AN: The title of this chapter is the title of another Train song, and it's mainly about the final part of this chapter. I love irony. You'll see when you get there; it ends with a cliffy once again :D.

Scarlett the Squiddy: Sure, you can call me that :P and I might just do that! You'll hear from me when the time approaches ;).

Watercolor, no selkies and no waterbenders, but you're actually closer than you think.

Musicgal: You, too, are closer than you think :). And yes, I'm going to play around with Nessa's parentage as well. Just FYI.

And no, Frex is not evil in this story, for a change :).

Chapter 13. Drive by

'Oh, Yero!' Elphaba purred, looking up at him with wide eyes as he was holding her up in his strong arms. She batted her eyelashes at him. 'You saved me!'

'Anytime, baby,' he growled in his sexy man voice, and she was swooning over him. 'Kiss me, Yero,' she ordered, and he slowly put her to her feet, leaning down to brush her lips with his…

'Fi-ye-ro.'

He jolted awake with a start, shooting bolt upright and looking around him in bewilderment. 'Huh?'

Cohvu rolled his eyes at him. 'Dude, this has to stop,' he told his friend sternly. 'Just ask her already!'

'How did you know it was about her?' Fiyero demanded, and Cohvu grinned at him. 'You were moaning in your sleep.' He fluttered his eyelashes and pursed his lips. 'Oh, Elphaba, I love you so much…' He made kissing noises. 'Let me do my sexy man voice for you!'

Fiyero threw a pillow in his direction. It hit Cohvu's head, but the boy's smirk didn't fade in the slightest. 'How do you even know about my sexy man voice?'

'Everyone knows about it,' Cohvu told the prince. 'Every girl you've ever used it on was completely swooning over it. Just for your information, though: it won't work on Elphaba. I can promise you that.'

Fiyero sighed. 'I know,' he muttered. 'Sometimes I think that nothing works on Elphaba.'

'Nothing you've ever used on other girls,' Cohvu corrected him. 'And that's only because everything you ever used on other girls came from your Dancing-Through-Life-stage. No more tight white pants and smooth pick-up lines for you, Mister. This time you're going to have to be real.'

Fiyero sat up, pushing his study books off his lap – he had been studying in his room with Cohvu, but he had apparently fallen asleep again. He felt a bit guilty, since he probably should be studying for his finals, and stuff; but really, could you blame him? Studying was so boring.

'What do you mean, real?' he now asked his friend, and Cohvu sat up a little. 'What I'm saying,' he said. 'Real, as in: be yourself. Not the scandalacious playboy prince, but you. Fiyero. The one she grew up with. Just be honest with her about how you feel and what you want from her.'

Fiyero made a face. 'Honest?' he echoed sceptically, and Cohvu quirked an eyebrow at him pointedly. 'I strongly advise you not to lie to her, Yero,' he warned him. 'She'll know, and it will only chase her away.'

The prince sighed, letting himself fall back onto the bed. 'You're right. She'll know. She always knows. Does the girl read minds?' he complained, and Cohvu chuckled. 'Just yours, buddy. Just yours.'

Fiyero shot up, staring at his friend wide-eyed. 'Wait a clock-tick. Do you think she knows?' he asked fearfully.

Much to his relief, Cohvu shook his head. 'No way. She reads you like an open book, but when it comes to these sorts of things, she doesn't see it.' He chewed the inside of his cheek. 'Galinda says it's about her looks,' he mused. 'She's insecure about her skin, and so she doesn't believe that anyone could ever love her. I'm not sure if that's true, but I guess it is – Glin is usually right about these things.'

Fiyero was shocked. 'Really? I mean… I know she feels that way about her skin colour, but… I didn't know it went that deep.'

Cohvu nodded. 'According to Galinda, it does.' He sighed. 'I wish Glin was here right now,' he muttered. 'She could probably give you much better advice on this matter than I ever could.'

Fiyero shook his head. 'Yes, well, I'm not going to wait for her to come back to Adurin Iir in the summer,' he said. 'I want to do something before that.'

'Fiyero?' His mother poked her head around the door. 'Are you still going to town in the afternoon?'

He stretched lazily. 'Yeah. We're going to that new coffee place, get a break from the studying.' He looked at her. 'Why?'

She handed him a piece of paper. 'Could you pick up some papers for me at this address?'

Fiyero grimaced. 'Don't we have servants for that?'

'You're going to town, no matter what,' his mother said pointedly. 'Why would I send a servant after you when you are perfectly capable of picking up those papers?'

He grumbled and she sighed. 'Clearly, I have done something wrong in raising you.'

Cohvu chuckled. 'He'll be fine, Mrs. T.,' he assured her. 'Eventually.'

She flashed him a tired grin. 'Eventually. And I told you to stop calling me that.'

Cohvu rolled his eyes, but returned her grin. 'Fine, Lori.'

She smiled at him, then left the room. Fiyero rolled over on his bed, lying upside down on his back with his head dangling from the end of the bed. 'Cohvu,' he whined. 'What am I supposed to do now?'

'Go to town,' Cohvu suggested with a mischievous glint in his eyes. 'Pick up the papers for your Mom, and-'

'Cohvu. You're not helping.'

The other boy sighed. Then his face brightened. 'Why don't we invite Elphaba along this afternoon?'

Fiyero groaned. 'She'll never say yes to that. It's only six more weeks until finals – she'll never leave her books alone.'

'Well, if you don't ask, you won't know.' Cohvu jumped to his feet and practically skipped out of the room, calling, 'Elphaba!' in a sing-song voice.

Fiyero sighed and reluctantly got to his feet, following after his friend.

Much to his surprise, Elphaba actually agreed to going into town with the two boys; and after lunch, the three of them left in a carriage.

Despite the fact that she came along, she didn't seem like her usual self, Cohvu noted. She seemed distant and quiet; where she usually engaged in conversation with them, often commenting on everything she saw, she now barely spoke a word at all. He had noticed that she had been that way ever since the ball. Fiyero had told him her theories about Frex, and he figured it had something to do with that: that she was just struggling with her past and her origins, and the role Governor Frexspar played in all that.

'El?' he asked, and she looked up, looking like her mind had been miles away. 'Hm?'

He looked at her a bit worriedly. 'Are you okay?'

She rolled her eyes. 'Fine, Cohvu. Why wouldn't I be?' she quipped, but even her sarcasm seemed to have dulled a little. He exchanged a glance with Fiyero, and this time, she snapped. 'Stop looking at each other like that! And stop looking at me like that! I'm fine, and you are being annoying and ridiculous!'

Fiyero just grinned at her outburst. 'There's my girl again.'

She glowered at him, crossing her arms. 'I'm not your girl.'

Fiyero's face fell, and Cohvu chuckled. 'Ouch,' he whispered in his friend's ear. 'Really, Yero, you're going to have to try harder.'

Fiyero shoved him.

Elphaba just quirked an eyebrow at the both of them. 'You know,' she said finally. 'You are looking at me like I'm behaving in a strange way, but have you looked at yourselves lately?'

'We're all acting weird,' agreed Cohvu. 'Do you think it's the fact that we're almost finished with high school? Like, we're having a quarter-life-crisis, or something?'

Fiyero snorted a laugh. 'Who knows?'

'Yes, well, if you keep going like this, you won't have to worry about university just yet,' Cohvu pointed out a bit sharply. 'Because you, my dear prince, have barely been studying at all.'

Elphaba narrowed her eyes at the prince. 'Fiyero, if you fail your finals, I swear-'

'I'm not going to fail!'

Her eyes narrowed further. He gave in. 'Alright,' he muttered, staring at his feet, feeling embarrassed. 'I just don't get it, okay? It's too hard. Or I'm too stupid. That's why I haven't been studying – I just don't understand what I'm studying.'

Cohvu grunted softly. 'Dude,' he said, grating his teeth in mild annoyance. 'You should have told us! We all thought you were just being stupid again.'

'I am stupid,' Fiyero snapped at him. 'Just not for the reasons you thought of.'

Elphaba's face softened and she scooted a bit closer to him, laying her hand on his arm. 'You're not stupid,' she told him firmly. 'And I'll help you, okay? We'll study together. You're going to pass your finals, Yero. You can do it, I know you can.'

He smiled at her, a genuine smile, and she smiled back. Then she went back to staring out of the window, but she didn't move away from him.

Cohvu caught Fiyero's gaze. He half-closed his eyes and pretended to have a girl in his arms, pursing his lips and flickering his tongue exaggeratedly, as if he was kissing the invisible girl. Fiyero just shot him a glare and stuck out his tongue.

Once they arrived in Hadyo, the nearest relatively large town, they went to pick up the papers for Lori, then moved to the new coffeehouse.

Fiyero took a sip from his coffee and heaved a content sigh. 'I love this place.'

Cohvu, who was devouring his piece of apple pie as if it was his last, put up one thumb. 'I agree,' he said with his mouth still full, spraying crumbs of pie all over the table.

Elphaba whacked the back of his head. 'Don't you have manners!'

'Yes, Mommy,' he said, earning himself a glare from the green girl. Fiyero chuckled.

'So,' Cohvu said casually, stirring his coffee. 'I heard Governor Thropp of Munchkinland will be coming over next weekend.'

Elphaba nodded. 'He is.' She set her jaw in determination. 'And this time, he's not leaving before he told me everything.'

'Do you need help?' Cohvu offered. 'We could tie him to a chair for you to interrogate him. Or throw him into the dungeons. Or… Ooh, I know! We could torture him until he tells you what you want to know!'

Fiyero choked on his coffee in a fit of laughter, spraying the stuff all over the table. Elphaba cast her eyes heavenward in despair. 'Why?' she demanded of no one in particular. 'Why?!'

Fiyero tried to compose himself, but he was still grinning as he placed his hand on her shoulder. 'Aw, come on, Fae. Admit it – you don't mind us all that much.'

'You love us,' Cohvu added with a significant look at the prince, and Fiyero kicked him under the table – hard. Luckily, Elphaba didn't seem to have noticed; she just grumbled something unintelligible under her breath and took another sip of coffee.

They talked for another while, then decided to go back. 'I still have some more studying to do,' explained Elphaba, earning her exasperated looks from both boys.

She linked her arm with Fiyero's and smirked up at him. 'And you, my dear prince, are going to be studying with me. I'm going to drag you through those finals, whether you like it or not.'

Fiyero looked at Cohvu pleadingly. 'Shoot me. Please.'

Elphaba whacked his arm. 'Shut up, Yero. If you need help, you shouldn't be afraid to ask it; and now, to punish you for not asking for it earlier, I'm going to make you study until you drop dead.'

'If I'm not even going to live to see finals, then what's the point in studying for them?' Fiyero complained. Elphaba chuckled, leaning her head against his shoulder. 'I'm serious, Yero. I'm going to help you.'

'Thanks, Fae.' He squeezed her hand.

As they made their way back to the carriage, Fiyero suddenly stiffened, and Elphaba pulled away a little to look up at him. 'Yero? What's wrong?'

Wordlessly, he pointed at something across the street, and Elphaba followed his gaze. She grumbled something unladylike when she realised what he was pointing at. 'Oh, just great.'

The person came towards them, and Fiyero immediately moved in front of Elphaba, staring the other boy down. 'What do you want, Avaric?'

The boy cleared his throat awkwardly. 'Um… hi.' He looked at Elphaba. She half expected him to make a snide comment about her skin, as usual, but instead, he asked quietly, 'How is your arm?'

Surprised, she replied, 'It's fine.'

He nodded. 'Okay.'

'Avaric.' Cohvu went to stand next to Fiyero. 'What do you want?'

'Nothing,' he said hastily. 'I just wanted to apologise to Elphaba.' He looked at her again. 'I really am sorry.'

She nodded coolly. 'Thank you.'

Fiyero snorted. 'You're thanking him? For apologising for almost killing you?'

'Let it go, Fiyero.' She placed a hand on his arm. 'He's not worth it.'

But he was boiling with rage again at the mere memory of what Avaric had been trying to do. 'I should kill you for what you tried to do, you piece of-'

'Yero!' Cohvu interrupted him sharply. 'That's enough!'

Avaric backed away slowly, holding his hands up in a surrendering gesture. 'I'm not looking for a fight,' he said pleadingly. 'I really only wanted to-'

'Come here, you!' Fiyero roared, and Avaric turned and fled, Fiyero right on his heels. Elphaba and Cohvu watched open-mouthed as the prince chased after the other boy, both of them dodging carriages, lampposts, and bewildered pedestrians as they went.

'Fiyero!' Elphaba cried, and Cohvu heaved a sigh. 'Can't that boy just think for once?'

'With what?' Elphaba grunted, making him laugh.

Suddenly, there was a loud crashing sound, followed by startled shrieks and calls for help, coming from passerby's. Elphaba looked at Cohvu with wide eyes, then dashed off in the direction of the sound. Cohvu was right behind her, running as fast as he could.

When Elphaba rounded the corner, she skidded to a halt so suddenly that Cohvu literally bumped into her. She barely even noticed, though; her eyes were fixed on something ahead of her, and when Cohvu followed her gaze, he sucked in his breath, just as shocked as she was.

Right there in the middle of the street was Fiyero, half-caught under a carriage, lying in a pool of his own blood.

Heheh. I'm mean, aren't I? :D As always, reviews make me write faster! O:)