Look at that, right on schedule! Here's some budding Fiyeraba for you.

5. When We Misbehave

The interview was a horrid experience and Elphaba knew she hadn't done well. Thanks to Glinda, she'd looked fine when she arrived and thanks to the prep team, she looked either stunningly beautiful (according to Glinda) or utterly ridiculous (according to Elphaba herself) when she went into the small room where Kiah Dersing was interviewing the girls. There was a cameraman present as well and he'd given Elphaba a reassuring smile when she'd come in, which calmed her down a little. The dark-haired witch tried to sit up straight and not slouch, to articulate nicely and to smile prettily all the time and say all the right things, but she knew she'd failed.

The moment Kiah had asked her about her political opinion – "His Ozness has been making a lot of changes lately. For example, what do you think of the fact that he has decided that lowly creatures such as Animals should be made equal to humans?" – Elphaba had launched into a heated speech about how Animals had always been equal to humans and it had only been recently that they'd started being mistreated and they were not lowly creatures at all, contrary to most of the girls participating in this stupid event, as well as the hosts and apparently also the journalists, since that was the most prejudiced question she'd ever heard and testified to Kiah's ignorance and the power of propaganda. Kiah had been shocked into silence after that and even the cameraman hadn't known what to say. Elphaba was pretty sure Oscar would have to work hard to smooth things over a little and make sure that part was cut before the interview would be broadcast the next weekend.

She fled the Hall the moment she was allowed to leave and went into the City itself, visiting museums and libraries until it was time to gather for the group photos. After that, the girls all went back to their respective hotels.

"How did your interview go, Fabala?" Nessa asked as they walked and Elphaba grimaced.

"Don't. Please," she begged. "I don't want to talk about it. Which reminds me – I'll have to write to Oscar right away to see if he can fix things before what I said actually ends up being shown on TV and all of Oz will hate me – or worse, know that I'm a fake."

Glinda stopped walking to give her friend a horrified look. "What did you say?"

"I'd rather not repeat that," Elphaba muttered, quickening her pace and pushing Nessa's chair without looking at her roommate. She could feel Glinda's narrowed eyes on her, but much to her relief, the blonde didn't say anything else about it. She probably knew she'd get nothing from Elphaba, anyway. The green girl, for her part, just hoped that she'd be able to do better next time or this whole plan was doomed to fail.

Oscar frowned a little, pursing his lips as he read the latest edition of The Ozian. Dr Dillamond and Chistery were reading over each of his shoulders. Glinda watched anxiously, Fiyero and Nessarose curiously; and Elphaba was draped across the arm chair in Dr Dillamond's office, looking bored with her legs swung over one of the arms as she constantly kicked the air with her feet.

When Oscar finally looked up, he was smiling. "This actually looks really good, Elphaba."

"You don't have to sound so surprised," she muttered. When there came no reply, she glanced up, only to find everyone looking at her. "Okay," she amended, "I messed up. Big time. I guess it's a surprise that my interview is good."

"What does it say?" Glinda demanded eagerly.

Dr Dillamond shook his head. "Nothing strange," he said. "Kiah stuck to the basics." After Oscar had used his influence to make her, they all knew, but no-one said it. "Elphaba Thropp, twenty-two years old, from the Emerald City. Recently discovered to be the daughter to the Wonderful Wizard. Majors in Politics at Shiz University with a double minor in Literature and Sorcery. Hobbies include reading and spending time with her friends and her sister Nessarose. Strong advocate of Animal rights."

Elphaba huffed a laugh. "I bet she thought that must be the understatement of the year, after my speech to her about it."

Fiyero grinned. "Probably."

"But does it really matter as long as the end result is good?" Chistery asked and she smiled at him.

"Not really," she admitted. "As long as no-one suspects my role in all this, I'm good."

"Look, Elphie," Glinda said, snatching the newspaper from Oscar and holding it up for Elphaba to see. "You look so pretty in your picture!" She quickly flipped over. "Oh, Nessa, you look beautiful, too! And so do I! That photographer was really talented." She glanced at her green roommate. "I suppose it could have been worse... although next time it'd be better if you'd just keep your mouth shut so that Oscar wouldn't need to influence anyone," she added with a stern look.

Elphaba rolled her eyes. "Yes, Mum."

"I think her passion is part of her charm," Fiyero declared, leaning back in his chair.

Now Elphaba rolled her eyes at him. "Because I'm oh so charming," she deadpanned.

"I think you are," he countered, making her scowl.

Glinda huffed. "A little passion is nice, Fiyero, but this wasn't passion anymore – this was aggression. She needs to learn to tone it down. That means more lessons in the near future, Elphie."

Elphaba groaned, letting her head drop back. "Great. Just wonderful."

"I hope that what they'll be showing on Friday night will be just as censored," Oscar said, sounding mildly concerned.

Dr Dillamond nodded. "I'm sure it will be."

"Look, Fabala." Nessa smiled, showing her sister her own interview. "Kiah thought I was sweet and beautiful and she considers me a serious candidate for the title of Miss Emerald!"

Elphaba smiled back at the younger girl. "That's great, Nessie. You are, after all." She reached out to squeeze Nessa's arm. "They'd be foolish not to consider you a serious candidate."

"Thanks, Fabala." Nessa quickly read Glinda's interview. "She liked you, too," she said to the blonde, "although she does say you appear a little vain."

Glinda flushed. "I am not!"

Elphaba snorted. "And I'm the Wizard of Oz."

"Technically, you're his daughter," Chistery pointed out and Elphaba glared at the Flying Monkey. He chortled and flew up from his seat, landing a safe distance away from the cranky green girl.

"She's fairly positive about everyone," Dr Dillamond said, reading along with Nessarose. "She also has something negative to say about each girl, though. Glinda's vain, Nessa's in a chair, Elphaba's a little too outspoken –"

"That's the understatement of the year," Oscar muttered. His daughter's glare was now directed at him, but he raised his eyebrows at her unfazed. "Do you disagree?"

"No," she had to admit and he smirked at her.

Dr Dillamond continued. "Kiah thinks Umbia is too quiet and Lunare slightly arrogant. She doesn't like Saraphina's clothing style or Faye's hair, Karise should be more polite, Caila could be a little less conscious of her high status..."

"So basically she just summed up all of our good and bad traits, our backgrounds, and our hobbies, and added a picture," Elphaba summed up. "That's supposed to give the Ozians a proper idea of who we are?"

"They have to start somewhere." Dr Dillamond folded The Ozian. "The people will find out more about all of you this Friday, remember?"

"However," said Oscar, "none of that really matters. What does matter, Elphaba, is whether or not you've found anything about the threats."

Elphaba shrugged. "What could I have found? I've barely seen those girls and prep teams," she reminded him. "We had one dinner and a few brief conversations over the entire weekend. I haven't seen anything suspicious yet. My job would be easier, anyway, if I knew what to look for."

"I'd tell you if I knew," Oscar said, frustrated. "I don't, however. We don't know what we're looking for. I just need you to keep your eyes and ears wide open."

"Will do." She yawned and Glinda slapped her arm.

"Cover your mouth when you do that!"

The green girl groaned. "These are going to be six really, really long weeks."

Over the course of the next few days, Elphaba's friends continued to educate her on beauty and etiquette, much to the young witch's chagrin. Classes had resumed by then and she worked just as hard as she used to – taking notes, writing essays and summaries, and researching things in the library; but in between, Glinda was always there, or Nessa, or Dr Dillamond, to nag her about something and it was driving her crazy. She knew she had a lot to work on for this beauty pageant, but that didn't mean she was going to cast aside her education for it. Unfortunately, Glinda was especially hell-bent on teaching Elphaba to dance properly – or at least well enough to not make a fool out of herself – for the ball that weekend, meaning hours of practising some basic dances in high heels. Each girl would have to perform a single dance in front of everyone, to show off her dancing skills and to give the people a chance to have a good look at her. Glinda had chosen a waltz for Elphaba, explaining that one was relatively easy and even the green girl should be able to learn how to do it.

Oscar and Chistery had returned to the Emerald City, but she would be seeing them both again that same weekend. All the participants of the Miss Emerald competition would travel to Gillikin then (even though Elphaba had Oscar to provide for her now, she was still glad that the contestants all got paid to cover their travel expenses, since there would be a lot of travelling back and forth to different places in the upcoming weeks) to attend a ball, along with a lot of press and high officials. The whole thing would be recorded as well and it would be broadcast the Friday night after that. It was not something Elphaba was looking forward to, but also not something she could change anything about. It was going to be even worse because a lot of important families from all over Oz were invited to the ball as well, meaning Pfannee and Milla would also be there with their parents. Elphaba just hoped Glinda's dancing lessons had been enough to keep her from embarrassing herself silly in front of those two… as well as the rest of the ballroom.

Fortunately, one thing had already been arranged and that was her escort. Each girl was required to bring a young man to escort her and Elphaba had dreaded it at first, assuming Boq would take Nessa and Fiyero Glinda. She'd already been debating asking Chistery when Glinda had informed her that she had actually arranged a different escort for herself, some handsome boy in the year above theirs, so Fiyero was able to take Elphaba. She'd asked him a thousand times if he really didn't mind – "No, Fae, I don't mind spending a night dancing with you, you're my friend and I'm glad I can help you this way so please just shut up about it and let me do this for you" – but she really was grateful. Hopefully this night would be a lot less horrible with him by her side.

On Thursday night, she awoke a few hours before dawn, shivering all over. Already knowing she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, she slipped out of bed and put on some warm clothes before quietly sneaking out of the room and out of the building, into the night. She wandered around campus for a while and eventually sat down on a bench along the path. Her breath made small puffs of mist in the cold air and she tilted her head back and closed her eyes for a moment. A short walk at night had always helped her when she needed to think, even back home in Munchkinland.

She opened her eyes when she heard footsteps crunching on the gravel of the path and her stomach churned. Who could be out walking across campus in the middle of the night? Visions of all kinds of criminals roaming the paths in search of a lonely student made her sit up straight, ready to defend herself should the need arise – just in case.

The person that appeared from the darkness, however, was a familiar one and she slumped back against the bench with a sigh, relieved. "Oz, Fiyero, I thought you were a murderer or something. What are you doing here in the middle of the night?"

He chuckled and sat down beside her. "I've been up for a while," he said. "My roommate snores. It woke me up. I saw you sitting here from the window and I wanted to see if you were all right."

"Fine," she said tiredly, laying her head in her neck again.

He pressed on. "If you're fine, then why are you out here at this hour?"

She shrugged, tucking her hands into the pockets of her coat to try and keep her fingers from freezing. "I had a nightmare," she said. "I couldn't sleep again after that. I thought a walk might help."

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked, his eyes dark with concern. They were still as blue as sapphires, though – so bright she could distinguish them easily, even in the dim light of the moon and the few lanterns lit along the path. Their colour reminded her of the mythical oceans she'd read about in books.

Suddenly realising she was staring, she blinked and averted her gaze. "Oh. No. It's, um... nothing special. I have them occasionally. Nightmares, I mean."

He nodded. "About what?"

"Baby girls with tangled legs and mothers covered in blood," she muttered wryly, rubbing her eyes. "Animals' voices being taken away and Monkeys screaming as they sprout wings because of a spell I cast. The usual."

He looked pained. "I'm sorry."

She shrugged again. "I'm used to it. Like I said, some fresh air helps. Playing drums usually helps, too," she quirked a smile, "but I'd hate to disturb half the campus in the middle of the night."

He nodded, then frowned. "You play drums? Wait a clock-tick – we actually have a drum set on campus?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "Have you never been to the music room? Shiz University has pretty much every possible musical instrument in there."

He actually hadn't known that.

"And yes," she continued, "I play drums. Father very fiercely disapproved of it, but I had this great high school teacher back in Munchkinland who started teaching me once he found out about my interest in it and I continued on my own when I came to Shiz. Not many people know that about me." She shrugged. "I guess it helps with my anger management issues," she said with a small laugh. "Go crazy with some drum sticks and let it all out of my system, you know? It's not very appropriate for a 'lady'," she added mockingly, "but it's not like I've ever cared about that. It's pretty much the only thing to do with music that I'm good at, too."

"Huh," he mused. "You never stop surprising people, do you?"

Her smile was a little wry. "I guess."

She was shivering, he noticed, and he scooted closer, holding out his arm. For a moment, she hesitated; but then she leaned into him and let him wrap his arm around her shoulders.

"Thanks," she whispered.

He smiled. "No problem."

They were both quiet for a moment. Then Fiyero asked, "Are you worried?"

"About what?"

"The contest," he said. "The people behind the threat."

She shook her head. "No."

She smirked a little and Fiyero glanced at her face once, then rolled his eyes and said knowingly, "You're more concerned about the pageant in itself than you are about some criminal attacking everyone present at the finale, aren't you?"

She grinned mischievously at him. "I never said that."

"You didn't have to."

She laughed, letting her head drop back against Fiyero's shoulder. "Fine. You know me too well." She was quiet for a moment. "Are you worried?"

He cocked his head a little to the side. "Am I? What do you think? Do you know me as well as I apparently know you?"

She rolled her eyes. "Of course I do. And of course you're worried – not about the pageant, because for some crazy reason you're probably going to say that you believe I'll do great; but about the attack, because you're afraid people might get hurt."

"I'm afraid you might get hurt," he corrected her. "I mean, of course I don't want anything to happen to Glin or Nessa, or any of the other people present, but you're the one having to do all the dangerous stuff like trying to unmask a potential murderer."

"They won't even know what I'm doing," she murmured. "I'm not in any danger. I'm the only one who can do this, though."

"I know." He turned his head a little so he could rest his chin on her hair. "And I'm not trying to stop you. I just worry."

She smiled tiredly and they sat in silence, Elphaba with her eyes closed and Fiyero staring out across the dark university campus without really seeing anything. He thought she'd fallen asleep, but then she asked quietly, "Why do you care so much?"

"Because you're my friend," he replied. "Why wouldn't I care?"

He felt her shrug half-heartedly. "Not many people ever have before."

The fact that she stated it like it was a fact, without a trace of self-pity, only made it worse in his eyes, but he knew she wouldn't want him to mention it and so all he said was, "Well, I do."

She nodded against his shoulder. "Thanks."

"Glinda does, too, you know," he reminded her. "And Nessa, Boq, Dr Dillamond, your father – Oscar, not Frex – and Chistery…"

She chuckled softly. "Yeah. I guess they do. I've never had so many friends before," she admitted. "It's… nice. I mean, it takes some getting used to – mainly all the attention and the worrying – but it's still nice."

They fell silent again and eventually, Fiyero shifted. "Come on. Let's get you back to your room."

She looked reluctant, but she heaved a sigh and nodded, allowing him to pull her to her feet. He walked her back to the girls' dormitories. Fiyero hesitated for a moment, but then he leaned in and kissed Elphaba's cheek.

"Sweet dreams, Fae," he said.

She could feel a flush creeping up her cheeks and she quickly shook her hair forward so she could hide behind it. "Good night," she mumbled.

He left and she went upstairs to her dorm room, bringing her fingers up to touch her cheek. It was like she could still feel his lips there.

Other than that, I have just posted a poll on my profile, asking you to vote for max 6 girls whom you think should make it to the finale/win the competition. It will stay up for quite a while yet and I'll warn you a few times before it closes, so you might want to hold your votes until you've read a bit more about all the different girls; but of course you can vote whenever you want!

Please try not to vote (entirely) based on how much you like the girls or the FF people the girls were based on, but also keep in mind how big of a chance you think they'd have in a real beauty pageant. I get the urge to vote for all the nice, modest, non-shallow (green) girls, but I'd like your votes to sort of represent 'real' ones and the people of Oz would probably keep the prettiest rich girls in the race.