I'm terribly sorry for the scandalacious delay in updates. The weird emotional mood plus all the stuff going on is now as good as over, so I'm going to try to stick to two- or three-daily updates from now on!
Meet your (sometimes shallow and stuck-up) counterparts! :P
4. Unlike Anticipated
They celebrated the start of the new year with just their little friend group, but then they all retreated to their respective rooms to get some rest. Each participant had received money to pay for her stay in the City, so they could all choose the hotel they wanted to stay in. Elphaba, Nessarose, and Glinda were staying in the Lime Lodge, which was a nice hotel for a decent price. Fiyero had used his father's money to pay for his own room just across the hall, which he shared with Boq. This also meant that most of the participants had never met one another and would see each other for the first time at dinner on the first day of the new year.
They all awoke late on that day and didn't do much – Elphaba, Nessarose, and Glinda had to prepare for their dinner that night and Boq and Fiyero decided to do some sightseeing around the City. They were not allowed to attend the dinner along with the girls, since this was supposed to be just about the contestants, so they made plans to enjoy themselves in the City that night as well. The girls, meanwhile, met at Sage for dinner, a fancy restaurant in the centre of the Emerald City, where they were greeted by Reven Bergeron and Cashel Moreau, the two bubbly hosts of the event.
"Welcome, welcome!" gushed Reven, kissing the air beside all of their faces. "Oh, you must be Nessarose, such a tragically beautiful little thing... and Glinda Upland of the Upper Uplands! It is an honour! And – Your Highness!" She curtseyed, but Elphaba laughed nervously and waved her away.
"Please don't," she said. She was probably supposed to sound coy, but it mostly came out irritated. "It's just Elphaba."
Reven beamed at her. "Welcome, then, Elphaba! We're so proud to have you representing us!"
"You can all come with me," said Cashel, who was a tall, lanky man with blonde hair and a blindingly white smile. "I will take you to the table. Some of the others have already arrived."
Indeed, once they got to the table, there were a couple of girls already talking to one another. A pale girl with long, wavy hair – was it Micaela? Faye? Yes, Faye – was talking animatedly to a blonde (Elphaba was fairly certain that was Saraphina Bulok, the one who had been engaged to Fiyero; and much to her dismay, she turned out to be every bit as beautiful as it was always said, although Elphaba could not say why that dismayed her). A pretty girl with caramel skin and dark hair sat a little to the side, watching the others. Elphaba couldn't remember what her name was. And if she already couldn't match the names with the faces, then how in Oz was she going to remember these girls' backgrounds?
"Take your seats!" Cashel sang and pointed them all to their seats. Elphaba, much to her annoyance, turned out to be seated next to a bubble-headed girl with chocolate brown hair who took one long look at her, sniffed, and turned away. Nessarose was next to the caramel-skinned girl. To Elphaba's right, the brunette had already started boasting to Saraphina about the riches and status of her family; Glinda sat on Saraphina's other side. On Elphaba's left was an empty seat for now, but soon the other girls started trickling in as well and the young witch took a deep breath. Here it was, then. No going back now.
A girl plopped into the empty seat soon enough and glanced at Elphaba, eyebrows raised. "Green? As a fashion statement?"
"I wish I'd thought of that!" a dark-skinned girl with long, black braids and full lips said enviously, leaning across the first girl to take a better look at Elphaba. "You also represent the City, then? I do, too! I'm Nathalinia," she introduced herself, shaking Elphaba's hand.
"Elphaba Thropp," the green girl said. "And it's not paint. I was born green." She wondered if these girls hadn't prepared themselves as well as Glinda had tried to make her believe they would. She felt a little relieved at the idea. Maybe it wouldn't be as bad as she'd first thought it would be.
"Weird," the first girl muttered, but Nathalinia nudged her arm.
"Be nice, Karise."
Karise Fennows, Quadling Country, niece to the Sorceress of the South, Elphaba rattled off in her head. She'd practised this. She knew all these girls.
Nathalinia suddenly gasped. "Oh. My. Oz. Aren't you the princess?"
Karise's mouth fell open and Elphaba grumbled. "Yes."
"That's amazing!" Nathalinia squealed. "Should we curtsey? Call you 'Your Highness'?"
"Please don't," Elphaba begged. Nathalinia nodded, but she was still beaming.
"Is it true that you dated Fiyero Tiggular?" someone asked a little down the table and Elphaba tried to catch Glinda's answer, but didn't hear it over the buzz of the other girls. She did, however, hear the dainty little huff Saraphina gave at that.
"Fiyero Tiggular is a swine," she declared. "Given his reputation, I can only be grateful that I was allowed to opt out of marrying him. I love Palu more than I ever could have loved Fiyero."
"You didn't even give him a chance," Elphaba pointed out irritably. "How can you say such things when you hardly even know him? Reputation isn't everything, you know."
A collective gasp went through the girls and Glinda shot her roommate a warning look. Elphaba itched to slap all these girls in the face and stomp out of the room, but she willed herself to keep her mouth shut and be quiet.
"Of course reputation is everything," the brunette next to Elphaba sneered contemptuously. Many of the girls nodded in agreement. Elphaba just slumped in her chair and grumbled something under her breath. Nessarose, from across the table, was glaring intently at her sister and didn't stop doing so until Elphaba had straightened up again and plastered on a fake smile. Nessa gave her a small grin, which the green girl returned with a roll of her eyes.
"It's not just his reputation I based that on," Saraphina assured Elphaba. "I've known him since we were children. He wasn't so bad at first, but trust me when I say that ever since he became a teenager, no-one would still want to marry Fiyero." She shuddered a little.
Elphaba wrinkled her nose. She supposed she could imagine that. Glinda was looking at her now and gave her an encouraging thumbs-up when she caught her best friend's gaze.
However, when a girl named Lunare from Gillikin declared that winning the Miss Emerald beauty pageant would be the biggest thing she could ever dream to achieve and that it would give her life so much more meaning, Elphaba snorted loudly. Once again, the girls' heads whipped around to her and she muttered, "Sorry."
"You're not very ladylike, are you?" Karise asked in amusement. Nathalinia nudged her again to quiet her, but Karise merely cracked a grin at Elphaba. "I think I like you."
"Thanks," said Elphaba sarcastically. "That means so much to me. Now I can finally sleep at night."
Nathalinia giggled quietly. Karise was still grinning. Glinda and Nessa were shooting Elphaba warning looks from the other end of the table.
Cashel and Reven soon re-appeared to try and manage the girls, but they were doing a rather poor job at it. The only time they got the contestants' full attention was when they started explaining what would happen during the recordings the following two days and how things would proceed from then on.
"Tomorrow," Reven gushed, "we'll gather at the address you'll find on the card underneath your plates at ten o'clock sharp. Wear something nice, because you will be officially presented as a candidate of the Miss Emerald competition to all of Oz! You'll have the afternoon off to spend some time sightseeing or preparing for the day after; because on Sunday, Kiah Dersing is going to interview you! As you probably all know, Kiah is a very well-known interviewer and her opinion means everything, so you will all need to look your best! Our prep teams will be ready for you in the Emerald City Hall on Sunday morning. They will help you be the best version of yourself you can be. You will be interviewed one by one in alphabetical order, about ten minutes for each of you – remember, this is only an introductory interview. Once you manage to send home more of your competition, the people will also want to know more about you."
Cashel took over. "We start with the first girl, Faye Alis, at eleven o'clock sharp. You all have half an hour to get prepped and fifteen minutes in total to be interviewed, so Faye, you'll have to be present at half past ten at the latest. The next girl, Saraphina, will have to be there at eleven and her interview starts at half past eleven, etcetera. I will hand you all a scheme before you go tonight so you can see at what time you need to be present for prepping and at what time your interview is scheduled. After the interview, some pictures will be taken; aside from being on TV for all of Oz to see next Friday night, a short summary of the interviews and your pictures will also be published in The Ozian. You can wander around the City for a little bit after your interview and photos are done, but all of you will need to be back at five o'clock sharp for a group photo. Then you can go home."
"Great," Elphaba muttered, even as the other girls made excited noises.
"Oh, I'm going to be in the newspaper! And all of Oz will be able to watch us next Friday night!" Faye clasped her hands together, eyes shining. "This is going to be wonderful!"
Glinda was looking troubled, however, and she was not the only one. "Half an hour is not nearly enough to get prepped for a photo shoot!" she protested. "We need more time!"
"Ladies, ladies!" Reven held up her hands. "Not to worry! You can do most of the prepping at home already. Make sure your skin is moisturised and your hair washed and brushed. If you want, apply some basic make-up. Our prep teams are absolute experts in this area and they can turn you from pauper to princess in half an hour with hardly any effort involved."
Nessarose smiled. "I'm looking forward to the experience," she said politely.
"You hardly need any prepping, though," the caramel-skinned girl said a little shyly to Nessa. "You're so beautiful, you would even look wonderful without any preparations at all."
Nessa beamed. Although she got compliments about her looks all the time, they were usually accompanied by some comment about her chair; but this girl really seemed to mean it and Elphaba could tell how much that meant to her little sister. "Do you really think so?"
The girl nodded and Nessa's smile turned more genuine. "Thank you. Although I must say you look quite beautiful yourself," she added and the girl blushed.
"Thanks. I'm Umbia Zespri," she introduced herself to the wheelchair-bound girl. "I'm from the Glikkus."
"Nessarose Thropp from Munchkinland."
The rest of the conversation was drowned out for Elphaba because Reven and Cashel started talking again, trying to make themselves heard over the chattering of the girls. She was glad Nessa had made a friend, however.
"Of course," Cashel was saying – or, well, shouting – "we understand that once your identities known to the people, you will start to get swarmed by the press and we will protect you from that. In cooperation with His Ozness himself, as well as each of your schools or homes, we have arranged for security. No press will be allowed on the premises of your homes and the schools you go to."
Elphaba knew it wasn't just about the press. Even though the letters had threatened that an attack would come during the beauty pageant finale, the threats had been made specifically against some prominent families in Oz – families whose daughters were here tonight. Realistically speaking, an attack could come at any given time and in any shape or form. They had no idea what to expect and she knew that was why Oscar was so worried about it.
Unfortunately, she didn't think she was going to make a lot of progress in finding out who was behind the letters tonight. Right now she thought that most of the people present here were too stupid to be criminals – that included most of the girls, but also Reven and Cashel. Everyone here was petty and bubbly and fashionable, but she couldn't see any of them threatening to murder someone… unless that someone happened to be endangering the state of their nails or trying to take the title of Miss Emerald away from her.
She would have been irked at the prospect of security if she didn't know that it was necessary. Oscar had even gone so far as to ask Fiyero to keep an eye on Elphaba and Glinda, since the prince had been raised learning about hunting and combat skills in the Vinkus. Of course, the green girl had cornered him straight after finding out about that and told him in no uncertain terms that if he thought he could follow her around like a crazy stalker now, he had another thing coming, and that she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself; at which he had merely rolled his eyes and assured her he'd figured as much without her having to tell him. She was confident that he knew her well enough to still give her some space. As for Nessarose, Boq would continue to be by her side often, since they were still dating. In all honesty, Elphaba found herself wishing that someone would attack already, just so she didn't have to partake in this nonsense; but of course, she had no such luck.
Glinda made sure she, Elphaba, and Nessarose were all well-prepared for their presentation the next day, which was basically just the girls walking down a runway in pretty dresses one by one. Much to Elphaba's horror, the colour theme of the presentation was green, because of the Emerald City. Glinda looked fabulous in a sparkly emerald day dress with a puffy skirt and Nessarose was demurely elegant in a long, pale green number with some accents of grey and silver. Elphaba, however, felt utterly ridiculous wearing this colour.
"Don't they think enough of me is green already?" she complained as she was waiting for her turn, watching one of the other girls parading down the runway. "I look ridiculous!"
"I think you look quite nice," Lunare said with a blinding smile. It had been obvious to Elphaba from the beginning that Lunare was one of the girls who was basically only interested in her because she was the princess. Glinda had warned her against being rude, though, so she merely plastered on a smile.
"Thank you."
Her dress was dark green, thankfully with some black involved as well. It had a tightly laced bodice that showed off altogether more figure than Elphaba was willing to reveal (as far as she had a figure, anyway, because it wasn't like her hips were very feminine or she had any breasts to speak of). She was glad at least it had a high neckline and sleeves, albeit short ones, and that the flowy skirt reached the floor.
She soon managed to determine her opinion of most of the girls, discovering, much to her surprise, that there were actually some among them she quite liked. Umbia, Karise, and Nathalinia seemed to be genuinely nice – in different ways: Umbia was shy and quiet, but sweet; Karise was gruff and sarcastic, which Elphaba could appreciate; and Nathalinia reminded her a little of Glinda, cheerful and bubbly. Macy, Lunare, Micaela, and Saraphina were a little harder to read. Macy was the brunette who had been sitting next to Elphaba at the dinner and she seemed to be quite repulsed by the green girl's skin, but ever since realising Elphaba was actually the princess, she'd be sugary sweet to her face – just like Lunare and Micaela. Saraphina turned out to have more depth than Elphaba had initially given her credit for and although she had mainly talked to Glinda so far, she was nice enough to the dark-haired witch as well. Then there were Faye and Caila, whom Elphaba hadn't really talked to yet, so she wasn't sure what to think of them. In general, she thought her hypothesis of these girls all being stupid and air-headed had probably not been entirely right – although she wasn't ready to completely discard it, either.
The cameras had been set up and the director motioned for Reven and Cashel to start talking; and then the presentation of the first candidate began. Elphaba watched with growing dread, waiting for her own turn, but it turned out not to be so bad. She somehow managed to walk down the runway in her heels, with the skirt of her dress fluttering around her legs, without falling over, only briefly losing her balance once or twice; and Reven complimented her beamingly when she came down from the runway. Naturally, Glinda did a wonderful job, looking more like a princess than Elphaba probably ever would; and Nessarose had to wheel, rather than walk, down the runway, but she looked wonderful as well.
When they were finished for the day and Elphaba could change back into a simpler (still fashionable), black dress and a pair of ballet flats, she sighed with relief. "That was horrible," she said bluntly. "Can we please go and spend the afternoon with Boq and Fiyero now? I need some intelligent conversation or I'll go crazy."
"You know something's wrong when she wants to look for Fiyero in order to have intelligent conversation," Glinda stressed to Nessarose and the girl in the wheelchair giggled.
"Come on, Fabala," she said. "It wasn't that bad, was it? Most of the girls seemed nice enough."
"I thought they were nice," said Glinda defensively. "Obviously some of them were a little snobby or over-competitive, but I had some nice conversations. At first I thought Saraphina was a little mean, what with the way she judged Fiyero, but we had a conversation later and I was wrong. She told me about their time growing up together and apparently, his behaviour was really very bad some years ago. We bonded a little, I think."
"Over gossip about Fiyero?" Elphaba asked knowingly and her roommate flushed a little.
"Well… yes," she admitted, which made both Thropp sisters laugh.
"I know what you mean, though," said Nessa. "I really like Umbia and most of the others were friendly to me as well. Didn't you like anyone, Fabala?"
Elphaba paused. "I suppose some of them were not that bad… Karise appreciated my sarcasm."
Glinda shook her head. "Oh, Elphie."
The moment Elphaba laid eyes on Boq and Fiyero, she dramatically ran towards them and flung an arm around each of them. "Either of you," she begged, "please, please kill me now."
Boq chuckled and Fiyero asked in amusement, "Was it that bad?"
"It wasn't bad at all!" Glinda protested. "Elphie is just being a little overdramatic."
Fiyero consolingly patted the green girl's head. "Don't worry, Fae. I bet you're doing great."
"I haven't done anything so far!" Elphaba wailed. "I've only sat through dinner and walked up and down a runway for a few hours and I'm already physically and emotionally exhausted! This is never going to work!"
"Of course it is," said Nessa, who smiled as Boq greeted her with a kiss. "Fiyero is right – you've been doing great and we'll continue to help you. Just try to focus on finding out who is planning on attacking on the day of the finale and maybe you won't even have to see this through to the end."
"And for now," Fiyero said, putting his arm around Elphaba's shoulders and grinning when she moaned and buried her face in his shoulder, "we're going to spend the afternoon exploring the City and having fun."
"Can we visit a bookstore?" Elphaba asked, her voice muffled by Fiyero's shirt, and he nodded.
"Sure we can," he comforted her.
She nodded and raised her head. "Okay. Then I'm in."
Glinda rolled her eyes. Nessa giggled quietly.
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