We'll just do the extra update now, then!

13. Carried Away

"And that is why I have chosen Traum University's male swimming team as my charity," Lunare concluded her speech proudly. "Because they deserve to keep existing so many more girls can enjoy the view of handsome, muscular boys in nothing but swimming trunks."

Elphaba stared at the girl up on the stage. Lunare simply smiled sweetly, waved at the audience and the cameras, and then got down from the stage to make room for the next girl.

"This is so stupid it's not even worth an eye roll," the green girl said flatly.

Nessa giggled. "Oh, Fabala. Some of the girls did have good charities! Like Saraphina's orphanage, and Umbia's animal shelter…"

"Nathalinia's education programme, Caila's ideas to improve the judicial system…" Glinda added.

"…and Macy promoting a make-up brand?" Elphaba asked sarcastically, making her friends giggle again.

"All right, I see your point," Glinda conceded. She had already been up to talk about her own charity, which was a foundation that helped young girls who'd come out of prostitution get back on their feet. Next up was Faye, supporting the elderly; and after that, it was Elphaba's turn to present the Animal rehabilitation programme she had chosen as her own charity. Nessa, who had picked a programme on religious education, was to go up straight after her sister.

Elphaba would be happy once the presentations were over – she hated presenting before an audience and she hated listening to the other girls presenting even more. After that would come the intelligence test, which she didn't mind so much. If anything, she was looking forward to seeing some of the other girls' scores. That night, however, would not be much better than the afternoon, because the Miss Emerald team had organised a party for the contestants, so they could celebrate the fact that there would be no more recording sessions. That Friday, the charity presentations and results of the intelligence test would be broadcast; and the week after that would be the semi-final, the first live show of the competition. Elphaba wasn't looking forward to that, either.

She felt like she wasn't so much living her life as that it was being lived for her. Between this pageant and her studies, she'd barely spent time with her friends (outside of Miss Emerald settings) over the past weeks, just sitting together and talking or doing something fun. Not to mention the fact that in the week they'd been together, she and Fiyero had indeed only been on one date and the amount of conversations they'd had about what she imagined to be important relationship topics (again, not counting anything competition- or study-related) could be counted on one hand.

Glinda had already informed her that what she deemed important relationship topics really didn't matter all that much. "You and Fiyero already know one another so well," she'd assured her roommate. "You've been friends for a long time and it's clear that he adores you, Elphie. You don't need to have serious relationship talks every week or so in order to keep a relationship successful."

Elphaba had accepted that as the truth – even though Glinda had limited experience with lasting relationships, she still had far more experience in the relationship area in general than Elphaba herself did – but she still didn't like the fact that she and Fiyero had had so little time together. How was she ever supposed to figure out if a relationship with him could really work if she could hardly spend time alone with him?

She was jolted from her thoughts when Cashel announced her name and she quickly picked up the long skirt of her fancy, dark blue dress, climbing the few steps onto the stage and managing a brilliant smile at the idiot host as she stepped up in front of the microphone. She dutifully repeated the speech she and Dr Dillamond had rehearsed so many times, about the Animals having suffered and how good of an initiative this rehabilitation programme was, how proud it made her as the princess to be able to support such things, and how happy she was to help her father set up the programme to get the Animals back on their feet. After the fiasco of her interview, she didn't dare to say anything she hadn't rehearsed with Dr Dillamond, Oscar, or Glinda; but at the same time, she couldn't even talk about the Animals without getting worked up over their situation again. Dr Dillamond had assured her that a little passion was a good thing. She hoped Glinda and Oscar, not to mention the audience, would see it that way, too.

The rest of the afternoon flew by. The other contestants did well, too, and the intelligence test was a piece of cake for Elphaba. They were all sent away to have dinner and change for the party that night and Elphaba and her friends returned to the Palace with Oscar for that.

"Wonderful job, once again, Elphaba," Oscar congratulated his daughter as they ate. "You're really getting the hang of this."

She made a face, stabbing at her food. "Don't remind me."

"What will you wear to the party tonight?" Glinda asked and what followed was a discussion between her and Nessa about which dress would be most suitable for Elphaba to put on. The green girl herself merely continued to stab at her dinner, wishing with all her might that she was somewhere else. Anywhere. The only consolation she had was the sympathetic looks Fiyero shot her from across the table.

Thankfully, dates were allowed to be brought to the party, which meant both Boq and Fiyero would be joining the girls. That was bound to make the night slightly more bearable, at least. Glinda wasn't bringing a date, wanting to focus on getting to know the other girls.

Straight after dinner, Elphaba was whisked away to be poked and prodded from all angles for the next hour or so. Glinda forced her roommate into a simple but elegant dark red dress with long sleeves and a swirly skirt down to her knees, with a pair of tights and low-heeled boots underneath. Nessa braided Elphaba's hair on two sides of her head, bringing the two braids together at the back in a long, low ponytail, and stuck a red flower into her sister's hair while Glinda worked on Elphaba's make-up. After that, of course, Glinda and Nessa themselves had to get ready as well and by the time they were ready to go, Elphaba was already ready for the party to finish. She just hoped she'd be able to sneak off with a book at some point – or with Fiyero. Either of those would do.

Some of the girls, Elphaba discovered that night, were a lot more fun intoxicated than they were sober. By the time midnight rolled around, many of the contestants had had too much punch.

Of course, the punch provided by the Miss Emerald committee was simply a lemonade made of lemons, melons, and pears; and this event, although private and only attended by the pageant participants and their dates, was supposed to be fancy and sophisticated. That, however, did not mean it wasn't like any other party in the sense that the punch got spiked, even though that probably only happened because some of the girls had brought their boyfriends and some of said boyfriends got bored. (Or, well, Fiyero got bored and Karise's boyfriend – of course – just happened to have a flacon of rum with him.)

"You know," Micaela was giggling, "I almost used an entirely different skill of mine for the talent part of the contest, but I figured that wouldn't be ladylike enough."

"What kind of talent?" asked Karise, her eyebrows raised. Elphaba could imagine how she felt. Micaela, doing something unladylike? They couldn't really see that happening.

When the girl opened her mouth next, however, both Elphaba and Karise gaped at her. They thought they'd been prepared for anything, but neither of them had expected Micaela to start belching the alphabet.

"Oh my Oz!" Lunare shrieked, half repulsed and half laughing. "That is so gross!"

Micaela, however, had only arrived at 'H' by then, so she was unable to reply.

The boys were all roaring with laughter while most of the girls were dramatically freaking out. When Micaela finished her belching fest, all the boys plus Karise and Elphaba applauded. The others either looked exasperated, amused, or completely grossed out.

"I'm actually only doing this because every girl in my family has participated in Miss Emerald so far," Caila said into her glass, sighing deeply. "It was expected of me."

"I've been bored about eighty per cent of the time when it comes to this contest," Faye admitted. "My mother, too, really wanted me to do this, because she never got the chance to when she was young; and I just couldn't disappoint her."

"I really hate dresses," Karise volunteered, grinning. She hadn't had much punch and she was still fairly sober – she was mostly having fun watching the other girls drunk, just like Elphaba herself was. Normally, such a remark would have made all the girls gasp in horror, but now they just laughed.

Macy turned out to be a depressed drunk; she dropped her glass of punch at some point and burst into tears. Elphaba had warned Nessa and Umbia against the spiked punch, so they didn't have any. Glinda, however, had been unable to resist and she was rather tipsy by now. She was currently dancing around with Saraphina and Nathalinia, both of whom were also slightly intoxicated, but not nearly as badly as some of the other girls.

"Hey, Micaela," said Karise, tilting her head a little to the side. "If you can belch the alphabet, can you also belch other things? Like… can you belch our names?"

Micaela took a large gulp of punch and then burped loudly, "Karise." Karise herself burst out laughing and Micaela joined in.

"This is ridiculous," Nessa muttered.

Umbia smiled slightly. "I think I like most of them better this way," she confessed and Elphaba laughed.

"I know I definitely do."

Suddenly, some of the boys appeared beside them. Fiyero bowed for Elphaba. "Milady. May I have this dance?" he asked her politely.

She rolled her eyes, but took his hand and allowed him to lead her onto the dance floor. Faye and her boyfriend were dancing there now, too, and some of the others joined in as well. Saraphina and her boyfriend, Palu, were dancing close together, smiling and talking as they swayed; but most of the others were going completely crazy.

"It's a good thing Cashel and Reven aren't here," Caila observed. "They'd be horrified if they could see us now."

"They would be!" Faye agreed.

Umbia yawned, then quickly clasped a hand over her mouth. "Sorry."

"No-one cares," Caila assured her, chuckling.

Saraphina giggled. "If Micaela can burp, then you, Umbia, can definishly yawn."

"I need to fart," Macy said tearfully. "Would you all hate me terribly if I farted?"

Some of the other girls exchanged looks and Karise picked up the new glass of punch Macy had just poured herself and put it away. "I think you've had enough of that."

"Let's blow this party through the roof!" Micaela yelled loudly, waving her arms in the air. The other girls cheered.

Lunare added, "Just like the finale in a few weeks!", causing Elphaba's head to whip around.

"What do you mean?" she demanded.

Lunare slapped a hand over her mouth and giggled. "Oops. Sorry. I wasn't supposed to tell."

"Tell what?" Elphaba strode over to her, dark eyes burning. "What do you know?"

"Yeesh, no need to get intimidating, veggie," Lunare muttered indignantly, leaning back in her chair. "I just overheard Macy and some guy talking the other day about them having something very explosive planned for the finale. That's all. They made me promise not to tell."

Elphaba stepped back again, disappointed… or was she? Had Macy really been talking about some special effect to make the finale even more spectacular or was she in on the bomb threat and was she making veiled threats? How in Oz was she even supposed to know the difference? She decided she'd tell Oscar and Dr Dillamond about it and keep an eye – and ear – out for more information.

"Pfft," Lunare was sighing, still glaring at Elphaba. "You act like I just said I wanted to blow up the whole circus or something."

"I wish someone would!" Karise said with an unladylike snort.

Caila laughed. "Wouldn't that be something?"

Nessa looked cautiously at her sister, but Elphaba just sighed and shook her head at the younger girl. "Making half-drunk jokes about blowing stuff up isn't the same thing as actually planning on doing it," she reminded Nessa quietly.

"What if it is?" Nessa asked.

"Then Lunare, Karise, and Macy are all in on the attack," said Elphaba sarcastically.

Nessa giggled. "I can't imagine Lunare or Macy wanting to do anything bad to the competition."

"Me, neither," said her sister, grinning slightly.

Umbia joined them, Caila at her side. "We're going back to our hotels," she said. "It's getting late and we still need to travel quite a distance back home tomorrow."

Nessa nodded. "We should go, too," she said, glancing sideways at Elphaba.

The green girl heaved another sigh. "I'll go get Glinda and the boys," she muttered, stalking off to the dance floor. Fiyero was dancing with Saraphina, Glinda with Micaela and Nathalinia, and Boq was standing at the refreshments table.

Elphaba whistled on her fingers. "Guys and Glin. Home. Now."

"How do you put up with the bossiness all the time?" Boq demanded of Fiyero as the two of them made their way over to their friend.

The prince grinned and winked at Elphaba. "Oh, I can't say I mind so much when she's being bossy."

She stuck out her tongue and he chuckled, slipping his arm around her waist and kissing her lightly. "Did you have fun?"

She scowled and crossed her arms. "It was a party," she stressed. "What do you think? The only fun I had was in trying to figure out which girls were only joking about blowing up the beauty pageant and which ones were actually serious – not that I had much luck with that. Glinda!" she yelled. "Get over here! We're leaving!"

"But I want to stay!" the blonde whined.

Elphaba glared at her and she relented, sulking.

"You'll figure it out, Fae," Fiyero said to his girlfriend, squeezing her slightly. "I know you will."

She just sighed again. "I hope so."

"Are you leaving already?" Macy asked, looking on the verge of tears again.

Elphaba glanced at her. "Unless you want to tell me something about your plans during the Miss Emerald finale," she said pointedly and Macy's mouth fell open a little.

"I can't," she said, pouting. "I have lots and lots of secret plans but if I tell you, you'll just steal my dress and my glitter and my spotlight and that's not fair. You'll see in two weeks!"

Elphaba rolled her eyes. "I wasn't talking about your dress, Macy." She leaned closer to the other girl. "I was thinking more along the lines of an explosion."

"Explosion?" she squeaked. Then she burst into tears again. "No! I'm too young to die! And too beautiful! I haven't won the title yet! I can't die until I'm Miss Emerald!" she wailed.

Glinda poked the brunette in the side. "Stop that, Macy. No-one is going to die," she said sternly.

Macy instantly stopped crying. "Oh."

"Leaving," Elphaba said through gritted teeth, turning around on her heels and pulling Glinda with her. She was sick and tired of this.

Micaela belched Elphaba's name, which made the green girl grin despite herself. "I honestly wish you had chosen that as your talent for the show, if only because I would have loved to see everyone's reactions to it," she said.

Micaela giggled at her, nearly falling over when she tried to come closer. She had to grab Elphaba to keep herself upright and she giggled again. "You know," she said, swaying dangerously as she tried to whisper in Elphaba's ear. "I actually think you're really pretty."

Elphaba could feel herself blush a little, even though she knew this was probably just drunk talk. "Thanks, Micaela."

"I'm serious," the girl said… well, seriously. "I think all the girls are kind of jealous of you. You're pretty, and you stand out in the competition – in a good way – and you've got more balls than anyone else in this room. No offence," she said to Boq and Fiyero, glancing down once before looking up again with a sweet smile. The boys were both still standing beside Elphaba and both attempting to hold back laughter.

"None taken," Fiyero assured her.

"Speak for yourself," Boq muttered.

The prince ignored him. "We knew that already, anyway," he continued to Micaela. He pressed a kiss to Elphaba's temple. Saraphina and Nathalinia both exclaimed, "Aww!" and Elphaba felt her cheeks heat up once more.

"Right, we have to go," she said abruptly, turning around and stalking away. They quickly bade the other girls good-bye and then left, walking back to the Palace.

"Saraphina liked you," Glinda said to Fiyero as they walked. "Now that she got to know you better, she admitted you weren't nearly as bad as she first thought you were."

"Oh," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Thanks, I guess?"

The blonde giggled. "You're welcome."

Nessa stifled a giggle of her own. Elphaba rolled her eyes.

Once at the Palace, they found Oscar and Chistery still up discussing something and Elphaba was asked to join them while the others retired to their respective bedrooms. She spent the next hour or so reporting everything even remotely suspicious she had heard anyone say so far in the competition, but that didn't get them much further, either. Finally, the three of them went to bed as well, all of them feeling frustrated, but none of them knowing what else they could do.

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