A/N: I'm sorry I'm posting this so late! I'm sorry it's short! I'm sorry I took up a whole chapter introducing a character! I'm sorry I'll be gone for the next couple of days and won't be able to respond to any PM's or reviews! I should have made this extra long, but I didn't, purely an act of procrastination and laziness, which you can blame me for. Still, hopefully you'll enjoy it, since some actual plot began to leak through in this chapter. Shocking, I know!
Disclaimer: ("No Good Deed") Wicked? I don't have enough. 1 million? 1 MILLION!
The welcoming party was always in the gym, since The Lodge was not built for parties and the poor janitors had to clean up whatever mess was made. The gym, in fact, was really not much of a gym at all, but a large, hideous building with armies of highly aggressive horseflies the size of Godzilla. There was no air-conditioning, but large fans sat on either end of the building. The floor was similar to that of the cabins, prison-like in color and condition. A musty smell even hung in the air, a bit like an old basement storing cobweb-coated Christmas and Halloween decorations.
However, despite the smell, pests, appearance, and overall condition of the gym, the children loved it. With two basketball hoops on either side, a large supply of jump ropes and hula-hoops, and one or two more or less inflated basketballs, it was relatively easy for the children to entertain themselves.
Elphaba, who didn't have the best "hand-eye coordination" chose instead to watch on the sidelines next to Nessarose, and as far away from "Little Miss Perfect Blonde" applying her make-up in the row of bleachers across from the sisters as possible. She'd heard from someone that she was an Olympian. How perfect. She'd get to deal with her throughout the rest of the two weeks.
Just as Elphaba was beginning to get impatient, a young woman entered the room. She couldn't have been more than thirty, with light orange hair pulled back into a ponytail, ocean blue eyes, and the most fake and repulsive grin that Elphaba had ever seen.
"Now kids, I'm Mrs. Brown, your head counselor. Now, I know you're all here to have fun and enjoy camp, but we have a few rules to go over first." The whole time she said this, her sickeningly phony grin stayed plastered on her face. Elphaba personally thought that she looked a bit like a life-size Barbie doll who'd gotten something orange mixed in her hydrogen peroxide. She resisted a powerful urge to roll her eyes and tried instead to focus on the Ozian flag hanging from the wall. It was fairly simple, with four stars in each corner, a ray coming from each one, connecting at a large, green shape (a balloon?) where "OZ" was printed in large, capital letters. The green girl was jolted out of her musing by the sound of her name.
"Miss Elphaba?" asked Mrs. Brown. All eyes were on her and she felt an olive blush creeping back up to her face. The counselor looked repulsed, and the young witch's embarrassment turned to anger.
"Yes?" she tried to say politely.
"I would appreciate it if you would try to pay attention from now on. Can you repeat what I just said?"
Elphaba hadn't the least idea what the counselor had been talking about. She was a straight-A student, with the highest marks of anyone in her class. She couldn't remember the last time an adult besides her father had looked at her this way, or if it had happened before. But it wasn't even school! It was camp! Only one thing to say.
"I apologize, Mrs. Brown. I should have been paying attention," she said, trying to keep the venom out of her voice.
"I was saying that I happen to have an extremely important relative who is currently headmistress of Shiz, in my family. Her name is Madame Morrible, and she has recently been given that wonderful position." Although Elphaba hadn't the least idea why this was relevant to being at camp, she nodded respectfully towards the counselor.
Somehow, she didn't think she and Mrs. Brown would get along very well for the next couple of weeks.
Like I said, sorry it's short! Review, please!