There you go - already late updating again. Sorry!
I'm glad you all liked sassy Elphaba, though. There'll be more of that in the future... and of other things, too. *cough*Fiyeraba*cough*
7. A Fairy-Tale Plot
"That," Fiyero said as he followed Elphaba through the crowd, "was amazing."
She gave him a wry grin. "Thanks."
Cashel called Lunare and her escort forward, but Elphaba didn't even glance over her shoulder at the other girl. She stopped walking and released a frustrated breath as she turned around to face Fiyero.
"None of these girls are murderers," she said. "Some of them are petty, vain, arrogant, stupid, mean, greedy, and manipulative, yes, but not even Macy or Lunare seem capable of murder. Especially not during the beauty pageant finale. It's way too important to them." She blew a loose lock of hair out of her face and sighed again. "This was all a bad idea."
Fiyero touched her waist, gently drawing her closer. "Fae… I'm sorry about what they said about you just now," he began, but she waved him away tiredly.
"Don't. It's nothing I haven't heard before."
"That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt," he said knowingly and she shrugged, not saying anything. Much to her surprise, he wrapped his arms more fully around her and hugged her. She tensed a little at first. Then she relaxed, hugging him back.
"Thanks, Yero," she said as she pulled away.
He grinned at her. "You're welcome."
"Look at that," Pfannee sneered from behind them. "The artichoke is in love with the prince. How pathetic."
"Shut up, Pfannee," Fiyero snapped at the redhead; but before he could say anything else, the music stopped. Lunare and her escort bowed and left the dance floor, glowing at the polite applause they received as they headed for Macy, Pfannee, and Milla. Reven called for the next contestant, Miss Elphaba Thropp.
"Now it's your turn, greenie," Lunare hissed at Elphaba through her teeth as she passed her, her fake smile still plastered on her face. "I'm looking forward to seeing you making a fool out of yourself."
"Again," Pfannee, who had overheard, added nastily. She smirked at Elphaba. "We all remember the OzDust." She and Milla giggled.
Lunare and Macy gave them questioning looks and the green girl could hear Pfannee and Milla starting to tell the story. Elphaba felt herself flush, but she refused to be flustered. She held her head up high as she walked onto the dance floor on Fiyero's arm.
"Relax," he murmured. "I'll lead. We practised – you've got this."
"I know," she said.
It was true: she couldn't dance. Not by herself, anyway. The way she'd embarrassed herself at the OzDust Ballroom a little over a year ago proved that; the memory of that night still made her cringe, even though both Glinda and Fiyero insisted they'd actually been rather impressed with the courage she'd showed. She hadn't felt brave in that moment, though, just betrayed and angry and alone. She felt that if she had proved anything to herself and her fellow students that day, it was that she really, really couldn't dance.
She'd never been good at dancing with a partner, either, but Frex had forced her to take lessons nonetheless so she wouldn't embarrass him at parties. She'd practised with Fiyero a couple of times in the past week, but her real progress had been thanks to Glinda. Her blonde roommate had been a true slave-driver. She'd taught Elphaba some basics of different types of dances, but she'd especially spent a lot of time practising this particular waltz with her friend. They'd practised until Elphaba's feet felt like they would fall off and even then, Glinda had not been satisfied, wanting Elphaba to be perfect so that she could show the other contestants something. Not even Fiyero knew how well she could do at least this single dance. She'd been frustrated with Glinda, but now she could only be grateful. The look of shock that would surely appear on those girls' faces in a few minutes would make all the pain in her feet worth it.
Fiyero laced their fingers together and gave her hand a gentle squeeze, earning himself a grateful smile from her. He placed his other hand on the her waist and drew her closer. Elphaba's breath caught in her throat when she looked into his eyes and they stayed like that for just a moment, their eyes locked. Then the music began.
She was nervous at first, but the moment they took the first step, she knew they were completely in sync and they would be fine. Fiyero guided her through the steps and she easily kept up with him, remembering everything Glinda had taught her. They glided across the dance floor as the music swelled and Fiyero dipped her and twirled her around, subtly and gently correcting her every time she did make a slight mistake. She was fairly confident that no-one noticed those slight missteps and all in all, it went even better than she could have hoped for. Fiyero grinned at her and she grinned back, giddy about the whole thing. She glanced in the direction of Macy, Lunare, Pfannee, and Milla once, only to find them all looking dismayed and cranky. It only improved her mood.
When the music ended, she curtseyed and Fiyero bowed; and as the crowd applauded, they made their way off to the side, where Glinda greeted them with a beaming smile.
"Elphie!" she squealed, enveloping her roommate in a hug. "That was wonderful! You did such a great job! I honestly thought you were totally going to mess it up –"
"Why are you always so mean to me?" the green girl complained.
Glinda giggled. "You didn't, though!" she assured her friend. "You two were brilliant. You looked quite cute, too. Oh!" Her eyes suddenly started shining and she clasped her hands together.
Elphaba eyed her warily. "What?"
"Nothing," Glinda said innocently. "It's just… this idea I had." Her eyes kept darting back and forth between Elphaba and Fiyero, with this knowing little smirk around her lips. It was annoying, to say the least.
Elphaba pulled herself to her full height and gave her best friend a threatening glare. "Glinda…"
Just then, however, Cashel called Glinda's name and she quickly nudged her date, smiling widely at Elphaba. "Sorry, Elphie," she apologised. "It's my turn now!" With that, she moved away from her roommate, talking quickly to her date as she guided him over to the dance floor and they assumed the appropriate position to begin their dance.
Elphaba huffed and crossed her arms, leaning against the wall. "Silly girl. What in Oz is she up to now?"
Fiyero thought he might have an idea, but he wisely decided not to mention it.
It was quite late by the time they left the ball and returned to Shiz. Chistery would fly back to Shiz on his own and Glinda and her date rode back with Pfannee and Milla, which left Elphaba, Fiyero, Nessarose, and Boq to share a carriage. Nessa, exhausted after the long night, quickly fell asleep against Boq's shoulder and the Munchkin himself followed not long thereafter with his head on Nessa's, snoring slightly.
Elphaba herself was tired, too. After each girl had shown off her dancing skills in front of the cameras, Reven and Cashel had introduced them all to a bunch of important Ozians – ambassadors, mayors, rich businessmen, and influential socialites, most of whom had sponsored the Miss Emerald competition somehow. Needless to say it had cost Elphaba a lot of effort to remain polite and to keep smiling; and even then, it was not over yet, because then all the girls and their escorts had to be on the dance floor at the same time for some more pictures and recordings for the show on Friday night.
The journey to Shiz was mostly quiet. It lasted about an hour and Elphaba spent most of it reading, of course having sneaked a book and her glasses into her purse, while Fiyero just rested his chin on his fist and stared out of the window. At some point, Elphaba yawned and put her book and glasses away, laying her head against Fiyero's shoulder and dozing like that for a while.
The prince gently woke her up once they arrived at the university. "Fae?" he whispered, nudging her slightly. "We're here."
"Mmh." She blinked sleepily. "Already?"
Fiyero shook Boq awake as well, who then in turn woke Nessa. After the two boys managed to settle Nessa in her chair, Boq and the younger girl bade the other two good night and disappeared off in the direction of Morrible's quarters. (Elphaba had wanted her little sister away from that terrible woman at first, but she had eventually recognised that no matter how horrible Morrible might be, she did take care of Nessa rather well and she wasn't really a danger without her magic or anyone to support her. Elphaba did keep a close eye on her, though – just to be sure.) Fiyero, meanwhile, walked Elphaba back to the girls' dormitories.
"You know," he said after they had walked a short while in silence. "You really do look beautiful tonight."
She sighed. "Fiyero…"
"I mean it," he said, looking at her. "I know you don't think I'm telling the truth, but I am and I'll keep telling you until you believe me. Just because you're green, doesn't mean you're ugly. Especially not when you look like this." He gestured at her dress, which was glistening in the light of the street lanterns illuminating the campus paths. "And regardless of how pretty all those other girls might have looked tonight, you were without a shadow of a doubt the most gorgeous girl in the room."
He could see a dark blush creep up into her cheeks, but she ducked her head before he could study it more closely and she murmured, "Thank you."
He smiled. Being shy was so unlike her, but it suited her somehow. He took her hand and squeezed it; surprised, she looked up at him and when he grinned at her, she chuckled softly and squeezed back.
He really wanted to kiss her.
He didn't think she'd ever guessed the real reason he'd broken up with Glinda. He was pretty sure Glinda herself had guessed, though, and although she probably wouldn't have liked it in the beginning, she seemed to be okay with it now – more than okay, judging from her reaction earlier that night. He knew, however, that the real challenge wasn't Glinda – it was Elphaba herself, and he was going to have to be very patient in order to convince her that he really did like her and it wasn't just a passing crush.
They reached her dorm building and he wondered for a moment if he should kiss her, but then he decided against it. She had enough on her plate already and he knew it would come too unexpected. It wouldn't go over well. So he just brought their joint hands up and kissed the back of her hand in an exaggerated gesture, bowing. "Milady. It was a pleasure to have accompanied thou tonight."
She chortled. "The pleasure was mine, good sir," she said, rolling her eyes even as she did so. "Good night, you idiot."
He grinned at her. "Good night, Milady." Then he remembered something. "Um… wouldst thou mayhaps be so kind as to aid this poor, unfortunate soul with his Politics essay in the morrow? I doth fear that he may fail it otherwise…"
She snorted a laugh and shook her head, but she was grinning. "Fine," she said, smirking at him. "I'll help you. Consider it a 'thank you' for escorting me tonight."
"You don't need to thank me for that, you know," he said, suddenly growing serious again. He gently tucked a loose lock of hair behind her ear. "I meant it when I said it was a pleasure."
She flushed slightly again and he pulled his hand away, deciding that was probably enough for today. "'Night, Fae."
Much to his surprise, it was she this time who leaned up a little and brushed her lips against his cheek, just at the corner of his mouth. She was blushing even more fiercely when she moved back again. "Regardless of whether it was a pleasure or not," she said, "thank you. You made tonight a whole lot more bearable for me by not forcing me to go with some random guy who would have made me uncomfortable all night long."
He knew he was grinning like an idiot. Honestly, he didn't think he could be more giddy if she'd yanked him down for a passionate make-out session.
"Good night," she said quietly. Then she turned around and disappeared into the building.
The poll is still open and will remain so for another while. You can vote now or wait until after chapter 13 - then you'll have seen pretty much all there's to see of the other characters before the semi-final.
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