A/N: I'd like to thank fishstic for helping me with the title and actually inspiring me to write this by having a sad headcanon/au "war." So yeah. Thanks. c:
Roommates were supposed to be talkative, right? That's what Galinda had always been told as she grew up. She'd always been told that she'd always be with talkative, loud, cheery people. But her roommate was far from that. They'd been roommates for nearly three days now, and the odd girl hadn't yet uttered a word. All she had done was sit in her bed and read, go to class, and go to the library. As it was, she had only looked at Galinda twice. And the look she gave - her eyes were dark, so dark they were almost black. They were empty, dull...dead looking, even. Galinda hated it. Her roommate looked dead. Literally.
Not only was she silent and dead eyed, but she was so thin that Galinda swore if she were to ever undress, her ribs would poke out so far it would be absolutely disgusting. And her skin - it was a sickly, dead green color. Well, Galinda sighed internally as she watched Elphaba from her own bed, her interest in the girl rising with each moment her thoughts stayed with her. It wasn't a sickly, dead green. It was more of a grass green, but she still looked sick. Or like her skin had been permanently dyed.
The blonde didn't notice the empty and dead stare she was receiving from the sickly green girl, and the moment she returned to reality, they both looked away from each other. This had become a common occurrence - Galinda would end up staring at her roommate, whom she barely knew the name of, and then her roommate would stare back and they'd both awkwardly look away. Sighing softly, Galinda looked back up at her roommate, who had returned to her book, seemingly lost in the pages. "Hello," the blonde cleared her throat loudly, hoping to get the attention of her roommate. Instead of looking at her, the green girl tightened her hold on her book, her knuckles turning pale green from the pressure. "We've been roommates for three days. I deserve to know your name. I mean - I told you mine the first day."
Of course, that was the comment that got the sickly girl's attention. Her head whipped to the side so quickly that Galinda was sure her head would fly off. But it didn't. The girl stared at Galinda blankly, her dark eyes boring into the petite blonde, gaze not wavering once. Seemingly realizing something, the girl set her book down and slowly slid off her bed, silently walking across the room to her desk. Galinda couldn't help but notice how the girl walked. Her shoulder were slumped, her whole body was hunched over as if she were trying to make herself smaller and less vulnerable. Her head always faced downward, her empty eyes glued to the floor, only glancing up once in a rare occasion to avoid hurting herself by accident.
Bare feet shuffled against the floor, sounding like they were moving much faster than they were. It only took a moment before the girl was back with a notebook, the first page with writing on it free to view. Almost fearfully, the girl set it on Galinda's bed and shuffled back to her own side of the room to continue reading. Her bed squeaked with the added weight - something that Galinda didn't understand much considering her roommate couldn't have weighed much more than a feather, if even that.
Picking up the notebook, Galinda read what was written, curious as to why her roommate didn't just answer instead of walking to her desk, finding her notebook, opening it, and bringing it back over. But that wasn't very important at the moment - what was important was the fact that her roommate had neat, clean handwriting, as if she had spent years upon years perfecting it. It was better than Galinda's, if the poor blonde was to be honest with herself. My name is Elphaba. Elphaba only. I am nineteen years old and, no, my skin color is not contagious. I still do not like to be touched. And that was all that was written. Which was, quite frankly, odd.
"So...your name is Elphaba," the blonde said, hoping that her roommate would respond. As expected, she didn't even glance up once. "Where exactly are you from? The Vinkus?" Elphaba looked up and stared at Galinda, her eyes still dead. Galinda truly hoped Elphaba would come a bit more alive as time went on. There was no way someone could be so dead all the time forever. "That sounds nice," Galinda responded once the silence became too much for her. "I'm from the Upper Uplands. Gilikin. It's nice there. Is it nice in the Vinkus?" Silence. "I'm sure it's nice there...oh - look at the time. I have to go!"
Awkwardly, Galinda grabbed a few things and scurried out of the room, leaving the notebook behind on the bed. She absolutely hated silence. That's why her best friends were who they were. They were loud and a little annoying, but it was rarely ever silent between them, even if it was just useless chatter that filled the natural, awkward gaps in the conversations. And that, alone, was much better than staying in a silent room with a sickly thin green woman who she had just learned the name of after three long days.
Uneventful days passed. Galinda rarely stayed in the room at all before curfew. She hated the blank staring, the constant, thick silence that engulfed the room and made her feel suffocated. Of everything, she hated the feeling of being watched constantly. From the moment she walked into the room until she left the following morning, she felt as if she were being watched, eyes boring into her back. Eyes of the dead. Blank. Empty. Creepily dark. She despised her roommate, despite only knowing her name and age.
Maybe that was why she despised nineteen year old Elphaba so much. Because she only knew Elphaba's age and name. Nothing more, nothing less. She didn't have enough information to call what they had a friendship, but they weren't simply the lower end of the roommate spectrum, because names and ages had been shared, and Elphaba stared at her constantly. Even sometimes in class, Galinda would feel like someone was watching her, their eyes stuck on her, no emotion crossing their expression the entire time. It was creepy and odd.
Finally, one evening, Galinda decided she had enough. "Elphaba, I don't expect you to answer me simply because you never do. But you stare at me constantly, and it's just odd. I don't quite know what's wrong with you, or what happens to be going on in your mind as I speak to you on occasion, but I do know that you definitely know staring excessively is creepy and odd. So I ask for you to stop, Miss Elphaba. At least for just a few days, if you must stare at me." And following Galinda's comment, Elphaba looked back at her book, still no signs of emotion crossing her sharp features. With a huff, Galinda retreated to the closet so she could find clothes to change into.
Another day. Another night. Another day. Another night.
It was an endless cycle of awkward silences between them. Every day, Galinda spoke to Elphaba, hoping that the girl would respond one day, or at least show signs of being alive. Whether it was a smile or just a flicker of life in her dark eyes. Galinda just wanted some sort of response. Some days, Galinda would chatter aimlessly about the weather, or about Doctor Dillamond's class, or even sometimes Elphaba's terrible sense of fashion. Other days, she would talk about herself and actually feel herself warming up to her silent roommate. Every day was an adventure for Galinda.
Approximately one and a half weeks after Galinda first learned her roommate's name, she overheard a couple of girls whispering about the green girl. Rumours - true or false, it didn't matter - were a normal thing in Galinda's life, since she was a social butterfly with many, many friends and a very large crowd of acquaintances. After so long of dealing with snobby girls spreading rumours, Galinda had learned to ignore what was said unless she knew it to be true. But this...the fact that they were speaking about Elphaba - her silent, sickly, green, emotionless roommate - angered her more than she would have ever imagined. Fists clenched at her side, the petite girl stomped up to the two girls who were now snickering.
One of them noticed the socialite approaching and smiled, waving her hand in the air just a little. "Galinda! What a pleasant surprise! Have you come to join ShenShen and I for lunch?" Galinda shook her head, struggling to keep her anger in check. Anger was not an emotion she was used to anymore, not since she was a young child. "Then...why are you here? Did you need something?"
"I wanted to ask you to stop speaking about my roommate. I'd like for you to stop spreading rumours that may or may not be true. It's unfair to her if you continue to spread false things behind her back, Pfannee. I ask for you to stop, at least gossip about somebody else on campus," Galinda said as politely as she could manage. Which, honestly, was an accomplishment in herself, considering she felt like she could hurt someone if she truly wanted.
"But they are true! Haven't you already heard?" Pfannee said a little too enthusiastically. When Galinda didn't respond and simply stared with a small fire hidden behind her green eyes, Pfannee continued. "Your roommate was sent here out of hatred, not love or wish for her to become a more educated person. Her father never wanted her to begin with, just as her mother and sister didn't want anything to do with her either."
Galinda was interested, to say the least. If she could trust her friend, which she was almost sure she could, since Pfannee wouldn't be telling her this so seriously if she didn't believe it herself, at least. "Do you happen to know why she's silent and lacks emotion?"
"Her father treated her terribly throughout her childhood and her mother died at a young age, which only made her father dislike her more. She was, apparently, even kept inside from the moment her mother died until when she came here. At least, that's what her supposed childhood friend has been going around telling anyone who would listen," Pfannee answered. She paused for a moment, a moment which Galinda used to try to process the new information. "He doesn't know what happened between her mother's passing and her coming here, but he assumes it wasn't something a child should deal with, since he says she is much different now than she was as a child."
Galinda sighed and shook her head. "Thank you, Pfannee. I need to go back to my room now. I need to study - I'm not doing too well in Doctor Dillamond's class. Thank you again. Until next time." And the petite girl hurried away, her anger forgotten with the new information. Everything about her roommate made sense now, if what she had been told was true. The only thing now was she needed to decide if she could believe the information or not.
As expected, Elphaba was still sitting on her bed, nose buried in another book different from the one she had been reading when Galinda left early in the morning. It was almost as if Elphaba hadn't moved a muscle since Galinda left. The sound of the door closing drew Elphaba's attention from her book, but she quickly looked back down and continued reading when she realized who had come in. This action made Galinda feel just a tad guilty, since Elphaba might have viewed it as another person shutting her out without a fair chance. Honestly, Galinda intended to fix their awkward, silent relationship before it was too late for them to become friends.
Another seemingly endless two weeks passed. Every morning, Galinda greeted Elphaba, who just stared for a moment before sliding out of bed and shuffling around the room to get ready for the day. Every morning, Galinda invited her roommate to breakfast, but ended up always going alone. At lunch, Galinda would ask if Elphaba wanted to join her. She ate alone. She would ask if Elphaba wanted to walk to class with her. Always walking alone. Galinda always asked if Elphaba wanted to share a final meal of the day, to which Elphaba would respond with silence, until a day near the end of the second week, when she finally responded by shaking her head just a little. A warm-hearted good night was always said, with no response again.
Near the end of the two weeks, Galinda began to view their friendship as hopeless. It had taken Galinda what felt like an eternity simply to get a shake of the head from Elphaba, how long would it take to get an honest verbal response? Another six months? A year? Two years? Would she ever get a verbal response? Probably not, since Elphaba seemed unable to even shake her head as a reply properly.
One morning, Galinda decided it would be the final day she would reach out and try to communicate and begin a friendship with the ever-stubborn Elphaba. "Good morning, Miss Elphaba," the petite girl said cheerily once the green girl had woken up. Elphaba got out of bed, as she did every morning, and walked past Galinda with that awkwardly shy and fearful shuffling walk. Galinda's smile faltered for a moment, but she didn't give up. She simply approached Elphaba, keeping a respectable distance from the taller girl. "Would you like to go to breakfast with me this morning?" There was no response. Elphaba's back remained facing Galinda as she searched for clothes to change into. "Well...I suppose I should leave and give you privacy. Remember, no classes today, Miss Elphaba. I'll see you around lunch time then, I suppose. Goodbye." The small girl walked out of the room, closing the door gently behind her. She sighed, hoping that Elphaba would come around today so they could be friends. She truly wanted to be Elphaba's friend.
Afternoon came around quickly and Galinda found herself sitting alone at a table outside, reading a book, not quite hungry. Having a very quiet roommate required Galinda to try other forms of entertainment when she was alone at night and she took to reading, quickly discovering that it could really be fun if it wasn't treated and viewed as a chore. Sadly, that was what Elphaba had begun feeling like. A chore. Not a bit more, not a bit less. Her roommate had become a chore to deal with. Inviting her places with no responses in the end, being increasing sweet and nice with no response, not even a smile or flicker of gratitude and joy in still-dead and empty eyes.
The rest of the day passed quickly and Galinda didn't see Elphaba once since before she had left for breakfast. Which meant that her roommate probably wasn't eating much, if she was eating at all. Galinda added eating to the list of things she would have to force Elphaba to do whether they were on friendly terms or not. As she walked back into their shared room, she found Elphaba already lying in bed, eyes closed. Galinda couldn't help but feel a little sad that she never got to be friends with Elphaba. But it was decided that - unless some miracle happened between now and the time Galinda fell asleep - Galinda would find a new roommate the next time the chance was offered.
Galinda slowly walked around the room, dressing slowly for bed and getting her things in order for tomorrow as slowly as she could, giving Elphaba time to wake up if she was going to. As Galinda climbed into bed, defeated and just a little sad, she glanced over towards Elphaba's bed. "Goodnight, Miss Elphaba," she said before settling in to sleep. Most nights, Galinda found it difficult to fall asleep. Tonight was no different. So she just stared into the darkness of the room, waiting for herself to fall asleep.
A soft sound from Elphaba's side of the room brought Galinda to full attention. The bed shifted, squeaking with the movement of the lightweight Elphaba. The room fell silent again, Galinda sighing silently to herself. From the other side of the room, the side that Elphaba took control of when the two girls were assigned this room, came a soft whisper. Softer than most whispers were. The voice cracked from what Galinda could only assume was years of not being used, fear dripping from the words clearly, as if the speaker were in a constant state of fear. "Goodnight, Miss Galinda."