AN: Hello again!
PerlogAnnwyl: Yes, Nessa is younger than Elphaba. In this story Elphaba is about 2,5 years older.
Thedoctor24601: I laughed way too hard at that! Unfortunately for you, there will be another mention of pie in this chapter... :P
Nia: Avaric knitting... yeah, I don't see that happening anytime soon, haha!
Chapter 4. Awkward conversations
Elphaba was starting to think the others had forgotten about the bruises on her arm, and she already felt relieved; but when class ended and Boq pushed Nessa's chair out of the classroom, Fiyero turned to face the green girl.
"I understand you didn't want Nessa to know," he said, "because she's your younger sister, and all, and you don't want to worry her… but I want you to tell me where those bruises came from."
"Oh, really?" she said a bit snippily, bristling at the way he phrased that. "Well, I want to be the Wizard's Grand Vizier, to have a normal-coloured skin and to be able to fly all over Oz on a magical broomstick – but we can't always get what we want, now can we?" She pushed her books into her bag and slung it over her shoulder, intending to leave.
Fiyero's fingers closed around her wrist. "Elphaba."
She kept quiet.
She noticed how long and slim his fingers were as he brought them up to her shoulder, pushing her cardigan down to reveal the bruises again. Now that he took a good look at them, he could see that they were distinctly finger-shaped.
He sucked in his breath when he realised what he was looking at. "Did Avaric do this?" he demanded. "At the party this weekend? When he was harassing you?"
She pulled the sleeve of her cardigan back up to cover the bruises again. "I kneed him in the groin," she said as if that were an answer. "We're even now."
"Oz, Elphaba." His fingers moved to her other arm, pulling the fabric down in order to confirm what he had already thought he would find there – more bruises. He let go of her cardigan and clenched his fists, setting his jaw. "I'm going to kill him."
Elphaba rolled her eyes. "Fiyero, it's fine." She nudged him until he moved, allowing her to brush past him and towards the door. Fiyero stayed where he was for a moment, eyes flicking back and forth between Elphaba and Avaric, who was still sitting in the back. He felt conflicted; should he go to Avaric and punish him for what he did, or should he listen to Elphaba?
Finally making a decision, he shook his head and ran after Elphaba, following her.
"I can't believe he did that," he said as he caught up with her. His fingers brushed the spot on her right arm briefly. "Does it hurt?"
"I am not a porcelain doll," she told him firmly.
He frowned. "I never said you were."
"Then stop treating me like one," she snapped, stepping away from him in order to create more distance between them.
A hurt look briefly crossed Fiyero's face, but then he shook it off. "What is the matter with you?" he demanded of her instead. "Why are you so intent on pushing people away? Every time someone tries to get close to you, you snap at them." He shook his head. "It's almost like you don't know how to maintain a normal, friendly relationship with someone," he said.
She didn't even look back at him. "Yeah? Well, maybe I don't," she said curtly, veering towards the History building.
"What, you've never had a friend?" Fiyero laughed at his own remark, but Elphaba stopped and glared at him and his laughter died in his throat.
"Wait," he said, blinking. "You have really never had a friend?"
"No-one ever took the effort to befriend a vegetable, Fiyero." She shrugged. "No, I've never had any friends. Galinda was the first. Happy now?" She started walking again, causing her braid to bounce up and down on her back.
"But… but that's horrible!" Fiyero caught up with her again, giving her a wide-eyed look that almost made her laugh. "You've never had any friends at all? How is that even possible?"
She sighed tiredly. "Like I said," she said patiently, "I am green. People tend to be not very accepting towards green people. No-one wanted to be friends with me, so I never had a friend. That's it. And if you dare to even give me a single look that suggests you feel sorry for me," she said fiercely, "I'm going to cut off certain parts of your anatomy in your sleep and we'll see who gets the pitiful looks then."
He gulped. "Point taken."
She smirked at him before entering the building.
He trailed after her, thinking about what she had just said. How could a person grow up without having any friends? He couldn't imagine his life without friends – his childhood friends, with whom he had played tag, climbed trees, and picked fights; the guys with whom he had chased pretty girls and gone out to secretly drink beer; and now Boq, Nessa, Galinda, and Elphaba… he imagined having grown up with just his family, watching other children form friendships, but never being part of one himself. He shuddered at the mere thought.
"Well," he said as he slipped into the seat next to Elphaba's in History class. "You have friends now, right?"
"Right," she agreed as she unpacked her bag and dug out a pencil. "Can we drop this subject now, please?"
He grinned at her cockily. "Why?" He dropped his arm around the back of her chair and leant in closer to whisper in her ear playfully, "Am I making you uncomfortable?"
"No," she said, shoving him. "But your chattering is distracting me from the lecture."
He laughed. "The lecture that hasn't even started yet?" he teased her.
She stuck out her tongue, and he laughed again. He loved the fact that she was loosening up a little bit more around him. The more he saw of Elphaba, the more he liked her. Maybe her opening up to him meant that she was finally starting to see him as a friend as well.
Elphaba was picking at the food on her plate, murdering her pasta with her fork as her eyes were glued to the display in front of her.
Galinda, who was sitting across from her, stopped talking when she realised the green girl wasn't paying attention. "Elphie?" She waved a hand up and down in front of Elphaba's face. "Hello-o, anyone home?" She pouted. "Are you not interested in my birthday?"
"Of course I am, Glin," Elphaba said with a sigh, looking at her friend for a moment before looking back at the couple across the room. "I'm sorry. What were you saying?"
"Well," the blonde started again, enthusiasm taking over, "since I know you and Nessarose aren't really into parties, I was thinking I could host a party at the OzDust, maybe, or some other fancy place, for all the other Shiz students; and then we could do dinner with the five of us – you know, you, me, Nessa, Boq, and Fifi, my real friends – just before the weekend, to keep it nice and intimate, you know? You do remember Momsie and Popsicle are going to take me to the Emerald City for the weekend of my actual birthday, don't you? Ooh, I'm so excited – I'm going to see the Emerald City!" She squealed. "Oh, I wish you could come with me, Elphie! Momsie and Popsicle want some alone time with me, though – family quality time, they say. They're so sweet like that. But I'm going to tell you all about it when I get back, and then I'll be a year older, Elphie! I'm going to be twenty! Twenty! That's two decades – one-fifth of a century!" She gasped. "Oh my Oz," she suddenly wailed, "I'm getting old!"
"How long has this been going on?" Elphaba asked, not taking her eyes off Boq and Nessarose as the blonde ranted.
Galinda blinked, then realised Elphaba wasn't talking about her birthday at all and heaved a sigh, conceding. "Since the OzDust," she said patiently. "Look, Elphie, they're happy – Boq likes Nessa, Nessa likes Boq, they're a couple now. What's wrong with that?"
Elphaba grumbled something under her breath. "He's feeding her pie."
Galinda rolled her eyes. "Oh, no," she said sarcastically, "the nerve of that Munchkin! Call Madame Morrible, the Gale Force, the Wizard himself! Boq is feeding Nessa some pieces of pie! The scandal! How dare he?"
Elphaba glared at her roommate. "Sarcasm really doesn't suit you, you know."
Galinda stuck out her tongue. "Maybe I've just been spending too much time with you. Seriously, though, Elphie – just let it go. They're happy together. Aren't they happy together?"
"She's my little sister," Elphaba insisted. "I'm supposed to look out for her."
"Look, Elphie," Galinda said gently. "I know Nessa is your younger sister, and you've been taking care of her your entire life long… but she's eighteen years old now. She's practically an adult. You have to let her go sometime, Elphie, and now seems like a good time. You can't keep on taking care of her forever."
Elphaba looked at the blonde. "Yes, I can," she said simply. "And I will."
Galinda frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Elphaba sighed. "Glin… the only reason Father agreed to let me come to Shiz is so that I could take care of Nessa," she explained. "Nessa is his – and my – first priority. Always. She will be in that chair for the rest of her life. She will need someone to take care of her until the day she dies."
Galinda's eyes had widened in horror and she had frozen with her fork halfway to her mouth. "Are you saying your father wants you to be her caretaker for the rest of her life?!" she nearly screeched.
Elphaba simply shrugged.
"But… but Elphie!" Galinda spluttered, dropping her fork and grabbing Elphaba's arm over the table, forcing her friend to look at her. "That is horrible!"
"It's not that bad," Elphaba protested weakly, pulling back her arm. "I love Nessa. She's my sister, Glin. She's been my responsibility for eighteen years already and she will most likely continue to be so for the next –"
"Forty years?" Galinda interrupted her sharply. "Fifty? Even longer? That's no life, Elphaba!"
"What else should I do?" Elphaba bit back at the blonde. "Why do you think I wanted to come to Shiz so badly, Galinda? It's my only chance of a different life. If I can achieve something, if I could maybe work for the Wizard, like Morrible said I could someday… then I could be free. But that's my only way out. No man would ever marry me and Father would never give me the opportunity to travel, or keep studying, or work to build a life for myself. He needs me to take care of Nessa. So either I become the Wizard's Grand Vizier and finally make him proud, make him see that I can achieve good things, too… or I will do what he has in mind for me and care for Nessa. That's it. I don't have any more options, Glin."
Galinda was looking pale and had fallen completely silent – a very rare occurrence for her.
"Elphie…" she said in a soft and quivering voice.
"Don't," Elphaba snapped. "Don't look at me like that."
Galinda looked at her with wide eyes. "But –"
"I don't want your pity, Galinda. You're my best friend. I don't want pity from anyone, but especially not from you." Elphaba shook her head. "I've known this all my life," she said. "To me, it's nothing new. I'm used to the idea, and I'm fine with it, okay?"
They ate the rest of their meal in a slightly uncomfortable silence, after which Elphaba rose to her feet, muttering something about some work she still needed to do in the library. Before she left the café, though, she stopped and glanced over at Nessa and Boq once more. They were having tea now, talking quietly, their fingers entwined. They were both smiling and Nessa's eyes were shining.
When Boq excused himself a few minutes later to go and use the bathroom, he found himself cornered in the small hallway by Elphaba, whose dark eyes were glittering dangerously.
"Listen to me, Boq," she said in a low voice. "I can see that Nessa is happy with you, and I am happy for her; but I don't trust any of this. Up until the OzDust party, you've been pining over Galinda, and now you're suddenly with my sister?"
Boq gulped.
"I'm warning you now," said Elphaba softly. "If you truly do love her, then I apologise for this and I promise I will stay out of your way from now on. If you don't, however, then I suggest you come clean both to her and to me right this instant and I will spare you… a little." She bored her eyes into his. "But if you continue to play games with her," she hissed, "and thus with me, too, you'll regret it. Trust me. You break my sister's heart, and I will break your nose, your ribs, your arms, your legs… and maybe some other bones in your body as well, for good measure. Got it?"
Boq swallowed and nodded.
"Got it," he said, his voice slightly higher than usual. "Elphie – I mean, um, Elphaba… I know you're her sister and you want to protect her, and… well… you're right about Galinda." He shook his head, straightening up a little. "But I'm over that now," he said. "Sort of, anyway. I mean… I accepted I can never have her, and I moved on." He glanced at the door behind which Nessa resided for a moment and the look in his eyes softened. "I… it started out as a way to get Galinda's attention," he admitted, looking at Elphaba a little fearfully at that confession, but she didn't pull a muscle – she had suspected as much.
The Munchkin shook his head. "But it's not anymore," he declared, his voice stronger now. "I fell in love with Nessarose; and even though I don't know where this is going and I can't promise you I will stay with her forever, I do promise that I will treat her with the utmost respect and I will care for her to the best of my abilities," he said formally, meeting Elphaba's gaze.
She studied his face and his eyes for a few moments, thoughtful. Then she nodded.
"I believe you," she said. "I'm sorry about all this – forget it ever happened. I just wanted to make sure she'll be okay."
Boq nodded and flashed her a small smile. "I understand." He frowned. "Though I didn't quite know you could be so scary. Oz, Elphaba – I always thought all girls were just cute and sweet, but you can be as intimidating as a guy."
She raised one eyebrow. "Is that supposed to be a compliment?"
He grinned sheepishly. "Right. Um… I'm just gonna go to the bathroom, now, if you don't mind," he said quickly, and she shot him an amused grin before stepping aside, allowing him to slip into the hallway behind her.
Love it? Hate it? Favourite lines? Let me know :).