Chapter Eleven: Lies and Promises

Fiyero was so excited he could barely contain himself. He realized if he walked around suddenly happier and brighter than he'd been before, it might make people wonder. He was finally understanding things – the reason that woman had left her husband for another man, the reason people didn't want to marry their arranged spouses. Love. Not that he was in love, per se, but he felt more for Elphaba than he had ever felt for anyone outside of his immediate family.

She still wouldn't spend every free moment she had with him. "Fiyero, you have more free time than I do. You get to spend some of it alone. I don't have that luxury, and I want my alone time. The few hours I have on weekdays are mine – for now. Give me space."

So he did. Well, he tried to. The weeks were so boring without her. It had been a month. He'd been able to endure the weeks, but not forever. So once or twice he snuck into her room five minutes after lights out, knowing she hadn't fallen asleep yet. She laughed the first time.

"Sneaking into my room?" Elphaba grinned as he slipped through the door. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you wanted something more than just to talk to me."

"Maybe a little bit more," he admitted, "but not to the extent you're implying."

"Good because you're not getting it. And you'd best be careful if you intend to do that again. I was about to change into my nightclothes, Fiyero. If you happen to sneak in when I'm changing, I will not be very forgiving."

"It's not as if I can knock, Elphaba."

"Since you were so insistent on fixing up this room, I'll lock the door for the two minutes I'm changing. If the door is locked, then you know what it means, okay? And don't think you can just come sneaking in here. I meant it when I said I liked my alone time. Not to mention, I need sleep."

"Just once or twice a week? For just a little while?"

She shook her head, but said, "I know better than to tell you 'no.' You'll do it anyway."

He knew better than to believe she was actually mad at him for sneaking in. She was always pretending to fight him off and give in. He kissed her.

He had asked the first few times he kissed her, but at some point she'd gotten frustrated and told him that if he always felt he had to ask then maybe he just shouldn't do it. So the next time he'd just kissed her, and she'd responded a lot better to that.

This time she let him put one hand on her waist. She wrapped an arm around his neck and let the kiss linger. "You could get us in so much trouble, Fiyero. If your parents caught you in here…"

"You know just as well as I do that they barely even come to this side of the staircase." He sat down on her bed.

She looked at him and he knew she wasn't exactly pleased with his choice of seating, but this time she didn't argue and sat beside him. "You seem a little distracted."

She could read him like a book. He'd figured out all the details of his plan, he just wanted to make sure she wouldn't kill him for trying it. "I have an idea, but I wanted to talk to you about it before I went ahead and tried to make it work."

She cocked her head at him. "What are you talking about?"

"Shiz."

"Fiyero, we talked about this…"

"No, we didn't. Not this part. Let me at least tell you my idea, okay?" He put a hand over hers.

She sighed and nodded. "Go ahead."

"Our previous schoolmarm had been educated at a private girls' school. You haven't had anything but what you learned at the mauntery. My mother's about to have a baby. Wouldn't it be better for my siblings if their schoolmarm was educated at Shiz?" Elphaba opened her mouth, but he squeezed her hand. "And maybe it would be good for me to have a tutor at Shiz, someone to make sure I do well."

"That's all very good, Fiyero, but who would teach your siblings? They can't just go three years without any learning."

"I wrote to the mauntery. They'd be willing to send out one of the younger maunts, a Mother Aloise, I believe, did you know her?"

"She taught me a lot."

"She wouldn't stay out here permanently, as she believes her duty is in the City. But she'd be willing to come out here for a few years on a mission. She wouldn't be allowed to try and convert us, but during her free time she'd be welcome to roam the villages and other tribes and try to get converts."

"Fiyero," Elphaba spoke slowly. He could see hope in her eyes, but it was small. "Your parents wouldn't be suspicious?"

"I would go to my father first. He's a little better about it. And he's the one who encouraged me to, well, you know, and perhaps he'd just think that I want a… bed companion as well as tutor at Shiz." This wasn't exactly the case, but his father was more forgiving of his friendship with Elphaba.

"And where would I live, Fiyero?"

"That would be up to my parents. They spoke of making sure I got a single room apartment. Perhaps they will try for a second room for both of us. Or they will put you up in the dorms."

Elphaba nodded carefully.

"Are you okay with me doing this? I know sometimes you get mad when I try to do something for you using my, what were the words you used? 'Princely power?'"

Elphaba took a deep breath, looking at him. "If you want to try, go ahead. But I only hope it doesn't tip your parents off to, well, us."

"I don't think it will. As far as they know, I've stayed away from you other than that one hour on Saturday when we study in the library." He loved and hated that hour. The rest of the weekend when she wasn't working she could actually talk to him. But when they were in the library, she had to go back to calling him "Prince Fiyero" and speaking politely to him. He hated that part. But he loved spending time with her.

"Then ask, Fiyero. I don't think they'll agree. But if you want to ask, you can."

"Good. I don't want to leave you here. You deserve to be at Shiz, Elphaba, no matter how I feel about you."

She flushed.

He kissed her gently on the lips and stood up. "I should let you sleep."

"Yes, you should," she stood up and walked to the door with him. Before he left, she looked up at him and kissed him on the lips so quickly he wasn't sure it had even happened. By the time he even realized it, he was walking back to his bedroom.

Fiyero went straight to his father the next morning and gave a carefully prepared speech. When it was over, he sat down across from his father at his desk and waited expectantly, hoping desperately that he'd agree.

His father looked closely at Fiyero. "I see your point. And your mother will, too, in the state she's in. She's always more concerned about the children when she's pregnant. You've thought this out carefully. May I ask why?"

He had a lie prepared for this. "As I said, Father, I need a tutor. Before Miss Elphaba arrived here, I was concerned I wouldn't pass the Shiz entrance exam. Now I'm confident that I'll pass with flying colors. I want to do well at Shiz, and Miss Elphaba may be the key to that."

His father thought for a moment. "All right. I'll agree. On two conditions."

"What, Father?"

"She will take the entrance exam, too, when the women take the exams. And when you take it, if you do well, then I will believe she is as good a tutor as you claim she is."

"That's one condition," Fiyero said, not at all worried about passing the exam. He knew he'd do fine. And he and Elphaba did actually study. "What's the other?"

"You have to promise me, Fiyero, that you have no feelings for this girl other than admiration for her intelligence."

"I promise." Fiyero had never before made a promise to his father that he knew was a lie. He didn't feel quite right about it, but he knew it was the only way.

"Fine. Then I will talk to your mother about it. Provided you pass the exam and she does as well, she can attend Shiz with you. But if I detect even a hint of impropriety before that, it's out of the question. Understood?"

"Understood."

That night, when he snuck into Elphaba's room to tell her what his father had said (his parents planned to discuss it with her later in the week), the kiss she gave him was not as quick as the one before, not by far.