"Larena, the baby is fine!"

"She's not breathing, Highmuster! She's not breathing!"

Larena Upland nearly flew into the nursery, the dim light shocking her as she stumbled over to her daughter's crib.

"Glinda? Glinny, sweetheart!" She began to shake the child's shoulders out of fear until the little girl cried out.

"There. That's better." Larena left the room with a relieved sigh.

"Shenshen, pass me a smoke," Glinda, now age 18 and as beautiful as her mother, leaned against her closet door in an oversized jersey and a wedding veil. "Sweet Oz, Shenshen! You can't keep it to yourself!" She cried, laughing obnoxiously as she pulled the blunt out of her friend's hand.

"Are you going to be high at your wedding tomorrow?" Shenshen asked, chuckling as Glinda took a deep breath and then exhaled the smoke out of her mouth.

"Oh, Fiyero won't mind!" She exclaimed, jumping slightly as someone knocked on the door.

"Glinda! What in Oz are you doing in there?" Larena's piercing voice came from beyond the door.

"Quick! Put it out!" Glinda handed the joint to her friend and then opened the door slightly so that her mother could only see her head. "You rang?"

"Glinda, we must talk," Larena pulled her daughter out of her bedroom and into the hallway. "Dear, you must not go through with this wedding tomorrow! Fiyero… Fiyero, he isn't the right man for you. Don't you want to go off to Shiz University like I and your father did? Why ruin it now for some boy?"

Glinda rolled her eyes. Her mother was unbelievable. "Fiyero is not just some boy. He will be my husband and a successful teacher."

"Fine, Glinda. But know that you are not special enough to pull yourself out of a bad marriage." And with that and an annoyed flip of her coiffed curls, Larena had rushed down the stairs.

Glinda returned to the room with an air of frustration as she sat on the bed. "Shenshen, make me feel better." She pouted, picking at an invisible blemish on her forehead.

Shenshen thought for a moment as she ran her fingers through her best friend's curls. "Well you're more beautiful than most of our graduating class. And you're getting married tomorrow."

Glinda sighed. "Something better, Shenshen."

"Ooh! Fiyero is going to have sex with you!"

Glinda turned around quickly and took her friend's hands. "I've never done it before. What if I mess up?"

Shenshen shrugged her shoulders, not sure what to tell her. "My mom said that you should just lay on your back and let the man fuck you."

Glinda's eyebrows furrowed. That didn't sound like so much fun.

Shenshen noticed her quiet demeanor and punched her arm playfully. "Come on; let's get high. You're not staying single forever."

Larena sat at her vanity, staring at her reflection. She was beautiful, yes. Her fingers traced the forming wrinkles at her eyes and around the corners of her lips. Her hands traveled down to her slightly sagging breasts and she sighed. Highmuster would have been disappointed to have seen the day that her beautiful breasts had shrunk. Larena turned away from her mirror and to the picture of a infant Glinda that sat on her nightstand. What had happened to that lovely girl and why couldn't she, her mother, protect her from making a horrible mistake?