I'm Not Wicked

Part Twenty One

In the Auradon prep lunch room, everyone was mostly peaceful; "mostly" being the important word here, as the VK's-plus Gabriela and Lonnie- went back and forth about an old book. Well, spell book, that is.

"Ellie, I'm sure it's fine!" Gabriela insisted for the tenth time, trying to calm down her stressed out friend.

"You have virtually no way of knowing that!" Eleanor responded, a bit of a frantic tone laced in her voice.

"Even if someone did find it, A; wouldn't they not be able to read it? And B; most people on the Isle avoid it." Carlos reasoned, taking a bite of his sandwich.

"If this book is so powerful, why do people avoid it?" Lonnie asked, the stress that floated through the air seemingly missing her entirely.

"Because it's magic is mysterious, no one wants to mess with some weird book from Oz that gave monkeys wings, made a flying broomstick, stole someone's heart, turned that person into a tin-man, and turned someone into a scarecrow while trying to save him. Does that answer any and all questions?" Eleanor asked, not exactly calmly, staring at a confused Lonnie.

Gabriela gave Eleanor a little pat on the shoulder, making her look down at an untouched sandwich which the blonde had forced upon her, paired with a pile of grapes.

"Isn't Elphaba the only one who can read it, anyway?" Gabriela questioned, mostly to herself.

Mal glanced at Eleanor who was now actually eating her sandwich while simultaneously making two grapes float up and down. Most likely as a witchy way of fidgeting.

"Ella can read it, can't you?" Evie asked, more in a confirming than finding out way.

Eleanor dropped her grapes and physical grabbed one to throw it unsuccessfully at Mal's head.

Mal looked offended by the attempted pegging but brushed it off quickly as Eleanor, who was chewing a large chunk of her sandwich, smacked her head on the edge of the table.

"Hey, you didn't tell me about it!" Carlos exclaimed loudly to Eleanor.

"Mal told me." Evie confirmed, pointing at the purple haired girl with her thump.

Carlos automatically lost the hurt look on his face, "Oh."

"Yeah, and the only reason I know is because I saw her use it-hey!" Mal's sentence was cut off by a grape hitting her in the head.

As she looked up she saw Eleanor with an angry expression on her face, extra grapes in her hands.

"Carlos, did you ask Jane to the dance?" Jay (who was sitting next to Eleanor) asked awkwardly, trying to change the subject.

As he waited for an answer he took the grapes from Eleanor's hands, almost giving her an apple to replace them before realizing he shouldn't give her a better weapon to chuck at Mal's head.

Carlos gave a surprised and then sad expression, "Yeah, but I don't think she really knew what I was asking."

***

"Eleanor!" Dorian called, getting the girls attention and annoyed glare.

"What?" She asked, slinging her bag over her shoulder.

She watched as Dorian ran over to her, his over the top sneakers glimmering. Once he finally reached her he stood swaying back and forth for a moment as Eleanor crossed her arms.

"So, that dance is coming up, and I've been meaning to ask Gabriela-" Dorian began to ramble.

As he went on Eleanor barley heard him; many thoughts coming and going-her head reeling.

"-basically, do you think I have a shot?" Dorian finished, snapping her back into reality.

"Oh, ah-I mean..." Eleanor stuttered, shifting uncomfortably as her brown boots made light tapping noises against the floor.

"Are you okay?" Dorian questioned with concern, noticing the change of tone compared to her normal one.

Eleanor felt her cheeks burning, a wave of embarrassment crashing on top of her. She had pondered asking Gabriela, but was entirely too nervous to actually do it; too many negative thoughts getting in her way:

Gabriela doesn't like girls(I don't think).

What if she hates me after this?

Everyone and their farm dog would freak out.

I'm not pretty enough. (I'm green!)

"Eleanor?" Dorian questioned with concern, snapping his fingers in front of her face.

The green girl snapped back to reality once again, her cheeks a darker shade of green.

"I have class." Eleanor lied quickly, running off in an unknown direction.

Dorian watched her run off clumsily, a quirked eyebrow plastered on his face. As she faded out of view he considered what could be the issue.

"Dorian," he heard a voice say from behind him.

As he turned around he saw Gabriela, her usual pink attire with a flower clipped in her hair and pink two and a half inch heals to match.

"Gabriela! Oh-uh... hey, what's up?" Dorian asked, leaning against the wall as he tried to act cool.

"Look, Dorian, I've thought about it, and I'm sorry for ignoring you." Gabriela stated, an apologetic expression on her face.

"Oh, really? I thought you would never talk to me again; let alone forgive me." Dorian blurted out loudly.

"I think you've learned your lesson, so, I forgive you." Gabriela said plainly, making Dorian smile.

"Apology excepted. But, I'm sorry, too; what I did-though I can't fathom that it's true- was wrong. And...so was I-I ." Dorian said, sounding as though admitting he was wrong physically hurt him.

Gabriela smiled, her cheeks a pinkish shade, and hugged him tightly. As she started to walk off, Dorian remembered something important.

"Oh, Gabriela!" He exclaimed, making her turn around with confusion, "I have been meaning to ask you, uh..."

Dorian trailed off, thinking about Eleanor's reaction earlier.

"Ask me what?" Gabriela asked in a cheerful yet confused tone.

"Oh-uh," Dorian stuttered, quickly getting back on track as he straightened the collar of his shirt, "would you like to go to the dance with me?"