Oz

Chapter Seventeen

I storm calmly out of the Wizards chamber after hearing Glinda and Ye- Fiyero talk. They could've just said that to my face, instead of me having to overhear it. Now it's just unbearable.
"Can you buy me a pretty dress?" Little China Girl snaps me out of my internal ranting.
"Of course!" I walk with her to a children's clothes store. She points me over to the area where doll dresses are located. I put her down and let her pick one out. China Girl spots a pink dress and holds it up to show me.
"I want this one!" She announces proudly. I nod, picking her and the dress up and going to the cash register. We buy the dress and leave.
"Now you!" Little China Girl states states excitedly. She wants me to by a dress?
"I don't think so, we have plenty of dresses at home for me!" I shake my head. I'd rather not be obliged to wear a dress. I'm only wearing this one because Glinda has nothing else. Trust me. I'd be wearing something different.
"You bought me a dress, and now you don't want to wear one? Did you not want to come down here in the first place? Did I drag you down here?" She starts to cry.
"That's not what I said. But if you'll stop crying, I might think about getting a dress." I say that so she'll stop crying! I hate when children cry. It's not the sadness that bothers me, it's the sound of the crying. It is absolutely hideous!
"Yay!" Her mood immediately changes, "I know this really nice store! It's over there!" Little China Girl points in the direction of the store and I start walking. This tiny girl is manipulative.
Jeez.
"Here it is!" She announces. It's a very fancy store. I don't want to go in. But I have to, "Come on! We don't have forever!" She jumps down and pulls me into the store. I groan internally at the sight of everything.
"Are you going to pick one out or am I going have to do it for you?" Little China Girl asks after a couple minutes of me pretending to look at some dresses. I raise my eyebrows at her and back away from the row of clothes.
"You know better than me, go ahead!" I say before sitting down in a chair by the dressing room.
Little China Girl looks at every dress, in each aisle before bringing me a blue one, "This one!" I take the dress from her hands, not even looking at the details, "Elphaba! You have to try it on and make sure it fits!" She scolds me. I go into the dressing room and close the door. Why am I here, again? Oh yeah. I gave into a little girl who only cries to get what she wants. I think before taking my dress off and putting the new one one. It also has matching white gloves and shoes. It fits perfectly, sadly.
I look for the tag and can't find it. I hope it's not expensive, "Little China Girl? Where'd you go?" I walk out of the dressing room to find the little girl has disappeared, "You can't just walk away like that!" I immediately start feeling self-conscious in the dress. What if it people see me and criticize me for wearing the dress for no reason? What if there's something wrong with it that I didn't notice?
I sink back into the dressing room, terrified of being judged. After a minute or two I hear the little girl return, "Elphaba?" She calls for me and I step out of the dressing room. Oh no. Little China girl brought a man back with her.
Before I can say anything, he introduces himself, "I'm Prince Samuel," he bows to me and takes my hand and kisses it, "I've been waiting for a very long time to meet you Elphaba," he straightens but doesn't let go of my hand.
"Well.....I hope I'm worth your wait!" I say with a nervous smile. He chuckles and starts walking with me out of the store. I look at Little China Girl and she's struggling to keep up. I bend down to scoop her up.
"Every year my father and my brother host this grand ball for my birthday, and every year one of the sisters attends. Would you like to come?" He offers.
"I would love to come but...." I trail off, kind of ashamed, "I don't dance." I feel Little China Girl tug at my hair, she thinks I'm lying. I honestly don't know how to dance.
"I'll teach you!" He states. Little China Girl waves to the cashier as we pass her.
"Alright!" I really enjoy this man's presence. Maybe I will go to this ball. We walk to the entrance of The Wizard's chamber and I peek in. There's no one is inside, so we rush in and head to our own ballroom. Before reaching the room I put Little China girl down.
We slip into the room and start up a music box, moving to the middle of the room.
"I'm kind of nervous..." I state because I know from that one party in college, I'm not a very good dancer.
"Don't be!" He says, taking my hands in his and placing them where they need to go. I blush from the way he looks at me. His eyes are full of admiration. We start moving as the music begins.
"Back......front......back......side.....turn," he lifts me up and spins me around. I laugh and we do the little combination again.
"This is pretty easy!" I chime, he smirks and speeds up. I struggle to go faster but quickly I catch on. He spins me one last time before we finish, "That was really fun!" I beam and he holds my hands.
"I was hoping you would say that, because the ball is tonight!" He says. My eyes widen is surprise. This is such short notice.

And I have nothing to wear.