Hi there! Have you ever felt like eight words have shattered one of your most desperate dreams? That happened to me the other day. My Acting teacher told me these eight words, "You're not Elphaba. You're born to be Galinda."
Heart shattering. I love Galinda, but not enough to let myself play her over Elphaba. No matter how 'perfect' I am for the role. So, yeah. I'm making Galinda tall in this story, because I'm short. OH NOES. Sorry, this upsets me.
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: NAAAAT MINEEEEEE! I own nothing.
For Prince Fiyero Tiggular, waiting for his girlfriend [Galinda Upland of the Upper Uplands, of the Arduenna clan on her mother's side] was never more of a chore than when he had to wait with Elphaba Thropp. The Artichoke. The queen of the geeks. The green girl. In the girl's shared dorm room, of all places. Why Galinda liked her, he would never understand.
Elphaba never ceased to annoy Fiyero, no matter how hard he tried to ignore her hurtful remarks. He had to put up with her, because she was Galinda's best friend, and would sometimes do his homework if he asked especially nicely. Most of the time, however, she was condescending and rude and insulting…Not that he could blame her. He hadn't exactly made the best first impression, almost running her over in his fancy sports car on the first day of term. Galinda always tried desperately to get them to get along, but she very rarely succeeded. The poor girl mainly had to make do with stony silences and forced conversation.
Fiyero watched as the object of his irritation, the girl with skin the colour of emeralds, typed furiously on the keyboard of her little black laptop. Her lips were pursed in concentration and a gentle crease had appeared in her brow. Slowly, the crease deepened to an angry frown.
"You are utterly absurd." she spat, rounding on Fiyero with a feral snarl. He wrinkled his nose in faint confusion. This was another thing about her that annoyed him; he hardly ever had a clue what in the name of Oz she was talking about. He wasn't exactly afraid to say as much, either.
"What in the name of Oz are you on about, Thropp?" Fiyero wasn't exactly in the best of moods in the first place, so her randomly flinging unjustified insults at him was not a welcome occurrence. Elphaba sighed in exasperation, and turned the little computer to face him.
Her words were almost weary, and laced with loathing. "You hacked my Shizbook."
The internet page that was displayed on the screen was emblazoned with rude comments about the girl, written as though Elphaba herself was saying all the horrible things. The picture was one of an old storybook witch that someone had cleverly edited to appear green. Fiyero, though not exactly the girl's biggest fan, could hardly believe some of the things that were written about her on that page.
"I would never…" he stammered, holding his hands up in an attempt to make her believe him. It didn't work. She laughed thinly; a harsh, nasal cackle.
"Oh, yes you would, Tiggular. Cut the crap. I don't care what you think about me, but can't you at least have the decency to keep it inside your head, instead of posting it all over the internet? This is low, even by your disgusting standards." Elphaba then sighed heavily and went to repair the damage done to her profile page.
Fiyero, seething, grabbed the laptop and hurled it across to the other side of the dorm room. It smashed against the opposite wall, and Elphaba barely managed to suppress a squeak of surprised fright.
The Prince cried, "In the name of Lurline, Thropp! Why can't you get it into your stupid, stubborn head that I didn't do that? I didn't even know you had Shizbook-"
"You added me as a friend. Jerk."
"And I wouldn't even waste one precious moment of my life defacing some ridiculous, meaningless internet page! You know well enough that I don't give two flying monkeys-"
"Flying monkeys? Unnamed God, you're even stupider than I thought. Monkeys don't fly, you imbecile!"
"-about you! I don't give you enough brain space to be bothered with doing something like this!"
"I'm starting to doubt you even have a brain in the first place." Elphaba stated dryly, sitting down on the edge of her desk with her nose resolutely in the air. Fiyero was too caught up in his rage at the injustice that he didn't notice her slim hands shaking in her lap.
"I never claimed to have a brain, or did you forget that, Asparagus Girl?" Fiyero shot in reply, allowing himself a smug smile at the new nickname he had created for her.
"Don't you say one more word to me. Just…keep quiet until Galinda get back from her grandmother's. Sit over there and shut the hell up!" Elphaba muttered, gesturing to the small armchair in the corner or the room.
With a heavy sigh, she picked up the pieces of her fractured laptop. It was like a little broken bird, with it's cracked screen and utterly destroyed keyboard. In a way, Elphaba actually felt sad by the loss of it. Aside from Galinda, the computer was the only thing that stopped her from going utterly insane.
Watching her gently collect the fragments of her shattered possession, Fiyero almost managed to feel a twinge of remorse. He almost wanted to apologize. Almost. But not quite.
Galinda entered the room with a bright, cheerful smile, and Fiyero entirely forgot the existence of his conscience. With Galinda around, he tended to forget about everything, because he found her wholly entrancing. The blonde was tall and statuesque, with perfect white teeth and long golden hair that she curled meticulously every morning before class. Her classic Gillikinese beauty could overshadow even the prettiest girl in the room, and she always dressed immaculately in high fashion. Sadly, alas, the girl could often come across as a little…dim. Although, contrary to popular opinion, she wasn't. She just liked to act that way. Apparently, she found it 'funny'.
"Fiyero!" she squealed upon seeing her boyfriend. Elphaba winced slightly, and Fiyero opened his arms for the blonde to spring into. "I'm so glad all of my exams are finally over! I thought that sorcery one was actually going to kill me! But now they're all done and I can have seven whole weeks with you and Elphie here at Shiz! Wait, you guys are staying for the summer, right? Right, Fiyero? Elphie? Oh Oz, if you're not staying, I'll have to go all the way home in that horrible train again! Please stay for the summer! !" the girl gabbled, her voice inflecting to an impossibly high pitch at the end of every sentence. Fiyero smiled at the girl in his arms.
"Of course I'll stay for you, sweetheart. I'll do anything you ask me to."
"I know you will, Cuppycake," cooed Galinda, eliciting a splutter and a strangled cackle from Elphaba. She tossed her head back, her long black pleat whipping through the air with a swoosh.
"That's hilarious!" she laughed, flopping down onto her bed and grinning mockingly at Fiyero. He flushed slightly and glared in return.
After a heavy pause, Galinda left Fiyero's lap and threw herself down next to Elphaba. With a grin, she asked, "What about you, Elphie? Will you stay here for summer?"
"Let's face it, dearie, I don't see much point in going home, do you?" the green girl replied with a wry smile, and Galinda's face contorted into a remorseful grimace.
"I am so sorry, Elphaba. I didn't think before I said it, I-"
"Don't worry about it, Glin. My lack of a home life isn't your concern."
"But-"
"It's fine. Honestly. Of course I'll stay."
"That's great! Okay you two, I'm going to go for a shower then we're all going out for dinner! Try not to kill each other while I'm gone, right?" The blonde enveloped her friend in an apologetic hug, gave Fiyero a fleeting kiss then twirled into the bathroom.
Fiyero himself was rather puzzled. What had Elphaba meant when she spoke about her 'lack of a home life'? He realised that he had never once heard the girl mention her family. He began to wonder if she even had a family. After all, as the smartest student in Shiz, she had gotten in on a scholarship and got all of her tuition fees paid for her. It was then he noted how little he actually knew about the girl.
Suddenly, a green hand came flying through the air and smacked him hard in the face, leaving his right cheek stinging unpleasantly. The prince gasped and gazed at Elphaba, who was standing in front of him with a triumphant glare on her face.
"What the fu-" he gibbered, clutching his burning face with one hand. 'Jeez,' he thought, 'She hits pretty damn hard for a girl!'
Elphaba sniggered, her dark eyes narrowing in undisguised hatred. "That was for breaking my laptop. And, for the record, Tiggular, I am going to loathe every second of this summer if I have to spend it with you. I completely detest and despise you…Cuppycake! Imagine if your friends could hear that one."
"I hate you!"
"Oh, I know."
Review, if you like. :)
