Rifiuto: Non Miriena

A/N: Written: 2013. Found: 2017. - Licia

"So how was your first official day at Shiz, Raven?"

The girl shrugged as the quartet all took seats at a small table by a nearby window in the cafeteria. "It's been... interesting."

"I think Madame Morrible scared her in Sorcery One today." Elphaba replied, as she settled in the seat across from her sister before taking a bite of her salad.

"She terrifies me, and I've only had one class with the woman!" The teenager replied. "Only our mother has been able to do that-" She stopped, at the look on Elphaba's face. "Sorry."

But the green girl waved it away. "No worries."

The four students settled into silence, each becoming absorbed in their meals before one of them finally broke the silence. Or rather, until someone else broke the silence.

"Hey Elphie."

The green-skinned witch looked up, to find an old childhood friend of hers standing at the end of the table, and she smiled softly. "Hey Boq. Don't you have Chemistry now?" The other student wrinkled his nose, a glimmer passing through his eyes.

"Normally yes, but since Professor Ledeva accidentally blew up the chemistry lab during one of his early classes today..." He shrugged. Elphaba snorted, rolling her eyes.

"Professor Ledeva? I knew that man couldn't compound his way out of a paper bag."

"Well he's currently facing termination for his little chemical compound mix up, and personally, I hope it happens. The man's completely incompetent."

The other three sat watching the exchange with mild interest in two, and confusion in the third. After a moment, Raven turned to Glinda. "Who-"

"Oh, right." Elphaba sighed, suddenly remembering who she was sitting across from. "Boq, this is my cousin, Raven Evella. Raven, this is Boq Tarqi, a childhood friend of mine." The young man nodded at her, and Raven gave a nervous wave back. "Raven started at Shiz a year early, at my aunt's insistence. She's staying with Glinda and I. Boq's a wiz at chemistry; he's majoring in it." The Munchkin blushed.

"That's great." Raven whispered, unused to this new attention. She preferred being back in her dorm with the girls and Fiyero, away from curious eyes.

"How are you liking Shiz, Raven?"

The teenager glanced at her companions. "It's... certainly different than what I'm used to." She laughed nervously, and Elphaba nudged her gently under the table. The two locked eyes, before the green girl turned back to her old friend.

"Let us know how everything goes with the new chemistry professor."

"I will when we finally have one." He replied, nodding to each in turn before continuing on. Once he was gone, Raven turned back to Elphaba.

"How could you throw me under the carriage like that? Are you insane?"

One slender black eyebrow rose. "You need to get used to talking to people here, Rae." Elphaba replied, the shortening of the girl's name drifting softly from her lips like honey. "How are you going to get along when Glinda, Yero or I aren't with you if you don't talk to people? Better to start and get over the awkwardness now than later. Trust me, I know." She returned to her salad, before looking up at the girl. "Besides, of all the people here, Boq was simple. He's simply here for an education, same as all the rest of us. He's more interested in chemistry and science than the new girl at university. And he's a good listener. If you can't talk to one of us, you can always talk to Boq. He keeps secrets as well as the rest of us."

"Oh."

Eventually, they finished lunch and Elphaba and Glinda headed off for the dorm, the two classes they shared on that day in the afternoon having been canceled. After kissing Elphaba goodbye, Fiyero led Raven back across campus for the only class they shared without the girls- Myth and Magic in Early Ozian Literature. It was a class both Glinda and Elphaba had taken the semester before.

As they slipped into seats by the window, Raven spoke up, finally voicing what had been on her mind since early that morning when she'd hurried to catch up with the trio on the way to History. "How do you get used to it all?"

"Used to what?" He asked, pulling out the notebook he'd been taking notes in before break and sliding it towards her. Raven quickly thumbed through it; Fiyero's notes were more meticulous than Elphaba's, and that was saying something. She quickly shut the notebook, shaking her head to clear away the swimming black ink before her eyes.

"All of it. University. I mean... I was forced to do three years at EAH, and I could hardly stand it. My father had me tutored at home until I turned fifteen; he then enrolled me in EAH, but... but that moron Grimm placed me in the sophomore class instead of the senior class where I belonged, so I was forced to relearn everything all over again. It was torture."

Fiyero chuckled softly. "You learn real quick that University is a lot closer to real life than high school. You get to make your own decisions here; the decisions you make means you bear the consequences. There's no such thing as Royals and Rebels and Legacy Days here. Here, we deal with real life. Not some cheesy fairy tale. Yeah, romances happen and bad things occur, but it's the people you choose to have in your life that help you get through the stress and the classes and the overwhelming reality that once you graduate, your life really starts."

"Does it get easier?"

He sighed, reaching up to fiddle with the ring that hung on a string around his neck. The stone glistened in the sunlight, and Raven's eyes widened. "Some things. And some things get harder. And then others..." He glanced at the ring. "Well, it's hard to determine what other things will turn out as." The professor then entered the classroom, and Fiyero quickly tucked the ring back into his shirt. Just as Raven opened her mouth to ask-

"All right, everyone. You've got a new assignment, so partner up. Your final project is to look at how myth and magic plays in the world of 'Happily-Ever-After'."