CHAPTER 8:
The rest of her weekend passed uneventfully. She had woken up and gone to see her sister.
Nessarose greeted her but refused to talk about Sanevan, adamant that he was dead and that Elphaba had gone insane. She spent a few minutes with her sister until she had enough of Nessarose criticizing her and barged out of the room. The rest of the morning was spent venting her anger out in the forest letting herself contemplate everything that was happening. There were horrible things occurring in the background, people's head were being played with, but she grew furious that through it all she only thought of her own little petty infatuation;having had to fight the strong desire to go visit Fiyero in the nearby hospital—She barely knew him—was her argument against it. Instead she tried to think of ways to get more information about the troubling matters occurring in Oz. She didn't know how long she spent outside but she knew it was no longer morning when she returned to her room. Galinda had come in, greeting her before leaving again telling her she was going to town to go shopping. She had invited her but she hadn't wanted to go, not really wanting to see Sanevan or anyone else for that matter. Eventually she had fallen asleep from everything going on in her head and she had slept okay despite it all. Something that was somewhat shocking to her since she was sure she would stay up all night with everything going on in her mind.
"Good morning Elphie." She heard a soft whisper coming from across the room the following morning.
"Morning Galinda." She replied sleepily, standing up quickly to get ready. She almost ran into the bathroom before Galinda could beat her there. If Galinda went first she would run late to her classes. Once she was out and ready, she waited for Galinda who was still in the bathroom.
After another half hour the blonde came out looking radiant and ready for the new day.
"Elphie, you are still here!" Galinda said mildly surprised and Elphaba smiled, slightly irritated of having to wait.
"Yeah, I wanted to talk to you."
"About?" Galinda said, picking her purse up and checking herself over again in her mirror.
"Is there anyone else who you've noticed changed? Like you said happened to Avaric?" She asked slinging her bag around her shoulder.
"Hmmm…" Galinda popped her lips. "Oh yes! A few people actually, I never talk to any of them but I did notice they weren't the same as before…" Galinda looked at her through her reflection of her mirror. "It's strange really how Shiz changes a person."
More than you know, Elphaba thought.
"Right. Lets get to class." She said heading to the door. The two of them walked out of their dorm, beside her Galinda's heels echoed through the halls.
"Do you think we share any classes? Sanevan and I?"
Her good mood ended right there. "You're still hung over that jerk?"
Galinda opened her mouth."He isn't a jerk!"
"You don't know the guy and his first impression left Fiyero in the hospital. Speaking of, I still can't believe you didn't wait until he was out to break up with him."
"Like you told me I shouldn't string him along when I want Sanevan."
"And I cant believe you would want someone who was able to almost kill another." She muttered.
"Can we have a morning without arguments?" Galinda said, flushing as she tried keeping up with her.
"It's not an argument. I'm simply asking what you see in a guy who beat the living daylights out of Fiyero? The same guy who shares blood with Avaric?" He didn't share any blood with him, but Galinda didn't know that.
"He isn't like him at all!"
"You know this from two minutes of interaction?"
Galinda nodded and Elphaba saw Avaric a few yards away talking to a few guys, he saw her and he looked away quickly.
"Avaric Tenmeadows is a very vain, slimy, selfish, vile, discriminatory person; He is very ambitious and a manipulative liar with little remorse. He disgusts me." Galinda fumed and said boy looked over at them with a somber look in his face before he grinned and went back to talking to his friends.
"He is also standing right there." Elphaba pointed and Galinda shrugged entering the classroom.
"And? He needs to hear it, he goes too far sometimes…Oh theres Sanevan, Oh Sanny!" She called out loudly waving at him, Elphaba clenched her jaw at Galinda's nickname for him as she hurried to take her seat.
"Good morning Galinda." She heard him say politely.
"Good morning, sit with us?" Elphaba's eyes narrowed as Galinda took a seat next to her motioning him to follow.
"I-Yes." He replied glancing at her quickly as he took his seat.
"Elphie, this is Sanevan, Sanevan this is Elphie." Galinda said and Elphaba rolled her eyes to acknowledge him.
"Elphie?" He smiled slightly before he stopped at her glare.
"Elphaba." She corrected firmly.
He pressed his lips tightly together. "Elphaba." He nodded.
"Sanevan what are you up to for lunch?" Sanevan looked at her quickly before smiling at the blonde.
"I was going to eat lunch."
Galinda giggled, swatting at his arm playfully. "Oh you're so funny, with me of course? With me and Elphie I mean, as friends?" Elphaba raised an eyebrow.
He smiled at Galinda."I guess."
She could feel the tension between the two of them, something that last occurred while they had to be in the same room when they were younger. Galinda was oblivious to it all, happily sending small glances at him. Elphaba absolutely hated it.
A chair was being scraped on the floor and when she looked over she found Avaric grinning, plopping himself in the chair right next to her.
To her left Galinda made a sound of disgust.
"Elphababe, morning sweetpeas." Her eyebrows skyrocketed up. This was not what they said they'd do.
"What?!" Came Galinda's high pitched squeal beside her.
Elphaba widened her eyes at him and he smirked nodding his head once.
"…Morning." She replied to him and Avaric winked.
"So I was thinking—"
"You were?" Galinda cut in. Avaric eyes flitted over to the blonde before coming back to her.
"You and I, that little cafe off campus, at 6? Yes or yes?" He asked her confidently.
Elphaba felt eyes on her not just from Galinda and Sanevan but from the rest of the student who seemed to have decided to walk in at that time.
She felt like stabbing him with her pencil right at that second. If she said no, the students would talk about it and word would get out to Morrible who definitely thought they were together, unless she thought they were having some sort of secret affair.
But if she said yes, they wouldn't have to hide when they had something to say, or when they found something important that needed to be shared.
"Yeah I guess." She said to the surprise of everyone, next to her Galinda gasped and she saw Sanevan stiffen with anger.
He deserves it, she thought.
"Elphie?" Galinda whispered with worry and Elphaba snapped her head towards her.
"What?"
"What are you doing?" She asked honestly.
"I'm going out with—" She stopped when Avaric scooted his chair closer to hers and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. All around she saw the students shocked and confused at Avaric's actions.
Yet no one beat the reaction Galinda had on her face.
"Avaric, " She finished. "Is that bad?"
"Yes. It's Avaric?" Galinda said as though that was enough to make her change her mind.
"Well, Galindy, Elphaba doesn't seem to agree with you if she has decided to go with me." Avaric smirked at Galinda who stuck her tongue out at him.
"Good morning class!" The professor came in giving no time to talk. She could feel Sanevan's eyes on her and everyone else's as well from Avaric's position beside her. She was tense the entire time so when the lecture ended she stood quickly, hearing Galinda's heels directly behind her.
"Elphaba? What are you doing?" She asked, Avaric waited for her a few feet away kicking at nothing with his foot. Sanevan stood near Galinda looking at everything but her.
"I'm going to my next class." She responded.
"I mean what are you doing with Avaric? I'm trying to think of something, anything that might have made you say yes to that—I mean obviously this is a horribly thought out joke or something right? Is he blackmailing you?"
"Or maybe she saw something in me blondie? Ever think of that? Maybe—" Galinda held a hand up, wrinkling her nose.
"I'm not talking to you Avaric." She said coldly and a corner of his lips curled up. "Well you are speaking to my girlfriend so—"
"What!" Sanevan said his eyes boring into hers.
"What?" Galinda shrieked her mouth forming a perfect o."Elphie tell me that isn't true?!"
Elphaba nodded and as much as she hated it she let Avaric wrap her arms around her waist trying very hard not to push his hands away.
"Yes, it's true, Avaric and I are together."
"And we've been together for a while now." Avaric added with a smile that she noticed he had directed towards Sanevan.
"For a while huh?" San asked somberly and Elphaba scowled. He had no right to disapprove anything she did.
"And you care why? We only just met?"
He jerked his shoulders, acting indifferent. "I don't. I'm just more interested to know how my cousin managed to stay with a girl longer than one night."
"And you'll keep wondering because I'm not telling you how I did end up with her cousin…" Avaric taunted moving towards Sanevan. Elphaba pushed them away from each other, begrudgingly grabbing Avaric's hand to lead him away.
"Let's go Avaric." She ordered pulling him into a walk as he still glared at him.
"I'll see you later Galinda!" She called out over her shoulder.
"Seeing as you went along with it you must have realized that pretending we were together was a better option than sneaking around... "
"Yes.. "
"Also, based on Sanevan's reaction you two definitely have some history of more than just friends."
She didn't respond making Avaric smile smugly. "See I knew you couldn't just kiss that passionately without learning it from somewhere."
"Avaric— shut up."
"No," He smiled gleefully, showing his pearly white teeth. "Now, I am going to need you to come to my room later tonight."
"I hope you aren't believing the fake boyfriend story." She said pointedly, rolling her eyes at a couple of students staring at the two of them walking side by side.
Avaric laughed at that. "I'm not but if you are serious in trying to help there is no point in leaving you out of it…plus it won't look bizarre anymore if my girlfriend were to go into my room. I have a reputation here."
She wrinkled her nose in disgust."Does that mean I'm meeting your friend?"
"Yes, it does. I think you are our best bet in all of this, and I also think we have to get Sanevan with us as well. Maybe he remember where it was done."
"No." She said quickly and Avaric merely looked at her amusingly.
"It's not something we can decide," He chuckled. "Just because you two have some history doesn't mean he can be left out of this. This is something serious and we need all the help we can get…if we are able to expose this entire thing before they are able to go through with it we can overthrow our government and start anew."
"If we need all the help we can get, why do you continue to leave Galinda out of this?" She countered and Elphaba did not fail to see the change of demeanor at mentioning Galinda.
"I told you I'm not going to have her anywhere in this mess." He explained, distracting himself with brushing his hair back.
"So you are willing to put everyone else in danger, including myself," She frowned, "But you wont let her know anything? You could have told her and had her pretend like Sanevan is doing."
"No, she is not going to be a part of this." He said determinedly and she was enjoying the way she could get underneath his I-don't-care demeanor by mentioning Galinda.
"It's a peculiar thing watching you go from a little smug brat to a young boy in love. Since the moment I first met you that was the last thing that would have crossed my mind."
"She used to be my friend. I see nothing wrong with wanting her to be safe. Nobody needs to know unless they are beneficial to the cause."
"And Galinda isn't beneficial?" She pondered.
"The way I see it, the same can be said about your sister. I saw the way your father treated you when you were first here. If you were to ask him for help I have no doubt he would spurn you and brand you a loon. Whereas if Nessarose were to ask him, he would without a doubt agree to help."
"You assume that I haven't tried telling my sister. If having her know helps her stay safe then I see no problem with telling her everything. She is my sister and I care about her. You clearly care about Galinda more than just a sister but you don't want to see her get hurt if things don't go like we want. If she knows or even if she doesn't will not prevent her from getting harmed if they win."
"If Galinda doesn't know she'll be far safer if what they're planning comes true."
"Your need to protect her is admirable and at the same time I want to barf at the lovesick way you talk about her."
"I must be slipping on my act." He joked humorlessly and Elphaba smiled.
"Your bad boy on campus act?"
"Yes, maybe I'll just let that prince take over. He wasn't even here a day and he managed to snag Galinda."
"He isn't a bad guy, and he didn't snag her." She argued and Avaric agreed.
"True. Galinda snagged him."
"And you don't understand how she went for his act but not yours?"
"He isn't me and that's enough for Galinda." He mused and Elphaba nodded.
"No, he isn't you. He knows how to charm his way with a girl without using the vulgar language you do to do the same."
Avaric was about to retort but a voice called out to her.
"Miss Elphaba!" They both froze but instantly forced a smile on their faces.
"Madame! Good morning!" She said with a tight smile as Morrible came to them.
"Great morning Miss Elphaba, " She responded. "Master Avaric." Morrible nodded in his direction.
"Morning." He replied cooly, putting his arm around Elphaba. Morrible's eyes flicked towards his arm and to him.
"Master Avaric, isn't there a class you are late for?"
"No, Madame, Elphaba and I actually share the majority of our classes— with the exception of sorcery, Ozian Affairs, and physical education."
"Of course Master Avaric…Well is it alright by you if I borrow Elphaba for a moment."
He chuckled. "It's not like I own her for you to borrow her. It's better to ask her not me."
Elphaba smiled a little at what he said but turned serious when Morrible all but glared at him.
"Madame, I'm going to be late to my political science class—"
"It will just be a moment Miss Elphaba." Morrible looked at Avaric waiting for him to make his leave.
"Madame anything you have to say to me you can say to Avaric."
Morrible lifted her head high, pressing her lips together obviously dissatisfied with her decision."Yes I've heard of you two…Anyhow, I just received word from the Emerald City!" They both stiffened but they managed to smile as brightly as they could.
"The wizard has asked for you personally!" Morrible told her with an unpleasant smile.
"He asked for me? Just me?" Elphaba feigned happiness. "Madame that's incredible!"
Morrible laughed. "You see Miss Elphaba your future is growing brighter!"
"Congratulations!" Avaric cheered pulling her into a hug and placing a kiss on her temple.
Inside she shuddered at the display she was making in the middle of the courtyard to an array of onlookers. Morrible looked on in displeasure but soon began to smile again.
"Here is your letter, don't disappoint me!" She said thrusting the green envelope into her hands.
"I won't….I'll try…" Elphaba looked at her name written across the envelope and back to Morrible with a smile.
"Good…Prove yourself." Morrible said as she walked off.
"When?" Avaric said as soon as she was far away from them.
Elphaba ignored him as she ripped the thing open and read it's contents."I have three months…" She answered as soon as she was finished.
"Three months?" He replied looking troubled.
"Yes why?"
"Change of plans, my room now…"
"But I still have my political science class and-"
"What good is going to class now if our future is nothing—-Just please go to room my room I'll meet you there, it's room 210." Elphaba knew he had a point, what good would a class be when they could just shove it into their heads in a near future, so she agreed and went on her way as he jogged elsewhere.
Room 210 would be on the second floor, and to get to the second floor she would have to climb the building or find a tree near the room.
The latter was what she had to do to get there, the only downside was that it was directly above Sanevan's room. He wasn't inside but that didn't lessen her anger any less.
Strangely Avaric's room was rather neat for being Avaric. His books were all on a shelf marked by author. His bed made…She actually had to step outside of the room to double-check that this was indeed the correct room.
The only mess was on his desk that was actually being used, walking towards it she noticed a letter on top of the rest of the papers. She would have ignored it but her eyes caught sight of a familiar name and she just had to pick it up.
My dear, Galinda,
You will never see this letter in your life. Of that I am sure, but it seem to help me somehow, someway by writing this all down. Before anything else I wanted to tell you: I promise to make up for all the distress I ever caused you…Don't doubt that. Everything we went through when we were younger was wonderful- or I hope it was- I don't actually remember any of it. I changed and I don't know when it happened or how it started, but I know that it tortures me to think of how our friendship ended, and why it had to end. What do I know? Maybe I was always an asshole? I have a perfect person to look up to on that aspect, all that pressure from my father to be how I am, and now I am that. That's something I do remember. But then, in another part of me there are things that I desire, things I want, things I want to do…And I'm divided between what I should do and what I want to do. For example, I should have never cared for you because it only led me to think of no one but you. Could not help the need for you.
I can't help think of no one but you, even now that I'm no longer that guy.
I ended up not doing what I wanted nor what I should have…In my haze I made a mistake, an error and I swear its torture knowing that it might have been who I was always was. Because I simply don't know.
If it were only something that was going on in my head I would be able to take it, but knowing that I hurt others...I can't take that. I shouldn't hurt others and I don't think I want to hurt others, much less hurt you, Galinda.
And I'm sorry, I regret everything and I ask for your forgiveness.
I hope one day you can understand….
Much love from,
Your Avvy.
She put the letter back where she had found it, it was something personal and she had read it.
He cared for Galinda more than she initially thought and she had invaded his privacy by picking it up.
Elphaba dragged the chair at his desk away from the window and sat down, waiting for him to appear. All she knew was that he was right; this was not something they both could decide. He could not choose to keep Galinda out of it when her position as a charming socialite could give them an advantage. She cared for her sister and she cared for Sanevan despite what happened between them. She cared for Fiyero when she knew little of him and she was fond of her blonde roommate regardless of their short friendship. Keeping them all out could be a stupid decision and telling them a horrible one as well, but more people meant more help.
And they could use all the help they can get.