fiyero."

And before he could even try to shout after her, she was out of his sight, hurrying up the hill, through the gate and in the direction of the library.

Aurelion had told her this morning it had opened again and there was some important research Elphaba wanted to do. And furthermore, a letter to her parents was long overdue.

When Elphaba entered the library, she was surprised to find it was unusually crowded. It seemed the teachers were picking up their normal working habits again and let the students write all these long essays they hated so much.

"Searching for something in particular, Miss?"

Elphaba turned around and a smile formed on her lips. "Aurelion."

He was pushing a cart packed with books and cups of tea, and the green girl raised an eyebrow.

"Tea? Liquid in a room full of books? Whose brilliant idea was that?" she asked and made her way to an empty table.

She heard the wheels of the cart screech as Aurelion hurried after her.

"The librarian's," said he. "He says the steam would provide some humidity."

Elphaba sat down in the chair with a humph.

"The librarian is a fool," she said with a roll of her eyes and added, murmuring, "Humidity to go mouldy or what?"

Aurelion shrugged. He sat down on a chair beside her and watched how she took out her notes and pens.

"What do you need?" he asked, and Elphaba tilted her head to one side.

The end of her pen tapped against her lower lip for a few beats before she said, "I need something on the 'Trial of Velancee'. Something of high quality, not those pruned school books. You wouldn't happen to know where I find something like that?"

Aurelion looked at her with a frown. "Trial of what?"

Elphaba shook her head in disbelief. "You're hopeless. Truly, you are."

The boy waved with his hand dismissively. "Luckily I didn't enrol for Law, so I don't have to know any of this."

Elphaba snorted.

"This is general knowledge," she said with a raised eyebrow. "It's the most famous trial in Ozian history."

Aurelion tilted his head to one side. "It can't be that famous; I've never heard of it."

He stood up and pushed the cart away from them, arranging it on the side of the corridor.

"But I'll find something. I'm a professional in this job now. I've realigned so many books in the last two days -you wouldn't believe it."

Elphaba laughed. She stood up to follow him through the library, for she was sure that he wouldn't find what she was searching for -he'd just turned into the section of agriculture, after all.

When Elphaba opened the door to her dorm room, she was surprised to find it in darkness. Well, maybe 'surprised' wasn't the best way to say it. Relieved was much more fitting. For Elphaba felt her shoulders sink and her 'Don't talk to me'-face got replaced by a content smile. No light could only mean no Galinda, and that was something Elphaba hadn't had in a far too long time. The green girl shrugged off her coat and removed her boots, crossing the room to the sofa. She collected her book from the coffee table and-

Elphaba sat up straight, listening carefully as she tried to flatten her breath. Had someone just-?

The bathroom door opened, and Elphaba tried to suppress the groan that was close to escaping her lips. But strangely, Galinda didn't even give her a disgusted look. Instead, the blonde girl wiped her puffy, bloodshot eyes and quickly walked over to her bed and let herself fall onto it.

Elphaba raised her brows.

"Um... Galinda?" she said hesitantly.

Galinda's answer was a mere 'humph' and Elphaba closed the book she was holding.

"Galinda, are you crying?"

The blonde turned her head. "No, I'm not."

And she sniffed in a very un-Galinda-like way. Then she sat up, her eyes definitely full of tears.

"Well, maybe I am," she said quietly and again wiped her eyes.

Elphaba drew her knees close to her chest and said after a few seconds of silence, "I-I know it's none of my business, but... why?"

Galinda shrugged, sniffed and raised her hands to cover her face. "Something absolutely horrendible happened. Something... outrageous even."

"What is it?" asked Elphaba, expecting the worst as Galinda began to sob and cry, tears streaming down her pretty face.

"He broke up with me," she sobbed, and Elphaba's eyes widened.

"Fiyero?" she exclaimed in disbelief and turned around on the sofa, so she had a better view on Galinda.

The blonde nodded. "He just -he broke up. With me. No one's ever broken up with me."

She turned around, sobbing into her pillow.

"We were in this cafe this afternoon, and he bought me some cocoa, and we laughed and had fun and... and then he told me he wanted to... break up. By all sudden. And I don't even know why," Galinda sniffed. "It was so embarrassing."

Elphaba rested her chin on the backrest of the sofa and watched how the blonde tried to wipe away her tears.

"And tomorrow I'm going to have to tell Pfanee and Shenshen and Milla -and Pfanee will be horrendible to me."

The green girl raised an eyebrow. "Why should she?"

Galinda slowly took off her heeled shoes and tucked a foot underneath her skirt. "Well, you know, she was jealous of me. She had a crush on Fiyero from the moment he first entered the room, and she tried-" Galinda sucked in a gasp, and her eyes grew wide. "What if he and Pfanee...? Behind my back?"

Elphaba could see the tears welling up in her eyes and quickly grabbed the box of tissues from the coffee table and tossed it over to the blonde.

"Thanks," hiccupped Galinda. "Do you think that he might have been cheating on me?"

Elphaba knit her brows.

"I... well, I don't know him. Not really. I can't measure him. But from what I've heard" she said carefully. "it... well, it would suit his character."

And when she saw Galinda's lower lip begin to tremble, she quickly added, "But I wouldn't believe what others are saying -they just want to gossip as always."

"So, you don't think Fiyero and Pfanee had something going on?" Galinda sniffled, and Elphaba shook her head.

But she couldn't be sure if she didn't. For she'd been telling the truth; she couldn't really measure Fiyero. She did know that he was pretending to be someone else -but she didn't know what exactly was real and what wasn't.

"Tomorrow I'll have to tell them all anyway, I'll know from Pfanee's reaction," said Galinda.

Elphaba raised an eyebrow. "You don't have to tell anybody if you don't want to."

But Galinda shook her head. "Yes, I have to. They will find out anyway and if not through me, they're going to hate me-"

The green girl almost jumped to her feet.

"Then let them hate you, for Oz' sake!" she exclaimed hotly. "That you always have to think about what others think of you... if they are cross with you just because you kept something to yourself that is none of their business, they're not good enough to be friends with. That's a waste of your time."

"What are you doing, giving advice on friendship? You don't even have friends," Galinda snapped, and Elphaba winced slightly.

The green girl crossed her arms in front of her and hissed, "Thank you for reminding me of that."

For a moment, it was completely silent in the room.

"I'm just trying to help."

"And who's asked you to do that, pray tell?" Galinda said. "Because it wasn't me."

Elphaba shook her head in disbelief.

"I'm sorry, Galinda," she said. "that Fiyero broke up with you. I don't even know why I feel that way, for the only things you've been saying to me since I've been forced to room with you are insults. But I do. And I thought maybe this could lift the mood between us..."

Galinda's eyes widened. "So you've staged all this? The breakup and everything? So, you could-"

Elphaba rolled with her eyes. "Galinda, it's not always just about you."

She stood up and made her way across the room to the bathroom.

"I'll go and have a shower now," she stated and pulled the door to a close.

She sighed deeply. Wasn't this a surprising turn of events? And Fiyero... she tried to remember something he'd said or done during the day that could've given his plans away, but she couldn't find anything. With a furrowed brow, Elphaba sat down on the rim of the bathtub. It was a mystery to her just why the young man had broken up with Galinda. She was blonde and beautiful; she was perfect for him with all her puffed-up nonsense-talking and her dramatic entrances and silly giggles.

And yet he had decided not to be with her. And the why would probably always remain a mystery, for the prince would be gone in a month already -if he kept up his awful habits until then.

Fiyero quietly strode through the corridor of the second floor. It was Saturday morning, and the prince had decided not to attend his only Saturday class; Ozian War History really wasn't worth it.

Fiyero grimaced as he heard some loud giggles sounding from a loo nearby. His hangover made his head throb and literally any noise could make it even worse. He and a few friends had met in a pub in the City of Shiz yesterday evening to have a gambling night (which ended with Fiyero losing a lot of money and one of his -very badly written- Law assignments), and a friend of his had taken his jacket with him for he'd forgotten his own one. Nathaniel lived in the Emerald City where it very rarely got cold, and Fiyero had lent him his jacket for he was used to the sharp cold Winters of the Vinkus. And now he'd have to get it back.

Slowly, Fiyero opened the door to room number 192 and slipped through it.

Both beds were empty, but on the left one, there was a note. The prince frowned and picked it up.

Morning,

Hope you slept well and everything. I have Business class this morning, so I've already gone to the cafeteria for breakfast. Didn't want to wake you…

See you this afternoon,

Aurelion

Fiyero raised an eyebrow. Was this note meant for him or what? But no, that wouldn't make any sense at all. How could Aurelion have known that he'd come here?

He turned around, in search of his jacket, and spotted a stack of clothes on a chair—women's clothes. Fiyero whirled around.

How couldn't he have noticed this?

There was someone sleeping on the sofa. Fiyero quickly approached and- He sucked in a sharp breath. What in Oz was Elphaba doing here? Sleeping in a boys' room and on a boys' sofa?

His fingers were itching, urging him to pull the blanket away and wake her up, but then the green-skinned woman suddenly turned, and the veil of black hair slipped from her cheek and revealed soft green skin.

It shone almost emerald-like in the soft light of the rising sun, and her black hair framed a beautiful face. Beautiful in quite a different way than he'd known so far.

Why had he never noticed how absolutely stunning she was?

Those high cheekbones and thin yet full lips that were of a darker green than her skin. Deep brown eyes framed with long dark lashes and-

Fiyero's eyes widened as he watched Elphaba blink against the light.

"Fiyero?", the confusion was clear in her voice, heavy with sleep and Fiyero couldn't help but stare at her for a moment longer.

"What in Oz are you doing here?"

Yes, what in Oz was he doing here, staring at this absolutely beautiful girl in her sleep? Whilst his beautiful blonde girlfriend was probably having her breakfast without him in the cafeteria.

No, not beautiful. Compared to Elphaba, Galinda was pretty. And Elphaba was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen.

Fiyero couldn't help but wonder just why he'd never noticed this before.