NellytheActress: No, Nelly. No scissors. And you'll find out.
Bunny (Guest): LOL! Galinda's brief moment of braverism (it's a word now!).
ExoticPeachBlossom: Okay, okay, I'll make it right… eventually *Evil smirk*
Heatqueen: Elphaba doesn't care about the newspaper article. She couldn't care less about that. She's mad because her best friend, boyfriend and sister lied to her after they promised her they wouldn't. And the fact that it happened before Lurlinemas break made it all the more worse. That means they were lying to her the whole time.
Elphabalover101: No, it was most certainly not me. Why would I do such a cruel thing? That's just… wicked.
Elphaba'sGirl: You know Elphaba. She's… Elphaba. I loved that line, too!
I'mFlyingHighDefyingGravity: You called it! Don't worry, I won't tell her.
Guest: You'll find out in this chapter.
Galinda stared at the closed door, as if expecting Elphaba to walk out.
"Just give her some time," Nessa reassured her. "She'll come around, eventually."
"I feel… awful," Galinda whispered, tears sliding down her face.
"Why is she so upset about the newspaper article? I mean, it's not even true," Fiyero said, biting down on his lip.
"It's not about the paper, Fiyero," Nessa spoke softly. "Fabala's upset because we lied to her. She hates it, as you probably realized."
"It wasn't fun almost getting killed by a flying lamp," Fiyero muttered.
"Come on. Let's give her some space to cool down. She'll be alright," Nessa said, offering her two friends a small smile and leading them down the hallway.
Elphaba knelt on floor, her arms wrapped securely around her abdomen as she sobbed her eyes out. She couldn't believe her friends lied to her. She especially couldn't believe Nessa lied to her. Her own sister. Her flesh and blood. She managed to calm her sobs to only an occasional hiccup. Sighing, she slowly pushed herself to her feet and felt her way over to her dresser to grab her nightclothes. Pulling out a silky nightgown, she went to the bathroom to change. She came out, fully prepared for bed, and, climbing into bed, pulled the covers up to her nose, wanting nothing more than to just end the day.
Galinda came into the room a few hours later. "Elphie?"
Not getting a response from her roommate, Galinda sighed and quickly changed for bed. Coming out of the bathroom in her pajamas and her hair tied back in a ponytail, she looked at the sleeping form of her friend.
"I'm sorry," she whispered softly.
Elphaba didn't move or make a sound. Biting her lip, she quickly climbed into bed. "Goodnight, Elphie."
Elphaba woke up early the next morning, greeted by the sun shinning on her face. Slowly pushing herself up, she stretched out her arms and climbed out of bed. She quickly grabbed her uniform and headed to the bathroom to change. After brushing her teeth, showering and dressing herself, Elphaba emerged from the bathroom. She felt her dresser for her hairbrush and began to brush out her wet hair. After braiding her hair and gently tossing her neat braid over her shoulder, the green girl moved to her desk to pack her books.
As she packed, Elphaba wondered if she should go to her classes alone. Sure, she knew where to go and where everything was, but she didn't want to go alone.
No, she thought. I can't trust Galinda and Fiyero anymore. They lied to me after they promised me they wouldn't. And Nessa will just annoy me. I can go by myself. That's what I'm trying to prove to everyone, isn't it? That I can be independent.
Making sure she has all her books, Elphaba grabbed her cane and headed for the door, but stopped when she felt a hand on her arm.
"Elphie, can we talk?" Galinda asked timidly.
Setting her jaw, Elphaba tried to pull her arm away from the blonde, but to no avail. "Let go of me!"
"Elphie, please. We didn't mean to hurt you. I didn't mean to hurt you. I just… I didn't know how to…"
"Let me go!"
"Elphie-"
Growling, Elphaba tore away from the blonde and frantically felt for the doorknob. Finding it, she threw the door open and stormed out, causing the door to bump against the wall and slam shut.
"I'm sorry, Elphie," Galinda whispered as she got herself ready for the day.
Elphaba walked to the café for breakfast, trying to clear her head. Her cane found the door to the café and she opened it, walking straight to the counter.
"Good morning, Miss Elphaba," a perky voice greeted her.
Elphaba forced a small smile. "Good morning, Chyla. How are you?"
"Fine," Chyla smiled. The sixteen year old girl looked up from where she was rearranging the croissants. Her long, light brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Her apron had some chocolate stains on them, evident that she had a malfunction with the chocolate machine. "What would you like this morning?"
"Is there anything new?" Elphaba asked, she scents of the freshly baked pastries filling her nose.
"Well, there are no chocolate croissants today."
"Another accident?"
"It's not my fault. The chocolate machine just decided to explode on me!"
Elphaba let out a small chuckle. "Sure it did."
"I'm telling you, it did!" the younger girl argued. "Anyway, anything with chocolate is out. Would you like anything else?"
"The usual, please."
"One peppermint tea and a blueberry muffin coming right up!" Chyla smiled, grabbing a blueberry muffin and hurrying back to brew the tea. The green girl and her friends had visited the café so often, they had become very familiar with the young girl who worked there. "I'm surprised to see you here without Galinda, or Fiyero, or Galinda and Fiyero."
Elphaba frowned and bit her lip. "Miss Elphaba?" Chyla asked, reappearing with Elphaba's tea. "Is everything alright?"
"Y-Yeah," Elphaba said, looking up. "I just decided to come without them this morning."
"They didn't want to get up as early as you?" Chyla giggled, about to ring up Elphaba's total when she noticed a single tear slid down Elphaba's cheek. "Oh wait, we're having serious time." Abandoning the cashier, she grabbed Elphaba's food and set it on a table for her. Turning around, she gently took the green girl's arm and led her to the table. "Okay. Chyla's listening. Start talking." She helped Elphaba sit down and sat across from her.
"It's nothing," the green girl whispered.
"Okay. I'm just saying that you should probably tell me before I'm forced to turn to my other sources."
"What other sources?" Elphaba asked, looking up.
"That's for me to know, and for you to never figure out." Chyla gently took Elphaba's hand and squeezed it. "Elphaba, I care about you. Please tell me what's wrong."
Nodding, Elphaba took a deep breath. "D-Do you know about the Shiz Gazette?"
"The school's newspaper? Nobody reads that thing."
"They do now."
"They do? I must have been living under a rock. When did that start?"
"With this," Elphaba reached into her bag and pulled out a regular printed copy of the newspaper she managed to get her hands on. She handed it to Chyla, whose brown eyes immediately went to work scanning it over. "What's so wrong about… ohhhhh. I… um… you… but… err… do you really want me to comment on this?"
"It's not about the front page."
"Then what's it about? Because the comics aren't funny. They're never funny."
"Fiyero."
"Fiyero? What does he have to do with this?"
"He lied to me."
"Let's start from the beginning. Where did you get this?"
"I walked in to my dorm room and accidentally stepped on it. Then I picked it up and began to read it."
"Okay…" Chyla said slowly, still not seeing why the green girl would be so distressed.
"Lalie," Elphaba said, using the special nickname she gave the young girl. "Growing up, I had to learn to trust people, because there was a lot I couldn't do for myself. I trusted Fiyero… and Galinda, and they both promised to never lie to me, and I had to trust them. They broke that promise and now… I can't trust them anymore."
"You can't… or you don't want to?"
"Both... I guess."
"Permit me to offer some advise?"
Slowly, Elphaba nodded.
"If I were you, I would give them another change. And let me finish before you start getting angry. Would you have wanted them to tell you?" Elphaba made a face and Chyla sighed. "I mean… would you have really wanted to know about this?"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Think of it this way… would you hide something from someone you love… your sister, for example… if you knew you were protecting them?"
"I refuse to be babied."
"Okay. I see what this is really about. Elphaba, let's just pretend that you're not blind and green for a second."
"That's going to be kind of hard to do."
"You're so stubborn," Chyla sighed. "Just do it. Anyway, let's just say that something gets printed in the newspaper, for example, about your sister. Would you or would you not try and hide it from her to protect her?"
"… Y-Yes, I guess so."
"You guess so?"
"Yes. Okay? Yes, I would."
"There you go! Weren't you happier when you didn't know about the newspaper?"
"I knew that they were hiding something from me."
"That wasn't my question."
"I was… happier." Elphaba started to cry and Chyla quickly stood up and gently wrapped her arms around the crying girl.
Little did both girls know that Galinda had walked in. She saw Chyla with her arms around her best friend. She's replaced me already? she thought sadly. Biting back tears, the blonde turned and walked out of the café, suddenly losing her appetite.
"Look, I'm not going to rush you into this, or force you do forgive them. I'm just advising you that you should do it soon. You'll feel so much better once you do," Chyla said gently.
"T-Thank you, Lalie," Elphaba said, giving the girl a small, watery smile.
"Anytime. Shall I wrap up your breakfast for you?"
Elphaba frowned, realizing she didn't even eat. "Sure. How much do I owe you?"
"Don't worry about it, it's on the house," Chyla smiled, helping the emerald girl to her feet.
"W-What? No, you don't have to do that for me."
"You're right. I don't have to, but I want to. Plus, do you have change?"
Elphaba dug out her purse from her bag. "No. I don't. Sorry."
"It's okay. And I really don't feel like doing math this early in the morning." The younger girl grabbed Elphaba's food and hurried behind the counter. She grabbed a brown paper bag and a thermos with the Shiz Café logo on it. "Here's your muffin and your tea. I put it in a thermos to keep it warm for you."
"Thank you," Elphaba smiled as Chyla handed her the bag and thermos. She placed them in her bag, saving them for later. "I just... you really don't have to do this for me."
"Just leave before I make you pay with interest!"
"Okay," Elphaba smiled. "And thanks... for everything."
"Anytime. Just… please don't go around telling people this. The last thing I need is for people to come to me with their problems, expecting me to be a therapist and give them a free breakfast."
"You'd make a great therapist."
"I have my moments," Chyla giggled, leading Elphaba to the door and watching as the green girl walked away towards her first class.
Galinda walked into the cafeteria for lunch alone. This was the first time since the beginning of the semester that she was without Elphaba.
"Galinda, dear, over here!" a voice called to her.
The blonde turned around and saw Pfannee, Milla, ShenShen and Nelliee waving her over. Sighing, the blonde made her way over to her old group of friends.
"We've missed you, Galinda," Nelliee said, placing her hand on the blonde's shoulder.
"How are you feeling?" Pfannee asked, her voice full of concern.
"Is the artichoke still being mean to you?" Milla asked.
"It's okay," Galinda whispered, her eyes resting on her uneaten ham sandwich.
"Galinda, whatever is bothering you, you can tell us. Is the green bean bothering you?" Nelliee asked, her gaze shifting over to Elphaba, who was sitting alone a few tables over, quietly eating her salad.
"She didn't do anything to me," Galinda said, fearing what the group would do if they found out about anything.
"Are you sure?" Milla questioned.
"I'm sure. Excuse me. I seem to have lost my appetite," Galinda said, excusing herself and walking out of the cafeteria.
"I see our little newspaper prank wasn't enough," Pfannee sniffed.
"I don't see how it wasn't," Nelliee said, an evil smirk appearing on her lips. "The whole school knows about it now."
"Tell us again how you did it," ShenShen said, wanting to hear the story again.
Nelliee smiled as she retold the story of how she sent a copy of the newspaper to a braille printer, saying that she had a blind friend who wanted to read it. She got the copy and slipped it under Galinda and Elphaba's shared dorm door. "Elphaba must have obviously read it because look at her sitting alone by herself," Nelliee said, finishing the story.
"True, but I still think she did something to Galinda," Milla said.
"When will she learn her lesson?" Pfannee sighed.
"I don't know," ShenShen sighed.
"Well… maybe if she stopped eating those green vegetables, she wouldn't be green in the first place," Nelliee smirked, standing up and motioning for the girls to quietly follow her.
Giggling silently, Pfannee, ShenShen and Milla followed the princess to Elphaba. The emerald girl was currently distracted, trying to locate something in her bag. Nelliee quickly grabbed Elphaba's salad plate and tossed it in the trash. "We wouldn't want her to get greener, now would we girls?" Nelliee smiled innocently as she and the other girls hurried away.
Elphaba found the book she was looking for and turned back to her salad. She tried to stab the lettuce with her fork, but was surprised when the fork hit the table instead. Slowly, she raised her other hand to the table and felt around for her plate. She quickly realized that it was missing and scowled. She heard soft giggles coming from a few tables away and assumed they belonged to Galinda's apparently-ex-friends.
Don't let them get to you, Elphaba, the green girl told herself as she calmly stood up and walked out of the cafeteria. She quickly walked outside to the courtyards, needing to clear her head.
Hearing the familiar sound of rushing water, Elphaba walked back to the bridge over Suicide Canal. She stopped at the peak of the arc and sighed, her hand resting on the banister.
"Elphaba?"
Frowning, Elphaba turned towards the voice. "What do you want now, Fiyero?"
Fiyero shivered at the harshness in Elphaba's voice. "I just wanted to talk to you, that's all."
"Oh? About what?" Deep down, Elphaba heard Chyla's voice telling her to give her friends a second chance. She knew she should, but she just wasn't ready yet.
"I know you're hurt and upset, and I'm so sorry. I feel awful. But you didn't give us a chance to explain ourselves."
"There's nothing to explain, Fiyero," Elphaba said harshly.
Fiyero sighed. "What is it with you? It's just a stupid newspaper article! I thought you didn't let stuff like that bother you?" As soon as the words left his mouth, Fiyero knew he was going to regret it later. Elphaba growled as she turned towards him and the prince knew that all chances of Elphaba forgiving him were gone.
"You think this is about the newspaper article?" the green girl questioned, her eyebrow vanishing into her hairline. "You really are brainless, aren't you?"
That came out harsh. "Fae, I-"
"Fiyero, all my life, I had to depend on other people. I've had to trust them, which sometimes wasn't an easy thing to do. How do you think that feels? I don't care about the newspaper article. You lied to me after you promised you wouldn't."
"Elphaba, I understand."
"No, you don't. You couldn't possibly understand. Things like this build up Fiyero. People can only take so much. People see me as a target for ridicule all the time. I'm not a person to them. I'm just the stupid vegetable with legs. I trusted you, Fiyero," Elphaba whispered, tears sliding down her cheek.
"I know," Fiyero whispered. "And I'm sorry. I just wanted to protect you."
"So you lied to me?"
"Only verbally." That didn't help my case, did it?
"Well, maybe I don't want you to protect me!" Elphaba snapped, angrily glaring in the prince's direction. "Just… go!"
"Fae-"
"Go!"
"I-"
"Go!"
Fiyero sighed, deciding to leave Elphaba be for the time being. Just give her some space, Tigulaar, he told himself as he left the green girl alone on the bridge. She'll come around… hopefully soon.
Elphaba prepared for bed quickly that evening. Galinda was out, and Elphaba couldn't care less about where she was. Climbing into bed, she snuggled under the covers and closed her eyes.
"Fabala."
Elphaba stiffened, hearing the voice address her. "Who's there?" she asked, turning her head towards the voice.
She heard footsteps approaching her and a soft hand slipped into hers. Startled, Elphaba pulled her hand away. "Who are you?"
Instead of giving an answer, the mysterious person slipped her hand into Elphaba's again. Instead of pulling away, Elphaba ran her fingers over the person's soft hand. She felt the person gently wrap their arm around her waist. The person felt so familiar to her. She felt as though she should know who it was. Elphaba slowly lifted her hand to the person's face.
"Fabala."
That voice. She knew that voice. It was familiar, like it was from a distant memory, singing a song from her early childhood to her.
"Fabala."
"Mama?" Elphaba whispered, lowering her hand.
"Hello, Fabala," Melena said soothingly, pulling her daughter in for a caring hug.
"Mama," Elphaba whispered, burying her face in her mother's chest. "W-What's going on?"
"I've been watching you, Fabala. I've seen you grow up into the independent woman I knew you would become. But I'm here to help you."
"With what?"
"Trusting your friends again."
Elphaba pulled away from her mother. "No," she said, shaking her head. "No, I can't trust them anymore."
"What did Chyla say to you?"
"I can't."
"That's not what she said."
"That's what I'm saying. They don't understand what it's like for me. That I have no other choice than to believe what other people tell me."
"And that's why I'm here. To prove to you that that's not true," Melena said gently, taking her daughter's hand and leading her away.
"Where are we going? Where are we?" Elphaba asked once they stopped walking.
"Listen."
Elphaba listened and soon heard giggling. "Who is that?"
"You don't recognize that sound?"
"Is that… Galinda?"
"It is."
"Oh, Elphie, isn't this fun?" the voice of the blonde giggled.
"Yes, this is," Elphaba heard herself say.
"And to think… you wanted to stay cooped up in that quiet, boring library all afternoon," Fiyero's voice said.
Elphaba recognized the scene her mother was showing her as the picnic she had with Galinda and Fiyero, right before she found out about the newspaper article.
"Did you trust them then?" Melena asked gently.
"I did," Elphaba whispered. "But that was before-"
"The newspaper article?"
Elphaba nodded.
"Fabala, try to understand where they're coming from. They care about you and they were worried about you."
"So they lied to me?"
"Though they shouldn't have lied, their hearts were in the right place, Fabala. Just give them another chance."
Elphaba felt herself beginning to wake up. The last thing she felt before walking up was her mother planting a gentle kiss in her hair.
Elphaba slowly opened her eyes. Not feeling the sunlight shinning on her face, she assumed it was still dark, early morning at least. Silently, she made up her mind on what she was going to do. She had to make up with her friends.
So, do we like Chyla? Do we want to see her come back in a later chapter? Will Elphaba talk to Galinda, Fiyero and Nessa? Will they want to talk to her? Will Fiyeraba get back together? But most importantly… will the chocolate machine ever be fixed? Find out all this and more in the next chapter of Blind Ambition.
^^ Imagine that deep voice that comes on during soup operas. That's what this is supposed to sound like. So… thoughts? Comments? Questions?
Also, the next chapter might take a while because I'm heading into finals week. The long dreaded finals week. Wish me luck!
In happier news, tomorrow (Monday), my school is FINALLY producing the dramatic adaptation of "Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Lightning Thief" I wrote, directed, produced, casted and now... starring in. I'm playing PERCY!