The Interview

Chapter Twenty-Two

They arrived quite early. Elphaba parked the car and left to get a ticket from the machine. Glinda pulled out a mirror to check her makeup, but everything was still in place and absolutely impeccable. As it ought to be; she'd spent several hours this morning polishing herself until even her critical eye could find no fault with any aspect of her appearance.

After that, she'd attempted to convince Elphaba to let her do her hair, or try some minimal maquillage—to no avail. She had to admit that her unusual complexion would most likely draw all of the attention anyway, rendering perfectly sculptured brows or prettily curled lashes rather insignificant. Other than that (and that interesting nose of hers), the girl was gorgeous as she was. Not that anyone at this conference was likely to appreciate this. All things considered, there was barely any reason for her to press the issue further, so she'd simply contented herself with making sure that Elphaba wore her scarf correctly and chose a suitable watch from her absolutely underutilised jewellery collection to accessorise herself.

She observed Elphaba as she sauntered back to the car, one hand buried in the pocket of her slacks, the other swinging back and forth, holding the small slip of paper. How dashing she looked. A little boyish, maybe. At least more so than in the outfits she tended to choose for her casual wear. Still, she looked comfortable enough, and at any rate, it was certainly a huge leap from her usual office attire, which was also formal, but not particularly flattering or fashionable.

Elphaba opened the door to the passenger side and, leaning on it with her arm, bent down to talk to Glinda.

"You ready?" she asked, visibly more nervous and less ready than Glinda herself.

"Just a little anxious," confessed the blonde, fiddling with the handles of her white briefcase. "But we mustn't show any of this once we leave this car park. The hyenas are all the more likely to pounce on easy prey."

The taller girl nodded silently, then offered her hand to help Glinda out of the car.

"Thanks Elphie," she said, giggling slightly.

A number of black and dark green cars passed them on their way to the main entrance. Politicians and other persons of note typically entered through the rear of the building, Elphaba explained. The lobby was fenced off to both sides of a desk that had been squarely placed in the middle of the room. Elphaba gave their names to the receptionist and received two badges in return, along with a timetable and a map.

"There has been a slight change to the schedule," the woman informed them, marking their time slot on the paper.

Elphaba looked miffed, but had the good sense not to let her frustration out on a blameless underling. When she walked off wordlessly, Glinda apologetically smiled at the receptionist and thanked her before hurrying to follow after her friend.

"They preponed our presentation," Elphaba groaned, running her hand through her hair.

"Preponed?" Glinda repeated, worriedly. "We haven't already missed it, have we?"

Elphaba shook her head.

"No. Although we could have, if we'd relied too heavily on the time they originally allocated to us. At the very least, they should have informed us via text or email. I expect this was not a coincidence."

"Do you think they guessed our purpose here when they read your name on the registration form?" Glinda wondered, and Elphaba scoffed.

"Most certainly. Maybe next time we should use your name."

"Next time?" replied Glinda mildly alarmed.

Elphaba playfully brushed it off.

"Well, I suppose you're right. It probably won't do, since you would already have developed your own reputation by then."