Chapter 4

The next day, Nanny accompanied the Thropp family on the carriage ride to school, much to Frex's reluctance. He didn't exactly distrust Nanny; he knew she wouldn't let anything happen to Nessa. But he was a little uncomfortable with Nanny because he didn't think she was as good a caretaker as Elphaba, and she was a reminder of Melena. However, since Nessa seemed happy with the arrangement, he decided to reserve judgment.

Like the day before, Shell was dropped off before his sisters, and Elphaba had a different parting message for him. "Don't stalk that poor Tilla girl," she told him as he prepared to leave the carriage. "Not unless you want to get a restraining order. That'd be a fun news story!"

Shell rolled his eyes. "Shut it, Fabala. That's not gonna happen. Trust me, she'll be my girlfriend in no time."

Elphaba scoffed. "Ha! I highly doubt that." Shell glared at her as he departed the carriage. As he made his way toward the school building, he made up his mind that his first girlfriend would be Tilla, and his relationship with her would be perfect, no matter how many snide remarks his sister made about it.

Soon after that, the rest of the family arrived at Restwater Upper School. Elphaba went straight to her first hour class, but Frex took Nessa and Nanny to Mr. Cestalla's office. Nanny and Nessa both secretly felt sorry for the principal when they saw the terrified look on his face at Frex barging in on him. Frex, however, had no sympathy for him. "The girl you hired to take care of my daughter was atrocious," he stated bluntly. "So, I have taken it upon myself to dismiss her and replace her with our family nanny, Cattery Sponge. She starts today."

"I didn't even know that was your name," Nessa muttered to Nanny.

"Not to you it isn't, duckie," Nanny said, quickly ending that matter.

But, to everyone's surprise, especially Frex's, Mr. Cestalla exclaimed happily, "Oh, that sounds wonderful! I knew there was something off about that Gawnette! Well, Ms. Sponge, welcome to the Restwater Upper School family! We're so excited to have you!"

"Do you not understand how these things go?" Frex asked. "You're supposed to push back; that way we owe you something. Watch, for next time." He cleared his throat. "'You're going to hire our nanny.' 'As an aide? Preposterous!' 'It's my decision; it's my daughter.' 'It's my school!' 'Well, it won't be when my lawyers are done with you.' 'So you're going to sue me now? Alright, fine! I approve, but only on a trial basis. And do not mistake my kindness for weakness, because you are not the only one with lawyers, you son of a bitch!' See? Something like that."

Mr. Cestalla hastily scribbled down what he could. "'Trial basis …' This is so informative! Thank you, Your Governorship!"

Meanwhile, over at the intermediate school, Shell was overjoyed to run into Tilla on the way to homeroom. "Tilla!" he greeted her. "Hi! Can't wait for biology club later today!"

"Oh, me neither!" she agreed. "It's Shell, right?"

She remembers my name! "Yeah! Shell! Well, my full name is Sheltergod, but literally no one calls me that. My father's kind of religious. He's the governor, Frexspar Thropp. But I'm not going to be governor when he dies; my sister Nessa is, 'cause she's older than me, but she's not the oldest in our family. That's my other sister Elphaba, and she's not going to be governor because our father kind of hates her because she's green-…"

"Wait," Tilla interrupted. "Your sister is green?"

Ugh, I babbled. Why do I always babble in these types of situations? "Yeah, no one knows why. She was just born like that. That's what got me into biology in fact, trying to figure out why Fabala was green."

Shell was pleased to see that Tilla looked at least a little intrigued. "Did you?"

"I haven't yet. For a while, I thought maybe she had chlorophyll in her skin, but when I asked her if she photosynthesized, which was a big word for me at the time (I was eight), all I got was a slap in the face and, 'Shell, how could you be so incredibly stupid?!'" Shell was overjoyed when Tilla laughed at that. Everything was going well so far …

Three hours later, Nessa was done with her morning classes and was headed to lunch, with Nanny in tow. "Well, that wasn't half bad," Nanny mused. "Just sitting with you in class like that. You know, Nanny never made it to upper school, so this is as much my education as it is yours. Will we see Fabala at lunch?"

"No, we won't," Nessa answered. "Fabala's a third year, so she has lunch in two hours."

"Sweet Lurline! That means she doesn't eat until one! How does she survive?" Nessa giggled, and Nanny continued, "Now, when I was in primary school, we all had lunch at the same time: high noon."

"I think that would cause a riot at this school."

After school, Frex was a little alarmed when only Elphaba and Shell arrived back at Colwin Grounds. His inquiry to Elphaba about the whereabouts of her sister was only met with a shrug, and he was about to completely panic when the servant who had driven Elphaba and Shell home informed him that Nessa had decided to stay after school to watch the handball team practice. He breathed a sigh of relief. Just so long as she's home for physical therapy. His blood pressure spiked once again, however, when later he looked out the window to see Elphaba raking some old leaves from the previous autumn in the front courtyard. He rushed outside. "Elphaba!" he called, immediately making her stop raking. "Mayor Bfee just moved across the street, and we can't let him see us cleaning up. Or our staff cleaning up. It sets a precedent."

"What precedent?" Elphaba asked.

"That we clean up. Look, you're of an age, I'm gonna say sixteen, where you're old enough to know how this family works. You know, because of your sister, we have extra … challenges, so sometimes the little things fall through the cracks. Lawns don't get cut, rooms don't get repainted, Shell still has clothes he was wearing two years ago, your mother's garden hasn't been touched at all probably since she died … We're idiots, Fabala." Just then, Frex groaned as he saw Mayor Bfee walking across the road and onto their courtyard. "Wonderful. Speak of Kumbrecia."

"Governor Frexspar!" Mayor Bfee exclaimed happily. "Hello neighbor! Oz, it is so splendified that we live so close to one another! Working together to make Restwater a better place, am I right?"

"Certainly," Frex said stiffly. "That's the main reason politicians like us exist in the first place. Um, may I present my eldest daughter? This is Elphaba."

Bfee shook Elphaba's hand after only a moment's hesitation. "Enchanted, Miss Elphaba. I have a son about your age, you know. But you probably won't see him often. We pulled him out of school because of a bullying problem, and anyway Boq's a very shy kid. Likes to keep to himself. Anyway, my wife made one of her famous corn pies for you all. I tried to tell her that technically you're supposed to make something for us, but she insisted. So here you are." Bfee handed the corn pie to Elphaba, who immediately ate a whole slice, and then started working on another one. "Wow, she's really eating it fast," Bfee commented to Frex. "You know, it's supposed to be savored."

Nessa and Nanny had still not arrived home when Nessa's physical therapist showed up.