Four
Idonea and Alun had been right, the closer they came to the beginning of the Shiz semester, the busier they got, with both staff and students- those returning and those arriving for the first time, who would stumble upon Identity whilst exploring the town before school started.
It had been three weeks, and although the month and therefore Elphaba's trial wasn't over yet, she was reasonably confident that she wouldn't be back on the streets looking for work whilst juggling schoolwork when the month was over. It didn't pay much, but it was just manageable for Elphaba's budget. And it was a job.
They had all seemed wary of one another at first- Alun and Idonea as they tried to figure out just who was this green girl they had hired off the street; and Elphaba, as she kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and the inevitable "it's not working out." The big concern had been how would the customers react, but it hadn't been the disaster Elphaba had been imagining.
She'd had a few customers walk out or refuse to be waited on by her, and many more inquire tentatively if she had any contact with the food before ordering- although, what they imagined she'd do to the food, Elphaba had no idea. But for the most part, people would stare and gape at her when she arrived to seat people or take their orders, and then proceed to ignore her except when they needed something. They kept their distance, but few had been outwardly rude or cruel.
Often as she went about her shifts, Elphaba would look around at the people eating there and wonder if any of them would be her teachers, or her classmates. The semester would begin the next week, and Elphaba was eager to get into studying.
There were two other girls who worked at Identity. Ankita was a third year law student, who had been working at Identity for two years now. She was cordial to Elphaba, but was as wary of the strange green girl as everyone else was. Nalini, Idonea had told Elphaba when she'd introduced them, was going into her second year at Shiz, majoring in art. Nalini only worked at the restaurant occasionally, preferring to take as much work at the OzDust Ballroom as possible. That suited Elphaba fine. Nalini never spoke to Elphaba unless absolutely necessary and often stared at Elphaba as though she were something unpleasant on the bottom of her shoe.
There was also Kaylan, the chef and Devdas, who was a graduate student at Shiz doing his masters in philosophy who worked as the bartender, but only in the evenings and lunch on Saturdays. Devdas, or Dev as everyone called him, surprisingly had no real issue with Elphaba. Except for fact he never referred to her by name, but instead a different green object or shade of green. The rest of the time, the girls had to make the drinks themselves, unless Alun or Idonea were on hand and had time to help out.
"Table Five is waiting for you," Nalini coolly informed Elphaba this day, as she swept passed her carrying a tray of drinks.
Elphaba nodded and grabbed her notepad and pencil. "Thanks."
As she made her way to the table, Elphaba studied her latest customers. It was a couple, a boy and a girl. The boy was short, even seated it was obvious from his lack of stature that he was a Munchkin, although he seemed taller than any Munchkin Elphaba had ever seen- as few as that may be. The girl with him was young and very pretty, but what Elphaba couldn't help but notice was that she was seated in a wheelchair.
And as she always did, Elphaba braced herself before closing the final distance between herself and the table, wondering how they'd react when they saw her.
"Hello, my name is Elphaba and I'll be your waitress today," she announced herself, drawing their attention.
The girl's eyes widened when she saw Elphaba and she said nothing. The Munchkin boy on the other hand, uttered a small gasp and shrunk down in his seat, raising his menu to act as a shield between Elphaba and himself. Elphaba was tempted to point out a menu would do little to protect him, but simply waited for them to recover and decide how to act.
Finally, the girl's eyes flickered to her companion and she cleared her throat uncomfortably.
"Uh, hello."
"Are you ready to order or would you like to start with drinks?" Elphaba asked.
"Just- just drinks, for now, thank you," the boy squeaked. He avoided looking at Elphaba and peered intently at his menu.
"I'll have an iced tea, please," he continued.
"May I have a juice, please?" the girl asked politely.
Elphaba nodded and wrote the orders down. "I'll be back in a few moments with your drinks and to take your orders," she told them, almost as a warning, she thought to herself and then left to get the drinks.
"Oh, Sweet Oz," breathed Ankita when Elphaba came behind the bar to prepare the drinks.
Elphaba was confusified and saw her staring at table Five.
"What?" she asked, making the requested drinks as she talked.
"Do you know who that is?" Ankita demanded.
"No…" Elphaba replied unsurely. "Who is she?"
"That's Nessarose Thropp," Ankita replied and Elphaba's eyes widened.
"From Munchkinland?"
"The very same," Ankita nodded.
Elphaba found the story of the political system in Munchkinland completely fascinating from a political point of view.
Munchkinland had, until two years prior, been governed by Governor Frexspar Thropp. Two years ago, he had died in a tragic accident and his wife and daughter, on top of grieving over their loss, had been forced out of the Governor's household and forced to fend for themselves. Since then, the province of Munchkinland had been in a state of limbo with no real governing system in place. There was the Mayor of Munchkin City, of course, but they had been trying for the past few months to assemble some sort of council who could work together to govern after a series of ineffective elections to select a new Governor.
"They say she's tragically beautiful," Ankita continued, still subtly staring at the girl.
"Why is she in the wheelchair?" Elphaba asked curiously.
Ankita shrugged. "I don't know. It's all a big secret, I think. Munchkins probably know, but that part of the story never made it to the Glikkus. Only how beautiful she is."
Elphaba nodded, finished the drinks and lifted the tray. She made a murmur of acknowledgement in her throat and headed out to deliver the drinks.
"Here you go. Are you ready to order yet or would you like a few more moments?" she asked as she set down the iced tea before the girl- Nessarose, she supposed.
"No, I think we're ready, aren't we Boq?" Nessarose asked her dining companion, who agreed.
Elphaba didn't think too much about them after that, they hit a busy patch and Elphaba was kept busy until the end of her shift. The next day, Elphaba had the dinner and closing shift, which she didn't mind and actually preferred. It was about dusk when four girls entered, all carrying armloads of shopping bags. Ankita was taking orders, so Elphaba made her way over to seat them.
"Table for four?" she asked.
The blonde girl in front turned from her friend to answer and drew back sharply when she saw Elphaba, and her three friends gaped in horror.
It was an alarming reaction, even for Elphaba, and she raised an eyebrow fractionally. The five of them stood there in silence for a few moments, waiting for someone to make the first move.
The four girls exchanged looks, and then finally the blonde girl cleared her throat and raised her head, tossing her blonde curls haughtily.
"Yes. One near a window, I need the natural light," she commanded.
Elphaba tightened her lips but said nothing. "This way," she replied shortly, then grabbed four menus and walked away, not looking back to see if they were following or not.
She led them to a table- with the appropriate amount of natural light that had been specifically requested, and waited until they sat down.
"Would you like to order now or just start with drinks?"
The blonde girl took the menu gingerly from Elphaba, opened it and perused it slowly. Elphaba gritted her teeth in annoyance, sure she was doing it on purpose, for what reason she couldn't tell, but she waited patiently.
Finally, she spoke.
"What can I get here that's low fat, carb-free and with no sugar?"
Elphaba didn't bat an eyelid. "Water," she deadpanned.
One of the girls giggled at that, but from a glare from her friends, hastily changed it into an awkward cough.
The blonde girl flickered her blue eyes from her menu to Elphaba, and regarded her coldly. "I'll have a garden salad, no dressing and iced water. Pfannee?"
The other three girls ordered the same, and Elphaba nodded as she collected the menus. "It won't be long."
"What's their problem?" Elphaba muttered under her breath as she walked away. "Bitch."
It didn't end there. One of the girls called Elphaba over within a minute of delivering the salads to the tables, to complain and request that the salad be removed, the tomato removed and the salad returned. The third girl requested a fresh glass of water when the ice in her water melted, complaining the melted ice made her water "too watery"; and then they left without leaving a tip or even a "Thank you."
Elphaba was hopeful that she'd never see those girls again. She thought they were rude and conceited and she hadn't appreciated the way they had clearly looked down on her, when she was just doing her job. It was obvious to Elphaba that they were clearly from wealthy families and had never had to work a day in their lives and thought themselves better than everyone else because of it.
If they were Shiz students- and she suspected they were from their age, Elphaba was crossing fingers that they weren't freshman like she was or that they wouldn't have any classes together. Shiz was a large school and campus, surely it wouldn't be difficult to avoid people if necessary.
So, she was surprised and less than pleased when they showed up for lunch a few days later, the Saturday before the semester would begin. Elphaba supressed a moan as she reluctantly headed over to seat them, but when the blonde girl saw Elphaba approaching, she quickly summoned Idonea, who was there to work on the rosters for the next week and walking past.
"Excuse me, we'd like to be seated please," she called out briskly.
Idonea stopped. She looked over her shoulder and saw Elphaba on her way and turned back to the girls.
"Someone will be with you in a moment, ladies."
"No, we'd like to be seated immediately, please," the blonde girl said sharply.
Idonea raised an eyebrow. "It will just be a moment."
The blonde girl drew herself up to her full height and tossed her curls. "I am Galinda Upland. Of the Upper Uplands. And I would like to be seated immediately."
Evidently the name meant something, because Idonea grabbed four menus and requested the girls follow her to a table.
"Silly rich girls," Idonea muttered to Elphaba, meeting her by the bar after seating the girls.
"Do you know her?" Elphaba asked.
Idonea shook her head. "I know of her family. The Uplands have this huge estate up in Gilikin. Big, wealthy family. They're spoilt and insist on getting their own way on everything, but they're great customers and have a lot of influence in society. If the Upland girl tells people this is the best place to go, people will come. Give her anything she wants," she told Elphaba sternly.
Elphaba nodded obediently, but inside she was groaning.
"Are you ready to order?" she asked dully, standing by their table.
The blonde girl, the infamous Galinda, Elphaba assumed, looked up from her menu and looked Elphaba up and down, taking in her simple black dress.
"No, not you. Get someone else," she commanded.
Elphaba was taken aback. "Excuse me?"
"We'd like another waitress, please. Now."
Elphaba was tempted to demand an explanation, but she was mindful of Idonea's command. "It'll just be a moment," she replied sharply and turned to leave.
"Galinda, was that necessary?" one of the girls asked in a low voice.
Galinda didn't bother to keep her voice down. "Milla, we can't be seen associating with the Artichoke girl. Even just as a waitress. What would people say?"
Elphaba felt a lump in her throat as she found Idonea in the office.
"Idonea? Those girls at table nine are requesting another waitress."
Idonea looked up at Elphaba, who waited tensely. Surely this reflected bad on Idonea and Alun and the business. If people refused to be served by her, Elphaba would lose her job.
But Idonea only stared at her for another moment, then returned to the roster she was working on.
"Get Dev to take their orders and you can cover the bar for a minute," she said simply.
Elphaba blinked in surprise. "O-Ok," she agreed and hurried to do so.
Standing at the bar, watching the four girls bat their eyelashes and giggle and flirt with Dev as he took their orders, Elphaba felt a surge of loathing, mostly directed at the blonde girl.
Who did she think she was to be able to order Elphaba away? Because she didn't want to associate with "the Artichoke girl"? Because she was green, and so apparently below her and her rich, snotty friends?
That settled it. If those girls were to also be at Shiz, Elphaba wanted nothing to do with any of them.
AN. Yes, there is a line from 'A Cinderella Story' in this chapter.