Chapter 4: Shiz, the Next Month

Elphaba took a deep breath, knowing she should be disappointed and not relieved. Until recently she had never been grateful that her cycle had started, but she was now. It was her second cycle since her marriage, and by now she knew the routine. She was to send word to her father and slip a note to Fiyero. Last month, his cheeks had gone so dark upon reading the hastily scrawled words that she had worried for a moment.

Blood. Sorry. That was all she had written. She couldn't take the risk of saying anything more in case the note was intercepted. Fiyero, of course, knew to dispose of it. He told her later he'd burned it in the common room fire late that night. Elphaba stood up and tore another piece of paper out of her notebook, writing the same message and shoving it in her pocket. She had life sciences this afternoon with him.

The door between their rooms clicked open and Galinda emerged. She'd been having some sort of personal conversation with Ama Clutch. The blonde looked over at her, raised her eyebrows and simply sat down on her bed. "Miss Elphaba," she said warily.

"Miss Galinda." Elphaba replied.

"You don't seem to go out much."

"I don't want to." Elphaba shrugged. Why was this girl obsessed with her social life?

"All you do is see your father. Are you very religious?"

"My father is," she said shortly. "And I do what I must for my family." That was an understatement. But she couldn't tell Galinda the lengths she had to go to for her father's wishes.

Galinda studied her for a moment. "You don't like his religion, do you?"

"I never said that."

"I can see it. Why do you help him every Saturday and sit through church on Sundays if you can't stand it, Elphaba?"

"Because he's my father." And those few minutes before church were all she got to spend with Nessarose. "The rest of my family isn't quite as skeptical as I am. I'm already the green sheep, as it were. I don't want to make it worse."

"Does your father know you don't believe?"

"Yes." She'd made it more than clear. Elphaba shook her head. "What's with all this interest in my family life, anyway?"

"You're… odd. I was trying to understand you." Galinda shrugged. "It couldn't hurt you to socialize a bit, you know. I realize you're not interested in finding a husband, but perhaps a few friends? A very handsome boy named Avaric invited Shen-Shen, Pfanee and me to have dinner with him and a few of his comrades tonight. I'm sure you could come along."

Elphaba could hear the reluctance in the blonde's voice. This invitation was made out of obligation or guilt, not friendship. But what could it hurt? Maybe if she went, Galinda would stop questioning her so much. After all, she'd surely make a fool of herself. That would probably bother Galinda more than it would bother her, and she'd leave her be. "I might, thank you for asking."

Galinda looked surprised at that, but smiled falsely. "Then we'll walk there together!"

Elphaba nodded and grabbed her books. "I'd best get to class."

She walked briskly across the quad, her hand on the note in her pocket. The fall holidays were only a week away. The Vinkus was too far of a journey for Fiyero to return home, so her father was taking advantage of that time, throwing her in a room with Fiyero for almost a week. He'd bring them their meals. All over campus, students were eagerly discussing their plans and talking about the homemade food they'd be gorging themselves on for the Feast of Ozma. Elphaba wasn't necessarily looking forward to the holiday, though she didn't quite dread it as she'd feared she might.

When she got to class, she walked right by Fiyero's desk. He sat in the front, and she pretended to trip over herself, grabbing onto Fiyero's desk for leverage. She dropped the note onto it as she lifted herself up, not looking at him once. As she sat back in her seat, he turned around and nodded silently at her. He got the message.

Her father would be disappointed, though. Perhaps because her mother had been so fertile, he expected her to end up with child relatively quickly. Then again, Melena had only been fertile when she'd wanted to be or when she was too lazy to take the right precautions. Even Elphaba understood that much. Most of what she'd learned about sex as a girl was from her mother.

She followed Galinda and Ama Clutch to dinner later that evening, and was surprised to see how large the table they were to be seated at was. And more surprised to find Fiyero was there, as well. Elphaba wanted to turn around and leave, but she couldn't. Outside of the fact that it would look strange, she also couldn't go anywhere without Ama Clutch now that she was outside the dormitories.

His eyes widened upon seeing her and he coughed, looking away. She swallowed hard and was seated next to her roommate. Pfanee and Shen-Shen were already there with their Ama, who was seated at a separate table that Ama Clutch quickly seated herself at. Elphaba hoped Galinda hadn't noticed her reaction to Fiyero.

A young man with sandy blonde hair stood up and smiled at Galinda. "Miss Galinda, I see you brought a friend." He looked at Elphaba with what could only be disdain.

"Ah, yes. Master Avaric, this is my roommate, Miss Elphaba Thropp."

"Charmed," the young man said, voice dripping with sarcasm. Elphaba decided she didn't like him at all. "Well, you aren't the only one who has brought a friend. Boq decided to bring his roommate along, as well. We're quite a large group. Have you met my roommate? This is Tibbett, and his dear friend Crope." He gestured at two Gillikinese boys with dark hair, both thin and pretty.

But Elphaba was looking over at Boq and Fiyero. So that was Fiyero's roommate. She had known him growing up, though they were never very close. Elphaba was starting to feel overwhelmed at the table, and glanced down at her hands for a moment, tuning out the conversation, until someone called her name.

"Miss Elphie?"

Elphaba cringed. She had hated the nickname, but it had stuck. She'd hoped to be rid of it here, but still it followed her. Looking down the table again and Boq, she smiled. "Master Boq. I recall you saying something about attending Shiz." But Fiyero sat next to him, and she felt her eyes drawn towards him, tracing the diamonds along his skin and a small warmth drifting through her as she thought of the way they traveled down his chest… She pinched herself beneath the table. What in Oz was coming over her?

"Yes. I should've known you'd be here, as well. It's good to see you."

"And you," she replied.

"Why don't we all just go around and introduce ourselves? So many new faces." Avaric seemed to grimace at this, and she noticed he sent a glare Fiyero's direction. What was his problem?

After the table went around and introduces themselves, they ordered their food and drink. Elphaba decided she'd stay silent. No one would miss her if she didn't join the group next time if she never spoke, would they?

But that wasn't to be. Several minutes into conversation, upon being asked about her plans for the future, Galinda said, "Oh, I intend to marry within a year of graduation. Although dear Elphaba here doesn't seem fond of the idea of marriage."

Fiyero choked on his food and Boq thudded him on the back.

"I'm not here to find a husband!" Elphaba exclaimed again.

Avaric said, "Of course she isn't. No one would marry her."

"Says the man who is only going to get a woman because she wants to marry a Margreave," Elphaba spat. She hadn't been ignorant to his title - Galinda had babbled about it the whole way to the cafe, and he'd commented on it as he'd introduced himself.

"I think you're thinking of yourself, Thropp Third Descending." Avaric replied haughtily.

Elphaba hadn't told anyone of her title. But of course, she stood out and no doubt there were questions about her. The answers wouldn't be hard to find. "That's beside the point."

"I think several of us have important titles. That's not why we're here. We're here to learn." Fiyero said softly, but with a commanding tone. He looked at Elphaba steadily as he said it. "I believe that was what Miss Elphaba was saying?"

Why in Oz could she hear her own heart beating like a drum? "Yes, that's exactly what I was saying. Thank you, Prince Fiyero."

"Elphie has always been a keen learner," Boq added.

Elphaba winced. "Please, it's Elphaba."

"Elphie?" Galinda asked, head cocked. "I like how it sounds. Would you mind dreadfully if I called you that?"

She glared angrily at Boq. "It's not my favorite."

"But I like it," Galinda whined.

Elphaba noticed Fiyero chuckling across the table and shot a fierce look his way. How could he laugh right now? She felt on edge. "Fine, fine," she muttered, not able to worry about such silly things as nicknames. She had other concerns.

Her father reminded her of those concerns as they headed towards yet another inn later that week. "How are you not pregnant yet?" He demanded.

Elphaba had a response for this. "Father, if the Unnamed God wanted this, then perhaps He will also make sure it doesn't happen to early. You've done your part. I'm doing mine. We're on the Unnamed God's schedule now." She hugged her belly for a moment, imagining it swollen with child. The idea made her shake her head. All she wanted was to get through Shiz without interruption. If she had her way, she wouldn't have a child until she graduated. Well, she wouldn't have one ever…

"You had better be doing your part!" Her father snapped. "I'm not paying for a room for you to lounge around and sleep, Fabala."

Elphaba rolled her eyes. "Fabala," had originated as an affectionate term from her father, though that had changed over the years. "I'm doing what's expected of me." And if she enjoyed it sometimes, she didn't feel guilty.

"Do I need to have a chat with Prince Fiyero and make certain?"

"Go ahead, if you must. He won't tell you any differently."

She hadn't thought her father would actually make good on his threat, but he did almost as soon as they got there. Fiyero appeared mere moments after they did, and her father shoved them both into the room with him and shut the door. "Is she behaving appropriately?" He demanded, looking at Fiyero.

"What he is asking, Fiyero, is if I let you fuck me as much as you can so we can have a baby as soon as possible." Elphaba knew the expletive would upset her father.

Fiyero looked lost for a moment, almost overwhelmed. "Um, right. Yes, she's… behaving."

"Prince Fiyero, if she's convinced you to lie for her…"

"Why would he? He barely knows me!" Elphaba snapped.

"Sir, I assure you, we are… doing… that…" His cheeks darkened. "We're behaving. Both of us. Together."

Elphaba felt sorry for him in that moment. The poor boy, thrown under her father's scrutiny by no actions of his own. He'd been going along with everything he'd been told, and stuck with her no less. "Father, please. Leave him be."

Her father raised his eyebrows at that. "Excuse me?"

But Fiyero intervened. "Sir, sometimes these things take time. My parents didn't have me for five years, despite their trying."

"We don't have five years. Who knows what will happen to Oz?"

"Whatever is supposed to happen. I told you. It will come when it will come, if we've all done our part. And we have." Elphaba insisted. "And we will."

Her father stared at Fiyero for a moment. "I worried about you, about this. You are from an unknown land, and a place that doesn't worship the Unnamed God, or any god for that matter. How could you, a young man who has never been baptized into the church, be a part of His plan? But that vision had been clear. And now here we are."

She didn't like the tone her father had. "Because this is bigger than even the Unnamed God," Elphaba said. "Fiyero's parents had their own version of your little vision, Father, from something they trusted." It sounded silly to her, but she wanted her father to leave Fiyero alone.

"Perhaps the Unnamed God spoke through that, as well. And you know, Fabala," he spat out the name as though it was poison on his tongue, "that nothing is bigger than the Unnamed God."

She groaned inwardly. "To you."

Her father grabbed her shoulder hard. "I expect better from you."

Fiyero's hand shot out and grabbed her father's arm. "Sir…" There was a hint of anger in his tone, and he took a deep breath as he looked down at his hand. "Please, don't be angry with her. I think she's just trying to remind you that our focus right now should be on the child, not arguing about whatever wants us to have it." He withdrew his hand.

Realizing that instigating the whole thing wasn't going to help at the moment, she agreed. "Fiyero's right, Father. Perhaps my wording was misinterpreted." She knew it wasn't. And her father probably knew the same. But right now it depended on if he was in the mood to push it or not.

Frex's eyes narrowed, but he sighed. "Fine. But you two had better be doing exactly as you say. And the Unnamed God knows all. Just remember that."

"We'll do what is necessary, Sir." Fiyero replied.

As he walked out the door, slamming it behind him, Frex muttered, "Get to it, then."