Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter One: Glass

‘There. Enjoy the air.’

Elphaba thought herself quite clever for her little quip, but in truth, she was trying to distract Galinda from the fact she’d lost her temper. It wasn’t that she was particularly concerned about whether her new roommate found her unsettling or not - she’d already made her thoughts on that very clear - but she if she was going to be stuck with the girl, she didn’t want to scare her, as such, by exposing her penchant for losing her cool with her magic. 

Galinda, for her part, was staring wide-eyed at the broken glass of the balcony window without moving. It was almost amusing to Elphaba - she’d been raging around the place like a miniature pink tornado, and all it took to shut her up was a door slamming and glass fracturing. Or perhaps it was the swift demonstration of magic that did it. Elphaba didn’t particularly care. She marched back over to the dusty corner of the suite Galinda had apparently assigned her, and carried on shoving boxes and suitcase to give herself some space. 

Of all the things Elphaba expected out of her day, suddenly enrolling at Shiz and getting saddled with a talkative, irksome blonde was not on her list. A part of her tried to be grateful for the opportunity, but as she leaned over the narrow bed she’d been supplied and yanked off the rest of the window covers, spluttering from the dust, she couldn’t help but feel as if it was some sort of cruel trick. Any minute now, she was expecting someone to jump out, laugh at her, and load her onto a boat back to Munchkinland. Don’t be so ridiculous, they would proclaim. Why would we let someone like you join such an illustrious institution just because you can do a handful of magic tricks ? 

Shuddering at the very thought of it, Elphaba bundled up the drapings and chucked them at the foot of the bed. She flapped a hand in the air to dissipate some of the dust. How had it even gotten there? Given Galinda’s obvious wealth, surely Shiz’s cleaners would’ve made certain the suite spick and span? I bet she found a way to somehow make it dusty on purpose , Elphaba frowned. It was quite peculiar to think someone capable of such a petty thing within minutes of meeting, but Elphaba would not put it past her. She wouldn’t say she disliked Galinda on sight, but her attitude left much to be desired - particularly since was refusing to help Elphaba make space.

‘You know,’ Elphaba muttered, grunting as she pushed at a particularly large trunk embossed with Galinda’s personalised crest ( what sort of a person has their own crest, of Oz’s sake! she thought to herself), ‘you could give me a hand instead of standing there gawking. Just what did you pack ? Your kitchen sink?’

Galinda, who still hadn’t moved from the balcony, didn’t say anything. Elphaba straightened up and glowered at her back. ‘Right. Pretend I’m not here. Don’t worry, I’m very used to that old trick.’ She gave the trunk a mighty shove with her foot, and it slid a little further across the room. Galinda turned, then. And Elphaba was startled. 

For whatever reason, Galinda seemed much, much paler than she had been five minutes ago, and she was working her lower lip between her teeth with such frantic fervour, it was a wonder she had any lipstick left. Her eyes were darting all around the room, and, to Elphaba’s unwelcome concern, she seemed to be trembling ever so slightly. 

‘Why are you - don’t kick my stuff!’ she managed to blurt out. But her voice was ragged around the edges, as if she couldn’t quite get the words unstuck from her throat. 

‘You stuff is in the way,’ Elphaba scowled. ‘Not sure it’s cause for whatever this is, though.’ She gestured vaguely to Galinda’s trembling form. ‘Calm down. It’s just a trunk.’

Galinda’s lips parted just a hair. Her chest was rising and falling faster, much faster. Elphaba was momentarily uneasy - is she really that upset about me moving her things around? - but she quickly dismissed her own train of thought. Galinda Upland was a dramatist, she knew that. And this was just another example of it. 

‘You - you broke the window,’ Galinda stammered. She had pressed a hand to her chest, as if she was aware she was breathing too quickly. 

Elphaba frowned at her. ‘...Yes, I’m well aware.’ She suddenly felt a little awkward with Galinda staring at her, eyes as wide as saucers and overly bright. Maybe she had spooked her more than she realised. ‘Um, sorry. I can ask the Estates team to come and fix it.’

She watched as Galinda struggled through a thick swallow, her throat almost spasming with the effort of it. The girl gave herself a little shake. 

‘You better. It’s - it’s a terrible way to make an impression,’ she spluttered, looping her arms around her middle and giving herself a squeeze. ‘There’s glass everywhere. I’m not cleaning it up.’

‘I don’t recall asking you to,’ Elphaba said flatly.

‘No, but I can’t - we can’t just leave it here.’

‘Oz, what do you want me to do ?’ snapped Elphaba, her short temper getting the better of her. Galinda flinched at little. ‘I’ve already told you I’ll get someone to come and fix it, and if it’s that much of a big deal for you, I’ll sweep up the stupid glass. But not before you stop being dramatic and help me clear some space so I can - hey, where are you going?’

Without another look in her direction, Glainda had stumbled past her and the growing disarray of her possessions, and flounced into the bathroom. Elphaba blinked after her, startled as she slammed the door behind her. She stood dumbly for a moment, not quite sure what to do with herself. She didn’t really want to irritate Galinda to that extent, but she couldn’t deny the tiny flare of satisfaction she felt when she stormed off. How easy it is to ruffle her , she shrugged. 

It was only after one of Dr Dillamond’s seminars did Elphaba realise something was genuinely amiss, and it was the first of a handful of incidents that made her realise she had more in common with Galinda than she first thought.

*

The seminar room was a little too warm for Galinda’s tastes. That, combined with the fact that Dr Dillamond’s classes were so spectacularly boring , she often found herself at risk of dozing off. It didn’t help that she appeared to be experiencing a rather vicious bout of insomnia - something that Elphaba Thropp was entirely responsible for. 

Despite appearing as what some would perceive as an airhead, Galinda was more than aware of her situation. Or, more accurately, her preposterous predicament. Huffing through her nostrils, she slumped her chin into her hand, covering her mouth with her palm, and her eyes drifted over to the aforementioned green menace. Perhaps if she merely pretended to scream into her hand, some of her frustrations would be unleashed without bringing undue attention to them. The last thing she wanted to do was cause commotion enough to distract the class. And it wasn’t as if Elphaba was looking in her direction, anyway. She’d been giving her the cold shoulder since that morning, when she woke up to find herself imprisoned with stacks of pink suitcases, trunks, and boxes. 

Smirking at the memory, Galinda felt a little better. That’s all she had to do. Focus on all the petty jibes, the childish tricks, and cutting remarks that had been exchanged over the first week they’d shared since enrolment. Such an intense reaction had to come from somewhere , after all. Galinda didn’t loath people without good reason. She was far too nice for that. In fact, exchanging verbal blows with Elphaba was almost enjoyable. Watching her roommate try to appear unbothered, until Galinda picked and prodded and poked enough for her to snap, angry and flustered… flustered . Yes, that was always quite enjoyable. 

Galinda resisted the urge to scream into her hand again as her mind strayed to that particular situation once more. It was reaching the point where it was genuinely keeping her awake at night - hence the insomnia. She was acutely aware that she was applying more and more make-up under her eyes to disguise the shadows, and she was even considering adopting Shenshen’s suggestion of resting tea bags on her eyes to help with the swelling. The caffeine acts as a natural antioxidant and increases blood circulation! she had proclaimed over breakfast that morning, after Pfannee had made a comment on Galinda’s appearance. That certainly spelled trouble - Pfannee was usually oblivious to most things around him. If even he was noticing Galinda’s telling eyebags, then something was desperately wrong.

But despite her best efforts (and her general anxiety about not looking her best), Galinda could not settle her thumping heart and roaring thoughts enough to sleep . It had been going on for a week. She tried to blame the perfectly normal feeling of being unsettled in a new place, but who was she kidding? And of course Elphaba, curse her, continued to sleep like a baby. That made it even worse . She wasn’t paying a single spare thought to Galinda. No, her thoughts must’ve been occupied with her special tutelage under Madame Morrible, or her wild aspirations to meet the Wizard, or which of her frumpy outfits to wear which somehow looked good on her - no ! Galinda let out a muffled squeak. No, Elphaba did not look good in her ridiculous clothes, no matter how well they complimented the deep, charming green of her eyes, or - stop it!

‘Are you okay?’

Galinda glanced to her left to find Shenshen looking at her with a peculiar expression. Her little squeak must’ve been louder than she thought. She quickly plastered on a smile. 

‘Y-Yes, all good!’ she whispered. ‘Just struggling to stay awake. This is so dreadfully dull.’

‘You can say that again,’ Shenshen murmured. ‘And - oh, typical . The swotty broccoli strikes again.’

Galinda followed her line of sight to find Elphaba with her hand in the air. She hadn’t even realised that Dr Dillamond had asked a question to answer . She straightened up in her seat. It turned out that Elphaba was asking a question rather than answering, which was just like her. Instead of sitting and listening to the lecture like a normal student, she had to go and draw attention to herself and show off how engaged and intelligent and discerning she - no, no, no! It is not a good thing to be such an insufferable geek!

‘Does she ever take a day off?’ Shenshen muttered. ‘Honestly, it’s like she wants everyone’s eyes on her. If I looked like her, I’d do the decent thing and stay locked up somewhere out of sight.’ She let out a quiet chuckle, but Galinda didn’t join in. She didn’t know what Shenshen and the rest of the student populace saw, but in her eyes, Elphaba was quite beautiful, in a strange, beguiling sort of - stop it, right now!

Shenshen nudged her, as if annoyed that she hadn’t laughed along with her, and Galinda immediately let out a burst of laughter that was altogether much too loud. Heads snapped around to stare at her. 

‘Something amusing, Miss G-Glinda?’ Dillamond bleated. For a goat, he couldn’t half look irritated. 

Galinda felt her cheeks heat up. Shenshen had shrunk down in her seat - so much for camaraderie - and the weight of everyone’s gaze on them was making Galinda squirm. She liked attention, of course, but on her own terms. And there was a distinct difference between having attention and being the centre of it. The latter she never enjoyed. 

‘Um,’ she cleared her throat, trying to cling back to her usual unflappable energy, ‘I - it was a cough. Is it illegal to cough in class, Dr Dillamond?’

The students sniggered as Dillamond’s ears twitched in vexation.

‘Only when the cough is quite clearly an aggravating shriek of laughter.’

Galinda’s eyes locked onto Elphaba, her mouth falling open in outrage. Aggravating shriek? Just who does this girl think she is?!

‘Well perhaps I was unable to contain my laughter because I caught sight of that absolutely dastardly dress you have on,’ Galinda said, tossing her hair over her shoulder. ‘I mean, come on , Elphaba. Even you ought to know it’s wrong to rob a corpse of its burial outfit.’

That earned a ringing chorus of unkind laughter that made Galinda feel both relieved and a little guilty. But when Elphaba next opened her mouth to retort, the guilt was immediately replaced with embarrassment. 

‘You knew exactly what outfit I was wearing before we even set foot in here,’ Elphaba said, totally ignoring the laughter that erupted at her expense. ‘You spent most of your morning eyeing me from your mirror as I changed into it, after all.’

The laughter vanished as quickly as it started, and Galinda went a very peculiar shade of pink. She was extremely aware that everyone was staring at her again, and she felt the tips of her ears starting to burn with heat. 

‘I - well - I was just taken-aback by your repulsive form, if you must know!’ she snapped, her voice cracking. 

‘Uh-huh. Hence the unwavering observation.’

‘You -’

‘ - Settle down, girls,’ Dillamond said tiredly. ‘I’d rather not have to endure this back-and-forth every seminar, if I can help it. I do have a class to teach.’

‘Sorry, Dr Dillamond,’ Elphaba said immediately, lowering her gaze. Galinda merely folded her arms. Like heck she was going to apologise to that old goat when he still couldn’t pronounce her name properly. Fortunately, Dillamond knew better than to press the matter, and he seamlessly slid back into his teaching. Galinda didn’t know or care what he was talking about, and put her chin in her hand again. Her face still felt hot. 

Instead of paying attention, she blinked down at her desk, eyes flickering over the paper Dillamond had marked. A couple of days into their first week, he requested they put together an essay on The Great Drought - something that technically wasn’t in the curriculum, and Galinda’s result had…not been good. She pouted as she looked at the poor percentage scrawled over the top and myriad of corrections scrawled in red ink. She briefly wondered how Dillamond even held the pen that criticised her so, but, as with the equipment set up in his seminar room, he probably had an adapted piece. A savage part of her wished he didn’t - for at least then, he wouldn’t be able to make her feel all small and stupid for her failing grade. Thank goodness it doesn’t contribute to our final results, she thought to herself. 

Of course, Galinda’s academic struggles had been an enduring part of her life for as long as she could remember learning to read and write. Her teachers had called her every belittling phrase in the book - dopey, slow, woolley-headed - words gentle enough to her ears, until she realised they were trying to find a kinder way to call her stupid. She pressed her lips together, glowering at the 27% on her paper as if it had personally offended her. It had, in a way. It made her feel frustrated and embarrassed. It made her feel like a child again, fighting back tears when she couldn’t keep up in the tortuous weekly quizzes, no matter how hard she tried. And she did try. Maybe not as hard as she could in this particular case, but she wasn’t lazy. She just didn’t like History. Unfortunately, the trend had started to emerge in her other classes, too. But she didn’t really want to think about that.

The light in the seminar room suddenly darkened, and Galinda lifted her head up from her chin to find Dr Dillamond was setting up his custom made projector. Oz, he’s so grossly obsessed with his little slide decks , she frowned. She couldn’t give two hoots about what he was going on about, but Elphaba’s attention was rapt, as always. Galinda was a little jealous. The only times she really concentrated was when she was actually interested in what she was doing. Otherwise her mind would wander, and presently, she couldn’t help but imagine how pleasant it would be to be the object of Elphaba’s devout attention instead of teaching content, green eyes devouring every minute detail and movement - what in Oz are you thinking?! It would not be pleasant at all!

Galinda straightened up and gave herself a little shake, mentally berating herself for such an alarming - and inaccurate - train of thought, but for better or worse, her mind couldn’t linger on that, for the sudden sweep of shocked gasps rather derailed her. She blinked, trying to work out what she was seeing. As soon as Dr Dillamond flipped the blackboard, words in red were lit up by the burning projector, setting them ablaze.

Animals should be seen and not heard.

Dillamond was rattled. Murmurs erupted across the seminar room, making Galinda’s ears buzz. Then, several things happened at once. In his mounting fury and panic, Dillamond had demanded to know who was responsible, and Galinda whipped her head around at her fellow classmates, as if expecting them to raise their hands, to own up, they seemed just as startled as he was. For a moment, Galinda felt sorry for him. It wasn’t his fault he was Animal. Yes, she disliked him, but only because he taught the most boring subject in all of Oz and assumed, like most academics, that she was nothing but an airhead. He didn’t deserve such disdain. She watched, wide-eyed, as he ordered them out of the room. When no one moved, he said it again, louder, and stumbled back into a little table. 

Galinda’s breath caught in her throat as she saw a flower vase topple. Her hands instinctively shot to her ears, but it was too late - the vase tipped, met the ground, and the sound of shattering glass splintered in the space.

And then people started to move, gathering their things, stuffing books in bags and hurrying to get out as quickly as possible. A wave of collective embarrassment seemed to pulsate throughout the classroom - seeing an authority figure in distress was uncomfortable for the students - but Galinda was feeling uncomfortable for an entirely different reason. She stared at the broken glass, her jaw locking in place, fists clenching, palms sweating. 

‘Galinda, hurry up already,’ Shenshen scowled, on her feet and looming over her. Galinda, frozen in her seat, was blocking her from leaving. Her words got stuck in her throat, but she scrambled to her feet, knocking against the desk as she did so. 

‘S-Sorry,’ she stammered. Her chest was tight. The back of her neck was hot. No, no, no. Not now. Not here . 

Shenshen looked at her oddly. ‘It’s okay, don’t worry. But let’s get a move on, shall we? It’s rare class is dismissed so early. We might as well make the most of it.’

Galinda nodded, clutching her books to her chest, her dreadful assignment tucked out of sight in her notebook. She wavered a little as she stumbled after Pfannee as he led them out, eyes glued to the back of his head. She needed something else to focus on, something other than the breaking glass, the noise of it, so loud and grating and charged and - she gritted her teeth together. It was getting harder and harder to breathe. She hated herself for it.

Once they were out in the corridor - voices loud and overlapping as their classmates unpacked what they had just witnessed - Galinda realised it wasn’t just hard to breathe. She couldn’t breathe. Her grip around her books was whiteknuckled. She was trying to listen to what Pfannee and Shenshen were saying, trying to join in, but her words kept getting stuck in her throat. Is it tightening? I think it’s tightening. Oz, I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. I can’t - 

‘ - Galinda. Galinda!’

Panicked eyes snapped up to find Pfannee and Shenshen frowning at her as their fellow students dispersed around them.

‘Er - w-what?’ squeaked Galinda, her voice breathless, fractured, in pieces. 

‘We asked if you wanted to go to the sun room,’ Pfannee said, referring to a large, glittering conservatory on campus made up entirely of stained glass. It was a beautiful place, but Galinda had no desire to be anywhere else but somewhere private, quiet, where she could get a hold of herself and calm down . 

‘I - yes, I’ll join you, but I just -’ she struggled around a tight gasp that forced its way out of her throat, ‘ - need to use the bathroom. Yes, bathroom.’ She gestured vaguely down the corridor to where she knew the girls’ lavatory to be - not that she ever went in there. She couldn’t stand public restrooms, so full of germs, and much preferred making the trip back to her room to use the en suite. Unfortunately, that particular trait of hers had been noticed. 

‘Bathroom?’ Shenshen snorted. ‘Galinda, you hate the campus bathrooms. If you’re going all the way back to your dorm, then we can just come with you and hang out there instead.’

No, please, no - ‘It’s f-fine. I don’t mind. I’ll be quick.’

Not giving them another moment to protest, Galinda hastened away from them. Her shoulders had crept up to her ears, and she felt so rigid that it almost hurt to put one foot in front of the other. But she had to get out. Away. Away, yes, away . 

*

Elphaba hadn’t noticed she’d nicked her finger on the broken glass of the flower vase until she’d left Dillamond’s classroom. The sting of it only registered vaguely, and she looked down in surprise to see a thin line of blood blooming from her skin. Ever diligent, she headed for the restrooms to clean it. 

Elphaba wouldn’t describe herself a hypochondriac, per se, but she was likely a little too conscious about her own health. She knew where it stemmed from. It wasn’t hard to look inwards and pinpoint her assiduousness. She’d seen her mother after Nessa’s birth - just a glimpse, a harrowing, narrow line through the crack in the door - but the blood on the sheets and the slack expression on her face had been burned so viscerally into Elphaba’s eyes, that she used to imagine scrubbing them with a scouring sponge as if it could rid them of the image. That, coupled with the fact that she was rarely attended to when she was ill - Duclibear did her best, but she had so many other duties to attend to - meant that Elphaba worked a little too hard to ensure she never fell ill. And the cut, small though it was, was a breeding ground for infection if she didn’t clean it. 

She remembered when she was about 8, and she and Nessa had both fallen unwell with a stomach bug. Nessa had undivided attention from her father and staff, constantly topping up her water glass and dabbing her brow with a cooling towel. Elphaba, meanwhile, was left to curl up on the tiles of the bathroom floor, vomiting into the toilet with no one to hold her hair back. While Dulcibear had tried to reassure her that no, it’s not you, sweet thing, it’s just your sister is younger and less able than you are - Elphaba knew the truth. No one wanted to care for her. The message was clear. And from that episode on, Elphaba was left in her sickness - with the occasional fleeting visit from an increasingly busy Dulcibear - and she learnt her lesson. Do not slip up and let yourself get poorly. 

Sighing to herself, Elphaba pushed open the door of the bathroom and went inside. Mercifully, only one cubicle was occupied. Elphaba had seen one too many of her classmates grimace whenever she entered the bathroom, as if repulsed they evidently had to share with the likes of her , and she wasn’t in the mood for any additional hostility. Her mind was ablaze with anger for Dr Dillamond, for the cruel words on the blackboard, for the fact the only friend she’d actually made was her teacher -

A strange sound interrupted her manic thoughts. She paused from where she was about to turn on the tap and clean the cut, frowning. It sounded almost like a wheeze. Something strangled, something choked. Her ears strained to listen, but then she realised she was probably being weird, and turned on the tap. The water turned pink as it mixed with the blood from her finger, and she hissed in pain. She washed it thoroughly and dabbed it dry with her hankie - she certainly wasn’t going to use bog roll - and was just unwrapping one of the plasters she carried around with her when the noise came again, louder. It was unmistakable - someone was crying. 

Elphaba internally groaned. Walk away. It’s none of your business. Just walk away . They wouldn’t appreciate your help, anyway.

But she used to be the sort of girl to cry in the school bathrooms, too. Her goodness got the better of her.

‘Um,’ she cleared her throat, talking at the closed door, ‘sorry. Are you okay?’

The sound stopped for a moment, before a ragged, broken breath cut into the awkward silence of the bathroom. A loose tap dripped and Elphaba shifted on her feet. 

‘It’s alright,’ she said, at a loss. ‘I mean - it’s probably not , since you sound upset, but whatever it is, I’m sure it’ll be okay. Just - can I help, at all?’

Nothing. Only more snuffles, hitched breathing, the sound of someone struggling. Elphaba bit her lip. She didn’t know what to do . Should she leave? What would be the decent thing? Insist on being a listening ear? 

‘I…do you need a hankie? I’ve got a clean one here,’ she asked, cringing at herself. Naturally, she carried around several. ‘That is - well, the loo roll here isn’t particularly forgiving on one’s skin, is it?’

A tiny, broken whimper sounded from the cubicle. Elphaba edged closer, pressing her palm gently against the door. She imagined another hand on the other side, separated by the panel of wood.

‘It’s okay,’ she said softly. ‘Let me pass it under the door for you, okay?’

‘... Okay .’

The voice was raw, tight, in pieces. It made Elphaba’s chest hurt. Rummaging in her other pocket, she produced a fresh, pale green hankie embroidered with her initials, and stretched down to slip it through the gap in the door. There was a flash of a pale hand, of pink, perfectly painted nails, and the hankie was gone. Elphaba straightened up. 

‘Thank you,’ came the fragile voice. It sounded so uncertain, so scared . For a moment, Elphaba wanted to break the door down and take whoever was so upset in her arms, if only to reassure them for a moment. 

‘It’s not a problem.’ There was the distinctive sound of someone blowing their nose into it. ‘Er…You can keep it.’

A soft, watery laugh came from the cubicle, and a smile tugged at Elphaba’s lips. Laughter was a good sign. There was something oddly familiar about that sound, though, but she couldn’t place it. 

‘I hope you feel better soon,’ she said, fiddling with the strap of her bag. ‘I - er - I’ll leave you to it. But whatever has you so upset will probably all blow over, you know? Things always seem worse in the moment.’

There was no reply, just more sniffling, and Elphaba took that as her cue to leave. 

*

Galinda always took extremely long baths. It wouldn’t have bothered Elphaba if she didn’t think she was doing it on purpose. Her eyebrow twitching, she stared at the closed door, watching as steam unfurled from the thin crack above the floor and listening to Galinda’s tuneful singing. At least she can actually carry a tune , Elphaba thought. It would probably be the final straw if she sounded like a drowned cat. 

The rest of the day had ticked on - though talk of the incident in Dillamond’s class was rife - and come the evening, Elphaba was exhausted . All she wanted was to go through the bathroom so she could crawl into bed. Her lesson with Madame Morrible had been draining, considering she had finally managed to harness her power long enough to levitate a coin, and then she’d inadvertently crashed Dr Dillamond’s covert Animal gathering. The details of what he’d told her were deeply concerning - and that, coupled with enduring the usual jibes from her classmates - had all bundled up to make her thoroughly vexed. She wanted to sleep , and Galinda was getting in the way of that. 

‘Galinda!’ she said, putting her palm against the door. ‘Get a move on. You’ve been in there for ages , and some of us want a full night’s rest!’

‘ Mmm, beauty sleep, is it? ’ came Galinda’s tittering voice. ‘ I can’t say it’s working particularly well for you. ’

Elphaba’s nostrils flared. ‘Well at least I don’t spend hours in the bathroom preening myself like some sort of self-absorbed peacock.’

Galinda let out a gasp, and Elphaba heard a violent splash of water, as if Galinda had hurled her fist into it. ‘ Peacock? Don’t compare me to a horrible old bird , Elphaba. ’

‘Then perhaps you’d rather I likened you to a pig, since you’re such a bathroom hog .’

The ensuing shriek of outrage made Elphaba smirk, and it had the desired effect. Not five minutes later, Galinda burst from the bathroom in a sweet-smelling cloud of steam, eyes flashing, cheeks flushed from the heat of her bath.

‘You’re looking a bit pink in the face, Galinda,’ Elphaba grinned. ‘Careful, otherwise you really won’t be able to fight the hog allegations.’

Galinda, if possible, went even pinker . 

‘Just - ugh, get out of my way!’ she snarled, deliberately clipping Elphaba’s shoulder as she did so. ‘And anyway, I’d much rather be pink than a disgusting green like you !’

Elphaba didn’t bother replying. She’d got what she wanted - an empty bathroom. She shut the door and slid the lock, biting the insides of her cheeks to stop herself from laughing. It was so easy to wind Galinda up. She put her pyjamas on top of the closed toilet seat - since that morning when she felt Galinda looking at her critically when she was changing, she decided she’d rather have some privacy. Though come to think of it, was it really what I’d call a critical gaze? She seemed - no, don’t be ridiculous. 

Shaking her head, Elphaba tugged her dress off. Galinda had been mortified to learn that they had to do their own laundry - what makes them think I have the foggiest idea how to do that?! - and was even more irate when she realised there was only one laundry hamper. She had given Elphaba a wicker basket to use so neither girl would have to sort through the other’s dirty clothes. To the untrained eye, such a gesture seemed quite kind, but Elphaba knew it was because Galinda quite simply didn’t want to share. 

Rolling her eyes at the fuss she had kicked up, Elphaba bundled up her dress and dropped it into the assigned basket. As she started to unbutton her shirt, her eyes caught sight of something very odd in Galinda’s hamper. There was a scrap of green amongst the pink. Elphaba’s mouth fell open. She let her curiosity get the better of her and nudged aside her - oh, Oz, that’s a pair of her underwear! Why is it so small?! - and found her hankie, embroidered initials and all, nestled between a lone sock and a shirt sleeve. She blinked at it for a moment, wondering how it got there. She always handwashed her handkerchiefs, given their delicate fabric and personalised stitching, and it meant she could sterilise them properly at a hotter temperature than normal garments. So, it wasn’t a case that she’d mistakenly dropped it into Galinda’s hamper. Then what is it doing here?

The realisation hit her like a frying pan to the head. She whirled around to look at the bathroom door, as if expecting Galinda to notice the slip-up and come storming in to correct it. But she didn’t, of course. Elphaba let out a sharp breath. It had been Galinda in the bathroom earlier, sounding so dreadfully distressed. A nasty wash of guilt swarmed up from Elphaba’s gut. Did I upset her because of what I said in class? What other possible reason would Galinda Upland, of all people, have to cry about?

Her mind whirring, Elphaba secured her braids in a bonnet and quickly hopped into the shower. Unlike her roommate, she didn’t like to waste her time languishing in the tub, and instead scrubbed herself quickly and efficiently beneath the shower head. Should I say something? she pondered, as she rooted around the shower caddy to try and find her body wash. Galinda’s various bathing products took up 99% of the space, and Elphaba couldn’t even name some of them, let alone know what they were for. But the girl did always smell extremely pleasant, so Elphaba couldn’t really complain - wait. That’s a peculiar thing to think, isn’t it? Shaking her head, Elphaba worked a blob of her plain body wash between her palms and cleaned herself. 

When she was all finished and content in her pyjamas, she glanced at the hankie again. Without really knowing what she was doing, she snatched it up, opened the bathroom door, and found Galinda at her vanity. The girl was scrupulously going through her skincare routine, her hair wrapped up in a fluffy pink towel. Elphaba watched her for a moment, admiring the gentle curve where her neck met her shoulder, and immediately wondered why in Oz she’d be thinking about that. Holding the handkerchief behind her back, she cleared her throat. Galinda eyed her from the mirror.

‘If you’re going to try and coax out an apology for how long I took in the bathroom, then don’t bother,’ she scowled, tugging off the stopper of one of many bottles littering her vanity.

‘I wasn’t going to. I’d have better luck talking to a brick wall.’

‘Are you calling me dense ?’

‘Sure, if you like,’ Elphaba shrugged.

Galinda glowered at her. ‘If you must know, I spend a lot of time in the bathroom because I actually care about my appearance, and seek to refine it.’ Elphaba watched her lips twist into an unkind smirk. ‘Not that you’d know anything about that. Where did you find that hideous nightdress, Elphaba? At an outlet for the fashionably inept?’

‘I don’t actually recall asking why you spend a lifetime in the bathroom,’ Elphaba said, her eyebrow twitching in annoyance. 

‘Then why are you staring at me? Dazzled, are we?’ For good measure, she went to toss her hair, but had clearly forgotten it was bundled up in her towel. She froze, frowned, and her cheeks flushed a little. Elphaba did her best to stop herself from laughing, considering the dangerous territory she was about to brave. 

‘I wanted to ask you about this,’ she said, taking the hankie from behind her back. Galinda really did freeze, then. Elphaba watched with growing trepidation as the pink blush steadily spread all over her face, brightening the tips of her ears and her nose. 

‘It’s fine,’ Elphaba added quickly as Galinda’s shoulders stiffened, creeping up to her ears. ‘I mean - it doesn’t matter. I was just…I was wondering if you were, you know, okay?’

Galinda seemed to take a moment to process what was happening, her eyes wide. The bottle she was holding had started to shake a little. Oh, great, Elphaba thought. I’m making a real pig’s ear of this. 

‘...You sounded really upset,’ she continued, wishing she’d planned the conversion ahead of time. ‘And I - I was worried it was because of what I said in the seminar. About you watching me while I changed.’

Galinda went so pink that she matched her robe. ‘I - I didn’t - I have no idea what you’re talking about.’ She said it in a rush, as if the words were being sucked out of her in one hurried breath. Elphaba arched an eyebrow. 

‘No? So it wasn’t you in the bathroom, then? It wasn’t your pink nails I saw when I gave you the hankie, and it,’ - she waved the green scrap sarcastically in the air - ‘just happened to appear in your laundry hamper? I wasn’t born yesterday, Galinda.’

‘Why do you even care ?’ Galinda snarled, her voice trembling. 

‘Because if I upset you, I want to apologise for it.’

Galinda’s mouth fell open. ‘W-What?’

Elphaba lowered the hankie. ‘...Look, I know we have our differences and we have the odd disagreement, but Oz, Galinda, I don’t want to make you cry .’

‘You didn’t.’

‘If you’re trying to pretend that wasn’t you in the bathroom, then -’

‘ - No,’ Galinda interrupted quickly, putting the bottle she was holding back on the vanity with a dull thunk . ‘I - you didn’t upset me. I was…’ she trailed off, her face twisted as if she was in pain. ‘...Practicing.’

‘Practicing?’ spluttered Elphaba, at a loss. ‘What do you mean, practicing ?’

‘For the amateur dramatics society that I intend to join,’ Galinda said, without missing a beat. ‘Shiz University has a very well-established reputation in that field - not that you’d know, since you just stumbled onto campus like some lost runt of the litter.’

‘Galinda, you are aware that I’m not braindead, right?’

‘Huh?’

Elphaba nearly slapped her own forehead in vexation. ‘You weren’t practicing fake crying for the bloody Dramatics Society, for goodness sake! And Oz, even if you were, why would you do it in the public bathrooms? I know you hate them.’

‘I - why would you - have you been stalking me?’ Galinda stammered.

‘Don’t be ridiculous. Anyone with eyes can see that you scurry off between classes. And, though it frequently seems to escape your notice, I do live here. I notice when you dash back and forth.’

‘Ew. Your obsession with me really knows no bounds.’

‘Oh, for goodness sake,’ Elphaba hissed, balling the hankie in her fist and cringing a little when she felt it squelch. ‘I was just trying to make sure you were alright, but I suppose I won’t bother in future. A word of advice, though…’ She marched forward and dropped the hankie on Galinda’s vanity. ‘You might want to work on choking back your sobs a little. You were being dreadfully loud.’

Galinda blinked at the handkerchief. Her lips were pressed in a thin line. 

‘I meant it when I said you can keep that,’ Elphaba muttered, pointing at it with a sharp jab in the air. ‘Seems like you need it more than I do.’

‘I’m going to burn it, thank you very much,’ Galinda spat. ‘I don’t use things without a very high threadcount.’

‘Oz, you really are an ungrateful snob, aren’t you?’ Elphaba said. ‘For a moment, I was fooled into thinking you were actually human , but I won’t make that mistake again.’

‘ Me ?’ Galinda snorted, getting to her feet. ‘ I’m not human? Have you looked in a mirror lately, Elphaba? In case it escaped your notice, you’re literally green !’

‘And that makes me - what - subhuman?’

‘It certainly makes you something , yes,’ Galinda snarled. ‘Repulsive. Peculiar. Malformed.’

Elphaba felt her face grow hot with anger, magic bubbling just under the surface of her skin. She clenched her fists, trying to hold it back. ‘Don’t call me that. Just because I look a little different, it - it doesn’t mean I’m malformed .’

Galinda smirked, realising she’d hit a nerve. ‘No? What does it make you then, Miss Elphaba? Because in my eyes, your grotesque appearance is something that desperately needs to be fixed. Won’t you think of other people for a change, and how unpleasant it is for us to have to look at you?’

Elphaba’s nails dug into her palms, and she expelled a shaky breath. ‘If I’m such a horror, why are you constantly staring at me? Don’t think I can’t feel your eyes on me.’

‘Don’t flatter yourself,’ Galinda drawled, leaning back on her vanity. ‘The only reason you’ll catch me looking at you is because I’m trying to ascertain who let you outside. The decent thing would be to lock you up and throw away the key.’

Before she even realised she had done it, Elphaba’s control snapped like a fishing wire. She had heard those words so many times before - from the cruel children back in Munchkinland, jeering at her as they chased her through the poppy fields; from the political advisers that swarmed her father’s estate, telling him to keep that girl out of sight, lest she ruin the chances of re-election ; and even from her father herself, who would sneer when he looked at her, wondering how she could’ve come from him . She should’ve gotten used to it by now. But it hurt every single time. 

Magic burst out of her in a whip of frustration and caught several of the bottles Galinda kept on her vanity - perfumes and creams and serums - and sent them flying. They smashed against the floor in spectacular fashion, scattering bits of glass and liquid, and Elphaba let out a strangled gasp. She closed her eyes, willing herself to hold back , her whole body taut and tense, and the magic vanished as quickly as it appeared. Panting, she pressed the heel of her palm to her forehead, heat burning behind her eyes, hands shaking. 

‘... Shit ,’ she whispered, more to herself than to Galinda. She thought, given the handful of classes she’d had under Morrible, she might’ve started to gain some semblance of control. But Galinda, it seemed, knew just which buttons to press. Swallowing, Elphaba brought her gaze up to Galinda, opening her mouth to apologise, but immediately noticed something was amiss. 

‘I - Galinda, are you okay? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean -’ Elphaba cut herself off, staring as the girl in front of her started to crumble.

Galinda was shaking, her hands clasped over her ears, and her eyes seemed to be locked onto something very far away. Elphaba glanced over her shoulder, as if expecting to see a blood thirsty creature on the approach given Galinda’s expression, but there was nothing. She turned back, wide-eyed, and watched in horror as Galinda let out a tight, whimpering gasp. 

‘Oz, Galinda, I’m really sorry,’ Elphaba said quickly, not knowing what to do. ‘I wasn’t going to hurt you. I just - sometimes I lose my cool and things go flying. I didn’t mean to. I promise.’

But Galinda wasn’t listening. Her breaths were coming shorter and faster, her chest rising and falling so quickly that Elphaba could hardly keep up, and small, panicked wheezes spluttered from her lips. Elphaba stared at her. She sounded like she couldn’t breathe. 

‘...Um, should I - should I get someone?’ she whispered, totally at a loss. The frantic shake of her blonde head seemed to suggest no, that was a terrible idea. ‘Okay, okay. I - can you try and breathe for me, Galinda? Just - you sound like you can’t and it’s starting to freak me out.’

Galinda let out a tiny sob, her eyes filling with tears. She dropped her hands from her ears and buried her face in them instead. Great. This isn’t going well at all, Elphaba gulped, feeling a nasty combination of guilt and worry. 

‘It’s okay,’ she said, edging closer. Tentatively, as if was dealing with a wild animal, she put a hand on Galinda’s shoulder. The girl flinched at the touch but didn’t move away, which Elphaba took as a positive. ‘Can you look at me? Please.’

With considerable effort, Galinda lifted her head from her hands, but didn’t look at her. ‘G-Go away .’

‘What?’

‘ Go away! ’ Galinda shouted, her voice hoarse and thick with tears. Elphaba started backwards in shock. She’d never heard Galinda raise her voice like that, even when they’d been arguing all day. Her lips parted. Galinda clutched at the front of her robe, struggling through a breath, squeezing her eyes shut.

Now, Elphaba knew the path of least resistance would be to leave Galinda to whatever the heck she was dealing with, and retreat to the sanctuary of the bathroom - or better yet, the library. But as she watched the girl trembling against the vanity, unable to breathe properly and looking genuinely terrified, she realised she couldn’t. Just as in the lavatory earlier, her good heart struck again. And she stayed. 

‘I’m not going anywhere while you’re so upset,’ she said firmly. She put both of her hands on Galinda’s shoulders. ‘Look at me.’

‘Elphaba, will you just - just go ,’ Galinda choked out, her head bowed. 

‘ Look at me .’

Galinda did as she was told, lower lip trembling. Her eyes were red and wet. 

‘Good,’ Elphaba said softly. ‘Now, I want you to try and follow my breathing with me, okay? It’ll help you feel better.’

With a whimper, Galinda nodded. Elphaba gave her a small smile and breathed in slowly through her nostrils for five seconds, and out for another five. Galinda followed along as best she could, but a breath got stuck in her throat, and spluttered, her eyes widening.

‘I - I c-can’t, I can’t -’

‘- You can,’ soothed Elphaba. ‘It’s alright.’

‘N-no, it’s not like last time, I - I actually can’t breathe, I can’t breathe -’

Elphaba then did something she’d never done before. She dropped her hands from Galinda’s shoulders, and instead laced their fingers together. Galinda froze, staring down at her lap, at the green, and she let out a shuddering, retching breath. It sounded almost painful.

‘Keep breathing with me,’ Elphaba encouraged, rubbing small circles over the backs of Galinda’s hands with her thumbs. ‘Slow, steady, and calm.’

In a way, breathing along with Galinda was also calming Elphaba down. While she did her best not to show it, she could feel her heart hammering in her chest. She was aware that her palms were slick with sweat, but Galinda’s were, too, so she hoped the girl wouldn’t notice. 

‘You’re doing perfectly,’ she murmured, watching as Galinda’s breathing started to settle. Her body spasmed now and again with residual sobs, shoulders flinching and hands squeezing, and each time she did, Elphaba felt worse . She didn’t mean to frighten her. Was she actually afraid of her?

Biting her lip, Elphaba looked around at the mess of glass. That was the second time she’d manage to break something in the suite - the first being the balcony window. She frowned. Come to think of it, Galinda acted weirdly after that, too. She really must be freaked out by my magic . But of course, there was the incident today , when she had been crying for some undisclosed reason after Dillamond’s class, which was what had started the current altercation in the first place. What is with her?

Elphaba glanced up when Galinda withdrew her hands to wipe at her eyes, her breath stuttering. She seemed to have calmed down. 

‘... Sorry .’

She said it so quietly, Elphaba thought she might’ve imagined it. She swallowed, realising it was the first time she’d heard the girl actually say that. Oddly enough, it didn’t feel particularly good to hear it.

‘I’m the one who should be apologising,’ replied Elphaba, as Galinda wrung her hands together, not looking at her. ‘I’ll - I’ll replace everything I broke, of course, though you’ll have to tell me what exactly they are. And…’ she let out a long sigh, wishing Galinda would stop shaking so much. ‘...I’m sorry for scaring you. Really. I’d never want to make you feel that way.’

Galinda let out a small gasp, eyes snapping up. Her eyelashes were stuck together with stray tears. ‘Oh, Elphaba - you didn’t.’

‘Then why…?’

‘It’s -’ Galinda seemed to struggle with herself for a moment. ‘ - Oz, it doesn’t matter. I just, um, wasn’t expecting it. But you didn’t scare me. Please don’t carry that around with you.’

Elphaba didn’t believe her. Why else would she react like that? ‘...Okay. I - I’ll go and fetch a broom to clear up all the glass. That’s the second time today.’

‘What?’

‘After Dillamond’s class,’ Elphaba said, moving away from the vanity, ‘I stayed behind and helped him clear up the broken vase. That’s how this happened.’ She held up her bandaged finger with a bashful smile. 

‘R-Right,’ Galinda mumbled. She had drawn her arms around herself and was squeezing her midriff as if in an embrace. ‘Um…Well, that was nice of you, I guess.’

‘Contrary to popular belief, I am pretty nice.’

‘Yes. Er - thanks. For the hankie. And for…for staying.’ She said the last part with obvious difficulty, her face turning pink. Elphaba quickly realised she was feeling embarrassed.

‘It’s okay, honestly,’ she said, waving a hand in the air. ‘Now, I’ll go and fetch that broom. Be careful if you’re going to be moving around, alright? There are bits of glass everywhere.’

‘Okay, yes. Right.’

With another awkward look at the tearful blonde, Elphaba spun on her heels and hastened from the suite. She wanted to give Galinda a moment alone to collect herself, and went to hunt for a broom. 

*

Later, as the girls lay in silence, Galinda couldn’t sleep . And it wasn’t just because of her confusing cocktail of thoughts that seemed to pool and whirl around Elphaba - well, it was , but it was for a different reason this time around. Biting her lip, Galinda drummed her fingers against her hand, arms folded above the duvet, eyes open in the darkness. 

Elphaba had been genuinely worried that she’d scared her, and Galinda, much to her frustration, could not stop thinking about it. She let out a large sigh, not caring how loud she was being - she knew her roommate was stewing the shadows, too, since she kept tossing and turning. Galinda, as much as she refused to admit it to herself, didn’t want Elphaba to worry. She didn’t want her to feel the need to walk on eggshells around her, as if concerned she might startle her. She didn’t want her to think she was…fragile. Closing her eyes, Galinda felt her face redden. She couldn’t believe she’d let herself lose control like that. Twice in one day, no less. It was indeed just a string of unfortunate circumstances, but still, the embarrassment of it all made her body burn. She wasn’t supposed to slip up in such a manner. Not anymore. That was what she’d promised herself when she came to Shiz. 

Galinda’s mother, Larena, referred to the wretched episodes as ‘meltdowns’. Galinda hated the word, but she didn’t know what else to call them. They made her eyesight blur, her palms sweat, her chest tighten, and her mind freeze up. And despite her best efforts, she often couldn’t help it when something wrong happened. It wasn’t as if she did it on purpose. She didn’t want to get so worked up - and her parents certainly didn’t want her to, either. They would hiss at her to stop it , and when she couldn’t, their voices would raise and bounce off the walls until she could do nothing but wheeze and cower, waiting for the panic to work its way out of her system, often alone. Her parents didn’t care to see her in such a state, and she quickly learnt that it was shameful and unbecoming to panic in such a visceral way. So, she would find somewhere to shut herself away, letting it shatter through her system until she had the wherewithal to actually suck a breath into her lungs.

She knew what caused them, by now. It wasn’t as if they simply appeared one day. And it wasn’t as if she thought it was normal , but who could she even talk about it with? Shenshen and Pfannee were her friends, that much was true, but it was surface level at best. Besides, surely she’d just be laughed out of the room if she tried to explain that she couldn’t handle it when - she shook her head against the pillows, gritting her teeth together. Stupid, stupid, stupid. 

Rolling over onto her side, Galinda bundled her duvet to her chest and cuddled it. She missed home, sometimes. It had only been a week, but she thought she would’ve scrubbed out the childish yearning for her bed, her blankets, the sounds of the manor settling down for sleep. She wondered if Elphaba missed home, too. We’re just two girls, really, away from our families for the first time. The nasty wiggle of guilt she’d been feeling lately reared its ugly head again as she thought about how cruel she had been earlier. She’d said some horrible things. She’d made Elphaba lose her temper - and Elphaba ended up being the one to feel terrible about it. She does need to get a handle on her magic, but really, she had no reason to stay with me after everything I said…

Galinda didn’t really know what provoked her to do it - sleep deprivation, guilt, a desperation to make sure Elphaba didn’t feel responsible for what happened, or a combination of all three - but before she knew what she was doing, she cleared her throat in the darkness. It was easier, in a way, to speak when Elphaba couldn’t actually see her. 

‘Um…Are you still awake?’ she said. Her voice sounded too loud in the quiet of the night.

‘Yes,’ came Elphaba’s voice. ‘Are you okay?’

Galinda nodded, but then realised Elphaba couldn’t see her. ‘Er, yeah. I’m fine. I just…can’t sleep.’

‘You and me both.’

There was a strained silence as Galinda toyed with what she wanted to say. ‘I…I was thinking about earlier. I just wanted to - to make sure that you were okay, Elphaba. We didn’t really speak after you came back, and I -’ she cut herself off, worried she was rambling. Her mother always told her off for ‘babbling’, as she called it. 

‘Why wouldn’t I be okay?’ said Elphaba, sounding genuinely confused. ‘I’m not the one who…’

‘Because I really don’t want you thinking that you scared me, okay?’ 

There was a long pause. Galinda snuggled the duvet against her even more, squeezing her eyes shut. Oz, say something, you horrid green thing!

‘Then what did scare you, Galinda?’

Anything but that . ‘Um…It’s not - it isn’t important. I just - I know I tease you about being a bit of a freak or whatever, but I don’t - er - I’m not afraid of you. And I’d really hate it if you thought I was.’

‘Right,’ muttered Elphaba. ‘And why is that? Because you’re worried I’ll think you a coward?’

‘No, because I’m worried you’ll think of yourself as someone to be feared.’

‘...What?’ Elphaba’s voice was so quiet that Galinda’s ears strained to hear her. She fiddled with the frilled hem of her duvet.

‘I suppose that it would be a terribly burdensome thing,’ said Galinda softly, ‘to believe others are frightened of you. Especially when you’re…evidently quite kind.’ The quiet stretched on. ‘...Um, Elphaba? Are you still there?’

‘I’m still here.’

‘Did you hear what I said?’

‘Yeah. Just…thinking about it, I guess.’

‘Right.’

They lie in silence for what felt like a lifetime for Galinda, until Elphaba started to talk. Really talk.

‘I do appreciate you saying that, Galinda,’ she murmured. ‘You’ve no idea how many times I’ve been called…well, a monster . You get told that just once, and it sticks. Not to mention how many people recoil when they see me, or Oz forbid if I try to touch them.’ Galinda heard her swallow thickly. ‘I remember when I…When I was little, a balloon maker visited my hometown. All the kids were so excited - me included - and he made balloon animals for everyone who had gathered to watch him. He even gave me one, which was a surprise. I was so happy. I didn’t - er - I didn’t often get gifts.’ She paused, sniffing, and Galinda’s chest tightened. ‘A-Anyway, I wanted to show him how pleased I was, so I tried to hug him, and…’ she trailed off, and Galinda filled in the blanks. ‘Let’s just say I ended up in the dirt. I was a child, and a fully grown man thought I - I was some sort of beast. He looked scared of me. And earlier, when you started to panic so much, I just thought that I’d…that I’d frightened you.’

Galinda pressed her lips together, unable to bear the image of a tiny Elphaba being shoved aside when she just wanted a hug . ‘...Elphaba, I promise you, it wasn’t. I know you wouldn’t hurt me. Oz, you wouldn’t hurt a fly, as far as I can tell. Not many people would offer a hankie to a stranger in the bathroom, or stay behind and help a teacher clean up a broken vase.’

Elphaba chuckled quietly. ‘I suppose that’s true. And if you don’t mind me asking…What had you so upset?’

Galinda swallowed. ‘Which time?’

‘Both, I suppose.’

‘Um…You’ll think it’s stupid,’ she mumbled, burying her face into her duvet. 

‘If it upsets you, it’s not stupid.’

Galinda’s breath caught in her throat. No one had said that to her before. She was brought up to believe her tears were foolish, histrionic, improper . She thought about all the times she’d curled up in her bed and cried all night, stuffing her mouth with her blanket so no one would hear her. The nights at boarding school where the other girls in her dorm thought there was a ghost - nicknamed The Whimpering Lady - because she had to hold everything back until she got to her room. Her mother’s raised voice. Her father’s short fuse. And the -

‘ - It’s the glass,’ she whispered, almost without meaning to say it at all.

‘What do you mean?’

‘The glass, it’s - the sound of it breaking.’

She heard Elphaba suck in a breath and pictured the lightbulb flickering above her head. ‘So…that first day, when I broke the balcony window and you clammed up…’

‘Yes.’

‘And today, when Dr Dillamond broke his vase? You got upset and went to the bathroom?’

‘Yes.’

‘And this evening -’

‘Oz, yes , Elphaba, how many times do I have to say it?’ Galinda hissed, a flash of shame making her ears burn. 

‘Right, sorry. Sorry.’ She heard Elphaba gulp. ‘Um…Can I ask why?’

Galinda nearly told her to mind her own business, but she caught herself at the last moment. Elphaba had been kind. She’d stayed with her. She’d calmed her down. No one had done that for her since she was a very young child, when tears and meltdowns were acceptable. She swallowed down her fear. 

‘It’s…Popsicle.’

‘Popsicle?’

‘My father,’ Galinda mumbled. ‘And before you get the wrong idea, he’s truly wonderful and caring and kind, but he - he can get a bit stressed sometimes. His way of dealing with that is to…Well, he smashes stuff. If you catch him at the wrong time, he’ll - he’ll throw things. Not at anyone, of course, just…in the general vicinity.’

‘Oh.’ 

‘Yeah.’ Galinda paused, gathering herself as she felt her eyes growing hot. ‘I suppose I just - well, that’s what scares me, Elphaba. A-And when I hear it happening, I feel like I’m stuck in his office, watching him break the crystalwear, wondering if one of the champagne flutes is going to stray off course and -’ she stopped herself from talking. She didn’t want to think about that. Objectively, she knew her father never hurt her, but watching him turn puce and having to stand there as he yelled and raged and smashed frightened her more than she ever let on. She didn’t even realise it had become an issue until one of their dinner guests dropped his wine glass when she was ten - her first ‘grown-up’ function, when was allowed to stay up late and sample the canapés - and she had to banish herself to her room as a deep panic grabbed hold of her senses. And she tried . She tried to tell her mind that she wasn’t in any danger, that she never was, because her father loved her, because he would lift her up and spin her around in his arms, because he would buy her lavish gifts from his business trips, because he would kiss her forehead and call her his pumpkin . She didn’t need to be scared.

But she couldn’t help it.

‘Um…You realise that isn’t okay, right?’

Galinda blinked in the darkness. ‘Huh?’

‘To grow up and witness that sort of behaviour isn’t okay, Galinda,’ Elphaba said. Her voice was firm and resolute. ‘I’m sorry that happened. It’s no wonder you get scared.’

‘Don’t patronise me,’ Galinda spat.

‘I’m not,’ said Elphaba patiently. ‘I really mean it.’

‘...Really?’

‘Oz, Galinda, of course. Breaking glass makes anyone jump, you know, let alone when you associate it with such anger. I…I’ll make sure not to lose control and break anything else, okay?’

Galinda's eyes grew hotter still. ‘...You don’t have to -’

‘ - Of course I do. Of course I do.’

Her words settled in the darkness of the room, and Galinda felt her throat constrict. She didn’t quite know what she’d been expecting - laughter, scorn, disbelief, being told she was dramatic or silly for getting so worked up - but Elphaba, once again, had surprised her. She’d met her fear with kindness and understanding. Galinda hadn’t seen that coming.

‘Um…thank you, Elphaba,’ she mumbled.

‘You don’t need to thank me. But I’m glad you told me,’ came Elphaba’s voice. 

‘Me too. I think.’

‘Good.’

‘...Yeah, good.’

It was awkward. It was strained. Galinda’s face burned, and Elphaba’s voice wavered. But it was a start. 

Chapter Text

Chapter Two: Stains

Somewhat foolishly, perhaps, Elphaba thought she and Galinda might’ve reached a truce following the broken glass debacle. But the following morning, Galinda behaved as if it had never happened - as if she hadn’t shared something incredibly personal with Elphaba, as if she hadn’t gone out of her way to make certain Elphaba knew she wasn’t afraid of her, and as if she hadn’t had a full blown panic attack in front of her. 

No, Galinda acted as normal. And ‘normal’, at least in Elphaba’s eyes, was another phrase for being exceedingly insufferable. She stormed around the suite in her usual fashion - that being noisily and obnoxiously - and had fired out a total of four insults surrounding Elphaba’s fashion choices before she’d even finished putting on her makeup. Elphaba didn’t rise to the bait. She was trying to give Galinda the benefit of the doubt, deciding she must’ve been feeling embarrassed and vulnerable from their late-night chat, and was acting extra abrasive because of it. 

By breakfast, though, Elphaba had run out of patience. 

‘Do you think she has to eat so much to fuel her swotty nature, or does being a slimy little know-it-all come naturally to her?’ Galinda said loudly, just as Elphaba was strolling by her table with her morning mountain of cereal. Granted, it was arguably a large portion, but she was hungry. And so what?! The surrounding students burst into a grating symphony of laughter, and Elphaba froze, her grip around her tray tightening. 

‘I mean,’ drawled Galinda, waving a manicured hand in the air, ‘surely that’s enough food to feed a family of five.’

‘It’s called brain food, Galinda,’ Elphaba muttered. ‘You should try it sometime. Might help with your grades.’

‘ Oooh ,’ whistled Shenshen in amusement, unable to help herself. The smile slid off Galinda's face and practically landed in her cup of tea. 

‘Well - I - I’d rather have a good reputation than be such an insufferable nerd!’ she shot back, but it was lacking its usual bite and impact. Only a couple of her friends laughed, then, and she went pink. 

‘Mmm, reputation . I’m sure that will get you far in life,’ Elphaba smirked. ‘And you know, instead of worrying about my breakfast, you ought to think about your own - not sure if anyone’s told you this, Galinda, but half a spoonful of yoghurt doesn’t constitute a meal.’

‘And you don’t constitute a - a -’ she struggled with herself, her eyebrows knitting together in a rather endearing way - huh? What? Why in Oz would I think that? If anything, they’re too theatrical!

‘ - Take your time,’ Elphaba said, rolling her eyes. ‘It’s not like my cereal is getting soggy or anything.’

‘Oh, go away, you horrid green thing!’ she snapped, practically stamping her foot under the table. 

‘With pleasure. Have a wonderful morning,’ said Elphaba, in a voice so thick with sarcasm that Galinda seemed to shudder in her seat. 

Oddly enough, though, leaving Galinda to stew with her friends to unpack their latest altercation - ‘ You did see that disgustingly huge portion she had, right? Right?! Galinda squeaked frantically in the distance - didn’t feel as good as it used to. Elphaba let out a sigh as she sat down, alone, and wondered if the Galinda she’d spoken to last night had somehow been kidnapped and replaced by an extra mean clone. As much as she wanted to fight back with her usual vigor, Elphaba couldn’t help but look at her and see the snivelling mess she’d been, trembling against the vanity and unable to suck in a breath. Glancing over her shoulder, she eyed Galinda, who was rather forlornly spooning some of the yoghurt into her mouth. She looks tired. I suppose panic attacks really take it out of you. 

Elphaba hadn’t slept much better herself. After they’d finished talking - or rather, Galinda noisily turned over in an attempt to show that the conversation was very much over - Elphaba had kept her eyes open, nibbling her lower lip. She couldn’t stop thinking about it. She also couldn’t believe she’d told her arch nemesis about the balloon maker. It wasn’t a memory Elphaba much liked to remember, for obvious reasons, but it had slipped out before she could help herself. It might’ve been the time of night, or the darkness of the suite, or even an attempt to make Galinda feel less vulnerable, but she hadn’t meant to. She’d learnt to keep her painful memories clasped tightly in her fist, no matter how much they might’ve burned. And she had a suspicion that Galinda had picked up a similar habit. How strange, she thought glumly, that we managed to coax it out of each other. 

*

Galinda was fuming . 

The exchange at breakfast aside, she was quite certain she’d never hated her roommate more. How dare she swan about the place and act like nothing happened?! Muttering under her breath, Galinda popped a strawberry in her mouth. They were out of season and a little sour, but she swallowed it down without complaint. Pfannee had brought them especially, after all, and she wasn’t about to quite literally spit them back in his face. 

She, Pfannee, Shenshen and Milla were lounging in the sunroom between classes under the guise of a ‘study session’ - which, really, was code for sitting around and sharing snacks. Shenshen was least trying to work, and had been dutifully thumbing through a tortuous-looking Astronomy textbook for the better part of half an hour. Pfannee hadn’t flipped open his notebook, and as far as Galinda could see, Milla didn’t even have her bag with her. Studying indeed , she smirked, taking another strawberry. For her part, she had a History book open on the sofa next to her, but hadn’t yet turned a page. 

‘I’ll tell you what,’ Milla said, through a mouthful of onion-smelling crackers that Galinda had turned her nose up at for fear of developing bad breath, ‘my mother was all university is extremely strict this, and very hard work that, but I swear this,’ - she gestured around the room, where most of sofas and chairs were occupied by chattering students - ‘is way more laid back than school. I mean, they quite literally don’t care what we do between classes as long as we show up.’

‘Even showing up isn’t wholly necessary,’ Pfannee grinned. ‘I skipped out on a lecture the other day and no one batted an eye. It was great!’

‘Great?’ spluttered Shenshen. ‘Pfan, you did nothing but cower in the north wing stationery cupboard because you were so worried about getting caught.’

‘That - that is a completely inaccurate depiction of what happened!’ Pfannee said, his mouth falling open in outrage.

‘Of course, of course. I forgot to add that you were crying the whole time.’

Galinda giggled behind her hand when Pfannee launched a cracker at Shenshen’s head. She counted herself lucky to have formed a firm group of friends in her first week, even if they might not have been that close. It was important to her to have people to waste time with, to follow her around and fawn over her. Once upon a time - though she would never admit it - she found it hard to make friends. She spent most of her first year at boarding school, when she was eleven, wandering the corridors and trying desperately to insert herself into conversations she evidently wasn’t welcome in. It took her a couple of years - and firm instructions from her socialite mother - to learn that nonchalance and dressing well would attract people, and by the time she was sixteen, she had the entire student populace eating out of the palm of her hand. But she never forgot the feeling of being unwanted by the girls her own age, of enduring their catty comments and fighting back tears in the mess hall when they refused to sit with her. It wasn’t exactly something she wanted to remember. 

I wonder why I give Elphaba a hard time, then, if I know what it’s like?

Galinda flinched in her seat, nearly choking on her strawberry. No, no! That’s different! Elphaba deserves it for being such a weirdo! 

‘You okay, Galinda?’ said Milla, frowning as she fought back a coughing fit.

Galinda shot her a strained smile. ‘Y-Yeah! Just went down the wrong way, that’s all.’

‘You’re making quick work of them,’ Pfannee piped up. ‘I should’ve bought another punnet from the tuck shop!’

Galinda froze, about to bite into another one, and her eyes flitted to him in surprise. ‘Oh! Sorry. I just - I thought you brought them to share. I didn’t realise - you should’ve said -’ she went to put the strawberry back, but Pfannee waved his hands in the air quickly. 

‘No, no! Don’t be silly. That’s not what I meant,’ he said. ‘Have as many as you like. Though Milla -’ he poked her on the knee, rolling his eyes, ‘ - you could calm down on those crackers. It’s like sitting next to a donkey with you munching away like that. Save some for me, won’t you?’

‘Well excuse me for having a healthy appetite,’ she said, thrusting her nose in the air. 

‘Leave her alone, Pfan,’ said Shenshen. And, as if to make a point, she stretched across Galinda and grabbed a fistful of the crackers, practically slamming them into her mouth. ‘ Mmmh! These are delicious! ’

Catching on, Milla grinned and followed suit, cramming a huge handful of crackers into her mouth, too. ‘ Mmmhmm! The best! ’ She sprayed crumbs when she spoke. ‘ You’re totally missing out, Pfannee. ’

‘Hey!’ he squawked, trying to reach over and snatch the bowl away from Milla, but she was too quick. ‘Oh, come on - this isn’t fair ! I’m the one who bought all of these in the first place!’

‘You snooze, you lose,’ Shenshen shrugged, dusting her hands free of cracker crumbs and returning to her book. ‘And anyway, if memory serves, it was actually your turn to buy them.’

‘That doesn’t mean I can’t have any, though!’

‘If you stopped yapping and started snacking, you wouldn’t be having this problem,’ said Milla, cradling the bowl to her chest as if it was her firstborn.

‘The problem is that you’re hogging them!’

‘I’m not hogging the fruit.’

‘But fruit is boring.’

Galinda rolled her eyes affectionately as Pfannee and Milla continued to bicker, and swallowed down the strawberry she’d been carefully chewing. When she was younger and bored during mealtimes at school - namely because, as she had already ruminated, nobody sat with her for the first year of her being there - she would count the number of chews before she swallowed. For a while, she would have to chew everything at least twenty times, otherwise something terrible would happen. That often resulted in her being the last one in the mess hall, to the point when she became quite friendly with one of the kindly, round-faced dinnerladies, Agneta. She would clean up around Galinda and her little table, sweeping up crusts and mopping up spills, making easy conversation. She would sometimes slip her hardboiled sweets, and when she laughed at Galinda’s clumsy jokes, it sounded like water bubbling on an open fire. 

A couple of years later, when students would quite literally fight over who got to sit at her table, Galinda would loudly comment on how unfortunate Agneta’s hairstyle was, and whether she realised that her eyebrows would look so much better if only she learnt to pluck them. The students would laugh, and Galinda basked in it, though she’d be lying if she said she didn’t miss the taste of the boiled sweets and the gentle bubble of Agneta’s cheerful chuckle. 

By the time she left for Shiz, Agneta would not look her in the eye.

Distractedly, Galinda reached for another strawberry. She wasn’t entirely sure why she was eating them - they’d not long had breakfast - but something about the repetitive motion and the soft red flesh was soothing her. The burst of slightly sour flavour, the texture on her tongue, the juice that caught on her lips - it was all a welcome diversion from her winding and increasingly confusing feelings about Elphaba Thropp . 

Objectively speaking, Galinda knew that she and Elphaba wouldn’t get on from the moment they met. Elphaba was prickly, sarcastic, and oozed a confidence that Galinda guessed had almost been forced upon her - after all, being so different meant Elphaba didn’t have much of a choice but to own it. Galinda, meanwhile, was hyper-aware of everything that she did. Every movement was considered, every gesture rehearsed, every sentence prepared. Sometimes, she felt like she fit to burst from all the performative measures she had bubbling under the surface. Of course, to the onlooker, it appeared effortless. But Galinda Upland was not a natural. 

In any case, Elphaba’s attitude became clear from the moment she decided to correct Galinda’s grammar - in front of everyone, the stupid old sprout! - and then, perhaps without meaning to, she had the audacity to steal Galinda’s spot in Madame Morrible’s seminar. As if to rub salt into the wound, she was then shoved into Galinda’s suite without a second thought - or a single word of protest. It clearly didn’t matter to Elphaba or Morrible that Galinda had specified her own private space, that she needed somewhere to come down from the aggravating performance of her day-to-day life, that she needed a place to retreat if she ever got overwhelmed like the previous night. She didn’t want to have a meltdown in front of Elphaba. But it was all her fault in the first place, come to think of it , Galinda pouted to herself. If she had some semblance of control, I wouldn’t have - she gritted her teeth together, not wanting to dwell on it. She was bothered by what happened, of course, but worse still, Elphaba had been so lovely about it. If anything, Galinda would’ve preferred her to adopt her mother’s attitude - that being a swift, stinging slap across the face to ‘snap her out of it’, followed by a blunt dismissal to her bedroom when Galinda failed to calm down. But Elphaba had stayed. Elphaba had helped her breathe through it. And Elphaba had managed to coax a confession from her without even trying. Curse that girl! She has no right to be kind to me!

‘Oz, what did that strawberry ever do to you?’ Pfannee snorted.

Galinda snapped out of her thoughts and blinked at him, confused. ‘Huh?’

‘You’re crushing it like it personally offended you, Galinda,’ he said with a smirk, pointing at her closed fist. 

Galinda looked down in surprise and found that yes, she was indeed crushing the strawberry in her hand. She hadn’t even realised. She let out a squeak, fumbling for a hankie - which only made her think about how Elphaba had given her one in the bathroom - and she quickly realised that she was far too late. Juice had run down between her knuckles and dripped all over the soft, grey marl of her skirt. Shit.

‘Here,’ Shenshen said, offering her a tissue, and Galinda took it gratefully, dumping the ruined strawberry pulp and wrapped it up. Her hands were sticky and her skirt was stained. No, no, no . She wrung her palms together, wincing at the feeling of the cloggy residue smeared on her fingers, and stared down at the mess she’d made. 

‘What’s the matter?’ Shenshen frowned, watching as Galinda’s whole body seemed to seize up. 

‘Did you see a bug?’ Milla gasped, before immediately rounding on Pfannee. ‘I told you that we should’ve washed them first! Everyone knows that fresh fruit is a breeding ground for - ugh - disgusting little critters! I once nearly ate a caterpillar that was hiding in a punnet of blueberries, you know!’

‘Ah, extra protein,’ Pfannee grinned. ‘Aren’t you lucky?’

‘I didn’t actually eat it, I said I nearly did!’

Galinda stood abruptly, feeling her knees trembling. ‘I - I need to go and wash my hands. A-And change.’

‘Change?’ said Shenshen, raising an eyebrow. ‘Galinda, we’ve got Mathematics in like ten minutes. There’s no way you’ll have enough time to go back to your suite.’

Galinda’s hands were shaking. ‘N-No, it’s alright. I’ll be quick. I can’t wander around with a stain on my skirt.’

‘It doesn’t matter,’ Pfannee said airily. ‘It’s only a bit of strawberry juice. Not like it’s a major issue.’

‘And knowing you, you’d somehow make it work,’ Milla sighed, an undertone of jealousy in her tone. ‘I mean, if you go around with that on your skirt, I bet that everyone will be doing the same Oz-damned thing by the end of the day!’

Their laughter was grating to Galinda at that present moment. They didn’t understand . They didn’t understand that she couldn’t make stains work, no matter who she was. They didn’t understand that she couldn’t be caught in such a disgusting, dishevelled state, because what if someone saw her? What if someone told ? What if word somehow got back home to Frottica, to her mother’s critical ears, triggering a barrage of verbal lashings that Galinda couldn’t endure, not now, not when she had worked so hard to be presentable and make certain she would never embarrass her parents, even if she wasn’t a natural, even if she -

‘ - I won’t be long,’ she said, hating how much her voice wavered. ‘If I’m late, just - just say I broke a heel, or something.’

Shenshen expelled a low whistle. ‘Suit yourself, I guess, but Professor Treadgold isn’t exactly known for her forgiving nature. And you - well, you’re not exactly her favourite student, are you?’

Milla and Pfannee giggled at that, and Galinda’s cheeks burned . She had rather hoped her penchant for failing miserably in class would somehow be disguised if she pretended she didn’t care, but Treadgold had a nasty habit of picking on her when she thought she wasn’t paying attention. Such incidents often led to Galinda fumbling through an answer she knew was wrong, eyes silently begging Treadgold to take pity on her and simply give her the answer, until she was left red-faced and squirming in her seat. Then Elphaba, of course, would stick her hand in the air and show off how smart she was. 

‘Then she won’t care if I’m late, will she?’ Galinda said, through gritted teeth. ‘I’ll see you in class.’

Trying her best not to look like a newborn foal, Galinda wobbled her way to the exit. She weighed up her options as she did so, feeling eyes watching her from all sides, and decided she would do her best to get the worst of the stains out before venturing further across campus to the suite. The less people see me, the better , she thought, chewing her lower lip. The caveat with being exceptionally popular - made even more impressive by the fact she’d only been on campus for a week - was that people often watched when she entered the room. So, when she stumbled out of the sun room and into the corridor, idle heads snapped her way, smiling and waving as they always did as if they knew her, and Galinda smiled back. She prayed eyes would stray downwards to her skirt.

The bathroom was, mercifully, pretty empty. A couple of the stalls were occupied, but Galinda went straight to one of the sinks on the far side of the room, hoping she wouldn’t be noticed, and sweating hands met the porcelain with a dull slap . Breathing steadily through her nose, Galinda gripped at the sides of the sink. She glanced at her reflection and recoiled at the tight, pale face that stared back, and started to run the tap. Grabbing a wad of paper towels, she wetted them with the cool water, and started to try and amend the damage.

The students in the stalls did their business and left without too much bother, and as they did, Galinda scrubbed at her skirt. She pressed and rubbed and muttered furiously under her breath, but the stains didn’t lift , no matter how much she scoured, and little clumps from the rapidly disintegrating paper towels started to attach themselves to the fibres of her skirt. Her breath quickening, Galinda gave up on the towels and settled for cupping the water and sloshing it over the stains instead. It didn’t help.

‘No, no, no ,’ she whispered, bundling the skirt further up her thighs - praying no one walked in - and massaged the folds of the skirt together, hoping the friction of the fabric would do a better job than the paper towels. All that achieved was making the stain larger , if a little lighter in colour, but she couldn’t tell either way because the water was darkening the fabric in a rather alarming fashion. This isn’t working. This isn’t working and everyone will see and I’ve managed to ruin something I like because I’m so clumsy and useless and stupid and -

She sucked in a breath, her neck growing hot.

‘Calm down,’ she murmured to herself. ‘Calm down, calm down.’

She could still fix it. She would wait until the wet stain on her skirt had dried out a little, scurry back to her suite - taking the long way around to limit the chances of her being spotted - change into something else, and race to her Mathematics seminar. It didn’t matter if she was late. She would rather that than showing up looking like such a mess. 

Steadily, Galinda made a conscious effort to lower her shoulders, uncurl her tightened fists around her skirt, and let out a long, measured breath. It’s okay. It’s going to be fine. Glancing down at her feet, she realised she’d managed to soak the floor with spilled water, and as she was bending down to clean it up with some more paper towels, her eyes connected with a pair of clunky, hideous black shoes. 

Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me! Not now! Why does the universe hate me so?!

‘...Um, Galinda?’ said Elphaba uncertainly. ‘What in Oz are you doing?’

Galinda shot up from her crouching position so quickly that she nearly whacked her head on underside of the sink. ‘E-Elphaba! What - why are you here?!’

‘Because I have normal bodily functions and need to use the bathroom?’ she said weakly, pointing vaguely to one of the empty stalls. Her eyes slowly took in what she saw - that being the sopping skirt and equally sopping floor beneath Galinda’s feet, and she made a very peculiar face. ‘Er - what -’ she cleared her throat, averting her eyes, ‘ - speaking of bodily functions, what happened to you?’

It took a moment for Galinda to realise what Elphaba meant, given what it must’ve looked like, and she went a violent shade of pink. ‘I - no - I didn’t - it’s just water ! I got a stain on my skirt, and I was trying to get it out!’

Elphaba’s shoulder visibly sagged in relief. ‘Well, that’s good. It looks…’ she gestured to the large wet spot on Galinda’s skirt, ‘...you know. Kind of incriminating.’

‘Elphaba, just who exactly do you think I am ?’ Galinda snapped, stamping her foot in the puddle of water. ‘I’m not five !’ 

‘Really?’ Elphaba blinked. ‘Could’ve fooled me, given your behaviour at breakfast this morning. I rather hoped we were over firing cheap shots.’

‘Whatever gave you that idea?’ Galinda muttered, bending down to resume mopping up the water. While she might’ve been raised in a fully-staffed estate, she was taught at a young age to ensure she kept a tidy space. When she asked her mother about it, she was told that leaving any mess for the staff to see gave a terrible impression. People talk, Galinda . You must never give them any ammunition. Privately, Galinda couldn’t see how leaving her teddy - a little pink penguin called Salmon, named for the colour - in the grand hallway constituted as ammunition, but she wasn’t really in a position to argue.

‘Well,’ said Elphaba, an edge to her tone, ‘I’d hoped that you might’ve finally formed a higher opinion of me, given you quite literally cried on me yesterday evening.’

Galinda paused in her mopping only to look up and glare at her. ‘That, if I might remind you, was all your fault in the first place.’

‘And I said I was sorry about a hundred times.’

‘Say it a hundred more, and I might refrain from commenting on your grotesque behavior.’

Elphaba threw her hands in the air in exasperation. ‘You know what? Fine. Fine. More fool me for thinking we might’ve reached a sense of empathy for each other, but I doubt you’re capable of such a thing.’ With that, she marched into a stall and slammed the door so hard that Galinda flinched. She let out a slow breath, resuming her task until the majority of the water had been cleaned from the floor. She hated to think of all the germs she’s managed to pick up, and was in the process of thoroughly washing her hands when Elphaba emerged a few minutes later. They didn’t look at each other as she stood at a nearby sink, washing her hands, too. Galinda caught her eye in the mirror by mistake, and hastily looked away. 

Oz, she thought to herself, drying her hands, why do I keep running into her in bathrooms? This is exactly why I don’t like using the public ones! Letting out another shaky breath, Galinda assessed the damage of her skirt, and she uttered a profanity so inappropriate, that Elphaba quite literally gasped. 

‘What could possibly inspire that sort of colourful language?’ she spluttered, drying off her hands. She didn’t seem particularly happy about engaging in conversation with Galinda again, but her curiosity clearly got the better of her.

‘It’s -’ Galinda choked on a tight breath, her hands balling the soaked fabric, ‘ - my skirt, I’ve - I’ve just made it worse. The stain is still there and it’s not going to dry in time so I’m going to be late for Treadgold which will only make her hate me more and -’

‘ - Oz, slow down for a second,’ Elphaba said, edging closer. ‘I can’t even see a stain.’

‘It’s here!’ Galinda flapped. ‘Right here.’ She jabbed at the faded red marks from the strawberry juice, almost impossible to see through the now dark grey. Elphaba raised an eyebrow.

‘Uh-huh…’ she said. ‘So, you’re telling me that you decided to drench your skirt because of a few tiny marks that literally nobody would notice, even if you shoved your crotch in their face?’

‘You -’ Galinda gasped, her hands squeezing the fabric tighter, ‘ - you’re so crude!’

‘I didn’t mean it like that, Galinda,’ Elphaba mumbled, her face darkening a little. ‘I meant that it’s a bit of an overreaction, isn’t it? Nobody would’ve spotted a little stain, but this ?’ She gestured at her haphazardly. ‘You can’t go wandering around campus without raising a few eyebrows.’

‘Oz, what was I supposed to do, then?’ Galinda hissed, feeling her chest start to tighten. 

‘I don’t know,’ said Elphaba, in a voice laced with sarcasm. ‘Maybe try not to throw a tantrum and hope the stains come out in the wash like a normal person?’

Galinda’s breath hitched. ‘I - that’s not - you don’t understand!’

‘Understand what?’

‘That I can’t be seen in such a mess !’

‘I hate to break it to you, but I think that ship has sailed,’ Elphaba smirked. She turned to leave - she also had Mathematics, and didn’t want to be late - when she heard a tiny, defeated whimper force its way from Galinda’s trembling lips.

For her part, Galinda was fighting with herself to calm down. But she could feel the dampness of her skirt against her palms, could see how much of a mess she looked, how much worse she had made things because she couldn’t leave it alone, couldn’t allow anyone to see that she’d slipped up, couldn’t stand an imperfection even on her clothes. She bit her lip, trying to stop her chin wobbling, but tears were already burning in the backs of her eyes, and her skirt was still ruined and she was still going to be late and Elphaba was still there .

Sniffing sharply, Galinda turned to the side, hiding her face from Elphaba and the mirror. She struggled through a breath. Calm down, calm down, calm down.

‘...Galinda?’ came Elphaba’s voice. She spoke softly, like she had the previous evening, careful and gentle and cautious. 

‘Oh, what is it?’ Galinda snapped, her own voice splintering at the edges. 

‘Um, I can help. With the skirt.’

Galinda blinked up at her, eyes full of unshed tears, and watched as she tugged off her jumper. It was grey and black - and perfectly shapeless! - and underneath, Elphaba was wearing a crisp, white-collared shirt. Galinda’s gaze swept over her for a moment, rather thinking the shirt was entirely too tight and showed off far too much of her toned arms and broad, strong-looking shoulders - oh, stop it! Stop it right this second! 

‘Tie this around the front of your skirt,’ Elphaba continued, holding it out to her. ‘It’ll cover the water stain and the marks you were trying to get rid of.’

Galinda looked at the jumper as if Elphaba had just offered her a severed head. ‘I - are you insane ? I can’t be seen wearing something like that ! It looks like someone quite literally died in it!’

Elphaba’s expression went totally deadpan. ‘Well, if you want to wander around campus looking like that, then be my guest. Or you can hide in here until your skirt dries off and miss Treadgold’s class. Which would you prefer?’

Galinda mumbled something under her breath, shifting on the spot and shirking Elphaba’s stern gaze.

‘What was that?’ said Elphaba.

‘Neither, okay?’ Galinda snarled. 

‘Then take the damn jumper.’

With an irritated huff, Galinda snatched it from her. The jumper felt soft in her hands, warmed from Elphaba’s body, and as she shook it out, a pleasant, delicate waft of just-snuffed candles and something else, something sweet, doused her senses. She always smells nice. I wonder what she uses? It’s so comforting - wait! No! No, it’s not! Trying desperately to dismiss that dangerous train of thought, Galinda secured the body of the jumper over her skirt and struggled with the arms, trying to tie them around her waist.

‘Oz, come here,’ said Elphaba. She grabbed at the arms of the jumper and tugged Galinda towards her. Galinda let out a little squeak, feeling a sudden heat in her face as Elphaba’s arms looped around her waist, tying the sleeves together in a knot at the base of her spine. She suppressed a little shiver as Elphaba’s deft fingers ghosted over her waist as she withdrew, giving the jumper a gentle tug to make sure it wouldn’t slip.

‘There,’ she said, with a small nod. ‘That works fine. I actually think the black and grey matches your skirt, you know.’

Galinda, who was pink in the face, served her a withering look. ‘It most certainly does not . The grey is a totally different shade to my skirt - it’s a horrid cool grey as opposed to warm. Not to mention that I would never be seen sporting such shoddy knitwork.’

‘Fine. I’ll just have it back, then,’ Elphaba shrugged, reaching forward as if to grab at it, and Galinda yelped and stumbled backwards into the sink

‘No! No,’ she spluttered. ‘That won’t be necessary - wait, are you laughing at me?’ Galinda stared at Elphaba, who was chucking delightedly behind her hand, and let out an incredulous gasp. ‘You are ! You’re laughing at me!’

‘Sorry, it’s just -’ Elphaba cut herself off with a snort of laughter, ‘ - you’re just so easy to tease, Galinda. You should’ve seen your face.’

Galinda’s mouth fell open. Tease?! The audacity of this girl! ‘You - you’re so mean , Elphaba Thropp!’

‘I’m mean?’ Elphaba smirked. ‘You’re the one who just insulted one of my favourite jumpers after I kindly loaned it to you so people wouldn’t think that you -’

‘ - It’s one of your favourites?’ sneered Galinda, plucking at it. ‘Why? It might be the most hideous thing I’ve ever seen - apart from you, of course.’ She let out a tittering laugh at her own joke because no one was around to laugh for her. 

‘Good one, Galinda,’ said Elphaba, rolling her eyes. ‘And it’s my favourite because Dulcibear made it for me. She’s my nanny. She’s also a bear , and last time I checked, it’s quite difficult to knit if you have paws.’

Galinda cocked her head to one side in curiosity. ‘Why in Oz would she have to make you clothes? You're a governor’s daughter, aren’t you? I know enough about local politics to deduce that makes you rather well off.’

‘We are,’ said Elphaba. ‘People don’t always make clothes to save money, Galinda. It can be a heartfelt gesture.’

‘I know that,’ replied Galinda hotly, thinking of the multitude of clothes her granny had made her over the years. ‘I’m just not sure this can be construed as heartfelt, since it’s so ugly.’

‘Well I love it.’ Elphaba said it without an ounce of shame, and suddenly, Galinda felt as if she ought to be quite careful with the garment. 

‘Right,’ she mumbled. ‘Um, I’ll look after it, then.’

‘Yeah. Try not to stain it,’ Elphaba said with a grin. ‘What happened, anyway? Did you spill something?’

‘I was eating strawberries.’ Galinda deliberately left out the fact she’d squeezed one by accident because she was thinking about her confusing feelings towards Elphaba, and smoothed down the front of the jumper distractedly. It really is very soft. It must be lovely for hugs…Not that I’d ever want to hug her, of course! 

‘Ah. Well, I’ve heard that lemon juice is good at lifting stains, if it doesn’t come out in the wash. You could probably get some from the canteen.’

Galinda nodded. She knew all about the effectiveness of lemon juice on certain stains. One of her earliest memories was stumbling inside after playing in the gardens around the estate, giggling and flushed from the outside air, grass stains on the whites of her knee-high socks and the hem of her dress, mud on her shoes, twigs tangled in her hair. Her mother nearly had an aneurysm on seeing her. She had yanked off her shoes, socks and dress in the middle of the entrance hall, ignoring Galinda’s embarrassed protests, and dragged a comb so viciously through her hair that Galinda had cried. She was then instructed to scrub out the stains with lemon juice as a perverse teaching moment. Her palms stung from it. You need to learn to be more careful, Galinda , her mother had said, surveying her as she cleaned. Your father and I work hard to buy you lovely clothes, asking only that you look after them, and this is how you repay us? By running around like a feral guttersnipe and covering yourself in filth? When Galinda had tried to explain that she was just playing, all that earned was another round of raised voices and stinging remarks. Her mother hated stains. She hated anything less than unblemished perfection. And Galinda learnt very quickly that she was not to be challenged. 

‘I’ll see how it fares in the laundry,’ she said, swallowing thickly. 

‘You could get lucky. Some of that water might've helped,’ replied Elphaba. ‘Anyway, what was the big deal? I doubt anyone would’ve noticed.’

‘Try living with my mother, Elphaba, and you’ll realise it is a big deal,’ Galinda said lightly. It was supposed to come out as a joke, but her voice wavered slightly at the end. Elphaba didn’t miss it.

‘Is she a bit of a neat freak, then?’ she asked, raising her eyebrows. 

‘Er…’ Galinda chewed at her lip, trying not to think about the number of times her mother had yelled at her for spilling something down her front, ‘...I guess so. She just has high standards.’

‘That must be quite stressful.’

Galinda felt herself tense up. ‘No. It’s fine. It’s nothing.’

‘Really? You seemed pretty upset about it,’ Elphaba pressed, and Galinda’s hands clenched at her sides. 

‘Would you just drop it, Elphaba?’ she retorted sharply before she could help herself. ‘It’s not actually any of your business. It doesn’t matter .’

Elphaba held up her hands as if in defeat. ‘Oz, fine. Anyway, are you going back to change, or do you want to walk to class?’

‘With you ?’ Galinda scoffed. ‘No thank you. And I am most certainly going to change - I can’t sit in a wet skirt for an hour. Besides,’ - she picked at Elphaba’s jumper as if she’d been draped in slime - ‘I need to limit the number of people who might spot me in this .’

Elphaba let out a snort. ‘Oz, Galinda, you could stand to be a little more grateful.’

‘And you could stand to have a little more fashion sense, yet here we are.’

Elphaba looked as if she wanted to say something else, her nostrils flared in annoyance, before she turned on her heels and marched off. Galinda stared after her, feeling a tiny flare of guilt, and her palms smoothed over the jumper again. She didn’t have to lend this to me. She could’ve just walked away. Why didn’t she? Shaking her head, Galinda double checked that her skirt was totally covered, before she traced Elphaba’s footsteps and flounced out of the bathroom.

*

Elphaba liked Mathematics. It was cool, straightforward and logical. Nothing was left open for interpretation, and she could follow it along without much difficulty or concern for running into a wall. Galinda Upland, meanwhile, was not cool, straightforward, or logical. 

She had watched as the girl scurried into the seminar about 15-minutes late, red-faced as Treadgold reprimanded her, in a completely different outfit. I thought she just needed to change her skirt? Elphaba thought, rolling her eyes as Galinda quickly found a spare seat towards the back of the class. Instead, she was wearing a floaty, pink dress with ridiculously high heels and a lilac jacket that complimented her complexion rather nicely - huh? No it doesn’t. Not especially, anyway. Galinda looks good in anything - what? Elphaba gave herself a little shake, snapping her attention back to the blackboard. She needed to spend less time ruminating about her insufferable roommate and more time absorbing the complex equations Professor Treadgold was mapping out in chalk. 

Despite her best efforts, though, her wayward mind found itself circling back to Galinda, even as she jotted down Treadgold’s instructions and tried to follow along as best she could. Elphaba didn’t have much to offer the world, at least in her opinion, so her academic prowess had to make up for it. That meant she couldn’t waste precious seminar hours thinking about Galinda, about her panic and her tears and her somewhat concerning obsession with how she looked. 

Elphaba knew after the first day of sharing a room just how precious Galinda was about her appearance. She was rudely woken up at half past five every morning from Galinda’s shower singing, and had to bury her head under the pillows through the hairdrying, wardrobe-slamming, perfume-spritzing cacophony that stormed after Galinda as she cycled through her endless morning routine. Of course, it paid off - Galinda looked flawless without fail. Elphaba thought that she must be tired, rising as early as she did, but the blonde always had an irritating spring in her heeled step as she wafted around campus. 

Publicly, Elphaba assumed Galinda tried so hard to look good for vanity’s sake and often told her so. Privately, she thought there was little need for Galinda to do so much. She already had a natural beauty, one Elphaba occasionally saw if she opened her eyes long enough to watch her skip from her bed to the bathroom and vice versa. Now, though, Elphaba had a sneaking suspicion that Galinda’s desperate strive for perfection was less to do with vanity or her own sense of self, but because it was, quite simply, expected of her. 

And Elphaba wasn’t really sure what to make of that. 

Having been born green, Elphaba never even had the choice of perfection. No one expected her to look her best, because - at least in their eyes - such a thing wasn’t possible. No one cared what she wore or how she did her hair. No one looked at her as an object of beauty, or even desire. So, while she couldn’t really feel empathetic towards Galinda, it certainly didn’t mean she wasn’t sympathetic towards her plight. She looked so worried in the bathroom, almost as if she was about to cry - just because of some faded stains. And how exhausting it must be, to rise so early and go through so many steps before she even wants to leave the suite. 

Letting out a quiet sigh, Elphaba’s eyes wandered and landed on the girl in question. Since she had shown up late, she wasn’t flanked by the usual suspects, and was sitting rather gingerly next to the ever-attentive Boq Woodsman, who hadn’t taken his gaze off her since she came into the room. Galinda didn’t seem particularly thrilled about that - she was quite literally at risk of slipping off her chair in her efforts to sit as far away from him as possible - and she was chewing the end of her pen instead of taking notes. Typical Galinda - she spends hours getting people to look at her, and then hates it when they do . Elphaba frowned to herself, then, realising that was quite the unfair thing to think. 

*

Later on, Elphaba went back to the suite for some peace and quiet. Galinda’s campaign of taunt Elphaba Thropp on sight had become rather draining, and she often found herself needing some time away from prying eyes just to recover from it all.

On entering, it was mercifully empty. Galinda probably has bigger fish to fry between classes than waste her time here , Elphaba thought to herself, kicking off her shoes and dumping her bag on the bed. She sat down at her desk with a long, tired sigh. 

Galinda’s side of the suite wasn’t as tidy as usual. Clothes were strewn over her bed and the floor, along with numerous pairs of heels and stockings. She had clearly been tearing through various outfits to find something else to wear. The offending grey skirt was abandoned by the foot of her bed, along with the shirt she’d been wearing with it. Elphaba couldn’t really kick up a fuss about the mess, though, since Galinda was generally a very tidy roommate. Thank Oz. I think it would push me over the edge, otherwise. 

Elphaba then spotted her own jumper. She frowned, craning her neck, and then stood to investigate. To her surprise, it was folded neatly on top of her stack of pink pillows. Elphaba sucked in a small breath. Amongst the frantic chaos and rush to get to class, Galinda had taken the time to make sure the jumper was gathered up smartly and meticulously. Elphaba couldn’t help but feel touched by the gesture. She decided to leave it as it was and wait for Galinda to return it to her, lest she be accused of messing with her things, and went back to her desk to do some much-needed studying. She hadn’t got anything done last night, given the glass incident, and wanted to catch up.

She only managed about ten minutes before the door burst open, and in swanned Galinda and Pfannee. Shenshen, unusually, wasn’t with them, but Elphaba counted herself lucky - two of them were better than three - but she still shrunk a little in her seat, wishing she opted for the balcony instead.

‘Oh, great,’ Pfannee said, recoiling in disgust. ‘What are you doing here, Elphaba?’

‘I live here,’ she muttered, not looking up from her desk. 

‘Well could you go somewhere else? You’re a horrible distraction when we’re trying to study, you know,’ said Pfannee, as he threw his bag on Galinda’s bed. 

‘Study? You ?’ Elphaba sneered. ‘I’m not convinced I’ve seen either of you progress beyond chapter one in any of the books you own.’

‘Spying on us, are we?’ Pfannee said. ‘You ought to get another hobby.’ He went to hurl himself across Galinda’s bed as he often did - something Elphaba was certain the girl didn’t like, because she always seemed to flinch when he did so - but caught himself at the last moment. 

‘Oz, Galinda,’ he said, nearly toppling over, ‘what’s with all the clothes? You having a sort out?’

‘Something like that,’ Galinda gulped, scurrying over to try and make some space for him. The tips of her ears flushed pink, and Elphaba assumed she was feeling embarrassed - she’d noticed that Galinda was very quick to blush if she was feeling flustered. Which is sort of cute, to be honest - what? No, it isn’t. She watched from her desk as Galinda surreptitiously kicked the ruined skirt under her bed as she shoved aside several dresses for Pfannee to sit. He did so with a languid sigh, stretching out like a cat.

‘Where should we start?’ Galinda asked, perching next to him and rummaging in her bag for her books. Elphaba was surprised - usually, Galinda and her friends came back to the suite under the guise of studying, but would then proceed to gossip about everything and nothing instead. It was rather grating to listen to, especially since their conversations were so vapid. She couldn’t see how Galinda could stand it. 

‘Oh, I don’t know,’ Pfannee groaned. ‘Every class seems perfectly tortuous if you ask me. I only enrolled here because my Papa attended, but I misread the smallprint.’

‘You’re trying to say you came to a university and didn’t think you’d have to study?’ Galinda giggled, putting her Mathematics textbook on her lap.

‘I didn’t think I’d have to study so hard ,’ said Pfannee, flourishing a floppy hand across his forehead. ‘Academic success is only for those who actually need it. You and I can coast along just fine with our names alone.’

‘Hm,’ Galinda shrugged noncommittally, and Elphaba was certain she was thinking about her aspirations to study under Madame Morrible. Galinda was the ambitious type, even if she didn’t show it. 

‘I mean,’ Pfannee continued obliviously, ‘why do you think Shenshen works harder than we do? She’s not like us and Milla. She doesn’t have a family name to fall back on if she needs it. She’s got to make the most of her time here.’ He let out a short laugh. ‘Which is probably why she’s holed up in the library.’

‘Shenshen comes from a rich family, Pfannee,’ said Galinda, a little stiffly. ‘She works hard because she wants to. And anyway, familial roots only get you so far. It’s…important to have a backup plan.’ Elphaba eyed her as she glanced down at the book in her lap, hands smoothing over the pages. 

Pfannee shook his head with a snort. ‘You don’t need to worry about any of that nonsense. We both know you’ll be married and settled the second we graduate.’

Galinda stiffened, her shoulders tensing. Elphaba watched as her toes, freed from the precarious heels she’d been wearing, curled up as if in displeasure. But Galinda didn’t say anything to refute Pfannee’s statement, and instead flipped to the index of the textbook.

‘Professor Treadgold told us to brush up on the binomial series, didn’t she?’ she said, a perfectly manicured finger running down the list. ‘I bet she’ll be testing us soon enough. I spoke to a second year the other day, and he said that Treadgold always springs surprise quizzes on first years to make sure that we -’

‘ - Oz, what is that ?’ Pfanne exclaimed, cutting across her entirely. Galinda, frustrated, slammed the book closed.

‘Pfannee,’ she said, her eyebrow twitching, ‘I really want to try and get some work done before dinner, so if you could just - wait, don’t touch that!’

Elphaba realised what was about to happen before Galinda did, and she opened her mouth to protest. Pfannee had spotted her jumper on Galinda’s pillows and leapt up, unfurling it and holding it against his body in disgust.

‘What is the reason for this ?’ he spluttered through a snort of laughter. ‘This might be the ugliest thing you own, Galinda.’

‘It’s not -’ Galinda cut herself off, and Elphaba figured out why; trying to explain why she had Elphaba’s jumper on her bed would be more of a social suicide for her than allowing Pfannee to think the garment belong to her.

‘I mean, the style aside, it’s not exactly your colour, is it?’ he continued. ‘I assume we can put this in the reject pile, no?’ Elphaba’s heart rate spiked as he bundled it into a ball, and she was just about to say something when Galinda got to her feet.

‘Give it back,’ she said quietly. 

‘Um, what?’ Pfannee spluttered. ‘Galinda, I’m trying to do you a favour, here. You really ought to get rid -’

‘ - I told you to give it back ,’ she interrupted, a bite to her tone. She lunged forward and took it from him before he could protest. She immediately shook it out again and started to fold it, before she held it against her chest in an almost protective fashion.

‘Oz, keep your hair on,’ Pfannee said, rolling his eyes. ‘If you want to keep such a horrendous looking thing, I won’t stop you.’ His eyes adopted a conspiratorial twinkle. ‘...But don’t be surprised if it goes missing one day and ends up in the fireplace.’

Galinda’s eyes tripled in size. ‘No, you - you can’t do that! Please don’t do that.’

‘Galinda, I’m kidding, I’m kidding,’ Pfannee said, looking at her oddly. ‘Keep the gross jumper. Just don’t go wearing it in public if you want to maintain any semblance of your reputation.’ With that, he flopped down on her bed again and started babbling about whether Crope and Tibbett, two boys in the year above them with an infamous reputation for getting caught in compromising positions, were actually locking lips in the kitchen larder or simply sampling a more luxurious selection of biscuits reserved for the formal dinners. 

Galinda let out a breath, carefully tucking Elphaba’s jumper under her pillows. She glanced up, and Elphaba caught her eye. A beat passed. Elphaba felt heat in her face. She wanted to say something, but she couldn’t with Pfannee in the room. Instead, she settled for the safe option.’

‘ Thank you ,’ she mouthed, nodding at her.

Galinda’s ears went pink. ‘... You’re welcome .’

Chapter Text

Chapter Three: Thunder

A few days after Elphaba had gotten Galinda out of a tight spot and lent her the jumper, the garment in question was returned, neatly folded and smelling faintly of whichever expensive laundry detergent Galinda used. To her utter confusion, Elphaba found herself not wanting to wear it - even though it was her favourite - for fear that the pleasant scent might fade. Well, I’m certainly not going to unpack whatever that means , she had thought to herself, carefully putting the jumper in her chest of drawers (something she quite literally had to fight Galinda over for ownership of, since she didn’t have anywhere else to put her clothes). 

Galinda seemed a little different post-jumper, as Elphaba had started privately referring to it as. She was still irritating and loud and flounced around like she owned every inch of campus, but in terms of her daily harassment, she had calmed down somewhat. Instead of insults on sight, she would only make one or two comments a day on Elphaba’s appearance, demeanor, or general presence. It stung either way, but Elphaba was trying to take the small wins when they came her way - one of which was her continued improvement in Madame Morrible’s classes. Her spellcraft was coming along nicely, and Morrible had even given her some advanced textbooks to look over as they progressed to the next level.

Sharing a space with Galinda, however, continued to be an uphill struggle.

‘Elphaba ,’ Galinda screeched from the bathroom, two days after she’d returned the jumper. ‘ If you don’t come here in the next five seconds, I am literally going to scream. ’

‘More than you are already?’ Elphaba said wearily. She wasn’t sure if Galinda heard her through the closed door, but nonetheless, she got up from her desk and went into the bathroom. ‘Oz, what’s the matter now?’ She stopped in her tracks when she caught sight of Galinda. 

The girl was standing wrapped in a fluffy pink towel, looking extremely irritated, her wet hair falling across her bare shoulders. Elphaba stared at her, caught completely off guard. She had clearly jumped straight out of the bath. Gulping, Elphaba watched as a droplet of water beaded at the tip of a single strand of hair, before dripping off and trickling down to the hollow of her neck. She’d never seen Galinda in just a towel. She seemed to make a point of wearing her bathrobe, hair always wrapped up in a smaller, matching towel before it went through its scrupulous routine.

‘What, precisely, is this?’

Elphaba took a moment to realise what Galinda was gesturing at. She followed the pointing finger to a lone sock scrunched on the floor. 

‘...Er, you’re joking, right?’ Elphaba said, averting her eyes from the delicate curve where Galinda’s neck met her shoulders. 

‘No, I am not joking!’ Galinda squawked. ‘How can I enjoy my lovely bubble bath if I’m forced to inhabit such an untidy space? I mean, what sort of person leaves a sock lying around?!’

‘Someone who was evidently in a rush and missed the laundry basket,’ Elphaba muttered, folding her arms. 

‘Well pick it up, then!’

‘If it’s such a big deal,’ grumbled Elphaba, ‘why didn’t you notice it until after you got in the bath?’

‘Because I had already taken my contacts out! I thought it was some sort of horrendous insect plotting to gnaw my face off when I was finally relaxing!’

Elphaba blinked at her. ‘I don’t know what sort of insects you get in Frottica, but none that I know of are the size of a perfectly average sock, nor do they tend to chew at people’s faces. Besides, since when did you wear contact lenses?’

‘Perfectly average, she says, as she stomps around in her gigantic clodhoppers,’ Galinda muttered, as if Elphaba wasn’t in ear shot. ‘And I’ve worn contacts since I was certified blind as a bat when I was a child, if you must know.’ She pointed to the little shelf below the mirror, where there sat a small, circular tub that Elphaba had always assumed was just another step of Galinda’s endless skincare routine. 

‘Why not just wear glasses? They’re much less fuss,’ Elphaba said, adjusting her own pair for good measure.

‘Because they just about tripled the size of my eyes and made my face look peculiar,’ Galinda declared. ‘Momsie would never allow it. And anyway, that isn’t the point of this conversation! Pick up your horrid old sock before my bath gets cold!’

Elphaba relented, not wanting another argument, and dumped the sock in her specified laundry basket with no small amount of frustrated flair. ‘There you go, your highness. I hope the bathroom reaches your lofty standards.’

‘Lofty ?’ Galinda spluttered, adjusting her towel and turning pink. ‘I’m not lofty, Elphaba, I would just rather not live in disorganised carnage.’

‘I hardly see how one sock can be construed as carnage.’

‘Well, it wouldn’t normally,’ Galinda smirked. ‘But since it’s yours , I’ve no doubt it is positively ablaze with a foul aroma - Oz, or even disease! One can never be too careful.’

That stung quite a lot. Elphaba opened her mouth as if to say something, but found she could not, and decided to leave Galinda to stew in the bath. Pressing her lips together, she took the time to slam the bathroom door as loudly as she possibly could, ignoring the tiny, surprised yelp expelled from her irksome roommate, and returned to her desk. 

Elphaba was fairly certain she’d never smelled unpleasant in her life, even during the egregious age that was puberty, but for one reason or another, the Munchkin children liked to tease her about it. It only took her a moment to remember their cruel taunts, and she sucked in a breath. No, don’t think about all of that. There’s no point. Sniffing sharply to herself, Elphaba lazily flipped open her Sorcery book. She noticed something that made her eyebrow twitch. 

‘Galinda!’ she snapped, shooting to her feet and marching back towards the bathroom door. 

‘Oh, what is it now ?’ came her high-pitched voice, as if she wasn’t the one who had disturbed Elphaba in the first place. ‘Did you find your other rancid sock ?’

Stuff this , Elphaba thought to herself. Without really thinking too much about what she was doing, she shoved her way into the bathroom. Galinda let out a shriek so ear-splitting that it was a wonder the windows didn’t shatter. There was a series of splashes as Galinda scrambled up the bubbles to her chest, before slipping herself beneath the water so hastily that Elphaba rather thought she looked like some sort of blonde eel. 

‘Elphaba Thropp! ’ she caterwauled, her head poking just above the water. ‘What - what in Oz do you think you’re doing ?! Get out !’

‘I’m not looking at you, for goodness sake,’ Elphaba grumbled, making a show of planting a hand over her eyes. ‘I thought I told you to stop messing with my Sorcery books. Madame Morrible gave them to me especially and I’m sick of you rifling through them.’

Galinda, if Elphaba could see her, went pink. ‘I - I’ve not - I’ve done nothing of the sort!’

‘Right,’ Elphaba muttered. ‘Then why are some of the pages folded over in the corners? I would never dog-ear any of my books, least of all ones belonging to someone else.’

‘And what makes you think I had anything to do with that?’ Galinda huffed. ‘You said it yourself - those books were given to you by Morrible. She could very easily be the culprit.’

‘Because I severely doubt that Madame Morrible is the type to underline in pink ink . I’m not stupid, Galinda. Just admit to scribbling in and dog-earing my books and I’ll leave you and your stupid bubble bath in peace.’

‘What’s the point in admitting anything if you already think I’m guilty?’ Galinda muttered. 

‘It’s the principle of the matter. I don’t mess with your stuff, so you can’t mess with mine. It’s an invasion of privacy.’

‘Invasion of privacy?!’ Galinda screeched, and Elphaba heard another indignant splash. ‘ You’re the one who has let herself into the bathroom while I’m trying to bathe!’

‘Stop. Touching. My. Stuff.’ Elphaba spat every word with a hiss, a hand still over her eyes so as not to prove Galinda’s point. 

‘Then stop leaving your stuff lying around - like that infernal sock!’

‘So you do admit to it, then?’

‘Oz -’ Galinda cut herself off with a frustrated snarl. Elphaba could just picture the look on her face, and smirked behind her hand. ‘Right. Fine. Fine. I may or may not have had a little look through one of your Sorcery books, but that’s all your fault for - for taunting me with them.’

‘Huh? In what way is using my desk to keep my books taunting you?’

‘Why do you think?’ Galinda whinged. ‘You know full well that I want to learn under Madame Morrible, but then you came along and stole my spot in her seminars.’

‘Funny. That makes it sound like you actually had a spot in the first place.’

‘I - I would have!’ spluttered Galinda. ‘If I’d have been given the opportunity to prove myself, I’d be the one with all those Sorcery books, not you. So what if I had a little peruse? The least you could do is let me, since it’s all your fault that Morrible turned her nose up at me.’

Elphaba’s mouth fell open in outrage. ‘How in Oz is it my fault? If memory serves, she rejected you even before she knew what I could do!’

‘That isn’t true.’

‘No? Didn’t you submit a whole essay to her over the summer before you even got here?’ Elphaba said impatiently. ‘And after all that, she still didn’t pick you. That has nothing to do with me, but all to do with your talent - or lack thereof.’

The bathroom was quiet for an uncomfortably long pause. Elphaba could hear the gentle tinkling of the bubbles as they popped in the bathtub. She wondered if Galinda might’ve stuck her head under the water to avoid the conversation, but there was no noise to indicate that. She shifted on the spot, almost tempted to peak, but knowing that Galinda would probably have a stroke and drown if she did so. 

‘...Anyway, just stop going through my books,’ mumbled Elphaba. ‘Or if you’re that desperate to read them, then for goodness sake, ask.’

‘What’s the point?’ came Galinda’s voice, much smaller than it had been a few minutes ago. ‘Not like I can do anything when no one wants to teach me.’

Elphaba wasn’t exactly sure what inspired her next words, but looking back, she decided the steam from the hot bath probably got to her. ‘Well, I could always teach you, if you want. It would help me to go over Morrible’s teachings, and -’

When she was cut off by a bout of sputtering laughter, Elphaba really wondered why she bothered being nice to Galinda at all.

‘You , teach me?’ Galinda laughed, throwing her head back so it dipped into the water. ‘The nerve! What makes you think I’d want that, anyway? I’ve seen how dreadful your command of magic is - or have you forgotten when you broke the balcony window and smashed up my serums and creams?’

Elphaba’s eye twitched behind her hand. ‘I’ve actually been working very hard on controlling that, if you must know. And I’ve been improving. Madame Morrible is impressed with my progress.’

‘Well, whoop-de-doo for you.’

‘It’s more like whoop-de-doo for you, I think you’ll find,’ replied Elphaba, annoyed. 

‘What have I got to do with it?’ Galinda shot back.

‘Oz, because I don’t want to lose control and freak you out again when we argue!’ Elphaba snapped. ‘Which, clearly , will continue for as long as we’re forced to spend time together. And if it does, then I’d rather not trigger another panic attack if I end up breaking glass, or something.’

‘A what?’ 

‘Are you being deliberately obtuse?’ Elphaba said. ‘That panic attack, Galinda. Remember? When you literally couldn’t breathe?’

Another pause. Elphaba could almost hear the cogs in Galinda’s brain whirring away.

‘...Um, I do remember, of course,’ she mumbled. ‘I just - I’ve not heard them called that before. Momsie would refer to them as meltdowns and leave it at that.’

‘It’s happened before?’ Elphaba replied, raising an eyebrow. 

‘Well, obviously,’ Galinda said flippantly. ‘But it’s not unusual. Everyone panics a bit from time to time.’

‘Yes, everyone does panic,’ Elphaba nodded. ‘But not everyone has panic attacks, Galinda. They’re a totally different kettle of fish. Exactly how often do you -’

‘ - Oz, it’s not important,’ Galinda interrupted, suddenly sounding a lot more irritated. ‘Will you leave me alone now, please? My bathwater is definitely getting cold, and the bubbles are going. I do want to bathe this evening, if it’s all the same to you.’

‘Right, but -’

‘ - Oh, go away!’

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Elphaba did as she was asked. She turned away and dropped her hand, before she left the bathroom and closed the door behind her - much gentler, this time around. Well, that went swimmingly, she thought to herself. 

She lowered herself into her desk chair once again and picked up the book. Galinda had underlined some passages in pink, and as Elphaba flicked through to the various pages she had dog-eared, she realised they were all revolving around a common theme - Illusionary Magic. Why would she be interested in that? she frowned, scanning over the various sentences Galinda had highlighted. She seemed to be interested in spells that would alter her appearance, and Elphaba scoffed. How shallow she is, to be so wrapped up in the way she looks. 

Then again…Elphaba glanced down at her green hands. The whole reason she wanted to see the Wizard was so he could change her, hopefully on a permanent basis. The spells Galinda was looking at wouldn’t last. What does she even want to change? She’s as close to perfect as they come.

‘Uh-oh,’ Elphaba gulped aloud, giving her head a little shake. ‘No. She’s not perfect . She’s just…blonde. Yes. Blonde.’

*

Galinda started her day with a single-minded mission: get into Madame Morrible’s Sorcery seminars. Following their little spat last night, Galinda had decided that she needed to prove Elphaba wrong and present herself as the excellent sorceress she was certain she was. It didn’t matter that she hadn’t produced a single spark of magic, of course. That’s only because I’ve not had anyone to teach me, she thought to herself triumphantly, as she flourished her eyelash curler in the mirror. Since she wanted to make a good impression, Galinda had decided to rise extra early to prepare herself for her mission, and had been preening for the better part of three hours before Elphaba even stirred. 

Humming to herself cheerfully, Galinda fluttered her eyelashes in the mirror. Her mother used to say her eyes were too large for her face - they give you a perpetually surprised look, dear, almost like a freakish little insect - but later decided that Galinda had grown into them and actively encouraged her to show them off. It was peculiar how quickly Larena Upland changed her mind. She was always adjusting the benchmark, criticising Galinda for something she would then compliment the next week. Galinda tried to keep up as best she could. She wanted to please her. She wanted to please everyone - which was probably why, when she spotted a slight blemish on her chin, she nearly let out a shriek. 

Logically speaking, Galinda knew Madame Morrible wouldn’t notice or even care about the state of her skin. She took stupid Elphaba on as a student, at any rate , Galinda thought bitterly. But still, she wanted to present the best possible version of herself - and that did not involve any sort of blemish. 

When Galinda was younger, she used to have freckles. Her light complexion lent itself to them, especially in the summer months when the sun would hit her skin, bringing them out and lightening her golden hair until it was almost white. Blonde curls were something her parents adored. Her mother enjoyed plaiting Galinda’s hair, fixing it with ribbons and bows. Her father always approved, saying she looked just like a princess. Galinda would giggle and glow. Freckles, however, neither of them liked. Galinda’s first introduction to make-up had been during a particularly sweltering summer when she was seven, and her freckles came out in full force, sprinkling over her cheeks and nose. Her mother had sat her down at her vanity and showed her how to cover them up. They make your face look all unsymmetrical, Galinda, she had said sternly, dabbing on make-up with enough vigour that it started to hurt. You’d do better to cover them up. 

As she got older, her freckles retreated and her hair got a little darker, even when exposed to the sun. Galinda privately missed how she looked when she was little. She’d always thought freckles to be quite adorable. They certainly look cute on El - no! No, no, no! 

Giving herself a shake, Galinda got to work on covering the blemish. A spot was no doubt a harbinger of her period, which was an annoyance, but she tried not to think about that. She always suffered from them, and it would be her first away from home. She sucked at her teeth, frowning as she dabbed over a green-tinged concealer to neutralise the redness that was starting to show. She didn’t need this, not today, not when she had to be at her absolute best to impress Madame Morrible.

There was a snuffle from the other side of the room as Elphaba, groggily, pulled herself into a sitting position. Galinda watched her as she stifled a yawn, rubbed her eyes, and reached for her glasses. 

‘...Morning,’ she said, her voice thick with sleep.

‘Good morning, Elphaba,’ Galinda said coolly, returning her attention to her reflection. ‘I trust you slept well, given you were snoring for the majority of the night?’

‘If anyone was snoring, it was you,’ Elphaba grumbled, throwing back her covers.

‘I -’ Galinda gasped. ‘How dare you insinuate such a thing?! I have never snored in my entire life!’

‘Yeah, and I’m the Wizard of Oz.’

Galinda glowered at her as Elphaba slid out of bed and padded towards the bathroom, stretching her arms above her head as she did so. She didn’t know whether she snored or not, but either way, she thought it was dreadfully rude of Elphaba to point it out. 

‘Galinda,’ Elphaba said, poking her head out of the bathroom, ‘you forgot to drain the bath again.’

‘Oops, sorry,’ Galinda tittered, not at all sincere. 

‘Why did you even have another bath?’ Elphaba muttered. ‘You washed last night. Unless, of course, that cacophony of snoring you were performing made you a bit sweaty, hm?’

‘Go away!’ Galinda said, throwing down her concealer with a huff. Elphaba let out a little laugh - one that both irritated and amused Galinda, for reasons unknown - and shut the door behind her. 

Muttering under her breath, Galinda resumed her make-up routine. She had wanted another bath because she needed to look her best! What did Elphaba Thropp know about that?!

*

Galinda was able to ambush Madame Morrible right after breakfast. She hadn’t eaten much. Her stomach was wriggling with nerves at the prospect of holding another conversation with the coveted Dean of Sorcery, and the mere thought of swallowing down anything other than a few cubes of pineapple made her feel physically sick. Shenshen had something to say about that.

‘Are you on a diet, or something?’ she said, as they went to deposit their used plates in the trollies. 

‘Huh?’

‘You hardly ate anything,’ replied Shenshen, nodding at the bowl of untouched porridge and buttered slice of toast Galinda had picked up on autopilot. 

‘Er - no, I’m not on a diet,’ Galinda said hastily. ‘I’m just not particularly hungry at the moment. W-why? Do you think I need to go on one?’ Her voice wavered a little as she said it, and she hoped Shenshen wouldn’t notice.

‘Oz, no!’ Shenshen snorted. ‘You could probably get away with gaining a few pounds, if anything. I was just curious.’

‘Oh, right,’ Galinda said, clearing her throat. ‘Um…You’d tell me if I did though, right?’

‘Did what?’

‘If I did need to diet.’

Shenshen rolled her eyes, putting her tray in the trolly. ‘Galinda, that’s not for me to say. Your relationship with your weight and your body is nobody’s business but your own.’

That’s not true at all, Galinda frowned. Momsie has always kept an eye on it on my behalf. Before she could refute Shenshen’s statement, though, she spotted Madame Morrible wafting into the mess hall and towards the tea station, looking as regal as ever.

‘Oh!’ she squeaked. ‘Sorry, Shen, I’ve got to go. See you later.’

‘Bye, Galinda.’

Swallowing down her nerves, Galinda carefully smoothed down the front of her blouse - she had chosen to wear a slim-fitting, two-piece skirt suit with polished golden buttons that matched the accents on her heels - and approached her. She had to sneak in the queue to do so, since Morrible, as a faculty member, was allowed to bypass the students, but no one minded. All Galinda had to do was flash them a dazzling smile, and they gratefully made the space for her.

‘Good morning, Madame Morrible!’ she chirruped, her voice several octaves higher than normal. ‘Glorious weather we’re having this morning, no?’

Morrible, who had wrinkled her nose the moment she saw who had dared address her before she’d had her cup of morning tea, gave Galinda such a sour expression that it was a wonder the girl wasn’t reduced to a smoking pile of ash.

‘I suspect a storm is brewing,’ she said flatly, turning her back to select her favourite blend.

‘Um, how can you tell?’

‘I am a weather expert, Miss Galinda,’ Morrible muttered. ‘It pays to read the clouds. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d rather like to take my tea in peace.’ She made a point of moving around Galinda, who had gotten a little too close in her eagerness, and reached for a cup. Galinda got there first, grabbing it for her and offering a smile. 

‘Of course, of course!’ she said, handing her the cup. ‘I too like a nice cup of tea in the morning. I favour peppermint, personally. What about you?’

Morrible’s eyebrow twitched. ‘...Ginger. Preferably in solitude.’

‘Right, yes!’ Galinda nodded, either ignoring the hint or simply not noticing it in her anxiousness. ‘My granny adores ginger tea. I bought her a special blend for Lurlinemas last year that was exported all the way from Rinkitink! Apparently, the vendor had a dreadful old time crossing the Deadly Desert, but I certainly think it was worth it, since the tea was most gratefully received and -’

‘ - Miss Galinda,’ Morrible interrupted, her face tight, ‘is there something you wanted, or did you approach me simply to blabber on about tea?’

A few students who were also in the queue snickered at that. Galinda felt herself go red. 

‘I - no, sorry,’ she said, wringing her hands together. ‘I was just hoping to catch you as soon as I could. I wanted to talk to you about your seminars again. We didn’t really get the chance to discuss that essay I submitted, what with all that bother with Elphaba.’ Galinda took the time to roll her eyes when she mentioned her roommate. ‘And - and I wanted to hear your thoughts.’

Morrible, who was pouring just-boiled water from a copper teapot, seemed to bristle. ‘I would hardly call what you handed in an essay , Miss Galinda. If memory serves, it was only two pages long. Not to mention that I was hardly able to decipher it through the atrocious use of spelling, grammar and punctuation. I thought it was - how do you youngsters say - a prank.’

More giggles. Galinda felt her throat tighten. ‘O-Oh. I thought - I didn’t think that you’d read it.’

‘I read all applications to my seminar series in the hopes that something worthwhile might cross my desk,’ Morrible muttered, dropping in a teabag that smelt strongly of ginger. ‘Suffice to say, I remain disappointed.’

‘But I -’ Galinda swallowed, balling her fists in the fabric of her skirt as Morrible set down the teapot, ‘ - I, um, I worked really hard on it, Madame Morrible. I thought if I was able to demonstrate my passion for the subject, that you might allow me to join your seminars so - so I can learn from someone of your calibre. I do want to become a great sorceress, you know. I’m very serious about it.’

‘Passion is an admirable quality,’ replied Morrible crisply, ‘but you also need talent, Miss Galinda, which is something I fear you sincerely lack.’

One of the students standing behind them literally snorted, then, and Galinda’s cheeks burned. She could feel several pairs of eyes on them, watching and listening as she was slowly dismantled by Morrible’s cutting tongue, and she squirmed on the spot, desperate to not be deterred. She had to try.

‘Um, with all due respect, how can you know that?’ she said meekly. ‘You’ve not even, I don’t know, tested me or anything.’

Madame Morrible arched an eyebrow. ‘Why, do you want to be tested?’

‘I want the opportunity to prove myself.’

‘Hm. Very well,’ Morrible said smoothly. She glanced around at the tea station and the gaggle of students waiting patiently for their turn, and she cocked her head to the side. ‘Go ahead and levitate one of those teacups, Miss Galinda.’

Galinda stared at her. ‘What? Right now?’

‘You’re desperate to prove your worth, are you not?’ Morrible sneered. ‘Why wait? Show me how talented you are, and we’ll see about enrolling you into my seminars.’

‘ This should be interesting,’ whispered one of the students, nudging her friend. Galinda’s eyes snapped to them, feeling her ears growing hot. 

‘I - but you haven’t told me how,’ she gulped, looking back to Morrible. 

‘It is quite the simple incantation, really,’ replied Morrible, taking a sip of her tea. ‘Even those with the most basic command of magic should be able to manage it. Miss Elphaba over there was able to complete the spell after a single lesson.’ A long finger pointed over to where Elphaba was sitting, alone, her nose in a book. She evidently hadn’t noticed the exchange. 

‘Well, you just said it,’ Galinda mumbled. ‘Elphaba had a lesson.’

‘Open your ears, and you’ll receive one now,’ Morrible said curtly. ‘I want you to focus on your chosen teacup. Eyes shut. Toes clenched. Envision your… power ,’ - she couldn’t help but scoff - ‘reaching out to lift it up. Can you manage that?’

Palms profusely sweating as she fiddled with her skirt, Galinda did as Morrible asked. It was incredibly difficult to concentrate with so many eyes on her, watching with bated breath to see if she could actually pull it off. She kept her eyes squeezed shut. Her mouth was pressed in a thin line. Maybe if I concentrate really, really hard, I’ll be able to make it work! When several painful minutes went by without Morrible saying anything, and the snickering from the watching students grew, Galinda relented and opened her eyes. She didn’t really want to. Keeping the shut meant she could allow the illusion of success to last a little while longer. But as she blinked them open, taking in Morrible’s unimpressed expression and the teacup very much not floating in the air, she felt her stomach drop. 

‘Well,’ Madame Morrible said, taking another sip of her tea, ‘I rather think that answers the question, doesn’t it?’

The handful of students who weren’t feeling very sorry for Galinda at that moment - because there was a lot to be sympathetic about, given how Morrible was looking at her as if she was a smudge of dirt on her shoe - went ahead and giggled amongst themselves. Despite her best efforts, Galinda’s eyes grew hot. She hated being laughed at.

‘I - I think if maybe I tried in a more controlled environment -’ she began, her chin quivering, but Morrible held up a hand to silence her. 

‘And that would only further prove that you’re not good enough, Miss Galinda,’ she said. There was no malice in her tone, only stone-cold fact. It made Galinda feel a hundred times worse. ‘Now, if this little circus act is over, I have my morning duties to attend to. Good day.’ With that, she marched off with her tea, nearly clipping Galinda’s shoulder as she did so. 

There was a painfully awkward pause as Galinda stood, frozen, in the way of the tea station. She could feel herself starting to tremble, a combination of disappointment and embarrassment rocketing up from her gut, and she clenched her fists in the material of her skirt even tighter. 

‘Hard luck, Miss Galinda!’ said a voice she vaguely recognised as belonging to Crope, a dark-haired young man in the year above her. He clapped her on the back with a little too much force for her liking. ‘Still, it could've been worse. I heard that Morrible once turned a student into a toad for interrupting her morning brew. Apparently, he still hops around the quad from time to time.’

‘Hah, yeah,’ Galinda managed, her voice shaking. 

‘Good on you for giving it a go,’ Crope continued, evidently trying to make her feel better. 

‘Even if it was a terrible failure,’ someone piped up with a snigger. If a house descended from the heavens and flattened me right this second, I’d be glad of it, Galinda thought to herself, closing her eyes as she flushed a deep pink. 

‘Shut it, Avaric,’ Crope said sharply, turning to glower at him. ‘I’d like to see you try and make something float under Morrible’s discerning glare.’

‘Oh, I totally would,’ Avaric said flippantly, ‘but I know better than to embarrass myself. Seems like Miss Galinda didn’t get the memo.’

Now feeling thoroughly rotten and terribly self-conscious, Galinda swiftly exited the queue and scurried off. She nearly tripped in her haste, but caught herself at the last moment. A fortuitous thing, too - she wasn’t sure she could handle any more blows to her dignity. She swallowed down the lump that had bloomed in her throat and made her way across campus. Thankfully she had a free period right after breakfast - one she knew Elphaba had her Religious Studies class in, something Galinda had no interest in studying - and found the suite empty. She slammed the door shut and pressed a trembling hand over her mouth. 

You’re not good enough.

Morrible’s words rang like a relentless bell in Galinda’s mind. She stumbled, kicking off the heels she had so painstakingly chosen that morning because they matched her jacket, and she made a bee-line for her bed. 

‘Stupid, stupid, stupid,’ she hissed, throwing herself onto the mattress. She rolled onto her side, squeezing her arms around herself, idle fingers clawing into the fabric of her jacket. She had spent so long picking it out, so long doing her hair and her make-up, and for what? To be publicly embarrassed and promptly dismissed by a woman she had grown up admiring? What was the point of it? What was I even trying to achieve? Of course I’d never be able to pull something like that off. Of course she would think me incapable. 

‘You idiot,’ Galinda whispered, her eyes filling up with tears. 

She wasn’t a stranger to the feeling currently gnawing in her gut - failure, failure, failure - but it never got any easier. And she never learnt how to cope with it. Sniffling, Galinda reached around to grab one of her scatter cushions, bringing it to her chest and burying her face into it. In an ideal world, she’d be cuddling her childhood teddy, a little pink penguin called Salmon. He’d grown bald from the amount of times she’d snuggled with him, but he was currently tucked away in a large box on top of Galinda’s wardrobe. When she found out she’d have to share a room, she promptly snatched him from her bed and had hidden him away. She briefly wondered whether that was why she had been struggling to sleep at night, but that was only a front for the real reason - that being her increasingly conflicting feelings surrounding El - no! Not now! Don’t think about her!

Despite her best efforts, Galinda knew she was about to cry. There was no point in stopping it. Letting out a sad whimper, she pressed her face into the soft silk of the pillow, and allowed her tears to fall and soak the fabric. She’d always been a big crier - too many emotions and not enough space for them - but she rarely allowed herself to cry in public. When she got older, she quickly learnt that it was unbecoming and childish to dissolve into floods of tears where other people could see her. In the privacy of her own suite, however, when she knew she wouldn’t be disturbed by her roommate, she let it happen. 

You’re not good enough. 

You’re not good enough. 

She knew that. Of course she knew that. It was the same story in a different font. She hadn’t been good enough at school to keep up with her classmates, always one step behind, always confused as to why her friends were able to excel in exams as easily as breathing, while she required extra time just to read the questions. It’s lucky you’re pretty, Galinda, they would say, smiling as if it was a compliment.

It wasn’t just school she felt inadequate at, though. It was everything she tried. 

I don’t know what’s so difficult, her mother would sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose as Galinda clumsily stumbled through a ballet routine she was supposed to be rehearsing. None of the other little girls have two left feet. You’re like a baby elephant. Galinda didn’t go back to the ballet classes after that. She had liked going up until that point, before she realised there was a sense of competition perpetuated by mother. After the criticism, though, she found every gesture a struggle, too self-aware to really enjoy it, and too self-conscious of her bumbling movements. 

You never think, do you ? her father had muttered, when he came home from a lengthy business trip and discovered she had painted him a wobbly ‘WELCOME HOME’ banner on sheets with too high a thread-count to be used as an arts and craft project. Tidy that away before your mother sees. And for goodness sake, scrub that paint off your dress. She’ll have both our heads if it stains. Galinda had then promptly retired her paintbrushes entirely. She used to love it. She used to set up a makeshift easel in the gardens, sticking her tongue out as she tried to accurately capture the lengthy driveway that led up to the main house. Her granny would clap whenever she saw what Galinda had created, kissing the top of her head, but her mother would smile falsely and put the creations somewhere the guests wouldn’t see. 

When Galinda grew up, she became more and more aware of her perceived inadequacies. She couldn’t ride a horse as graciously as the other well-bred girls. She couldn’t bake buttery pastries and tarts without singing the tops of them. She couldn’t obtain high grades in her exams. She couldn’t keep the boys she courted around long enough for the relationships to progress. And worst of all, she couldn’t seem to make her parents happy. 

It’s hard work, raising you , her mother bemoaned tiredly. Sometimes I really wish we’d had another child. 

A sob got caught in Galinda’s throat. She hiccuped into the pillow, hating herself for it more and more each second, wondering why she got worked up, why she couldn’t just make that stupid teacup float, and why she vehemently believed that looking her best would somehow trick Morrible into thinking she was a competent student. 

She had first read about Madame Morrible when she was twelve. Having had an interest in Sorcery for as long as she could remember, her granny would buy her bits and pieces to foster the dream, and one of which happened to be a magazine called Which Witch is Which , where there was a two-page spread dedicated to Morrible’s life and career. She had been born in Gilliken Country, just like Galinda, which gave them an instant connection (at least in her eyes).

Galinda had devoured the article, her eyes alight with excitement, staring at the sternly beautiful portrait of Madame Morrible the magazine had used. She had read it so much that she could recite the entire thing from memory. She carefully tore out the pages, folded them up, and put them in her special box where she kept birthday cards, tickets, precious trinkets, and anything else she deemed important to her. And whenever she felt frustrated at herself - because of school, or ballet, or horseriding, or cookery - she would retreat to her little box, look over the article, and feel a little better. She had a goal. She didn’t need the best grades, or ballet or horseriding or cookery, in order to become a successful sorceress like Madame Morrible.

The joy of magic, of true magic, the article read, is that it can make the powerless feel capable. I myself came from humble beginnings, but through diligent study, careful craft, and immense dedication, I was able to reach even greater heights. The same can be said for any aspiring spell-caster - with guided direction and hard work, we can bring magic back to our great land of Oz in bucketloads. We need only try. 

Galinda’s parents thought her obsession with magic and Morrible to be a little concerning. They were worried it was a distraction. But when they saw how tremendously serious she was about the whole thing, they too tried to nurture it. A sorceress in the family would be a very fortunate thing! her mother beamed, as she helped Galinda haul several large tomes from the local bookseller back to the estate. How proud you’ll make us, darling. 

It didn’t work out the way she envisioned, of course. And with or without Elphaba, Galinda knew it was a lost cause. She had let her parents down. Again. As she did with every single thing she tried her hand at. What was worse, she had utterly embarrassed herself in front of her peers and demonstrated what a failure she was to the woman she looked up to above all else. 

‘You stupid, stupid idiot!’ she wept. Her voice echoed in the suite. Her chest hurt. Her face burned.

You’re not good enough.

You’re not good enough.

You’re not good enough.

*

The sky had darkened into a deep, bruising purple by the time Elphaba had finished up dinner and retired to the suite. It had been a trying day - while Galinda appeared notably subdued, for whatever reason, the rest of her friends were not. Elphaba had to navigate their petty comments and endure their insults right up until she shut the door of the dorm, letting out an agonised sigh. There was only so many times she could be called disgusting in a day before it actually started to grate on her. 

Galinda was standing by the - now mended - balcony window. She seemed fixated on the sky, her lower lip caught between her teeth. Elphaba had noticed, for a girl who wore a lot of lipgloss, she spent a large portion of her time nibbling it off. 

‘Hi,’ she said, taking off her shoes. ‘I think a storm is rolling in.’

Whatever trance Galinda had been in seemed to break, and she turned her attention towards Elphaba. ‘Mm. Morrible said something similar this morning. Makes you wonder why she doesn’t do something about it.’

‘Well, a big part about being a sorcerer is understanding when to interfere, and when to leave alone,’ Elphaba said, unpacking her books from the day and stacking them on her desk. ‘If Morrible maintained perfect sunshine over campus at all times, the plants and wildlife would no doubt suffer for it. Responsibility is a key factor in spell-craft, after all.’

‘Yes, I know that,’ Galinda said impatiently. ‘I have read The Five Principles of Spell-craft, Elphaba. It’s just an annoyance. I was planning on having evening drinks down in the forest with Shenshen and the others, but we’re not going to bother now.’

Elphaba, who was quite surprised Galinda even knew what The Five Principles of Spell-craft were (a manifesto penned by Morrible herself in her youth and stamped with approval by the Wizard himself), raised an eyebrow. 

‘Drinks? Special occasion, is it?’

‘No, not particularly,’ Galinda said, moving away from the window. ‘Just because you don’t socialise for the sheer fun of it, it doesn’t mean the rest of us are so condemned.’

‘All right, all right,’ Elphaba muttered. She wasn’t too thrilled at the prospect of spending an evening with Galinda, but that was looking increasingly likely. She figured she’d make an alternative suggestion. She wanted to study, and Galinda was a terrible distraction. ‘...You could always, you know, find a sheltered spot on campus and drink there.’

‘Are you daft?’ Galinda spluttered. ‘We’re not allowed alcohol on university grounds. Coddle would have us all out on our backsides if she caught us.’

Well, it was worth a shot, Elphaba thought forlornly. She settled into her desk chair and got to work on one of the many extra credit assignments she was undertaking. As if she didn’t have enough work to do as it was, but Elphaba felt she wanted to make the most out of the unexpected opportunity that had befallen her. Being two years Nessa’s senior, she had turned 20 without enrolling at university - not for a lack of want, of course. All Elphaba had ever dreamed of was joining a prestigious and learned institution, but her father had explicitly forbidden it. Elphaba had planned on applying in secret despite his orders, but when he noticed several prospectuses coming through the post, he quickly caught on.

What makes you think someone like you could possibly thrive at university? he had snarled, ripping in half a prospectus for Grandview, a well-established institution in the heart of the Land of Ev. It had seemed perfect - and far enough away from Munchkinland that Elphaba hoped she might escape her father and its ignorant residents - but she never even got the chance to have a look. I thought I already told you, Elphaba; you’re not to leave me sight. I cannot run the risk of more people finding out about you.

Without Madame Morrible’s intervention, Elphaba was certain that her father would’ve swiftly removed her from Shiz and ensured she didn’t stray too far. She was acutely aware of how fragile the situation was. She had to please Morrible, lest she risk her place, and that meant undertaking a lot of extra reading - on top of keeping up with her other classes, to boot. Massaging her temple, Elphaba picked up her pen and began to write. It didn’t matter that she was tired. It didn’t matter that she was developing a headache. I cannot lose this. 

As she feared, though, Galinda was already proving to be a distraction. Oz , she thought to herself, as Galinda paced restlessly around their room like some sort of caged animal, is she incapable of sitting down and keeping still ? 

‘You’re going to wear a hole in the floorboards,’ Elphaba muttered, as Galinda drifted from the fireplace to the bathroom and back again. And again. And again. She kept stealing cursory glances out the window to the rapidly darkening sky, biting her lip. 

‘It’s getting really dark,’ she said quietly. ‘It’s not even terribly late. That’s - that’s pretty unusual, isn’t it?’

‘It’s as I said,’ Elphaba replied, rubbing her temple again, ‘we’re expecting a storm.’ 

She thought she heard Galinda audibly gulp, but decided she must’ve imagined it. She tried to train her attention back on her work, rather than her agitated roommate, and clicked on her desk lamp to combat the shadows. A warm, yellow glow cast itself over the desk, and she relaxed a little. There was always something cosy to be found in lamps, at least in her opinion. She rarely liked to sleep without one on, but had quickly gotten out of the habit when she started sharing a room with Galinda. As much as she disliked the fact, she really didn’t want to disturb Galinda’s sleep. I bet she’s the sort who needs at least ten hours of undisturbed rest, or she’s even more insufferable than usual. Of course, Elphaba couldn’t be further from the truth, but she liked to think that way to disguise the real reason she kept the lights off - because she didn’t want Galinda thinking she was childish. 

Sighing, Elphaba was about to start writing her extra credit essay out proper, when she heard a slight grunt from the other side of the room. Her eyebrow twitched. 

‘What exactly are you up to now?’ she said, turning in her chair to frown at Galinda, who was presently tugging one of her obnoxiously pink trunks across the floor. 

‘I’m - ugh - trying to get a box down,’ Galinda grumbled, hauling the trunk into place at the foot of her wardrobe. Elphaba glanced up and saw a large pink (sigh) box atop it. She had no idea how Galinda had managed to get it up there in the first place, given her short stature, but that was not her present concern.

‘And you really think climbing on that is a good idea?’ she said. ‘How do you expect to manage that gigantic box if you’re balancing on another one?’

‘Oh, do you have a better idea?’ Galinda demanded, slapping the lid of the trunk as if testing its sturdiness. 

‘Yeah. Let me help. I don’t want you to break your neck.’

Before Galinda could protest, Elphaba had set her pen down and marched over to the wardrobe.

‘And how exactly are you going to do that?’ Galinda huffed. ‘You’re not that much taller than me. Although you do rather resemble a beanstalk.’ She chuckled delicately at her own joke.

‘Wow, as if I’ve not heard that one before,’ Elphaba said sarcastically. ‘And my height doesn’t matter. I meant that you could pass it down to me once you’ve got it.’

‘Why are you being so helpful? It’s…auspicious,’ Galinda frowned. 

‘I think you mean suspicious,’ Elphaba said, trying not to smirk. ‘If I was being auspicious, that would mean you were finding my help rather favourable.’

Galinda didn’t have a rebuttal for that. Her cheeks, for some reason, had gone a little pink. Elphaba watched as she scrambled up onto the trunk and grabbed at the box. It must’ve been heavier than she remembered, because she seemed to falter somewhat as she tugged it towards her, and with it came a cloud of dust.

‘ Ah - ach-oo! ’

Elphaba had to bite her lip to stop herself from laughing. She wasn’t sure she’d ever heard Galinda sneeze before. If field mice could sneeze, I bet they’d sound like that, she smirked to herself. How cute - wait, what?

Frowning at that strange little thought, Elphaba surveyed as Galinda struggled to yank the box to the edge of the wardrobe. She held out her arms, waiting for her to pass it to her, but Galinda was quite obviously finding it tricky to pick it up. Not knowing how else to help, Elphaba then did something which, in retrospect, was a terrible idea. She opened her mouth. 

‘Um, good job,’ she said softly, as Galinda finally managed to get a grip on it. ‘You’ve got it.’

Unfortunately for Galinda, the praise seemed to quite literally knock her off balance. She misjudged her pivot, the box held above her head, and she felt herself tipping over before she could even let out a surprised yelp.

‘Galdina - !’

There was a loud thump as the box slammed against the floor, slipping from Galinda’s grip and narrowly missing Elphaba’s head. Galinda lost her footing and flailed, and Elphaba, acting on instinct more than anything else, reached out to grab her. 

‘Whoa, easy!’ Elphaba panted, supporting her weight. ‘Are you okay?’

Galinda’s face was pressed against the curve where Elphaba’s neck and shoulder met, and she seemed to be trembling ever so slightly. Elphaba heard the girl let out a squeak, before she practically threw herself out of the hold and took several steps backwards, pressing herself against the wardrobe. 

‘Um…You’re not hurt, are you?’ asked Elphaba, feeling a little uncomfortable. Galinda’s expression was hard to read. Her mouth was hanging open, and her face was so flushed that even the tips of her ears were tinged pink.

‘I - you - I’m fine!’ she screeched. ‘Where’s the box? You were supposed to take it!’

‘And you were supposed to hand it to me, not launch it at my head,’ Elphaba grumbled, feeling a little affronted that she hadn’t been thanked for saving the girl from face-planting the floor.

‘Don’t get snarky with me! You offered to help!’

‘Galinda, will you calm down for a moment?’ Elphaba said, pinching the bridge of her nose. ‘You’re fine, I’m fine, and the box is fine. Why are you getting so worked up?’

Though Elphaba didn’t think it possible, Galinda’s face went even pinker. 

‘I - because - oh, just get out of my way!’ she stammered, strutting past her to where the box had landed, quite unharmed, on the floor. Elphaba watched as she scrambled to her knees, huffing under her breath, and proceeded to forage through its contents like some sort of disgruntled squirrel readying itself for the winter. 

‘What are you even looking for?’ Elphaba asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

‘That is absolutely none of you - eep!’

Galinda was interrupted when, after a slow build-up, the storm hit with a shuddering crack of thunder that seemed to shake the walls. Elphaba jumped a little in surprise, but the humour of the situation quickly bypassed the shock.

‘Did -’ she snorted, unable to stop herself from laughing, ‘ - did you just say eep?’

‘I - no, I did not!’ Galinda snarled, but her voice lacked its usual bite. She went back to rifling through the box again, casting out shoes and clothes and stockings like she was digging a hole, now with much more urgency. Rain started to lash against the windows, sending speckles of grey light to dash over the floorboards like ink. 

‘Oh, please -’ Galinda whispered. ‘Where is he?’

‘Where’s who?’

‘I’ve already told you, it’s - oh, Oz!’ 

Another ill-timed thunder strike clipped Galinda’s response, and this time, she let out a squeaking yelp. It was less amusing to Elphaba, who was realising very quickly that Galinda, for all her dramatism, was not playing around. Her hands were starting to shake. Well, this isn't good, Elphaba thought. I think she might actually be scared of storms. 

‘Um, I’ll close the window,’ Elphaba said, at a bit of a loss. She strode over to Galinda’s side of the room and reached up to secure the latch on her window, making sure the rain wouldn’t get in. Galinda loved a gentle breeze to waft through the suite at all times, but the wind was picking up with the rain and the thunder, and her things were at risk of getting wet. At least there wasn’t any -

A bright, quick flash flooded the suite, and Galinda quite literally jumped out of her skin. 

‘ - Lightning,’ Elphaba muttered. She edged back over towards Galinda, who was trembling in earnest, and knelt down opposite her by the box. 

‘I can help you go through your stuff, if you’ll let me,’ she said quietly. Galinda nodded mutely. Elphaba didn’t like how much her hands were shaking. ‘...What is it you're looking for, exactly?’

‘It’s -’ Galinda cleared her throat and shirked Elphaba’s gaze. ‘It’s my…teddy.’

Elphaba’s mouth fell open, but she quickly closed it again so as not to make Galinda feel self-conscious. And to think, I was worried she would call me childish for wanting the light on at night! 

‘Okay,’ said Elphaba coolly. ‘That should be easy enough to find, even amongst all this mess.’

‘It wasn’t messy when I packed it!’ Galinda snapped. ‘It’s just - when you dropped the box a-and I started going through it, everything got all crumpled and disordered and wrong -’

‘ - Galinda, it’s fine,’ Elphaba interrupted, seeing the girl start to work herself up. ‘We can tidy it when the storm has passed. Let’s just try and find this teddy, okay? What does it look like?’

‘He’s a he, not an it,’ muttered Galinda. ‘And he’s a penguin. A pink penguin.’

‘Pink, of course,’ Elphaba smiled - not out of scorn, but fondness. Galinda got the wrong end of the stick. 

‘If you’re just going to laugh at me -’

‘ - No one is laughing,’ Elphaba said. ‘I just think it’s sweet, that’s all.’

‘And now you’re patronising me!’

‘Oz, do you always catastrophise everything?’ Elphaba sighed. ‘I’m not laughing at you, and I’m not patronising you. In fact -’ Elphaba got to her feet, walked over to bed, and stuck her hand under it. She rummaged for a moment, before her fingers closed around something soft, and she pulled out a little black cat. The ears were tufty from use - Elphaba liked to smooth them over her palms when she was troubled - and it had white paws like cotton balls and crooked whiskers.

‘This is - um - this is Soup,’ she said, cringing a little as she held up the ratty-looking teddy. 

Galinda’s face, to Elphaba’s relief, pulled into a genuine smile. ‘... Soup?’

‘I named her when I was three, okay?’

‘And do you have a particular fondness for soup in general, Elphaba?’

‘Of course I do! Soup - soup is an excellent dish! Very versatile!’

‘Uh-huh,’ Galinda giggled. ‘Well, I can’t exactly judge you. Mine - if we ever find him - is called Salmon.’

‘Ah. Big fan of fish, are you?’

‘I named him after the colour,’ Galinda pouted. ‘Which, I think you’ll find, makes a lot more sense than - eek!’ She broke off in a little shriek, slamming her hands over her ears as another bellow of thunder ululated through the room. 

‘Okay, right - let’s find him,’ Elphaba said quickly, returning to Galinda and the box with Soup tucked under her arm. ‘Are…are you looking for him because of the storm?’

Galinda didn’t say anything for a moment. She was breathing a little irregularly, clearly trying to calm herself down. She swallowed thickly, and when she looked up at Elphaba to respond, her eyes were wide and overly bright.

‘Um, yes,’ she admitted. ‘Sorry. I know that’s silly.’

‘It’s not silly to be afraid of storms, Galinda.’

‘I am not afraid, thank you very much,’ Galinda said, affronted. ‘I don’t know who you think I am, Elphaba, but I’m not a child. E-Everyone knows there’s nothing to be scared of.’

‘Right. That must be why you keep yelping when the thunder hits.’

‘I do not!’

Elphaba closed her eyes in irritation. Galinda could be mortally wounded and bleeding out all over the floor and still deny it, if it meant saving face. How exhausting that must be. 

‘Okay, whatever you like,’ she muttered. ‘If you’re not frightened, why exactly did you pick now to unearth this teddy of yours?’

Galinda nibbled her lip, still burrowing through her possessions. ‘...Because - um - the storm jogged my memory, that’s all. My granny gave him to me after a huge storm that toppled several of the trees around the estate. S-So I just sort of…remembered him.’

Elphaba believed most of that story to be true, but she was absolutely certain that Galinda was leaving out a crucial detail - that being she only got the stuffed animal in the first place because she had been scared of the storm. Not that Elphaba was about to argue, though. There was little point in that.

Relenting, Elphaba pushed aside a particularly raunchy bra, blushing - in what world would she have cause to wear this?! - and uncovered a sweet-looking, well-loved penguin. It was wearing a wonky little tophat and a lop-sided bowtie, and looked ever so soft. She picked it up with a tenderness she didn’t expect of herself, and suddenly felt a pang for the quivering girl opposite her. While Galinda was on the cusp of turning 19, the sight of the crumpled penguin reminded Elphaba, with no small amount of sentiment, that she had once been a little girl. She had needed cuddly toys to soothe her and had sucked her thumb like the rest of the children who had out-grown their teddies and moved on from childish habits. And while the current Galinda might’ve been an insufferable airhead with an acid tongue, the girl she had been still existed, somewhere, behind all the pink.

‘Here,’ Elphaba murmured, handing it over to Galinda’s awaiting hands. ‘He’s cute.’

‘He’s old,’ Galinda said, her voice catching a little as she cradled him to her chest.

‘So is my cat. That’s what makes them so special.’

‘Yes,’ Galinda replied, not quite looking Elphaba in the eye. ‘I suppose that’s true.’

*

The storm, to Galinda’s genuine horror, was a relentless one. Even after she and Elphaba had retired for bed, rain was still lashing against the windows and thunder seemed to splinter the sky. She had buried herself under her blankets, trying to muffle the sounds, clutching Salmon to her chest. He was only a little thing, but she nuzzled his soft belly and attempted to save face in front of Elphaba, who was settling down for sleep in her little bed. It was bad enough that Galinda had exposed Salmon in the first place, let alone revealing her intense fear of -

‘ Eeeeek!’ she yelped, unable to stop herself as a particularly loud crack of thunder shuddered through the room. It had been a very long time since she’d experienced a storm this bad. Elphaba had ‘helpfully’ explained that the moist air caused by the surrounding rivers, plus the unusual warmth they’d been experiencing, was the perfect breeding ground for a devastating thunderstorm. And Galinda was not happy about it. 

‘...You okay over there?’ came Elphaba’s voice through the darkness. Galinda nodded under the covers, but then realised Elphaba wouldn’t be able to see her.

‘Fine, yes, fine!’ she said. ‘I just - saw a bug on the bedside table.’

‘Right.’

Galinda pressed her teddy closer to her, shutting her eyes. She wasn’t sure how she was expected to sleep under such conditions, but she had to at least try. She couldn’t afford another restless night, lest her eyebags grow eyebags. Unfortunately, the storm did not pass quickly. Lightning kept shooting across the room, casting strange shadows, and the rain bludgeoned the windows so hard, Galinda was genuinely worried about the integrity of the glass. Shiz was an old institution - could it withstand such an onslaught, or would it crumble?

When a particularly nasty rumble of thunder made Galinda cry out, she heard an additional, quieter thump from the opposite side of the room. Her breathing shallow, Galinda poked her head out from under the covers, and found a figure looming over her. 

‘E-Elphaba!’ she shrieked. ‘What are you - why aren’t you in bed?’

‘Because I’m not going to get any sleep if you keep yelping like that,’ Elphaba said. She then had the audacity to click on Galinda’s bedside lamp, dousing the room in pink. ‘In fact, neither of us are. What’s got you so worked up?’

Galinda, who was seething, glowered at her in what she hoped was with a terribly mean face. This was undercut by the penguin tucked under her chin, of course. 

‘Nothing! I’m trying to sleep, which I can’t do if you’re leering over me like that.’

‘Look, being afraid of storms is nothing to be ashamed of,’ Elphaba said tiredly. ‘Nessa used to hate them as a child. I value my rest, Galinda, and I can’t get any if you’re freaking out.’

‘I am not - Oz!’ Galinda yelped, as another round of thunder echoed across the suite. The lights flickered, and she looked at Elphaba with a pout. ‘...In all fairness, that one was really, really loud.’

‘Is there anything I can do to help?’ Elphaba asked. Her face was strained, like she was holding back a laugh. 

‘You can go back to bed and leave me -’

Galinda was cut off when a dull pop sounded throughout the suite, and the lamp went out. 

‘Oh, has the bulb blown?’ she grumbled, as Elphaba went towards the door. She tried the light switch. Nothing happened. Galinda’s eyes strained through the darkness as she watched Elphaba stick her head out the door, and heard snatches of confused conversations from the other students who shared their corridor. 

‘I think the power has gone out,’ Elphaba concluded, closing the door with a click. ‘That’s a bit of a pain. Do you have any matches?’

‘The - the power has gone?’ Galinda stammered, her blood running cold and completely ignoring Elphaba’s other question. 

‘Yes. Not surprising in a storm like this one,’ Elphaba replied. She sounded a little nervous. ‘In fact, I think it’s closer to a hurricane, given the wind speeds and heavy rainfall. Though it’s a bit unusual for a hurricane to be accompanied by lightning, I must say, so -’

‘ - Elphaba, shut up!’ Galinda interrupted. ‘I don’t want a stupid Meteorology lesson! I - I want it to stop!’

‘Well I can’t do that, can I?’ Elphaba said, walking back to Galinda’s bed. ‘And unless you want to go and bother Madame Morrible at this hour, we’ve no choice but to ride it out and - wait, are you crying?’

‘N-No,’ Galinda sniffled, hastily wiping her eyes. She pressed her lips together, trying to stop her chin from quivering, but it was no use. Even in the low light, Elphaba could see the wetness on her cheeks.

‘Galinda…’

‘It’s nothing. It’s fine,’ she said shakily, making a point of turning away from Elphaba and burying herself deeper into her duvet. It was only when she felt the bed dip, did she fling herself around in horror.

‘What in Oz do you think you’re doing?!’ she shrieked, as Elphaba clambered onto the bed next to her. She didn’t get under the covers, and she folded her arms over her nightdress as if she was disgruntled by the turn of events. ‘Elphaba! Get out!’

‘When Nessa couldn’t sleep in a storm,’ Elphaba said, pointedly ignoring Galinda’s obvious hostility, ‘she said the only thing that helped was having someone close by to soothe her if she needed it. We used to count the time between a lightning strike and a round of thunder, and the longer the distance, the further away the storm was drifting. Now, I know you don’t like me, but neither of us are going to get any shut-eye if you can’t settle. So I’m staying.’

‘And what makes you think your presence will soothe me? If anything, it’ll make things ten times worse!’

‘Hm. Is that why you’ve already stopped trembling so much?’

Galinda froze, suddenly feeling very self-aware. Elphaba had hit the nail on the head - the moment she felt her warmth next to her, just shy of nudging her body, she had relaxed a little. That’s…that’s just a strange coincidence! 

‘It’s interesting,’ Elphaba continued, when Galinda didn’t answer, ‘that you don’t like storms, Galinda. I rather enjoy them myself.’

‘That’s not surprising,’ Galinda said savagely, ‘because storms are unpleasant and unlikeable and put a horrible dampener on things, just like you.’

‘You know what? Forget it.’

Elphaba went to swing her legs out of Galinda’s bed, eerily in sync with another thunderclap, and Galinda reacted entirely on instinct. Her hand shot out in the darkness and closed around Elphaba’s wrist. 

‘Wait, no, I’m sorry,’ she blabbered, her chest tightening. ‘Don’t leave. Please.’ Oz, I sound so pathetic. She’s even more likely to go now she’s seen how puerile I am, with my stupid teddy and my stupid fear of storms and - 

‘Okay,’ Elphaba murmured, easing back onto the pillows. Galinda’s grip around her wrist tightened. 

‘That - the counting thing,’ she said, swallowing thickly. ‘How does it work?’

‘You want to try?’

‘I want to have assurance that this horrid storm is going to blow over without ripping up the foundations, yes.’

‘Galinda,’ Elphaba asked, shuffling down a little so she was propped up, but not fully lying down, ‘before we do, I have to ask…what is it you don’t like about thunderstorms?’

‘What’s there to like?’ she spat. She shifted towards Elphaba a tiny bit, before she even realised what she was doing, and got a waft of whatever perfume she used. It’s so…comforting. It’s like that feeling when you see an old friend after a long time, and - wait! No! It’s not! It’s weird and earthy and tickles my nose!

Elphaba chuckled quietly. ‘It’s a matter of perspective, I suppose. But in my case, I guess I find them sort of…reassuring.’

‘I think you might be insane, Elphaba Thropp.’

‘Maybe, maybe,’ Elphaba smiled. ‘I like how loud they are, in truth. My room back home is in a very…um, isolated area of the house, I suppose. When I was little, I used to hate how quiet it was. It was ever so sinister. The storms brought with them a sense of comfort because they filled the silence.’

‘Why was your bedroom so isolated?’ Galinda asked with a frown. She rather had the opposite problem. Her sprawling bedroom - a series of chambers, really - was situated right above the main ballroom where her parents often hosted lavish functions. Galinda rather liked falling asleep to the muffled sounds of music, chatter, and the tinkle of glasses being nudged together in polite toasts. When she got older, she was actively encouraged to show her face. 

‘Why do you think?’ Elphaba scoffed. ‘My father was limiting the chances of any guests spotting me.’

‘...Oh,’ Galinda whispered.

‘Yeah. Oh.’

The niggling feeling of guilt returned to Galinda’s gut. Every time Elphaba revealed a little more about her childhood, she felt a tiny sliver of sympathy claw its way from her chest, wanting to reach out and take her hand. How lonely she must’ve been, to find comfort in storms. 

‘...I hate how noisy they are,’ Galinda murmured before she could stop herself. ‘I - I mean, it’s just…’ she huffed under her breath, trying to articulate why she struggled so much in a storm. ‘There was an absolutely gigantic storm that hit the Pertha Hills when I was quite small. Frottica is right in the centre, and it suffered for it. The storm flattened several trees around our estate. I genuinely thought the sky was about to come down on top of our heads. My parents were hosting one of the local governors that evening, and I…’ 

Galinda trailed off, fiddling with Salmon’s flippers. She didn’t know what had come over her, but hearing Elphaba tentatively reveal something about her own past made her want to, as well. No matter how uncomfortably the story was. 

‘...I was really scared,’ she said, her voice wavering as she remembered. ‘I thought the windows would blow out. I called for Ama Clutch, for the servants, for anyone, but they were all wrapped up in the party. So I went downstairs to find Momsie and Popsicle, but I interrupted their important gathering and they -’ her breath hitched, the memory washing over her with a shudder. 

She remembered the feeling of the banister catching on her sweaty palm. She had been much shorter back then, and had to stretch up to reach it as she stumbled down the stairs, her knees knocking together from fear. Her nose was sore and her throat hurt from crying and calling out for help. Her pink nightdress was damp with sweat. And the thunder echoed spectacularly in the halls, lightning flashing over the garish portraits and busts and sculptures that decorated the entrance way. She wiped her face with her sleeve and followed the sounds of conversation - not at all perturbed by the storm - and managed to find the party. Heads snapped towards her in shock. Who would expect a snivelling child at an important social gathering, where wine was flowing and political secrets were spilled?

Momsie, she had whimpered, weaving in and out of legs, spotting her mother in a grand lilac gown, conversing quite happily with a man she could not remember the face of. Momsie, I think the storm is going to make the house fall down. 

Her mother had a laughed a strange, high-pitched guffaw that made Galinda’s ears hurt. 

Oh, you silly girl! she had tittered, handing her glass to Galinda’s mortified looking father and hastening towards her. Always making a mountain out of a molehill with that active imagination of yours. She whipped her head around, talking to the party guests. We’ll have to knock that out of her, I fear! 

The guests laughed and Galinda’s cheeks burned. She didn’t understand what was so funny. Couldn’t they see the threat they were under? The rain was too heavy, the wind was too loud, and the thunder was going to fracture the walls. Tears streamed down her face and she balled her hands in her nightdress.

I’m not being silly! she whined. I - 

She was cut off when a thunderclap screeched through the room and she cried out, slamming her hands over her ears. She burst into a fresh bout of tears, closing her eyes and willing it all to just stop. 

Galinda, cease this ridiculous behaviour at once! hissed her father, marching over to her and grabbing her wrists, tugging them away from her ears. It’s just a storm. There’s nothing to be scared of. 

But - but - Galinda sobbed, her chest spasming, feeling eyes on her from all angles.

No buts. Come on. 

He had yanked her away, away from the faceless guests, away from her mother. She caught what she was saying - Don’t mind her - she’s just overdramatic - putting on a show - seeking attention - and another sob broke from her lips. 

For Oz’s sake, stop crying! her father snapped, dragging her across the entrance hall. The lights flickered in their sconces, and she nearly tripped over her own feet at the rate he was pulling her along. Her arm ached. Do you know who that was in there? The new Governor of Gilliken. It’s essential we build a rapport with him and establish a good image, and you’ve managed to embarrass us with your hysterics!

I’m s-sorry, Popsicle, I didn’t m-mean to. 

There will come a point when you’ll need to grow up, Galinda , he had said, shoving her towards the back door with no small amount of force. She could smell wine on his breath. And part of that is learning that storms are not something you need to throw a tantrum over. 

He opened the grand double doors that led to the back patio, and a violent rush of wind shot into the hall, making all the paintings shake. Without giving Galinda a moment to protest, he promptly nudged her outside, slammed the doors, and locked them.

She was left out there for an hour. While there was some shelter on the patio from a balcony above, the rain came in sideways, soaking her to the skin. She remembered how cold it had been. How loud the thunder. How terrifying the trees looked, roaring in the dark, toppling into the hedges. She remembered the humiliating flood of warmth running down her legs. She remembered when Ama Clutch, having been charged with letting her back in, had cradled her in her arms and rocked her until she had calmed down. 

It’s alright, little duckling, she murmured, stroking her wet hair. You’re safe. The world is not going to end just because of a silly old thing like a storm, I promise. 

Galinda knew that. She knew that more than ever, now she was older. She knew she was never under any threat - as if Popsicle would ever put me in any danger, after all! - but that didn’t mean she could simply stop the feelings associated with the sound of thunder. The panic, the shame, the abandonment. And it certainly didn’t mean she could stop herself from flinching every time thunder cracked the sky. She had to make do with hiding under her covers and cuddling Salmon, who her granny had given her when Ama Clutch had a few hushed words about what a state she had been in. And she never sought comfort in a storm again

Until that night, when it was offered without judgement.

‘...Oz, Galinda,’ Elphaba said, when Galinda had told her an abridged version of events. ‘Your father seriously locked you outside in a storm? What was he thinking?’

‘He was thinking it would teach me a lesson,’ Galinda mumbled, her voice thick. Her eyes were wet and she blinked them away hurridly. ‘And it did. Not the one he was hoping for, though.’

‘Well, it’s no wonder you’re scared,’ Elphaba concluded. ‘How old were you?’

‘Four.’

‘Gods. That’s…that’s horrible.’

Galinda’s ears pricked up at the shift in Elphaba’s voice. Her stomach churned unpleasantly. 

‘Um, you - you sound cross,’ she gulped.

‘I am cross. But not at you.’ Elphaba let out a sigh, unfurling her hands. ‘...Did it help?’

‘Did what help?’

‘When your Ama Clutch cuddled you like that.’

‘...Yes.’

Galinda heard Elphaba swallow in the darkness. There was a pregnant pause, undercut only by the thunder, and Galinda flinched violently. Then, she heard a gentle rustle, and the feeling of a warm, steady arm being wrapped around her shoulders. She froze. It took her a moment to realise that Elphaba was attempting to cuddle her. She was stiff and awkward and clearly had no idea what she was doing. Galinda’s heart melted.

‘Er -’ Elphaba cleared her throat. ‘Is - is this okay?’

Galinda turned her body so she was facing Elphaba, tucking her face into the crook of her neck, breathing in her scent. 

‘Yes, it’s okay,’ she whispered, her arm stretching over Elphaba’s stomach and curling around her waist. She pushed herself further into her. She felt the soft fabric of Elphaba’s nightdress, and rubbed it between her fingers and thumb. 

They lay like that for a while, Elphaba stroking Galinda’s hair whenever she flinched at the thunder, and they counted aloud in the dark. They didn’t say anything else. Galinda was afraid to, in case it broke the spell. She didn’t know what she was feeling. Panic still surged through her system, but with every tender whisper from Elphaba as they counted the seconds between a lightning strike and a thunderclap, she found herself melting more and more into her side. Before she even realised what was happening, she was nuzzling deeper into Elphaba’s neck, lips just shy of touching the green skin there. I wonder how she’d react if I were to kiss her, just once, just there, just now - wait, what? Why would I even think that?! Don’t be weird! Don’t be weird! 

Eventually, the wind seemed to settle. The loud lashing of rain against the windows reduced to a melodic patter. And Galinda’s chest finally loosened. 

‘...Looks like the storm has passed,’ Elphaba said softly. 

‘Oh, so it has.’

‘Guess we should settle down for sleep.’ Elphaba made to move back to her own bed, but Galinda’s hand shot out to grab her arm.

‘You can stay,’ she blurted out. ‘I mean - that is to say - since the power is out, you won't be able to turn on the lights, and it’s dreadfully perilous to cross the suite - especially from all the mess we made looking for Salmon - and - and -’

‘ - I’ll stay,’ Elphaba said. Her voice was soft. It warmed Galinda to her toes. 

Without saying a word, Elphaba slipped under Galinda’s duvet and lay on her back, her arms folded neatly above the covers. Galinda gulped and rolled over, facing away from Elphaba, and cuddled Salmon. 

‘Goodnight, Galinda.’

I like hearing her say that so close to me. 

‘Yes…Goodnight.’

Chapter Text

Chapter Four: Unwell

Soft hands seared over bare skin. Galinda shuddered, hazy, her eyes fluttering open and wincing at the golden morning light that streamed through the curtains. The world around her was blurry, hard to focus, but bathed in an aureated yellow that seeped into the sheets she was lying on. It was wonderfully calming. Fabric rustled and was shucked off her body, tangling somewhere at her feet.

She felt delightfully pleased and heavy, as if in a luscious dream. Something was digging into the divots of her hips, bared to the warm air of the room, firm and sure and steady, and Galinda lifted her eyes to see where it was coming from. 

Green fingers were pressing into her skin. She let out a gasp at the sight, a flush of heat spreading up from her lower stomach and across her chest, turning her pink. 

‘Elphaba…’ she breathed. 

‘Hush,’ said Elphaba, her voice silken and sweet. ‘Let me…’

Those deft hands trailed lower, lower, and lower still, until Galinda felt her hips rising off the bed in a hurried attempt to get closer. 

‘E-Elphaba, Elphaba,’ she choked, goosebumps prickling over her skin. ‘You…Oh…’

‘That’s it, Galinda,’ Elphaba purred. She lifted herself upwards, a playful hand still lingering, and her face shimmered right before Galinda’s eyes. She was looking at her with such awed resplendence, that Galinda felt her throat tighten with emotion. Moving on instinct, she reached up and captured Elphaba’s parted lips in a deep, urgent kiss, and suddenly her hands were in her hair, tugging at her braids, as Elphaba’s mouth found her throat, her chest, her stomach, her - 

Galinda jerked awake with such suddenness, it was a wonder she hadn’t hurled herself out of the bed. Something akin to a ragged gasp was stuck halfway up her throat, and her heart was hammering furiously in her chest. Her skin felt hot, too hot, and she didn’t need a mirror to know she had flushed a deep pink.

It took her a moment to realise what was different. There was a warm weight trapped under her body. Gulping, Galinda lifted her head up. Apparently, she had been sleeping on top of Elphaba Thropp. 

‘Oh no…’ she whispered. 

While Elphaba had fallen asleep on her back ( and not moved, clearly! What sort of a person doesn’t move in their sleep?!) , she had rolled over sometime in the night and was sprawled over Elphaba’s prone form. Her face had been buried into Elphaba’s neck, one leg hooked over her waist, one arm cast over her stomach. Worse still, Salmon has fallen out of the bed! Hurriedly, Galinda reached down to grab the pink penguin, giving him a little kiss on his beak. Her movement revealed the other issue she had - that being the unmistakable warmth between her thighs. 

Oh no, oh no, oh no . 

Glancing quickly at Elphaba, who was still sound asleep, Galinda slipped out of bed and practically sprinted towards the bathroom, nearly stumbling over the box she’d taken down from the wardrobe the previous night and left in the middle of the room. She felt extremely warm, and as she clicked the bathroom door shut - carefully, so as not to rouse her oblivious roommate - the first thing she did was splash cold water on her face. 

Shuddering, she hauled her head up and blinked at her reflection. She was flushed, as she suspected, and her eyes were wide and bright, as if she’d been looking at something she desired. Water rolled down her cheeks and dripped off her chin, landing in the sink with a soft pat . 

‘Oz…’ she gulped. ‘What in the world was that all about?’

She closed her eyes, flashes of the dream washing over her. It was quickly fading, as dreams often do in the waking world, but the sensations remained vivid. Elphaba’s hair in her hands. Elphaba’s skin pressing into hers. And Elphaba’s mouth -

‘Fuck, fuck ,’ Galinda whispered, pressing the heel of her palm to her forehead. She felt her chest beginning to tighten in panic. She tried to reason with herself, tried to argue that she hadn’t had any time alone since enrolling in Shiz to tend to her needs, or suffer some faceless man to do it for her, and that it was only natural that her desires might manifest in a peculiar way - especially with Elphaba being in her bed. 

No, she thought, her throat tightening. No, it’s not natural. It’s not natural and you know it isn’t, and no matter how open things are here, in Shiz, it is different back home, and Momsie and Popsicle would - 

A tell-tale tingling started to prickle Galinda’s palms. She let out a controlled breath, squeezing her hands into fists and unfurling them, again and again and again. Calm down . No one knows what you dreamt about. Just calm down . 

But she couldn’t. A nasty combination of tiredness, residual stress from the thunderstorm, and the incriminating heat thumping between her legs were pushing her closer to the edge of losing control entirely. Her breaths grew shorter, smaller, tighter. Her vision blurred with unshed tears. And shame, red-hot and scorching, thundered through her body before she could stop it. A shaky whimper tore itself from her throat, and she lowered herself to the floor.

It was just a dream. It doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t mean anything .

Except it did mean something. It meant everything. It meant that all the strange, intrusive thoughts she’d been having about Elphaba since they’d met were part of something bigger. Something frightening. Something she couldn’t deal with.

Galinda clutched at the front of her nightdress. She slumped against the side of the bathtub, blinking up at the small window that was leaking a fresh light. It was still very early. Elphaba likely wouldn’t wake for another handful of hours, if Galinda was lucky. She had time. Time to get a hold of herself. If only her body would cooperate with what her mind was telling it. 

Finding it more and more difficult to breathe, Galinda did her best to try and calm herself down. When she was younger, when the pressure and expectations became all too much for her to handle, she would tug at her hair or pinch herself to distract from the panic coursing through her system. It wasn’t until she became more precious about her hair, and her mother had berated her for the faint bruises she left on her arms, did she stop. But that also meant she no longer had any way to combat what was happening to her.

I can’t breathe, she realised, her blood running cold. I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe, I can’t - 

She bit her lip so hard that it hurt . She found herself thinking about how Elphaba had helped her after she’d broken all that glass. She was so kind. She thought about when she lent her that hideous jumper to cover the mess she’d made of her skirt. She thought about how, just last night, she had comforted her through the storm. But I can’t go to her now. I can’t ask that of her when I had that sort of dream .

‘Fuck, fuck, fuck ,’ Galinda choked out, feeling her eyes bulge as her chest spasmed. She knew she needed to calm down, to breathe , but it seemed impossible. It was startling to her that something which came so easily had suddenly betrayed her. Her lungs quite simply felt as if they weren’t able to fill up properly. The only saving grace was that, despite the genuine panic that was scorching through her, Galinda knew she would be fine. She wasn’t going to die . She’d gone through it enough times, and always reached the end without serious harm. 

But what if it’s different, this time? What if it doesn’t stop? What if - 

She drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, shaking. 

She knew what the dream meant. She wasn’t stupid. But she also knew she couldn’t harbour such feelings - not just because it was Elphaba she allegedly had them for, but because it was certainly not part of the plan. 

‘It’s fine, it’s fine,’ she whimpered, her forehead tipping forward to rest on her knees. ‘It’s not that serious. It’s not real. It’s not real .’

It couldn’t be real. Such feelings were far too dangerous to allow. That was made quite clear to Galinda when she was just a child, fixating on the ebony-haired princess in one of the storybooks her granny read to her. She had been enraptured by the watercolour illustrations, of the girl with red lips and glossy hair, and declared over dinner one evening that she’d much rather marry her than the golden-haired, dashing prince charged with her protection. Her mother had nearly choked on her stew. 

Galinda’s granny, ever her biggest champion, had laughed loudly and patted her on the head. Don’t look so horrified, Larena , she had said to her daughter, who looked ready to drag Galinda upstairs and give her a good talking to. She’s a child. She doesn’t know what she means. 

A few days later, when Galinda went looking, the book had vanished. 

At the time, Galinda had been hurt by what her granny had said. She did know what she meant - the princess was far more beautiful than the prince, with her flowing hair and charming smile and elegant poise - and it was only when she looked back on the incident as a teenager, did she realise that her granny had been trying to protect her. 

It wasn’t that Gilliken was not accepting. Much of Oz embraced all types of love and even celebrated it - Shiz town and the university alone were demonstrative of that. Pfannee frequently spoke of his romantic interest in the dashing boys around campus (he had a new crush every other week), and it was no secret that Crope and Tibbett had been caught locking lips on campus more times than anyone cared to count. Galinda was also fairly confident that her Astronomy lecturer, Professor Treadgold, was involved with the scatty, gap-toothed gardener called Rose. No one was sure if it was her real name or if it was just a placeholder, given her profession. There was even a Queer Society. Galinda had seen the flyer pinned to a wall on her first day - along with adverts for the Amateur Dramatics Society, a Ping-Pong Drop-in, a Rowing Club, and a Choir Club, amongst other things - and her heart had skipped a beat. 

But Frottica was different. Being one of the oldest market towns nestled deep in the Pertha Hills, much of Gilliken’s progressive revolution and quite literally passed them by. Galinda had been rather scandalised when she’d holidayed to a small city that bordered Winkie Country and saw two women kissing. Her father had covered her eyes, and her mother had muttered something disapproving under her breath. We don’t want you getting any peculiar ideas, pumpkin, her father had said, when they got back to their hotel and she asked about it. While her father was well-travelled, she wouldn’t call him open-minded.

Of course, there was only so much Galinda could do to ignore the ‘peculiar ideas’ she had, no matter how much she tried to ignore them. It had started with the storybook princess, swiftly followed by her fascination with her ballet teacher. Then there was Hellie Sinclaire - she was two years above Galinda at school, and what she pretended to be simple idolisation morphed into something more as she grew up. She liked everything about Hellie; the way she spoke, the blue of her eyes, the sound of her laughter. She liked that she was always kind - even in the early days when Galinda had been far from popular - and she liked that she seemed ever so in control of her life. Unflappable, the teachers called her. She was beloved amongst the staff and students alike. 

It wasn’t that Galinda had ever acted on her urges. It was obvious that Hellie viewed her as a cute younger sister, and Galinda didn’t protest. So long as she could be in her presence, she didn’t mind. 

When Hellie graduated and left, Galinda had cried more than anyone else. She didn’t really know why. 

It wasn’t just Hellie, though. There were girls Galinda passed in the street that made her stomach flutter; there were store clerks who smiled at her and made her blush; there were wealthy guests at her parents’ parties that she would stare at for a little too long; and now, it seemed, Elphaba Thropp. 

‘No, no, no ,’ she hissed, increasing her grip around her knees. I should be able to ignore it, by now. It’s happened enough times. And of all the beautiful girls at this school, why her?!

Galinda’s head shot up so fast from her knees that her neck twinged. Beautiful? No, she’s not - she’s not beautiful! She’s repulsive! Abrasive! Ill-mannered! Green! 

Sitting on the bathroom floor wasn’t doing her much good, Galinda decided. Trembling, she pulled herself to her feet, using the sink for support, and struggled through another strained breath. She glared at her reflection. Stupid. You stupid idiot. Getting so worked up over her. Having such disgusting thoughts. Stupid, stupid! 

Gritting her teeth together, Galinda realised she needed a plan. There was no point in berating herself. There was also no point in pretending like the heated dream didn’t happen. The warmth still lingering under her skin was testament to that. And the only reason it did happen is because she was in my bed! Galinda decided. If she hadn’t cuddled me last night or tried to comfort me, I’d never have had such a dream! It only happened because she was close to me! 

Yes! It was the proximity that did it. The fact that, despite it all, the two of them were slowly growing closer, sharing painful memories and fears and childhood cuddly toys. And if that’s the case…I just need to find a way to limit this new-found closeness. 

It was as if the decision had restored Galinda’s way withal. Her chest loosened. Her heart started to come down from its frantic speed. And finally, finally , her breathing returned to normal. 

‘I’ll be fine,’ she murmured, staring at herself very hard in the mirror. ‘Do not slip up. Idiot. ’

*

When Elphaba awoke, rather confused to find herself at the opposite side of the room, there was no sign of Galinda. She yawned and stretched, shuddering a little, and peered over at the open bathroom door. Galinda was rarely absent at that time of morning. Elphaba might’ve been worried, were it not for what happened last night. She’s probably feeling embarrassed, or something .

Elphaba herself felt a little awkward about the whole thing. She slipped out of Galinda’s bed and made it as best she could - why does she have so many blankets and scatter cushions?! - before she carefully placed Salom, Galinda’s penguin, so he rested on the mountain of pillows. She briefly thought about packing away the things still strewn over the floor from the box, but decided she’d already done enough for Galinda for one day. 

As she got ready to head down for breakfast, Elphaba couldn’t help but think about her - the image of her in the storm, tiny and terrified and soaked to the skin, a scrap of pink against the lashing rain and relentless wind. And Elphaba pictured herself, hands pressed to the cool glass of her bedroom window as she stared out at the calamitous weather, happy for the distraction from the repressive silence she endured every night. She wondered, if they’d known each other back then, whether she would’ve comforted Galinda until the storm had blown itself out, leaving the lingering smell of petrichor and a smattering of stolen leaves to litter the paving slabs. She wondered if they might’ve been friends - because, as she was learning, perhaps they weren’t so different after all.

Straightening her black button-up, Elphaba checked her reflection once more for luck, and made her way across campus towards the mess hall. Now, she wasn’t a stranger to people whispering as she passed by - even though she’d been on campus long enough for them to get used to her - but that morning, there was even more talk than usual. She felt the back of her neck growing hot with anxiety. She was used to lingering stares and disgusted comments, but it didn’t mean she’d stopped caring about it. Clenching her fists, she sped up. 

When she opened the door to the mess hall, she knew she wasn’t imagining it when heads seemed to rotate to stare at her. Such a thing was common in her first few days at Shiz, but apparently the novelty of her had worn off. So why are they looking at me now? she wondered, smoothing her tongue over her teeth as if checking whether there was something stuck in them. She kept her gaze glued on the floor as she edged further into the hall, goosebumps erupting on her skin as a wave of mutterings followed her like a malicious predator. She didn’t understand what she’d done differently to elicit such an intense reaction - not unlike her first dinner at Shiz, which had been such a horrible experience that she seriously pondered never taking meals in the hall again. 

She didn’t figure it out until she saw Galinda, a cup of tea clasped in one hand, the other waving in the air as if she was flapping away an insect, holding court. Pfannee was to her left, his hand clasped over his mouth in shock, and Shenshen and Milla were to her right, eyes wide, clutching each other, and lapping up Galinda’s every word. 

‘It was perfectly horrifying!’ she bleated, making sure to gaze at every adoring student who had rallied around her table. ‘I mean, I always thought she had this strange obsession with me, but to slither into my bed like some sort of unwanted creature? I nearly had a heart attack!’

Elphaba’s blood went cold, juxtaposed only by the searing warmth flooding her face. She refused to even glance in Galinda’s direction, head still down, her hammering in her chest, and grabbed a tray. The students closest to her shrieked and leapt out of the way as she reached the buffet, laden with food she no longer had any appetite for, and her ears went hot as Galinda continued her loud spiel.

‘Naturally, I protested,’ she drawled, taking the time to press a hand over her chest as if she was settling a frantic heart. ‘But she simply would not listen. I would’ve tried to remove her by force, but I…’ she trailed off for dramatic effect, letting out a forlorn sigh. ‘...Well, we’ve all seen what she can do. I certainly didn’t want to be the victim of one of her outbursts. It was all I could do but to roll over and pretend she wasn’t there, breathing so close to me.’

‘Oh, Galinda!’ cried Milla. ‘How perfectly terrifying for you!’

‘You should’ve fetched someone,’ gasped Pfannee. 

‘Or called for help!’ another student piped up.

Galinda sighed again, this time casting the back of her hand over her forehead. ‘I would have, my dears, I would have - but that dastardly storm was so loud , I feared my pleas would be drowned out by the wind.’

Elphaba’s hands were shaking so badly, she struggled to fill her glass with juice. She felt more and more eyes finding her, judging her, repeating Galinda’s lies to each other as if they were gospel. Ignore them, she begged herself, hating that her eyes were growing hot. Just ignore them. You’ve done it enough times.

‘Of course,’ Galinda continued, too loudly for Elphaba to tune out, ‘I tried asking her why she suddenly felt so inspired to invade my personal space, and she told me -’ she paused, as if making sure everyone was listening - ‘that she wanted to be close to me! Can you believe it?’

A chorus of laughter burst from the eager listeners, and Elphaba gave up trying to get anything to eat. Her stomach was in knots. Swallowing thickly, she picked up her orange juice and made a bee-line for the door, wanting to leave as quickly as possible. But she’d never been the lucky sort.

‘Oh, Miss Elphaba!’ called Shenshen, her eyes alight with a cruel glint Elphaba was painfully used to seeing. ‘You do know it’s not socially acceptable to sneak into someone else’s bed, don’t you? Especially if the someone else in question finds you perfectly repulsive.’

More laughter. More heat behind Elphaba’s eyes. She blinked hard, glaring at Shenshen and Galinda’s gaggle of admirers, trying desperately to think of something to say. 

‘Aw, is it because you like her?’ cooed Pfannee, fluttering his eyelashes. ‘Is that it, Miss Elphaba? Could you simply not control yourself any longer?’

At that current moment, Elphaba was finding it very hard to control herself, but not in the way Pfannee was insinuating. Magic crackled under her skin, but she fought it back. It had gotten easier thanks to Madame Morrible’s tutelage, though it didn’t mean she had total command. And being cornered in this manner was like exacerbating a childhood wound. She felt fenced in, on edge, ganged up on. Alone. 

‘I mean, I can see why ,’ Milla piped up, shooting Galinda a sickening smile. ‘Everyone on campus is practically head over heels for you!’

‘I’m not,’ said Crope, but no one heard him - apart from Tibbett, who gave him a sweet peck on the cheek.

‘But you?’ Milla continued, slipping off the bench and approaching Elphaba with a pitying expression. ‘Why, it’s a wasted emotion, Miss Elphaba. Galinda wouldn’t go near you with a barge pole, and it’s very poor form to try and invade her space. Have some restraint, won’t you?’

‘She’s probably not capable of it,’ Shenshen snorted, shaking her head. ‘Only civilised people understand how to engage in courtship. I doubt she knows because she’s never had anyone extend their affections to her before.’

‘Never kissed anyone either, I bet,’ smirked Avaric, to more laughter.

‘Or even hugged!’ said Pfannee.

‘Oh, she tried to hug me last night,’ Galinda added, having to speak louder to be heard over the laughter. ‘I’m not sure I’m ever going to recover, in truth - Oz, I wonder if it’s reason enough to take the day off, do you think?’

As the students dutifully called yes!, Elphaba gritted her teeth together. The glass in her hand was trembling so much, it was a wonder she still had hold of it. Walk away , she told herself. Walk away right now. There’s no point. They won’t listen to you. They’ve already made up their minds . She made to shove past Milla, who had gotten in her path, but then Galinda decided to twist the knife. 

‘It’s actually rather sad , you know,’ she said, standing up from her seat and setting Elphaba with a falsely sympathetic gaze. ‘I can understand why she might fixate on me. I mean, my charms aside,’ - she giggled, tossing her hair - ‘for someone so unlovable, it makes sense that she might project her desperation onto someone else. I’m likely merely the latest in a long line of victims.’ 

That did it. 

‘How strange,’ Elphaba said, her voice thick around the lump in her throat, ‘that we interpreted last night so differently, Galinda. Because if my memory serves, you practically begged me to share your bed.’

The students gasped and two pink spots bloomed on Galinda’s cheeks. She held her composure, though, heels clacking as she stalked towards Elphaba, never breaking eye contact.

‘My, this is a worrying development,’ she simpered, hands on her hips. ‘It seems poor Miss Elphaba has started to confuse reality with her sordid fantasies. I bet you’d love me to beg you to share a bed, wouldn’t you?’

Someone wolf-whistled, and Elphaba felt her face erupt with heat. 

‘You know,’ continued Galinda, getting closer, ‘I actually feel sorry for you. It must be hard, harbouring such feelings for me while having to share my space. But this pathetic little crush of yours needs to stop…’ she poked Elphaba in the shoulder. ‘...Because there is nothing in this world that would ever trick me into falling for you.’

‘Rejected!’ someone called, followed by a rumbling of laughter that rivaled last night’s thunder. 

‘As if Galinda would ever look at you twice, Elphaba,’ snorted Pfannee, clapping his hands together. ‘You ought to steer clear of her.’

‘Yeah, keep your horrid hands to yourself!’ Avaric piped up. ‘Wouldn’t want the green coming off!’

‘Now, now,’ giggled Galinda, waving her hands in the air again as if to calm her adoring audience down. ‘Let’s not dwell on it. Elphaba made a mistake, that’s all. I’m sure she’ll learn to control herself in the future.’

Control, Elphaba thought, her ears ringing from the laughter and Galinda’s blatant lies. I’ll give you control, Galinda Upland. Despite the growing moisture in her eyes and the lump hardening in her throat, Elphaba peeled her lips back in a smile.

‘Well,’ she breathed, feeling a sense of satisfaction as the laughter died out to listen to her, ‘I must sincerely apologise if I made you feel uncomfortable, Galinda. You’re quite correct - it is dreadfully difficult for me to share your space. Given you’re an obnoxious brat, I mean.’

Galinda’s smile slid off her face. 

‘You take that back, Elphaba,’ she said, her voice low and dangerous. 

‘Why would I? It’s the truth. And you’re a champion of the truth , aren’t you?’ Elphaba spat. ‘Why not tell your little fans what really happened, hm? About the storm? About everything ?’ For good measure, she held up her glass. Galinda’s eyes snapped to it. A flicker of worry crossed over her face.

‘I - I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she said. ‘Spinning lies to distract everyone, I imagine? Because you’re aggravated that I’ve exposed your sad little crush?’

‘I don’t have a crush on you, Galinda. Only a saint would be able to stand more than five minutes of your vapid conversation and draining personality.’

‘How rude !’ gasped Milla. Galinda's lips parted just a hair. For a brief moment, she looked hurt.

‘You might find me fascinating enough to fabricate stories to fit your narrative, but I’m not so desperate,’ continued Elphaba, still toying with the glass. ‘I don’t think about you enough to make up lies.’

‘They’re not lies !’ Galinda shrieked, losing her cool and stamping her foot. ‘I - you - you are obsessed with me, you nasty green freak!’

Elphaba’s chest tightened, but she held her ground. If Galinda wants to play this game with me, she needs to learn her lesson . ‘Name-calling, are we? I thought we’d outgrown such petty habits since we’re, you know, adults .’

Galinda was losing control of the room, and she knew it. She glared at Elphaba with pure venom, her face flushed, her breathing quickening. ‘W-Well adults should know better than to crawl into someone’s bed without their permission, don’t you think?!’

‘Hm,’ Elphaba nodded, putting on her best smirk to appear unbothered. ‘And adults shouldn’t be so terrified of storms that they spend most of the night whimpering, but there you were, flinching and snivelling whenever the thunder hit. I suppose you left out that little detail, didn’t you?’

A couple of students laughed at that, and Galinda’s chin quivered. ‘You - you’re lying.’ She spun around to address the gaggle. ‘She’s lying ! She’s just trying to cover up her perverse obsession with me!’ Galinda looked back at Elphaba, her ears reddened and her eyes flashing. She poked her again in the shoulder, harder than before, and Elphaba stumbled back a little. The juice in her glass sloshed. 

‘Careful,’ she snarled. ‘Wouldn’t want my hand to slip, would you? Breaking glass makes such a loud noise, after all.’

Galinda looked as if Elphaba had just slapped her. She took several steps back, eyes widening with a mixture of fear and betrayal, before she seemed to remember where she was. 

‘Just - just leave me alone, won’t you?’ she spat, her fists balling the front of her skirt. ‘Stay out of my way and out of my bed!’

‘It would be my genuine pleasure,’ Elphaba hissed.

‘Pfft, doubt that,’ said Avaric. ‘We all know how much you want to be in her bed, Miss Elphaba. Little bit pathetic, really.’

When the laughter resumed, Elphaba knew she’d lost. Might as well go out with a bang. Her eyes locked on Galinda, who was doing an excellent job at laughing along with everyone else, Elphaba held up the glass, cocked her head to the side, and let it go with a resounding smash . Then several things happened at once. 

A barrage of gasps and shouts rose up from the crowd of gathered students, and Elphaba was fairly confident she heard Nessa, who had been watching the scene unfold from the back of the hall, call out her name in surprise, but Elphaba only had eyes for Galinda. She watched with grim satisfaction as the colour drained from her face, feeling no guilt as the girl flinched at the sound and slammed her hands over her ears, no doubt hurtling back to the memory of her father’s office as he threw champagne flutes and whisky tumblers. 

‘Oh, very mature!’ hollered Shenshen. ‘Won’t you think of the poor cleaners, Elphaba?!’

But Elphaba wasn’t listening. She didn’t feel in the least bit ashamed for the look of terror on Galinda’s white face. It was all she could do but to hold herself together long enough to get somewhere private. 

When she slammed back into the suite, her heart thundering, Elphaba let out a small sob. She hated crying. Objectively, she knew it wasn’t a sign of weakness, but every time she broke down, she felt like she was acknowledging the fact that she did care what other people thought of her, that it did hurt when they called her names, and that despite it all, she had not outgrown the feeling of utter abandonment. 

She gritted her teeth together, trying to stop the tears squeezing themselves from her eyes, and kicked off her boots so hard that they went flying. One of them knocked into the open box on the floor, and her shoulders jerked with another sob. How foolish she was, to think that helping Galinda might change things between them. How stupid she was, to fantasise that they might forge a tentative friendship, fashioned from well-loved cuddly toys and whispered stories of childhood pain. What an idiot I am, to think she might want my company for the joy of it, rather than necessity in a strained moment .

Trying to get a grip on her emotions, Elphaba collapsed front-first onto her bed, feeling for her teddy, the little black cat called Soup. She stroked his ears like she had done in childhood, when the name-calling and taunts and lies became all too much. She supposed it was bound to happen eventually, the tears falling from her eyes and the pain in her chest, because she’d been shouldering a new layer of disdain. It had been so long since she’d ventured beyond Munchkinland, full of residents who were, while cruel, ultimately used to her. Shiz’s students were not. She thought she’d adequately prepared herself for the onslaught. She thought, if she simply reminded herself why she was there - because of her potential - she’d be able to swallow the lump in her throat and ignore the way the stares and whispers and insults made her feel. So small, so lost. So alone. 

But she had not been prepared for Galinda Upland. She had not been prepared for how she would start to feel - a confusing mix of resentment, sympathy, and an alarming urge to take care of her - nor how her blatant rejection might make her feel. Which is so exceptionally stupid , she thought to herself, tears soaking the pillow. But I thought that she…

The thought escaped her because she wasn’t going to allow herself to have it. What did she expect? Friendship? Companionship? Affection ? Just because Galinda might’ve been vulnerable enough to accept her help once or twice, it didn’t change the stark facts: the girl didn’t like her. 

Because no matter what happens, Elphaba thought, burying her face into the pillow, I’m still a freak of nature. I could be the kindest girl in all of Oz, and she’ll only ever see the green of my skin. 

*

The next handful of days were difficult. Galinda seemed to make a point of not being wherever Elphaba was, and in truth, Elphaba was glad of it. She didn't have anything to say to her. She was thrilled whenever Galinda would stay out late, not returning to the dorm until the small hours and smelling like a public house - so much for the ban on drinking on campus - because it made it much easier to ignore her presence. On the odd occasions their schedules aligned and their paths crossed, in class or on campus, both girls didn’t even breathe in the other’s direction. 

Their evenings, when they were shared, were spent in frosty silence. Elphaba stayed in the library as late as she possibly could, and had even spent the odd night in Nessa’s dorm - until her roommate complained and Nessa apologetically explained that it wasn’t feasible. It’s not personal, Fabala, she had said, which was an obvious lie. It’s just after what Galinda said…You know, it makes things difficult.

Difficult indeed , Elphaba thought sourly. Owing to Galinda’s lies, the whole school now believed Elphaba to be some sort of perverted stalker. It was one thing to endure the usual comments on her appearance, and another entirely to weather such salacious and unfounded remarks on her character . Even the teachers seemed to have caught wind of it. Elphaba’s face burned at the very thought. If she had known Galinda would twist what had happened, she’d never would have tried to comfort her during the storm. If only I could turn back the clock , she thought glumly, lying in bed and staring at the ceiling. 

She’d been awake for some time, listening to Galinda singing as she got ready in the bathroom. Sound sleep was a thing of the past, now, for the knot of anxiety at the idea of facing everyone was keeping Elphaba awake at night. She couldn’t recall the last time it had impacted her so badly, and if she wasn’t feeling so rotten and self-conscious about the whole thing, she might’ve been angry. Not that she wasn’t angry, of course - just seeing Galinda’s irritating face made her want to hit something - but it was far from her primary emotion. No, the top spot belonged to something she had never expected: betrayal. That was a feeling she hadn’t experienced in a very long time, because she was simply used to being on her own. She didn’t need to rely on anyone, and therefore, no one could possibly stab her in the back. The last time she recalled feeling such a way was when Nessa had turned a blind eye to the vicious bullying of her old school friend, a poisonous girl called Lucinda. No matter how many times Elphaba had implored Nessa to stick up for her - or, at the very least, not invite Lucinda to their house so she could taunt Elphaba even outside of school hours - Nessa and meekly said that going up against Lucinda isn’t worth the hassle. 

Galinda wasn’t like Nessa, and Elphaba knew that. She had no obligation to her, considering they weren’t family. But Galinda had opened up to her. And Elphaba thought that might’ve meant something.

But, naturally, it had all been thrown back in her face. 

Sighing, Elphaba rolled over and blinked at the clock. Galinda was taking longer in the bathroom than usual, but she wasn’t about to confront her. She wanted a peaceful life at Shiz, after all. At some point, Galinda’s singing had abruptly stopped, and Elphaba hastily closed her eyes to feign sleep when the door flew open. She heard Galinda flouncing across the suite, muttering frantically under her breath, and curiosity got the better of her. She opened one eye and watched as Galinda rifled in one of the numerous sponge bags she kept on top of her chest of drawers, and grabbed a wad of pads. Still muttering, she marched back to the bathroom, with absolutely no consideration for the noise she was making, and Elphaba let out a defeated groan when she realised the girl must be on her period. 

Galinda is bad enough as it is, but a hormonal Galinda? she gulped. May the gods have mercy on me, I suppose.

*

Galinda was a late bloomer. She remembered feeling so frustrated and disconcerted that all of her friends had gotten their periods before her, that harbinger of womanhood, and she used to quite literally pray that she would simply hurry up and get hers. She checked every single morning from the ages of 12 to 16, until finally, on a blessedly sunny day, she’d woken up with an unusual tummy ache. The rest was history. 

Presently, Galinda did not understand why she’d prayed so hard for it. 

Trying not to curl in on herself as a cramp plucked at her insides, Galinda made her way down for breakfast. She knew it was coming, of course, given the state of her skin and general abrasiveness, but that didn’t mean she was prepared when it arrived. It was her first one away from home. And it was not an easy thing to manage. 

I’m afraid it runs in the family, dear, her mother had said, when Galinda was having a particularly bad one and had been reduced to tears. I used to have the most terrible monthlies when I was your age - but I certainly don’t remember kicking up such a fuss about it. Pull yourself together, won’t you? You’re not the only person in the world who bleeds. 

Her jaw twitching as another wave of pain coursed through her system, Galinda entered the mess hall and made her way to her usual table. Pfannee was already there, and he seemed fixated on something to his right. It wasn’t until Galinda got closer did she realise he was shooting daggers at Elphaba. 

‘Good morning, Pfannee,’ she said, plastering on a smile and lowering herself down onto the bench beside him. She wasn’t feeling at all hungry - her period was often accompanied by nausea and sickness - and she decided she could afford to skip breakfast. She would probably end up vomiting before the day’s end, as she usually did when her symptoms worsened, and the emptier her stomach, the better. 

‘Morning, morning,’ he said, a little distractedly. 

‘What are you doing?’

‘I’m on surveillance,’ he said, still not prising his eyes away from Elphaba. She was standing in the queue for the breakfast buffet, mouth set in a thin line, pointedly ignoring the jibes from her fellow students, and Galinda felt her stomach churn for an entirely different reason than pain. 

‘What do you mean, surveillance?’ she frowned, trying not to look at Elphaba.

‘I’m growing concerned that our resident freak has shifted her affections towards poor old Milla,’ he said, pushing his glasses up his nose. ‘I am absolutely certain she was staring at her in History the other day, and now, she just so happens to be standing behind her in the queue! Suspicious, I fear!’

‘Pfannee…’ Galinda swallowed, almost feeling nauseous with guilt, ‘that really isn’t necessary. I already told you that she wouldn’t actually try anything.’

‘If she’s bold enough to get into your bed, there’s no telling what she’s capable of,’ Pfannee declared. ‘One can never be too careful.’

Galinda fell silent, biting her lip. Of course, the whole reason she’d perpetuated the story was so she’d be able to scrub Elphaba out of her mind and increase the distance between them, but not only had that failed, the lies had gotten severely out of hand. What started as a teasing tale designed to get Elphaba’s hackles up had morphed into something much uglier. Galinda had tried to put to a stop it - though she could’ve admittedly tried harder - and before she even realised what had happened, the school had branded Elphaba as even more of a pariah than before. She was called names, each more savage than the last; people would avoid sitting next to her in class; and some even tried to trip her as she walked in the corridors. Galinda thought it was rather childish, until she realised it was entirely her fault.

Not that she’d really tried to fix it, though. If anything, the chasm that had been created between them was making it easier for her to ignore her feelings. Thankfully she’d be free of any additional steamy dreams, which she counted as a win, and the fact she and Elphaba hardly talked meant she didn’t have to get wrapped in anything. That didn’t stop the persistent guilt, though. She had taken to drinking a little too heavily with her friends, expertly avoiding Miss Coddle as they did so, but nothing was able to distract her from it. She sucked in a breath as her insides churned again, a mixture of cramps and guilt, and she gripped her skirt under the table.

A welcome distraction arrived when Shenshen came squealing through the hall and threw herself down in the seat next to her. 

‘You will never guess what,’ she gushed, nearly sending Pfannee’s glass of milk flying and she slammed her bags on the table. Galinda righted it before it could topple over the edge, a crease appearing between her eyebrows. 

‘What?’ she asked brightly, flashing an eager smile.

‘Well - ugh, Galinda, what’s with your…?’ She fluttered a hand around Galinda’s face, nearly catching her nose. ‘You’re so pale! Are you feeling ill?’

‘I -’

‘You’re ill?!’ gasped Pfannee, clapping a hand over his mouth and abandoning his so-called Elphaba surveillance. ‘A disaster! We can’t have you feeling ill !’ Wait here - I’ll go and get you a cup of tea.’

‘Oh, you really don’t have to -’

‘ - Don’t be silly!’ Pfannee interrupted, bouncing up from his seat and barging his way to the front of the queue. Galinda cringed as he shoved past Elphaba, and cringed even more when he loudly proclaimed ‘ coming through, coming through! Our precious Galinda is feeling unwell! Get out of the way, all of you!’ She felt Elphaba’s eyes flit towards her, and her face turned pink.

‘Oh, you look a little better now!’ beamed Shenshen, mistaking the blush for a healthy glow.

‘Er - well, yes,’ Galinda swallowed, watching as Elphaba looked away from her. She tried to pretend it didn’t bother her. ‘A-anyway, what’s new? You seem awfully excited this morning.’

Shenshen’s eyes glazed over, as if she was remembering the fondest dream she’d ever had. ‘Rumour has it that a prince is going to be enrolling here at Shiz! Oh, Galinda, I’ve heard that he’s positively dreamy !’

Galinda’s focus snapped from Elphaba, who had turned away to pour herself a large cup of coffee, and locked onto Shenshen. A prince? A dreamy Prince, no less? What better way to banish her confusing attachment to Elphaba - which hadn’t been banished despite her best efforts - than in the form of a dashing bachelor who was sure to fall head over heels for her, as everyone did? Everyone except Elphaba, though, which Galinda regarded as a real shame - stop it! And she certainly wouldn’t now, she Galinda had branded her as some sort of bed-invading pervert. 

‘Really?’ she gasped, clutching Shenshen’s arm as Pfannee returned, placing the cup of her favourite peppermint tea in front of her. ‘Oh, how positively delightful! Did you manage to get his name, Shenshen, or where he’s transferring from?’

‘They say he’s called Fiyero,’ Shenshen replied, batting her eyelashes. ‘Oz, he even sounds handsome. I’m not sure where he’s previously gone to school, but that doesn’t even matter, since he’s coming here ! Imminently!’

‘How imminently?’ Pfannee said, pushing Galinda’s tea closer to her as if to encourage her to take a sip. 

‘The next few days, according to the gossip mill,’ said Shenshen. ‘Galinda, we simply must prepare! This is too good of an opportunity to miss!’

Shenshen had a point. If the mysterious Prince Fiyero was indeed going to grace the student body of Shiz University with his presence, then they’d be swarming him like a cloud of gnats. She couldn’t afford to let the opportunity pass her by. She had to make a good impression. After all, it wasn’t as if any of the other dreary students had caught her eyes. All except El - no!

‘You’re totally right, Shenshen!’ Galinda declared with a flourish. ‘Let’s reconvene in your dorm after class and plan the most perfect outfits for the occasion!’

‘Everything looks perfect on you, Galinda,’ Pfannee simpered, his eyes shining.

‘Oh, I know,’ she said, letting out a twinkling bout of laughter. ‘But it pays to be prepared.’ Especially since I need to pull this off . Time to make sure I up my game.

Unfortunately, given the timing of her period, Galinda’s game was nonexistent. It was getting worse by the hour. She squirmed and winced in her seat as she tried to take notes in Dr Dillamond’s dreary seminar. She couldn’t eat lunch for fear she’d throw it up over the table. She was forced to use the public restrooms - gross, gross, gross! - else she’d have had bigger problems. And come her Linguification class later that day, Galinda knew she wouldn’t be able to hide it much longer. It wasn't just the cramps - she was rapidly developing a migraine on top of everything else.

‘Milla,’ she whispered, almost grey with pain as they made their way to Class Block C, ‘would you please pass on my apologies to Professor Lincoln? I’m afraid I have some matters to attend to.’

Milla looked at her in surprise. ‘Um, okay. But you know Professor Lincoln is planning a progress test soon, right? It’s probably not a good idea to skip if you can help it.’

Galinda closed her eyes as a particularly vicious cramp twisted in her gut, and she did her best not to react. ‘Y-Yes, I know that. But it simply can’t wait.’

‘What is it?’ frowned Milla.

‘Just - some things from home,’ Galinda said vaguely, coming to a halt and wanting nothing more than to brace herself against the wall. 

‘Okay, I’ll let him know.’ Milla peered more closely at Galinda, her eyebrows knitting together. ‘Say, are you quite alright, Galinda? You’re looking a little green around the gills.’

Galinda forced a smile on her face. ‘Fine, I’m fine! Thank you, Milla. I - I’ll catch you at dinner, I’m sure.’

Without giving Milla a second to question her further, Galinda bolted. She couldn’t allow anyone to know she wasn’t feeling well, least of all because of her period. All she wanted was to close the curtains, slap a hot water bottle over her throbbing stomach, and curl up in bed.

By the time she was back in the suite, she was sweating from pain. Her hair was stuck to her forehead and her stomach was hurting so much that tears were starting to burn behind her eyes. Mercifully, Elphaba was in the Linguification seminar and therefore not in the suite - thank Oz for mandatory first year classes - so she was able to rip off her uncomfortable dress and change into her nightgown without an audience. Groaning, Galinda shuffled over to the curtains and drew them shut. Her head was throbbing to the point where even the gentlest light was making her eyes hurt. She then crawled into bed, blindly reaching for Salmon and clutched him to her chest. 

‘ Ow ,’ she grumbled to herself, curling up in a ball under the covers. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to be but wait for it to be over. She had practically begged her mother to take her to see a doctor when she was 17, a year after enduring the agonising cramps, vomiting and headaches every month, because she was certain it wasn’t normal. Her mother had only relented when Galinda, sapped of iron from the blood loss, quite literally passed out in front of the fireplace one unfortunate Lurlinemas.

You really do know how to get your own way, don’t you? she had complained as they rode in the carriage to the local surgery. You’re lucky we didn’t have any guests over, Galinda. You’ll do well to get a hold of yourself in the future if this keeps happening.

Galinda, shame-faced, had just nodded along. Her mother had the distinct ability to make her feel like everything was her fault. She didn’t mean to faint. It happened so quickly that she hardly knew what had occurred until she awoke to Ama Clutch fanning her with a newspaper. 

The doctor, while sympathetic, was ultimately unhelpful. Dysmenorrhea, she’d called it. She prescribed Galinda some painkillers and gave her a blood test to check her iron levels, but she was sent on her way with some unhelpful advice about planning around it and keeping on top of things . Of course, this only cemented her mother’s argument that Galinda was being ‘dramatic’. They’ll give anything a medical name these days, even something as common as periods. No wonder your generation is less resilient, dear. 

So, Galinda would dread the arrival of her period each month even more than one normally did. It was easy enough to wear more make-up to cover the sorry state of her skin, and practice her best smile to combat her foul mood, but the pain was another matter. It made her joints ache and her stomach twist and her head throb. But she learnt to disguise it. She had even been sick in the bushes at her old school once, rather than risk being caught by her roommates. And it wasn’t just her periods that she had to endure in silence; any whiff of illness, be it the common cold or something more grievous, she would slap on her make-up, construct her smile, and go about her day as if nothing was amiss. It was expected of her, after all. 

Sometimes, though, she just couldn’t.

Letting out another pained groan, Galinda was vaguely aware that she was going to be sick. She threw off the covers and stumbled towards the bathroom, bent double, and landed on her knees by the toilet bowl. With a shuddering retch, she sicked up what few liquids she had in her system, her throat burning with bile, and she desperately tried to scrape her hair off her face to free it from the onslaught. She’d gotten pretty good at it - being unwell in silence was a skill of hers - but it didn’t make it any less tricky. Shaking, Galinda spat out some soured saliva into the toilet bowl, and pressed her palm to her aching forehead. What in Oz did I do to deserve this? 

*

‘Elphaba?’

‘Shenshen,’ replied Elphaba, utterly deadpan. She didn’t even bother looking up from the book she was reading. She had hoped that she might get some peace and quiet in the library of an evening - especially since the majority of her usual harassers were practically brain-dead and seldom found themselves amongst the books - but it appeared that Shenshen had sought her out.

‘Have you seen Galinda?’ she asked. 

That got Elphaba’s attention. She glanced up from The Great Drought: Hardship & Toil , and raised a single eyebrow.

‘Contrary to her tall tales, I’m not actually obsessed with her - so no, I haven’t seen her.’

Shenshen glared at her. ‘Oz, there’s no need to be so abrasive.’

Abrasive? Ha! 

‘You’ll forgive me for being somewhat testy, given recent events,’ Elphaba said, her jaw twitching. ‘Just an hour ago you called me - what was it - an unhinged degenerate ?’

Shenshen looked suitably guilty for a moment, her face going a little pink. ‘Er - right. Yes. I suppose I did.’

‘I’m so glad we’re on the same page.’ Elphaba made a show of returning to her book, but Shenshen continued her attempts at conversation.

‘It’s just -’ she burst out, as if she was finding it difficult to even speak to Elphaba if she wasn’t being rude, ‘ - she was acting odd at lunch, and Milla said she skipped out on her Linguification seminar. She was a no show at dinner, and she’s - she’s not at our usual haunts.’

Elphaba massaged her temple. She did not want to deal with one of Galinda’s lackeys. ‘Fascinating. Did you try the suite? You know, where she lives?’

‘Oz,’ muttered Shenshen, clearly biting back an insult. ‘Of course I did, Elphaba. That was the first place I looked. But there was no response. And the door is locked.’

‘About time, too. I’ve been telling her not to leave it open for all and sundry to wander inside.’

‘ Elphaba ,’ Shenshen implored. ‘I’m worried about her, okay? It’s not like Galinda to simply disappear. She has a very palpable fear of missing out, you know. Dinner aside, we were supposed to meet in my dorm to discuss Prince Fiyero’s arrival and plan our outfits.’

Elphaba refrained from rolling her eyes. She had heard of the impending arrival of the Winkie Prince, and she couldn’t care less. Of course Galinda has made it her personal business, though. 

‘...Plan your outfits? For some guy you don’t even know? Are you joking?’

‘Just because you have the fashion sense of a colour-blind toddler and don’t seem to care how you look, it doesn’t mean the rest of us do,’ Shenshen sneered. ‘And anyway, we want to make a good impression.’

‘If that’s the case, then you might want to refrain from throwing around petty insults to people who are quite literally minding their own business,’ Elphaba grumbled, glancing down at her dress of choice for the day - a conservatively styled navy button-up with a high collar. Nothing wrong with it, if you ask me! 

Shenshen let out an impatient huff. ‘Oh, whatever. I just - Oz, Elphaba, will you please go and check on her? You have a key, don’t you?’

‘Yes, I have a key. Since I live there. It’s how I come and go. Quite the revelation, really.’

‘Then get your nose out of that book for two seconds and go and check on her ,’ Shenshen hissed, through gritted teeth. Elphaba couldn’t help but find some grim amusement in the situation. 

‘What makes you think she’s even in there? If she didn’t answer, she’s probably somewhere else,’ Elphaba shrugged.

‘ Where ? She’s not in the sun room or the mess hall, nor the quad or the gardens or the forest! She’s nowhere!’

‘And she wouldn’t be caught dead in here,’ Elphaba said with a smirk. ‘But I think you’re getting worked up over nothing. We are allowed to leave campus, you know. She has her own boat, for Oz’s sake. She might’ve gone into town.’

‘Alone? You know she doesn’t like going anywhere alone.’

As much as it irked Elphaba to admit it, Shenshen had a point. Galinda seemed to like having people around her at all times - probably to pay her compliments and clap whenever she opens her stupid mouth - so it seemed very unlikely that she’d stray off campus without one of her devoted followers to trail after her. Elphaba let out a vexed sigh and slammed her book shut. She knew she wasn’t going to get any peace unless she went up to the suite.

‘Fine,’ she said, stuffing the massive tome in her messenger bag. ‘It’s to be the most thrilling investigation of the century, I’m sure. Missing person found in her room , or something.’ She cocked her head to indicate for Shenshen to follow her.

‘Oh, I’m not coming,’ she said, as if such an insinuation was completely ridiculous. ‘Galinda might not be around, but I still need to prepare for the prince.’

‘What?’ snorted Elphaba. ‘But I thought you were worried about her?’

‘And now I know she’s in your safe hands, there’s no need to be,’ she smirked. ‘I’ll catch you later, Elphaba. Try not to sneak into anyone else’s bed in the interim, won’t you?’

Seething, Elphaba marched off, her hands squeezing around the handle of her bag. So much for being her friend, she thought to herself. Elphaba always suspected that many of Galinda’s companions spent time with her solely for clout - it’s the only logical explanation, given she’s an emotional storm drain and can’t hold a conversation unless it’s about her - but it struck her as strange that Shenshen would sooner wash her hands of the problem and focus on something as basal as the prince. 

She reached the suite quickly enough and let herself in without knocking. Immediately, she was hit with the sharp smell of vomit.

‘G-Galinda?’ she called out tentatively, putting her hand over her nose. It was dark in the room, all the curtains drawn, and the fire had died in the hearth. She clicked on the light and spotted a Galinda-shaped lump under the covers of her large bed. 

‘Hey…’ she said, her voice muffled from her hand. ‘What’s the matter? Are you sick?’ She prodded the lump and got a sad groan in return. 

Had Galinda not been such a menace in the last few days, Elphaba might’ve been a bit gentler. But she had no time for it, and certainly no sympathy. 

‘ Galinda ,’ she hissed, grabbing the covers and yanking them back. ‘Are you on the cusp of dying, or just being - oh. Oh .’

And Elphaba immediately felt terrible. 

Galinda was curled up in a tight ball, her body almost rigid, and there was a red stain on the back of her nightdress. Whether or not she had noticed didn’t seem to matter - she was too busy fighting back the pained sobs that were trying to burst from her lips. She looked awful , utterly devoid of colour and covered in a sheen of sweat. Her hair was staticky from the covers and dabbled with sweat - and, to Elphaba’s horror, sick. Something was very wrong.

‘...Okay, don’t worry,’ she said quickly. ‘I’ll go and get the nurse -’

‘ - No ,’ Galinda choked out. ‘D-Don’t get anyone. I’m fine. It’s - it’s always t-this bad the first couple of days, so I just need to - ow . My tummy .’ She cut herself off with a mournful wail. 

‘Galinda, it is not fine. Periods shouldn’t be this debilitating,’ Elphaba said. 

‘It’s nothing. M-Momsie said - oh, fuck .’ She groaned again, her body tightening for a moment, and Elphaba was at a loss. 

‘...Right, well it’s clearly not nothing, considering you’ve bled all over your sheets and apparently thrown up, judging by the smell,’ she said stiffly. ‘But what do you usually do to deal with it?’

Galinda was quiet for a moment. Though half of her face was pressed into the pillows, Elphaba saw as fresh tears leaked from her eye and ran down her nose. 

‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered. ‘I didn’t m-mean to. I’m sorry, I’m sorry -’

‘ - You don’t need to apologise,’ Elphaba said. Well, she does , but not about this . ‘Just tell me what I can do to help. Do you have painkillers? Or use a hot water bottle?’

‘U-Um’ she sniffled, ‘yeah. But I c-couldn’t find my water bottle and I’m not allowed to take any more pills because of the d-dose.’

‘Where are they?’

Weakly, Galinda lifted a shaking hand and pointed to her vanity. Elphaba went over and scanned through the ridiculous amount of bottles and serums - some of which she actually recognised, since she made good on her promise to replace the ones she smashed - and found a brown bottle that looked somewhat medical. She read the ingredients, nodded, and went over to her side of the room. She looked through one of her bags and produced a different bottle of pills, before returning to Galinda.

‘You can take two of these instead,’ she said. ‘Your painkillers are anti-inflammatory, according to the ingredients, whereas these ones are acetaminophens. You can mix them.’

‘H-How do you know so much about medicine?’ Galinda asked, struggling to pull herself upright.

‘I got very good at taking care of myself,’ Elphaba muttered darkly. ‘I’ll go and get you a glass of water.’ She picked up the (predictably) pink drinking glass Galinda kept on her bedside table, and ventured to the bathroom. Galinda at least had the foresight not to miss the toilet bowl when she was throwing up, but hadn’t done a very good job at cleaning up. Grimacing, Elphaba took the time to pour down half a bottle of bleach, before she filled the glass and returned.

‘Here,’ she said, handing her the glass without ceremony. She unscrewed the bottle and tipped out two white pills. ‘You can take these every four hours.’

‘Thank you,’ Galinda said meekly. Now she was propped up on the pillows, Elphaba could see how pinched her expression was, how swollen her eyes, and how flushed her cheeks. Oz, she really isn’t handling this very well. 

‘I’ll see if I can find you my hot water bottle,’ she said, as Galinda struggled to swallow down the pills. ‘But…’ she trailed off, feeling a little awkward. She had personally only bled through her clothes on one occasion when she was younger, since her own periods were generally manageable, but she remembered the acute feeling of embarrassment. As upset as she was with Galinda, she didn’t really want to make the girl feel any worse . ‘...Um, you might feel a bit better if you cleaned up first. Do you…do you think you’re able to?’

Galinda closed her eyes for a moment, a stray tear slipping off her lashes and landing on her cheek. Elphaba felt the peculiar urge to wipe it away. 

‘I feel a bit…unsteady,’ Galinda murmured. She shifted a little under her sheets and pulled a face, no doubt feeling the damp warmth of blood. She pressed her lips together, looking thoroughly uncomfortable. ‘...But also incredibly gross. You’re probably right.’

‘Wow. Can I get that in writing?’ 

‘Hilarious.’

‘Look,’ Elphaba said, wincing along with Galinda as another spasm of pain twisted her expression, ‘let me run the bath for you, okay? And drink the rest of your water. You might be feeling dehydrated.’

Galinda narrowed her eyes in suspicion. ‘...You’re b-being nice. Why?’

‘Because it’s quite hard not to be when you're clearly in a lot of pain,’ Elphaba said.

‘Goodness, is that all it took?’ Galinda mumbled. 

Elphaba ignored her. She went back to the bathroom, which now smelt strongly of citrus and chemicals from the bleach, and stretched over to turn on the copper taps. The pipes in the walls shuddered as she did so, and she imagined them jumping in their brackets. Shiz’s bones were old, but she’d gotten used to its noises in the handful of weeks since enrolment. Sighing, Elphaba appraised the selection of bath salts and bubbles Galinda kept on the shelf. She had ‘generously’ left one dusty corner free for Elphaba’s use, where there sat a single vial of bath salts Nessa had given her one birthday. Though it was sorely tempting to lean into her spiteful feelings and use that rather than one Galinda favoured, Elphaba decided against it. She selected a bottle that smelt of strawberries and cream - that explains the aroma she carries around, then - and dumped a capful in the water. 

As the tub filled with bubbles and steam started to unfurl in the room, Elphaba returned to the bedroom and found Galinda had stood up, albeit wobbly. She seemed to be trying to tug off her bloodied sheets. The stain on her nightdress was worse than Elphaba had thought. She really must be bleeding heavily , she thought, biting her lip. She walked over to her.

‘Don’t worry about that right now,’ she said, gesturing to the sheets. Galinda jumped in surprise. 

‘N-No, it’s fine,’ she stammered, stretching over to untuck the undersheet. ‘I can’t just leave it like this. I was raised better than that. It’s disgusting.’

‘It isn’t disgusting. It’s natural.’

‘Elphaba, don’t patronise me,’ Galinda snapped. ‘Just let me - ow, ow, ow . My tummy - fuck. ’ She doubled over with a hiss of pain, clutching her abdomen. Bracing her free hand on the mattress, Galinda remained in that position for several minutes, all gritted teeth and colourful language, and Elphaba left her to it. Instead, she went looking for her hot water bottle. It wasn’t hard to find - unlike Galinda, she didn’t have a copious mountain of possessions - and she placed it on top of Galinda’s chest of drawers.

‘For after your bath,’ she said, nodding at it. ‘Which, by the way, is probably ready for you now. Go and hop in.’

Galinda nodded tightly, almost green from the pain. When she straightened up, she swayed, and Elphaba moved on instinct. She flung a hand around Galinda’s narrow waist, and she landed on her heavily, letting out a sharp gasp.

‘Oh Oz , I’m sorry, I just - gods, ow ,’ she groaned, her forehead creasing. 

‘It’s okay,’ Elphaba said, as they hobbled towards the bathroom. ‘Are you feeling light-headed? Have you eaten?’

‘No appetite,’ Galinda said grimly. 

‘Well, that’s probably not helping things.’

‘Forgive me, Doctor Elphaba, but I quite literally cannot stomach anything at the present moment,’ Galinda spat. Her tone was so rude that Elphaba deeply considered dropping her.

‘I’m just saying,’ she muttered. ‘Are you okay to bathe? You’re not going to drown, are you?’

‘I will do my very best.’

Once in the bathroom, Galinda sat down heavily on the closed toilet seat and pressed her face into her hands. Elphaba shifted on the spot.

‘Right, I’ll leave you to it,’ she said. ‘If you need anything, I’m just outside. Shout if you do start drowning.’

Galinda let out a dry, humourless laugh. ‘My hero. But I’ll be f-fine, Elphaba. I just want to get clean. I think…’ she grimaced, not looking at Elphaba. ‘I think there’s puke in my hair .’

‘Yeah, there is,’ Elphaba shrugged, and Galinda groaned. 

‘Oz, I bet you’re loving this,’ she mumbled, her voice so low and wounded that Elphaba wondered if she even meant to say it. 

Elphaba sucked in a breath. ‘...I’m not actually, Galinda. Believe it or not, but I don’t like seeing anyone in this much discomfort. Even you.’

When Galinda didn’t say anything, her face still in her hands, Elphaba decided that was her cue to go. But she wasn’t going to stray too far, not when Galinda seemed like she could faint at any moment. Just as she was about to shut the door, though, she heard Galinda call out.

‘...Thanks for the bubbles,’ she said softly. ‘They’re my favourite.’

A smile pulled at Elphaba’s lips, despite herself. ‘I thought so.’

*

A little while later, Galinda emerged from the bathroom in her fluffiest towel, and found her bed had been made up with fresh sheets. Salom was waiting for her right in the centre, along with a clean nightdress folded neatly beside him.

‘Oh, Elphaba,’ she swallowed, glancing over to where her roommate was crouched by the fireplace, poking encouragingly at the embers. ‘You…You didn’t have to do all of this.’

‘Yeah, you’re damn right,’ Elphaba said, straightening up with a groan. She’s such an old man , Galinda thought fondly. ‘I’ve been warming the water for the bottle.’ She nodded to the clay teapot she used for her morning brew, which was hanging above the flames. ‘Shouldn’t take much longer, now. How are you feeling?’

Galinda gathered up the nightdress and paused. ‘Um, yeah, a bit better. Clean, at least.’ She was feeling less disgusting, now the blood had been scrubbed from her thighs and the vomit rinsed from her hair. The heat from the bath had also helped with the cramps, for a while, but she knew she needed the hot water bottle quickly if she was going to continue to soothe them. ‘Let me get out of my towel.’ 

‘Sure you want to change in here? Given I’m such a pervert?’ Elphaba muttered bitterly, her eyes blazing with the reflection of the fire.

Galinda winced. ‘...Er, it’s fine. I’ll go behind my wardrobe.’

‘Fantastic.’

As she dropped her towel and pulled the nightdress over her head - she had grabbed some fresh underwear from the chest of drawers - Galinda felt another wave of guilt thunder through her system. She had to say something to address the elephant in the room. Elphaba had absolutely no obligation to help her, after everything that had happened, but she did. And that meant something. 

When she slipped out from behind the wardrobe, swallowing down another whimper of pain as her lower back twinged along with a severe cramp, Elphaba was steadily filling up the hot water bottle for her. 

‘El - oh, shit , Oz -’ Galinda panted, a wave of nausea passing over her. 

‘What’s the matter?’ Elphaba said, her head snapping up.

‘I think I’m going to be -’

And she bolted back to the bathroom as sickness burned up her throat. She rushed to pull back her hair as her body convulsed and she started to throw up the water she’d drunk. Her eyes streamed from the sensation, acid stinging the back of her teeth, and she desperately scrambled to stop her newly-clean hair from straying into its path. But a hand was already there.

‘It’s okay,’ Elphaba soothed, rubbing her back and dragging her hair back for her. ‘Just get it out of your system. Are you sure this isn’t a sickness bug?’

‘N-No, it’s fine. It’s fine. It just happens sometimes when I - ugh ,’ Galinda moaned, shuddering as her body betrayed her yet again. She wasn’t sure it could even be classed as vomit, anymore, rather a nasty mixture of water and stomach acid. Elphaba, to her credit, didn’t so much as grimace. She just made sure Galinda’s hair was out of the way and kept stroking her back until it was over. Galinda fell back with an exhausted groan. She pressed a hand over her mouth.

‘I - I need to brush my teeth,’ she whimpered. 

‘No, you need to rest. Get up,’ Elphaba said, not unkindly.

‘But my breath -’

‘ - It’s just me.’

That’s the problem! Galinda thought miserably. Then again, Elphaba had seen her bloodied, sweaty, and vomiting. There was little else she could do to embarrass herself. 

Once she was back in bed, Elphaba refilled her glass and handed her the hot water bottle. It was dark. Galinda had no idea what time it was - she had spent the majority of the late afternoon and evening fighting off tears and trying to bite back her groans of pain - but it must’ve been after 10pm, since the corridors were quietening down as they often did on a weekday. 

‘That should stay warm for a while,’ Elphaba said, as Galinda settled the hot water bottle against her spasmodic stomach. ‘Do you think we should put a towel down? In case you…’

Galinda felt her face heat up in embarrassment. ‘Um, maybe. Sorry. I’m really sorry. It - it’s just my tummy was hurting so badly and I couldn’t bring myself to -’

‘ - Galinda, will you stop apologising for feeling unwell?’ Elphaba said firmly. ‘It doesn’t matter . I’ll grab a towel. There should be a spare in the bathroom cupboard.’

Watery-eyed, Galinda watched Elphaba as she went into the bathroom. She took a little longer than expected, and it wasn’t until the sharp smell of bleach penetrated the lingering scent of strawberries and cream, did Galinda realise she was cleaning up the toilet. Her face burned even more. How could I have gotten myself into such a preposterous predicament? She shouldn’t have to take care of me! Pathetic. Oz, I’m pathetic. 

‘Here, tuck this under you,’ Elphaba said, returning with the towel. ‘And take as many of my painkillers as you need. You can have another dose in -’ she glanced at her watch - ‘just under three hours. Hopefully you’ll be in the land of nod by then, but I have a suspicion it’s going to be a long night.’

‘It usually is,’ Galinda whispered mournfully, sliding the towel under her backside. ‘The pain keeps me awake.’

‘Oz, Galinda,’ Elphaba sighed, rubbing her temple. ‘Surely you know that isn’t normal. Periods shouldn’t have this much of an impact on your life, especially since they’re monthly.’

‘It’s…It’s fine,’ she mumbled. 

‘No it’s not.’

‘Elphaba, please,’ she said, flinching again, ‘there’s no point in discussing it. I’ve already visited the doctor back at home, and she just said to take painkillers.’

‘Then see a different doctor,’ Elphaba said. ‘Or even a nurse. There’s one on campus, you know.’

‘Yes, I do know,’ Galinda said crankily. ‘But I’m kicking up a fuss over nothing. Momsie said it’s just something I’ll have to live with. And anyway, this one is particularly bad.’

‘Your Momsie is a healthcare professional, is she?’ replied Elphaba.

‘No, but she - ow - she told me not to keep going on about it.’

‘Galinda, there’s nothing wrong with saying something if you’re in pain or if you’re unwell,’ Elphaba said, sounding increasingly exasperated. ‘You can’t be expected to simply get on with it when it’s causing you this much grief.’

‘Of course I just need to get on with it,’ Galinda hissed, reaching for Salmon and rubbing his flippers between her fingers. ‘I can’t - I can’t -’ she let out a short breath as the pain intensified, and Elphaba shook her head.

‘This is utterly ridiculous,’ she muttered. 

‘Why…’ Galinda whimpered, ‘why are you getting cross at me?’

She watched as Elphaba’s eyes widened, before they softened a little. They’re such a beautiful green, really. The colour of emeralds . And in her exhausted, hormone-riddled mind, she didn’t even dismiss the thought. 

‘I’m not cross at you, Galinda,’ Elphaba said sincerely. ‘I just find it frustrating when people don’t take proper care of themselves or dismiss their symptoms, that’s all. Especially since -’ she cut herself off, her forehead creased. 

‘Since what?’

‘...The reason I know so much about medicine is because I had to learn quickly,’ Elphaba said. ‘I - when I was younger and I got sick, I just sort of had to…take care of myself. My nanny did what she could, but had Nessa to think about, and - Oz, I don’t know why I’m telling you any of this.’ Elphaba let out a huff, as if she was frustrated at herself. 

‘Tell me, I asked,’ said Galinda, her tone gentle. 

‘I suppose I had no choice but to try and keep myself the paragon of health. Every sniffle, I tried to stop before it developed into a cold. Every stomach ache, I took stock of what I was eating to see if I could stop it. Every twinge of pain, I figured out which pills worked best. And as for my periods, well,’ - Elphaba gave her a guilty, tentative look - ‘they’re not as bad as yours.’

‘So,’ Galinda murmured, feeling her heart pang for the lack of care Elphaba had evidently experienced growing up, ‘when people like me just try to pretend like nothing is wrong…’

‘I can get a little irate, yes,’ Elphaba nodded, ‘because I would never have allowed it to get to that point. Oz, I was making my own doctors’ appointments by the time I was seven.’

‘Goodness. I couldn’t even work the phone until I was in my late teens.’

Elphaba chuckled at that, and Galinda glowed. It didn’t last long, though, because a cramp crept on her and made her snarl in pain. She pressed the water bottle more firmly against her stomach. 

‘I guess I’m trying to say that it isn’t personal, Galinda,’ Elphaba said, looking a little concerned at the expression of discomfort on her face. ‘I just wish you’d take better care of yourself, that’s all. You were pretending to be fine even when you were throwing up, for Oz’s sake.’

‘Yes, well. There’s such a thing as learned behaviour.’

Elphaba looked at her curiously. ‘Oh?’

‘...I feel uncomfortable with you looming over me like that,’ Galinda said, shifting a little to her left. ‘Come and sit with me if you really want to know.’

‘Are you certain you want me in your bed? Considering you made such a huge deal over it the last time,’ Elphaba challenged, and Galinda’s face fell. 

‘Elphaba, I…’ she trailed off, biting her lip. ‘...I’m sorry, okay? I really am. I just - Oz, I don’t even know. I was feeling all wound up and embarrassed after the storm b-because - um -’ she couldn’t tell Elphaba about the dream, since she’d sooner drop dead, but she owed her something. ‘ - Because no one has seen me like that for - for a long time. It was terribly confusifying for me to be that…vulnerable. So I suppose I just, um, lashed out. But then it got out of control and I - I didn’t mean for it to happen that way.’ She was aware she was rambling, but she could hardly stop herself. She gripped at the sheets, unable to meet Elphaba’s gaze.

‘...You did mean it though, Galinda,’ said Elphaba. 

‘What?’

‘I understand that you might not have meant for it to spread the way it has, but…’ Elphaba let out a tired sigh. ‘You did make the decision to twist what happened. You decided to tell everyone over breakfast, wishing for an audience, and you did nothing to stop people blowing it out of proportion. Do you have any idea how difficult it’s been for me? It’s -’ she broke off, her face tightening and her eyes shining. 

‘I’m sorry,’ Galinda whispered. ‘Elphaba, I truly am. I feel awful about the whole thing.’

‘Are you sorry because you regret it, or simply because I chose to help you today?’

‘...I felt bad the moment it left my mouth.’

‘Right. But you couldn’t stop yourself, could you?’ Elphaba muttered, her hands balling into fists at her sides. ‘You just couldn’t shut your trap. For what? Your precious reputation? Or to get the upper hand on this absurd back-and-forth we have going?’

‘I - I don’t know ,’ Galinda protested. ‘I just - I needed a way to control the narrative.’

‘ Why ? There wasn’t anything to control.’

‘Because I was feeling ashamed about my reaction to the storm, you know that.’

‘Oz, I wouldn’t have told anyone, Galinda!’ Elphaba said, her voice rising just slightly. ‘What would I possibly have to gain by telling everyone you were scared? Or revealing what your father did?’

‘I don’t know,’ Galinda repeated helplessly. 

‘Well I do ,’ Elphaba muttered. ‘You did it because, for whatever twisted reason, you enjoy toying with me. I thought it was simply because of Morrible’s seminars and our very unfortunate rooming situation, but that’s not it, is it? It’s because you made an assumption about me from the second we met. You took one look at me and decided I was someone worth your disdain.’

Galinda felt her eyes growing hot. ‘That’s not true at all.’

‘No?’ Elphaba muttered. ‘Then why ?’

Because you make me feel things I can’t handle. Because being around you makes me feel safe, even when we’re arguing. Because you’re beautiful. Because you’re kind. And all of that is too dangerous, it’s too much, it’s too -

‘ - Because we’re different ,’ Elphaba,’ she blurted out. ‘You just - rub me up the wrong way. You make me want to tear my hair out, and you know how precious it is to me.’

‘And you make me want to kick something. But that doesn’t mean I feel the urge to convince the entire school you’re some sort of bed-invading pest,’ Elphaba said flatly. 

Galinda fell silent, at a total loss. She didn’t have a leg to stand on. She could bring up the fact Elphaba decided to smash that drinking glass right in front of her, but considering what Galinda had done, she was surprised the girl hadn’t hurled it at her head.

‘...I’m sorry ,’ she whispered. ‘I don’t have an excuse. A-And I know that’s also not an excuse, but…I’m trying not to excuse what I did, because there’s no real excuse - Oz, I’ve said excuse too much and now it doesn’t sound like a proper word and I’m getting in a terrible muddle and - um - I agree that what I did has no excuse, not really - oh, I’ve said it again -’

‘ - You need elocution lessons, and fast,’ Elphaba interrupted. Galinda realised she was smirking at her. Instead of being upset about it, she latched onto it like a lifeline. 

‘Elphaba, I swear,’ she said, fighting back the instinct to react as another cramp bubbled up, ‘I swear I’m sorry. And I’m not just sorry because you’ve been so nice to me this evening when you really didn’t have to. I’m sorry because what I did was wrong . You were kind, that night of the storm. You didn’t make me feel like an idiot for getting so frightened, but Oz, I know I am one.’ She let out a subdued laugh. ‘I’m an idiot because I threw it back in your face. And I…I regret that. Truly.’

There was silence for a long while. Elphaba was still standing by the bed, her fists clenching and unclenching, and the only noises were Galinda’s occasional whimpers of pain, and the crackling of the fire. On seeing it was starting to die, Elphaba went to tend to it, still not saying a word. 

‘...E-Elphaba?’ Galinda whispered, her heart in her throat. 

‘Hm?’

‘Did you hear what I said?’

‘Yes, Galinda, I heard what you said. I’m trying to process it.’

‘Right.’

The quiet was almost tortuous. Galinda realised she ought to have rehearsed the apology in her head beforehand, but she kept getting stuck and wanting to blurt out the entire, mortifying truth. I can’t do that, though , she thought. I can never do that. Chewing her lower lip, Galinda sunk deeper into her mattress. She was warm and clean and thoroughly drowsy, to the point she was worried she was going to drop off before Elphaba next spoke. Luckily - or unluckily, I suppose - a sharp cramp that seemed to erupt from the base of her spine rather jerked her awake again. Whimpering forlornly, she cuddled Salmon closer to her and prayed the painkillers would hurry up and do their job.

‘This learned behaviour of yours,’ Elphaba said, so suddenly that Galinda jumped, ‘what exactly do you mean?’

‘Oh! Um…Shouldn’t we get back to the topic at hand?’ Galinda gulped. 

‘I’m still processing.’

‘Of course you are,’ she muttered. She didn’t really want to talk about what she meant, but since Elphaba had revealed another layer of her own troubled childhood, she felt strangely compelled to do the same. Not that she was planning on going into detail, though. ‘...I meant that I was taught to - to present a composed front at all times, that’s all. Even if I was under the weather.’ She groaned in ill-timed pain. ‘Or enduring a horrendous period, naturally.’

‘Why?’

‘ Why ?’ Galinda scoffed. ‘Because image is important, Elphaba, especially to my parents. It didn’t matter what any of us were feeling on the inside. We had to be at our best.’

‘I see,’ Elphaba said casually, as if Galinda was merely describing the weather. ‘So you learnt it from observation.’

‘And experience,’ mumbled Galinda.

‘Yes?’

Oz , she huffed, she really isn’t going to drop this. ‘Yes, experience. I picked it up very quickly. Not unlike how you figured out how to take care of yourself from a young age, I learnt how to suck it up. I have my sixth birthday party to thank for that.’ Galinda felt her eyes growing hot just thinking about it, but the moment she let it slip, she knew Elphaba would ask. 

‘Let me guess,’ Elphaba said softly, poking at the fire again, ‘you were unwell?’

‘That’s an understatement,’ Galinda swallowed. ‘I - I had some sort of stomach bug. I told Momsie that I - I didn’t want the party to go ahead since I was feeling so rotten, but she told me that cancelling would reflect badly on them. She dressed me in my new frock and did my hair, but just before the guests arrived, I - um -’ Galinda closed her eyes, hoping the tears wouldn’t slip, ‘ - I threw up all over her favourite rug. She hit the roof.’ And me, Galinda was about to add, but she caught herself at the last second. There was no reason to divulge any of that unpleasantness. Especially since it didn’t happen that much, and Momsie always apologised! She even bought me presents to say sorry! So…so, it’s fine.

‘Wait, you’re saying she got angry at you for being unwell? Is she quite sane?’ Elphaba spluttered. 

‘She was just frustrated. She put all that time and effort into sorting out the party for me - you should’ve seen the decorations and the buffet spread, Elphaba, it all looked incredible - and I ruined it because I couldn’t control my upchuck reflex,’ Galinda said stiffly. ‘It was my fault, really.’

‘Well that simply isn’t true,’ Elphaba muttered, poking the fire again with increasing vigor. ‘But what happened next? She took care of you, right? Once she saw how ill you were?’

I wish . ‘...Um, not exactly. She - she made me clean up the rug. And then she just sort of…sent me to bed. The party went ahead without me.’

‘ Oz -’

‘ - But my granny looked after me,’ Galinda added desperately, her face hot. She felt like she was revealing too much of herself. ‘She even managed to smuggle away some of my birthday cake - not that I felt well enough to eat it immediately - and she stayed with me for the whole day. I got to have my favourite juice. Through a straw .’ Since Larena Upland considered straws to be ‘unladylike’, it was a treat when Galinda got to use one. She would blow bubbles in the liquid to make her granny laugh. 

‘And did your granny look after you when you were sick at other times?’ asked Elphaba, her back still turned to tend to the fire. 

‘...At other times, I’d gotten better at hiding it,’ Galinda mumbled, wincing again at another cramp. ‘You can’t imagine the creative places I found to throw up when I needed to, Elphaba - it’s actually rather amusing, in an odd sort of way -’

‘ - It is not amusing!’ Elphaba snapped, slamming the fire poker so deeply into the coals that they sparked at spat. ‘You - you shouldn’t have been made to feel like that, Galinda! Oz - you should’ve had someone taking care of you. We both should’ve. We were children .’ Her voice dropped to a hiss. ‘Getting angry at you for throwing up…You were six . Unbelievable. Unbelievable .’

Galinda, who was quite startled by Elphaba’s outburst, shrunk back into her covers. She hadn’t meant to make her angry, but once again, she had put her foot in it.

‘Um, sorry,’ she whispered, nuzzling her face into her duvet. 

She heard Elphaba let out a long sigh, followed by muffled footsteps. The bed dipped. Instead of being next to her this time, though, Elphaba had perched gingerly on the end. 

‘You need to stop apologising for things that aren’t your fault,’ she said, her voice firm, but not unkind. ‘Apologising for other things, though? Well, that still needs work.’

Galinda gulped. The conversation was back where it had started. 

‘And by that,’ Elphaba murmured, ‘I mean that it would’ve meant a lot more if it came a handful of days ago, Galinda. I can’t help feeling like you’ve only apologised because I didn’t let you fester in your own blood and vomit.’

‘I wanted to apologise sooner, I really did,’ she whispered shakily.

‘So why didn’t you?’

‘...I don’t know .’

The bed shifted again. Elphaba had gotten to her feet.

‘Yeah.’ Her voice was deep, wounded. Exhausted . ‘That’s what I thought. Just…When you’ve figured it out, let me know. I am tired of games, Galinda. I want to be left alone.’

And with that, Elphaba disappeared into the bathroom, closing the door and locking it with a soft click . 

When Galinda cried, she did so as quietly as she could. For Elphaba’s pain was something she had created. And I have no right to encroach on it with my own tears.

Chapter Text

Chapter Five: Hair 

Looking back, Galinda couldn’t even pinpoint why she did it. 

In the handful of days that followed the excruciating agony that was day one of her period, she and Elphaba hardly said anything to each other. It wasn’t like the strained, weighted silence that followed the dreadful rumours Galinda had perpetuated; rather, it was painful, quiet, almost like a longing for something. It was a hundred times worse . Elphaba needed more from Galinda - more than a muddled apology that lacked an explanation and only arose because she had helped her - but Galinda kept coming up short. For the truth was too dangerous. And Galinda would sooner keep the girl at arm’s length than acknowledge what she was really feeling. 

Perhaps that’s why she did it, why she gave her the hat. 

Or maybe it was because of Fiyero, in some twisted way.

He was everything he was supposed to be; charming, charismatic, and beautiful. He had the entire student populace salivating in his path from the moment he meandered onto campus, with his dazzling blue eyes and easy smile, and he easily swept everyone up with his twinkling enthusiasm. It was all they could do but to follow him. And Galinda had, gladly, dreaming of the upcoming evening under the glittering lights of the Ozdust, picturing his hands on her waist, his voice in her ear, his lips on hers -

And yet -

When she looked at him, that dazzling boy, she felt nothing. When she looked into his eyes, fluttering her lashes and giggling like she was taught, all she wanted was to see affection reflected back at her. Fiyero was supposed to fix everything. He was supposed to take her in his arms, sweep her off her feet, and speed them both away for a night of tomfoolery that they would look back on, years from now, and pinpoint and say yes, that was the moment, the moment that changed our lives for good - the moment we fell in love. 

So, maybe it was all his fault. Maybe he had failed in some fundamental way to live up to the expectations she had pinned on him, praying he would make the pieces fall into place, hoping that when he took her hand, she’d forget all about the lingering wishes on Elphaba Thropp. Maybe he should’ve been more. Maybe his perfection was not enough. 

Or maybe she was just too weak for it all. Too feeble to force her heart rate to thrum erratically in his presence. Too inadequate to rouse the butterflies in her stomach. And too cowardly to tell Pfannee and Shenshen no, no, I can’t do that to Elphaba, not after everything else, not when things are so fragile .

But in the end, it didn’t matter how it happened. Only that it had. And when Galinda and the rest of them swamped the Ozdust, she didn’t want to think . She didn’t want to think that Elphaba might be on her way, with that hat atop her head, excited to attend her first party and eager to grab onto the olive branch Galinda seemed to have offered. To be a student like the rest of them. To dance under the lights. To share a drink, a smile, a laugh. She was the same as them all, really. Delighted to make a shining new memory.

And so Galinda did what Galinda did best: she threw herself into the fray. She drank. She smiled. She laughed. She ignored the heavy weight on her chest, the voice at the back of her mind screaming at her to take it back, to cast the hat to some forgotten corner of her wardrobe, to grab Elphaba’s hands and tell her I’m sorry, I’m sorry for treating you this way, I’m sorry that I’m scared, I’m sorry that I’m not a better person. She drowned it all. She pretended it didn’t matter.

And when she gazed into Fiyero’s eyes, she ignored the wild desire to see green, instead of blue, blinking back at her. 

*

Madame Morrible gatecrashing the Ozdust Ballroom was at the very bottom of Galinda’s predictions for the evening, given everything, but when she saw the stern woman making a bee-line towards her through the throngs of bedazzled guests, she feared her heart had stopped. Had she found out what she was plotting, somehow? Had she come to reprimand her for being so cruel to her star pupil? Has she come to force me to face up to it? 

‘What in the world…?’ Shenshen gaped, clocking her too. 

‘Oh, Oz!’ squeaked Pfannee, using the excuse of his shock to grab Fiyero by the front of his jacket and press himself into his chest. ‘We’ve been spotted! Caught! Thwarted! Every man for himself!’

‘Do calm down, Pfannee,’ Shenshen said, rolling her eyes. ‘It doesn’t appear as if she’s here to shut us down. She’s not Miss Coddle.’

Fiyero grinned, peeling Pfannee off of him. ‘She might be here to enjoy the festivities herself. I imagine our dearest Madame Morrible might have an exquisite pair of dancing shoes hidden beneath her professional veneer, just waiting to be unleashed.’

Galinda had to laugh at such an image. Fiyero hadn’t been at Shiz long enough to know that Morrible was not the sort of person to be caught throwing shapes on the dancefloor. Still, there she was, cutting through the crowds towards them. Shenshen and Pfannee immediately scarped the moment Morrible’s eyes landed on them, and Galinda scowled after them. Fiyero remained, holding her drink for her. Always the gentleman. If only I cared. 

‘Ah, Miss Galinda,’ Morrible said, raking her eyes up and down Galinda’s form. The girl was momentarily worried she’d slopped something down her front, given Morrible’s critical glare. ‘And our esteemed Prince Tigelaar. I assume you are responsible for half of the student populace stealing away in the middle of the night?’

Fiyero didn’t seem in the least bit intimidated, dipping into a sweeping bow. ‘Guilty as charged, Madame. Though I can’t say I’m ashamed of it - everyone has their vices, no?’

‘Indeed,’ Morrible replied coldly. ‘Though mine usually involves a stiff drink in the comfort of my own office, preferably alongside a log fire…Not whatever this is.’ Her eyes swept to Galinda again. ‘If you can possibly be torn away for just a moment, Miss Galinda, I wish to speak with you in private.’

Fiyero shot a quizzical look at Galinda, but she shooed him away, her drink still in his hand. She regretted that a little - being under Morrible’s discerning glower made her wish she’d downed the whole thing. 

‘H-how can I be of assistance?’ she asked, speaking a little louder to account for the pulsating music. It was quite the odd place to have a conversation with the woman she admired and respected so much. 

Looking like she’d just been asked if she drowned kittens in her free time, Morrible shoved something at Galinda. She took it, startled. It was a magic wand. She looked up at Morrible with wide, questioning eyes, quite at a loss. The woman had been so dismissive of her on her first day, and then again in the mess hall,  not even bothering to entertain her notions of practicing sorcery. Now, she had willingly handed over an instrument of power. Galinda didn’t know what to say. 

‘This is a training wand,’ Morrible said curtly. ‘You’ll use it in my seminars. It’s a valuable learning tool for those who wish to learn magic, and perhaps aren’t so…naturally gifted.’ Her lip curled in a sneer.

Galinda cradled it as if it was her firstborn, feeling almost choked up. It was the whole reason she'd come to Shiz in the first place. ‘Madame Morrible, I hardly know how to express my gratitude towards you for this great honour. Thank you for having faith in me -’ 

‘ - Actually, I have no faith in you.’

The cutting remark caught Galinda right in the chest. Her eyes snapped up from the wand and back to Morrible, any additional words of gratitude dying in her throat. 

‘This was your roommate’s idea, not mine,’ Morrible continued with a shrug. 

‘W-what do you mean?’

Morrible let out an irritated sigh. ‘Miss Elphaba came to me in a great hurry this evening, demanding that you be included in our seminars henceforth. She wouldn’t take no for an answer. If I denied her request, she threatened to remove herself from my tutelage.’

Galinda’s mouth fell open. ‘What? Elphaba did? W-Why would she do that? I - I don’t understand.’

‘Nor do I, Miss Galinda,’ Morrible said scornfully. ‘But I cannot risk Miss Elphaba, even if it means obeying her peculiar and thoroughly vexing requests. Though I did try to talk her out of it, of course.’

Galinda’s head was swimming. She was hit by a montage; those brief, charged exchanges she’d shared with Elphaba; how she felt when she had cuddled her the night of the storm; the heat between her legs in her dreams; and, of course, presenting her with the god-awful hat her granny had gifted her. Elphaba’s warm, glad expression. Galinda swallowed thickly. Oz, I bet she’s on her way here right now. 

‘In any case, I suppose I’ve no choice but to instruct you both in tandem,’ Morrible said, when Galinda failed to respond. ‘I am sure Miss Elphaba can give you the timetable, so see to it that you aren’t late. Don’t give me an excuse to persuade my star student to get rid of you, Miss Galinda.’

The girl shivered under Morrible’s stare. ‘O-of course not, Madame Morrible. I’ll be there. I welcome the opportunity to learn under someone of your -’

‘ - Spare me the schmaltz, please,’ Morrible interrupted drily. ‘I’ve no need for such excessive bleating. I am well aware of just how elite my teachings are to those who strive for a mastery of magic. But,’ - she took a step closer to Galinda, looking down at her with a cold grimace - ‘believe me when I say that you do not have what it takes.’

Galinda tried to maintain eye contact, but felt herself floundering. She’d idolised Morrible since she was a little girl. For her to treat her with such disdain was making her chest tighten. 

‘I -’ she paused, swallowed, and composed herself. ‘I’ll do my best t-to -’

‘ - Prove me wrong? Well, I hope you do,’ Morrible said. She cocked her head to one side, as if examining Galinda. When she next spoke, her tone was almost pitying. ‘Though I doubt you will.’

Galinda felt like she’d just been slapped across the face. She sucked in a sharp breath, flinching away from Morrible and taking a couple of stumbling steps backwards. She clutched the wand in her fist, wanting to say something, to speak up for herself, but Morrible was already gone. She stared until the woman was absorbed by the crowd. Shaking, Galinda gripped her fist harder around the wand. For one horrible moment, she wanted to snap it. 

‘What was that all about?’ asked Fiyero, floating back to her side.

‘Nothing.’ Galinda’s voice came out in a choked whisper. It didn’t escape Fiyero’s notice. 

‘Are you quite alright, my dear? You’re acting like you’ve seen a ghost,’ he asked, his hand gently brushing down her arm. She recoiled away from him as if she’d been burnt. 

‘Have you seen Elphaba?’ she blurted out.

‘Elphaba?’ Fiyero said, startled. ‘No, I can’t say that I have. Galinda, is everything -’ 

Before he could finish his sentence, Galinda bolted. She had to find Elphaba before she showed up with that hat. Her heart was hammering faster and harder in her chest. There were too many people and the light was scarce. She pushed her way through the crowds, her palm sweating around the wand, and it suctioned against her skin. 

Her chest hurt . It was like someone was pressing a weight against her sternum, the pressure growing and growing and growing until her bone could snap beneath the force. She needed to find Elphaba. She needed to get away. She needed to prove Morrible wrong. She needed to get away . Galinda’s eyes had started to grow hot. Her breath shattered in her throat. 

Actually, I have no faith in you. 

Morrible’s words burned in her mind, pulsing against her skull in time with the beat of her stuttering heart. 

Where is Elphaba? Where is she?

Galinda was vaguely aware that she had shouldered into someone, hearing a yelp of protest, but kept going. Oz, how hard can it be to find the only green person in the entire vicinity?! 

It wasn’t until she slammed into Boq Woodsman that she was forced to pause.

‘G-Galinda!’ he cried, steadying her by the shoulders before she could flatten them both. He dropped his arms as quickly as he grabbed her, blushing pink. ‘I - wow, you look quite wonderful indeed. I’m so pleased to see you! I brought Nessa along, just like you -’

‘ - Biq, have you seen Elphaba?’ Galinda gasped. When did it get so hard to breathe ?

‘Um, not yet. Is she coming? Nessa said it isn’t really her scene,’ Boq said, looking a little surprised at Galinda’s urgency. 

‘She - yes, I think she will be,’ replied Galinda, trying to control her breathing. The wand trembled in her hand. ‘Tell me if you spot her, won’t you?’

‘Of course I will,’ Boq said, nodding vigorously. ‘In the meantime, could I take you for a quick whirl around the dancefloor? Nessa has been hounded by a few of her friends, and I did promise I’d save a -’

‘ - No, not now,’ Galinda stammered. ‘I need to go.’

Boq’s face fell. ‘Oh, sure. That’s totally fine. I should be with Nessa anyway, so -’

Galinda flounced off before he could finish his sentence. He was the last thing she needed. Not when it was too hot, too stuffy, too hard to breathe. Not when she couldn’t find Elphaba. Not when Morrible seemed to hate her guts. Not when she had orchestrated a truly cruel stunt of wickedness to publicly humiliate Elphaba and hopefully scrub her out of her heated, bewildered, tired mind. 

Quite suddenly, Galinda felt like was about to burst into tears. But there were too many people around her. They were looking at her, fawning over her dress and calling her name. She needed to get away. Away, away, away. She whirred around, squinting through her rapidly watering eyes, and spotted the way to the bathrooms. Not caring who she pushed into, Galinda stumbled through the crowd. 

‘Miss Galinda!’ someone called. ‘Oh, how gloriously beautiful you look!’

Beautiful on the outside, perhaps, but so rotten within.

‘What a marvelous dress. You truly have an eye for these things, Miss Galinda!’ came another voice, trilling through the swarming bodies as she floundered in her heels. 

All I have an eye for is unkindness. 

‘Come and dance with us, Miss Galinda!’

You wouldn’t want to dance with me if you knew what I’d done. Who would? 

‘Galinda.’

I’m not good. What sort of a person would set up another for such a spectacularly nasty fall? Someone who has tried to make amends, to grant a wish, to foster a dream? 

‘Galinda!’

A hand closed around her wrist, dragging her back. She nearly dropped the wand in surprise. It might’ve been better if she had. 

Let it be lost to the crowds. Let it shatter underfoot. 

‘Oz, you’re a hard person to catch. What’s the matter? You look all - I don’t even know!’

It was Shenshen, her eyes alight with concern. They were on the edge of the dancefloor, a stone’s throw from the bathrooms. Predictably, there was a long queue. Galinda pressed her trembling lips together. 

‘I - everything’s totally fine,’ she said, trying to steady her frantic heart. ‘I just needed a moment to myself.’

‘Did something happen with Madame Morrible?’ asked Shenshen. ‘You’re not in any trouble, are you?’

Actually, I have no faith in you. 

Galinda swallowed a lump in her throat.

‘No, no,’ she replied, waving the wand in the air for emphasis. ‘It’s all good news, actually! She said I could be part of her seminars.’

Shenshen’s worry morphed into a wide grin, and she squealed. ‘Oh, that’s wonderful news! I never doubted you, not for a second!’

Galinda let herself be hugged, though all she wanted was a moment to breathe , not have hands on her.

‘T-Thank you, Shen,’ she managed to choke out, blinking rapidly. 

‘I can’t believe she showed up at this hour just to tell you, though,’ Shenshen said, releasing Galinda and squeezing her hand. ‘I bet she just couldn’t wait to tell you the good news!’

‘Mm,’ Galinda mumbled, hoping it didn’t look as if she was about to cry. She was good at reeling in her emotions when she needed to. She’d been overwhelmed at enough public functions with her parents to have learnt a few tricks. Still, she couldn’t see Elphaba. She had to find her, before it was too late.

‘Anyway, Pfannee and I have been looking for you all over,’ continued Shenshen, dropping her hand. ‘Fiyero said you ran off! We were worried you might’ve ditched him for that weird Munchkin boy.’

Galinda shook her head, her curls tickling her collarbone. ‘It’s as I said. I just…needed a moment to myself.’

‘Are you okay?’

Galinda thought about being honest with Shenshen, for a brief moment. She was supposed to be her friend, after all. But if she told the truth, she was worried she’d never stop. The dam would burst and she’d gush all her secrets out, until Shenshen drowned in the weight of them.

‘Yes, of course,’ she said, plastering on a smile. ‘I felt a little overcome with the good news from Madame Morrible, but I’m simply splendid!’

Shenshen grinned at her. ‘We ought to celebrate, shouldn’t we? Let’s find Fiyero and Pfannee and finally have a dance! I’m a fantastic dancer, didn’t you know?’

Galinda let herself be dragged, making the right noises at the right time as Shenshen prattled on, feigning an engaged mind. But all she could think about was Elphaba. Oh, please…Don’t come tonight. Stay home. Stay safe. I’m sorry.

*

Elphaba realised what Galinda had done mere moments after she set foot into the crowded ballroom, but she didn’t want to believe it to be true. Shaking fingers found the brim of the hat. She thought it had been gifted with affection. She thought it was Galinda’s way of finally apologising, properly, for what had happened between them. She thought they’d reached a turning point. But when cold eyes and jeering faces reached her, even the band falling silent in shock, she realised what had happened. 

Galinda was easy enough to spot. She was right at the front of the gathering crowd, no doubt eager to get the best view of the payoff, the punchline, the set up. And even through the tears starting to brim in Elphaba’s eyes, she still thought the girl looked beautiful, under the glistening lights, a flower in her hair, pink and orange ruffles nudging her collarbone. A beautiful girl with a stone-cold heart, it seems. 

She wanted to leave.

But where would I even go? 

At that point, the whole of Shiz thought her a write-off regardless of what happened next. She was even more of an outcast than she had been growing up in Munchkinland, thanks to Galinda and the gossip mill, so there was nothing else for it. Not really. She had come to a dance. So dance. 

Of course, the hammering in her chest, the burning in her eyes, and the heat in her cheeks betrayed the front she was trying to construct. How desperate she was, to pretend she didn’t notice their scornful looks, or hear their mocking laughter. But she’d dealt with those expressions and those sounds for as long as she could remember. What’s a little more?

The room was silent at times, enough to hear a pin drop. She could hear the rustling of her clothes as she moved, not really knowing how, never really knowing where she was headed. Gasps and giggles bubbled up now and again. And her eyes couldn’t help but find Galinda. She was like a beacon in the dark. Even if she didn’t want to see her. 

After Elphaba had found the girl in agony - had run her a bath, changed her sheets, made her comfortable - something had undoubtedly shifted between them. Galinda had attempted an apology, and Elphaba couldn’t help but think it was born out of obligation more than anything else. Galinda had felt vulnerable and cornered, like she owed something to Elphaba for all her help, but still wasn’t able to offer an actual explanation for her behaviour. That was something Elphaba thought she was due - because Galinda’s comments weren’t just cruel, they were dangerous . The insinuation that Elphaba might behave in such a perverse manner made her seem threatening when she truly wasn't.

The morning after Elphaba had found Galinda, the girl was still in a great deal of pain. She had hardly slept, judging by the black shadows under her eyes, and had bled through onto the towel Elphaba - thankfully - had given her. She was quiet, withdrawn, hardly saying a word as she hastened to the bathroom, trying to cover the red stain on her nightdress as if Elphaba hadn’t seen her in a similar state the night before. And Elphaba, despite it all, still wanted to help her. She had gathered up the towel for the laundry, adding it to the sheets she had stripped the previous evening, and put on a fresh pot for the hot water bottle. She knew Galinda favoured peppermint tea, and selected a bag from her own collection to make for her. And as she worked, she couldn’t help but feel like a fool. Why do I feel compelled to help her, after everything she’s done? She doesn’t deserve my time or care. 

Chalking it up to the sympathy of knowing how painful period cramps could be, Elphaba had wordlessly given Galinda the tea and hot water bottle when she emerged, pale and lethargic, from the bathroom. Galinda had taken both with an air of guilt. 

For the rest of the day - and the few days Galinda appeared to be in discomfort - Elphaba kept a quiet eye on her. She watched as her strained smile trembled from time to time, wrestling with the pain of her cramps and her chronic need to appear unruffled. She hated that her friends didn’t seem to notice. And she ensured Galinda wasn’t wandering around with any stains on her skirt - until Avaric accused her of ogling , which, given the rumours, didn’t help general public opinion.

But Elphaba couldn’t help herself. Somewhere along the way, she had come to care for Galinda. How sick and twisted must I be to feel that way for someone who has treated me with such callousness from the moment we first met. 

She wondered if it was because she had started to see beneath the pink veneer of perfection and poise Galinda liked to carry around with her. She had seen her gripped in a panic attack, spurred on from the sound of shattering glass. She had seen her near tears in the bathroom, terrified that she might be thought lesser than because her skirt had been marked with a strawberry. She’d seen her crying through the storm. And she’d seen her vomiting, bloodied, groaning in pain as she fought to disguise it in the name of her so-called image. 

It was hard to hate a person who was clearly so human.

So when Elphaba came to a halt, unable to encourage her body to move any more, frozen from a scorching humiliation and heady betrayal, she could not help but look at Galinda. Or look beyond her. The girl’s eyes were huge. She looked like a deer caught in the headlights. Elphaba’s breath hitched. She couldn’t stand there much longer, with the hat she had claimed sitting so heavily on her head, sweat on her temple, pain in her chest. I can’t keep waiting around for her to do the right thing. I’m not even sure if she’s capable of it. 

When the gasps erupted once more, Elphaba thought she was imagining it. But there was Galinda, hands twisted in front of her, visibly shaking, yet very obviously making her way towards Elphaba across the dancefloor. Elphaba felt herself freeze. Was she about to shout her down? Ridicule her even more? Or dismiss her entirely, proclaiming she had ruined the evening just with her presence alone?

Galinda did none of those things. Her shining eyes, clearly terrified, were devouring Elphaba with such an intensity, that Elphaba’s breath was stolen for a moment. When she started to dance - clumsily, oh so clumsily - Elphaba thought she was being mocked. The crowd seemed to think so too. They snickered and jeered and muttered. But they weren’t laughing at her. They were laughing at Galinda. 

How can she stand that, given everything I know of her? 

It seemed Pfannee and Shenshen thought the whole thing absurd, too. Elphaba was certain the spell had broken when they hissed at Galinda to stop, stop - you’re embarrassing yourself - stop it - but Galinda, the muscles in her neck twitching with the effort to keep herself there, with Elphaba, shook her head. 

‘ No,’ she whispered. And she glided back to Elphaba.

She seemed scared half to death. 

But she saw it through.

The gentle hand on her freckled cheek, wiping away a stray tear, was the first affectionate touch Elphaba had experienced since she let go of Nessa's hand in the quad on their very first day. She couldn’t help but lean into it. Her throat ached around the choking lump. It wasn’t solely made of sadness - no, not just sadness, not just anger - but hope, gratitude, fondness. 

And when Galinda’s hand found hers, squeezing it tightly, it was all she could feel. 

She never wanted to let go. 

She let herself get stolen away into the night. 

*

Elphaba thought them both a little naive, to think a dance and a flower in her braids was enough to fix it all. She realised it, then, in that precious moment in the mirror. 

‘Look at you…You’re beautiful.’

Galinda had said it with such raw truth, that Elphaba had to believe it. It was a marvel to be seen through the eyes of someone else, someone who had come through for her when it mattered the most. But it didn’t undo everything. How could it? Overwhelmed by her conflicting emotions, Elphaba had stolen a moment for herself, retreating to the dorm bathrooms. While the Uplands’ bottomless bank account had afforded their daughter an en suite, most of the rooms at Shiz had shared facilities. Elphaba had barricaded herself inside one, eyes blurred with tears, wondering what was wrong with her. 

She did what I needed her to. She risked her reputation for me and took my hand. It was her way of apologising, but still - 

It still wasn’t enough. 

Elphaba owed it to herself to ask for more.

‘You’re back!’ Galinda squealed, when Elphaba, her shoulders sagging, returned to the suite a short while later. Galinda had been flopped face-first on her bed, for one reason or another, but immediately perked up when Elphaba reappeared, the flower still tucked behind her ear. ‘Where did you run off to, Elphie? I hadn’t finished working on your transformation !’ For good measure, she flourished her new wand as if hoping magic might spring forth. When it didn’t, she pouted and gave it an impatient tap. 

Elphaba’s weary eyes locked onto it. Was that the reason she joined me on the dance floor? Because she finally got what she wanted from me? 

‘I was thinking we could try out some outfits,’ Galinda gushed, completely oblivious to the expressions warring on Elphaba’s grim face. ‘Accessories are all well and good, of course - as well as the way one styles their hair - but it’s all positively pointless without the right clothes!’

‘Okay, but first -’

‘ - I think we could update your colour palette a little,’ continued Galinda, whirring towards her wardrobe with a thrilled gleam in her eyes. ‘Not that black isn’t classic, of course, but you’d look absolutely darling in a deep purple, I imagine, and I’ve got the perfect frock we could try.’

‘ - Galinda, I really need -’

‘ - Pairing it with gold is a must, you know,’ Galinda beamed, fossicking through her wardrobe with an energy much too bountiful for a girl who hadn’t actually slept. ‘Everyone has a precious metal that matches their complexion - I favour rose gold, of course - and I just know you’re a gold girl through and through, which would go perfectly with royal purple and -’

‘- Oz, Galinda! Will you please slow down for a second and let me speak?’ The words came out harsher and louder than Elphaba had intended, and Galinda came to a halt, flinching in surprise. She blinked at her, at a loss. 

‘Um…’ she swallowed, suddenly looking like a reprimanded child. She dropped her hands from the clothes and fidgeted on the spot. ‘S-Sorry. I…can get a bit excitable when I talk about things I like. I - I didn’t mean to. Momsie always says I can be too much and I need to learn to -’

‘ - Galinda,’ Elphaba interrupted, a little gentler. ‘I didn’t ask you to slow down because I don't want to listen to you. I asked you to slow down because I need to talk to you, okay?’

‘Talk?’ she mumbled, her eyes the size of saucers.

‘Yes, talk. Come and sit with me.’

She took her by the wrist and guided her over to the sofa closest to the unlit fire. She sat down and Galinda followed suit, tucking her feet under herself and folding her hands in her lap. Oz, Elphaba thought, it’s like she’s trying to make herself as small as possible.

‘You don’t have to look so worried,’ she said, pointing to the way Galinda was nibbling her lower lip. The girl released it with a little pop .

‘Oh, I’m sorry, it’s the most dreadful habit -’

‘ - Hush,’ Elphaba implored, cutting her off before she could start rambling. ‘I didn’t mean it as a criticism. ‘I just…I really need you to try and hear me out, okay? But there’s no need to look quite so anxious.’

‘R-Right,’ Galinda swallowed, still looking incredibly anxious. Wanting to think of a way to soothe her, Elphaba reached forward and intertwined their hands. Galinda’s shoulders seemed to drop almost instantly, going a little pink and offering Elphaba a shy smile. 

‘I’ve already said how much I appreciate what you did for me last night,’ Elphaba began. ‘But…we need to discuss why you did it, and how our friendship -’ she glanced down at their joined hands ‘ - is going to work going forward.’

Galinda audibly gulped. ‘Right. Yes. Okay.’

Elphaba took a deep breath, steadying her resolve - which was quite difficult with Galinda staring at her with her huge doe-eyes - and tried to gather what she wanted to say. 

‘I want to be your friend,’ she said, and Galinda’s face immediately lit up. 

‘Oh, thank goodness -’

‘ - Oz, Galinda, what did I just say about hearing me out?’

‘S-Sorry.’

‘It’s okay,’ Elphaba said, rubbing small circles over the backs of Galinda’s soft hands. ‘But I do need to be able to finish a sentence, hm?’ She smiled at her and Galinda, to her relief, smiled back with a small nod. ‘It’s just…I really need you to promise that you’ll stick with me now. I - I can’t go back to how things were, with you and your friends treating me like dirt and spreading rumours.’

Galinda broke her unwavering gaze, dropping her eyes in shame. ‘Oh, Elphie, that goes without saying.’

‘No. It can’t. It has to be said,’ Elphaba replied firmly. ‘Because otherwise what you did at the Ozdust doesn’t mean anything, just like your apology the other night. I can’t handle two different versions of you, Galinda. It’s not fair. And it’s not a basis for a friendship.’

She was glad she was holding Galinda’s hands, because she was convinced the girl would bolt otherwise. She looked scared, wide-eyed and pale, nibbling at her lip again. 

‘...Galinda, I’m not cross at you,’ Elphaba added, squeezing her hands tighter. ‘I promise. I just need more from you, otherwise I won’t be able to trust you. Does - does that make sense?’

She heard Galinda let out a tight breath. ‘...Yes, of course it makes sense.’

‘I also need to ask you why you intervened last night,’ Elphaba continued. ‘Was it because you genuinely felt remorse for giving me the hat, or just because you got what you wanted with regards to joining the seminars?’

Galinda’s head snapped up. Her eyes were shining with tears. ‘No! No, Elphaba, I swear that didn’t even cross my mind. I - I wanted to take it back the moment I did it. Oz, I wanted you to stay away. T-Then Madame Morrible appeared and told me what you did, and I -’ she cut herself off, her breath stuttering in her throat. She looked cross at herself, as if frustrated she was getting upset. ‘ - Well, that doesn’t matter. I just…Goodness, I didn’t want to give you the hat in the first place.’

‘Then why did you?’ Elphaba murmured. She was doing her best to keep her voice level and calm, given Galinda’s penchant for getting easily startled, but she was finding it difficult to keep her composure. So much had happened in a short space of time, and regardless of what Galinda had done to help her, she had still allowed it to go ahead in the first place. Elphaba deserved to know why.

Galinda ducked her head again. ‘...I don’t know.’

‘That isn’t good enough.’

Galinda visibly flinched, though Elphaba hadn’t so much as raised her voice.

‘I…I know,’ she whispered. ‘I’m just still struggling to understand why I actually did it. I didn’t want to hurt you, Elphie. I knew it was wrong the second I agreed to go ahead with it, but…’ she trailed off, breaking from Elphaba’s gentle hold and dashing her finger tips over her wet eyes. ‘...I suppose I’m just a coward, really.’

‘What do you mean, go ahead with it?’ frowned Elphaba.

‘I know this isn’t an excuse, and I don’t want it to be,’ Galinda said, her voice quivering. ‘But when we were getting ready - Shenshen, Pfannee and I - they found the hat and, um, they asked about it. They said it was ugly.’ She let out a watery laugh. ‘I actually quite like it. Not because it’s cute or anything, but because my granny made it for me. Sort of like you and that hideous jumper you lent me - the one Duclibear knitted.’

‘For the last time, it is not hideous,’ Elphaba said. 

‘It’s okay to be wrong, Elphie,’ Galinda said, in such a serious manner that Elphaba couldn’t help but grin. ‘Regardless, I sort of…panicked. I didn’t want them to think I liked it. I was worried about - about what they would say. And then I made a joke about giving it away to someone I hated…’ she trailed off again, her ears turning pink with shame. 

‘Let me guess,’ Elphaba sighed, ‘I was the obvious choice?’

‘To them, yes. But not to me.’

Elphaba nodded slowly. ‘Right…Though they weren’t actually in the room when you offered me the hat. So I suppose I don’t understand why you went through with it, if there wasn’t an audience to see it unfold. Well,’ she scoffed, ‘at that point, anyway.’

She heard Galinda swallow thickly. ‘That’s the part I’m still trying to figure out. I suppose I…didn’t want them to think I liked you.’

‘You could not like me and still avoid publicly humiliating me. You were doing a fantastic job with your bullying campaign inside campus, let alone beyond its walls. And I highly doubt that Pfannee and Shenshen would suddenly think we were bosom buddies just because you didn’t give me the hat, Galinda.’

Galinda seemed to shrink even more, drawing her arms around herself. ‘Oz, I know, I know. I’m sorry. I am really, truly sorry, Elphie. You have to believe me.’

‘...I do,’ Elphaba said softly. ‘I suppose I’m just trying to wrap my head around why you would do it when everyone already knew you didn’t like me.’

‘It’s…complicated,’ Galinda whispered. ‘I wish I could explain myself, but it’s not that easy.’

‘Right, but you have to know how that makes me feel,’ mumbled Elphaba. ‘I mean, cruelty just for the sake of it? It makes me question what sort of a person you are, Galinda.’ 

‘I’m a stupid one,’ she choked out, quickly wiping at her eyes again. ‘I got caught up in the moment even though I didn’t want to, Elphie. I didn’t want to hurt you. Not after everything you’ve done for me.’

Elphaba felt her jaw twitch. ‘So it is because of the seminar, this change of heart?’

‘No, no!’ Galinda said frantically. ‘It was before that, long before. You were so kind to me after -’ she cut herself off, her cheeks growing a deeper shade of pink, ‘ - um, after the whole breaking glass thing. You helped me with my skirt and when I was a bit scared of the storm.’

‘A bit?’ Elphaba said, quirking a teasing eyebrow. 

‘...Okay, a lot,’ Galinda pouted. ‘And obviously you helped with my period and stuff, even after I’d been…really nasty.’ She let out a shaky sigh. ‘The truth is, Elphie, I felt like the biggest fool in Oz. I’d painted you a monster, and you proved time and time again that you aren’t.’

‘I just don’t understand why you’d behave like that even after everything I did,’ Elphaba said quietly. ‘I mean, it wasn’t like I was trying to be your friend. I simply didn’t want to see you suffer alone. But it’s not like I asked anything of you, not really.’

‘I know,’ Galinda swallowed. Elphaba watched as she rubbed the fabric of her gown between her fingers. She didn’t say anything for a long moment, and for some reason, Elphaba felt like the girl was holding something back - though she didn’t know what. It was in her rigid posture, her pinched expression, her shining eyes. Oh, Elphaba thought sadly, I wish she would just be wholly honest with me. It’s not as if I’m going to think any less of her.

Galinda sniffled, wiping her eyes with the heels of her palms. ‘...You said you needed more from me, Elphie, but this…this is all I’ve got - half an apology. I can’t offer you an explanation for my behaviour because I don’t fully understand it myself. I was scared, perhaps. Scared that I…got you so wrong.’ She swallowed again, still fiddling with her gown. Elphaba had noticed it was an anxious habit of hers, along with nibbling her lip. ‘But what I can offer is my friendship. And I mean that whole-heartedly. I’ll stop with the rumours, the snide remarks, the general unpleasant behaviour. I promise.’ She let go of her gown and grabbed Elphaba’s hands, so quickly it was as if she didn’t want to think too hard about what she was doing. Her palms were damp with sweat. She’s really nervous , Elphaba thought. 

‘I promise ,’ Galinda repeated, her voice full of conviction. ‘It stops now. I - I’ll do better, Elphie. I’ll give you more. I won’t waver. I won’t hesitate. And…it’s not like it’s a hardship, to be your friend. Oz, it would be my pleasure.’

Elphaba’s lips parted. Had anyone said that to her before, that it would be a pleasure to be her friend? The mere idea of someone wanting to spend time with her took her breath away. There was no pity or obligation in Galinda’s earnest tone - only remorse. She felt her throat tighten. 

‘Um,’ Galinda mumbled, fidgeting a little, ‘is - is that okay?’

Elphaba swallowed. She hasn’t really explained herself, but she has promised to change. Is that enough? Do I even trust her to make good on her word?

But then, she remembered Galinda’s expression last night. Her huge eyes, her quivering chin, her shaking hands. How she had allowed herself to be the centre of ridicule, just for a moment, when her image meant everything to her - to the point she would sooner suffer through pain than admit the mask was slipping. 

It wasn’t as if Elphaba magically trusted her implicitly. It wasn’t as if she could forget what had happened between them. But feeling Galinda’s clammy hands in her own, listening to her words, and having the girl fully understand just how hurt Elphaba was from everything that had transpired, made her feel as if they were taking a step forward. 

It wasn’t perfect. Things rarely are. But Galinda was sorry, and Elphaba believed her. And Oz…How easy it is to forgive her, this strange, talkative blonde. Perhaps it was because Elphaba had a good heart, or perhaps it was because Galinda seemed so raw and true, but forgiveness came organically. And it was enough to start. 

*

Things changed after that. Galinda knew she had a lot to make up for, but in the end, it came naturally to her. She didn’t have to force herself to enjoy Elphaba’s company, to laugh at her cheesy jokes, or to sit with her during mealtimes. She wanted to. She wanted to be around her, as a friend first and foremost. Of course, the peculiar burning sensation in her core did not fade, but in a funny sort of way, accepting Elphaba into her fray made it more manageable. She could be tactile with the girl instead of hating her from afar. She could grab her arm and hold her hand and hug her whenever she wanted. And in the week since the Ozdust, it steadily got better. 

Madame Morrible’s seminars, though, were a disaster.

‘She hates my guts, Elphie,’ Galinda gulped, as they made their way to Morrible’s classroom. It was the second of their shared seminars, and while Elphaba was steadily improving, Galinda hadn’t managed a single spark of magic. Not that Morrible was particularly forthcoming about teaching her; her technique revolved around sitting Galinda in a dark corner with the training wand and several books, occasionally barking at her to sit up and concentrate if she felt like Galinda hadn’t achieved anything. Her focus was entirely on her protégé Elphaba, and she had absolutely zero interest in Galinda. 

‘No she doesn’t,’ Elphaba said patiently. ‘She’s a professional, Galinda. She’s just a bit…intense.’

‘Intense?’ squeaked Galinda. ‘Elphaba, she looks at me like she wants to chop me up into little pieces and stuff me under the floorboards!’

Elphaba chuckled at that, and Galinda glowed. She loved it when she made Elphaba laugh. It was quite a rare thing, though more frequent in the days since the Ozdust, and she always felt a little bit proud of herself whenever she was able to rouse one from her lips. 

‘Well, I’ll make sure to protect you, then,’ Elphaba said with a wink. 

Galinda felt herself blush. While Elphaba wasn’t what she’d call an intentional flirt (unlike a certain dashing prince, who seemed to throw heart-eyes at anything with a pulse), she seemed to fluster Galinda more and more. Galinda felt like she spent 90% of her time blushing around Elphaba, and was astounded that she hadn’t noticed. Or, if she had, she dismissed it as a ‘Galindaism’, like the way she got a bit tearful if her eyeliner was wobbly. 

As usual, Madame Morrible greeted Elphaba with a warm smile, and Galinda with a cold glower. She pointed to the desk in the corner with a flick of the wrist. 

‘Read chapter two of that textbook,’ she said, gesturing to a huge, dusty tome that sat on the desk. Galinda gulped as she looked at it and glanced at Elphaba for help. This was not how she envisioned the seminars going; in her mind, she’d be casting spells and running rings around Madame Morrible with her exceptional skill and relentless determination. 

‘Well?’ Morrible said impatiently. ‘Is there a problem, Miss Galinda? I assume you haven’t lost the ability to read, have you?’

‘N-no! Sorry!’ Galinda squeaked, wincing at her raised voice. She felt Elphaba watching her with a frown as she scuttled off to sit at the desk, her eyes glued to the floor. 

‘I’m thrilled to hear it,’ said Morrible, her voice like a slither of ice. ‘Given your latest written work, I was growing concerned that you lacked a basic understanding of our language.’

Galinda felt her face flame. She didn’t reply nor even look up to acknowledge that Morrible had spoken to her, and busied herself with pulling out the chair and unpacking her bag. It was only the second class, but already Morrible seemed sick of her very presence. Still, she had to see it through - if not for herself, but for Elphaba, who had risked her own place to make sure Galinda could join. Glumly, Galinda flicked open the book and began to read, as instructed, though she kept stealing glances across the room.

‘Now,’ Morrible said to Elphaba, in a kind, gentle voice (very unlike the one she’d used on Galinda), ‘while you succeeded in suspending a coin for a sustained period of time, I think it would be prudent to try a heavier object.’ She pushed a crystal glass across the table towards Elphaba, who looked somewhat on edge. 

‘Er,’ she said, ‘are you sure, Madame Morrible? That looks pretty expensive. What if I break it?’ Galinda caught her eye, alarmed, and she realised Elphaba was trying to avoid levitating it for her sake, in case she lost control and it smashed.

‘This old thing?’ Morrible chuckled, holding it up to the light by its fragile stem. ‘No, no, it’s not important. I have dozens of them lying around - gifts from the Wizard.’

Galinda watched as something like excitement passed over Elphaba’s face, and she could guess why. That was the whole reason she was in the seminars - to meet the Wizard himself - and the emblem embossed on the side of the goblet was a sign of that. I don’t know why she’s desperate for him to change her skin, though, Galinda thought. She’s ever so beautiful. 

One thing that Galinda had realised, in her friendship with Elphaba, was that her intrusive thoughts were met with less and less resistance. She reasoned that it was totally normal to think affectionately about one’s friends (even if she never thought the same about Shenshen, Pfannee or Milla), and even she did still have the occasional streamy dream. She’d had one the other night, and woke up in such a state that she deeply considered stealing a moment alone in the bathroom to sort herself out. She didn’t, of course - the anxiety about being caught by Elphaba was palpable - but mostly, she avoided it out of shame. She had Fiyero, now. He was supposed to be enough to quell the heat within her. Even if his touch is unsatisfactory at best .

Blushing at the very thought, as if Morrible and Elphaba could hear it, Galinda quickly got back to the task at hand. She nibbled at the end of her glass dip pen, rolling the smooth edge over her lower lip, and did her best to focus. The text was dense and lengthy and used words that seemed to wriggle on the page whenever she tried to read them. It was an old piece, for sure, and she was just starting to wonder whether Morrible had given it to her as an unpleasant joke, when the woman in question barked at her.

‘Will you stop with that infernal tapping, Miss Galinda?’ she snapped. 

‘Er - what?’ Galinda squeaked, her head jerking up from the book.

‘Your foot,’ Morrible hissed. ‘Can’t you keep it still? Miss Elphaba requires a certain level of peace and tranquility if she’s to concentrate.’

It took Galinda a moment to know what Madame Morrible was talking about, until she looked down and realised her leg had been bouncing, causing her heel to tap, tap, tap against the wooden floorboards. 

‘Oh, right! Yes. Sorry,’ she said quickly, slamming her hand down on her knee to still it. Morrible took the time to look sourly at her, before she turned back to Elphaba. The girl looked like she wanted to say something, but Galinda prayed she wouldn’t. She didn’t want Elphaba doing anything to risk her position in the seminars, least of all defending her. 

‘Try again, dear,’ Morrible encouraged, patting Elphaba’s forearm. ‘Without any irritating distractions.’

Galinda bit her lip, feeling her ears heat up from embarrassment. She didn’t want to hinder Elphaba in any way, but she hadn’t even realised what she was doing. It was a nervous tick. And who can blame me for feeling on edge, when Morrible looks like she wants to kidnap me, string me up in the forest, and leave me to the wolves?! 

Sighing, Galinda took the pen away from her mouth and pressed the nib to the page. It was a technique she had used quite frequently as a child when she struggled with complex words or detailed passages - she would point something at each individual word and try to break them down one letter at a time. She didn’t know why, but sometimes, she would confuse the order of letters within the words themselves, until they didn’t look like words at all and she had no idea what they even said. She felt like she had to work harder than everyone else just to read - and that also translated into her writing. While her lettering was beautiful - her mother made sure of that - she often struggled with spelling and punctuation. That was something she never quite got the hang of, despite her best efforts.

Mumbling quietly under her breath as she glided the pen across the page, Galinda whispered the words aloud to herself. The text really was old - it was written in an archaic way, quite unlike the academic texts she was used to. Curious, she flipped to the front of the book and found it was written a spectacular eighty years ago. No wonder the language was so flowery and dated. Huffing through her nostrils, Galinda went right back to reading, whispering again as she did so.

‘In the contemplation of the arcane arts, commonly denominated ‘Magic’, one encounters a subject most venerable and abstruse, whose origins are lost within the mists of antiquity. Amongst the Wise Ones, magic was not reckoned a trifling vanity, but rather a science most sacred, whereby the secrets of nature and the influences of the stars were believed to be laid bare to the diligent and pure of heart,’ she mumbled, a frown creasing her forehead. She didn’t know what ‘venerable’ or ‘abstruse’ meant, but it wasn’t as if she could ask without getting mocked. She jotted them down in her notebook to look up later. Elphaba had an absolutely enormous dictionary back in the suite - Galinda often teased her about it - and it was bound to come in handy. 

Swallowing, Galinda continued to whisper as she read.

‘The learnèd Wise Ones expounded that magic consisteth of three parts: the Natural, the Celestial, and the Ceremonial,’, Galinda murmured, also adding ‘expounded’ to her list of words. ‘ he first pertaineth to the hidden virtues of herbs, stones, and beasts; the second, to the motions and powers of the heavens; the third, to rites, invocations, and the compacts made (whether justly or impiously) with spiritual intelligences. These distinctions were not unknown to the Wise Ones, nor were they accounted matters of superstition alone, but of philosophical enquiry and metaphysical discourse. ’

She had absolutely no idea what she’d just read, though she had read it. Still frowning, Galinda went over the paragraphs again, one hand still pressing on her knee to stop herself from moving, the words falling from her lips as if reading them aloud was going to help her. 

‘So there’s Natural Magic ,’ she mumbled, nodding to herself, ‘ Celestial Magic, and Ceremonial Magic. Oz, you know this! You spent ages reading about this stuff before even coming here! It only sounds strange because it’s written in a peculiar manner! ’

‘Miss Galinda!’

Galinda jumped in her seat, eyes darting to find Madame Morrible shooting daggers at her again. The glass Elphaba was practicing on hadn’t so much as moved an inch, and Galinda immediately knew she was about to get the blame for it.

‘Madame Morrible, it’s fine -’ Elphaba began quickly, looking alarmed, but the woman cut across her.

‘Are you incapable of keeping quiet, young lady?’ demanded Morrible, and Galinda flinched at her raised voice.

‘I - er - I apologise, Madame,’ she stammered, practically shrinking in her seat. ‘I sometimes find it a little difficult to follow long passages without reading aloud, so I…’ she trailed off, looking smaller and smaller beneath Morrible’s devastating gaze, her cheeks glowing red.

‘Forgive me,’ Morrible said drily. ‘I didn’t realise reading would be such an arduous task for you.’

Galinda felt her eyes growing hot, and she quickly looked back down at the desk so Morrible wouldn’t notice. 

‘Sorry,’ she whispered, her voice thick.

‘If you continue to mumble and fidget like a child, I will have to dismiss you,’ Morrible muttered, fiddling with one of the large rings she wore on her fingers. ‘I’ve already explained that we require quiet to conduct our work, and you are proving yourself a nuisance. Do I make myself clear?’

‘C-Crystal,’ Galinda said weakly, with a gulp. She refused to look at Elphaba, knowing she’d find nothing but sympathy. She didn’t need her kindness in that moment, lest her tears spill over. 

She went back to her book, but the text was hard to read through the tears blurring her eyes. Her dignity would be in tatters if she cried in the middle of class. Sniffing sharply to herself, she wiped at them quickly, hoping she wasn’t smudging her mascara. The text continued: 'The heart of the Wise Ones’ understanding of magic posits a fundamental mirroring between the macrocosm (the universe) and the microcosm (the human being). In this framework, the operations of the heavens are reflected in the lower world, and that by due observance of these correspondences, the magician may work wonders, not by his own power, but by the lawful application of Nature’s arcane laws. Thus did the Ancient Ones expoundeth the powers of words, numbers, images, and rites, all harmonized with the virtues of the heavenly bodies.'

Galinda let out a tight breath. She didn’t understand a single word of it. It wasn’t that she couldn’t read what was written there, but that she was unable to connect the dots and ascertain what the text was actually trying to express. She bit her lip, desperately trying not to squirm in her seat so as not to vex Morrible any further, and her eyes flitted to Elphaba - precisely at the wrong moment.

‘Wonderful, Miss Elphaba, just wonderful!’ Morrible gasped, clasping her hands together. 

The glass was steadily floating above the desk. Elphaba’s eyes were closed tightly in concentration, and the hand she had suspended in the air was shaking a little from the effort. But she was doing it. Galinda felt a strange combination of pride and jealousy. Here I am, struggling to even read about magic, while she’s able to put it into practice only after a few attempts. Her eyes filled with fresh tears, and she quickly looked down at the desk again, just in case either of them glanced her way. Her cheeks were hot. Her chest was tight. And she could only think one thing, over and over again - idiot, idiot, idiot.

‘Very well done indeed, my dear,’ Morrible said. Galinda heard the thunk of the glass being settled down gently on the table. ‘A most excellent execution of control. If you’re able to do it a handful of times more, I see no reason why we can’t move on to even heavier objects.’

‘T-Thank you, Madame Morrible,’ Elphaba said, sounding a little winded. 

‘And you, Miss Galinda?’ Morrible said sharply, turning in her stool. The woman moved like a wild animal, all sudden, jerky movements that put Galinda on edge. 

‘Y-Yes?’ she gulped, blinking quickly to try and hide any evidence of tears.

‘What have you learnt thus far?’

‘Oh! Um…W-Well, I wouldn’t say I’ve learnt anything, Madame Morrible, since much of this text book is providing background to magic, which I already, er, know about.’ Her voice got quieter and quieter the more she spoke. 

Morrible arched a perfectly plucked eyebrow. ‘Is that so? Please recite the subsections of the Natural, Celestial and Ceremonial Magics then, since you’re so well-versed in the subject.’

Galinda froze, her neck growing hot. 

‘Well?’ Morrible said, waving her hand in the air as if to speed Galind along. 

‘I - um - I couldn’t…confidently say,’ Galinda gulped. 

‘Then you don’t already know about the history of magic, evidently,’ Morrible said. ‘Because if you did, you’d be able to tell me that the subsections of each key magical branch are in constant debate - particularly as most scholars writing in this field argue that Natural Magic ought to be the umbrella term for all forms - and that to dismantle magic into sections is arbitrary at best, given it is such an elusive art.’ She got up from her seat and paced over to Galinda, a disappointing crease between her eyebrows. ‘...So tell me, Miss Galinda, if you don’t know that, what exactly have you been doing for the last half an hour? It’s all there, right in front of you.’

Galinda’s throat bobbed. ‘Um…I just…I’ve been reading.’

‘And in all that time, you’ve only read - let me see -’ Morrible leered over her like a spectre, and Galinda suppressed a shiver. ‘ - Oz, you’re not even through the first two pages of that chapter. What have you been doing ? Twiddling your thumbs?’

‘I - I’ve been reading,’ Galinda repeated, feeling stupider by the minute. 

‘At the pace of a five-year-old, evidently.’ She tutted to herself with a shake of the head. ‘My mistake. Given you’re at one of Oz’s finest scholarly institutions, I imagined you’d have mastered assimilating academic texts at the pace expected of someone your age.’

Galinda wished the ground would swallow her up. Her face was so hot that she could picture steam coming out of her ears. She did anything but look at Elphaba. 

‘You’re to read and make notes on the whole chapter by our next class, Miss Galinda,’ Morrible said crisply. ‘If that proves too…challenging for you, I’m sure Miss Elphaba will be able to lend a hand.’

‘Happily,’ Elphaba piped up. Galinda knew she was just trying to be helpful, but it only made her feel more ashamed. 

‘I’m sure I’ll manage just fine on my own,’ Galinda mumbled, knotting her hands in her lap.

‘See to it that you do,’ Morrible said. ‘I gave you that wand of yours in the belief that you might be able to wield it - albeit basically - at some point in your academic career, but I shan’t even be attempting to teach you spells if you’ve yet to master their background.’

‘Spells?’ Galinda choked out, her eyes burning, ‘But - but you said you didn’t have any faith in me, that night of the Ozdust.’

Morrible’s lip curled in a sneer. ‘Indeed. And it seems my premonition was correct.’

Galinda bit back a whimper, staring down at the book and fantasting about setting it alight.

‘I wonder if Galinda would have a better chance at producing spells if you didn’t see fit to dismiss her at every turn.’

Galinda’s head jerked up. Elphaba was glaring at Morrible with a look of sincere displeasure, one she had never presented the esteemed lecturer with before. Her breath caught in her throat. 

‘Come now, Miss Elphaba,’ Morrible said, her voice oddly high. ‘I was merely attempting a jest. Perhaps in poor taste.’

‘Perhaps indeed.’

‘In - in any case,’ Morrible said, uncharacteristically flustered, ‘I am assigning you both work before we next meet. Miss Galinda -’ she looked at her coldly ‘ - in addition to reading and note-taking, I want you to write me an essay on the debate between the core branches of magic, and which school of thought you personally think houses the strongest argument. Two thousand words.’ She looked at Elphaba before Galinda could so much as process what was asked of her. ‘And you, Miss Elphaba, I’d like you to practise your Levitation spell independent of me. Take the glass to refine the incantation. Then, you have my permission to lift an average-sized book. But do not strain yourself. We can’t have you getting injured.’

‘Yes, Madame Morrible,’ Elphaba nodded.

‘Class dismissed, then.’

*

Galinda was silent on the way back from the seminar. Despite her best efforts, she couldn’t stop herself from trembling, and clutched her notebook to her chest as if it was a matter of life and death. Elphaba tried to make conversation, but it was painfully awkward. By the time they’d returned to the suite, Galinda immediately dumped her things on her desk and disappeared into the bathroom. Elphaba thought she heard a small sob from behind the door. 

*

A couple of days later, Galinda’s essay was still unwritten, but instead of working on it, she was sitting in front of her vanity and chattering away to Elphaba as she brushed rouge on her cheeks. Neither girl had mentioned the disastrous seminar or the neglected essay, and Galinda was happy to keep it that way. 

‘Of course, he’s always such a gentleman,’ she gushed. ‘He’s booked the most glorious restaurant in the heart of town - he’s even arranged for a carriage to take us so we don’t have to brave my boat in the cold weather - and he suggested which dress would most suit the venue!’

Elphaba, who was lazing on Galinda’s bed with her nose in a book, gave a noncommittal grunt. 

‘ Elphie ,’ Galinda whined, giving her a pout and spinning around on her stool. ‘Are you even listening to me?’

‘Last I checked, you were harping on about the oh so dazzling blue of Fiyero’s charming eyes,’ replied Elphaba. ‘Have we moved on from that, now?’

‘So rude,’ Galinda tutted, turning back to back to check her reflection. She had started getting ready nearly three hours ago, and was clad in a shell-pink, silken dress adorned with tiny pearls around the sweetheart neckline. She was nearly done with her makeup, and would then move on to styling her freshly washed hair, already blow-dried and gleaming with rose-scented oil. 

‘I’m kidding, I’m kidding,’ Elphaba said. ‘You were saying he’s booked a nice restaurant?’

‘Yes!’ beamed Galinda. ‘It’s called The Starlit Table. Momsie and Popsicle took me there when we came for Shiz’s Open Day. I had the most delicious medley of roasted vegetables. The portion was so large, I couldn’t finish it!’

‘Hmmhm,’ Elphaba nodded, back to thumbing through her book. 

‘I neglected dessert on account of my straining stomach,’ Galinda continued, finishing up with the blush, ‘but I might be bold tonight. Oh - unless darling Fiyero would think me a glutton.  Do you think he would? …Elphie?’

‘Huh?’

‘Oz!’ Galinda bemoaned. ‘I knew you weren’t listening!’

‘I am,’ Elphaba protested.

‘You’re reading!’

‘I can multitask.’

‘Hmph,’ Galinda sulked, not believing her one bit. She couldn’t blame Elphaba for zoning out, though - she’d been talking a mile a minute the moment she’d gotten out of the bath. She couldn’t help herself. It was a side effect of being dreadfully nervous.

It wasn’t as if Fiyero ever made her feel uncomfortable, of course. In the nearly two weeks since they shared their first kiss at the Ozdust, he’d been nothing but charming, kind, and sweet. But Galinda knew what was going to come next - the natural progression, given they were both consenting adults - and, since he’d suggested returning to his shared dorm after the meal, she could guess what he was hoping for. Not that he’d actually said it - I’m only suggesting it to make the most of our time, since Avaric is visiting home for the weekend - though Galinda wasn’t stupid. She’d fumbled around with boyfriends of old, never going all the way, but knowing they wanted it. And she felt like she should want it. Fiyero was perfection personified. 

Her stomach gave a little twist, and she sucked in a breath. Her period cramps were long since gone. Butterflies, perhaps, because I’m about to spend the evening with the most enchanting man I’ve ever seen? 

‘Um,’ she said, wanting to distract herself from the fact that she very well knew the difference between butterflies and anxiety, ‘have you ventured into town much, Elphie?’

‘No, not really,’ said Elphaba. ‘Though I’ve promised Nessa a day trip when our diaries line up.’

‘What exactly have you got in yours?’ Galinda snorted, not unkindly. 

‘Oh, you know,’ Elphaba hummed, turning the page of her book, ‘studying and such. Not to mention that a certain pink macaron has been monopolising my time of late.’

Galinda nearly choked on her own saliva. ‘Macaron ? What in Oz is that supposed to mean?!’

Elphaba laughed, clearly getting the outraged reaction she’d been aiming for. ‘Keep your hair on, Galinda. It means you’re sweet, that’s all. And pink.’

Well, she certainly was now. Galinda watched her cheeks flush in the mirror, and she glared at Elphaba in the reflection. ‘Yes, w-well…I simply like spending time with you, Elphie. I feel as if we need to make up for lost time, since we spent so long at each other’s throats.’

‘Hmm. And whose fault was that?’ Elphaba teased. 

‘...Oz, how many times must I apologise?’

‘When you stop pouting so much, I’ll stop fishing,’ Elphaba grinned. She closed her book and shimmed down the bed, until her legs dangled off the end. ‘You’re excited for tonight, aren’t you?’

Galinda eyed her from the mirror, uncapping a pearly-pink lipstick that perfectly matched her dress. Momsie would be impressed. ‘What gives you that idea, Elphie?’

‘Well,’ Elphaba said, putting the closed book on her lap and fiddling with the fraying spine, ‘you’ve been chewing my ear off about it since you emerged from the bath, and I remember you saying that you can get excitable when you talk about things you like. Not a criticism, by the way.’ She added the last part hastily, as if she was worried Galinda might get the wrong impression. 

‘I…’ Galinda shirked her gaze. ‘Yes, of course I’m looking forward to it. Fiyero is a dream. Truly. Honestly.’ Laying it on a little thick there, Galinda , she thought to herself, her forehead creasing. But despite her best efforts, there was something about Elphaba that made her want to tell the truth. She’d already revealed more to her than she had anyone else - even when they loathed each other - and sometimes, when she looked at her in a certain way, with an openness and gentleness that stole her breath, she found it nearly impossible to lie.

‘...Are you a bit nervous, perhaps?’ asked Elphaba, leaning forward a little. 

Oz damn her and her perceptiveness! 

‘Um, I - I suppose a teeny tiny bit,’ Galinda swallowed, carefully gliding the lipstick over her lower lip. Elphaba was watching her intently in the mirror, and she felt herself blush. ‘I mean - that is to say - it’s our most formal outing to date. I guess I’m just worried I might make a fool of myself.’ She dismissed the comment with an airy laugh, hoping Elphaba would swiftly move on. She didn’t, of course. 

‘Galinda,’ Elphaba said, ‘haven’t you been in formal situations since you could walk? I hardly see how you could make a fool of yourself, having a meal out with a boy you like, when you’re used to garish functions hosted by your parents.’

‘Yes, and I worried about embarrassing myself even at those,’ Galinda muttered, clicking the cap back on her lipstick. ‘It’s - it’s not as if this sort of thing comes naturally to me, Elphie. I’m clumsy and loud and I never know when to keep my mouth shut. What…What if I say the wrong thing? Or spill soup down my front?’

‘Well, that last one is easily avoided - just don't order any soup,’ Elphaba said. ‘As for the rest, I think you’re overanalysing. You like Fiyero. Fiyero likes you. Not much can go wrong if that's true, don’t you think?’

Galinda swallowed thickly. ‘Y-Yes, I suppose you’re right.’

‘I know it’s easy for me to say,’ Elphaba said, sliding off the bed and getting to her feet, ‘but try not to worry so much, okay? You wanted to date Fiyero before you even met him. Enjoy the fact that you are, hm?’ She gave Galinda’s shoulder a squeeze as she walked past her. ‘I’m going to have a quick shower. Don’t leave without saying goodbye.’

‘No danger of that,’ replied Galinda, shooting her a smile. ‘I still need to tackle my hair.’

‘Ah, a mountainous task indeed,’ Elphaba winked, before disappearing into the bathroom. 

Of course, she meant it as a little joke, but she was right on the money. Galinda’s hair was not cooperating. 

‘Oh, for goodness sake!’ she snarled to herself, as she heard the shower start to run. She had several hair grips caught between her lips, one hand gathering up her hair to secure it to the nape of her neck, and the other trying to wrangle with the loose curls she was attempting to frame her jaw with. She had an elegant hairstyle in mind - a twisted knot with a debonair flare and strands to fall just so around her face - but for whatever reason, it wasn’t going to plan. She wondered if her shaking hands were to blame. 

Elphie is right! she lamented, glaring at herself in the mirror. There’s no need to worry so much. It’s just Fiyero. It’s just another date with the man of your dreams. 

Except, of course, no man had ever invaded her dreams.

She sucked in a breath and nearly jettisoned one of the pins she was holding down her throat. She spat them out impatiently, letting them land on her vanity with a delicate tinkle, and did her best to ignore her own train of thought. She couldn’t afford to think about that . She couldn’t afford to entertain the notion that she wanted another face to smile back at her over the table, one with softer features and freckles and wide green eyes - no! Stop it, Oz, stop it!

‘Just…focus…on…your…hair…’ Galinda hissed, gritting her teeth. She let the loose curls drop around her bare shoulders, gave her head a quick shake, and started again. She could do this. It was a reliable hairstyle, one she’d done several times over for dates with different boys back in Frottica, faceless boys, boys with sweaty hands, boys she didn’t want to touch or be touched by, boys who left a sour smell on her neck and - 

‘Stop it,’ she muttered, her grip increasing around her hair. ‘Stop it, stop it, stop it . It won’t be like before. You actually like Fiyero. He’s a gentleman. A catch. A prince.’

Yes, she thought, twisting her hair up again. He’s a prince. He’s been raised to treat girls like me with respect. Not to mention how happy Momsie and Popsicle would be to learn I’m courting someone like him. 

Nodding resolutely, Galinda fished for the dropped hair grips, and put them between her teeth again. Her hair was silky and soft between her fingers. It smelt of roses from the special oil her mother had sent her in the post, and shone almost golden in the light from the lamp on her vanity. She took a moment to bat her curled eyelashes. I looked wonderful. Fiyero won’t be able to resist me!

She fiddled with her curls and tugged some free to tickle her jaw on the left side of her face. She thought that yes, yes, I do look irresistible, and what that might mean for her. Fiyero wanted to take her back to his room. He would probably want to kiss her again, his upper lip rough with stubble that left her skin reddened and stinging, in the privacy afforded by an empty suite. He would probably want to press his lips to her neck, collecting the body glitter dotted in her body oil, and lick at her collarbone. He would probably want to stray lower, and lower still. Like the boys back home. He would probably - 

‘Oh, shit,’ Galinda snapped, as she freed too much hair from her right side. The entire updo seemed uneven and peculiar, now. She felt her neck grow hot. Calm down. You’ve got time. Just brush it out and start again.

She tried to ignore how much her hands were trembling as she glided the comb through her hair again. Oz, why am I getting so worked up? It’s Fiyero, for goodness sake. There’s - there’s nothing to be nervous about.

Except…

What if he wants to touch me in that way? What he if takes me to his bed, lies me down, and wants to - 

The teeth of the comb caught in a tangle she’d missed, and she let out a gasp, wincing. She threw the comb down as if it had bitten her hand off, her chest tightening. It bumped into some of her bottles and toppled several of them over, spilling a little, and her hand shot forward to settle them. She gritted her teeth together. Oz, you idiot! Now look at what you’ve done - you’ve made a mess. Rummaging for a tissue, she found one in her large makeup bag (more like a makeup sack , in truth), and dabbed up the serum as best she could. But her hands were sticky from the serum and her hair was still hanging in clumps around her ears, and as she scrutinised her reflection, she suddenly thought that the oil made it look greasy , not shiny, and really, was she too blonde in the wrong light, too bright, too much?

Her face felt hot. Her hands shook. Frustration bubbled under the surface of her skin. Her skin, which Fiyero might want to touch. Her skin, which immediately erupted in uncomfortable goosebumps at the very thought. Her skin, which she’d allowed to be marred and bruised and reddened by boys she didn’t want, because their faces were coarse and their saliva was sour and their hands were warm, sweaty, harsh -

As if she’d been struck, Galinda lurched forward and grabbed the comb again. The handle slipped from residual serum still slick on her hands, and she let out an angry yelp, slamming it down on the vanity again. 

‘Fuck!’ she snarled. ‘Just - fuck, just pick it up and do your stupid hair, already!’

She did as she proclaimed, taking the comb to her curls again and trying to separate it into more manageable sections. But it wasn’t working. Her face was sweaty from frustration, and stray hairs stuck to her forehead, all in the wrong place, all ruining it. 

‘Shit, shit, shit ,’ she groaned, her long nails catching in the curls. Had she filed them down properly? No, I forgot. That’s another thing I need to do before seeing Fiyero tonight. Oz, I won’t have time. I won’t have time and I’ll make a fool out of myself and I - 

‘ - Galinda? Galinda!’

Galinda’s head jerked up and found Elphaba standing in the open bathroom door, wrapped in a navy blue dressing gown. Her hair was gathered up in a black bonnet, and a toothbrush was sticking out of her mouth. 

‘What’s the matter?’ she said, whipping out the toothbrush. 

Galinda’s chest seized in a deep, unpleasant panic at the sight of Elphaba, as if she was a reminder that Galinda wasn’t by herself, and that her ruined hair was on show for someone else to see.

‘I c-can’t - do - my hair,’ Galinda managed to spew out, squeezing her eyes shut and willing herself not to dissolve into tears. 

‘What? Your hair?’

‘Yes!’ Galinda whimpered. ‘I - I keep trying to put it up but it won’t cooperate and I spilt some of my serum and my hands are all sticky and I don’t have the time to faff about with it and I don’t know why I can’t do it because I’ve done it so many times before and -’

‘ - Whoa, slow down,’ Elphaba said, throwing the toothbrush back into the bathroom and (she hoped) in the vague direction of the sink. She crossed over to Galinda in two quick strides and dropped to her knees, taking her trembling hands and giving them a squeeze. ‘Galinda, you need to take a breath. I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone say so much without pausing to breathe.’

‘I - s-sorry, I -’

‘ - No apologies needed,’ Elphaba soothed. ‘Just breathe for a moment.’

Galinda sniffled, hoping her eyes weren’t as wet as they felt, and bowed her head. She took a deep, steadying breath, trying to quiet her whirring mind. Elphaba’s hands were warm and ever so soft in her own. Nothing like the boys’ in Frottica. Nothing like Fiyero’s.

‘Good,’ murmured Elphaba. Her breath smelt of mint. Galinda found it oddly calming, like the scent of her favourite peppermint tea. ‘Now,’ she said, getting to her feet, ‘what’s this business with your hair? It looks quite lovely to me.’ She stood behind Galinda in the mirror, cocking her head to one side as she observed her. 

‘It’s -’ Galinda croaked, pausing to clear her throat, ‘it’s not working. I wanted to do this lovely knot with - with curls around my face to frame it, you know? But I keep messing it up.’

‘Hm,’ Elphaba nodded. ‘I can imagine it.’ She went to put her hands in Galinda’s hair, as if to style it herself, but Galinda flinched so hard in her stool that her knee caught the underside of the table. She let out a hiss of pain.

‘Oz, I’m sorry!’ Elphaba said, dropping her hands. ‘I should’ve asked. I just - I just thought -’ she cut herself, biting her lip. Galinda saw her expression in the reflection of the mirror, and her stomach dropped. Elphaba looked… sad . She looked almost ashamed, as if she should’ve known better than to assume someone would want to be touched by her. Galinda hated that.

‘No, it’s not you,’ she said quietly. ‘I just - um - I don’t really like anyone touching my hair.’

Elphaba blinked at her in surprise. ‘...Ah. I see. Well, that makes sense - it’s sort of your signature thing, isn’t it? With the whole - toss, toss .’ For good measure, she performed a (bad) imitation of it, even though her hair was done up in the bonnet, a smile pulled at Galinda’s lips. It faded when she next opened her mouth, however. 

‘That might be part of the reason,’ she mumbled. ‘But it’s not - it’s not the whole story.’

Elphaba stilled. Her hands dropped to her sides, but one strayed to Galinda’s shoulder almost absentmindedly, her fingers lightly caressing the bare skin there. Galinda shivered, not bristled. Her hands always feel so warm and gentle. 

‘Do you want to tell me the whole story?’ asked Elphaba, her tone soft and careful.

Galinda bit her lip. ‘I…I’m not sure there’s much point in telling it, you know.’

‘Galinda,’ Elphaba said, ‘you flinched so badly just then, it’s as if I struck you or something. You can tell me about it.’

‘Um,’ gulped Galinda, weighing up her options. There is it again, that urge to tell her about it. About everything. It rather felt like the wounded little girl in her heart, shielded by years of carefully cultivated layers, was trying to reach out to the one Elphaba held in her own. Stretching to hold hands. Yearning for comfort. 

‘It’s okay,’ Elphaba murmured, rubbing her shoulder. 

‘Er - well - I think it’s probably because of Momsie,’ Galinda blurted out. She kept her eyes glued in her lap, not wanting to see Elphaba’s reflection in the mirror. It made it all too palpable, otherwise, like her secrets were raw and exposed and real, real, real . Like she had to acknowledge it really happened to her, not some other version of herself, tucked away to gather dust with the bits brushed away. 

‘Momsie?’ Elphaba prompted. 

‘She loves my hair,’ Galinda whispered, her fingers slotting together in her lap. ‘Always has. It's actually where my nickname my family uses came from, you know - duckling. Because my hair was white-blonde and fluffy when I was born, like a little duckling.’ Her cheeks heated up as she said it, wondering if Elphaba was going to laugh at her.

‘Cute …’ murmured Elphaba. Galinda’s cheeks glowed brighter. 

‘A-Anyway,’ she continued, ‘Momsie loved it right from the start. My granny told me that she used to fluff it up from the moment I was delivered. She would play with it when I slept as a baby. When I was older, she would buy me ribbons and clips and all sorts of adorable little things to style it with. And every morning before school - this was before I went off to full-time boarding - she would sit me in front of her mirror and do it for me. In the evenings, she would brush it out one hundred times. I…I loved it. It was our time. It was special.’ Galinda felt a lump growing in her throat.

‘That sounds lovely,’ Elphaba said, her hand still steady on her shoulder. ‘My mother had a wonderful hairstylist who taught me how to take care of mine. She’s one of the only people in Munchkinland who is actually willing to touch it. Well, touch me , I guess.’ She let out a laugh, though Galinda had never found anything less funny in her life. ‘I suppose our hair takes different steps to look after it, but mine takes ages to braid.’

‘It looks good,’ Galinda smiled, drawing her eyes up to look at Elphaba.

‘Thank you. I’m grateful I had someone to show me how to take care of it,’ said Elphaba. ‘Something tells me your mother spent more time playing around with yours than showing you how to make it nice, though.’

‘Oh, not quite,’ Galinda swallowed. ‘She actually took great pride in showing me how to style it to keep up with the latest Gilliken trends.’

‘But you don’t like people touching it…?’

Galinda shook her head, her chest tightening. ‘No, I don’t. And that’s because she…’ she trailed off, sucking in a small breath. It was always difficult to talk about her mother, because their relationship was complex. Galinda didn’t want Elphaba thinking there was a lack of love. Momsie would move mountains for me. She told me herself. Just because she can get a little irate sometimes, it doesn’t mean she doesn’t love me.

Galinda chose to ignore the fact that, while mother certainly promised she would move mountains for her, she never once lived up to her word. 

‘She gets cross at me,’ Galinda said, her chin quivering. ‘She won’t always tell me what I’ve done wrong, though. But I would always know if I had, because - because when she brushed my hair, she would make sure to do it…hard.’

The grip on her shoulder tightened momentarily.

‘...What do you mean?’ Elphaba murmured. 

‘I mean that - that it would hurt,’ Galinda whispered, her ears growing hot with shame. ‘On the days I did something bad, she wouldn’t unpick the knots carefully. She would tug and yank and tear until my scalp hurt. But she did wordlessly. She - she wouldn’t tell me what I did, but she made sure I knew that I had m-messed up somehow. It…really stung, Elphie.’ Her voice wavered even more, and she cleared her throat again, trying to disguise the tremor. 

‘Oh, Galinda…’ 

‘It wasn’t all the time,’ Galinda added hastily. ‘That is - I don’t know, at least half of our time in the mirror was spent pleasantly, I swear it. It’s just…when people go to touch it, especially when I’m not expecting it, I - um - I assume they’re going to - going to tug at it.’ 

Tactfully, Galinda decided to leave out the time her mother yanked it so hard, that a clump fell out with the pull. Galinda had to wear a carefully positioned ribbon for weeks until it grew back. It was the evening after she’d tripped and fell in front of a handful of the Uplands’ most important business partners. Her heels had been too tall - she’d told her mother that, but was ignored. At least on that occasion, she actually knew what she did to upset her mother. 

Elphaba shifted behind her again, both of her hands now resting on her shoulders. 

‘I think you’d look pretty with twin braids,’ she said softly. ‘What do you think?’

‘Huh?’

‘If you’ll let me,’ Elphaba continued, her voice so calm and kind that Galinda almost melted in the stool, ‘then I promise I’ll be gentle. I promise it won’t hurt.’

Galinda finally looked at her properly. Elphaba was observing her in the mirror, carefully, her expression open and affectionate. Her fingers twitched on her shoulders, but she made no move to touch her hair. 

‘Um…But I wanted an updo…’

‘Yes, and I’m no hair stylist,’ Elphaba winked. 

Galinda gulped. ‘...I - if you did, do you promise that…?’

‘I won’t do a single thing you don’t want me to,’ Elphaba said firmly. ‘I won’t touch it at all if it’s a bit much, Galinda. I just think I could help you with it, that’s all.’

It was incredible, really, that Elphaba knew exactly what to do. She could’ve stewed on it, or probed Galinda for more information - forcing her to relive memories she would rather avoid - but instead, she offered the best possible thing she could. Galinda’s eyes were hot with tears.

‘Um…okay,’ she nodded. ‘But -’

‘ - Carefully, I know,’ Elphaba murmured. 

She moved slowly. Galinda’s shoulders tensed when her fingers found the blonde curls of her hair, but she didn’t jerk or flinch away from her touch.

‘Okay?’ asked Elphaba.

‘...Yeah.’

‘Good,’ breathed Elphaba. She gently parted Galinda’s hair into two equal sections, her nails tickling the nape of her neck. ‘Oz…It’s so soft.’

‘That’ll be the two rounds of conditioner, leave-in hair mask, and oil I use,’ Galinda smiled.

‘And I thought I had a lengthy hair routine,’ Elphaba said. ‘Pass me the comb, won’t you? And two hair ties.’

Galinda did as she was asked, and Elphaba slipped the hair ties around her wrist. When she brought the comb to her scalp, though, Galinda let out a quiet squeak and she recoiled. 

‘E-Elphie, stop -’

‘ - It’s alright,’ she said, backing off at once. ‘Was that too much?’

Galinda fought with herself for a moment, pressing her hands into her lap, biting her lip. She could picture the long, blonde strands caught in the comb from a harsh brushing, and cringed as she remembered the tingling pain left behind on her scalp. She felt her mother’s sharp nails biting into her skin as she tugged her hands through it, deciding the comb wasn’t enough, and didn't hurt like it should. Her breath hitched and she squeezed her eyes shut. 

‘It’s okay,’ came Elphaba’s voice. ‘Give yourself a moment.’

It’s just Elphie , she reminded herself, her face warm and her eyes stinging. She’s not cross at you. She won’t make it hurt on purpose. 

Taking a deep breath, Galinda looked up at Elphaba again, and gave her a tiny nod.

‘I’ll be careful, Galinda,’ Elphaba swallowed. She took Galinda’s hair in her hands again, treating it as if it was holy. She raised the comb, making sure Galinda could track her movements in the mirror.

‘I’m going to brush it, now,’ she said. ‘Is that okay?’

‘Um, yes,’ Galinda nodded, steeling herself. ‘Yes.’

And it was. Elphaba did it so softly, so delicately, it was as if she wasn’t brushing it at all. Her fingers - green, not like Momsie’s - trailed cautiously through the curls, letting them fall in equal bunches around Galinda’s shoulders. Her nails, though long, never caught painfully against her scalp. With every gracious movement, Galinda felt herself start to relax, to ease, shoulder slumping, anxious energy easing from every pore. 

‘You know,’ Elphaba said quietly, ‘I used to do Nessa’s hair when we were little. I wasn’t as good as our hairdresser, of course, but it made me feel…connected to her, I suppose. And connected to our mother, who shared the same curls. Doing this - doing hair, I mean - is meant to be a comforting thing, Galinda, an enjoyable thing. I hate that your mother made you shrink from it.’

‘Oh…’ Galinda whispered, her heart clenching - as it often did when Elphaba mentioned her late mother.

‘I’m probably not able to do the styles like she did,’ Elphaba continued, ‘but hopefully I can make you enjoy it again. Even if it’s just for tonight…’

It was a simple hairstyle, in the end. Elphaba had braided Galinda’s hair into two fat, blonde plaits that felt over her shoulders. They were a little lumpy, a little uneven, and stray curls poked from them like tiny spikes. But Galinda loved them like had never loved a messy thing before. 

‘Elphie, they’re perfect,’ she murmured, blinking at her reflection. By the end of it, she hadn’t flinched at all when Elphaba passed the comb through her hair. And it hadn’t hurt a bit. 

‘I don’t know about that,’ Elphaba said self-consciously, rubbing the back of her neck. ‘But - um - I think it suits you. You look cute. The hair!’ she blurted out, her cheeks darkening. ‘Er, the hair. Your hair looks cute.’

Galinda bit the insides of her cheeks to stop herself from laughing as Elphaba busied herself with pushing her glasses up her nose. Oz, she’s so adorable, it’s not even funny.

‘I’m sure Fiyero will like it,’ Elphaba added, with a half-hearted mumble.

Galinda’s face twisted in a pout. She realised, quite suddenly, that she didn’t really care what Fiyero thought of it. Elphaba liked it. And that was all that mattered. 

‘I wish I was staying in with you tonight instead.’

The words slipped from her lips before she could stop them. Letting out a yelp, Galinda slapped her hands over her mouth as if she’d just told Elphaba her most mortifying secret, and she watched as her ears turned a spectacular red in the mirror. Elphaba, for her part, seemed a little flustered by the declaration.

‘Oh! Um  - I mean - you’ll have a much better time with Fiyero, I’m sure,’ she stammered, still fiddling with her glasses (even though they were very much in the correct position on her nose). ‘I’ll just be reading, or something dull like that.’

‘Ha - yes, of course,’ Galinda said meekly, getting to her feet and smoothing down the front of her dress. She looked, in her humble opinion, spectacular. ‘I better find my heels. I suspect the carriage will be arriving in the quad, soon.’

‘Yeah, you better. Don’t want to be late,’ Elphaba nodded, moving out of her way. ‘Um…Will I be expecting you back tonight?’ She said it so awkwardly, that Galinda rather wished the ground would swallow her up.

Oz, I hope so, she thought. Instead of saying that aloud, she put on her best winning smile, and gave a teasing shrug. ‘Oh, who knows! I suppose it comes down to how well he behaves.’ She winked at Elphaba, who did not smile.

‘Right. Yes. Well - if I don’t catch you later tonight, I’ll see you tomorrow morning,’ she said, her eyes lowering to the floor. ‘I hope you have a nice time.’

Galinda beamed at her some more, before she slipped on her matching heels and gave herself the once over in the mirror. Deciding she looked perfect - especially my hair - she flounced to the door. Before she opened it, however, she paused. She glanced back at Elphaba.

The girl, still in her dressing gown, had settled on Galinda’s bed again with the book she’d been reading earlier. Her glasses had slipped a little down her nose. She’d taken off her bonnet, and her braids fanned over the pink pillows. She didn’t look up at Galinda, already lost in the text, eyes alight with interest and catching warmly in the glow of the pink lamp. Galinda felt her heart give a funny jolt.

‘For the record,’ she said softly, though her voice seemed to echo in the quietness of the suite, ‘I really would rather spend the evening with you, Elphie.’

She thought she heard a sharp intake of breath, but she didn’t give herself time to wait for a response. She slipped through the door, clicked it shut, and felt her plaits tickle her shoulders with the hurried movement. Sighing, she made her way to the quad to meet Fiyero. Because he’s who I should want, really. He’s who I should spend my time with. 

Not her.

Not Elphaba.

She tried her best to ignore just how wrong it felt. 

Chapter Text

Chapter Six: Touch

In the two weeks since the Ozdust, Elphaba assumed her fellow classmates would’ve gotten used to Galinda dragging her around by the hand, chattering incessantly in her ear, and, by all accounts, being glued to the hip. But it seemed they struggled to adjust to change just as much as she did. Galinda didn’t really notice, of course. She thought the mutterings that followed them down the corridors were the usual adoring fans complimenting her outfit, or something similar - and often they were complimenting her outfit - but amongst the admiration, Elphaba heard the judgemental whispers.

What’s Miss Galinda doing with her?   

Do you think she’s playing a joke on her?

Maybe she’s being blackmailed…

Yes! They share a room, after all - maybe that Elphaba Thropp has some dirt on her, and poor Galinda has no choice but to give up her time to protect herself.

Oz, how horrible!

How dreadful!

Should we say something?

Should we help her?

Should we -

‘Do hurry up, Elphie,’ Galinda scowled, yanking her hand as they made their way to Dr Dillamond’s seminar. As the semester progressed, more and more of their lecturers were preparing them to sit so-called progress exams, designed to test how much they had learnt in their time thus far at Shiz. It was all in preparation for their end-of-semester exams, landing just before they broke up for the winter break, and as a result, classes tended to start a little earlier to cram in as much content as possible. Despite the fact that Dillamond had been intensely rattled by the stunt pulled in his class a few weeks back, he stuck to his curriculum like glue and wanted to ensure his students were prepared as much as possible. 

‘Elphie, ’ huffed Galinda, trying to increase their pace, ‘will you stop dragging your feet so much? Honestly, you’d probably have an easier time walking if you didn’t wear those hideously clunky boots of yours. I’m certain they slow you down.’

Ew, murmured a student, I can’t believe Miss Galinda is able to touch that girl, especially after everything that happened…

Elphaba wrenched her hand out of Galinda’s, causing the blonde to halt and spin on her heels. Her eyebrows swept together. 

‘What’s wrong?’ she said, her chin quivering a little. 

‘I just -’ Elphaba swallowed, her eyes darting around at the students observing them with disgust, ‘ - Um, I don’t think we should hold hands so much. In public.’

Galinda’s face crumpled. For one horrid moment, Elphaba thought she was about to burst into tears in the middle of the corridor, but she seemed to get a grip on herself.

‘Oh…’ she mumbled, her eyes lowering. ‘Okay. If that’s what you want.’

It’s not what I want, but it’s for the best . ‘Yeah. I mean, I’m not exactly the most tactile person around, am I?’

‘Right.’ Galinda’s vacant hands fiddled with the hem of her jumper. It was a delicate lilac, soft at the edges and cinched in at the waist. Elphaba wanted to feel it beneath her fingers. ‘Sorry, Elphaba. I didn’t realise it made you feel uncomfortable.’

‘No, it’s not that,’ Elphaba replied quickly, still feeling eyes on them. She had no idea how Galinda hadn’t noticed the increased scrutiny, but then again, she was used to people looking at her and batting their eyelashes. Elphaba, on the other hand, was on high alert from the years of nasty comments or even projectiles thrown at her from people she happened to walk by. ‘You - it doesn’t make me uncomfortable, Galinda, I promise. It’s just…when we’re out and about, it’s a bit - much. That’s all.’

She watched as Galinda’s throat bobbed. ‘...Oh, yes. Sorry. I do have a habit of being a bit much.’

‘Galinda, that isn’t what I -’

‘ - It’s fine, Elphie,’ Galinda interrupted, her hands white-knuckled around her jumper. She plastered a smile on her face that made Elphaba wince a little. ‘Thank you for telling me. Now, come on - I don’t want to make you late for the first time in your academic career!’ 

Her voice was a little strained and pitched higher than normal, and Elphaba let out a quiet sigh, knowing she’d managed to upset her. It wasn’t her intention, of course. She just wanted it all to stop - the whispers, the rumours, the cruel remarks - and lead her life at Shiz in relative peace. She should’ve known it wouldn’t be that easy, given Galinda was the people’s princess, for want of a better phrase, and just because she’d danced with Elphaba at the Ozdust, it didn’t automatically erase public opinion. It lingered and festered like dry rot, and no matter how hard Elphaba tried to ignore it, it ate away at her. She felt eyes burning the back of her neck. She heard murmurs scratching at her ears. And she couldn’t help but think, at the heart of it all, the students assumed Galinda would never be her friend of her own volition. 

She trailed behind Galinda to Dillamond’s classroom. The goat in question was notably subdued - not that Elphaba could blame him - but he offered her a tentative smile regardless, as he always did. It was peculiar to think that, just a fortnight ago, he was technically her only friend at Shiz. Unless she counted Nessa, of course. Although she doesn’t exactly make much effort with me…

She spotted her sister and waved, and got one in return. Elphaba could understand why Nessa might be reticent to engage with her, even with the boon she gained by being around Galinda, but the rumours didn’t simply die out. Nessa’s own reputation could be challenged merely by association. 

‘Good morning, Shen,’ Galinda beamed, settling down in her usual seat next to Shenshen. Pfannee normally occupied her lefthand side, but since Elphaba had been allowed into the fray, she sat to Galinda’s left, and Pfannee perched next to Shenshen. Neither one of her so-called friends seemed too happy about it.

‘Galinda,’ Shenshen nodded, unsmiling. 

‘There’s a nip in the air this morning, no?’ said Galinda, her tone light and airy as she started unpacking her bag. ‘I fear autumn is bleeding into winter.’

Shenshen hummed under her breath. Pfannee shrugged. They then turned to each other and started talking animatedly, completely ignoring Galinda and her attempts to make conversation. Shenshen even made a show of deliberately turning her back. Elphaba’s jaw twitched when she saw the expression on Galinda’s face - a brief, panicked flicker of hurt. 

It had been that way ever since they decided to try at being friends. While the general student populace still fawned over Galinda whenever she floated by with a waft of perfume, her ‘friends’ - though I’m not certain I’d describe them as such - had not reacted too well. Elphaba noticed more and more that they seemed to be deliberately leaving Galinda out. Whether it was conversations or plans, she was often left floundering or excluded entirely. If it wasn’t for Fiyero, who had been welcomed into their little group with extreme enthusiasm, Elphaba reasoned that Galinda would’ve been completely shut out. All because of me .

‘I wonder when the snow will come,’ Galinda said loudly, twisting to face Shenshen’s back and trying to insert herself into the conversation. She was fiddling with her notebook, curling the front cover in the corner. ‘Gilliken is quite famous for its cold snap, you know. I absolutely love the snowfall around the estate in Frottica - everything looks like it’s covered in icing sugar, and -’

‘ - That’s nice, Galinda,’ Pfannee interrupted. Elphaba watched, her mouth set in a thin line, as he exchanged an exasperated look with Shenshen. 

‘Yeah, so nice,’ said Shenshen. Her voice was strained, like she was holding back a laugh. ‘And so interesting to hear about weather patterns. Thank you for sharing.’

Galinda’s cheeks flushed pink. She quickly turned back, her head bowed, while Shenshen and Pfannee continued their conversation as if she wasn’t there. It was painful to watch, really, because Elphava understood that particularly mortifying feeling of rejection. Swallowing thickly, and despite what she said earlier, she grabbed Galinda’s hand and halted her notebook fiddling.

‘Tell me about the snow,’ she said softly. ‘We don’t get much of it in Munchkinland.’

Galinda gave a little shrug. ‘It’s just pretty, that’s all. Oh - there’s Milla! Milla! ’ She stood up a little and waved, no doubt wanting her to sit with them, but Milla didn’t even react. She wandered across the classroom and sat down in the row in front of Pfannee and Shenshen, turning to chat with them and not even acknowledging Galinda’s existence. A few people noticed, and giggled. 

‘Milla,’ Galinda pressed, leaning over the desk to catch her attention. ‘I wanted to ask if I could borrow -’

‘ - I had the most enormous pastry for breakfast,’ Milla said, pointedly looking at Shenshen and Pfannee. ‘I wonder if they’ve changed suppliers? Honestly, it was the size of my face!’

‘Oh! I actually spoke to one of the catering staff members about that, since the portion sizes have changed so drastically and it can wreak havoc with one’s figure, and he said that -’

‘ - I wouldn’t complain, Milla,’ Pfannee said, cutting Galinda off again. ‘Anything is an improvement on the slop they’ve been serving since the start of term.’

‘The - the catering assistant said -’

‘ - I think the jam has improved, as well,’ Milla sighed, getting out her books and talking over Galinda. ‘Thank goodness . If it continued to be so watery and flavourless, I was planning to pen a strongly worded letter to Miss Coddle about the dreadful quality.’

‘My granny makes delicious jam,’ Galinda blurted out desperately. ‘There are glorious blackberry bushes around the estate that grow the most enormous berries, and we pick them every summer. I once got a thorn stuck in my thumb that took nearly a week to work its way out, but it was worth it since -’

‘ - Great,’ Milla said sarcastically. ‘If we ever need jam-making tips, we’ll be sure to get in touch with your granny.’ Pfannee snorted behind his hand when Milla mouthed something that looked very much like she needs to get a life, and Elphaba winced at the sheer awkwardness of it. She stole a look at Galinda, who was looking thoroughly frustrated and upset, and squeezed her hand. 

‘I have no idea how to make jam,’ she said. ‘Is it an easy process? Maybe we could buy some fruit from the tuck shop and make it ourselves.’

‘It’s not difficult,’ Galinda mumbled. She had started to play with one of the gold rings on Elphaba’s little finger. ‘It’s just a question of getting the right quantities, and stuff. It was one of my favourite things to do with Granny - apart from painting, of course.’

‘You paint?’ asked Elphaba, surprised. She had noticed that Pfannee, Shenshen and Milla had started chatting about potential plans for a trip into the local town at the weekend, with absolutely no attempts to include Galinda in the conversation. She really hoped the girl hadn’t picked up on it.

‘Used to,’ replied Galinda, twisting Elphaba’s ring distractedly as she spoke. ‘I stopped when I got paint in my dress after I painted Popsicle a - you’re going into town?’ 

Elphaba groaned under her breath when Galinda spun back around in her seat, abandoned her hand, and latched onto the conversation she was most decidedly not a part of.

Pfannee let out a vexed sigh. ‘Oh, I don’t know, Galinda. We’re just spitballing some ideas.’

‘You mentioned this weekend, which starts tomorrow, ’ she pouted. ‘That sounds pretty set in stone to me.’

‘We’ve not decided yet,’ Milla said nonchalantly. 

‘It’s all very much up in the air,’ added Shenshen.

‘Exactly - we’re not even sure if we’re going to bother,’ said Pfannee, leaning back in his seat and folding his arms. 

‘Depends on the weather,’ shrugged Milla.

‘Yeah,’ smirked Shenshen, biting the insides of her cheeks. ‘I mean, it might snow , or something.’ She and Pfannee immediately descended into a fit of giggles, and Galinda went the same colour as her pink notebook. 

‘W-Well,’ she stammered, ‘make sure to keep me in the loop if you do decide to go, won’t you? It’s been ages since I’ve had a good shopping spree, and -’

‘ - We will, Galinda,’ Pfannee scowled. ‘No need to keep going on about it.’ 

Galinda opened her mouth, very much looking like she did want to go on about it, when Fiyero finally swanned into the room with - Elphaba glanced at her watch - a whopping forty seconds before the seminar was due to start.

‘Darling!’ he grinned, suave as ever, springing across the room to join them. He stretched over Elphaba and gave Galinda a quick peck on the cheek. Gross, thought Elphaba, slumping her chin in her hand. 

‘Good morning, Fiyero,’ Galinda said, perking up. Elphaba wondered if it was less to do with his actual arrival, or merely the fact his presence gave her attention from the others. They immediately started chirping their morning greetings, all fluttering eyelashes and rapt engagement, and Fiyero, grinning, sat himself down next to Elphaba. 

‘How is everyone on this fine morning, hm?’ he said, sweeping a hand through his hair. Elphaba was fairly certain that Pfannee swooned.

‘Oh, just wonderful!’ he gushed. ‘We’re actually just hashing out plans for a little outing to town at the weekend, if you’d like to join? We’re thinking Saturday, maybe grabbing breakfast at one of the darling little cafés before we do some proper shopping.’

Galinda’s mouth fell open. ‘But you just said -’

‘ - You can’t bring Avaric, though,’ Shenshen warned, pointing her finger at him. ‘He might be your roommate, but he’s an insufferable little worm and I’ll not have him souring our day off with his slimy presence.’

‘That’s a bit harsh, Shenshen,’ Fiyero snorted, rummaging around in his bag. ‘I know he can be a little intolerable, but I do live with the guy. It makes it hard to avoid him.’ He frowned, turning to Elphaba. ‘Say, you don’t have a pen I could nab, do you?’

Elphaba rolled her eyes and obliged. Out of all of Galinda’s associates, Fiyero was the only one who willingly interacted with her. Though he’s been like that from the very beginning, she thought, handing him a spare pen. He’s one of the few who saw past my skin .

‘Much obliged,’ he winked. Elphaba felt her face heat up, despite her best efforts.

‘If - if you’re inviting Fiyero,’ Galinda piped up, her voice trembling slightly, ‘then I think it’s only fair and right that Elphie and I can -’

She was cut off again, not by her so-called friends, but by Dr Dillamond gruffly clearing his throat.

‘Settle down now, if you please,’ he said, trotting to the front of the room. ‘We’ve much to cover, and considering your progress tests will be here before you know it, I’d like a swift start so we have time enough to study the most pressing topics.’

Elphaba flipped open her textbook and picked her pen, eager for the distraction learning provided, but Galinda was almost vibrating next to her. She glanced her way, about to mutter under her breath to calm down , when the pressure finally seemed to reach its breaking point.

‘This - this is just ridiculous!’ Galinda exploded, slamming her hands on the desk. The whole class seemed to jolt in shock, spinning to stare at her, mouths agape, but none were more startled than poor Dr Dillamond. He didn’t seem to know what to do.  

‘I mean,’ continued Galinda, her voice reaching into the dangerous realm of screeching , ‘you’ve been acting like I’m some sort of - I don’t know, irritating pest! And it’s not fair! ’ She was glowering at Shenshen, Pfannee and Milla, all of whom were blinking at her in disbelief. ‘You’ve been ignoring me, not inviting me to things, and - and - and now you think you can summon Fiyero along on your little excursions without bringing me , too!’

‘Miss G-Glinda,’ bleated Dr Dillamond, recovering. ‘I don’t know what has gotten into you this morning, but in case it escaped your notice, you’re in class. Please refrain from speaking on personal affairs until after it’s concluded.’

Galinda totally ignored him.

‘I mean, come on!’ she snapped, getting to her feet in her frustration. ‘What exactly have I done to earn this immature cold-shoulder treatment? You ought to be grateful that I want to spend time with you!’

‘ Galinda,’ Elphaba hissed, tugging her sleeve. ‘ Sit down .’

‘If you have a problem with me, then hurry up and spit it out!’ Galinda snarled, bearing down on Shenshen, Pfannee and Milla. Despite her tiny stature, she could be quite intimidating when she wanted to be. ‘I - I hate not knowing if I’ve done something wrong or not, so just tell me already!’

Elphaba felt a pang for her, remembering what she’d revealed about Lady Upland withholding her dissatisfaction with her, but making certain Galinda knew she’d screwed up by brushing her hair so little too hard. She just wants to know if she’s upset them , Elphaba thought, biting her lip. And it hasn’t even occurred to her that I am the reason for their behaviour . 

‘Miss Glinda, I implore you -’

‘ - For the last time, it’s GA-linda!’ she shrieked, cutting Dr Dillmond off. She was pink in the face, but not backing down. ‘So go on, then! What’s the big secret, hm? What could possibly be so horrendible that you think isolating me is a fair way to deal with it?’

‘Darling,’ Fiyero piped up, his eyes darting around the room at all the gawping faces, ‘perhaps the good Dr Dillamond is correct - it might be best to discuss such matters until after class has concluded.’

‘Thank you, Prince Fiyero,’ Dr Dillamond said, his ears flattened in irritation. ‘Miss Glinda, sit down and be quiet . This is a History class, not a social gathering.’

‘Then consider this history in the making!’ Galinda declared, still very much standing and making no sign that she was going to give up. ‘Because if they don’t tell me what I’ve done wrong in the next five seconds, I - I’ll tell everyone about Pfannee’s latest crush!’

Pfannee let out a dramatic gasp. ‘You - you wouldn’t dare !’

‘And,’ Galinda continued savagely, ‘I’ll spoil the end of the latest The Kiss that Broke the Spell novel, because Popsicle knows the publisher and got me an advanced copy.’

‘No!’ squeaked Milla, clutching her chest. ‘Galinda, you can’t! I’ve been waiting three years for the new installment!’

‘ And …’ Galinda’s gleaming eyes landed on Shenshen, who had gone white, ‘I’m sure everyone here would be very interested to learn the secret identity of Shiz’s resident Spicy Zine writer, who specialises in steamy stories about -’

‘ All right, all right!’ Shenshen barked. ‘You’ve made your point, Galinda. Just - just stop speaking for a moment, won’t you? Let us explain.’

Galinda nodded with triumph, folding her arms and cocking her head to the side. 

‘ So?’ she demanded. ‘I’m waiting.’

Huh, Elphaba gulped. Well, she can be terrifying . She tried to ignore how hot under the collar it made her. 

‘Miss Shenshen, Miss G-Glinda, please -’ Dr Dillamond attempted again, but there was very little point. The whole class was thoroughly enraptured by whatever drama was unfolding and not paying him the slightest bit of attention. 

Shenshen let out a huff. ‘It’s because of your weird new friendship with her , okay?’ She pointed at Elphaba, who shrunk in her seat. 

‘What?’ Galinda said, surprised. ‘What’s Elphie got to do with anything?’

‘Ugh, you’ve even given her a nickname,’ Pfannee groaned. 

‘That’s just the point, Galinda,’ Shenshen said. ‘You spent the better half of this semester telling us how peculiar and disgustifying she is, and then what? You dance with her at the Ozdust? You start acting like she’s your best friend in the entire world? Without even telling us why?’

‘And even after she invaded your bed and made you feel uncomfortable!’ Milla piped up, and Elphaba cringed. ‘Like, you make this big show of ensuring everyone knows what sort of a freak Miss Elphaba is, and then you pretend as if none of that nasty stuff ever even happened. It’s - it’s like you’ve been replaced by a clone, or something.’ She gasped, clapping her hands over her mouth. ‘Oh, Oz! That isn’t possible, is it? Dr Dillamond?! Tell me it isn’t possible!’

‘Cloning remains but a theory, Miss Milla, so there is no need for quite so much panic,’ Dillamond said flatly. ‘Now please , pipe down and pay attention to -’

‘ - You’re annoyed at me because I made friends with Elphie?’ Galinda spluttered, incredulous. ‘What are you, five?’

‘You’re the one who started the entire campaign against her, Galinda,’ Pfannee spat. ‘If anyone is acting like a five-year-old, it’s you. Not to mention that you haven’t considered how it might make us feel, suddenly having to hang around with a literal pervert.’

Elphaba sank down in her seat, her face burning. She kept her eyes glued on the desk, refusing to look at anyone, but she felt eyes on her. Leave me alone, leave me alone, leave me alone. 

‘Precisely,’ Shenshen scowled. ‘Think about what it does to our reputation, being seen with her after everything that happened. You might be able to cling onto your social standing, given you are who you are, but the rest of us aren’t so lucky. And ,’ she levelled Galinda with a cold stare, ‘since it appears you’d sooner spend your time with her than us, you’ve rescinded your right to join us when we plan activities.’

Galinda’s eyes were wide and overly bright. Her hands were shaking. ‘You - you’re saying I have to pick between you and Elphie?’

‘No,’ Shenshen said. ‘I’m saying that since you have chosen Elphaba, evidently, then you can’t expect us to suffer her company as well.’

‘That’s rather unkind, Shenshen,’ Fiyero frowned. 

‘You weren’t here from the start, Fiyero,’ she said, shrugging. ‘You don’t know the full story.’

‘Then tell it.’

Oz, please no, Elphaba winced.

‘Class!’ Dillamond barked, stamping a hoof. ‘I’ll allow no further discussions on this topic, and if you refuse to cease your chatter, I’ll have no choice but to -’

‘ - Elphaba crept into her bed,’ Pfannee shuddered. ‘Galinda made a big show of telling us how terrifying it was for her. If that’s not a reason to blacklist someone, I don’t know what is.’

‘And she seems to have this weird crush on her,’ Milla added, looking at Fiyero. ‘Which is totally inappropriate, since you’re together now!’

Fiyero blinked in surprise. Elphaba felt his blue eyes piercing into her. 

‘So you can’t blame us for feeling a bit put out, Galinda,’ Shenshen said, crossing her arms. ‘You make a huge deal of ensuring everyone knows what a weirdo Elphaba is, making certain to loathe her as much as humanely possible, and then - as if overnight - you’re suddenly bosom buddies. I don’t care what happened, but just because you’re happy to be seen in public with her, it doesn’t mean the rest of us are.’

Elphaba was seriously considering packing up her bag, giving her apologies to Dr Dillamond, and bolting from the room. She didn’t want to endure it, that feeling of old wounds being reopened, and she certainly didn’t want to be the centre of attention for any longer. The class were staring , enthralled, amused, aghast. And she wasn’t sure what Galinda was going to do about it. The girl in question was trembling, her hands clenched at her sides, but because she was standing facing Shenshen, Elphaba couldn’t see her expression. Her ears, poking out from her blonde curls, had gone red. Never a good sign.

‘I lied.’

Elphaba’s head snapped to Galinda. Was she hearing that right? Did Galinda just -

‘ - I lied,’ she repeated, her voice shaking badly. ‘Hear me? I lied. Elphaba didn’t invade my bed.’

‘What?’ snorted Pfannee. ‘Galinda, if she’s put you up to this -’

‘ - She hasn’t done anything of the sort,’ Galinda interrupted. She turned to address the classroom. Elphaba, now she could see her face, noted just how resolute and stoney her expression was. ‘I - I blew the whole thing out of proportion. It was the night of that huge storm, remember? I -’ she cut herself off, clearing her throat.

‘Galinda,’ Elphaba murmured, grabbing her hand. ‘You don’t have to -’

‘ - I’m scared of storms,’ she said, swallowing. ‘I’m really scared of storms, okay? To the point where I can’t even sleep. And Elphie comforted me. She was kind. I - I even asked her to stay with me in my bed until I drifted off. She helped.’

One could’ve heard a pin drop. Even Dr Dillamond seemed intrigued.

‘And,’ Galinda expelled a shaky breath, ‘the only reason I said those inexcusable things about her - those lies - is because I was embarrassed. I didn’t like that I’d been caught acting like a - a baby. Because it is babyish, isn’t it? To be so frightened by a silly old storm. But I can’t help it. I wanted to make sure I could twist the narrative. So - so Elphie wouldn’t tell. And I just…I lied.’

More silence. Galinda’s entire face had turned pink. 

‘I’m scared of spiders,’ came a small voice. 

Elphaba locked eyes with Nessa. She had been watching the scene unfold with everyone else, quietly. She was looking around rather shyly. 

‘And that’s a little silly, too,’ she continued, with a small chuckle. ‘I mean, I know they’re harmless, but there’s just something about them that gives me the creeps!’

There were a few murmurs and nods of agreement.

‘I don’t like heights!’ Boq said. Since the Ozdust, he and Nessa had been spending a lot of time together. Elphaba was happy for them both - though it didn’t escape her notice that Boq’s gaze still lingered a little too long on Galinda. 

‘Me neither, actually,’ someone else added - a dark-haired young man called Asherton. 

‘ I’m scared of small spaces,’ another girl piped up, as if proud of it.

‘And I’m scared of the dark!’ 

‘The dark?’ grinned Fiyero. ‘That’s not so unusual. I’m scared of facial hair - not just on me, I might add, but other people. It’s so terribly scratchy when sharing a kiss!’

And just like that, voices started to pick up and overlap, admitting their phobias - from the traditional to the unusual (one boy had an intense fear of his socks getting wet, which, Elphaba had to admit, was rather understandable) - until Shenshen herself whispered under her breath. 

‘I’m absolutely terrified of balloons,’ she gulped. 

‘Balloons?’ Pfannee exclaimed, with a burst of laughter.

‘Don’t you make fun of me, Pfannee of Phan Hall,’ she shot back, poking him in the shoulder. ‘I know for a fact you have a fear of belly buttons.’

‘They’re gross! Disturbing! And no one cleans them enough!’ he squawked, flapping his hands around to the laughter of the class. 

‘Well, I’m scared of getting sacked because my pupils won’t pay attention,’ Dillamond hissed. 

No one paid attention. 

Galinda, meanwhile, was staring around at the class as they eagerly shared their phobias, not quite knowing what to do with herself. Elphaba allowed herself a smile and took her hand. She jumped in surprise, looking down at her. 

‘It seems you’ve started a social movement, of sorts,’ said Elphaba, giving her fingers a squeeze. ‘Just like you, hm?’

‘But I -’ Galinda stammered, ‘I wasn’t trying to. I just wanted them to know that I royally messed up. That you're not what I made you out to be.’

‘I know what you were trying to do, Galinda,’ Elphaba said softly, fondly. ‘But you didn’t have to.’

‘Of course I had to,’ she huffed. ‘I - I can’t ever undo what I did to you, Elphie, but I sure as Oz can attempt damage control.’ She looked around the classroom. ‘Words can be a powerful tool. It’s about time I started using them for good.’

Elphaba thought of all of the rumours that stalked her around Munchkinland - diseased, dangerous, subhuman - all because of some fleeting comments from gossiping maids or spiteful children. She thought of how Galinda’s story had changed the way people viewed her, making her more of an outcast than before. She knew how powerful mere words could be better than anyone. 

‘Everyone,’ Galinda said, clearing her throat and ceasing their chatter more efficiently than Dr Dillamond ever could, ‘I think we can all agree that our fears, no matter how strange or irrational they might be…’ she pointedly looked at Shenshen, who gave her a bashful smile, ‘...are valid simply because we are feeling them. And Elphie here, despite how cold and callous I was to her, respected that more than anyone. I found comfort in her kindness and understanding. She…’ Galinda trailed off, her eyes sparkling. ‘...She might be the kindest person I’ve ever had the privilege to meet. And what I did was wrong .’

‘Galinda…’ swallowed Elphaba.

‘As touching as this is,’ Dillamond said, ‘perhaps you could continue after -’

‘ - So,’ Galinda announced, throwing open her arms as if she was attempting to embrace the whole class, ‘I’ll not hear another negative word about my Elphie, least of all from my lips. Yes, she’s green, and yes, she is most certainly a gigantic nerd - she has an annotated dictionary , for Oz’s sake, which I’m fairly sure is her prized possession - and yes , she has horrendible fashion sense and will not let me burn her hideous clothes -’

‘ - I think they get it,’ Elphaba interrupted with a laugh. Her cheeks were warm. My Elphie , Galinda had said. It made her feel fuzzy to her toes. 

‘But,’ Galinda said, suddenly serious, ‘she’s never once made me feel uncomfortable. The only thing that did make me uncomfortable that night was the storm.’

A beat passed after her little speech, before the class erupted in applause.

‘It’s okay to be afraid of storms, sweet Galinda!’ catawauled Milla.

‘Everyone makes mistakes!’ piped up Shenshen. 

‘Such braverism!’ Pfannee sniffled, dabbing a hankie to his eyes. Oh, for the love of Oz, thought Elphaba. 

Galinda gave them all a (very awkward) bow, which she no doubt pictured as being exceptionally graceful, and clasped her hand to her chest. 

‘Thank you, thank you,’ she sighed. ‘While I shouldn’t be forgiven for my abhorrent behaviour, I think we can agree that Elphaba is owed a huge, collective apology. Don’t you?’

And of course they did as she asked. Sorry and we didn’t know! overlapped and spewed out until it was borderline overwhelming. Elphaba smiled, embarrassed, realising that they truly meant it. Such was the power of Galinda Upland - she could get people to change their minds. 

It did mean something to Elphaba, of course, that the girl would so publicly make a spectacle of herself and own up to her actions. A big part of her still struggled with what had happened. She couldn’t entirely trust Galinda - not that she did anyone - and the impact still prickled under her skin. But she knew things would change, now, at the very least. Galinda had risked her reputation. Then again…everyone loves her regardless. And she couldn’t help but wonder a nasty, intrusive thought: did Galinda do this for me, or for her own guilty conscience?

The clamour eventually calmed down, leaving Elphaba’s face dark with the attention of it all, and Fiyero patted her on the shoulder. 

‘I feel that was justly deserved, don’t you?’ he winked.

‘Hm. I just wish it was a little less public,’ Elphaba gulped, her eyes landing on the very disgruntled goat at the front of the class. 

‘Well, I am positively thrilled that this dramatic episode is finally over,’ Dillamond said drily. ‘And Miss G-Glinda?’

‘Hm?’ Galinda beamed, settling back down in her seat and looking very pleased with herself. 

‘Detention.’

‘...Right. Fair enough.’

*

Galinda’s heart was still hammering by the time the lunch hour rolled around, and it had nothing to do with Fiyero’s arm slung loosely around her waist as they ate. 

They’d had a few dates since their first - not including the Ozdust - when he took her to The Starlit Table in town. She had been feeling a little highly-strung from getting ready, when she’d upset herself over her hair and told Elphaba why she struggled. It seemed her roommate-turned-friend was peeling back her layers, one story at a time, without even trying too hard. Maybe she’s just a natural at being kind.

The date was…fine. Fiyero had been a perfect gentleman, the conversation flowed easily, and she even found herself relaxing in his dazzling company. In fact, she’d go so far as to say she liked Fiyero, which was a departure from the other boys she courted. He was funny and engaging, full of outrageous stories about expulsions from school and his various adventures growing up in the Vinkus, and she found it easy to talk to him. She checked herself less and less, allowing herself to laugh loudly and smile widely. He made her feel at ease.

But that was all he made her feel.

Objectively, he was a good kisser. He held her in the right places, opened his mouth when the moment was right, nibbled her lip the way she liked it. She felt nothing, though. 

It wasn’t as if she was expecting her feelings to strike her like a bolt of lightning. It wasn’t as if she imagined pinpointing that kiss as the moment she fell in love with him. She’d kissed him at the Ozdust, spurred on by alcohol and excitement. She’d kissed him in the fortnight since. She’d let him touch her - though not all the way - and touched him in return. It wasn’t that he pressured her. Even after their date at The Starlit Table , when his dorm was an Avaric-free zone for the night, they hadn’t done anything more than kissing and light touching. She knew he wanted to, though. She had felt him against her leg. So she rolled over, announced she was tired, and went to sleep. He didn’t push it. The pattern continued, repeated after each date, and he didn’t say a word.

But Galinda knew she’d have to eventually. Even with Fiyero being the gentler and more easy-going than the boys she’d dated back in Frottica, she expected it of herself to do that sort of thing. She’d let it happen before. 

It wasn't as if she’d said no . It wasn’t as if she appeared like she wasn’t enjoying it - not with her acting skills. It wasn’t as if those boys could’ve known, with their searing hands and soured breath and hairy chests, but her mind had been screaming at her all the while. Stop, stop, stop. She always saw it through to the end, though. It’s what girls like her were supposed to do. And, no matter how much she liked Fiyero as a person, no matter how pretty he was, she knew the minute her clothes were off and she was on her back, her mind would be fighting against her just the same. 

‘You okay, my darling? You’ve hardly touched your food,’ came Fiyero’s voice. Galinda flinched a little.

‘Sorry!’ she squeaked. ‘I was miles away.’

‘Still reeling from your little stunt in History, no doubt,’ Pfannee grinned, skewering a mint potato with his golden fork. ‘You certainly know how to pick your moments.’

‘Yes, well,’ Galinda mumbled, stealing a look at Elphaba, who was sitting opposite her, ‘I should’ve done it a long time ago.’

Following the seminar - and after Dr Dillmond had soberly confirmed details of Galinda’s upcoming evening detention next week - Pfannee and the others had immediately started treating Galinda as if nothing had happened. They strolled with her between classes, chattering all the while, and even included Elphaba in their conversations. Come lunchtime, they seemed almost happy to receive them both around the table. Galinda had to admit that she was relieved. As much as she could never regret breaching the gap and befriending Elphaba, the feeling of being so thoroughly isolated had been getting to her. It reminded her of the first dreadful couple of years at boarding school. The leap from junior education to higher education had been like a kick in the teeth. After all, the friends she’d made in Frottica understood her peculiarities and embraced them. I suppose it’s easier to accept someone when you grow up with them. The students at her boarding school, however, were not so understanding, and making the move to Madame Vanderleigh’s Academy of Excellence for Girls was a troublesome adjustment for her. At eleven, she hadn’t yet learnt how to blend in, how to keep her emotions under control, and how to cater her personality to whoever she was attempting to befriend. The girls could be cruel. Galinda had eaten alone enough times, before she became popular, to understand that acute feeling of rejection. Experiencing it again after so long had been hard for her - not that she said anything, of course. And a fortnight of discomfort was more than worth it for Elphie .

‘We ought to iron out details for our trip into town,’ Shenshen said, taking a sip from her drink. ‘I mean, we need to consider how much of the day we want to dedicate to gallivanting, considering we’ll want to spare some time for studying for the progress tests.’

‘Boooo, ’ pouted Milla. 

‘We need to study, Mill.’

‘Do we, though? The progress tests don’t even count towards anything!’

‘Apart from our pride and self-worth?’ Shenshen said, rolling her eyes. ‘And they make for good practice. Our real exams will creep up soon enough.’

‘Don’t remind me,’ Galinda mumbled, her chest tightening at the very thought. 

‘Not to mention it’s a chance to show the lecturers how much we’ve actually absorbed this semester. They might not count towards our final grades, but it’s a useful indicator for them - and I would rather like them to know how well I’m getting on,’ Elphaba added. 

‘Ugh, brown-noser,’ muttered Milla.

‘Hey, ’ Galinda snapped, slamming down her fork before she could stop herself. ‘Were you not present in Dillamond’s seminar, Milla? When I said I wouldn’t allow any other nasty comments directed at Elphie?’

‘Galinda, you really don’t have to -’ Elphaba began weakly, but Galinda ignored her. Just because she can’t advocate for herself, it doesn’t mean I shouldn’t!

‘ - Well? Did you have cotton wool in your ears, or something?’

Milla audibly gulped, distractedly poking at her salad. ‘U-Um - no, of course not. I just - er - old habits die hard, I guess?’

‘Then kill them quickly.’

Milla shuddered in her seat and said no more. 

‘...Anyway,’ Shenshen said, breaking the tension, ‘town? Let’s finalise plans.’

‘I personally think we should make a day of it,’ Pfannee said. ‘There’s so much to do, after all. They’ve got the most adorable little boutiques and a morning market with vendors setting up shop from all over Oz!’

‘And don’t forget all the delicious eateries,’ Fiyero, smacking his lips hungrily as if he didn’t already have a bountiful meal in front of him. ‘Galinda and I went to the most wonderful restaurant recently, and I was very impressed by the menu!’

‘We can’t go for the whole day,’ Shenshen said sternly. ‘We have exams , like I keep trying to point out.’

‘I think we can afford one day off, Shen!’ Pfannee pressed. ‘We’re only freshers once, after all - we ought to live and enjoy ourselves!’

‘And we only have these exams once,’ Elphaba muttered under her breath. 

‘Honestly, Elphaba,’ Pfannee huffed, ‘you can be a bit of a buzzkill, can’t you? And why are you so worried about the exams, anyway? You’ll breeze through them.’

‘She’s not a buzzkill,’ Galinda said, her eyebrow twitching. 

‘Right, sorry!’ Pfannee gulped, going a little pale. ‘How about this, then? We have half a day of reverie, and half a day of studying. But only if it really is half a day. Catch an early boat, or take Galinda’s -’

‘ - It would be easier to walk,’ Fieryo said, shaking his head. ‘I’ve been into town via carriage, boat and by foot, and given the river’s path, it’s generally quicker to go on foot. Besides, nothing beats a bit of fresh air and exercise!’

‘Fine, fine,’ Pfannee said, waving his hand in the air. ‘So we’re in agreement, then? A nice early start, spend the morning in town, and be back here for lunch?’

‘And studying,’ said Shenshen.

‘ Yes, and studying,’ Pfannee pouted.

There were several nods of agreement from the group. Happily, Galinda popped a cherry tomato in her mouth. She grimaced as she bit into it. Bleugh, sour.

‘But I’m warning you, Fiyero,’ Shenshen said, levelling the prince with a cool stare, ‘do not reveal our plans to Avaric. I’m not going to have our outing ruined with his presence.’

‘Oz, what exactly do you have against him?’ Fiyero chuckled, readjusting his grip around Galinda’s waist. She bristled a little at the close proximity. ‘I know he can be a bit of a cad, but he’s fine in small doses.’

‘He’s hyperactive,’ Shenshen said, counting on her fingers, ‘he’s loud, and he talks far too much. It’s almost impossible to get a word in edgeways.’

‘Bit like Galinda, in that respect,’ Pfannee grinned. Galinda felt her face heat up, suddenly finding great interest in what was left of her meagre lunch. Following the rush of her stunt in History, her stomach had been in knots, rendering her appetite almost nonexistent.

‘Galinda isn’t rude, though,’ Shenshen said. ‘Avaric is. It’s like he has no social filter. Just - just try to keep our plans under wraps, won’t you?’

‘I’ll do my best,’ Fiyero shrugged, ‘but I make no promises. Avaric is like a snifferdog when it comes to social occasions.’

‘That is definitely like Galinda,’ said Pfannee with a snort. ‘I reckon she’d tip a man upside down by his ankles and shake him if she suspected he was keeping an oh-so-important social occasion from her.’

‘I’ll shake you in a minute, Pfannee,’ Galinda grumbled, abandoning the rest of her lunch. 

*

As agreed, Elphaba and Galinda met with the others in the quad early the next morning, hand-in-hand and blurry eyed. While they had managed some snatches of sleep - Galinda remained a little keyed up, following her speech in Dillamond’s seminar which remained the talk of campus - they had spent most of the night studying, giggling and chatting. It was a soft night, a gentle night, and it gave Elphaba the opportunity to thank Galinda for what she’d done - not that the girl accepted it, though.

‘Elphie, it was a long time coming,’ she said breezily, when Elphaba mentioned it again as they waited for their friends. ‘I never should’ve said what I said in the first place. And I know it was probably a bit much for you, me spouting off like that, but I - I couldn’t hold it in any longer!’

A smile pulled at Elphaba’s lips. Galinda was halfway between a pout and a frown, her lower lip sticking out and her eyebrows knitting together. She’s so cute - huh? Cute? That’s…normal, isn’t it? To think your friends cute?

‘And I suppose Shenshen and the others’ collective cold-shoulder got to me more than I thought,’ Galinda admitted. ‘I mean, I obviously wanted to set the record straight, but I -’ she paused, biting her lip. ‘ - I just felt so incensed and frustrated that it all just blurted out at once. It was kind of embarrassing, actually.’ She ran a hand through her hair, chuckling self-consciously.

‘It wasn’t embarrassing, Galinda,’ Elphaba said softly. ‘Just a little terrifying.’

‘T-Terrifying?’ Galinda yipped, her eyes widening. ‘Oh, Elphie! I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you or -’

Elphaba let out an exasperated sigh and dropped Galinda’s hand, before she cupped her palm over her mouth. Galinda squeaked, turning pink so quickly that it was almost impressive. 

‘Hush, you,’ Elphaba grinned. ‘You didn’t scare me. I was talking about the others. Poor Milla looked like she was about to -’

‘ - Oz, don’t tell me that useless prince is late again , is he?’ Shenshen said, marching over and not even bothering to greet them properly. ‘We need to get a move on if we’re going to make the most of this afternoon’s study session.’

‘You know what Fiyero is like,’ Pfannee said breezily, who was hot on her heels and wearing a large, floppy hat that looked quite ridiculous. And to think, he gave me a hard time about mine! , Elphaba thought sulkily. ‘You ought to keep him on a tighter lead, Galinda. Were you not with him last night?’

‘Oh!’ Galinda said. ‘Er - no. I was studying with Elphie.’

‘Well if he’s not here in the next 2 minutes, we’re leaving without him,’ Shenshen declared. 

Privately, Elphaba agreed with her. It would actually be an advantage for her if Fiyero was a no-show, since it meant she’d be able to spend all her time with Galinda without him hanging around like a lost puppy. Which…Which is a totally normal thing to feel, given we’re such good friends now.

Unfortunately for her, she was left disappointed.

‘Ahoy!’ Fiyero called, swaggering at speed with a bag slung over his shoulder. He had company. 

‘You have got to be kidding me,’ Milla groaned, as Shenshen face-planted.

‘I told him not to bring him!’ Shenshen hissed, glaring as Avaric Tenmeadows, Fiyero’s insufferable roommate, trailed along just behind him. ‘Oz, this was supposed to be fun. Now my blood pressure is going through the roof.’

‘You said it,’ Pfannee muttered, through gritted teeth. 

Fiyero did look suitably bashful for allowing Avaric to tag along, but it would’ve been tricky to avoid him, given the living arrangements. Elphaba made a point of ignoring both of them - made more difficult given Fiyero immediately planted a kiss on Galinda’s lips by way of greeting - and the group set off. They were to reach Shiz town on foot, and Elphaba rather liked it - the sun was out, the morning was crisp and cold, and walking along the waterfront was pleasant. It would’ve been quite peaceful, had Avaric not started bleating.

‘You’re looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed this morning, Miss Galinda, Miss Elphaba,’ he said sarcastically. ‘What was it? A big night out?’

‘Hardly,’ scoffed Pfannee, ‘Galinda said they were up all night studying.’

‘Oh, but of course,’ said Avaric, rolling his eyes. He glanced backwards at Galinda, who was staring dead ahead and desperately trying not to engage with him. She was walking next to Elphaba, holding hands, while Fiyero strolled a little ahead of them. Pfannee, Milla and Shenshen walked along just behind them. If Fiyero was put out by Galinda's lack of physical affection and attention, he didn’t show it. ‘I thought you’d be making a point of resting, Miss Galinda, given your dramatic little episode in Dillamond’s class, yesterday. Everyone is talking about it.’

Elphaba felt the pressure increase on her hand. 

‘It - it wasn’t that much of a big deal,’ Galinda mumbled. ‘And anyway, the progress exams are just around the corner, you know. I can’t really afford to slack off.’

‘Oz, you said it,’ groaned Shenshen. ‘I was in half a mind to duck out of today and hit the books, but we do need breaks from time to time.’

‘It’s strange,’ Avaric continued, completely ignoring Shenshen’s comment, ‘that you always seem to be busy of an evening, Miss Galinda. You’ve hardly been around the suite to tend to my poor bro’s needs .’ Grinning conspiratorily, he grabbed Fiyero around the shoulders. ‘There is such a thing as holding out, you know.’

Fiyero looked exceptionally ruffled, pulling himself out of Avaric’s grip. ‘She’s not holding out on me, Avaric. It’s none of your business, anyway.’

‘No?’ smirked Avaric. ‘That’s not what you said to me the other day, when you were complaining about not getting any.’

Shenshen and Milla let out a unison scandalised gasp, Pfannee clapped his hands over his mouth, and Galinda flushed an impressive shade of pink. Elphaba, at the same time, came up with several different ways to make Avaric’s death seem like an accident. 

‘It doesn’t help that you insist on flaunting yourself wearing things like this , Miss Galinda,’ Avaric grinned, raking his eyes up and down her outfit - a gingham pink dress that, while objectively very pretty, was a little unsuited for the autumn chill. ‘There’s such a thing as blue balling, you know. And poor Fiyero is only human.’ For good measure, his hand went to tug at the hem of Galinda’s dress, and she recoiled, letting out a yelp. Elphaba had to resist the urge to hit him.

‘Avaric!’ Fiyero snarled, grabbing his arm and yanking him back. ‘That’s enough, alright? What we get up to in the bedroom has absolutely nothing to do with you - and keep your hands off her.’

Avaric let out an irritating whistle that set Elphaba’s teeth on edge. 

‘Oz, no need to get so incensed, Fiyero,’ Avaric shrugged. ‘I’m just making a point, that’s all. What’s the use in having a girlfriend if you’re not even getting any? You said you’ve not even slept together yet.’

Elphaba’s eyes widened at that little revelation. She assumed, since Galinda had spent the odd night with Fiyero, that they’d probably had relations. She stole a look at Galinda out of the corner of her eye, and immediately felt bad for the girl for the distraught expression on her face alone. Fiyero, meanwhile, was looking both frustrated and guilty, not knowing what to do. 

‘I - I didn’t say that,’ he said hotly. ‘I said it’s early days and that - that we’d both been busy.’

‘Yeah, which is code for not getting any,’ Avaric repeated. He smirked at Galinda, who looked increasingly embarrassed. ‘You ought to watch yourself, you know. Fiyero is quite the eligible bachelor. If you keep refusing to put out, someone else will snatch him up.’

‘She’s not refusing anything!’ Fiyero protested. 

‘And you’d be quite the scumbag if you ditched her just for that, Fiyero,’ Shenshen said with a frown, adjusting her bag on her arm.

‘Would he, though? It’s a normal, important part of any healthy relationship,’ Pfannee said. ‘N-not that I’m encouraging that he dumps you though, or anything.’ He shot Galinda an apologetic smile. 

‘And what would you know about healthy relationships, Pfannee?’ Shenshen snorted. ‘Last time I checked, you were single.’

‘So are you!’

‘Yeah, but I have options,’ Shenshen said, tossing her hair over her shoulder in a very Galinda-esque fashion. 

‘Fictional men don’t count, Shen.’

As Shenshen cuffed Pfannee over the back of the head for his snide comment, Fiyero took the opportunity to hiss at Avaric under his breath. Elphaba’s ears pricked up.

‘You need to stop this,’ he muttered. ‘It’s weird, it’s invasive, and it’s embarrassing for Galinda. And most importantly, our sex life is quite literally none of your business.’

‘What sex life?’ Avaric snorted, throwing his arms out. ‘Oz, you've not even done it yet. And anyway, even with the stuff you do get up to, you’re always complaining that she never seems into it!’

Galinda stopped dead in her tracks. Elphaba paused too, her jaw twitching. She could feel Galinda’s hand getting sweaty against her own, which was never a good sign.

‘I -’ Fiyero spluttered, his face flushing and looking anywhere but Galinda, ‘that isn’t - I didn’t mean that she - I simply meant that she doesn’t - um - she -’

‘ - Isn’t as loud and enthusiastic as your previous lovers? Avaric smirked.

‘Oh, Oz,’ Galinda squeaked, her ears burning red, as Shenshen, Milla and Pfannee all gasped as if they were watching a particularly dramatic play. Elphaba wished they would leave.

‘I mean, I can attest to that,’ Avaric added, still with his wolfish, teasing smirk. ‘After all, we share a suite, and I’ve certainly never heard her having a -’

‘ - Stop talking,’ Elphaba snapped, finally losing her patience. 

The group stalled, taken aback at her abrupt tone. Elphaba rarely raised her voice in their company - she had learnt from a young age that it was sometimes better to bite her tongue than pick a fight. But this was not one of those times.

‘E-Elphie?’ gulped Galinda, as she dropped her hand and marched closer to Fiyero and Avaric. 

‘There are some things,’ she said, ‘that you don’t talk about in polite company. Private things. And I know you ,’ she jabbed a finger against Avaric’s chest, ‘are only doing this to get a rise out of Fiyero, for whatever reason, but you need to grow up. It isn’t smart and it isn’t funny. Do you hear me?’

Avaric had recoiled, rubbing his chest where Elphaba had poked him. ‘Keep your hair on - I was only having a bit of fun. And don’t touch me with those disgusting green hands of yours.’

‘Avaric!’ Fiyero snarled, yanking his shoulder around to face him. ‘Have you made it your personal mission to piss off all of my friends this morning, or are you being deliberately idiotic?’

‘Oz, it was a joke! Seriously, why are you so worked up?’ he said, jerking his shoulder out of Fiyero’s grip. 

‘Because it’s not even 10 in the morning and your childish behaviour is already frustrating me,’ Fiyero said, through gritted teeth. Elphaba was quite surprised - she’d rarely seen Fiyero lose his temper. She also realised, to her own embarrassment, that she was blushing. Something about the prince jumping to her defence made her smile a little. It soon passed, though, when Avaric opened his mouth again.

‘I’m frustrating you?’ he spluttered. ‘Don’t put that on me, Fiyero. You’re only like this because your so-called girlfriend hasn’t given you any, and that isn’t my fault.’

Galinda was so red in the face that Elphaba was worried she might faint from the heat. 

‘Ugh, can you move on?’ Shenshen said, pinching the bridge of her nose. ‘Fiyero has a point, Avaric - it isn’t any of your business, and it’s actually very creepy that you keep going on about it.’

‘Yeah! It’s creepy!’ Milla piped up in solidarity. Elphaba had to appreciate her for it.

Avaric let out a huff, clearly not liking being ganged up on. ‘Okay, okay. Get angry at a guy for trying to look out for his bro, I guess. But you know…’ he grinned at them furtively, ‘...I’ve heard there is a perfectly marvelous shop in town that specialises in bedroom items if that’ll encourage Miss Galinda to actually spread her legs.’

Galinda made a small, mortified choking noise, unable to help herself as she buried her burning face in her hands.

‘A-Avaric!’ Fiyero stammered, aghast. ‘You - you can’t just -’

‘ - Don’t pretend you don’t like the idea, Fiyero,’ Avaric smirked, talking over him. ‘Buying something scandalous for your princess will no doubt get her squirming and desperate to give you her wet little -’

There was a bright flash, a popping noise, and a yelp. Pfannee let out a shriek of horror, Milla recoiled in shock, and Shenshen immediately burst out laughing as Avaric was blasted backwards, landing in the river with a mighty splash. 

‘Oh my gods!’ screeched Pfannee, clapping a hand over his mouth. 

‘The one time I forgot to bring my camera,’ Shenshen scowled. 

‘E-Elphie?’ Galinda gasped, staring at her. ‘Did - did you just -’

‘ - He deserved it.’ 

Elphaba was seething, the aftermath of her magic tingling through her hands. Her chest was rising and falling rapidly, and she was doing her best to regain control before she blasted the rest of them into the river. 

‘Elphaba, what did you do?!’ Fiyero exclaimed, frantic. 

‘Huh?’ she said, outraged. ‘What do you mean? You heard the way he was talking about Galinda! The question is, why didn’t you do anything?’

‘It’s the middle of autumn!’ Fiyero shouted. ‘The water will be freezing .’ It took Elphaba a moment to realise that Fiyero was taking off his shoes and ripping off his jacket. ‘And Avaric can't swim!’

All of the amusement the others were enjoying from the situation vanished immediately, and they clutched at each other, their eyes popping.

‘Oh no, oh no, oh no,’ Milla whimpered, immediately losing her head. 

‘Oz, if the shock of the cold doesn’t finish him off, not being able to swim certainly will,’ Shenshen gulped, as Fiyero stripped down to his boxers. ‘Fiyero - you can’t possibly go in after him! You’ll freeze!’

‘I can’t just leave him!’

The group watched, stunned, as Fiyero dived into the river. 

‘Fiyero!’ Galinda cried, lurching forward as if she was about to jump in too, but Elphaba grabbed her arm.

‘Galinda, don’t,’ she said urgently. ‘If he runs into trouble, I’ll go in after him myself.’

‘But - it’s so cold -’

‘ - Doesn’t matter,’ Elphaba dismissed. An unpleasant tingling was worming its way under her skin that had nothing to do with magic - it was the heat of shame. She didn’t know that Avaric couldn’t swim, of course, and the temperature of the river never even crossed her mind. She had been angry . She quite literally couldn’t help herself. But Shenshen, Milla and Pfannee were looking at her in horror, just like the cruel children back home in Munchkinland, just like Nessa when she had accidentally unleashed her magic during enrollment, just like her father whenever he had to endure a conversation with her. She clenched her fists together, her face hot and her stomach churning. What have I done?

There was a horrible moment when neither Avaric or Fiyero surfaced, and Elphaba was just about to kick off her own shoes, when the water broke and two heads popped up. Avaric was gasping and thrashing, looking quite ridiculous, and Fiyero was yelling at him to calm down and let him guide him to shore. Shenshen and Pfannee rushed to help as Fiyero hauled Avaric onto the banks.

‘H-help him, help him!’ Fiyero ordered, his teeth chattering. 

Pfannee, cringing a little, rolled Avaric onto his side as he spluttered and wheezed, coughing up water. 

‘Please don’t be sick,’ Pfannee was whispering. ‘Oz, please don’t be sick. I think we can safely add a fear of vomit to my list of phobias, you know.’

Shenshen held out a hand and helped pull Fiyero out of the water. He was clutching his arms around his bare chest, almost blue. Elphaba was rooted on the spot, paralysed, while Galinda grabbed his clothes and immediately started to dress him.

‘You’ll catch your death, you idiot!’ she said fretfully, tugging his shirt over his head and shoving his trousers at him. 

‘G-give Avaric my j-jacket,’ he managed. ‘He’s g-got to - to w-warm up.’

‘I think he’s in shock,’ Milla gulped, as Avaric trembled pathetically on the grass, his clothes soaked and his dignity in tatters. 

Gingerly, Pfannee patted his back as he coughed up more water. ‘Say, Elphaba, you don’t have a heating spell tucked up your sleeve, do you?’

Before Elphaba could answer, still feeling hot with guilt, Avaric abruptly scrambled to his feet, shoving Pfannee away from him. He had a lilypad stuck atop his chocolate curls, and it would’ve been very funny were the situation not so serious. 

‘ No !’ he snarled, his voice hoarse from coughing. ‘You keep that - that witch away from me! You ruined my shoes! My jacket! My hair! ’

Elphaba recoiled at the word witch , her heart thumping uncomfortably in her chest. ‘I - I didn’t mean to -’

‘ - Yes you did! ’ Avaric howled, stomping his foot with a wet squelch. It seemed the shock had worn off and had suddenly been replaced by rage. ‘You - you tried to kill me!’

‘How was I supposed to know you couldn’t swim?!’ Elphaba shot back. 

‘That isn’t the point! ’ screeched Avaric. He flinched when Galinda approached him, shakily holding out Fiyero’s jacket as if to put it around his shoulders, and he turned on her. ‘Oz, this is all your fault, you sex-averse tramp!’ Galinda faltered, shrinking at his raised voice, and Elphaba suddenly didn’t feel so guilty.

‘Avaric!’ Fiyero snapped, now fully-dressed and marching over to him. ‘I did not just risk getting hypothermia and saved your sorry arse just for you to immediately insult my girlfriend - which is exactly why you got blasted into the river in the first place!’

‘How can one be sex-averse and a tramp? Is that not an oxymoron?’ Pfannee wondered aloud, tapping his chin. No one paid him any attention.

‘That isn’t the point, ’ snarled Avaric, throwing a finger at Elphaba. ‘She tried to drown me! In broad daylight! In front of witnesses! She can’t be allowed to get away with it!’

‘But the damn jacket on and shut up,’ Fiyero hissed, taking it gently from Galinda and holding it out to him. ‘You need to get warm or you’ll catch your death.’ Begrudgingly, Avaric accepted the jacket, still shivering violently. It was clear that he had to get out of the elements, and soon. 

‘This is absolutely outrageous,’ he muttered, trembling. ‘She should be arrested for that. You’re all being entirely too calm.’

‘Well, you did sort of have it coming,’ Shenshen shrugged, as Fiyero tried to squeeze water out of his hair. ‘I mean, you were actively trying to get a rise out of Fiyero, and you were being incredibly crude towards Galinda.’

‘What, and that deserves death?!’

‘Looks like you’re breathing fine to me,’ Milla said.

‘Attempted murder, then!’ Avaric shrieked, stamping his foot again. He looked very much like a drowned cat. 

‘Elphie didn’t know that you can’t swim,’ Galinda said, her voice very small. Avaric rounded on her as if she’d just cursed him and his entire bloodline. 

‘Don’t try and justify what just happened , you frigid little bitch.’

‘Do you want another dip, Avaric?’ Elphaba snarled, hating how Galinda flinched as if she’d been slapped. ‘Because you’re certainly going the right way about it.’

‘This - this isn’t fair !’ he whined, looking around at all of them. ‘You shouldn’t be ganging up on me like this! I’m the victim , here! You should be preparing a fire to burn her at the stake!’ His eyes flashed towards Elphaba, and for a moment, it looked as if he was going to lurch forward and attack her. Fiyero must’ve thought so, too, because he grabbed Avaric by the collar of his soaked shirt. Galinda, meanwhile, took a protective step in front of Elphaba. She was shaking slightly. 

‘Don’t ever say such a horrible thing again,’ she stammered, her voice wavering. ‘It - it isn’t Elphie’s fault that this happened.’

‘What ?!’ Avaric exploded. ‘How is this not her fault?! She’s the one who -’

‘ - Enough!’ Fiyero interrupted. ‘Shouting about it isn’t going to help anyone. The fact is, Avaric, you need to get inside and change into something warm or you’ll genuinely get sick. So, here’s what’s going to happen.’ He wrung his hands together, shaking off the excess water. ‘I’m going to take you back to school and get you checked over to make sure you don't die, okay? The others can go ahead and enjoy the day without us.’

‘But that isn’t fair !’ squawked Avaric, repeating his earlier sentiment. ‘Why should I get punished and miss out when that disgusting witch is the one who -’

‘ - Don’t talk about her like that!’ Galinda cried, her voice shaking. 

‘Avaric, do us all a favour and keep your mouth shut,’ Fiyero warned. ‘I’m sorry you got dunked in the river and I’m sorry that we’re heading back, but my sympathy has its limits. Keep insulting the girls and I’ll throw you back in myself.’

Avaric looked momentarily upset that even Fiyero had lost patience with him, but it soon morphed into continued anger.

‘Unbelievable, you traitor,’ he muttered. ‘Oz, I was only trying to help you out with your so-called girlfriend, and this is what I get?’

‘I didn’t ask for your help, nor do I need it,’ Fiyero seethed.

‘You obviously do, otherwise your precious Galinda would actually let you fuck her instead of avoiding you like the plague.’

‘Right,’ Fiyero snarled, grabbing Avaric by the wrist as Galinda sucked in a small, whimpering breath of embarrassment. ‘We are going. Open your mouth again and I’ll feed you your teeth.’

‘Get in line,’ Elphaba muttered, her fists still clenched together.

‘You’ll regret this!’ Avaric yelled as he was tugged away, shoes still squelching. ‘I’ll - I’ll report you for assault and attempted murder, Elphaba Thropp! Do you even know who my parents are? We’ll sue your nasty green self all the way back to Munchkinland and lock you up! Where you belong!’

The group could hear Avaric complaining and shouting threats even when they lost sight of him and Fiyero, his screeching voice reverberating down the river. They let out a collective sigh of relief. 

‘Well, if he does try and sue you, Elphaba, I’ll pretend I didn’t see a thing,’ Shenshen said, with her usual nonchalance. 

‘Yes! In fact, all I saw was that uncivilised fool tripping on a - um - on a stone, and tumbling into the river of his own volition!’ Pfanne piped up. ‘He had it coming, talking in such a vulgar manner.’ 

‘Agreed, ’ Milla said, folding her arms with a flourish. She glanced at Galinda, who was pink in the face. ‘...Um, are you okay, Galinda?’

Galinda ignored her, all of her attention on Elphaba. She took one of her clenched fists and eased it open, interlocking their fingers. 

‘Elphie, that was…’ she trailed off, her voice soft. 

‘I’m sorry,’ Elphaba blurted out. ‘I’m sorry, I just - I couldn’t stand the way he was talking about you, and I lost my temper and -’

‘ - Don’t apologise for defending her honour, Elphaba,’ Milla said, cutting off her anxious rambling. ‘It’s as Pfan said - the idiot had it coming.’

Elphaba lowered her gaze, unable to look at any of them. ‘But I could’ve hurt him.’

‘You didn’t, though,’ Galinda said gently, squeezing her hand. 

‘That isn’t the point. I put him in danger because I lost my temper.’

‘No, he put himself in danger by behaving like a dolt,’ said Galinda. ‘Oz, if you hadn’t done something, I reckon Fiyero would’ve made good on his threat and fed him his teeth, if he carried on the way he did.’

‘Absolutely,’ Pfannee said. ‘Goodness, even I was considering engaging in fisticuffs, if necessary. Mr Avaric needs to understand that there are consequences to his actions - and sometimes, those consequences are nearly drowning in a river.’

‘But…’ Elphaba bit her lip, feeling both validated and ashamed.

‘No buts,’ said Shenshen. ‘Now, come on. Let’s put all this unpleasantness behind us and get on with the day. I do actually want to get some studying in, and we’re already behind. Stop moping and pick up the pace.’

Elphaba trailed behind them, dropping Galinda’s hand as she did so. Despite their obvious acceptance for what had transpired, Elphaba hadn’t forgotten how aghast - and even scared - Shenshen, Milla and Pfannee had looked when it happened. She had to learn more restraint. What if it had happened on campus, in front of more people? She already had a reputation for being peculiar, despite Galinda’s new campaign - did she really want to add volatile to the list? Swallowing thickly, Elphaba tried to put the incident to the back of her mind. There was nothing she could do about it, now. The only thing she could control was her response to it, and letting Avaric ruin the day was not the best approach. Steeling herself, Elphaba looked ahead at the rising sun, and increased her pace.

*

Galinda was fairly certain her face didn’t return to its normal colour until they had reached the centre of town, and the walk took nearly half an hour. She didn’t let go of Elphaba’s hand. She hardly spoke, and was relieved that her companions seemed to quickly move on from what Avaric had revealed about her relationship and did not question her. 

Amongst the shame she felt, though, there was anger. She couldn’t understand why Fiyero would’ve spoken to someone else about their relationship - especially when that someone was as immature and frivolous as Avaric. Roommates though they were, there were better people to talk to about personal matters if Fiyero earnestly felt the need to. But why didn’t he just talk to me about it? If he wanted to go there, I’d have let him.

It didn’t occur to Galinda for some time that the very reason he hadn’t asked was because she wasn’t as good at acting as she thought she was.

Shiz town was very pleasant. It was fairly quiet, given the time of morning, and buildings stacked tall of coloured, pastel bricks surrounded them on all sides. There was no shortage of quaint little buildings and haphazard archways leading to small side streets and glittering arcades, along with several market stalls operated by cheerful, ruddy-faced vendors who waved at them as they strolled by. Elphaba had wanted to stop at a few of them, but Galinda could be single-minded when she wanted to be, and she was on a mission. However, when they wandered past a small stall with lilac drapings that seemed to be selling art supplies, Elphaba put her foot down.

‘Elphie ,’ Galinda protested, yanking at her arm. ‘Please, we don’t have a lot of time! There’s so much I want to do!’ Despite her efforts, Galinda couldn’t so much as nudge Elphaba, given the girl’s superior strength, and she let out a petulant huff. 

‘We can spare 5 minutes,’ Elphaba said patiently. ‘Besides, Milla and Shenshen have paused to inspect the cobblers, and goodness knows where Pfannee has wandered off to - we can’t storm off without them. And I want to take a look at this stuff.’

She let go of Galinda’s hand and nodded to the vendor - a slight, bespectacled woman with a startling crop of black hair, who recoiled slightly on seeing her - and inspected the wears. 

‘Since when were you even remotely interested in art?’ Galinda said, folding her arms with a dramatic flourish. She knew she could be petulant when she didn’t get her own way, but she found herself not caring when it was just Elphaba with her. It was pleasant, in a way, to be unabashedly herself. 

‘Since I found out you liked painting,’ replied Elphaba, with a grin. 

‘Huh?’ Galinda frowned. ‘What - when did I -’

‘ - Yesterday in Dillamond’s class,’ said Elphaba. ‘You mentioned it briefly before you decided to take over the entire lesson.’

‘...Oh,’ Galinda said meekly. She just knew she had gone pink again. She really wished she didn’t blush so much when she was flustered. I can’t believe Elphie would notice something I just mentioned in passing. I had no idea how much she paid attention.

In truth, Galinda really loved the idea of taking up painting again. She had retired her materials - despite her granny’s persistent encouragement to nurture her talent - after the incident with the WELCOME HOME sign she’d painted for her father when she was a child. Quite aside from the fact that she was upset he’d been so dismissive of her efforts, the real kicker was her mother’s reaction to the paint stains on her dress. They didn’t come out in the wash. When Galinda protested, saying she’d asked for play dresses that could get messy, she’d been swiftly smacked for answering back and sent to her room. Argumentative little girl , she’d been called. Young ladies shouldn't have dresses required specifically for mess, she was informed. And the next morning, when she’d timidly emerged from her room, with swollen eyes and dried tears on her cheeks, her painting supplies had mysteriously disappeared. 

A year or so later, her granny had gifted her a set of oil paints. Our little secret, duckling, she’d winked, patting her head. But Galinda had been too terrified to use them for fear of leaving paint stains her parents might find. The set gathered dust, untouched, under her bed. Her granny eventually stopped asking to see any new paintings. Sometimes, Galinda wondered if it had driven a rift between them, as if her failure to defy her parents’ wishes was disappointing to her granny in some way. But as the years went by, she was loved just the same - even if her granny did keep gifting her little art supplies here and there. Galinda was happy enough to stick to quick pencil sketches using the graphites she’d been given, but nothing more. Nothing messy. Nothing she might be told off for. 

Swallowing, Galinda looked longingly over the various bits and pieces available for purchase. She could feel Elphaba watching her as nails traced over a wooden box. 

‘Can we open this?’ Elphaba asked immediately, pointing at the box beneath Galinda’s lingering fingers.

‘Please, be my guest,’ the woman nodded, apparently overlooking her initial shock from Elphaba’s skin when she realised she was an interested customer. ‘The silver clasps can be a little snappy, though, so do watch your fingers.’

Elphaba carefully flicked them open, revealing a handsome watercolour set stuffed with meticulously ordered tubes of paints, a collection of brushes, a little wooden palette, a couple of graphite pencils, and a kneadable eraser. Galinda hovered just over her shoulder, and she gave an awed sigh.

‘Gosh, isn’t that pretty?’ she breathed. While she hadn’t painted for a long time, she could tell the materials were superior, and there was something immensely satisfying about seeing all the coloured tubes lined up so neatly. And watercolours are safe. They come out in the wash.

‘How much?’ Elphaba asked, closing the box.

‘For that? 40 green pennies.’

Quite expensive, pouted Galinda, but it does look handsome indeed.

‘And you’d want to pick up a pad of watercolour paper, if you’re interested,’ the vendor continued, rooting around the clutter on the table. She produced a leatherbound notebook, just a little larger than A5. ‘This is 10 green pennies, but if you take that set, I’ll part with it for 5.’

Elphaba hummed in thought, her nails tapping over the wood.

‘What do you think?’ she asked Galinda.

‘Huh?’ she said. ‘I mean, if you want to get into painting, I’d recommend a beginner’s set rather than something like -’

‘ - Not for me, you silly thing,’ Elphaba chuckled. ‘I meant for you!’

‘What? Why?’

Elphaba gave her a small smile. ‘I just wondered whether you might like a set to play around with, you know? After what you said in Dillamond’s seminar, it got me thinking.’

Galinda’s eyes grew wide, feeling her cheeks flushing a delicate pink. ‘I - I’ve not really thought about it.’

‘Well, I have. I think it would be nice if you could pick up a paintbrush again, if you wanted,’ Elphaba said softly. She looked up at the vendor. ‘I’ll take the watercolour set and that sketchpad, if that’s okay?’

‘Certainly!’ the vendor beamed. 

‘Elphie, hang on a moment,’ Galinda said, grabbing her elbow as the vendor started to wrap up the items in thick, brown paper. ‘You - you don’t have to do this, you know. There’s no reason to! It’s not like it’s my birthday or anything.’

‘I don’t need a reason to treat you,’ Elphaba shrugged.

‘B-but it’s expensive -’

‘ - And I’ve plenty of money,’ Elphaba interrupted, rummaging in her pocket for her coin purse. ‘My father has some uses, I suppose.’

‘Yes, but -’

‘ - Galinda,’ Elphaba said, planting her index finger over Galinda’s lips and winking at her, ‘I’ll not hear another word of protest. I want to buy you these things. And besides, I’d love to see what you can do with a paintbrush.’

Galinda blushed a little at the feeling of Elphaba’s finger on her lips. ‘...Well, only if you’re absolutely certain, Elphie, but I’m more than happy to go without, or to pay for it myself.’

Elphaba shook her head. ‘No more arguments. Now, repeat after me.’ She took the parcel from the vendor with a grateful smile, and offered it to Galinda. ‘ Thank you.’

A smile pulled at Galinda’s lips. ‘...Thank you.’

‘You’re welcome,’ Elphaba beamed. 

She looks so pleased with herself, Galinda thought fondly. How adorable. Wait - is that okay? To think she’s adorable? It’s not like I think she’s pretty , or anything like that. Even though she is. Pretty, I mean. Ever so pretty. Oh, Oz -

‘Where to next?’ Elphaba asked, jogging Galinda out of her thoughts. 

‘Oh! Um - well, there is a delightful little boutique I’d like to show you - it’s actually where I got my Ozdust dress, you know - but I suppose we ought to check in with the others first.’

Elphaba pulled a face. ‘If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather not go clothes shopping.’

‘What?’ Galinda whined. ‘Oh, why? I want to do some proper shopping!’

‘I know, I know,’ Elphaba said. ‘But you can do that with the others. I’m sure Milla would oblige.’

Galinda fought to keep the disappointment out of her tone. ‘...I wanted to do it with you, though.’

Elphaba’s face softened. ‘Right. It’s just - well, historically speaking, I’ve never much enjoyed clothes shopping.’

Galinda was horrified. She couldn’t comprehend such a bizarre notion. ‘Huh? Why not? Oh, Elphie, it’s the most fun a girl can have!’

‘Sure. But not green girls,’ Elphaba mumbled, not quite meeting her eye. ‘ Look at me, Galinda. It’s hard for me to just wander into a shop and try on things without people staring at me. And every time I do, the store clerks act as if I just infected the clothes merely with my touch. It doesn’t exactly fill one with confidence.’

Galinda felt her stomach sinking. It hadn’t even occurred to her, in her excited state, to consider how tricky it must’ve been for Elphaba to even entertain the idea of clothes shopping. 

‘...Oh, right,’ she mumbled. ‘Sorry. I didn’t even think.’

‘You needn’t apologise,’ said Elphaba. ‘It’s just…not something I really enjoy.’

‘That’s fine! Who - who needs to go clothes shopping, anyway?’ Galinda exclaimed. ‘In fact, it’s probably best that I don’t buy any more stuff, considering we’re already struggling for space. Although if you’d part with some of your atrocious smocks, we might have more room for new things.’

Elphaba laughed, and Galinda beamed. She was fairly certain Elphaba’s laughter was her favourite sound in the world. A-Apart from the sound of darling Fiyero’s voice, of course!

‘Point taken,’ Elphaba smiled. ‘And look, just because I don’t want to go clothes shopping, it doesn’t mean you can’t. I’m more than happy to come with you if you want a little peruse.’

Galinda frowned at her. ‘But that’s no fun for you, Elphie!’

‘Of course it’s fun. I get to be with you.’

For the millionth time that day, Galinda blushed scarlet. 

*

Clothes shopping with Galinda Upland was, to say the least, an illuminating experience. Elphaba had no idea the girl could move at such an incredible pace in high heels, nor tear through clothing racks at the speed of light, nor fail to pause for breath when she got to rambling about how exceptional that stitching is and gosh, what an innovative idea, to bring back puffed sleeves! or this rather reminds me of Madame Priestly’s last winter collection, which I rather think is a timeless thing and ought to never be retired! It seemed Galinda had a very fixated interest in fashion and knew an awful lot about it. She explained the tiniest details to Elphaba, seemingly knowing the deep histories of each design they came across, and even provided niche little facts about different types of fabric and how certain garments were crafted. Elphaba learnt a lot. 

Most of all, though, her arms hurt. Somehow, she had ended up carrying everything. The watercolour set and sketchbook aside, Galinda had also splurged on three new pairs of shoes; a bubblegum pink scarf ( it snows a lot in Frottica, I’ve already told you! she had proclaimed); a matching set of silken gloves; several skirts; a pale pink leather jacket; another set of gloves ( these will go with my other winter coat, Elphie ); several different dresses in varying shades of pink that all looked identical to Elphaba; and a large collection of lotions and creams to continue her endless beauty routine. Balancing all the boxes and bags was a perilous task indeed, and Elphaba was a little irked that she had ended up saddled with it all. The only thing Galinda was carrying was her own clutch. They had lost the others to an ice-cream parlour about an hour ago - Galinda had decided it was far too chilly for frozen dessert! despite wearing a somewhat flimsy dress - leaving Elphaba the only victim of her tyrannical shopping spree.

When the blonde had eventually tired herself out, they had just under an hour before they were to meet the others by their self-imposed deadline. Her feet and arms hurting, Elphaba managed to convince Galinda to take a break in a sweet little café called The Broken Biscuit.

‘ Ahhh,’ sighed Galinda, settling down at the table while Elphaba struggled to arrange the copious number of bags. 

‘Why are you the one sighing?’ Elphaba spluttered indignantly, massaging her hands - indented from all the bag handles - before collapsing in the seat opposite her. ‘Last time I checked, someone didn’t have to carry all of the shopping!’

Galinda grinned at her, planting her elbows on the table and placing her chin atop her folded hands. ‘Oh, come on now, Elphie. A girl like me can’t be expected to carry her own shopping.’

‘And let me guess,’ Elphaba muttered, ‘a girl like you can’t possibly order her own coffee, can she?’

‘Correct!’ beamed Galinda. ‘I rather fancy a tea, though, if it’s all the same to you. Peppermint.’

Groaning under her breath, Elphaba hauled herself back to her aching feet and made her way to the counter. Given it was the weekend, the café was packed. She was in the queue for a while, but it gave her the chance to ruminate on her beverage of choice - and also to work up the courage to talk to Galinda about what had happened earlier. She wanted to make sure, first and foremost, that Galinda was okay. Avaric had been exceptionally invasive. But a small part of her was curious about the development. She spoke so fondly of Fiyero, after all, even claiming they would marry one day, and had certainly spent the night with him on more than one occasion. While Elphaba had never even kissed anyone before, she wasn’t stupid. She knew what most couples got up to behind closed doors. And she was genuinely surprised Galinda hadn’t. Maybe she’s just not ready for it, or something. It’s not like they’ve been dating for long. Yet, the look of panic on her face when Avaric started to air her dirty laundry made Elphaba think there was more afoot than Galinda or Fiyero were letting on. 

In the end, she ordered a peppermint tea for Galinda, a green tea for herself (the irony was not lost on her, nor the amused barista who prepared it) and a large chocolate chip cookie to tide them over until lunch back at campus. 

‘Thank you, Elphie,’ Galinda smiled, when the cup was set down in front of her. ‘This is just what the doctor ordered, so to speak. I didn’t realise I was quite so parched.’

‘Do you want any of this?’ asked Elphaba, taking a knife to the cookie and cutting it in half. It was warm and stuffed with melted chocolate. Galinda peered at it. 

‘Oz, better not. Just think of the fat content,’ she shuddered. 

‘You’ve done about ten thousand steps today, and then some,’ said Elphaba, raising an eyebrow. ‘I’m sure you can afford a little sweet snack.’

‘Aw, don’t you think I’m sweet enough?’ Galinda giggled, fluttering her eyelashes.

‘I think you’ve not had anything since breakfast, which wasn’t exactly substantial,’ Elphaba said, not swayed by her distraction tactics. She pushed the plate towards her. ‘Have your half. I bought it to share. Go on.’

Galinda’s fingernails drummed on the porcelain of her cup. ‘I’m fine with my tea.’

‘Galinda -’

‘I said I’m fine with the tea, Elphaba,’ Galinda said, a little sternly. ‘Besides, we’ll be heading back for lunch soon enough. I’ll have something then.’

Elphaba didn’t push it, but somewhere in the back of her mind, alarm bells started to ring. She took a sip of her tea, enjoying the rich, earthy taste that spread over her tongue, and eyed the other patrons. There were families, couples, and several Shiz students using the space to study. As usual, she got a few surprised looks, but no one commented - a blessing, really, since she wasn’t sure how Galinda would react. She seemed to be on a protective streak since she spoke up for her in Dillamond’s class. They were tucked away in a small alcove which limited onlookers, and Elphaba found herself relaxing.

‘This is lovely,’ Galinda hummed, raising her cup in a toast. ‘Much better than the stuff they serve back at school. Oh! That reminds me - I need to replenish our little stock. If I have to survive on Shiz’s subpar blend without our supply, I fear I’ll expire before I can even sit those wretched progress exams.’

Elphaba glanced at her watch. ‘Well, we have a little time before we said we’d meet the others in the town square. If we don’t linger here, I imagine we’ll be able to make a pit stop. But before that…’ Elphaba trailed off, taking a slow, reverent bite of the cookie. It was absolutely delicious. She chewed and swallowed slowly, buying herself time to figure out what she wanted to say. Galinda eyed her all the while. ‘...Um, I suppose I wanted to check in with you. About what happened this morning with Avaric.’

Galinda literally seemed to bristle. Her face was steadily turning pink. ‘Oh. Er - yes, I’m fine. I mean - he was obviously out of line, but he certainly got his comeuppance, didn’t he? I wanted to ask, in fact, about that magic you performed! What did it feel like? Was it something Morrible taught you?’

Elphaba could feel her changing the subject, which only confirmed her suspicions - there was something Galinda was holding back. She dropped her voice to a low tone, though their nook afforded them some privacy.

‘That doesn’t matter,’ she murmured. ‘I just - I’m sorry Avaric said all those things, Galinda. I know it made you uncomfortable. Especially if it’s…you know, true.’

‘And what if it is?’ Galinda said, suddenly quite irate. ‘Are you going to make fun of me, too? Call me - what was it - sex-averse? Frigid? That sort of thing?’

‘Of course not,’ Elphaba replied, keeping her voice level and soft. ‘It’s none of my business what you do with Fiyero. But - Oz, I don’t know - I suppose I assumed you two…’ she paused, taking another sip of her tea distractedly, ‘...You know. Considering how much you like him.’

‘Don’t beat around the bush, Elphaba,’ Galinda muttered. ‘You can ask whether we’ve had sex or not. But I guess you don’t really need to, do you? Not since Avaric so gleefully made sure everyone knows we haven’t. ’

‘Which is fine, obviously,’ Elphaba said quickly, sensing Galinda was getting more and more uncomfortable. ‘It’s just - well - you don’t seem too happy about it. I guess I wanted to check in.’ She cringed as she said it, but it was totally unchartered territory for her. It wasn’t as if she’d had a friend before, least of all someone to engage in girltalk with. She had absolutely no idea what she was doing. 

Galinda bit her lip, her fingers idly tracing the handle of her teacup. ‘...I’m fine, Elphie, truly. Apart from being utterly mortified. Oz… I hope Shen and the others don’t go telling anyone else.’

‘I’m sure they won’t,’ Elphaba soothed. ‘They were very much on your side, after all. I’m more surprised at Fiyero for even discussing it with Avaric.’

‘Oh, I suppose I can’t blame him,’ Galinda said forlornly. ‘After all, it must be terribly frustrating for him that I don’t want to -’ she cut herself off, as if realising a second too late that she’d spoken for longer than she wanted to. There it is, Elphaba thought sadly. 

‘...Look, I’m not an expert in the matter,’ she said gently, as Galinda squirmed in her seat and refused to meet her eye, ‘but if you don’t want to do that with him just yet, you shouldn’t put any pressure on yourself or feel bad about it. You’ve been with him for less than a month. There’s no rush.’

She was certain she heard Galinda gulp. They were both quiet for a moment, taking periodic sips of their respective tea, and Elphaba picked at the cookie. She dug out a chocolate chip from the dough and rolled it around her mouth. It melted in the time it took for Galinda to respond. 

‘I - I do feel bad about it.’ Her voice was very small. ‘But not for the reasons you think. Fiyero hasn’t pressured me in any way - Oz, he’s been a dream, especially compared to the other boys I’ve dated. It’s just…I don’t know. I’m not sure that I’ll ever want to do that with him.’

Elphaba slipped into a stunned silence for a beat. What? How can that be? She’s been obsessed with him since the moment he set foot on campus!

‘Oh,’ Galinda whispered, shaking her head. ‘No, no. Forget I said anything. I - I didn’t mean it. I didn’t. He’s perfect. I-In fact, I might pay him a visit tonight and -’

‘ - Easy, Galinda,’ Elphaba said, cutting her off before she could start to work herself up. ‘I was just a little taken-aback, that’s all. And it’s completely fine if you don’t want to go there with Fiyero, no matter what the likes of Avaric might say. I guess I’m just trying to figure out why.’

Galinda seemed to struggle with herself, shifting on the wooden chair.

‘I just -’ she cut herself off, swallowing thickly. ‘I - I’m not entirely sure that Fiyero and I…That we’re compatible.’

Elphaba’s eyes widened. ‘What do you mean? I thought you wanted to marry him?’

‘I do! ’ Galinda protested. ‘Or at least I thought I did. I love the idea of him, Elphie. I love that he’s so handsome and jovial, that he’s a prince , and that he’s so terribly kind. I love that he adores me. But…but him ? Him, and his heart? I’m not convinced that I am truly meant for it. It’s like I’m admiring a beautiful painting, but not the real thing. And that’s because…’ she paused, swallowing again. ‘...That’s because I don’t have to kiss a beautiful painting.’

‘Oh, Galinda,’ Elphaba whispered, her fingers tightening around her cup. ‘Of course you don’t have to kiss him if you don’t want to. Or do anything, for that matter. And, well…You do know that you don’t have to be with him, right?’

Galinda froze. ‘Whatever do you mean?’

Elphaba felt her stomach twist. ‘Galinda, if you don’t want to date Fiyero, then you should not feel compelled to. I know he’s a great suitor, or whatever you were harping on about when you first met, but that doesn’t mean you need to marry him or do anything with him if you don’t want to. You can make your own choice here.’

Galinda shook her head. ‘You don’t understand, Elphie.’

‘What don’t I understand?’ She kept her tone soft, gentle, as if to not scare Galinda off. There was another long pause. The sounds of the hissing steam wand from the coffee machine and clinks of teacups echoed in the space. Galinda took a while to gather herself. 

‘If I’m not with him,’ she whispered, still refusing to look at Elphaba, ‘then it makes everything so much more complicated. A-And anyway,’ she took a quick sip of her drink, as if to compose herself, ‘it’s early days, as you said. I’m sure I’ll warm up to him. I’m just being silly.’

Elphaba pressed her lips together in a thin line. ‘You’re not being silly. You can’t force yourself to feel something you don’t.’

Galinda’s breath hitched. ‘I - it’s not that I need to force myself, Elphaba. I do like Fiyero. He’s a true gentleman. And a perfect match.’ She forced a smile on her face, but Elphaba saw straight through it. ‘I mean, can you imagine it? Me, marrying a prince? It would be the talk of Gilliken! Momsie and Popsicle would be beside themselves with joy, and - goodness -’ she tried at smiling again, and it made Elphaba feel a bit unwell, ‘ - I imagine I’d have an official title. How wonderful!’

‘That’s all well and good,’ Elphaba said, ‘but that doesn’t mean you’re supposed to be with him if you don’t want to be.’

‘I - I do want to be,’ argued Galinda, her chest rising and falling a little too rapidly. ‘You - Oz, you’re twisting my words.’

‘You literally just told me you didn’t think you were compatible.’

‘Yes, for now, ’ Galinda hissed. ‘These things can take time. And anyway, just because I might feel something, it doesn’t mean it’s true. Momsie has always said I can’t tell what’s best for me, so - so while I might feel a little strange about Fiyero right now, it doesn’t mean I will in the - in the future. I just need to give us a chance. He’s perfect. Perfect. ’

‘Hmm,’ Elphaba frowned. ‘So perfect that you don’t want to sleep with him?’

‘Stop it,’ Galinda snapped. ‘You don’t understand.’

‘I understand that you’re trying to convince yourself to be with him because you think you ought to, Galinda,’ Elphaba said worriedly. ‘And while I am very aware that I don’t have any experience with relationships, I’m also not a fool. I can tell when something isn’t quite right. And from what you’ve just told me, I can’t help but feel like the only reason you're enduring Fiyero is because he fits the cut-out you’ve formed in your mind that affords you a life that’s expected of you.’

Elphaba knew she was probably laying it on a little thick, given how delicate the situation was, but she certainly didn’t expect Galinda to shoot up from her chair, her eyes shining, and march over to the café’s lone bathroom. She slammed the door so loudly that some of the picture frames shook. Elphaba let out a groan, sinking into her chair. Nice one, Elphaba. Way to tread carefully. 

Galinda didn’t appear for some time. Elphaba drained her teacup and watched as a small queue began to form outside the door. Since it was a small café, there was only one bathroom, and Galinda had been ensconced inside for nearly ten minutes. Elphaba was just about to get up and knock on the door, when the barista who had served her earlier approached.

‘Sorry,’ he said, rubbing the back of his neck, ‘but would you mind checking on your friend? You came in with her, right? The pretty blonde.’

‘Yes, of course,’ Elphaba said, standing up and brushing away the cookie crumbs that had landed on her dress.

‘Thanks. I wouldn’t normally ask, but it’s a busy day and people are starting to get antsy. I had one mother call me an incompetent weed for not breaking down the door for her snotty toddler. Customers, eh?’ He gave her a bashful smile.

‘Yeah. Sorry,’ Elphaba said. 

She hurried to the front of the queue, ignoring the disgruntled protests, and knocked on the door.

‘Galinda?’ she said. ‘It’s me. Are you okay in there?’

She got no response, so she pressed her ear to the door.

‘Honestly,’ someone in the queue muttered, ‘how selfish! It’s a public bathroom, not a private en suite.’

‘Please be quiet,’ Elphaba hissed, shooting her a sour look. 

‘Why, how rude!’

Rolling her eyes, Elphaba tried to tune out the woman and attempt to feel sympathetic, under the circumstances. It was never pleasant to wait around for the bathroom. Unfortunately, though, judging from the quiet sniffles coming from within, it would be a while before Galinda emerged. Oh, shit. She’s crying. 

Easing away from the door, Elphaba knocked again, louder. 

‘Galinda,’ she called. ‘Let me in, won’t you? I’d rather not have to break the door down and foot the bill.’

There was more silence. Elphaba was gearing up to shoulder it open - never a good idea, but alas - when she heard faint shuffling from inside, followed by the sound of the lock sliding.

‘It’s about bloody time,’ muttered the woman at the front of the queue, barging her way forward, but Elphaba was quicker. She pushed the door open enough to get inside and hastily closed and locked it behind her, ignoring the squawk of protest she heard. Galinda was upset, and she knew the girl well enough by now to understand how humiliating it would be for her to be seen crying in public. 

‘Galinda,’ she began, but she cut herself off when she laid eyes on her. Galinda wasn’t just crying. She was hyperventilating. Immediately, Elphaba was flung back to the last time she’d seen Galinda having a panic attack - the broken glass incident - but the current situation was a lot worse. They weren’t in the familiar privacy of their suite, and there was a very angry woman hammering on the door outside. Galinda flinched at the sound and pushed herself into the corner, practically cowering. 

‘I’m sorry, I’m s-sorry,’ she gasped, her voice tight. ‘I - I d-don’t know what h-happened, but I can’t breathe, I can’t - E-Elphie, I can’t - ’

‘ - It’s okay, Galinda, it’s okay,’ Elphaba murmured, approaching her. ‘Do you remember that breathing technique I taught you?’

Galinda shook her head frantically.

‘Don’t worry, I can remind you,’ replied Elphaba, trying very hard to act as composed as she sounded. Galinda had sunk to the bathroom floor, choking on her own breath, and Elphaba joined her. She really must be freaking out, if she’ll allow herself to sit down on this filthy floor.

‘N-No, no, no, ’ Galinda stammered. ‘I - it won’t h-help, I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe - I n-need to - to -’  a breath got lodged in her throat and she coughed on it. Her hands were tugging at the neckline of her dress as if it was strangling her and Elphaba grabbed her wrists, worried she was going to rip the fabric. 

‘Calm down,’ she said. ‘Just - just focus on my voice and let me help.’

Galinda shook her head again. Tears were prickling in the corners of her eyes, and instead of breathing, she was almost wheezing. Elphaba felt her own panic mounting. It sounded like she couldn’t breathe at all. Like something was blocking her airway. She had gone deathly pale.

‘D-don’t tell anyone,’ she whimpered, her head tilting back against the wall. ‘ Please, don’t tell anyone.’

‘Tell anyone what? ’ Elphaba said urgently, wanting to understand the root of Galinda’s emotional spiral in the hopes she might be able to help. 

‘A-About Fiyero ,’ Galinda whispered, still very much struggling to breathe. ‘I didn't m-mean it. I’m just being stupid. Stupid. Like always. I - I do like him, I do, I do, I do -’

‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ Elphaba whispered, closing her eyes in guilt. She hadn’t realised their conversation was going to upset her so much. There’s something else going on in that head of hers. ‘Galinda, it’s okay. I won’t tell anyone. And quite frankly, I don’t care about any of that right now. I just want you to breathe.’

‘I c-can’t, I can’t - ’

‘You can, I promise,’ she said softly, holding her hands. ‘You’re panicking, Galinda, and it’s making it difficult for your mind to regulate your emotions.’

‘You don’t get it,’ Galinda gasped, her hands cold and slick with sweat against Elphaba’s. ‘I can’t. I can’t. A-and Momsie will find out about F-Fiyero because I’ll m-mess it all up and -  and she’ll s-shout at me, b-but I can’t help it, I can’t help that I don’t want him to t-touch me -’ 

‘ - Okay, okay,’ Elphaba soothed, her heart beating hard in her chest. She didn’t know what she was supposed to do . It was too sudden. Too much. She wanted to get help but didn’t know who to ask. But she couldn’t exactly leave her in that state. Taking a steadying breath herself, Elphaba quickly moved one of her hands up to hold Galinda’s face. The sudden movement seemed to startle Galinda even more. 

‘N-no, please don’t, don’t - !’ she cried, jerking herself back so hard away from Elphaba’s hand that the back of her head caught against the wall. 

‘Oz, be careful!’ Elphaba exclaimed.

‘I’m s-sorry,’ Galinda stammered, her eyes wide and fearful. For a moment, she looked like a child again. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, I’ll be more c-careful, Elphie, I’m sorry .’

‘Stop apologising -’

‘ - I’ve ruined it,’ whimpered Galinda, tears leaking from her eyes in earnest. ‘I’ve ruined everything with F-Fiyero and I’ve ruined your day and I c-can’t breathe - Oz, I can’t - I can’t -’

Elphaba swore under her breath. She was saying all the wrong things.

‘Galinda, I promise you can breathe,’ she said, her tone tight with concern. ‘If you couldn’t, do you really think I’d still be here? I’d have gone to get some actual help. You - you just need to pause, breathe through your nose, and try to calm down.’

She might as well have been talking to the tiled wall that Galinda was pressing into. She tried to take her own words to heart and calm down herself, but watching Galinda start to crumble was making her want to dissolve into tears herself. She watched mutely as a strangled sob broke from Galinda’s throat. She wasn’t crying so much as she was simply unable to contain the panic bursting out of her chest. 

‘G-Galinda, please don't cry,’ said Elphaba, swallowing a lump in her throat. ‘I need you to breathe for me. Can you do that? We’ll sort it all out, I promise we will, but I need you to breathe or you’re going to make yourself sick.’

‘I’m trying, I’m t-trying,’ Galinda sniffled, her voice thick. ‘But I can’t - it feels like my l-lungs won’t fill properly and my chest is caving in and -’

There was another sharp knock at the door. Their heads snapped in unison.

‘For Oz’s sake! ’ came the voice of the queue-woman. ‘ If you take much longer, I’m going to fetch the manager! ’

Galinda dissolved into a freeze bout of wheezing tears. ‘N-No, no - I can’t - they can’t s-see me, Elphie, they can’t -’

‘ - They won’t. ’ Slowly, so as not to startle her, Elphaba brought her hands up again to cup her face. Her thumbs stroked over her wet cheeks. ‘ Breathe, Galinda. With me.’

Galinda blinked at her, her eyes huge and red-rimmed, and Elphaba was fairly certain she felt her heart twinge. ‘O-Okay.’

Elphaba made a show of taking in a deep, steady breath through her nose, and releasing it through her mouth. Galinda, twitching from her quiet sobs, tried to follow along with her.

‘That’s it,’ Elphaba said, still stroking her tear-stained cheeks. ‘In for five, out for five.’

‘I -’ Galinda whimpered, fresh tears leaking from her eyes. ‘I’m s-sorry, I don’t know why I -’

‘ - There is absolutely no need to apologise, my sweet.’

The nickname slipped out before Elphaba could stop it. She felt her face heat up and prayed Galinda, in her disheveled state, hadn’t noticed. The girl trembled and sniffed, her breaths stuttering in her chest as she attempted to calm herself down. 

‘I - I just -’ she stammered, her jaw twitching and her fists clenching in the fabric of her dress, ‘I c-can’t - I can’t -’

‘ - Galinda, you don’t need to try and explain yourself right now,’ Elphaba said gently, a tear catching on her thumb. ‘All you need to do is get your breathing under control, and everything else will start to feel more manageable.’

‘But I n-need you to - to understand, ’ she lamented. ‘I - what I said about F-Fiyero, I didn’t mean it, I didn’t mean it - d-don’t tell anyone. Please, please don’t tell anyone.’

Oz, thought Elphaba, biting her lip, she’s really hung up over this. I wonder why?

‘I won’t say a word, cross my heart,’ she promised.

Galinda spat out another choked wheeze, closing her eyes. ‘Okay, good. I just - I do like him, Elphie, I s-swear it, there’s just something w-wrong with me. ’

‘Don’t say that,’ whispered Elphaba, swallowing thickly.

‘No, but - but there is, ’ she whimpered, shaking her head. ‘Avaric was r-right. I am frigid. I should - I should want him. H-He’s so perfect. I just - I don’t know why I - why it’s so hard for me to - I mean, I let other boys do w-whatever they wanted, and I -’

She was cut off when the door shook in its hinges. She recoiled and shrunk even more into the corner, her eyes wide and fearful. 

‘I apologise, ’ came a new voice that Elphaba assumed was the manager, ‘ but I really must insist you vacate the bathroom. If you’ve taken ill, we can call someone.’

‘Give us a minute!’ barked Elphaba, feeling the heat of anger wash over the back of her neck. 

‘This is completely unreasonable! ’ complained the queue-woman. ‘There are other people out here who need to use the facilities too, you know! ’

Galinda sucked in a panicked breath and started to struggle to her feet, shaking.

‘Galinda, we don’t need to go until you’re ready,’ Elphaba said, rising with her. 

‘N-No, it’s fine, it’s fine,’ she whispered. She still wasn’t breathing properly. ‘I’ll just s-splash some water on my face.’ She made her way to the sink and whimpered when she caught sight of her reflection. ‘Oh, Oz. I - I can’t let them see. Don’t let them see me. I - I n-need - Elphie, get my clutch from the t-table, won’t you? It has my makeup in it. I can f-fix this. Fix me.’

Elphaba looked at her sadly, feeling like she’d swallowed a stone. ‘...You’re not even breathing properly. We’re not leaving until you’ve calmed yourself down.’

‘No, ’ Galinda protested. ‘I’m just b-being silly. Stupid. I’m s-stupid. It’s my fault and I’m stupid and I’m s-sorry for causing all this trouble and -’

Elphaba had enough. Without thinking too much about what she was doing, she gently took Galinda by the shoulders, turned her around, and hugged her. Galinda froze in her arms for a moment, before she quivered, let out a small sob, and melted into the embrace. Elphaba stroked her hands down her back. She felt clammy through the fabric of her dress.

‘It’s okay,’ she breathed, as Galinda cried into the crook of her neck. ‘We don’t need to rush.’ There was an ill-timed banging on the door, and Galinda flinched. ‘Ignore them. Take your time to gather yourself, alright?’

Elphaba felt Galinda’s hands clenching the back of her dress, holding on for dear life.

‘Keep breathing, Galinda,’ Elphaba murmured. ‘Follow my lead. In for five, out for five.’

‘Will you please open the door? ’ 

‘E-Elphie, they -’

‘ - Shush,’ soothed Elphaba. She was about to stroke through Galinda’s hair, but caught herself. She wasn’t certain how she’d react, given her previous experience, and it likely wasn’t a good idea in her frazzled state. Instead, she rubbed small circles over her back, breathing along with her, whispering reassurances. ‘It’s okay. You’re doing brilliantly. It’s all okay.’

‘Just break the door down! ’ howled the woman from outside the bathroom.

‘Madame, I understand you’re frustrated, but I can’t do that unless there’s cause to - like a medical emergency, ’ said the manager, sounding increasingly stressed. ‘There are other facilities just next door if you don’t want to wait. ’

‘I don’t want to go next door! I am a patron at your establishment, for Oz’s sake! ’

Under any other circumstance, Elphaba would’ve felt sympathetic towards the woman. She didn’t know what she was dealing with, after all, and she had the right to access a public bathroom. But Galinda was crying, and that was all she cared about. 

‘That’s it,’ she said, holding her close. Galinda smelt faintly of vanilla and something floral. ‘Keep breathing. Keep breathing.’

Galinda mumbled something into Elphaba’s neck that she couldn’t quite make out, her voice fractured.

‘Hm?’

‘I - I’m sorry -’

‘ - None of that, now. You don’t need to apologise.’

‘B-But I - I don’t know what even h-happened. And I’ve ruined our l-lovely day .’

Elphaba closed her eyes, holding her tighter. ‘Galinda, listen to me. You’ve not ruined anything at all. I’m glad I can be here for you, and I’ve loved our day regardless, so please don’t worry about that. Just keep breathing for me, okay? Keep breathing.’

Galinda did as Elphaba asked, struggling with the effort of calming herself down, and slowly but surely, she started to settle. Elphaba held her all the while, snapping at the manager and woman outside to give them a minute, and whispered reassurances. 

It was horrible to see Galinda in such a sorry state. The girl was usually so animated, hyperactive and vivacious, and witnessing her being reduced to a heaving sobs and panicked breaths was difficult for Elphaba. She wanted to ask more. She wanted to find out why Galinda was so convinced she had to stay with Fiyero, even if she didn’t feel anything for him. And most of all, she wanted to tell her that she didn’t need to do anything remotely sexual with him if she didn’t want to. Just the idea of her going along with it made her blood boil.

‘There you go,’ she murmured, when Galinda’s shoulders finally stopped jerking. ‘You’re okay, Galinda. You’re safe.’

Galinda sniffled, drawing back from the hug and wiping at her eyes and nose self-consciously. She shifted on the spot, at a loss. 

‘How do you feel?’ Elphaba asked, watching as Galinda tried to tidy up the smudged mascara under her eyes. 

‘...Like an utter fool.’

‘Galinda -’

‘ - It’s fine, Elphie,’ she swallowed. ‘You don’t happen to have a tissue, do you?’

‘A hankie, but yes.’ She gave Galinda the one she always carried with her - the same design as the one she had given to her in the bathrooms long before they were friends. That feels like a lifetime ago…

Galinda took several shaky breaths and did her best to clean her face with the hankie. It remained obvious that she’d been crying, though. If she was to disguise the fact before they met up with Shenshen, Pfannee and Milla, she’d need her makeup. 

‘We - we should probably go,’ said Galinda, a crease between her eyebrows. 

‘There’s no rush,’ replied Elphaba, her tone soft. ‘If you need more time to compose yourself, that’s fine.’

‘No, it’s okay,’ Galinda swallowed, running a hand through her hair. ‘I don’t want to make that lady even angrier. Um…’ she trailed off, twiddling her hands in front of her.

‘If you’re about to say sorry again, I’m marching out of here, grabbing all your shopping bags, and taking them back to the shops.’

To her relief, Galinda’s lips twitched in amusement. 

‘...I was actually going to say thank you,’ she murmured. ‘You know. For not leaving.’

‘As if I would,’ replied Elphaba. She reached forward and took her hand. ‘Come on. Let’s get you another cup of tea, hm? I imagine yours has cooled by now.’

Nodding, Galinda allowed Elphaba to lead her outside of the bathroom. The manager, a dark-haired man with a twirled moustache, almost melted with relief when they emerged. 

‘Apologies,’ Elphaba said coolly. ‘My friend needed a moment alone.’

‘That’s quite alright, Miss,’ began the manager, but he was interrupted.

‘ - Oz,’ spluttered the woman who had been complaining, staring pointedly at Galinda. ‘You look quite the state, dear!’

Galinda flinched, her cheeks flushing pink, and Elphaba glowered at the queue-woman with as much venom as she could muster.

‘Let’s go,’ she muttered, squeezing Galinda’s hand and leading her back to the table. The others in the queue for the bathroom stared at them as they did so, and Elphaba felt Galinda quite literally cringe against her, pressing herself against her arm as if she was trying to hide herself. ‘Don’t mind them. They’re just nosy.’

‘I can’t say I blame them,’ mumbled Galinda. 

Once they were back in their little alcove, Elphaba went to order Galinda a fresh cup of tea and a black coffee for herself. The barista slid them over the counter, telling her they were on the house and stealing a concerned look at Galinda, who was fussing with her appearance in her compact mirror. Elphaba nodded in thanks.

It was quite impressive how speedily Galinda was able to clean herself up with minimal supplies. She, judging by the objects scattered on the table, carried around the essentials in her travel makeup bag. She was busy dabbing on concealer under the dark circles that appeared under her swollen eyes, given she had cried off her foundation, when Elphaba returned with the tea.

‘Here,’ she said, setting it down. ‘You can have the rest of the cookie too, if you want.’ She nodded to the untouched half she had left for Galinda.

‘No, you go ahead,’ said Galinda. Her voice was throaty and quiet from crying. ‘But thanks for the tea.’

‘Yes, well, I’ve heard crying can dehydrate you.’

It was meant as a light joke to cut the tension, but Galinda didn’t even react. Elphaba bit her lip, wondering what to do. Should I leave it alone? Or try asking her about it? In the end, once the girl opposite had finished applying a fresh coat of lipgloss that made her lips look wonderfully shiny, Elphaba settled for the latter.

‘So…’ she said carefully, stirring the spoon around her coffee, ‘do you want to tell me what that was about?’

Galinda’s shoulders tensed. She smacked her lips together, before dropping the lipgloss in the makeup bag and zipping it closed. ‘I - it’s as I said. I don’t know what happened.’

‘You were fine until I mentioned Fiyero,’ Elphaba reasoned. 

‘It’s not your fault,’ Galinda said quickly, stuffing her makeup bag back inside her pink clutch. ‘Um, it’s just - well, you’ve seen it happen before. My meltdowns.’

‘Don’t call them that,’ Elphaba said softly. ‘They’re panic attacks, Galinda. And usually there’s a root cause for them. The first time I saw it happen, it was because of the glass. Just now, though, I - I don’t know. I’m worried about you.’

Galinda bristled like a discontent cat. ‘Please don’t. I’m fine. I simply had a peculiar moment, that’s all.’

‘You…’ Elphaba sighed, taking a sip from her coffee and grimacing a little. It was very strong. ‘You don’t have to tell me the details if you don’t want to. I’m only worried because you said that, in the past, you’ve had to…force yourself. And I need you to know that you needn’t force yourself with Fiyero or anyone else.’

‘I misspoke,’ Galinda shrugged, quite clearly lying through her teeth. ‘I didn’t need to force myself to do anything. I just meant that I wasn’t in love with the other boys. Not like Fiyero.’ She fluttered her newly mascara-coated eyes. ‘I’m certain I simply need a little more time with him, that’s all. My dashing prince.’

Elphaba felt the urge to kick something. ‘Galinda, I’m not stupid. You might’ve been panicking, but you told me that you don’t want Fiyero. How in Oz can that be translated as love?’

‘You think I wanted the other boys?’ Galinda snorted. ‘I did what I had to do, Elphaba. It’s expected of me. Momsie and Popsicle handpicked my suitors themselves, and I - well, I couldn’t exactly say no, could I?’

Ah, Elphaba frowned, the penny dropping. As usual, it comes back to those ghastly parents of hers. She sighed, trying to find the right words.

‘...You can always say no if it isn’t right for you, Galinda,’ she murmured, looking her right in the eye. They were still pink from her tears. ‘No matter what anyone else thinks - least of all your parents - if you don’t like the people you’re courting, then why suffer?’

Galinda lowered her gaze, her throat bobbing. ‘It’s not that simple.’

‘Of course it’s that simple.’

‘No, it’s - it’s just a case of not really knowing Fiyero well enough, that’s all.’ Galinda was pitching her voice higher, as if trying to sound chirpy and excitable. It made Elphaba’s head twinge. ‘Once we’ve spent more time together, I’m certain I’ll feel more strongly for him! He’s so wonderful, after all, and ever so amusing. Nothing like Lucian -’ she cut herself off, taking a large gulp of her tea. Elphaba arched an eyebrow. 

‘And who is Lucian?’ she asked.

‘Hm? Oh,’ Galinda said, waving a hand in the air. ‘He’s - he’s no one. Just someone from back home. This tea really is lovely, you know. I’ll have to ask them what blend they use! Perhaps it’s a local one? We could buy some, if that’s the case. I’ll go and -’

‘ - Galinda,’ Elphaba said, ‘who is Lucian?’

‘No one,’ said Galinda, not quite meeting her eye. ‘He’s just - um - he’s the son of one of Popsicle’s business partners. We courted for a while, that’s all.’

‘...And?’

‘And nothing,’ Galinda shrugged. 

‘Is he one of the boys you felt like you needed to -’

‘ - Elphaba,’ she interrupted sharply, ‘I don’t want to talk about it.’

‘But -’

‘ - No. ’

Elphaba relented, leaning back in her chair. The last thing she wanted was to upset the girl again. ‘Okay, that’s fine. Just…Will you hear me out for a second?’

Galinda let out an irritated sigh. ‘If you’re going to lecture me about Fiyero, then no, I won’t.’

‘It’s not a lecture,’ said Elphaba. She reached forward and grabbed Galinda’s hand. The girl was startled at the gesture, but relaxed when Elphaba interlocked their fingers and gave it a gentle squeeze. ‘I merely wanted to say that…Well, if you stay with Fiyero and your feelings don’t change, you don’t have any obligation to keep being his girlfriend. He’d understand. Image isn’t everything, Galinda. Your happiness and your comfort is more important, okay?’

Galinda eyed her sceptically, clearly not believing her. ‘...Okay. But please don’t worry about me, Elphie. I was being silly back there.’ She gestured to the bathroom with a flick of her head. ‘I - it happens sometimes, that’s all. I do want to be with Fiyero, of course I do. I was just getting all confused. I can be pretty stupid like that.’ She gave Elphaba a bashful smile.

‘You’re not stupid. I do wish you’d stop saying that,’ mumbled Elphaba. 

‘And I wish to move on from this silly subject,’ Galinda declared, tossing her hair over her shoulder. ‘Say, what’s your favourite of all the things I bought today, Elphie? I want your opinion so I can pick the perfect combination for my next date with Fiyero - something to really knock his socks off, you know?’

Elphaba knew for a fact that Galinda cared not for her opinion when it came to fashion. She just wanted to cling back to her illusion of control. Elphaba decided to indulge her, though. There was no point in pressing her about the panic attack or what she’d said about Fiyero. After just two weeks of being friends with her, Elphaba had figured out that Galinda was exceptionally stubborn once she’d set her mind to something. It would’ve been an admirable trait, were it not so frustrating.

They didn’t spend too long in The Broken Biscuit, given their deadline, and they left shortly after they’d finished their drinks. Galinda had time to pop into a shop and pick up some more peppermint tea, and before long, they had reunited with the others. They too were weighed down with purchases, and immediately launched into ‘shopping haul’ mode as they squealed with excitement about what they’d bought. Elphaba trailed behind them as they headed back to campus, deep in thought.

She studied the back of Galinda’s blonde head, watching her skipping along and chatting to Pfannee as if nothing had happened, as if she hadn’t suffered a huge panic attack in the bathroom at the mere prospect of being honest about her feelings regarding Fiyero. It was quite frightening, in many ways, that she was able to put herself back together so quickly. But the cracks were beginning to show. Elphaba knew there was more to the story than Galinda was allowing herself to reveal.

One way or another, I’m going to find out what’s really going on. And I’m going to help her. 

Chapter Text

Chapter Seven: Study

‘Okay,’ Galinda gulped, sizing herself up in the mirror. ‘I can do this. It’s only Fiyero. I can do this .’

After a morning dedicated to studying and worrying over the upcoming progress exams, Galinda was planning to ambush Fiyero and have a candid conversation about their relationship. She didn’t really know what she wanted to say, but she had to do something . They had hardly spoken in the two days since the disastrous trip into town, and people were starting to notice. To talk. Galinda needed to control the narrative before it got out of hand. Shuddering a little, she secured her blonde curls in two bunches fixed with white ribbons, and gave a resolute nod. 

Elphaba had already left for the morning to work in the library before their first class, which, thankfully, didn’t fall until the afternoon. She seemed quite anxious about their exams, but Galinda had no idea why, given Elphaba’s consistently flawless academic performance. If anyone should’ve been worried, it was her. And she was. But the matter with Fiyero was occupying so much of her headspace, she hardly had capacity to fret over exams. 

Fiyero’s dorm wasn’t too far from Galinda’s, and as she tapped along the corridor in her kitten heels, she smiled and nodded and waved to her fellow students as she wafted by. On reaching the suite, hoping he was there, she felt her stomach give a nasty twist of anxiety. Calm down. It’s just Fiyero. Calm down. 

Swallowing thickly, Galinda wiped her sweating palms on her skirt, and knocked sharply on the door. Her chest tightened. What was she even going to do ? Call things off with him? No, I can’t do that. I don’t want to do that. I just - I need some time to warm up to him, that’s all.  Then what was the point in having the conversation? She wanted to tell him to stop talking to Avaric about their relationship and to reassure him that she was most definitely interested in him, but then what? If she asked him to hit the brakes, would he get frustrated and leave her? If she lost Fiyero, she’d just be pushed to find someone else, someone who wasn’t as kind - not to mention the sickening social backlash from letting a literal prince slip through her fingers. Oz, there’s no point in doing this. No point. No point - 

Before she could completely wring herself into a mild panic, the door swung open. It was not Fiyero who greeted her.

‘Well, if it isn’t little Galinda Upland,’ Avaric smirked, leaning his arm against the doorframe and essentially blocking Galinda from entering. ‘What brings you over to our dark corner? Finally decided to take care of Fiyero, have you?’

Galinda’s fists clenched at her sides. ‘Good morning, Avaric. I’m here to see Fiyero, yes. Is he in?’

‘He’s in the shower right now. I’d say you could go and join him, but…’ Avaric trailed off with a sneer. ‘...We both know that’s not going to happen, is it?’

Galinda felt her face flush with heat. ‘Still fixated on our relationship, I see. You really need a different hobby - perhaps getting your own girlfriend would be a good start?’

Ashteron pulled a face. ‘What’s the point in having one of those ? If your frigid attitude is anything to go by, it’s much better to play the field than be tied down to someone who never puts out.’

‘Let me in,’ Galinda spat, willing herself not to get worked up. ‘I’ll wait until he’s finished.’

‘Hmmm…’ Avaric cocked his head to the side, looking down at her. ‘Or you could come back later so you don’t get under my feet.’

‘And how in Oz would I be getting under your feet , for goodness sake?’ Galinda hissed. ‘I’ll literally just be waiting for Fiyero! Let me in, Avaric. I need to speak with him.’

‘Sheesh, keep your hair on, princess,’ he said, holding up his hands in defeat. ‘You can come in already.’

Her eyebrow twitching in annoyance, Galinda followed Avaric into the suite. It wasn’t dissimilar to the one she and Elphaba shared, but lacked a balcony and had the distinctive smell of boy that made her nose wrinkle. She cast her eyes over to Fiyero’s bed, a large double boasting a handsome mahogany bedframe, and walked over to perch on the edge of the mattress. It was yet to be made, but that was no surprise - Fiyero was a famously late riser. She bristled a little as she sat there, her hands folded in her lap and her legs firmly jammed together. She couldn’t help but think about the handful of times she and Fiyero had been intimate in that very bed. He had been so kind and cautious, but she’d felt sick every time he touched her. She knew he could tell, even if he pretended not to, and that made her feel even worse . Swallowing thickly, Galinda drew her arms around herself. That proved to be a mistake.

‘I’ve never seen someone looking less comfortable in their lover’s bed,’ Avaric snorted, folding his arms as he watched her every move. He was dressed for the day already, but hadn’t properly combed his hair or tucked in his shirt. ‘You look like you’re about to spew.’

‘Oz, will you leave me alone ?’ Galinda muttered.

‘You’re the one currently hanging out in my room, princess,’ said Avaric, amused by her disgruntled expression. ‘Forgive me for attempting to make conversation.’

‘Stop calling me that,’ Galinda snapped.

‘Testy this morning, aren’t you?’ smirked Avaric. ‘Rolled out the wrong side of the bed? Maybe if you stayed in Fiyero’s for a change, you wouldn’t be in such a funk.’

Galinda refused to say anything. She knew if she engaged with him, it would only egg him on. Instead, she contented herself with remembering how ridiculous he’d looked clambering out of the river after Elphaba blasted him into it. A smile pulled at her lips. He hadn’t come through on his threats to escalate the situation - likely because he feared he’d end up looking quite stupid if everyone found out that Elphaba had bested him - but he made sure to shoot her nasty looks whenever they crossed paths.

‘Something funny?’ Avaric demanded.

‘Oh, wouldn’t you like to know.’

‘The funny thing, princess,’ Avaric snarled, ‘is you . What sort of a girl wouldn’t throw herself all over Fiyero if she had the chance? It’s terribly peculiar that you barely even kiss him, you know. And don’t go thinking I’ve noticed how much you’ve been avoiding him lately. I’m not sure if you’re just a prude or there’s genuinely something wrong with you, to resist a guy like him.’

Galinda’s grip around herself tightened. Avaric was straying into dangerous territory, and she needed to deter him. She glared at him, wishing she wasn’t so pink in the face.‘...Sounds like you rather fancy Fiyero yourself.’

‘And if I did?’ Avaric shrugged. ‘Would that be such a problem for you? Oh, wait!’ He let out a bark of laughter. ‘I forgot . You grew up in a town full of bigots, didn’t you? I always forget how backwards Frottica is compared to the rest of Gilliken. So I bet you do have a problem.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ Galinda said hotly. ‘I - that sort of thing doesn’t bother me in the slightest.’

Avaric grinned wolfishly at her. ‘Sure, sure. And for the record, I don’t have a crush on our dashing Fiyero - I just feel bad that my friend is saddled with a prudish little thing like you. ’

Galinda willed herself not to react, but she hated that some of what he was saying rang true. She believed Fiyero did deserve better than her - he was a kind, gentle and attentive soul, and beautiful to boot. He deserved someone who would worship the ground he walked on, not she, who cringed away from his touch. 

‘You -’ she let out a huff, her throat constricting a little, ‘ - you don’t know what you’re talking about. I really wish you weren’t so fixated on my relationship, Avaric, because it’s irritating and invasive and -’

‘ - Makes you uncomfortable, whatever,’ Avaric interrupted, waving a hand in the air. ‘But it’s not because I’m poking fun at it, right?’

‘What?’ Galinda snapped. 

Avaric kept up his self-satisfied smirk. ‘It’s because what I say is too close for comfort. You don’t like that I’ve clocked how off you are with Fiyero. It freaks you out. And I don’t know why that is, princess, but I’m damn sure it’s because you’re hiding something from him.’

Galinda froze, sucking in a breath.

‘Well?’ demanded Avaric, taking a step towards her. ‘I’m right, aren’t I? You think I haven’t noticed how weird and cagey you are around him whenever you hang out here?’

‘Maybe I’m weird and cagey because I can feel you staring at us like some perverted peeping tom,’ Galinda said through gritted teeth.

‘Don’t make me laugh,’ Avaric sneered. ‘It’s not like you give me anything good to look at.’

Before Galinda could say anything, feeling her face burn, the bathroom door swung open and out strolled Fiyero with a puff of steam. He pushed his wet her from his eyes with a satisfied sigh as he did so, a towel swinging low around his hips and his torso shining with moisture. He looked almost golden in the morning light.

‘ Ahhh, that was just what I - oh!’ Fiyero spotted Galinda on the bed, and his eyes immediately brightened. ‘Darling! What a pleasant surprise. I wasn’t expecting you, was I?’

Galinda stood up, straightening out her shirt in case she had creased it from her self-hug. ‘No, it’s an unplanned visit. I - I hope that’s okay.’ Galinda suddenly felt supremely awkward - not in the least because Fiyero was half naked and looking devastatingly handsome, if only she gave a damn - but because Avaric was standing between them with a smirk on his face. She couldn’t exactly have that conversation with him in the room. 

‘Of course it’s okay!’ Fiyero exclaimed. ‘I apologise for my state of undress - it’s been a slow morning. Give me two ticks and I’ll be with you.’ He scurried over to his wardrobe, grabbed his Shiz  uniform, and disappeared back into the bathroom. Avaric clicked his teeth.

‘Poor guy,’ he said. ‘Can’t even change in front of his own girlfriend for fear of freaking her out.’

‘Ever thought it’s because you’re gawking at him, Avaric?’ Galinda shot back.

He gave her a deadpan expression. ‘We live together, princess. I’ve seen Fiyero butt-naked more times than I can count. Heh, probably more than you, at any rate.’

Galinda threw her hands up in the air through pure vexation, and marched over to the tall window. She glowered out of it and over the grounds. Fiyero’s dorm overlooked the river, while hers and Elphaba’s looked down on the quad. It was a cloudy day with an autumnal nip in the air. The leaves were turning and falling, and students spent less and less time outside. Generally, Galinda preferred spring and summer to the colder months, but she couldn’t deny it was a pretty time of year. Elphaba, on the other hand, seemed to relish the cooler mornings, and when they walked between classes, she made a point of catching the dry leaves underfoot. Rather bashfully, she’d explained that she liked the satisfying crunch they made. Honestly, thought Galinda fondly, she’s such a dork.

Fiyero re-emerged, dressed and still a little damp from his shower, and gestured for her to come closer. She did, and he wrapped her up in a warming hug. Despite everything, Fiyero was a very good hugger, and Galinda enjoyed them. Though not as much as Elphaba’s, of course. Which - which I’m sure is completely normal!

‘To what do I owe the pleasure?’ Fiyero beamed.

‘ Pleasure? ’ Avaric snorted. ‘Not sure there’ll be much of that from Galinda.’

‘Oz, do you ever take a day off?’ Fiyero said, rolling his eyes. He reached down to brush a blonde curl from Galinda’s forehead. ‘Pay him no mind, darling. He’s terribly dull, so he gets a kick out of winding me up.’

‘She’s the one who does the winding up, wandering around in her short skirts and -’

‘ - Let’s go,’ Fiyero said, taking Galinda’s hand. He shot a look at Avaric. ‘Try not to piss anyone off in the meantime, won’t you, ‘Ric?’

Avaric held up his hands in mock defeat. ‘No promises. See you later.’

‘Later.’

Galinda told Fiyero she wanted somewhere quiet to talk, and the two of them started walking towards the sun room. It was a conservatory that boasted stained glass windows, but it was famously empty as the weather got colder. No one in their right mind would choose to spend time there, so Galinda hoped it would be private. She didn’t want to be in Avaric’s earshot, nor head back to her own suite in case Elphaba came back early from the library. This was something she needed time - and solitude - to do. 

‘Sorry about Avaric,’ Fiyero sighed, running a hand through his hair again. Galinda suspected he was attempting to style it while it was still damp. ‘He can be a little…difficult.’

‘Have you - um -’ Galinda stuttered, blushing. ‘...I mean, have you spoken to him again about…you and I?’

Fiyero looked suitably guilty for a moment, before offering her an easy grin. ‘Ah, well - perhaps a little bit, my darling. Just…guy talk, you know? Once the beers are flowing, sometimes I can get a little loose-lipped. But don’t worry,’ he slipped an arm around her waist, ‘I don’t go into details. That’s none of his business.’

‘I’d rather you didn’t talk to him about it at all,’ Galinda mumbled. 

‘Yeah…I apologise, in that case,’ Fiyero swallowed, as they continued towards the sun room. ‘But in truth, Galinda, I approached him because I wanted…’ he cleared his throat distractedly. ‘Well, I wanted his advice. He might not seem wildly successful on campus, but Avaric is a bit of a womaniser, and he has useful insight.’

‘Insight?’ Galinda squeaked. ‘On what , exactly?’

‘This is probably a conversation we shouldn’t have in the corridor,’ Fiyero murmured. 

‘But you told him that I - that we don’t -’ Galinda spluttered, unable to get the words out. 

‘Oz, Galinda, I didn’t mean to,’ Fiyero protested. ‘It’s as I said. Guy talk. Beers.’

‘What exactly did you say ?’

‘Just that we, you know -’ Fiyero said hotly, lowering his voice, ‘ - haven’t had sex. Which is completely fine , Galinda, but I wanted to talk to him about whether it was something I was doing wrong. Making you uncomfortable, or something. My other partners have always been a little more…Well, they were all over me like a rash. And you’re…not. Which, as I said, is fine.’ Fiyero’s grip around Galinda’s waist seemed to tighten, as if he was worried she’d make a break for it. 

Galinda wanted the ground to swallow her up. She knew Fiyero must’ve discussed their nonexistent sex life with Avaric from what he said on the walk to town, but hearing the confirmation was making the tips of her ears burn. 

‘...I don’t talk about you to my friends,’ she said eventually, her voice quivering. 

‘And I don’t go into details,’ Fiyero said. ‘Ric is just…Well, he doesn’t have any tact. I spoke to him in confidence, merely wanting to understand why you might not be so inclined. I was just worried I was doing something to put you off, that’s all.’

Galinda bristled. She felt guilty. He wasn’t doing anything wrong, as such - the issue is there must be something wrong with me.

‘Right,’ she muttered tightly. ‘Well, I’d prefer it if you didn’t, Fiyero. He was teasing me about this morning and the other day, and I just - he’s making me out to be some - some prudish freak .’

Fiyero suddenly ground to a halt. He dropped his arm from her waist and took her shoulders instead, his eyes wide and sincere. ‘My darling, you’re not a freak. I - I’m sorry that I confided in him. I thought I could trust him. Is…is this what you wanted to talk to me about?’

Galinda gulped. ‘Er, not quite. But it’s along a similar vein. Let’s - let’s just get to the sun room, shall we? You’re right in saying this isn’t something that should be discussed in the corridor.’

Fiyero nodded, and before long, the two of them were sitting on a sofa in the deserted sun room. Galinda’s hands were folded in her lap, and Fiyero slung an arm over the back of the sofa, fingers just shy of brushing her shoulder. Had she been a different sort of girl, she might’ve leant into his side. 

‘Fiyero…’ Galinda swallowed. ‘I - er - I feel like I should start with an apology, of sorts. I’ve not been myself. All the stress of these upcoming progress exams, I - well, I’ve not handled it very well.’

He nodded slowly, letting her speak. 

‘And…’ Galinda let out a sigh, staring at her hands. ‘And I know we’ve not - um - been intimate. A-As in, all the way. I suppose you’re wondering why that is, and I think I owe you an explanation.’

‘Galinda -’

‘ - Please, let me speak,’ Galinda said, squeezing her eyes shut. ‘I fear if you interrupt me, I won’t be able to say what’s on my mind.’

‘...Okay.’

‘The thing is,’ continued Galinda, her voice very small, ‘I sometimes feel like we…we rushed into things. I mean, I’d known you less than a day before all of that tomfoolery at the Ozdust, and then before I knew it, we were an item and I -’ she cut herself off with a huff, her hands balling into fists. ‘Oz, this is coming out all wrong . I’m making it sound like you forced me into a corner, but I wanted you just as much.’

She felt Fiyero’s fingertips brushing her shoulder. ‘It’s alright, I know that’s not what you meant.’

‘Right,’ she gulped, still refusing to look at him. She feared if she saw the kind blue of his eyes, she’d feel too guilty to carry on. ‘I just…I suppose I’ve not really had the headspace to get myself in order. If…if that makes sense.’ She cringed a little, wishing she was more eloquent. ‘And because of that, I’ve been drawing away from you. I - I’m not avoiding you, or anything, but I - um - I feel like I don’t really know enough about you to - to go there.’ Or about myself, for that matter , she thought, biting her lip. 

She held her breath as the words settled in the space. She was being as honest as she could without letting Fiyero go entirely - she needed more time to figure that out - but she was still worried about hurting him.

‘Um,’ she murmured when he didn’t say anything, ‘sorry. Does that - does that make sense?’

‘Well,’ Fiyero said, his voice a little raspy, ‘that certainly explains why you don’t seem particularly enthusiastic when I touch you.’

‘Oh, Fiyero, I -’

‘ - No, it’s okay,’ he said, slipping his arm to drape around her shoulders. ‘I get what you’re trying to say. We…we never really got to be friends before we started dating, did we?’

Galinda almost melted in relief. He’s not cross at me. He’s not going to shout. ‘Y-Yeah. Which is, you know, fine , but it’s just been on my mind lately. Amongst other things.’

‘Other things?’

Galinda shrugged a little. ‘Just…school stuff. And I’ve been quite preoccupied with Elphie, I suppose. 

- Yes, Elphaba,’ sighed Fiyero. ‘I know you two are close. I really wonder why she seems to dislike me so intensely, but I want to work on that.’

Galinda's chest tightened. ‘She’s…got walls up, that’s all. It takes a while to break them down. I - we are close, indeed. I’m aware that she’s been monopolising my time of late, and I’m sorry for that.’

‘Mmhm,’ Fiyero hummed, tilting his head back to look at the ceiling. ‘You don’t need to apologise to me for making a friend, Galinda. In fact, I’m pleased that you’re in Elphaba’s corner. She deserves someone looking out for her. As do you.’

‘What do you mean?’ frowned Galinda.

Fiyero shifted against the sofa, subconsciously drawing her closer. ‘Well, in the same way I spoke to Avaric, it’s probably good for you to have Elphaba if you feel the need to…discuss certain things.’

‘I’ve already said that I don’t talk about our relationship to anyone,’ Galinda lied, trying not to think about the incident in The Broken Biscuit when she’d so explosively panicked. 

‘Yes, I know,’ Fiyero said. ‘But…My head isn’t full of straw, Galinda. I can tell something is on your mind, and I would hope you had some sort of confidant. Especially if you don't feel able to talk to me about such matters because I’ve made you feel uncomfortable to - Oz forbid - pressured in any way.’

Galinda gulped. This was not how she wanted the conversation to go at all. 

‘Fiyero, please,’ she said, her voice soft, ‘I - I’m not expressing myself very well. You have never made me feel pressured, and I need you to know that. You’ve been nothing but patient and kind and gentlemanly, especially when it - when it takes me a while to warm up.’ Her hands went to fiddle with the fabric of her skirt. ‘...It really isn’t you. And I did pursue you romantically. But - but I really regret not becoming your friend first. Now, everything feels all tangled up and stressful, and I feel so guilty all the time because I feel like I’m not giving you what you deserve. Oz,’ she muttered under her breath, ‘and it certainly doesn’t help that Avaric insists on calling me names because of it.’

‘I’m not some hormonal teenager who can’t survive without sex, Galinda,’ Fiyero said. ‘That isn’t the core problem here, is it?’

‘...I don’t know.’ Galinda’s voice was very small.

Fiyero let out another sigh. It sounded tired rather than frustrated. ‘Right, well…what exactly do you want from me, then?’

Galinda pressed her lips together, shrugging. I have no idea. I don’t know why I even proposed this conversation in the first place. Now I’ve made it weird and strained and Fiyero probably feels bad. Idiot. You idiot.

‘I just…’ Fiyero mumbled, drawing his arm away from her shoulders and slotting his hands together instead, as if in thought, ‘I’m trying to ascertain what you’re trying to do , Galinda. I have feelings too, you know, and I don’t want to be in a relationship if it’s not going anywhere.’

‘Fiyero, I - I’m not saying I don’t want a relationship with you,’ Galinda said, her voice catching. ‘I…I just have a lot on my mind.’

‘Yeah, I got that. Things you won’t talk to me about.’

Galinda’s chest tightened even more, and she increased her grip around her skirt. ‘...It isn’t as simple as all that.’

‘Then what do you want? ’ Fiyero repeated. His voice had risen from its dejected mumble, but he kept his tone as level as he could. ‘We’re going around in circles. You say you care for me, that you want me, and that I’ve not made you feel pressured - but in the same breath, you act as if I’m a stranger who you don’t want to touch, and that you feel all muddled up and stressed out. So which is it, Galinda?’

‘...I don’t know ,’ she whispered, trying to keep control of her breathing. ‘I just - I want -’ she broke off with a gasp, pressing her hand to her chest. ‘I want things to be simpler , Fiyero. I wish I didn’t care so much about what other people think. I wish I got the chance to be your friend before we - we -’ she gasped again, feeling her control slipping. Fiyero noticed.

‘Easy, Galinda,’ he said, moving his hand to rest on her back.

‘S-Sorry, I just -’

‘ - It’s okay. Take a breath.’

Galinda squeezed her eyes shut, breathing steadily through her nose and feeling terribly pathetic. She didn’t want him to see her losing control. 

‘...I think I get what you’re saying,’ Fiyero said softly, as Galinda’s chest rose and fell a little too quickly. ‘A part of me understands where you’re coming from. Don’t forget my position, darling. I’m a prince . Oz knows I’ve felt pressure over the years.’

‘Is -’ Galinda hiccuped on a breath, cringing a little, ‘is that why you’re always pretending you’re so happy?’

‘Hm?’

‘ My head isn’t full of straw, either,’ Galinda swallowed. ‘I’ve seen the way you conduct yourself, Fiyero - always the clown, always raising a smile, always the dashing prince. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen you put a foot wrong. It must be exhausting.’

‘No more exhausting than you attempting to be perfect.’

Galinda let out a dry chuckle. ‘...I suppose that’s true. We make quite the pair, don’t we?’

‘Indeed we do,’ Fiyero sighed, his hand still resting on her back. ‘But given your train of conversation, I imagine you’re about to ask if we should be a pair any longer.’

Galinda’s stomach dropped so suddenly, she felt as if she’d just swallowed a stone. No, no, no, please no. ‘Fiyero, that’s - I’m not proposing that. I’m not .’

‘You sure?’ he said. His tone was gentle, almost friendly. ‘Because from my perspective, you don’t seem particularly happy in our relationship - and that perhaps you want to be friends first and foremost.’

Galinda shook her head frantically. ‘No. No. I mean - of course I want to be your friend, and I wish we’d spent more time getting to know each other, but I don’t - I can’t -’

‘Slow down, darling,’ Fiyero said, seeing how worked up she was getting. 

‘No, you don’t understand, ’ Galinda stammered, her throat tightening. ‘I don’t want to break up. I don’t want to lose you. I just - I want more time. ’

‘Time for what?’

Time to muster the strength to defy expectations. Time to unpack everything I’m feeling. Time to prepare for the inevitable fallout and what everyone will say .

‘I don’t - I don’t know .’

Fiyero’s face was twisted in a confused frown. ‘Right, so…you don’t want to break up with me - which I’m rather pleased about, I must say - but you also…want more time? You said earlier that we rushed into things…Do you want to slam on the brakes?’

Galinda was finding it harder and harder to breathe. How was she supposed to navigate it all? She needed him by her side for just a little longer, but she couldn’t kiss him or touch him the way he wanted. I’m just using him. I’m using him to try and keep one hand on the wheel. It’s not fair . I should just tell him the truth.

‘I -’ Galinda swallowed, fighting to keep the tremor out of her voice, ‘ Oz . I’ve made such a mess of things.’

Fiyero rubbed her back soothingly. ‘Hey, I’m sure that isn’t true. But I do need you to tell me what’s on your mind. Be honest. Come on,’ he lifted her head with one finger beneath her chin, guiding her to look at him, and he gave her a small smile, ‘it’s just me. Your clownish prince.’

Galinda let out a choked laugh, but it was short lived. The gravity of the situation was settling over her, and it made her chest tighten and her hands shake and her skin clammy. She was on the precipice of calling things off. She could. Fiyero was so kind, so open. He’d understand. He might even agree to keep up the pretence.

But what if he didn’t? What if he reacted badly? What if he told ? And what would everyone say if I messed it all up?

All of a sudden, Galinda was back home on that horrid night after her disastrous blind date with Lucian Steen. How she'd come home, fighting back tears and trembling in the middle of the parlour as her parents yelled at her. She felt the blood-curdling fear when her father launched his drinking glass just shy of her left ear, shattering it against the wall. She felt the hot flash of pain blooming across her face when her mother slapped her. She felt the tears she was unable to stop slipping down her cheeks, the tightness of her chest, the sobs bursting from her throat and shakes spasming through her body.

You foolish, overdramatic child!

You embarrassed yourself and the family in front of the heir of our most crucial business partner! Whatever will his mother say when he tells her how poorly you behaved?

Did you even think?

Do you ever think?

You stupid, stupid girl!

‘ - Galinda. Galinda!’

Galinda jerked in her seat. She realised she hadn’t taken a breath. Her face was hot and her eyes stung, and it was with some effort that she heaved a breath into her tightening lungs, bent double, hands clutching at her skirt.

‘It’s okay, it’s okay,’ Fiyero said worriedly, still rubbing her back. ‘Just breathe.’

‘I’m - sorry - I can’t -’ Galinda choked out.

‘Don’t worry about anything else right now. Calm yourself down.’

‘But I - I feel like I’m just - ruining everything ,’ she whimpered, closing her eyes. ‘I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what I’m feeling. I just - I need you to understand that I can’t. I can’t .’

‘Can’t what, darling?’ Fiyero murmured. 

‘ I can’t be what you want me to be right now ,’ Galinda whispered. It was as close to a confession as she was going to get. She heard Fiyero swallow thickly, as if digesting what she had said. A beat passed. The sounds from chattering students drifted from the corridor.

‘...Well,’ Fiyero said softly, ‘at the present moment, all I want is for you to be my friend.’

Galinda jerked her head up. ‘ No - I - d-don’t want to split up -’

‘ - I’m not saying that,’ Fiyero soothed. ‘I just think, given what you’ve told me, that we need a little breather. You can figure out what you want from me, and I can have some space to reframe what I want, too. And in the meantime, we can actually get to know each other… without the pressure of sex. How does that sound?’

‘You - you won’t tell anyone, will you?’ Galinda gulped. 

‘Not a soul.’

‘Even Avaric?’

Fiyero gave a bashful grin. ‘ Especially not Avaric. Oz, I doubt I’ll ever tell that weasel anything personal again.’

Galinda shifted against the sofa, suddenly feeling a little self-conscious about her lapse in control. But Fiyero was offering her time - something she desperately wanted - without the expectations that came with being someone’s girlfriend. Still, the guilt ate at her. He was a good man. A good friend. And he only knew a fraction of the story.

‘...I really don’t deserve you, Fiyero,’ Galinda whispered.

‘None of that, now,’ said Fiyero. He put his arm around her, and she let herself fall against his side. ‘I know there’s some stuff you don’t feel comfortable discussing with me. I know there’s a lot I don’t know. But I care about you, Galinda, and if slowing things down will help, then I’m game.’

‘But we -’ Galinda blushed, hiding her face into his shoulder, ‘ - we won’t… you know . I just don’t have the headspace.’

‘It’s as I said,’ Fiyero shrugged, ‘I’m not some hormonal teenager who can’t survive without sex.’

‘...I feel so bad about it, though.’

‘Don’t. Please.’ He leant down and planted a kiss on the top of her head. ‘Let’s be friends first, Galinda. Let’s get to know each other. I think that was our mistake. The relationship stuff can come later.’

I don’t want the relationship at all , Galinda thought, biting her lip. But I’m too much of a coward to admit it.

*

After their afternoon seminar, Elphaba had to practically drag Galinda to the library. 

‘Elphie,’ she whined, trying (and failing) to struggle out of Elphaba’s grip around her wrist. ‘Do we really have to do this now ? I was hoping for a brief respite after class - perhaps a nice cup of tea, or a little nap -’

‘ - Galinda, you’ve been putting it off for too long,’ Elphaba said sternly. ‘You know the exams are just around the corner. We need to start getting serious.’

‘We,’ muttered Galinda, ‘as if you haven’t been studying non-stop already.’

‘Exactly,’ Elphaba replied. ‘Which puts me in the perfect position to give you a hand.’

The library was predictably crowded. Anxious students occupied most of the tables, surrounded by stacks of books, many with their heads in their hands in despair. It was that particular time of year, after all. Elphaba yanked Galinda from table to table, eyes scanning for somewhere to sit. 

‘See, this is clearly a sign that we should go back to our room and have a little break,’ Galinda said, allowing Elphaba to pull her around with little resistance. ‘I mean, there’s nowhere to sit. How are we supposed to study if we can’t even sit? I refuse to make camp on the floor.’

‘You’re not getting out of it that easily, Galinda,’ said Elphaba. ‘Especially since we both know that anyone in here would gladly give up their seats if you just asked.’

Galinda feigned a dramatic gasp, clutching her chest. ‘Why, Miss Elphaba - you’d coldly discard our beloved classmates just so you have somewhere more comfortable to perch your behind? Outrageous.’

Elphaba ignored her and led them into a little alcove, tucked just out of sight between a corner of bookcases. She slipped off her overcoat and draped it over the floor. 

‘There,’ she said. ‘It’s not ideal, but the peace and quiet of the library will keep you from getting distracted.’ She sat down and looked at Galinda expectantly. With a pout, Galinda lowered herself to sit next to her.

‘Unbelievable,’ she mumbled. ‘You’d think an institution like Shiz would have more study spaces. The floor is no place for someone like me.’

‘Stop grumbling so,’ Elphaba said, rummaging in her bag and taking out her revision materials. She had lended her History notes to Galinda already, though rarely saw the girl actually read them, and had diligently prepared worksheets, timetables, and colour-coded notes for each of her classes. By a happy coincidence, she and Galinda shared every class apart from Alchemy - which fortunately, Galinda was pretty good at. 

‘Right,’ said Elphaba, thumping the revision materials on the floor, ‘where would you like to start? Have you got all of your supplies?’

Galinda let out a groan. ‘Ugh, Elphie . Must we do this? It’s so tiresome. And so boring ! We should be outside, frolicking -’ 

‘ - Galinda, what makes you think that I have ever once frolicked in my life?’ Elphaba interrupted, her expression serious. ‘Now, come on. We need to concentrate. We’ll start with Astronomy and History, since they’re our first exams. Get out your notebook.’

‘Oz, you are a tyrant,’ muttered Galinda, rooting around in her bag and producing her hot-pink notebook and favourite dip pen. It was made of twisted glass, with gold and pink accents swirling from the tip to the nib. It was a present from her granny when she got accepted into Shiz.

‘A dip pen is no good without ink,’ Elphaba said.

‘Oz, give me a minute.’

Once they’d both set out their supplies, Elphaba started to talk Galinda through the main topics which she assumed would come up in their exams, given previous years. Galinda blinked from her to the notes, her expression quite vacant. She had the end of her dip pen pushing against her plump lower lip, and Elphaba had to fight the urge not to get distracted. 

‘I’m certain there will be a question on The Great Drought on our History paper,’ she said, tugging out an absolutely gigantic tome from her bag which made Galinda turn green with dread. ‘Dr Dillamond has been far too focused on that for it not to be - though I’m not convinced the senior staff will be happy about it.’ 

‘You mean because of all the Animal rights stuff?’ asked Galinda. Elphaba, following the Ozdust, had told Galinda what she’d overheard that night in Dr Dillamond’s cottage. That, coupled with the graffiti on his chalkboard at the beginning of the semester, painted a rather worrying future for the Animals of Oz - one Dr Dillamond himself said he was discouraged to talk about. His way of rebelling was to teach the next generation about Animal history, so they might understand both sides of the debate and protect his kind if it ever came to that. Elphaba prayed that it wouldn’t.

‘Hm,’ she nodded, thumbing through the textbook to find the large chapter detailing the political landscape leading up to the event. ‘I’d be shocked if it doesn’t come up - so it would be worth focusing on it, I think.’ She pushed the book into Galinda’s reluctant hands.

‘What exactly am I meant to do with this?’

Elphaba resisted the urge to roll her eyes. ‘ Read it, perhaps? It’s a book. If you have any questions or encounter something you’re unsure about, then just ask me.’

With a resigned and thoroughly childish sigh, Galinda did as she was told. 

Studying at that level with Galinda, it turned out, was the single most infuriating experience of Elphaba’s entire life. Every time Elphaba thought the girl was starting to get somewhere, she would make a noise of discontent, abandon what she was doing, and start chattering to Elphaba about something completely off topic. She would close books without marking the page, doodle in the corners of her notebook instead of transcribing the extremely helpful facts Elphaba offered, and occasionally got to her feet and wandered around in their small space, humming to herself. And Oz forbid Galinda didn’t understand something. She would become petulant, mumbling under her breath about how the whole thing was exceptionally stupid and useless anyway, because why do we need to know about such things? , and Elphaba had to resist the urge to slam her own head against a wall. After an hour of trying to get through some of their History notes, Elphaba gave up and turned to Astronomy. Perhaps Galinda would prefer that. 

She did not.

‘Galinda, it’s simple ,’ Elphaba groaned, trying to keep calm. ‘An event horizon is the boundary around a black hole where the escape velocity exceeds the speed of light. That’s why nothing can break free of them. The gravity is too strong.’

‘But I thought light was the fastest thing in the universe?’ Galinda protested, rifling through her notes. Her handwriting was meticulous - no doubt something that was hammered into her as a child - but much of what she had written was not helpful. Useless proclamations such as the moon is so pretty or wishes on shooting stars are not actually proven to work , littered the beautifully crafted pages. And, to Elphaba’s horror, Galinda’s spelling and grammar were absolutely atrocious . She’d had her suspicions after she had surreptitiously proof-read Galinda’s last essay for Morrible (which had been an abject failure, unfortunately) but sitting next to her now and reading over her shoulder, the situation was worse than she realised. It wasn’t that Galinda couldn’t spell, as such - she just wrote in such a careless, clumsy rush that the words gliding from her pen were marred with errors. Starrs instead of stars , astroids instead of asteroids - and a complete disregard for punctuation and capital letters. Elphaba would’ve thought she was doing it on purpose just to mess with her, but Galinda was earnest in her frustration and difficulties. 

‘Light is the fastest thing in the universe, we’ve established that,’ Elphaba said, through gritted teeth, ‘but a collapsing star has a gravitational pull so immense, that even light itself can’t escape.’

‘Then how can light be called the fastest ?’ Galinda frowned. ‘Surely that gravitational pull, or whatever, is faster if it sucks it in.’

‘Gravity travels at the speed of light, because gravity and photons have no mass,’ Elphaba explained. ‘It’s not faster than it. But when light gets very close to a black hole, it gets trapped circling around it because the fabric of spacetime is bent to the extreme. It stops obeying normal rules.’

‘Wait, wait,’ Galinda lamented, her expression pinched, ‘what do photos have to do with Astronomy?’

Elphaba nearly screamed. ‘ Photons , Galinda, not photos.’

‘...And what are they?’

‘Please tell me you’re joking.’

That was entirely the wrong thing to say, apparently. Galinda’s cheeks flushed pink, and she slammed the book they’d been pouring over with a sharp smack . 

‘Well, I’m sorry that I can’t be as well-versed in the vast secrets of the universe as you are, Elphaba,’ she snapped, her voice wavering a little. ‘Forgive me for not being so lofty.’

‘Galinda, it’s not a secret ,’ Elphaba protested, taking the book from her and opening it again. ‘A photon is a particle that represents a quantum of light - or other electromagnetic radiation - and carries energy proportional to the radiation frequency. It was one of the first things Treadgold explained to us. Here - I’ve made some flashcards with bitesize facts like this that you might find easier to understand.’ She started searching in her bag.

Galinda, if it was possible, went even pinker . ‘Oh, what? Because you think I need tiny tidbits of information since I’m too stupid to absorb or understand anything else?’

‘ What ?’ Elphaba gasped, pausing her rummaging. ‘Galinda, I never said that! Using flashcards is a well-known revision technique. I use them myself. That’s why I made them.’

‘Well, I don’t want them,’ Galinda spat petulantly, shoving Elphaba’s hand away a little too hard. The cards sprang from Elphaba’s grip and scattered over the floor where they were sitting. 

‘Galinda!’ Elphaba yelped. ‘Oz - they were in a specific order! I get that you’re frustrated and you’re not particularly enjoying this, but that’s no reason to be so childish.’

‘So I’m childish as well as stupid, am I?’ Galinda said hotly.

‘For goodness sake,’ Elphaba hissed, scrambling to pick up the cards. She was thankful that she had at least numbered them. ‘I’m just trying to help you, Galinda. I find using flash cards very beneficial, so I’d hoped they might work for you, too - but if you’re going to be so ridiculous about it, then I won’t bother.’

Frustrated, Elphaba moved away from Galinda and flicked through the cards, rearranging them so they were in the right order. Galinda didn’t say anything. She was pressing her lips together, working the fabric of her shirt between her hands. She had pushed the book off her lap and left it lying on its side. It sat between the gap Elphaba had made when she shifted away.

‘Look…’ Elphaba began, letting out a long, measured sigh, tapping the cards against the floor to neaten them up, ‘if you don’t want me to help you study, then please say. I would never want to force you if it’s not useful or productive.’

‘I just don’t want you patronising me,’ Galinda said, gripping her shirt harder between her fists.

‘I’m not trying to,’ replied Elphaba, doing her best to keep her tone measured and calm, despite her irritation. ‘But you’re not exactly making it easy by quite literally pushing my help away. You want to do well in these exams, don’t you?’

‘What a stupid question.’

‘ Galinda .’

‘Oz, of course I want to do well,’ she huffed. 

‘Then you need to listen to my advice. I’m top of the class for a reason.’ Elphaba hadn’t meant to sound arrogant, but merely truthful. Galinda didn’t take too well to that , either.

‘Yeah, because you’re naturally smart, Elphaba,’ she said, her voice catching slightly. ‘It’s easy for you. You can do this stuff with your eyes closed - Oz, your brain is basically like a sponge, just sucking up everything it processes. But it’s not like that for the rest of us.’ She was working her shirt faster over her palms. 

Elphaba blinked at her, incredulous. ‘You honestly think that, don’t you?’

Galinda gave a shrug, but her expression signified that she very much did think that. 

Elphaba flexed her fingers. ‘...Galinda, it has nothing to do with natural aptitude. Maybe I do have an inclination for academia, but I can’t risk merely taking things easy. I need to polish and refine what I know. There’s a reason I’ve always got my head in a book.’

Galinda stiffened. ‘That can’t be true. Then everyone would be able to do what you do.’

‘The difference is that not everyone does. I spend hours doing further reading, research, and extra classes. I’m not denying that maybe I have better information recall than…other people,’ - Elphaba resisted to look too closely at Galinda as she said it - ‘but it doesn’t mean I can afford to slack off.’ As if to cement her point, she picked up the book lying between them and thumbed through the pages, trying to find the section on black holes. ‘If you don’t want to go use flashcards and you don’t want to listen to me, then just try reading again.’

She went to pass the book to Galinda, but found her hands occupied with the hem of her shirt. She paused. Of all of Galinda’s tells, this was the most obvious - Elphaba had come to notice when the girl was getting worked up, and it nearly always started with her fiddling with wherever she was wearing. 

‘Galinda…’ she said quietly, leaning closer again. 

‘ Try ?’

‘What?’

Galinda’s expression was pinched. ‘ Try to read, you said. You think I’m so slow that I can’t even manage reading, Elphaba?’

Elphaba did lose her temper, then. She discarded the book across the floor - it landed with a dull, muffled thump against the coat they were both sitting on.

‘You know what, Galinda?’ she said, pinching the bridge of her nose. ‘I can feel you being deliberately obstructive and argumentative, and I’m not going to entertain it. I will sit here and do my work - and you, since you’re being so testy, can do whatever you want.’

Letting out an angry huff, Elphaba reached over and snatched her notebook from Galinda’s other side. She wondered if Galinda had even looked at her History notes when she lent them to her, and suspected not, given her result on the progress test. She couldn’t understand why Galinda was so reluctant to sit down and study. It wasn’t as if Elphaba hadn’t tried to help. When she flicked open the revision notes, though, she was met with a surprise. 

Pink, gold and green littered the pages. Galinda had taken her pen to nearly every line of Elphaba’s meticulous notes, underlining various passages and colour-coding accordingly. Little notes were adorned in the margins - what does this mean, exactly? , was a common occurrence, along with several circles around words Galinda presumably wanted to look up. There were tiny doodles, too - probably from where she became distracted - and they were good . The sketches were varied; detailed flowers with exquisite petals, little animals, a few trees, several pairs of shoes. There was some drawn from life, too. Chairs, faces, eyes, small trinkets commonly found in their seminar rooms - and hands. Hands featured a lot. Some of them looked very much like Elphaba’s. Balled fists, extended fingers, holding pens, even interlocked. Her lips parted. She ran her fingers over the pages and suddenly felt rather rotten. Especially since Ask Elphie was written over and over again. 

‘...I think I’m going to get some air.’

Elphaba’s head snapped up to where Galinda was getting to her feet. Her hands were white-knuckled around her shirt, now untucked from her skirt and rumpled between her palms, and she was working her lower lip between her teeth. Elphaba’s hand shot out to grab her wrist.

‘Galinda, wait,’ she said, gently pulling her back down to sit. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap. I - I guess I’m not much of a teacher, am I?’

‘It’s hard to be a good teacher when the student is a half-wit.’

Elphaba squeezed her hand around Galinda’s wrist, shaking her head. ‘Stop that, okay? You’re not a half-wit and I’m sorry for losing my patience. Let’s just try a different approach.’ She gestured to her open notebook. ‘Does colour-coding help you?

Galinda nodded mutely.

‘Okay - well, this Astronomy book is one of mine rather than the library’s, so how about we work through some of the passages together and you can colour-code with whatever system you use. Anything you need to clarify, just ask.’

 Galinda didn’t seem particularly receptive to the suggestion, but with some stern looks from Elphaba, she took out a metal box where she kept various inks for her dip pen. 

The girls worked in silence for about half an hour. Elphaba revised History, while Galinda stuck with Astronomy, mumbling under her breath as she did so. Elphaba found it somewhat distracting, but decided against asking her to be quiet. She kept stealing glances at the girl, feeling guilty for losing her patience with her, but Galinda refused to look at her. She kept fidgeting, rolling the end of her pen over her lip. 

‘ Oz ,’ she muttered, scribbling something in the book. ‘ This. Doesn’t. Make. Sense. ’

‘What’s the matter?’ asked Elphaba, but Galinda didn’t look at her. ‘...I’m here to help if you need me.’

‘I’m fine.’

They were quiet again. Galinda was sitting crossed-legged, her knee close to touching Elphaba’s hip, and it was jiggling up and down incessantly. Softly, Elphaba put her hand on it to stop it moving so much, and Galinda flinched.

‘What?’ she snapped.

Elphaba was a little taken aback at her tone. ‘You were wriggling, that’s all.’

Galinda flushed pink. ‘Is that such a big problem for you?’

‘I can feel you gunning for a fight. I’m not going to entertain it.’

‘You’re the one who broke my concentration!’ 

‘Okay.’ Elphaba expelled a tired sigh. ‘I’m sorry for disturbing you.’

Quiet again. Elphaba could feel the warmth of the sun bleeding through the skylight they had settled under, and she could hear the sounds of scratching pens and turning pages from the other students. It was easy to forget, hidden in their little alcove, that they weren’t alone. Elphaba tried to focus on those calming, background noises rather than Galinda’s whispering as she read. Or indeed simply lamented her circumstances. 

‘ I don’t get it. I don’t get it. ’ She muttered that phrase over and over, pressing her palm to her forehead as she stared down at the book. Elphaba tried to keep to her own revision - she wanted to do well in Dr Dillamond’s seminar and maintain her place at the top - but Galinda was making it harder and harder. Her jaw twitching, Elphaba’s eyes swivelled up to gaze through the window, doing her best to tune the girl out. More than once did she want to offer her help, but given Galinda’s tumultuous mood, she thought better of it. 

‘Stupid. It’s not that hard. You’re so stupid. ’

Galinda’s muttering grew louder the longer they studied. Elphaba stole a look at her, wanting to tell her that it wasn’t true - and also to try and be quiet, given what a distraction it was - but her words died on her lips. The girl looked genuinely quite distressed. She was flushed, her eyes were overly bright, and she was working her lower lip between her teeth so hard, Elphaba was amazed there was any lipgloss left. She opened her mouth to say something, but withdrew again. 

It wasn’t until her whispering became almost frantic that Elphaba, having finished going over the section on The Great Drought, finally turned her full attention to her. 

‘Galinda, are you…’ Elphaba trailed off, watching as a tear spilled over and rolled down Galinda’s face. She wiped it away quickly, giving a little sniff. Elphaba’s heart dropped. 

‘I’m fine,’ mumbled Galinda, her voice wobbling dangerously. 

‘You’re clearly not. Tell me how I can help,’ Elphaba replied softly, resting her hand on Galinda’s quivering knee. 

‘I’m fine ,’ Galinda repeated, as another tear slipped from her eyes. She rubbed it away furiously, gritting her teeth together. ‘And the only way you could help me, Elphaba, is if you’d give me a damn brain transplant, because the one I have is clearly useless .’

Elphaba shifted towards her, taking her face in her hands. Galinda recoiled slightly from the touch, but as Elphaba smoothed her thumbs over her flushed cheeks, wiping at her tears, she relaxed into the hold.

‘Listen to me, Galinda,’ she said, looking her right in the eye. ‘I know you’re frustrated at yourself, but you are not useless. Studying is hard - at this level, even more so. Shiz is the sort of institution that demands a lot of us, so it is entirely understandable that you might be feeling stressed out. Calling yourself names isn’t going to help you, though.’

Galinda’s lower lip trembled, more tears leaking from her eyes. 

‘Let me help you,’ continued Elphaba. ‘Without you biting my head off, if it’s all the same to you.’

Galinda swallowed thickly, nodding in Elphaba’s hold. ‘...I’m s-sorry. I didn’t mean to be so difficult. I just - I just can’t .’

‘Can’t what?’

‘I can’t do this,’ Galinda mumbled. 

Elphaba nodded slowly, her hands still cupping Galinda’s face. ‘Is it the pressure of the library? Or me?’

‘No, no,’ Galinda said quickly. ‘I’ve always just…’ she trailed off, taking a small breath. ‘I don’t know why, I just - every time I think I’m getting somewhere, something else pops into my head and I completely lose track of what I’m doing. Not to mention that all of this is so spectacularly confusifying. I don’t understand any of it, and - and when I try to read, it’s like the words wriggle around like horrid worms and mess everything up.’

Elphaba was a little surprised. Getting Galinda to admit she struggled with anything was like drawing blood from a stone. She really must be stressed out, thought Elphaba. And I had no idea this was truly so difficult for her. She’s very good at hiding it.

Frowning in thought, Elphaba withdrew her hands from Galinda’s wet cheeks, and instead intertwined her fingers in hers, stopping them from tangling in the fabric of her shirt. Galinda couldn’t abide creases. ‘If you’re having trouble with reading, then maybe we could try some different approaches? And you are being rather unfair on yourself, Galinda - you understand more than you think.’

Galinda sniffed again, lowering her gaze to their interlocked hands. ‘I’ve tried, Elphie. My parents tried, my teachers tried - Oz, they would always get so cross with me - but nothing worked.’ She shook her head, her hair falling over her face. ‘I’m just an idiot. That’s all this is.’

‘You’re not an idiot,’ Elphaba said, squeezing her palms. 

‘Then why am I struggling so much?’ Galinda demanded, her tone laced with anger. ‘You tell me that you’re so smart because you just study, but I can’t even manage that .’

‘You’re good at Alchemy,’ Elphaba pointed out. 

‘That’s one subject,’ Galinda said. 

‘But it’s still an impressive feat, don't you think?’

‘No, I don’t!’ snapped Galinda, withdrawing her hands from Elphaba’s. ‘I’m still basically at the bottom of the class in every ridiculous subject I try my hand at. Well,’ she interrupted herself with a self-deprecating scoff, ‘I’m decent at Alchemy , as you said, but that’s about as useful as a chocolate teapot. And the only subject I actually care about, I’m dreadful at. Don’t you remember when Morrible said she had no faith in me , Elphie? That’s - that’s just another way of calling me stupid .’

Elphaba could see Galinda getting more and more worked up the longer she spoke. She racked her brains, trying to come up with something to say that might make the girl feel a bit better about the situation. She cycled through her own revision techniques, wondering what might help Galinda. She clearly didn’t like the flashcards, for whatever reason, and reading and colour-coding didn’t seem to be doing much for her, either. 

‘Okay,’ she said carefully. ‘Have you tried - I don’t know - listening to the material? You might be able to digest the material if it’s spoken.’

‘And how in Oz would that help?’ Galinda huffed. ‘I can’t even keep up when our professors are talking to us in class.’

‘Well, that’s because they talk quickly and expect you to make notes,’ Elphaba said. ‘If you could listen back to the material, you’d be able to replay the bits you don’t understand, or pass you by because you’re struggling to concentrate. It’s more digestible than simply reading - at least, that’s what I’ve heard.’

Galinda was quiet for a moment, her hands back to fiddling with her shirt. ‘...What, like recording the classes, or something? I’m not sure that’s allowed.’

‘No, not exactly,’ Elphaba replied. ‘Recording the seminars would be tricky anyway, with all the background noise and preamble - not to mention the other students answering questions. I meant something like…Well, I could use a dictaphone and record myself reading the most essential bits from the revision material, and you could listen, pause and replay to your heart’s content. I’ve even read that falling asleep listening to stuff like that can help with information recall.’

‘But Elphie, that would take you ages,’ Galinda said, her voice small. Her eyes were shining as she looked at Elphaba. 

‘I don’t mind,’ Elphaba said, giving her a little smile. ‘It’s as I said - going over this stuff helps me , too. Though I don’t actually have a dictaphone, so we’ll need to source one - oof! ’

Elphaba was cut off when she felt Galinda’s warm weight being thrown at her. She caught her around the waist as the girl hurled herself into her arms, burying her face into the crook of her neck. Elphaba let out a quiet laugh.

‘Do you like that idea, then?’ she hummed, cuddling Galinda close to her. She was still getting to grips with how tactical Galinda was, since she wasn’t exactly used to physical affection, and found herself quite liking it. Galinda was always so warm - like a little furnace - and smelt wonderful. It wasn’t exactly a hardship for Elphaba to embrace her. 

Galinda was nodding against her neck. ‘I do, I do . But I feel like I’m taking advantage of your good nature and I hate that I’m not smart enough to just -’

‘ - Enough,’ Elphaba interrupted firmly, rubbing small circles over Galinda’s hips. ‘You’re very smart, Galinda - just because you might struggle a little now and again, that isn’t a reflection on you or how clever you are. And anyway,’ she eased Galinda away from her slightly, so she could look her earnestly in the face, ‘no one knows more about social politics than you. No one is more adept at reading tiny emotional cues than you. Oz, no one knows more about fashion than you, myself included. All of these things are valid and show just how smart you are. And apparently, you’re a very talented artist to boot.’

Galinda blinked at her, a little confused, but blushing all the same. ‘Hm? What makes you think I’m talented? I’ve not even used the new paints you got me, yet.’

Elphaba grinned at her. ‘My History notes - you’ve been doodling in the margins.’

‘Oh, those? ’ Galinda snorted, shaking her head. ‘Elphie, they’re just silly little drawings. They’re no good.’

‘You’re kidding, right?’ Elphaba said, taking one of her hands off Galinda’s waist and reaching for her history notebook. ‘Look at this one! It’s scarily accurate.’ She was pointing at a figure hunched over the desk in one of their seminars - it was drawn from the back, but Elphaba thought it might’ve been Milla from the profile. 

Galinda gave a little shrug, as if embarrassed. ‘I mean, it’s okay , I suppose. But I wasn’t really trying.’

‘Galinda, if this was you not trying, then you are immensely talented,’ Elphaba said. She meant it, too. She knew Galinda had liked painting - she had already guessed that she was creative, given her flair for fashion and make-up - but she wondered whether that was something she did simply to keep up appearances, or whether she actually enjoyed it. The sketches were a pleasant surprise to her.

‘Well, I used to paint and draw a lot, as you know.’ Galinda’s voice was soft and low, as if she wasn’t sure whether she even wanted to talk about it. 

‘That’s lovely,’ said Elphaba. ‘I reckon you should give yourself more time to play around with it.’

Galinda stiffened a little. ‘Oh, I don’t know, Elphie. I’ve got enough to be getting on with as it is.’

‘Maybe. But you’re good at it, Galinda. Genuinely.’

‘...Thank you.’

‘You’re welcome.’

It was then Elphaba suddenly became very aware of the position they were in. Galinda was practically straddling her lap. Her skirt had ridden up slightly, exposing more of her thighs than Elphaba had been privy to before, and the fabric was fanning out over her lap. Elphaba’s throat went very dry. She wasn’t the only one affected. 

‘Um,’ said Galinda, her voice a little breathless, ‘I - I should probably get off your lap.’

‘Yes. You probably should.’

Galinda didn’t move. Neither did Elphaba. She looked at Galinda, feeling her heart thundering in her chest, and noticed just how pink the girl had turned. The tips of her ears and her nose were flushed, and her eyes seemed to have expanded, somehow. Oz, she’s so cute. It’s ridiculous, really. Elphaba swallowed thickly, acutely aware of the heat of her palms pressing over Galinda’s waist. Can - can she feel me through her clothes? Gosh, I hope not. But Elphaba was warm and her chest was tight and her heart was hammering so loudly, she was starting to worry that Galinda might hear it. The hot little pocket of air formed by Galinda’s spread skirt seemed to grow. Elphaba’s brain short circuited.

‘Er - the dictaphone,’ said blurted out. ‘I - I think Dr Dillamond has one. Failing that, we can ask Professor Treadgold. We have her last thing today.’

‘No we don’t,’ Galinda said. Her voice sounded peculiar, almost strained. ‘You’re thinking of tomorrow. We have Lincoln’s Linguification class later.’

‘Right, yes, silly me!’ squeaked Elphaba. 

Galinda cocked her head to the side, still pink in the face. ‘Are you feeling alright, Elphie? It’s most unlike you to make a mistake like that. I swear you can recite our timetable in your sleep.’

‘Yes, yes, I’m fine,’ Elphaba gulped, trying to get a hold of herself. ‘I just have…other things on my lap - mind! Things - things on my mind.’ She offered a bashful grin and shifted a little, hoping it might encourage Galinda to slide off her so she could calm her thundering heart. Instead, the movement caused Galinda to slip further into her lap, and Elphaba felt another wave of warmth from under her skirt waft over her. Oh, Oz. Not good, not good. 

‘Right, well,’ Galinda gulped, going - if possible - even pinker, ‘perhaps Lincoln has one. Or you could swing by Dilly’s classroom. Doubt he’d turn down a request from you.’

‘ Dillamond, Galinda,’ Elphaba smirked. Galinda had started referring to him as such a couple of weeks ago, for whatever reason, and it seemed some of their classmates had caught on. Elphaba knew for a fact that poor Dr Dillamond absolutely hated it.

‘He gets my name wrong all the time,’ she said with a shrug.

‘Yes, but that isn’t his fault, is it? He’s a goat. You don’t have that excuse,’ replied Elphaba, shifting again. It really was getting too warm with Galinda squirming in her lap. 

‘Maybe, but - hah! ’ Galinda was cut off with a sharp gasp when Elphaba’s wriggling opened her legs further, and she slumped deeper. Elphaba’s eyes widened when she felt a very real heat pressing against her lower stomach through her shirt, and both girls jolted as if they’d been electrocuted. Galinda acted first, throwing herself off Elphaba’s lap and hurriedly smoothing down her skirt, and Elphaba, in her frazzled state, grabbed the closest book she could find and opened it to a random page.

‘I’ll go and speak to him, yes, if Lincoln doesn’t have a dictaphone lying around,’ she said, speaking a little bit too loudly. She noticed the book was upside down and she cringed to herself, correcting it. 

‘Great. That’s - great. Thanks!’ Galinda squeaked. She too had picked up a book and was holding it up to cover her face, but her very pink forehead was poking over the top of it. 

‘No problem,’ Elphaba said, her voice strained. ‘Um - what’s say we get back to studying? We can take a break for lunch.’

‘Yep, yeah. Sounds good.’

‘Cool.’

Elphaba had never felt less cool in her life. Her face was hot, her mouth was dry, and her heart rate was so high it was as if she’d just done several laps around the library. She dared not look at Galinda, who was making a fine show of pretending to study, and let out a slow, even breath. What in Oz was that about? she thought, biting her lap. What is this feeling?

*

Come the evening, Galinda had just about calmed down from the little hiccup in the library, and Elphaba had made good on her promise to source a dictaphone. Galinda felt rather guilty about it - after all, she didn’t want Elphaba to take time out of her own revision schedule to record notes for her - but she had to admit, it was a good idea. Presently, Elphaba was sitting at her little desk and talking into it, reading carefully from her notes, and Galinda was spying on her from the bed. 

Biting her lip, she shifted above the pink covers, doing her best to read through one of the gigantic tomes Morrible had assigned to her, but Elphaba was proving to be a monumental distraction. Not because she was talking aloud to be heard over the dictaphone, no - but because she looked positively adorable doing it. Her brow was furrowed, her eyes were alight with concentration, and she occasionally adjusted her glasses with a little huff of frustration if she stumbled over a word while recording. Her head tilted to the side, exposing her sharp jawline, and now and again, her teeth would poke out and nibble her lower lip. Galinda could not take her eyes off of her. 

She pressed her thighs together. The near-miss in the library had riled her up terribly, to the point where she had to rush back to their suite just before lunch to change her underwear, and watching Elphaba was not helping things. It seemed that, in a strange sort of way, taking the pressure off regarding Fiyero might’ve ignited other opportunities for Galinda’s mind to entertain in the waking hours rather than the dead of night, when she was often visited by heated dreams that left her skin glowing with a sheen of sweat. More than once that day, even before the library incident, she’d felt her gaze lingering. She’d marvelled as Elphaba rolled up her sleeves in their first seminar, exposing her toned forearms. She’d felt her face flush when she watched her hips sway as she strolled through the corridors. And for whatever reason, she found her lips ever so fascinating. 

  No! No, don’t think like that. You’re still with Fiyero! Besides, it’s wrong to imagine Elphie in that way. She’s your friend. Nothing more, nothing less.

Gulping, Galinda tried to focus on the words on the page in front of her. She had a lot of revision to get through if she was going to muster a pass in the progress exams, and Elphaba’s recordings would take some time before she could use them as a tool. Sighing to herself, Galinda squinted at the pages, her glasses pushing her hair out of her face. As she was severely short-sighted, she didn’t need them for reading, so they doubled-up quite nicely as a hairband.

Since she and Elphaba had grown closer, Galinda had started to take her contacts out much earlier in the evening. Previously, she felt obliged to keep them in right before bed - and would then stumble across the bedroom from the bathroom, everything fuzzy. There was less pressure, now. She wore them more and more in private, doing her best to block out her mother’s voice telling her she looked bug-eyed and peculiar whenever she had them on. There had been the odd occasion when Fiyero or one of her friends would swoop by unannounced of an evening, when her contacts were already out, and Galinda would squint until her eyes watered. She felt comfortable for Elphaba to see her with glasses on, but no one else. 

The text she was attempting was, in true Madame Morrible fashion, exceptionally challenging. After the disaster that was her last essay, Morrible seemed even more dismissive of her than before. The training wand was quite literally gathering dust on Galinda’s chest of drawers, since there was little point in her taking it to class, and it taunted her every morning when she woke up and spotted it. It seemed Morrible’s aloof approach to teaching involved shoving more archaic texts in Galinda’s general direction and expecting her to absorb them, and thoroughly berating her when she couldn’t. Galinda wished she could proclaim that she’d prove her wrong, but it wasn’t that simple.

Tiredly, Galinda massaged her temple. She had gone over one particular paragraph four or five times, and she still couldn’t confidently summarise what it meant. It was like her brain lacked the component for remembering words she’d just gone over. That, coupled with the fact that the words seemed too alive on the page, prone to transform or move or flip, made reading in general an immensely frustrating experience for her. It wasn’t that she couldn’t read, as such, only it took her longer than everyone else and it made her head hurt from the effort. 

When she read the word was as saw for what felt like the millionth time that evening, Galinda’s patience with herself reached its thinnest.

‘Oz, you pea-brained idiot, ’ she hissed to herself. She realised too late that she’d said it aloud. There was a dull click when the dictaphone paused, and she felt the unmistakable sense of someone looking at her.

‘Galinda,’ came Elphaba’s soft voice, ‘for the last time, you’re not an idiot. What’s the matter now?’

Slowly, she lifted her head from the book, lowered her glasses from her head and over her eyes, and pouted at Elphaba. ‘...This book is - I don’t know. It’s hard for me to read.’

Elphaba nodded, before getting up from her desk and walking towards the bed. Galinda watched her every move as she perched next to her, wearing a concerned expression. 

‘I wanted to ask about that, actually,’ she said, her voice gentle.

‘A-About what?’

‘What you said in the library - you know, when you explained the words on the page,’ - she tapped the open book on Galinda’s lap - ‘wriggle about. What do you mean by that?’

Galinda felt the back of her neck growing hot. The last time she’d tried to explain the sensation, it was to her vexed Literature teacher who dismissed her as being a cross between dramatic and dopey. 

‘Um,’ she swallowed, ‘I don’t - it doesn’t matter, Elphie. I’m just being silly.’

‘You’re not being silly. You’re struggling, and there’s nothing silly about that.’

‘It’s just -’ Galinda mumbled, letting out a frustrated huff, ‘when you read, I assume you kind of glide across the pages and the words do as they’re told, right?’

‘In a certain sense, yes,’ nodded Elphaba.

‘Well, when I read, it’s like they…I don’t know, like they don’t stay where they’re supposed to. A-And sometimes, the letters inside the words also don’t stay put, and they switch around and move and make everything terribly difficult to keep track of.’ Galinda bit her lip, shame burning her face. She hated talking about it, but at least with Elphaba, she felt able to.

‘Okay, I see,’ said Elphaba. Her idle hand had moved from the book to rest on Galinda’s thigh, and her thumb was rubbing soothing circles over the fabric of her trousers. Galinda rarely wore trousers, but in the evenings, she favoured a soft, comfortable pair in lieu of her school uniform. I can’t wear outside clothes on the bed, after all - so many germs!

‘I know it sounds like I’m making it up, but I swear I’m not,’ Galinda added, when Elphaba didn’t say any more. ‘I - it’s just - Momsie and Popsicle and my teachers all thought I was lying and - and trying to come up with an excuse about why my schoolwork was so bad, but I promise -’

‘ - I believe you, Galinda,’ Elphaba interrupted, without a hint of deception. ‘I wasn’t going to accuse you of lying. I’m just trying to work out why that is.’

‘It’s because I’m s -’

‘ - If you call yourself stupid one more time, I’ll turn all your clothes green,’ Elphaba said, nudging her. ‘What about reading aloud? How do you find that?’

Galinda shuddered at the very thought. She was hit with a barrage of memories when she had to struggle through passages back at school, with each student taking turns to read aloud. She used to count the people ahead of her in the hopes she could locate and rehearse her section ahead of time - but that often meant she was so busy rushing ahead that she didn’t pay attention to what was being read by the others. And it never worked, anyway. She was always left red-faced, feeling lesser and helpless when she stumbled over words and tried to ignore the sniggers and comments from her classmates. 

‘I hate it,’ she muttered, clenching her fists. 

‘And when you say the words move, what do you mean?’

Galinda knew, objectively, that Elphaba was just trying to help her, but her tone was far too similar to her teachers who, while once patient, soon turned on her when she failed to improve. 

‘Just that they move, like I said,’ she hissed. 

‘But in what way? Is it an issue with your eyes, do you think?’

‘ No, I don’t!’ Galinda snapped, jerking her leg away from Elphaba’s soothing hand. ‘It’s an issue with my brain, Elphaba, because it clearly can’t seem to handle what everyone else finds so Oz-damned easy. I’m just - I’m just stupid! ’

To her surprise, Elphaba didn’t recoil or abandon her efforts to help. Instead, she clambered further onto the bed and put her arm around Galinda’s shoulders, drawing her in.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said softly, running a hand up and down Galinda’s arm. ‘I didn’t mean to make you feel self-conscious or upset, Galinda. And whatever is going on in your head when it comes to reading and writing, it doesn’t make you stupid, okay?’

‘Then why can’t I do it?’ Galinda mumbled. Her voice wavered and trembled, so close to breaking, but she choked it back. She’d cried far too much around Elphaba in the last week alone. I don’t want to be a burden. I don’t want to be too much.

‘Some people’s brains just work differently,’ Elphaba murmured, adjusting a little so Galinda could cuddle closer. ‘I’m not sure why yours operates in this particular manner, but it’s not a reflection on you or your intelligence. You struggle with words the same way someone else might struggle with numbers.’

‘I struggle with those too,’ Galinda admitted forlornly. ‘Though not as much, I guess.’

‘Regardless, it doesn’t make you lesser than someone who doesn’t struggle,’ Elphaba said firmly. ‘And I know it’s frustrating to work harder than everyone else simply to keep your head above the water. If I can help you, I want to know how. ’

Galinda sniffed, inadvertently breathing in Elphaba’s scent. It was like just-snuffed candles with a dash of vanilla, or even strawberries - which, Galinda assumed, was probably just her own perfume lingering on Elphaba’s clothes after a regular embrace. The idea made her heart flutter at the base of her throat. 

‘You’re already helping me more than you have to with the recordings,’ she whispered. ‘And - and I wish you didn’t need to. I wish I could just do it. I wish the words would stay still. ’

She felt Elphaba shift again, her fingers just shy of running through her hair, but she stopped herself. Galinda realised with a jolt it was because of what she’d told her about her mother, and how anxious she got when people touched it. Oh, Elphie, she thought, you really are such a gentle soul. 

‘It’s okay,’ she said quietly, nuzzling closer. ‘You can touch it.’

Elphaba responded by running her fingers through her golden curls with tender abandon, never pressing her nails into her scalp, never tugging at the strands. 

‘You know it doesn’t matter to me, doing those recordings,’ she said. ‘It helps me to revise the material, and if it proves useful to you, then I’ll stay up all night to make sure I’ve captured all the content you could possibly need.’

‘Oz,’ Galinda said, ‘please don’t do that. I know how much you need your eight hours. You get terribly cranky on anything less.’

Elphaba snorted with laughter. ‘Gosh, is it that obvious?’

‘Terribly so.’ Galinda smiled to herself, thinking it was quite cute to watch Elphaba grumpily cycle through her morning routine if she hadn’t had enough sleep. She was sulky and pouted a lot. Galinda found it endearing. ‘...It’s sort of funny, you know.’

‘What is? The fact I need a decent night’s sleep to function like a normal human being?’

‘No, no - well, yes, but that isn’t the point I was going to make,’ said Galinda. ‘I just meant that you’ve offered to do more to try and help me than anyone else throughout my whole education - not including Shiz, of course. I think I’ve gotten pretty good at hiding it by now, so no one has noticed.’

‘You needn’t hide if you need additional support, Galinda,’ replied Elphaba. ‘It’s nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, the only shameful thing is that you’ve been made to feel like you can’t ask for help when you’re struggling.’

‘Well, blame my teachers. Or Momsie and Popsicle, I suppose.’ Galinda let out an awkward chuckle, and nuzzled closer into Elphaba’s side, as if hiding her face. 

‘Hm…Figured that was the case,’ Elphaba sighed. ‘I imagine they weren’t very supportive?’

‘My teachers were at the start,’ said Galinda, thinking fondly of her first school when it was more acceptable to be a little behind her peers. ‘But as I got older…they got less patient.’ She pressed her lips together, feeling her throat thicken with the unpleasant comments her secondary school teachers had uttered when she couldn’t keep up with her assignments, or diligently follow along in class. Slow, they called her at best. Thick-skulled at worst. 

‘And your parents?’

Galinda winced. Elphaba must’ve felt it, because her grip around Galinda’s body tightened, as if she was trying to hold her even closer. 

‘They, er -’ she cleared her throat, willing herself not to get upset, ‘ - they were…annoyed at me. They hired private tutors before I went off to board at secondary school, and they accused me of wasting their money since I didn’t improve. Popsicle used to -’ she cut herself off again, turning her head to press into Elphaba’s neck. ‘...He would make me read aloud to him, and if I got it wrong, he’d shout at me as if it was my fault. Said I was embarrassing him for being so s-stupid. Said he didn’t understand where I got the idiot gene from, since it certainly wasn’t from him or Momsie. They’re both terrifically clever.’

‘Oz…’ Elphaba muttered. Galinda could tell without looking at her that her jaw was tight with anger. 

‘Momsie was…peculiar about it,’ continued Galinda, her voice muffled from being pressed against Elphaba’s neck. ‘At first, she was kind. She would sit with me and sound out the words, one by one, and didn’t get cross when I messed up. When I was older, though,’ - Galinda spat the word older with a sharp venom - ‘she stopped being so patient. And eventually…I think she just decided I was a lost cause. Dopey duckling, she calls me, even in front of other people. She thinks it’s funny. It bothers me, but I - I pretend it doesn’t.’

‘Well…I’m sure that does wonders for your self-esteem.’

Despite herself, Galinda laughed against Elphaba’s neck. ‘Oh, such wonders! Add that to the fact I was teased so mercilessly by my old classmates because of it, and you’ve got the perfect picture of how education makes me feel.’

‘So why did you end up coming to Shiz?’ Elphaba asked. ‘I’m thrilled you did, of course, and I’m not saying you shouldn’t have, but I just - um - you know. If education makes you feel so unhappy, why did you pursue it at this high level?’

Galinda sighed, shifting up so her head was propped against Elphaba’s shoulder. ‘Easy. Because Madame Morrible is here.’

She heard Elphaba swallow. ‘...You’re really serious about becoming a Sorcerer, aren’t you?’

‘More serious than I’ve been about anything in my life. Apart from maybe two summers ago when I was absolutely determined to acquire the limited edition Emerald Heels stilettos designed by Bartholomew Gray himself.’

‘Am I supposed to know who Bartholomew Gray is?’ Elphaba laughed. 

‘Elphie!’ Galinda gasped, sitting up at once and planting her hands on her shoulders. ‘You’re telling me that you have no idea who the most innovative visionary in the world of fashionable shoes is?! Where have you been? ’

‘In Munchkinland minding my own business, it seems,’ Elphaba grinned, evidently amused by how incredulous Galinda was.

‘ Ugh, ’ Galinda groaned, slapping her forehead. ‘You’re a lost cause, Elphaba Thropp. It seems we’ve a long way to go in terms of your oh-so-needed fashion education.’

‘Wasn’t aware I needed one,’ winked Elphaba.

‘...You’re pulling my leg, right?’

‘Yes, I’m pulling your leg, silly thing.’ Elphaba poked her cheek, right over her dimple, and gave her a teasing grin. ‘Do regale me with this apparently necessary fashion education in the near future, but right now, I ought to continue with the dictaphone. Those recordings won’t make themselves, after all.’

Galinda let out a loud sigh and reluctantly reached over to retrieve her book. ‘And I ought to carry on trying to make my way through this instrument of torture disguised as a book, I guess.’

‘You amaze me, you know.’

Galinda’s eyes snapped up to Elphaba in surprise, utterly convinced she was teasing her again, but there was nothing in the girl’s expression to suggest such duplicity. ‘...W-What?’

Elphaba nodded to the book in Galinda’s hands. ‘I know how difficult this is for you. Studying and making sense of all those words. But you…you keep ploughing ahead. You see it through to the end. And that’s pretty amazing, Galinda.’

Galinda’s lips parted just a hair. No one has ever said that to me before. ‘You - you mean it?’

‘Yes,’ Elphaba breathed, her eyes shining. ‘I think it’s exceptionally admirable, to chase after your dream, despite your struggles and frustrations, and face it head on.’ Her eyes were large and fond, drinking her in, open and brimming with sincerity. Galinda’s breath caught in her throat. She couldn’t recall anyone looking at her like that in such a way.

She’s so beautiful. She’s so beautiful.

‘And despite what Morrible might say,’ Elphaba continued, with a small, confident smile that made Galinda’s heart stutter, ‘I have faith in you. I believe in you.’

There were probably a multitude of reasons why Galinda did what she did next. She blamed her muddled mind after what had happened in the library, when she’d felt so worked up from Elphaba’s embrace. She blamed the way Elphaba was looking at her, with such encouragement and integrity. She blamed the fact that no one else had ever truly believed in her, looking beyond her struggling academic record. She blamed the help Elphaba offered, so kind and thoughtful. She blamed the soft light from her pink lamp, casting warm shadows over Elphaba’s face, making her look almost ethereal. She blamed Fiyero for not being what she wanted. She blamed herself for pushing down her own feelings for so long.

But ultimately, she knew the real reason why she did it. 

Because Elphie understands me. 

The cork popped before she could stop it. Maybe she was tired. Maybe she was foolish. Maybe she was desperate. 

It didn’t matter why.

Galinda surged forward, not caring about what she was doing, not registering that it might be a terrible idea in the long run, and her lips found Elphaba’s. They were soft, warm, wet. Shocked. Her ears roared. Galinda felt Elphaba’s entire body flinch at the sudden contact, and she jerked away from her. Her cheeks were flushed a dark green and her eyes were wide. They stared at each other for a moment, before the gravity of what just happened hit Galinda with all the force of a thousand bolts of lightning. 

‘Oh - shit - Elphie -’ she stammered, her fingers flying to touch her lips. ‘N-no. No, no, no. I didn’t - I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry. Oz , I’m sorry .’

With all the dexterity of a newborn foal, Galinda stumbled to her feet, her entire body trembling. She nearly tripped when she sprung up from her bed, her breath failing in her lungs, and panic surged through her system. She’d just kissed Elphaba. She’d just admitted her darkest secret. And Elphaba hadn’t kissed her back. 

‘Galinda -’

Galinda didn’t turn when her name flew from Elphaba’s lips. Shaking hands grappled with the handle on the door. Her face burned. Her glasses slipped down her nose, suddenly slick with sweat. She wanted to get away. She didn’t care where she’d end up. Just away. Away. Yes. Away . 

‘Galinda! Galinda! ’

Elphaba’s voice faded into the late evening, and Galinda did not look back. 

Chapter Text

Chapter Eight: Girls

It took Elphaba a long moment for her frazzled mind to process what in Oz had just happened.

Her brain was whirring. After Galinda bolted, Elphaba had stayed sitting on her large bed in dumb-struck silence, at a total loss. Part of her wanted to run after her, to grab her hand and pull her back, but it was like her legs had been reduced to jelly after Galinda had kissed her. Oz. She kissed me. She kissed me! Galinda Upland kissed me!

Between the shock, worry, and sheer bewilderment coursing through her system, Elphaba felt giddy. Never in her wildest dreams did she think Galinda might view her as an object of desire. She had become so used to people acting repulsed by her very presence, that she had thoroughly reserved herself to a life of solitude, or, if she was lucky, the occasional fleeting hug from a friend. Galinda had already given her that, and now, it seemed she was willing to give more. 

It wasn’t as if Elphaba had never entertained the idea. She was acutely aware of her growing attraction for the blonde whirlwind of a roommate - even before they had overcome their so-called loathing for each other and grew closer - but she never really gave such fantasies the time of day. After all, why would someone like her have any interest in me? She has Fiyero. Oz, she could have anyone she sets her sights on. It didn’t make any sense to her that Galinda might also harbour some level of interest in her. She might’ve called her beautiful, but the girl dished out compliments like they were going out of fashion. It wasn’t exactly unusual for her to say something pleasant about another person, and often, she was genuine. She had been ever so genuine that morning after the Ozdust. Elphaba had felt it right down to her toes. 

I can’t believe it. It must be a mistake. She must’ve been feeling overwhelmed by everything and latched onto me as an object of support. Nothing more, nothing less. And anyway, if she really meant it, why did she take off like that?

Even as Elphaba told herself that, shakily getting to her feet, a small voice at the back of her head was telling her that it meant something. Galinda might’ve been the impulsive sort, but she was also extremely careful about her actions. Everything was a performance - every gesture, every word, every expression scrupulously considered before she even did anything. And while they might’ve been alone, Galinda rarely slipped up unless she was under considerable emotional duress, most often if she was in the grips of panic. So why would she do that unless she actually wanted to? Could it be that she…likes girls?

It did make sense, really. Galinda might’ve put on a good show, but Elphaba had witnessed her little breakdown in The Broken Biscuit. She knew for fact that the poor girl had forced herself to court the boys back in Frottica. But Elphaba also knew that the Pertha Hills were not exactly famous for their tolerance when it came to same-sex love, even if the rest of Gilliken was much more open. Maybe that’s why she…

Swallowing thickly, Elphaba made her way to the bathroom to splash some cold water on her face. She blinked at her reflection. Her cheeks were still flushed and hot under her freckles, and she had a smudge of Galinda’s lipstick on her mouth, barely visible, but there. She flicked her tongue over it. It tasted sweet, predictably. She was fairly certain every inch of Galinda tasted sweet. 

‘Oh, Oz,’ she gulped aloud, shaking her head. ‘No, don’t think about that right now. Don’t get ahead of herself. Don’t give yourself hope because of one panicked peck on the lips.’

Taking off her glasses, Elphaba ran the tap until it was icy cold. She stared as it spiralled down the drain. The wet basin reflected the pink case where Galinda kept her contacts, just on the shelf above the sink. Elphaba realised that she’d taken off with her glasses on, something she never did. She really must be spooked. Should I go after her, or give her some space? It’s obvious she’s freaked out. What if she has a panic attack, and no one is there to help her? Abruptly, Elphaba turned off the tap without splashing her face. The idea of Galinda being alone to handle that was too much. 

She marched to the suite’s door, resolute, but just as she was about to grab the handle, she froze. She didn’t even know where Galinda would’ve gone. She doubted she’d seek solace in any of her friends. Fiyero, perhaps? Galinda had divulged the discussion the pair of them had - though not in any great detail - and flippantly explained that they were going to slow things down until she had ‘warmed up’. Elphaba was glad Fiyero was willing to do just that, but she didn’t think their relationship was a good idea at all. She had seen how Galinda reacted in The Broken Biscuit. She had heard what she said about them not being compatible, and she watched as Galinda painfully backtracked to save face. Oh, I wish she’d just be honest with herself. 

If Galinda had gone to Fiyero, then Elphaba didn’t want to interrupt. But why would she want to see him right now, since she kissed me ? It doesn’t make any sense. 

Elphaba lowered her hand from the doorhandle. Even if she could guess where Galinda had run off to, what would even say if she found her? Would Galinda want to see her, after what had just transpired? Elphaba could still feel her lips against her own. Why didn’t I kiss her back? Why did I let my surprise overtake my feelings? 

‘Ugh!’ she snapped, spinning on her slippers and moving from the door. She needed to get her head straight - haha - before she did anything else. She needed to sit with it for a while. Analyse why Galinda might’ve done it. Figure out her own feelings for the talkative blonde. And come with a plan about how to navigate their friendship now it had been so drastically changed. 

So, Elphaba did what Elphaba did best. She withdrew into herself and quietly shut down to scrutinise all her options. She made her way back to her desk, sat down, and grabbed her notebook. 

The Galinda Conundrum , she titled it. She tried to draw a small flower after Conundrum, but an artist she was not, so it just looked like a well-placed ink splodge. She sucked at her teeth in annoyance. 

Option A : Go after her. This is obviously the boldest approach. I should confront her while the feelings are still fresh, otherwise she might come up with a way to spin what happened to suit her own narrative. Issues with Option A include, but are not limited to:

• I have no idea where she’s gone

• If she’s with Fiyero, my presence might upset her

• She left for a reason, so my showing up could spook her

Elphaba bit her lip. She didn’t like the look of Option A at all, even though a huge part of her wanted to run after her. She wanted to take her face in her palms and kiss her. She wanted to do it hard, long, warm. Which is absolutely terrifying. I have no idea how to kiss people! Shuddering, Elphaba continued to write:

Option B : Give her some time. Galinda is prone to panic and is probably feeling very confused about kissing me, since it seemed to happen on a whim. She might appreciate a moment to herself in order to process it, like I do. Then again, Galinda might clam up the longer she’s left to ruminate. Issues with Option B include, but are not limited to:

• If she's by herself and has started to spiral, she might have a panic attack 

• If I surprise her before she's had a chance to process, that might make things even worse 

Option C : Do nothing. The easiest approach is to simply pretend like it never happened, and - 

Elphaba scribbled it out before she finished writing. There was no way she could ignore what had transpired. Galinda had just changed the dynamic of their relationship for good, and acting as if it had never happened would only leave an open wound bleeding into their friendship. It was not an option.

Option D: Sleep on it. It’s obvious that my head is an absolute mess, and I can’t imagine how Galinda must be feeling. I’m still reeling from the fact myself. Maybe I should leave her alone tonight. Issues with Option D include, but are not limited to:

• As above. Galinda might have a panic attack because she must be feeling overwhelmed

• If I take too long to respond, she might feel hurt, or worse, angry 

It was odd, really. Elphaba’s head was telling her to settle with Options B or D, but her troublesome heart was screaming at her to go for Option A. Run after her, you foolish girl! it cried, hammering in her chest. Run after her and make sure she knows how you’ve dreamed of kissing her! 

But Elphaba was out of her depth. She had never kissed anyone before. She had never come close, even though she pondered about it often enough. It wasn’t that she was afraid, as such - she was rarely scared of anything - though she lacked the confidence to go after what she wanted. And she wanted Galinda, so much that it made her chest ache. She wanted to take her in her arms, feel her warm skin beneath her clothes, and hold her close all night. 

Instead, Elphaba slid into her own bed, utterly alone. 

She lay awake all night. And Galinda didn’t come back. 

*

‘So,’ Pfannee asked through a mouthful of porridge, ‘do we not like Elphaba again?’

Galinda stared gloomily into the cup of tea clasped between her palms. The heat from the porcelain was starting to sting, but she didn’t withdraw her hands. 

‘ Galinda ,’ prompted Shenshen, poking her elbow. 

‘Huh?’

‘Oz, what is wrong with you lately?’ Shenshen lamented. ‘Ever since the other night when we heard you were running around with those ugly glasses on, you’ve been acting plain weird! ’

‘And avoiding Elphaba like the plague,’ added Pfannee. ‘Are we anti-green again?’

‘No, of course not,’ Galinda mumbled. ‘That whole thing was utterly childish and I never should have started it. And I’m not being weird, Shen, I’m just…tired.’

She could feel the disbelief radiating off Pfannee and Shenshen in waves, but what could she say? It wasn’t as if she could explain what had happened. She shuddered slightly in her seat. She had kissed Elphaba, however brief and light it had been. 

After it had happened, Galinda had found refuge in Fiyero’s suite. He hadn’t pried about her state of distress and let her in immediately, giving her a long hug. Avaric had a lot to say about her glasses, echoing her mother’s sentiment that they made her look like an insect - though Avaric’s turn of phrase was more along the lines of ha! You look like a massive nerd! She cringed just thinking about it, but it wasn’t as if she could scuttle back to her room and get her contacts. Not with Elphaba still there. 

That had been two nights ago. They had barely spoken since. Galinda made a point of avoiding Elphaba wherever possible, and Elphaba seemed to be glued to Nessa. Just last night, though, when they had caught each other in the suite after Galinda had dashed back to grab some clothes to leave at Fiyero’s, Elphaba had asked the dreaded question. 

Galinda, this is getting silly. We can’t go on like this. What was that about, the other night?

Galinda had subsequently made her excuses and hurried from the room. Elphaba had reached out, as if to grab her arm to stop her, but Galinda was quick when she wanted to be. However, a small part of her wished Elphaba had run after her - the night it happened, too. One of them needed to be brave, and it certainly wasn’t going to be her. Not when she’d messed up so royally. Oz, she thought to herself miserably, she probably thinks I’m a freak. Just when we were doing so well at being friends, too. I had to go and ruin it. 

She had spent last night with Fiyero, too, since she couldn’t stand to be in the same space with Elphaba for fear that she’d made her uncomfortable. Fiyero could clearly tell that something was amiss with her, but all he really wanted to do was to comfort her. Pfannee and Shenshen, on the other hand, seemed frustrated with her. 

‘I’m not being rude, but you’ve spent the last two days looking and acting like a ghoul,’ Shenshen said a-matter-of-factly, slumping her chin in her palm. ‘You’re pale and lethargic and I’m ninety percent sure that you spend most of your time groaning to yourself.’

‘Saying I’m not being rude before saying something rude doesn’t make it un -rude, you know,’ Galinda said sourly. 

‘Shen isn’t being malicious,’ Pfannee said, finishing up the last of his porridge. ‘It’s coming from a place of love. We’re worried about you. Everyone can tell that you’ve not been yourself. Even Milla, and you know what she's like.’

Galinda pressed her lips together, her stomach squirming. Despite her best efforts, she was fraying at the edges. The thought that the student body beyond their friendship group had noticed, though, was rather alarming. She had a reputation to uphold. A sense of perfection, a performance. She could not afford to falter. 

‘Did you fall out with Elphaba, or something?’ Pfannee pressed, when Galinda didn’t say anything. 

‘No!’ she said, a little too loudly. ‘No, we - it has nothing to do with her. Please don’t start being nasty to her again.’

‘Then why are you being all cagey around her?’ Shenshen said. ‘Don’t think we haven’t noticed - you either tense up whenever she enters a room, or you scarper completely.’

‘That’s not true,’ Galinda hissed, her grip around the teacup tightening. 

‘Er, yeah it is,’ Shenshen replied, rolling her eyes. 

‘No, it’s -’ Galinda cut herself short when she saw Elphaba enter the hall. She felt herself turn pink and quickly bowed her head. She did indeed want to scarper, but that would only confirm Shenshen’s point. 

‘Well, whatever funk you’re in, you need to snap out of it sharpish,’ said Shenshen. ‘Our first progress test is tomorrow . And given your track record, it’s probably best if you actually, you know, focus. ’

Any other day and Galinda would’ve felt upset by Shenshen’s underhanded comment. While no one - bar Elphaba - knew the extent of her academic struggles, her friends weren’t stupid. They had seen her dreadful quiz results. Given her current preoccupation, though, Galinda wasn’t really listening. She was carefully eyeing Elphaba out of the corner of her eye, as if she was trying to ascertain what might be going through the girl’s head. Why hasn’t she pushed harder to speak with me again? I know I’ve made it difficult, but Oz, she must want to talk about it! Unless she’s feeling peculiar about the whole thing. Maybe I should just leave it. Yes. I’ll pretend it never -

‘ - Galinda!’ 

‘What?’ she squeaked. 

‘I asked if you were going to have your croissant,’ Pfannee said, pointing at her untouched breakfast. ‘Goodness, you really are away with the fairies, aren’t you?’

‘Oh, sorry,’ she mumbled. She wordlessly pushed her plate towards him. The idea of eating anything at the current moment was making her feel unwell. It wasn’t really uncommon for her to be put off her food during times of high stress. In fact, she didn’t mind it. At least it’s something I can actually control, she thought morosely. 

‘Thanks,’ beamed Pfannee, smacking his lips together. ‘Milla was right about what she said - the food really has improved! And just in the nick of time - I was shedding pounds by the day trying to avoid the gruel they served.’

‘Oz, it wasn’t that bad, Pfan,’ Shenshen snorted. ‘Have you ever thought that you’re simply a picky eater? I mean, I’m not convinced I’ve ever seen you eat your greens since we enrolled here.’

‘Because anything green is vile, of course!’ he shuddered, before shooting an anxious glance at Galinda. ‘Er - I don’t mean - I’m not talking about Elphaba when I say that, just so you know. Don’t lose your cool.’

Galinda didn’t respond. She was too busy staring forlornly at Elphaba from across the room as she ladled cereal into a bowl. She often had a mammoth portion in the morning - breakfast is the most important meal of the day, she would often remind Galinda - but it was smaller than usual. Galinda hated that she noticed. Maybe she’s off her food for the same reason I am - which only makes me feel ten times worse. Oz! Why did I kiss her?! Idiot, you idiot! Pursing her lips together, Galinda gripped her hot teacup so hard that it actively hurt. You’ve ruined everything. You’ve screwed things up with the only real friend you’ve ever had, and you’ve technically cheated on your damned boyfriend! After he’s been so lovely and understanding! You stupid, stupid fool! She sniffed sharply, feeling her eyes growing hot. The last thing she needed was to cry in the middle of breakfast. The thought alone was enough to mortify her. Thankfully, she was given a distraction, for the morning chorus of longing gasps filled the mess hall, thus signifying Fiyero’s swaggering arrival. Since he rose late, she had gone to breakfast without him. 

‘Good morning, everyone!’ he beamed, sweeping over to the table and planting a kiss on Galinda’s cheek. ‘What a glorious morning, no? And the last one before our blasted progress tests begin - we ought to celebrate!’

‘With what? Tea and croissants?’ said Pfannee, as Fiyero sat down. Galinda watched Elphaba as she headed to an isolated table, an unreadable expression on her face. 

‘Nothing so bland, my friend,’ Fiyero winked. (Pfannee practically swooned). ‘I am proposing another visit to the Ozdust Ballroom this evening - one last hoorah before our lives are inevitably dampened from abysmal tests.’

‘Speak for yourself, Tigelaar,’ Shenshen smirked. ‘I studied hard for these tests. I’d be surprised if I don’t pass with flying colours.’

‘That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy an evening of debauchery, though!’ replied Fiyero. ‘What do you all say, hm? I reckon it would be the perfect way to cut loose and relax.’

Shenshen and Pfannee nodded eagerly, but Galinda gave a noncommittal shrug. 

‘Ugh, what is the matter with you?’ Shenshen said, poking Galinda’s elbow again. It was a little too hard. 

‘Stop that,’ said Galinda, stung. ‘If you want to go to Ozdust, then I’m not preventing that. I’m just not feeling up to it. Not to mention that it’s a school night.’

‘Since when did you care about school?’ Pfannee said. 

‘Since I - it doesn’t matter!’ Galinda snapped. 

‘Then why not come out with us?’ Shenshen pressed. ‘Come on, Galinda, it’ll be fun!’

‘And it might perk you up a bit,’ Pfannee added.

‘Yeah, it’ll drag you out of whatever slump you’re in,’ Shenshen said. 

‘I am not in a slump!’ Galinda protested, slamming a hand on the table. ‘And will you both stop going on at me? If I don’t want to go out tonight, then I’m not going out tonight. It’s as simple as that!’ 

A frosty silence settled over the breakfast table, and Galinda could’ve kicked herself. She could feel the control of the room slipping out of her grasp, and it was all because of her inability to hold back. Oz, if I didn’t cave and kiss her, everything would be alright!

‘No need to be so vexed, my darling,’ Fiyero said softly, placing a hand on her knee. ‘It was only a suggestion. If you’d rather not attend, it is perfectly fine.’

Galinda released a steady breath from her nostrils. ‘Good. S-sorry.’

‘Don’t apologise,’ Shenshen said quickly, as if worried about making Galinda angrier than she already was. ‘But you know, Galinda, we’re your friends. You can tell us anything, including what’s bothering you.’

Galinda bit her lip. ‘...I’m fine. Just a little tired.’

*

The one place Galinda could not avoid Elphaba were Madame Morrible’s Sorcery Seminars. It was her second class of the day, and the first time she’d attended one of Morrible’s seminars since the kiss. Elphaba was already sitting and waiting, punctual as ever, and Galinda froze when she entered the room and saw that Morrible was not yet in attendance. 

‘Hello,’ Elphaba said softly, when Galinda shot past her to sit down at her lonely desk. 

Galinda didn't say anything. She started unpacking her bag, rummaging for the book Morrible was having her read (the complex and miserable piece that made Galinda want to tear her hair out), and did everything she could to avoid looking over at her roommate.

She heard Elphaba let out a frustrated sigh, and the girl was suddenly on her feet, marching over to Galinda’s corner. 

‘Galinda, come on,’ she said, grabbing her wrist and tugging her to her feet. 

‘W-what are you doing ?’ Galinda yelped, stumbling out of her chair rather ungraciously. 

‘We need to talk. This silent treatment is beyond ridiculous, and I’ll not survive this seminar unless we have it out,’ Elphaba said grimly, yanking Galinda across the floor. 

‘And how will manhandling me help any of that?’ Galinda hissed, her face hot. ‘Where are we even going? The seminar starts in like 5 minutes!’

‘Then that’s all we’ll need.’

Galinda tried to free herself from Elphaba’s iron grip, but the girl was much stronger than she was (she tried to ignore how warm that made her feel) and pulled her along effortlessly, until they were out of the room and in the corridor. Not many people ventured to that particular corner of Shiz, given it was Morrible’s private quarters, so it was deserted. Sunlight filtered through the large window they stood in front of, setting flecks of floating dust aflame. Elphaba still had hold of Galinda’s wrist. 

‘I need you to listen to me,’ she said. Her voice was low, trembling ever so slightly. Galinda could tell she was nervous. ‘What happened the other night doesn’t - it doesn’t matter , okay? You don’t need to give me the cold shoulder over something so inconsequential. The most important thing is that you’re okay, Galinda, because you -’

‘- Inconsequential? ’ Galinda interrupted in a choked whisper. Her words slipped out before she could help herself.

Elphaba blinked at her in surprise. ‘Well…Yes. I mean, it doesn’t change anything. I’m not cross or upset with you for running away, and I’ve been concerned that you -’

‘ - Elphie, for someone who claims to be so intelligent, you are positively stupid at times,’ Galinda spluttered, interrupting her again. ‘I didn’t - I didn’t bolt because I was worried I’d made you cross. I did it because I had no idea how to deal with what I’d just done.’

‘But there’s nothing to deal with. It was just a kiss, Galinda.’

Galinda felt a lump bloom in her throat. Elphaba was looking at her with a tender, quiet caution that made her heart flutter. The sunlight was setting her eyes ablaze behind her glasses, always so diligently polished. She hadn’t looked her in the face since they had kissed. Just the sight of her made her feel out of control. I think she might be turning me insane.

‘Oz, there is, ’ she mumbled, finally pulling herself out of Elphaba’s grip. ‘Can’t you understand why I did it? I was - I was trying to tell you that I…’ she trailed off, frustrated as she struggled to find the right words. Could she even confess? Everything felt so fragile. And what would she even say? She was with Fiyero, for all intents and purposes. If she admitted how much she admired Elphaba, what would happen next? It wasn’t as if they could run off into the sunset together. And what would everyone think? Momsie and Popsicle, my friends, Elphie’s family…

‘...That you what?’ Elphaba asked. She looked confused, but her tone was soft and gentle, just as it was the other night before Galinda had crossed the line and ruined everything. 

‘I -’ Galinda spluttered, wanting more than anything to run a mile. ‘I just…um, I mean…I’m sorry. I’m not sure if I -’

‘ - It’s okay,’ said Elphaba. ‘...I think I know what you’re trying to say.’

‘I doubt that,’ whispered Galinda, her eyes stinging. 

She heard Elphaba shuffling on the spot. It was an anxious habit of hers. ‘...Look, you can shout me down if I’ve got the wrong impression, but -’ she took a deep breath. ‘ - Well, I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said at The Broken Biscuit. ’

Galinda pressed her lips together. The last thing she wanted was to be reminded of that particular social hiccup. She still felt embarrassed about the woman in the queue who had so blatantly pointed out her tear-stained face and ruined make-up.

‘And the thing is,’ Elphaba continued, swallowing, ‘I know things have been…difficult for you. With - with dating boys. It’s been on my mind, the way you said you had to make yourself, and…Oz, I’m sorry. I’m not expressing myself very well.’ She took another shaky breath. ‘Galinda, I know what things are like in Frottica. Gilliken might be an accepting country on the whole, but from what I’ve learnt, the Pertha Hills…isn't. Though I can’t exactly boast and say Munchkindland is much better in that regard, but alas.’

Galinda felt herself start to sweat. ‘What - what are you talking about?’

‘I think you know.’

Galinda flinched as she felt Elphaba’s hand running up her arm. Her palm warmed through the fabric and settled on her shoulder, giving it a light squeeze.

‘I know I might be overstepping,’ she said quietly. Her voice was trembling, and it made Galinda’s gut churn with guilt. The last thing she wanted was to upset Elphaba all over again. ‘And I know you probably don’t want to hear what I have to say, but…if - if you don’t like boys, Galinda, it doesn’t matter to me.’

Galinda’s chest tightened. Her ears went fuzzy. Her vision tunnelled. No, no, no, no, no. 

‘And I can understand why you might’ve latched onto me and - you know - kissed me because you wanted to understand that part of yourself,’ continued Elphaba, oblivious to her mounting panic. ‘It’s okay, Galinda. It’s all okay. I just miss you. I don’t care about anything else.’

But Galinda wasn’t really paying attention. It felt like she could no longer feel the ground beneath her feet, nor sense the comforting weight of Elphaba’s hand on her shoulder. Her mouth opened, wanting to say something, to deny it, to fight back, but her brain had turned to mush. 

I’m in trouble. I’m in so much trouble.

‘Galinda, please say something,’ murmured Elphaba. Galinda could barely hear her. Her voice was faint, like she was talking from a distance. 

I’ve been found out. She’s going to tell everyone. Momsie and Popsicle will - A tight wheeze sucked itself from her lungs, and that dreadful, familiar feeling of clammy numbness spread over her body.

‘Oh, shit. Galinda, I need you to breathe.’

She was shaking her head, her whole body trembling. ‘I - I’m n-not - I didn’t - I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry -’ 

‘No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have sprung that on you.’ 

‘I - p-please, I didn’t mean to, you c-can’t - you can’t -’

She was enveloped in warmth. Elphaba’s familiar smell filled her nose, and she slumped forward, her face pressing into the soft curve where Elphaba’s neck met her shoulder, her breathing out of control. Her chest ached and her mind was spiralling, imagining what everyone back home would think, her family, her old friends, her Ama Clutch, and the things they would say - freak, disgusting, wrong - 

‘I’ve got you, I’ve got you,’ whispered Elphaba. ‘You’re safe. I'm here. It’s okay. Breathe. Just breathe.’

‘N-No, you don’t u-understand,’ Galinda gasped, gripping the fabric of Elphaba’s shirt between her clammy fists. ‘No one can know, E-Elphie, please. P-Please promise you won’t - I can’t - they’ll be so cross at me -’

‘I won’t tell anyone a thing,’ Elphaba said firmly. ‘I swear to you. Oz, I’m sorry. I never should’ve opened my mouth. I just - I need you to know it’s going to be okay, Galinda, no matter what. I want what I know. I’ll be there for you regardless.’

Galinda trembled in her arms. ‘B-But I - it’s all so - so complicated. ’ She drew away, composing herself as best she could before she could totally spiral, her breaths still tight and uneven. 

‘What’s complicated?’ murmured Elphaba. ‘I don’t care about what happened the other night, and I don’t care if you -’ she lowered her voice, just in case, ‘ - if you like girls. And anyone who does care isn’t worth the time of day.’

‘N-No, it’s not just that,’ hiccuped Galinda, her shoulders jerking. Her eyes felt too hot, and before long, they were sparkling with tears. She blinked up at Elphaba through her wet eyelashes. ‘...You still don’t get it, Elphie.’

‘Then tell me. I’m not going anywhere.’

Galinda let out a heavy breath, her hands balling into fists at her sides. What’s even the point in running from it now? I’ve already popped the cork by kissing her. I can’t take back what I did. I might as well spill it all. And she…she doesn’t mind knowing that secret part of me. 

‘I…’ she cleared her throat, wishing she didn’t turn quite so red when she was flustered, ‘I didn’t - Oz - I didn’t kiss you to prove a point.’

‘What do you mean?’ asked Elphaba.

Galinda’s breath was still ragged from panic, but she saw it through. She knew that her next words would change everything, but what else could she do? She was cornered. She was exhausted. And I promised Elphie I would do better when we became friends. I can’t lie to her. I can’t let her down.

It was terrifying. Her heart thrummed at the base of her throat. Her eyes were hot and wet and blurry. Her face was warm. Her palms were sweating. She was relieved she hadn’t eaten breakfast, else she might’ve vomited it up all over Elphaba’s shoes from panic alone. And even as she steeled herself, the panicked, stricken voice at the back of her wounded, childhood mind was telling her to stop.

Don't tell her! Stop! Go back! Go back! 

She shuddered, gripping her arms around herself. Elphaba was patient, though. She waited. She watched. She gave Galinda the space she needed to occupy her own thoughts.

‘I…’ Galinda’s voice was hoarse, uncertain. ‘...I kissed you because I wanted to.’

It was out there. The moment the words slipped from her lips, Galinda knew there was no going back. She could have made excuses for the kiss and left Elphaba in the dark, but she was tired. She was tired of feeling like a tightly coiled spring, liable to explode at any moment. She was tired of trailing after Fiyero to keep up appearances, of tricking herself into staying with him just because he was perfect. But above all, Galinda missed Elphaba. She missed their friendship, their late-night chats, their quiet mornings, and their shared jokes. And even if Elphaba rejected her in that pivotal moment, it wouldn’t matter. Just so long as she got her friend back. 

‘Well, that’s a relief. I wouldn’t have wanted to give my first kiss to someone who didn’t want me.’

Galinda’s lips parted. She stared at Elphaba, the lump in her throat almost suffocating her. ‘W-what? That was - that was your first kiss?’

Elphaba gave her a bashful smile. ‘There aren’t many people out there who want to lock lips with a green girl, in my experience.’

The dam broke and tears slipped down Galinda’s cheeks. She let out a quiet sob, her hand clamping around her mouth. 

‘Oz, it’s not worth crying over, you silly thing,’ Elphaba said quietly, drawing Galinda’s hand away from her trembling lips. ‘And if I was going to share it with anyone, I am glad it was with you.’

Galinda hiccuped, wiping at her cheeks with her free hand. Elphaba had hold of the other one, her fingers tracing over Galinda’s knuckles with a fond, affectionate rhythm. 

‘Do you…What does that mean?’ Galinda gulped, frightened. 

‘It means I’d quite like to do it again, if it’s all the same to you,’ whispered Elphaba. She sounded almost childlike, as if afraid of what she was saying. 

Galinda hardly had a moment to process before Elphaba had moved closer. Warmth filled the space. She felt her hand being squeezed tighter, and her words caught in her throat as she felt Elphaba’s breath ghost over her lips.

‘Are - are you sure?’ she breathed, her pulse hammering in the hollow of her neck. ‘I - I don’t want you feeling obliged. Or, Oz forbid, sorry for me.’

‘Galinda, it’s literally all I’ve been able to think about,’ said Elphaba. Her hand moved ever so slowly to cup her face, as if she was giving her plenty of time to move away if she wanted. ‘It’s been making me miserable to watch you try and avoid me, when all I really want is to be close to you.’

‘Close…like this?’

‘Yes. Like this.’

Galinda let out a quiet sigh, half relief, half desire. It was Elphaba who moved first, her lips tentatively touching the pink softness of Galinda’s parted mouth, sucking in a sharp breath. She dropped Galinda’s hand and gripped at her waist instead, her fingers digging into the fabric of her pleated skirt, and Galinda had to crane her neck up to keep up with the closeness. Elphaba was clumsy, shaky, but enthusiastic. Galinda felt her cheeks warming up, a little self-conscious. The surprise of it had short-circuited her brain. She felt like she’d completely forgotten how to kiss. Since when had she been so painfully aware of her own body, of her lips, of her saliva? Since when did she have to think about it? Maybe it’s because this is the first time I’ve actually cared about a kiss. 

Trembling, she deepened the kiss, her arms looping around Elphaba’s neck. She pushed herself into the embrace, their lips moving and molding together, and heat pulsed through her entire body. It was what she had been dreaming of for weeks. It feels like magic. It feels like relief. It feels like home. 

‘E-Elphie,’ Galinda whispered between kisses.

‘Yes?’ Her tone was loose, languid, awed. 

‘I’ve wanted to do this forever.’

‘Always so dramatic,’ Elphaba chuckled, before her hand moved from her face and snaked around the back of Galinda’s neck. She angled her to kiss her harder. Galinda let out a little squeak. Their teeth clashed together for a moment, before Elphaba experimentally slipped her tongue between Galinda’s parted lips. For a girl who has never kissed anyone before, she sure is bold. Galinda opened herself up eagerly, and their tongues pushed against each other, warm and wet and sweet. Elphaba tasted good, like salt and spice, and Galinda couldn’t get enough of her. She felt heat between her legs, and she pressed her thighs together, suppressing a whimper. 

‘It’s okay,’ Elphaba whispered, feeling the girl shudder in her arms. ‘I want to hear you.’

‘Elphie, Oz, you can’t say such things,’ Galinda panted, her blush brightening the tips of her ears. 

‘I can’t believe you’re so easy to fluster.’

Elphaba yanked Galinda in closer by her waist, grinning against the kiss as she heard the girl let out a little moan in her throat, unable to help herself. 

‘You’re devious,’ Galinda whimpered.

‘Should I stop?’ asked Elphaba.

‘Oz, no. ’

They kissed each other until their mouths hurt. Elphaba clung onto Galinda for dear life, and she was grateful for it - her knees were so weak and her legs so wobbly, that she feared she might’ve collapsed were it not for the strong grip around her waist. The whole time, Galinda felt like every nerve ending was exposed and raw, and while she was totally aware of what was happening, her brain didn’t quite comprehend what it meant. Elphaba wanted to kiss her. She liked her. It was as if all of Galinda’s nighttime fantasies had come true. 

They only broke apart when they heard the tell-tale rap of Madame Morrible’s heels clicking down the corridor. They stared at each other. Galinda’s lips were pink, wet, bruised. Elphaba’s were shining. It took everything in Galinda’s frazzled mind not to lurch forward and kiss her again. 

‘Er, you’ve got a little -’ she said, reaching up to trace her fingers over Elphaba’s lips, stained with pale pink lipstick. 

‘Oh!’ Elphaba said, as Galinda wiped it off. ‘T-thanks. We should - before Madame Morrible -’

‘ - Classroom, yes,’ Galinda nodded hastily. Her heart was hammering and she felt too hot, her cheeks tinged red. She turned from Elphaba to go inside, but she felt a hand catch her wrist. 

‘Just quickly,’ Elphaba said, a little apprehensively, ‘I’m glad we did that. Um…Are you?’

Galinda’s face broke out into a dazzling smile. ‘Oh, Elphie. I’m gladder than you know. I wish we could carry on.’

Elphaba smiled back. ‘Me too. If I was a bolder sort of person, I’d suggest we ditch Morrible and find a quieter corner.’

‘I refuse to be a bad influence, Miss Elphaba,’ Galinda smirked, slapping her playfully. 

‘It’s a little late for that, I think.’

*

Galinda hadn’t really paid any attention in the seminar. She kept blushing every time she glanced over at Elphaba, her stomach doing excited little somersaults. She couldn’t quite believe it. She kissed me. She kissed me! Elphaba Thropp kissed me! Galinda could not recall a time she felt so weak at the knees from sheer joyousness - apart from when she found out she’d been accepted into Shiz, perhaps - and she kept sucking her lower lip beneath her front teeth, as if trying to taste Elphaba there again. She’d never known kissing to be addictive, and all she wanted was more. If Morrible hadn’t been there, she was fairly certain she might’ve jumped Elphaba then and there.

Elphaba had always been attractive in Galinda’s eyes, with her ethereal beauty and cool composure, but it was as if the dial had been turned up. She could not stop staring at her, completely ignoring the open book on the desk in front of her. Of course, she knew she should be focusing given their upcoming progress tests, but how could she be expected to concentrate under such conditions? Especially since Elphaba was coming on leaps and bounds in the seminar - she was now able to levitate heavier objects. Sighing, Galinda slumped her chin in her hand and gazed at Elphaba as she casually suspended a stool in mid-air, her face creased from the effort. Once upon a time, Galinda might’ve felt envious of Elphaba’s success and the way Morrible admired her so, but all of that had gone out the window. She was pleased for her. She was proud of her. And the minute we have some time for ourselves, I’m going to shove her against a wall and kiss her so hard she won’t be able to think about anything but me!

‘You really are amazing, Elphie,’ she gushed as they walked back after the seminar had concluded. ‘Madame Morrible is a famously difficult person to please, but you’ve got her wrapped around her little finger with your academic prowess! I mean, she even smiled at me when we left because you're doing so well!’

‘I think that was more of a grimace,’ Elphaba smirked. ‘To be honest, I don’t know how you manage to put up with her attitude towards you in general. It’s most unlike you to bite your tongue when you’re dissatisfied.’

‘Oh, you’d be surprised,’ replied Galinda lightly. ‘I was taught from a young age which battles to fight, and which to concede.’

Elphaba observed her from out of the corner of her eye. ‘I can’t imagine you backing down from a fight.’

‘Don’t presume to know everything about me just because we smooched, Elphie.’

At the mention of the kiss, both girls couldn’t help but smile shyly at each other. 

‘Um, about that,’ Elphaba said slowly, ‘are you - I mean, are you okay that it happened?’

‘I’m overjoyed that it happened,’ Galinda said, grabbing Elphaba’s hand as they strolled down the corridor. It was peculiar, in a way - while their dynamic had totally changed, there was no real sense of awkwardness since they’d always been tactile with each other. It felt like second nature for Galinda to hold her hand. ‘...Though it does rather complicate things with Fiyero and I…’ 

‘You don’t need to say or do anything,’ Elphaba said hastily. ‘I mean, it’s not the nicest thing in the world to do that sort of thing behind his back, but he’s - er - far from innocent himself.’

‘You mean with all his infernal flirting with everything that moves?’ Galinda smirked, to which Elphaba nodded. ‘It never bothered me, really. I suppose that should’ve been a sign.’

‘In general, though,’ Elphaba continued, ‘I don’t think there’s any harm in keeping this to ourselves. Just until we figure out…what it is.’

‘Elphie, are you saying you’re ashamed of me?’ gasped Galinda sarcastically, clutching a hand to her chest in feigned mortification. ‘You’re breaking my heart here. You ought to be proud to have someone like me on your arm!’

Elphaba chuckled, dropping Galinda’s hand and looping an arm around her waist instead. ‘I’m just saying that we don’t need to get anyone else involved and overcomplicate things. Let’s give ourselves time.’

‘Time, hm?’ sighed Galinda, leaning into Elphaba’s hold. ‘I’ve got plenty of ideas on how to spend it.’

‘Now who’s being devious?’

Galinda gave her a grin, tossing her blonde hair over one shoulder. ‘We’ve some time before our next class. How about I show you just how devious I can be?’

She watched as Elphaba’s face coloured a little. ‘As much as I’d like that, I’ve booked a revision session with Dr Dillamond. There’s an abundance of conflicting sources detailing the civil war between differing factions in the Land of Ev, and I wanted his expertise on -’

‘ - Ugh, you’re such a nerd,’ groaned Galinda. ‘You’re really going to abandon me in favour of a bespectacled goat?’

Elphaba laughed, pinching Galinda’s waist. The girl squeaked in surprise, which only made Elphaba laugh more. ‘Don’t sound so disgruntled, Galinda. We’ve plenty of time later this evening, have we not? Unless you’re going to the Ozdust after all.’

Galinda, who was blushing from Elphaba’s pinch, shook her head. ‘No, I’ve already told the others that I didn’t want to go. Though I was in a terribly sour mood this morning. I ought to apologise to them at some point.’

‘Well, if you did want to go, I’d happily accompany you,’ replied Elphaba. ‘Even though it's not really my scene.’

Galinda nuzzled into Elphaba’s shoulder. ‘No need. Tonight, I want you all to myself.’

*

For all her previous confidence, Galinda was a quivering mess come the evening. She was waiting in the suite, and had gone from lazing on her bed and attempting to study for their first exam - Mathematics, which wasn’t her worst subject, but certainly not her best - to pacing up and down, to perching on the end of Elphaba’s bed, until she settled for lying face-down in the middle of the room as if she’d been shot. She let out a sad groan. How long was she going to be kept waiting? And what exactly would she even do when Elphaba eventually materialised? It was as if the sudden distance following their kiss had made way for rationality, even anxiety. Galinda would’ve been much happier if they’d simply returned to their suite following Morrible’s seminar and kissed in the privacy she’d been craving, but it had been hours since then and she’d not seen Elphaba at dinner. 

What if she’s changed her mind? Galinda sat up so fast that blood rushed from her head, making her feel dizzy. No, she wouldn’t have changed her mind. She’s probably just caught up in class or her extra sessions.Our first exam is tomorrow, after all. Knowing her, she’s sealed herself away somewhere to focus. Still, the thought started to gnaw at the base of her skull, as if it was a malicious little worm burrowing into her brain. What if she’s had second thoughts, and is too nice to tell me? Or worse, what if she’s avoiding me ?

Galinda sat cross-legged on the floor, gripping her hands together. She could feel her heartbeat starting to pick up the more she thought about Elphaba, and not for a good reason. Usually, fantasising about Elphaba made her pulse thrum pleasantly, warmly, as if excited by the idea of her. Now, it was hammering against her ribs, as ugly thoughts swarmed her tired mind. What if she’s realised she made a mistake? She wasn’t at dinner - I bet she must be trying to steer clear of me. She's probably waiting for me to go to bed so she doesn’t have to talk to me . 

She glanced at the clock on the wall. Class - extra sessions or otherwise - had long since finished. The sun was starting to go down. Most of the students would’ve gone to the Ozdust by now, no doubt caught up in the fervour and glamour Fiyero had cast over them. There was no one around that Elphaba could be cornered by. The ticking from the clock seemed louder, somehow, overwhelming her panicked mind. Galinda’s breath stuttered in her throat, and she swallowed thickly. What if Elphie has gone with them to the Ozdust after all? Fiyero is awfully persuasive. And she didn’t invite me along because she’s embarrassed by my behaviour. No, she’s - she’s disgusted by me.

Galinda’s chest was tight. It suddenly became a lot harder to breathe, and she clutched her fingers together so tightly that it started to hurt. Don’t be silly. She’s not like that. She kissed me back. She wanted to kiss me back. She licked her lips, remembering the feeling. Unless…Unless she just felt pressured because of what she found out about me not liking boys? She has a good heart. What if she just wanted to appease me because she felt sorry for me?

Galinda shook her head, blindly groping behind her to latch onto the back of her desk chair. Trembling, she pulled herself to her feet. Her breaths were coming in short and fast. It felt like she couldn’t quite fill her lungs enough. She must’ve gone to the Ozdust to get away from me. Oz, what if she’s told everyone? 

Lights flashed in front of Galinda’s eyes as the image of it assaulted her senses. Elphaba, holding court in the ballroom, telling their cohort all about how Galinda had kissed her, confessed to her, and admitted she wasn’t interested in boys. Fiyero’s face, a picture of shock and hurt. Their friends, startled and enthralled by the turn of events. And then the laughter from everyone present, at her expense. The whispers. The ridicule. The rumours, flying from scornful lips and stretching all the way back home to her parents. Galinda felt her eyes growing hot. 

No, no, she thought, her hands white-knuckled around the back of the chair. That won’t happen. Elphie would never do that. She was shaking so badly that she was worried she’d lost control. When did it get so hard to breathe ? Where was Elphaba? Where is she ? I - I have to find her. I have to find her.

Unable to talk herself out of it, Galinda swung open the door and marched out. She slammed into something soft with a sudden oof! , and before she could even register who - or what - it was she’d just smashed her face into, she felt strong hands on her shoulders. 

‘G-Galinda!? Elphaba stuttered. ‘What are you - you really need to watch where you’re going, you know that?’

Galinda clutched at her nose, her shoulders jerking in surprise. ‘Elphie! Where in Oz have you been? ’

Elphaba stared at her for a moment, taking in her frazzled expression, wide, tearful eyes, and heaving chest. Gently, she encouraged her back inside the room, closed the door with a click, and discarded her bag across the floor. 

‘What could possibly be the matter?’ she asked, her hands still on Galinda’s shoulders. ‘You’re trembling.’

‘I - you - you didn’t come back and I -’ Galinda stammered, unable to catch her breath. Her chest tightened. Oh no, she thought to herself, suddenly feeling as if she couldn’t swallow. Not again. 

‘Okay, slow down,’ Elphaba said softly.

‘N-no, you don’t understand - you were gone and I thought you’d changed your mind and -’ stammered Galinda, her breaths short and fractured. She could feel her control slipping from her grip. Her skin prickled with a tingling cold, and she stumbled away from Elphaba and out of her grip. 

‘Galinda, it’s alright,’ came Elphaba’s urgent voice. ‘I just let time get the better of me, that’s all! I was studying in the library, and before I knew it, the sun was going down and I’d missed dinner. But I’m totally fine.’

Galinda could hardly hear her. Her eyes were burning and her chest was aching . She felt Elphaba’s warm hand closing around her wrist. 

‘Sit down,’ she urged, coaxing Galinda across the room to her large bed. ‘Sit down and tell me what’s happened. I can’t help if I don’t know what’s amiss.’

‘N-nothing’s amiss,’ Galinda whimpered, tears leaking from her eyes. 

‘Then why are you crying?’

‘B-because,’ Galinda stammered, her breaths clipped and choked, ‘I thought you - I thought you’d gone. I thought you’d -’ She couldn’t finish her sentence, a lump strangling her throat. 

‘Okay, okay,’ Elphaba soothed. She encouraged Galinda to sit down on the bed next to her. She put her arm around her shoulders, and Galinda practically melted into her. 

‘S-sorry, I - I feel like I can’t breathe, ’ she said, her voice thick. 

‘You don’t have to apologise,’ replied Elphaba, rubbing her hand up and down Galinda’s quivering arm. ‘But why did you think I was gone? I told you I’d be back tonight.’

‘You were late, ’ whimpered Galinda, her lower lip trembling as short, panicked breaths seized from her lungs. ‘I just - I thought t-that you regretted everything, that you didn’t w-want to see me and that you’d told everyone.’

She felt Elphaba stiffen slightly, before she let out a heavy sigh. 

‘Right…’ she murmured, carefully prising Galinda away from her so she could look at her properly. She brought her hand up to rest on Galinda’s cheek, wiping away a stray tear with her thumb. ‘I’m sorry that you’ve gotten this worked up. I didn’t realise that me being late would panic you so much. But I don’t regret a thing, Galinda. Not a single thing. And I already told you that we’d keep it between ourselves, until we’d figured everything out. You remember, don’t you?’

‘Of course I remember,’ Galinda sniffled. ‘I - I was just waiting for so long, and I got away with myself. I didn’t - I’m sorry -’

‘ - You need to breathe, Galinda,’ murmured Elphaba, still cupping her face. 

‘I -’

‘Breathe. Follow my lead.’

Slowly, deliberately, Elphaba filled her lungs with steady, even breaths. She counted in her head with each one, holding and releasing in rhythmic intervals, her palm warm against Galinda’s wet cheek. The girl struggled along with her, her breaths rapid and choked, but Elphaba was patient. 

‘You’re doing wonderfully,’ she said, wiping away the tears from Galinda’s wide, brown eyes. ‘Keep doing what I’m doing.’

Galinda let out a defeated whimper, closing her eyes, doing her best to keep up with Elphaba’s steady breathing. The only sounds were their breaths and the ticking of the clock. Campus was quiet. The lights were off. Eventually, Galinda felt her heartrate start to come down.

‘There,’ Elphaba whispered, dropping her hand. ‘There you go. You’re okay.’

When Galinda opened her eyes, Elphaba was looking at her with a gentle concern, the sort that portrayed her worry, but uninvasive, as if telling her that they didn’t need to talk about it right that second. Galinda fell back onto the bed, sniffling. The mattress shifted, and Elphaba lay down, propped against the pillows.

‘Come here, Galinda,’ she said, extending out her arm. Galinda obeyed, exhausted, and shuffled closer. She slotted against Elphaba’s side and draped her arm around her waist, burying her face into her neck with a small sigh. Predictably, Elphaba smelt divine. She felt Elphaba’s arm wrapping around her, warm and safe and comforting. The girls were quiet for a while, breathing in tandem. Eventually, Galinda felt compelled to say something. 

‘This isn’t how I wanted to spend our evening,’ she whispered, her face still pressed into Elphaba’s neck. ‘I wanted to…I wanted to kiss you again, properly. Without interruptions. I’ve ruined everything.’

Her eyes were wet again. She froze as Elphaba shifted slightly, before she felt a soft kiss being pressed to her forehead. 

‘You have not ruined a thing,’ Elphaba murmured, her tone gentle and warm. ‘And we’ve plenty of time for all of that later. Right now, though, you need to rest.’

‘But - our first exam is tomorrow and I - ’

‘Rest , my sweet,’ Elphaba said, drawing her closer. ‘You’re not going to be able to study while you’re feeling overwhelmed. There is a time for work, and a time for rest, okay?’

‘...My sweet, hm?’ whispered Galinda, feeling her cheeks flush with warmth. She felt Elphaba tense a bit, as if self-conscious.

‘Um,’ she swallowed, ‘yeah. Is that - do you mind if I -’

Galinda cut her off when she reached up and planted a soft, gentle kiss on her lips. ‘Oz, I don’t mind at all, Elphie. Though I rather think you’re the sweet one.’ She settled back against Elphaba’s side, wriggling and squirming to get comfortable. ‘...Thank you.’

‘For what?’

‘For always knowing what to say when I feel out of control.’

‘You never need to thank me for that, Galinda,’ said Elphaba, her fingers running through her blonde curls. ‘I’m happy to be here for you. And I’m not going anywhere.’

*

There was a tense mood across campus as the girls went down to breakfast the next morning. While the impending progress tests only impacted the first years, since they were used as an indicator to see how well they were settling into Shiz life as well as their academic performance, the upper years understood the acute anxiety that came with it and felt on edge as if in solidarity.

While Elphaba felt uneasy, she was also quietly confident. Their first exam (and thankfully the only one they had that day) was Dr Strangis’ Mathematics paper. While she typically favoured letters before numbers, she was still in the top percentile in their class, though she continued to lag behind Shenshen, who favoured the subject. Galinda was fairly average when it came to sums, but was prone to panic when she didn’t understand something. Elphaba silently prayed the girl had studied enough to muster a pass. 

They had nodded off in each other’s arms, fully-clothed, and rose early. Galinda had flapped a bit - sleeping in outdoor clothes is slovenly! - but felt better after she’d had a long bath. Since they had fallen asleep earlier than normal, they had awoken earlier too, which afforded them an hour to get some studying in. Galinda listened quietly to some of the notes and tips Elphaba had recorded on the dictaphone for her, nodding along, and tried her hand at a few more complex equations. Elphaba checked them over, and she hadn’t done too badly. 

Neither mentioned Galinda’s mild panic the night before. Elphaba wanted to - she was planning on it, in fact - but decided it could wait until after their first exam was put to bed. There was much they needed to discuss, but at the heart of it, Elphaba wanted to try and understand why she’d gotten so worked up. 

After getting something to eat - Elphaba raised an eyebrow at Galinda’s paltry portion of fruit, but she argued she was too nervous to eat - they joined Shenshen, Pfannee, Milla and Fiyero at the table in the mess hall. Galinda slipped away from Fiyero’s greeting cheek kiss, cringing a little, and sat down next to Elphaba instead. Their companions were all looking a little worse for wear, and Elphaba remembered they had been at the Ozdust the night before. How silly, she thought, to risk a heavy night out when we have an exam the next day! The only one who didn’t appear without steam was Milla.

‘Morning, both,’ she beamed, when they settled down at the table. ‘How are you feeling this morning? Spritely, I hope?’

‘Why are you so chirpy?’ frowned Galinda, piercing a strawberry with her fork. 

‘Lucky old Milla doesn’t take Mathematics,’ Pfannee grumbled, tucking into a plate of bacon and eggs. ‘So she ,’ - he shot an extremely sour look at her - ‘doesn’t have anything to fret about this morning.’

‘Not to mention that she escaped the fifth round of shots our empty-headed prince insisted on buying,’ Shenshen said groggily, struggling through a bowl of cereal. She looked slightly green. While Pfannee seemed to be eating with gusto to recover from his apparent hangover, Shenshen was not so fortunate.

‘Bah, no one forced you!’ Fiyero grinned, slapping her on the back with a bit too much force. ‘And anyway, you don’t see me complaining, do you? I didn’t even get back until half an hour ago.’

‘Oh, Fiyero,’ Galinda gasped. ‘You need to be more careful, otherwise you’ll be kicked out of this school, too!’

‘Fear not, my darling,’ he said, flashing her a cheeky grin. ‘No one saw me stumbling back onto campus. Besides, it was certainly worth it - quite the eventful evening, by all accounts!’

‘Oz, do tell,’ replied Galinda, her eyes gleaming. Elphaba shook her head affectionately. She was fairly certain there was nothing the blonde liked more than gossip.

The six of them chatted as they ate, making sure Galinda was caught up on all the latest scandalous tales, from the Ozdust and school alike. Elphaba usually tuned out when that happened, having very little interest, and ate almost ravenously. She was starving , having missed dinner the night before. She had piled her plate high and was just about to bite into her fourth hashbrown when Galinda let out a scandalised shriek.

‘Wha - ?’ Elphaba said, blinking up at her.

‘Elphie, did you not listen to what Pfannee just said?! ’ Galinda exclaimed. Elphaba shook her head, putting down her fork. The colour had drained from Galinda’s face. 

‘I said that Miss Coddle announced the next Visitation Day just this morning,’ Pfannee reported, lightly dabbing the corner of his mouth with a napkin. ‘It’s two weeks away, just after our progress exams. Not a lot of warning, annoyingly, given the travel arrangements needed for some.’ He tutted to himself with a disapproving shake of the head. 

‘Er, Visitation Day?’ Elphaba frowned, clueless, her mouth open and her fork suspended in the air.

Galinda let out a frustrated huff. ‘Honestly, Elphie, do you spend your days with your head in the clouds? The Visitation Days are a Shiz tradition! It’s when our families come to campus for a spectacular party post-progress exams to celebrate. It’s one of the most important days in the social calendar!’

Elphaba gave a shrug, bringing the fork back up to her mouth. ‘Oh.’

Galinda stared at her, before she hit her on the shoulder. ‘Oh? Oh?! Elphaba Thropp, you’ll be the death of me!’

‘What? ’ Elphaba spluttered, just wanting to be left alone to enjoy her hashbrowns. 

‘I believe our lovely Galinda is so incensed because of your nonchalance, Elphaba,’ smirked Fiyero. ‘Even I know how important a day it is - though I must admit, I thought it would be after our actual first semester exams had finished, not the progress tests. Isn’t that the whole point?’

‘That’s what I’m irked about,’ Pfannee replied, taking a sip from his drink. ‘I think it’s perfectly absurd, in truth - we’ll be expected to entertain our families as well as prepare for our real exams! Disastrous timing.’

‘Well, it’s probably because if they held it after our proper exams, there would be hardly any time before we’d head off home for the winter break, anyway,’ said Milla. ‘And to be honest, I think it’s a lovely thing. I miss my mother and father. I don’t want to have to wait until the end of the semester before I can see them.’

‘Nothing is stopping you from paying them a visit, Mill,’ Shenshen pointed out. 

‘It would take me nearly three days to travel home,’ Milla groaned. ‘Quadling Country is quite the trek from Gilliken, you know! I can’t exactly pop back for a quick cup of tea.’

There was a slight squeaking coming from Elphaba’s left. She glanced at Galinda and saw it was caused by her leg bouncing up and down and making her seat move. 

‘I doubt my folks will make an appearance, spectacular party or not,’ Fiyero said breezily. ‘After all, they’re still sour that I came here in the first place.’

‘Well yes, I’m not surprised,’ Shenshen snorted. ‘Getting kicked out of your last few schools would sour any parent, let alone royal ones. It’s no wonder they won’t want to celebrate that, even inadvertently.’

‘My parents will come,’ Galinda said. Her voice sounded almost breathless. ‘Without a doubt. They wouldn’t miss it for - for anything.’

Elphaba looked at her curiously. She was pale under her makeup, and had thoroughly given up eating her breakfast. Not that she’d had that much anyway, Elphaba noted with a frown. 

‘Oh, mine definitely will,’ Pfannee said with a small groan. ‘And I’ll have to listen to their endless, painful spiel on why I happened to fail my Physical Education progress test despite all those supplementary classes they forced upon me when I was a boy.’

‘I expect my father will make an appearance,’ Elphaba said, with a glum realisation. ‘Not for my benefit, of course. For Nessa. Plus it’s good for publicity, given his role, if this party is as important as you’re all saying it is.’

‘You know, I keep forgetting your father is a governor,’ Milla said, resting her chin in her hand. ‘That’s a pretty important position, Elphaba.’

‘I’m well aware,’ she muttered in reply. 

‘Shiz will be abuzz before long,’ Fiyero said, biting into a mouthful of buttered toast with a firm crunch. ‘I, for one, am looking forward to it! I might persuade my parents to attend yet, if only to meet my darling.’ He shot Galinda a dazzling smile, which she returned meekly. She seemed to have shrunk slightly in her seat. 

‘Y-yes, Momsie and Popsicle would be most eager to make your acquaintance, too,’ she said, her voice a little shaky. ‘There is much to prepare. It’s a good thing I bought so many new clothes from our trip into town. I’ll need to think about what to wear…’

As they all started rather animatedly about the festivities - Galinda was notably subdued during this - Elphaba finished her meal in silence. Her stomach was churning. Any and all interactions with her father were painful, least of all in a public setting. It was almost intrusive, the idea of him being there. She’d carved out a place for herself at Shiz, with friends she could count on, and a girl she admired. The thought of him turning up rather ruined the beautiful picture she’d begun to construct made her want to hit something very hard. More than that, though, she was worried about Galinda. The news of her parents’ impending arrival seemed to have spooked her. Elphaba could guess why.

*

Galinda was fairly quiet for the rest of the day, and Elphaba had a feeling it wasn’t to do with the Mathematics exam. The paper hadn’t been a total disaster. She’d breezed through it easily enough, and was pleased to see that several of the equations she’d advised Galinda to practice that very morning appeared, though in a slightly different format, of course. Dr Strangis was one of the kinder faculty members, so it wasn’t too difficult to predict what the questions would be. She had tried to ask Galinda how she found it, but the blonde’s pale face and overly-large eyes told Elphaba everything she needed to know.

She didn’t really have much of a chance to really talk with Galinda until after dinner. They had both been swept up in the usual antics of student life - Galinda really had joined the  Amateur Dramatics Society after all, as well as the Choir Club, and had raced off to attend their regular meetups - while Elphaba decided to make camp in the library between classes. Their next exam, thankfully not for another two days, was Professor Gloaming’s Law and Politics paper. Elphaba could probably do it in her sleep, since she loved those seminars, but it was hardly worth the risk. Especially not with her father coming, who would no doubt scrutinise her grades to find yet another thing to taunt her about. She refused to give him the ammunition. 

By the time she got back to the suite, having skipped dinner in favour of studying (she’d grabbed a sandwich to tide her over), her back was aching from being curled over the desk - for a well-bred girl, your posture really is awful, Elphie, Galinda had once told her. She was feeling quite exhausted. Her eyes were dry from staring at books for too long, but it was a pleasant sort of tiredness because it proved how hard she had been working. 

She heard Galinda before she even opened the door. The girl was singing at the top of her lungs, no doubt rehearsing something-or-other for Choir Club, and Elphaba paused outside the door to listen to her for a bit. She really does have a beautiful voice. Elphaba smiled fondly to herself, her affection for Galinda swelling in her chest like a little balloon. 

‘You sound wonderful,’ she said as she entered the suite. Galinda squeaked in surprise and discarded the hairbrush she had been using as a microphone, turning pink. Elphaba bit the insides of her cheeks to stop herself from laughing. Galinda had, in her mind, been putting on a spectacular performance for a sold-out show, twirling in the mirror as she fumbled through her made-up choreography. 

‘E-Elphie!’ she said, bounding towards her with all the alacrity of a golden retriever. She threw her arms around her neck. ‘Oz, I missed you!’

Elphaba faltered a little at the sudden warm weight being hurled at her, and let out a laugh. ‘We saw each other at lunch.’

‘That was ages ago! You skipped dinner again!’ Elphaba didn’t need to look at her to know she was pouting. 

‘I didn’t, technically,’ she said, nuzzling into the hug. ‘I made sure to grab something to eat while I was studying, don’t you worry.’

‘Don’t you ever stop?’ said Galinda. ‘We’ve got two whole days before Law and Politics. I think you can afford a little break.’

‘You have been enjoying one, clearly,’ Elphaba grinned, carefully unsticking Galinda from her. The girl whined in protest. ‘I mean, that was quite the performance you were putting on. Who was in the audience? Salmon and Soup?’ The cuddly toys in question - Salmon being Galinda’s pink penguin and Soup Elphaba’s black cat - had found a home together on Galinda’s bed, propped up against each other. Sometimes, Galinda would arrange them so Salmon’s little flipper was draped over Soup’s scruffy shoulders. 

‘Yes, and they gave me a standing ovation,’ Galinda huffed, flouncing off to pick up the hairbrush she’d launched across the room and putting it back in its proper place on her vanity. 

‘I’m sure,’ Elphaba smirked. She put her bag down at the foot of her bed and started to take off her shoes. ‘How were the clubs?’

‘Oh,’ Galinda said, throwing an arm over her face in the most dramatic fashion she could muster, ‘positively draining. Crope and Tibbett had a very public tiff at the Dramatics Society over which of them should perform Angus’ soliloquy from A Strange and Eerie Light, and Choir wasn’t must better - Milla accused Asherton of being off-key, and then he said he never liked her rendition of Heart Split Down the Middle by Georgina Fleck, so she -’

Elphaba happily zoned out as Galinda chewed her ear off, unpacking her bag and throwing away the napkins her sandwich had been wrapped in. She liked half-listening to Galinda - obviously, the blonde got her undivided attention if the matter was important - but when it came to gossip, Elphaba enjoyed treating it as an oddly soothing background noise. Galinda was a chatterbox, and Elphaba liked that about her. After a childhood spent in solitude with people rarely striking up a conversation, it was pleasant to have someone want to talk to her. 

‘ - Which really blew the whole thing out of proportion,’ Galinda gasped, collapsing on her bed. ‘I mean, singing is one thing, but to drag Asherton’s mother into it? I rather thought Milla was out of line!’

Elphaba hummed in agreement, having clearly missed a large part of the narrative, and joined Galinda on the bed. ‘Move up, you.’

Galinda did just that, narrowing her eyes. ‘Hmm, no books? That makes a welcome change.’

‘I think I’ve done enough studying for one day,’ said Elphaba, moving Salmon and Soup so she wouldn’t squash them. She’d made that mistake once and Galinda nearly threw a fit, as if the little cuddly toys could feel Elphaba’s backside crushing them. ‘Besides,’ she continued, ‘there are much more enjoyable things I could be doing.’ 

With a show of confidence that surprised her, Elphaba rolled closer to Galinda and kissed her. 

‘ Umph! ’ squealed Galinda, which made Elphaba only want to kiss her harder. Their lips didn’t disconnect as they pushed themselves into a sitting position, Elphaba lazing against the pillows, Galinda hovering in front of her, her legs tucked under her. It grew heated much faster than it had done previously. Elphaba suspected that was because there was no danger of being caught, and no danger of feelings being hurt. The two wanted each other. It was exhilarating. When they broke apart, panting, the air seemed to sizzle. Both could sense the shift. 

‘Oh, sweet Oz,’ Galinda whispered, shuddering.

‘What’s the matter?’ Elphaba said worriedly, drawing away. ‘Have I done something wrong?’

‘No, no,’ shivered Galinda, immediately pulling her closer again. ‘It’s just…it's never felt like this before. Kissing, I mean.’

Elphaba blinked at her, her stomach flipping and her face flushing with heat. ‘I - well, I’m certainly glad about that. I…I wanted to ask something, actually.’

‘Ugh, must we talk right now? ’ grumbled Galinda, looking very much like she just wanted to seize Elphaba’s lips again and kiss her until sunrise. She relaxed a little when Elphaba’s hand reached up to tenderly stroke her face. 

‘Only for a moment, I promise,’ she murmured. ‘Sit with me.’ She shuffled over so Galinda could lounge beside her, shoulder just touching, not unlike how Salmon and Soup had been arranged. 

‘If you’re wanting to talk about that horrendible Mathematics paper, then please spare me,’ groaned Galinda. ‘I had to endure Shenshen going over each answer with a fine-tooth comb over dinner, and I’m not sure I have the strength to discuss it further.’

‘Don’t worry, I won’t put you through that,’ chuckled Elphaba, slipping an arm around her shoulders. Galinda snuggled in eagerly. ‘No, I wanted to ask about what I said yesterday before Morrible’s seminar.’ She cleared her throat, not wanting to freak Galinda out again. ‘We didn’t get a chance to talk properly, really.’

‘Oh…’ mumbled Galinda. ‘Right. Well, if you regret it, then -’

‘ - Galinda, I literally just kissed you,’ interrupted Elphaba. ‘And I already told you that I don’t regret anything. Believe me, won’t you?’

‘It’s quite unbelievable though, Elphie,’ she said, tucking an arm around Elphaba’s waist. ‘I mean, never in my wildest dreams did I think you’d feel the same way.’

‘Imagine how I feel,’ smiled Elphaba. ‘I wanted to talk to you about - you know - the whole liking girls thing. Is…Is it alright if I ask? You clammed up a little yesterday.’

Galinda was quiet for a moment. Her fingers were fiddling with the belt Elphaba had on. ‘...Yeah, I know I did. Sorry. I was just caught off guard that you’d - that you’d bring it up so casually. It’s not something I’ve ever spoken about before. Not really, anyway.’

‘I can understand that,’ nodded Elphaba. ‘The Pertha Hills isn’t very forward-thinking, right?’

‘Right. Gilliken might be progressive on the whole, but I’m pretty sure that social revolution passed us by. Frottica is still…’ Galinda trailed off. Elphaba could almost hear her brain working a mile a minute, trying to convince her that it was safe to talk about such things.

‘...I always knew I was a bit, well, different,’ she said at last. Her voice was quiet and small. Elphaba held her closer still. ‘I’ve always felt like the odd one out for reasons beyond my… sexuality, ’ - she whispered the word as if it was a shameful thing - ‘like my problems with school and how easily I get overwhelmed. The - the girls thing, at the very least, I thought I could fight. I knew it was wrong. I was told it was wrong.’

Elphaba sucked in a breath. ‘In what way?’

‘Well,’ murmured Galinda, ‘my parents and my friends weren’t exactly subtle about it. It’s the way we were all raised, you know. But I guess after the incident with Stefan, the message was made crystal clear.’ She let out a tired sigh. ‘He was one of the chefs at our estate. He was the best, Elphie. He had rosy cheeks and an absolutely enormous moustache. He used to smuggle me little treats if I was banished to bed without dinner - usually sent via my granny - and he made the most delicious meals for miles around. My parents adored him. They used to say his dishes were what made their dinner parties so wonderful. And,’ Galinda’s voice crept a little higher, ‘he would make me special meals when I was little because I was really fussy. I didn’t like certain textures and stuff - still don’t, I suppose. But I’ve gotten better at sucking it up.’

‘He sounds wonderful,’ said Elphaba, thinking of the pair of chefs her father employed who used to add green food dye to her school lunches as a cruel joke. 

‘Oh, he was,’ swallowed Galinda. ‘You wouldn’t be able to find a nicer man around, Elphie. Apart from many Rodion.’

‘Rodion is…?’

‘He’s a violinist,’ Galinda explained. ‘My parents host parties nearly every week, if their schedules align, so they keep a small gaggle of musicians on call whenever the need arises. Rodion is one of them. He’s amazing. He actually got me interested in music, you know. He taught me how to read the notes, and how to train my voice. I was only a small girl, but I sang as steadily as a songbird thanks to him. I didn’t really notice how…close he was with Stefan. I just thought they were friendly, because they were friendly to everyone.’

‘Right,’ Elphaba nodded, already knowing where the story was heading.

‘It was my fault, really,’ Galinda said, her voice shaky. ‘I - I didn’t know what they were doing was wrong. But I went into the kitchens one lazy afternoon, wanting something to eat, and I found them kissing in the larder. I thought it was nice. I thought the staff and my parents would be pleased for them. They were both so lovely.’ She sniffled a little, trying to compose herself. ‘So I…I told Momsie. And she hit the roof.’

Elphaba’s mouth set into a grim line. Of course she would, the poisonous woman.

‘E-Everyone was shouting,’ Galinda whispered. ‘I heard it all. Momsie and Popsicle were furious, Stefan was arguing, Rodion was crying… It was awful. The staff whispered things. Terrible things. Calling them names.’ Galinda shuddered, and Elphaba ran her fingers through her hair. ‘...My parents kept Rodion on because he admitted to it - to his transgressions, as my Ama Clutch called them - and swore he would seek…help.’

‘Oh, Oz,’ Elphaba muttered, her teeth gritted.

‘But Stefan…’ Galinda swallowed thickly, ‘well, Stefan was sent away without a word. I didn’t even get to say goodbye. And Rodion hasn’t looked me in the eye since.’ She squirmed against Elphaba’s side, as if she was trying to burrow into her very skin for comfort. Elphaba kissed her forehead again. ‘After that, I got the message loud and clear: that sort of love was wrong. It didn’t matter if the rest of Gilliken was accepting. It didn’t matter that Stefan and Rodion were so kind. I understood. I understood what would happen if I ever…’

‘I’m sorry,’ murmured Elphaba. ‘I’m sorry that happened. But it wasn’t your fault, Galinda. You couldn’t have known that your parents would react like that. You were a child. You hadn’t yet been taught the prejudice of others.’

‘I know,’ she said, sniffling sharply. ‘But I…Oz, I wish I could turn back the clock. I wish I could tell myself not to go into the kitchen that afternoon. I wish I could find Stefan and apologise. I wish Rodion would talk to me.’ She let out a frustrated huff. ‘And I wish I could say that was the only time I realised how frowned upon that sort of behaviour is in Gilliken, but it just kept happening. ’

‘How do you mean?’

‘Oh, you know,’ mumbled Galinda. ‘Just…things.’

Oz, it’s like drawing blood from a stone, Elphaba thought with a sigh. She knew Galinda was one to hold things back for fear of judgement - or, as she was swiftly learning, reopening old wounds - but this was something she needed to understand if they were going to have any sort of relationship. R-Relationship? Is that…what I want? In truth, Elphaba hadn’t really plotted much beyond the kiss. Everything was so complex - Fiyero, Galinda’s insecurities, her own insecurities - that she hadn’t allowed herself to think it all through. All that mattered was that Galinda knew how she felt. I suppose the rest can come later. 

‘Is it the way your parents…found you suitors?’ Elphaba offered tentatively. 

Galinda bristled. ‘No, I mean - not particularly. That was bound to happen regardless. It’s important to them that I find a good match. I meant the other things. The little things. Like…Oz, I once proclaimed I’d rather marry the princess in a storybook my granny read to me over the so-called ‘handsome’ prince, and then the book vanished. Like how Ama Clutch told me off for making a grass engagement ring for a girl in my class to wear because I admired her so much. I was six, Elphie. I didn’t know what I was doing. And…like how I’d carefully cut out some pictures of my favourite girl band from some magazines - I wasn’t allowed posters on my walls, you see, so I had to make do with small images - and Momsie ripped them up, thinking they were too provocative. She told Popsicle and he took the time to take all of my records and snap them in half.’

‘Are you being serious right now?’ Elphaba spluttered incredulously.

‘Deadly.’ Galinda let out a strained sigh. ‘But that’s just the way things are back home. It was quite a shock to come to Shiz and see how accepting and open everyone is.’

‘Yeah, I know what that’s like, to be surprised at how accepting people are - well, in regards to love, not being green,’ said Elphaba. She meant it as a light joke to ease the tension, and to her relief, Galinda released a small breath of laughter. ‘...And how did you know?’

‘Know what?’

‘That you liked girls,’ said Elphaba. ‘Because for me, it was quite the formative experience.’

Galinda hummed to herself. ‘I think I always knew. That was why everything with Stefan and Rodion upset me so much, even though I was little. But I guess I became very - um - aware of it when I went to boarding school. There was a girl two years above me. Hellie Sinclaire. Oz, I was obsessed with her. Not that anything ever happened, of course, but I certainly thought about her a lot. I remember writing a terrible love poem about how I wanted to braid powder blue flowers in her hair to match her eyes. Gosh,’ Galinda giggled to herself, ‘it was awful. Probably the worst-written poem in the history of poems.’

Elphaba thought it was positively adorable. She bit back a smile. ‘...Galinda, that’s the cutest thing I’ve ever heard.’

‘Don’t tease me!’ she whined indignantly.

‘I’m not, I’m not!’ Elphaba laughed. ‘I genuinely think it’s really sweet. Say…You’re planning on writing me a poem, right?’

She was promptly thumped over the head with a pillow.

‘I fear I’ll never put pen to paper again, actually, ’ Galinda bemoaned, as Elphaba rubbed at her forehead in faux annoyance. ‘And if I was going to do anything for you, Elphie, I’d paint a picture. I still need to open that watercolour set you got me.’

Elphaba felt heat in her first. ‘Um, Galinda, that’s…that’s kind of romantic.’

‘Is that a problem?’

‘...No. Oz, no.’

‘Good,’ Galinda beamed. ‘When the progress exams and Visitation Day are done and dusted, I’ll get to work! Though I can’t imagine it’ll be any good, since I’ve not practiced with paints in a while…’ Again, Elphaba tuned her out fondly as she started babbling about the complex painting process no doubt ahead. 

‘...haven’t told me how you knew, Elphie.’