Snow fell quietly onto the campus surrounding Crage Hall, where Elphaba Thropp was working diligently on her school work. Her roommate, Galinda, was off somewhere with Misses Pfannee and Shenshen. Elphaba was glad for the silence that was actually, well, silent and absent of those little annoyed sighs Galinda seemed to be so fond of.
The door swung open, followed by an enraged Galinda. Elphaba didn't look up, but mentally groaned (and maybe twitched a little) when the door slammed shut and Galinda stormed into the bathroom. She finished off her work, then relocated to her bed to read.
"Elphaba,"
She didn't look up from her book, opting for a small, "Hm," instead. just the tone of Galinda's voice told her that she'd somehow done something wrong. Of course, ignoring the obviously upset, usually bubbly, blonde girl seemed like a bad idea, but it was simply how Elphaba dealt with things.
"Elphaba," Galinda's voice was just a bit louder. Elphaba calmly continued reading her book; Galinda would eventually give up and go to bed. Galinda huffed, "Elphaba Thropp, are you ignoring me purposely, or have you somehow lost your ability to hear?"
Elphaba looked up at last, "What is it Galinda?"
"Is there any particular reason you thought it to be ok to slip this," at this moment, Galinda held up what was clearly a note, "Into my things?"
Elphaba smoothly raised her eyebrows, "Do you honestly know me so little that you immediately assumed I wrote that? If I remember correctly, I do not dot my I's with little hearts, and even if I did, this isn't my handwriting at all, my name is spelled incorrectly, and if I were to confess my deepest feelings of adoration, it definitely wouldn't be in a badly punctuated note," Elphaba went back to her book and resisted the urge to smile smugly when Galinda tore the note to pieces and went to bed.
Elphaba looked uncertainly at herself in the mirror. She was nervous, and maybe just a little excited; the nervousness was the dominating emotion. Her hair was done up in her usual severe braid, and she had slipped into her dark blue, sleeveless dress. It almost clashed with her green skin. She pretended not to notice. When she had put on her boots and looked into the mirror, she nearly took it all off and went to bed.
No! she thought to herself, I am going to have fun tonight. She put the black, pointed hat Galinda had given her earlier that day. When she looked into the mirror again, she smiled. Here goes nothing.
When Elphaba got to the Oz Dust Ballroom, she waited outside, mostly to catch her racing breath. She didn't want to do this. She didn't have to. She could still turn around and no one would know. She could be in her bed, reading her books, and ignoring the outside world. Elphaba scowled. There was no way she was turning back now. She pulled the doors open and walked in.
She immediately knew it was a mistake. Tearing the damned hat from her head, she thought how stupid she was to trust Galinda of all people, then promptly mentally slapped herself. Surely Galinda meant well; the hat was very much Elphaba's odd style. But she could still hear the laughs. She looked and saw Galinda standing, horrified, beside Fiyero. She was holding a training wand. Elphaba bit her lip, tentatively placed the hat back on her head, and walked further into the room. Despite the laughs, and the lack of music, she reminded herself that she promised to have fun, so she began to dance.
When the news got to her, Glinda was less than surprised. Well, it's not as if people hadn't speculated on how to kill the Wicked Witch of the West. No. She wouldn't think of her like that. She was Elphaba. Fabala. Elphie.
While at Shiz, people had tried to figure out how Elphaba Thropp was so clean, but never dared to touch water without excessive layering and gloves. Glinda recalled the shared bed on the way to The Emerald City. Elphaba had had an odd, beautiful scent to her. A smell that Glinda wouldn't ever forget. Back at Shiz, though, she and Nessarose were probably the only two-other than Nanny, of course-who knew about Elphie's...allergy.
It was after Doctor Dillamond's death, after Glinda had officially changed her name and, when people messed it up, would promptly remind people that the A was silent, thank you. It was a rainy day, which automatically had Elphaba on edge, and some of the students around Crage Hall wanted to see what would happen if she were to get wet. Glinda had watched, horrified, as the green girl slipped as she tried to get away. Elphaba had flailed, trying to catch her balance, but fell into the puddle. Many of the students inside-Pfannee and Shenshen included-had laughed, but Glinda had hurriedly pulled her coat on and ran outside. Some of the rain had fallen onto Elphaba's face, had burned it, but Elphaba hadn't cried, she just took Glinda's hand and allowed her to practically carry her back to their shared room.
This memory still frightened Glinda, if only because of the clear pain on her room-mate's face. The poor girl had shuddered, her green face unusually pale; Glinda had held her carefully, assuring her that they were almost there and everything would be alright. Elphie had tried, really, but she was trembling so, and the pain was apparent, so at one desperate glance, Glinda had worked quickly at removing the wet clothes.
"Oh, Elphie," Glinda had whispered as she took in the sight of the burns marring the usually flawless green skin, then began carefully drying the other girl with a fluffy towel from the bathroom. Elphaba had closed her eye and instructed Glinda on how to apply the oils. Once redressed, Elphaba had been exhausted, and opted to skip dinner. Glinda sat with her on the floor and held the still shaky, green hand in hers.
That was the night they shared their first kiss, Glinda remembered. She hated to think she would never see her Elphie again. She let her tears fall. It was silly, she thought, that the impossible, seemingly invincible Elphaba Thropp was brought down by the thing most needed to survive. Glinda the Good Witch looked out at the clear night sky. Her Elphaba could be there somewhere-Glinda remembered how Elphaba would insist she didn't have a soul and smiled-and left Glinda alone here in her façade of a life. Glinda put her hand to the cold window.
"Oh, Elphie,"