Chapter 13
Fiyero woke up the next morning to a loud crashing sound. He jumped up from the chair he had slept of all night and looked around to try and figure out what had happened. His eyes suddenly fell on Elphaba, who had obviously bumped into the nightstand and fell over. "Elphaba, what in Oz are you doing out of bed?" Fiyero demanded, running over to the green girl.
"Well, I was trying to find the closet so I could get my school uniform." Elphaba muttered, allowing Fiyero to help her get up. "Wait, what!? Maybe you should rest for today. You've went through a lot in the past few days." Fiyero tried to get her to sit down, but Elphaba just shook him off. "I feel fine! Plus, I've missed enough school. I'm not letting myself fall behind. Now help me find my uniform!" Elphaba held her hands out in front of her, trying to feel around for the closet.
Nessa woke up a minute later. "What's going on? Fabala, why are you not in bed?" She asked, getting out of her bed. "Can you all please stop babying me!? Just because I'm blind doesn't make me useless! I am going to classes today, and that's final!" Elphaba would have glared at both of them if she could see where they were. Elphaba shrieked as she bumped into a book shelf and books came toppling down on her head.
"Fabala!" Nessa quickly fell to her knees next to Elphaba, who was one again on the floor. Tears were welling up in Elphaba's eyes. "Okay, your right! I'm useless!" Elphaba cried, pulling her knees up to her chest and crying into her hands. "Don't say that! You're not useless. You just need a little more help then you used to." Nessa wrapped her arms around her sister, hugging her tight.
"Stop lying! You know it's true! I can't even find the stupid closet!" Elphaba scowled at Nessa. "Elphaba, everyone needs point at some point in their life. And this is that point for you. Don't worry, Nessa and I will be right next to you to help whenever you need it." Fiyero assured her, holding Elphaba's hand and helping her out of the pile of fallen books. "I don't wanna be a burden." Elphaba whispered, her blind gaze falling on the floor.
"Why would you say that? You would never be a burden! Now, are you sure you don't wanna rest for one more day?" Fiyero asked. Elphaba just sighed. "I'm fine. Now for the last time, can someone please help me find my uniform?"
"I'll help you, Fabala." Nessa volunteered, taking Elphaba's hands and leading her to the closet, which turned out to be all the way on the other side of the room. Nessa took Elphaba's uniform off it's hanger and handed it to her sister then led her to the bathroom. "Do you need any help changing?" Nessa asked. "No, I can do it myself." Elphaba assured her, wanting to prove that she wasn't completely useless.
Elphaba finally came back out of the bathroom about fifteen minutes later. Amazingly enough, Elphaba had managed to put her uniform on correctly. Her braid was a mess though. Nessa held back a giggle on seeing Elphaba's hair. "Here, let me help you with your hair." Nessa said, grabbing a hairbrush and leading Elphaba to her bed and making her sit down.
"Just look at me! I can't even do my own hair." Elphaba sighed, allowing Nessa to undo Elphaba's bad attempt at a braid. "Don't say that! You just need to reteach yourself how to do it by yourself again." Nessa slowly brushed out Elphaba's long, black hair. "Father would kill me if he knew you were helping me like this." Elphaba muttered. "Why in Oz would he do that?" Nessa asked, shocked at what Elphaba had said.
"I already told you. To father, I'm nothing more then a servant. If he were here and saw you helping me, he would probably beat me and tell me I should be waiting on my hands and knees to serve you instead of letting you do my hair." Elphaba explained, then she slapped her hand over her mouth when she remembered Fiyero was still in the room. He had heard everything she had just said.
"Your father beats you?" Fiyero asked, sitting next to Elphaba on the bed. "I-it's nothing. Just forget what I just said." Elphaba didn't want Fiyero worrying about her more then he already was. "Please tell me. I want to know what's going on." Fiyero held Elphaba's hand. He was worried about her. Was it possible that not only the students hated Elphaba, but her father as well? "I don't wanna talk about it. It was a long time ago." Elphaba whispered, keeping her head down.
"Okay, Fabala, you're all set! We should head to class now." Nessa announced, finishing with Elphaba's hair. Elphaba was reliefed that Nessa had gone ahead and changed the subject. Nessa helped Elphaba get up and led her to the door. 'We'll talk later' Nessa mouthed to Fiyero, knowing Fiyero had to find out what was going on sooner or later. Elphaba couldn't keep her past from him nodded and followed the girls without saying another word.
Thankfully, the walk to class was quiet, other then a few random students making stupid jokes about Elphaba's skin. It turned out that nobody had found out Elphaba was blind yet, so Elphaba was grateful for that too. She already had enough with the green skin comments.
"Good morning! I'm pleased to be seeing you're back in class, Miss Elphaba." Doctor Dillimond greeted the group, the last sentence being meant for Elphaba though. "Thank you, Doctor Dillimond." Elphaba smiled in the direction she had heard her teachers voice. "Fiyero, can you go help Fabala find a seat? I'll be right back." Nessa knew Doctor Dillimond was going to need to know that Elphaba was blind. Blindness could be a real problem when it comes to learning. Fiyero nodded and led Elphaba to a seat near the front of the class.
Nessa walked over to Doctor Dillimond. "Miss Nessarose, is Elphaba alright? She seems a little...different." Doctor Dillimond asked Nessa, quietly enough that Elphaba wouldn't hear them. "Elphaba had brain damage from the attack, and it caused her to go blind. She can't see anything." Nessa explained, not raising her voice over a whisper. "Oh, that's terrible! Thank you for telling me, Miss Nessarose. You can go back to your seat now." Doctor Dillimond smiled at her. "Thank you Doctor Dillimond. The past few days have been really hard for her. I would hate for her grades to fall just because she can't see anymore." Nessa smiled before going back to sit next to Elphaba.
When Nessa sat down, Elphaba was randomly flipping threw the pages of her history book. "How am I suppose to read this thing?" Elphaba asked, scared that she would never be able to read anything ever again. "Don't worry, Fabala. I told Doctor Dillimond about you being blind, and I think he's going to try and figure something out." Nessa assured her sister. "Okay, Nessa. I hope you're right." Elphaba sighed, closing to book. She knew the next few weeks, if not the rest of her life, would be extremely difficult for her. But she had to get threw this. She just had to.