With news of the Oz Dust Ball whispered in every classroom, Galinda and her friends were suitably hyped up when it finally came time to start getting dolled up for the party. During their makeovers, Galinda found an old, ugly, black, pointed hat in her trunk.
"Eewww! What is that?!" Galinda's friends crowed, laughing and making faces at the hat.
"It's not mine! It was a gift! From my auntie! I don't know why she sent it to me!" Galinda dropped it to the ground in disgust, making sure her friends knew that she wasn't in support of that hat either. She thought it was ugly, just like they did. It was just unlucky that it was in her wardrobe.
"Yeah, there's no one all in Oz I'd hate enough to give this to as a 'gift'!" Galinda scoffed. Suddenly, her friends turned on her, eyes wide.
"Yes you do!" they squealed excitedly, giggling and grabbing each other's arms in excitement. Galinda understood at once.
"No, I couldn't," she mumbled embarrassedly, but then that wicked light entered her blue eyes as well. "Could I?" she asked and her friends nodded, heads bobbing like chickens as they chattered out agreement and encouragement.
"Do it, do it, do it!" they giggled shrilly and Galinda nodded.
"Ok! I will!" the blond promised, and a few minutes later, she'd made good on that word. Elphaba had walked right past their dorm but the moment she saw Galinda, she beckoned for the girl to come out and talk to her. Galinda was surprised at how timely the whole thing was, but when her three friends all nodded, grinning wickedly, she gave a weak thumbs up and followed Elphaba out the dorm.
"Galinda, listen, Nessa and I were talking about you just now," Elphaba began.
"And I was just talking about you!" Galinda interrupted with a weak smile, resolve failing with every word Elphaba said. Before the green girl could say anything else, Galinda shoved the ugly black hat forward. "I thought you might wanna wear this hat to the party tonight!" she offered with a false smile. She continued to try and get Elphaba to take the stupid ugly thing and, at last, totally buying Galinda's little shtick, she agreed.
"Thanks Galinda," Elphaba muttered bashfully, taking the hat. Galinda managed another fake smile until she met Elphaba's eyes and saw genuine gratitude and... excitement? Hope? The kind of happiness that came with memories of pain? Elphaba hadn't exactly ever been popular or beloved before. What had Galinda's little "gift" opened up in her? Uh oh...
"Anyway, gotta go get ready!" Galinda cried, too loud and too quick, then she ran back into her dorm and slammed the door shut, her last sight of Elphaba being that agonizing, adorable little smile as she eyed the hat fondly. Oh, those eyes, those beautiful brown eyes. There was so much warmth, hope and expression in them, Galinda could see it even after she'd shut her dorm door again. Uh oh. Galinda's three friends were in ecstasy, however, having totally missed that look in Elphaba's eyes.
"That was fantastic!" they declared and Galinda put on a sheepish smile, uncomfortable as she accepted their praises.
The next time Galinda saw Elphaba was at the ball. She had just finished dancing with Fiyero when the green girl came in. Late. And wearing the hat. The ugly black hat. In front of all of Shiz. The music died and every head turned up to the green girl. There was no sound, no movement, just an uncomfortable silence. Elphaba tore the hat off in shame and entered the room with her head down, finally realizing this had all only been a prank at her expense. Then she looked up. Right at Galinda. There was anger, sorrow, fear, shame and disdain in her eyes and Galinda felt her stomach churn. Why did those eyes have to be so expressive despite how cold and emotionless Elphaba could be? Why did Galinda have to be able to read her eyes so well? But then Elphaba pulled herself up, firmly placed on the hat again and danced to the music that only she heard.
"She doesn't give a twig about what anybody else thinks," Fiyero muttered to Galinda, disgust in his voice.
"Of course she does. She just pretends not to..." Galinda murmured, subdued. She wasn't necessarily talking to Fiyero though. "I feel awful..."
"What? Why? It wasn't like any of this was your fault!" Fiyero scoffed. Galinda might not have been talking to him directly, but he still replied.
"But it was," Galinda argued, partly to her own guilty mind and partly to Fiyero. "It was..." the young woman thought back to a few moments ago when Headmistress Morrible had come to the party only to inform Galinda that she had been accepted into the sorcery seminar after all, and who had it been to get her into that seminar? Elphaba. And then Elphaba had come in moments after, looking like an idiot in front of the whole school.
Galinda's guilt began to gnaw at her and, for once, no amount of disassociation or denial could cure it. She hated being like this, she really did. Being compassionate and people-oriented while living a life where you were supposed to be above all that wasn't easy. She wished she could stop caring too, but she couldn't. Every time her friends coerced her into doing something just because "it was fun" or "that's what all the rich kids did" or "those peasants are below us and deserve it", Galinda felt unbearably guilty even though she wished she didn't. Finally, the little blond just gave up entirely and walked over to Elphaba, not even making a sound and ignoring Fiyero's confused protestations as she left his side for hers.
"May I cut in?" she asked as she touched a green arm (which was circling its owner's head). Elphaba jerked back and looked at Galinda with rage, disdain and, in Galinda's mind, not enough distrust. Those eyes... But Galinda steeled her nerves and repeated her question. Elphaba refused to reply verbally, but Galinda knew it was because Elphaba, though stoic and strong, was afraid of more humiliation. It bothered Galinda how much she could relate with the girl she had hurt so terribly. It unnerved her to think how much she and Elphaba had in common when it came to their responses to being judged. Galinda had since found that it was better to be silent and put up with stuff than protest and be made fun of. Was this Elphaba's coping mechanism too?
But to prove her truthfulness, Galinda began to do her own solo dance. Elphaba may not have responded verbally to her request, but Galinda knew Elphaba wasn't going to deny her either. Instead, she somehow just knew that the green girl's silence was her way of offering up her own request. Through her silence, she was asking if Galinda was really, actually going to dance with her. If Galinda wanted to ask, Elphaba wasn't going to stop her, but Galinda would have to prove herself. This was a price Galinda was willing to pay and, slowly but surely, she began to dance. She brought her arms up and waved them around and spun in awkward semicircles, step-hopping around Elphaba. Mortification rose inside her, especially when Elphaba, who didn't think this was a sham anymore, began to look at her with the same amused expression that Galinda used to use on her. Finally, though, Elphaba joined the dance again and although they knew that all of Shiz University was leering, neither of them cared.
Galinda was even about to compliment Elphaba when Galinda's friends pulled her out. They spoke and gestured disapproval and Galinda thought about turning it all into a joke. She could feel their icy stares, their distaste with what she was doing. She wanted badly, then, to shrug it all off and smile winningly, clearing the air and insisting that she was not with this weird green-skinned girl. She wanted to say this was all a joke, return to her friends' good graces, and leave the greenbean to herself, but then Galinda made the huge mistake of looking back. On the surface level, Elphaba was totally expressionless and emotionless, but Galinda could see past Elphaba's surface and she could see the genuine fear and misery that sparkled in her brown eyes. But even deeper than that was defiance, mixed with acceptance and understanding. Galinda could see in the way Elphaba was looking at her that she actually understood how conflicted Galinda really was, having to choose between her lifetime friends and the freaky green girl that nobody liked, but she wasn't trying to plead with Galinda to stay with her. Instead, that was where the defiance came in. Elphaba had since accepted her fate to be unloved and although it stung, she refused to be put down. The way she looked at Galinda said a lot not just about her opinion on Galinda, but on her opinion of her own strength and personality.
"I understand how you feel," Elphaba seemed to say, behind her expressionless face. "So I will not judge you if you choose to leave me now and rejoin them. But know that, at the same time, I will not let you push me around anymore. Neither you nor them will hold any control over me anymore. So go ahead, run back to them, but I don't think that you should. It would be wrong of you to back out now, deny that you felt anything for me at all, but that's not all. It wouldn't be good for you either. I can see it, Ms. Galinda, that you aren't much happier with your little friends than I am. Isn't that right?"
"It is," Galinda breathed back, hardly able to believe she'd been able to read so much into Elphaba's one little look, but at the same time, she knew she hadn't misread a single signal.
Galinda turned back to her friends, then. There was no understanding or allowance there. Only disdain, disgust, displeasure, and a warning. A threat. A demand that had to be met, or a price that had to be paid. No kindness or compassion in their eyes, only a wary attention. They were trying to pick Galinda apart with their eyes, trying to see where her true loyalties lay, unlike Elphaba, who was offering Galinda a choice. No judgement, no resentment, just a promise that no matter what Galinda did, Elphaba wouldn't let that decision break her soul. And that was where the difference was. Elphaba offered choice and understanding, Galinda's little friends offered conformity and confinement.
In a sudden burst of what could only be a miracle, Galinda began to smile. She raised her chin to her old friends, then turned on toe and walked right back over to Elphaba, that proud smile fading into something much more gentle and relieved. She met Elphaba's eyes, eager this time, wanting to know what Elphaba had thought of this little display. She was pleased, and somewhat amused, to say that she saw nothing shy of the biggest surprise ever. For once, it was such a large emotion that it broke out of Elphaba's face and her mouth was slightly open and her eyes were impossibly wide. Galinda felt so good, having made Elphaba so surprised, and in such a good way! Not a wicked way, like earlier with the hat.
There was absolute disbelief and almost a bit of incredulity in Elphaba's eyes, as though she was silently berating Galinda for just giving up on a really good set of friends. Maybe not morally, but socially and financially? Galinda had just committed social suicide and even Elphaba was a bit skeptical, though there was also genuine shock, gratitude and happiness laced with that near-skepticism. Elphaba was proud, though, of Galinda finding the strength and courage to do what she did. It took a great deal of courage to stand up to an enemy, the way Elphaba had by coming to the party and then dancing for all the school to see, but it took a great deal more to stand up to friends, as Galinda had just done with her inner circle. Elphaba would not let this good deed go unnoticed or un-thanked and she would never forget it.
"What can I say?" Galinda mouthed happily, having actually never felt quite so free in her life before, despite all the piercing, disbelieving eyes all around her. The entire college had just witnessed Galinda, their Queen Bee, diss her old friends, her inner circle of fellow elitists, for a green-skinned freak that no one, not even her own family, liked. What? It was madness! Stuff like that never happened! Except it did. They just got to see it unfold. Everyone at that party could only babble in amazement and disbelief as Galinda started up her weird little dance with Elphaba once again. Galinda, however, was having a minor moment of ecstasy and when she looked to Elphaba again, nothing but amusement remained as the green girl mirrored Galinda's actions, raising one arm over her head and swinging the other around her side like some weird, lopsided lasso.
A smile spread on Galinda's lips and it was quickly mirrored on Elphaba's. That did it. After seeing Elphaba smile, all of Shiz began to change, maybe not for the better, but certainly for good. They saw the green girl in another way and thought that if Galinda could give her a chance, they could too. Before long, the ball and music had resumed and everybody had begun dancing again, burying Galinda and Elphaba in a spinning, waltzing tide of dresses and suits rotating in perfect time with the music.
Once the ball ended and everyone began heading home, Galinda's ex-friends came up to her one by one and made sure to bump, push, or step on her on their own way out of the Oz Dust Ballroom. They all also scowled at Galinda, betrayal and rejection upon their faces, silently warning her to ever try and set foot in their friend circle ever again. Galinda felt embarrassed and hurt as they walked away from her in a cluster, noses in the air and rubbing in the fact that she was no longer one of them, but the pain died the moment she saw one other girl waiting for her by the door of the ballroom. Elphaba. That uncertain but hopeful smile was still upon her green face and she nodded once, a clear message.
"Thank you for that. Will you walk home with me?" and Galinda smiled. A clear message, an agreement.
The pair crawled into bed a few hours later, a failed attempt at giving Elphaba a makeover followed by Elphaba running out in a panic for awhile having ensued. Galinda felt slightly bad about having done that, but when Elphaba returned, nodding once, conveying that her running out had not been Galinda's fault, but a weakening of her own personal resolve, the two had gone to bed on friendlier terms than ever before. But now Galinda couldn't sleep, mind full of thoughts of Elphaba. She wasn't regretful about anything she'd done for Elphaba today (botched makeover included), just surprised. She knew there was no going back now, but she almost didn't care. She still wasn't sure how, why, or even what she got herself into when she befriended the green girl but something deep in her said it was good and it would last and Galinda found herself feeling wild and free. She was still the same old Galinda but with something more added in now, and though it was unnerving, it was exhilarating too. Galinda also found it funny that a mere hat had brought them together and that she, the school queen, would have been the one to join Elphaba and ask for her friendship and that she'd ever break the rich-person tradition. She also found herself asking when she had become so philosophical. This kind of deep-thought and retrospection was so not Galinda. Or at least, it wasn't the old her. But she wasn't the old Galinda anymore. She could feel it...
The swirling thoughts were overbearing but they were interesting. It seemed to Galinda that this thoughtfulness, though odd, was also a change for the better. Galinda had also heard it said that people came into other's lives for a reason, so she began to wonder why she and Elphaba had been ordained to meet. What was it that each of them were bringing to the table for the other to learn? Well, no use in trying to guess the future. Better to get some rest while she could...
The last thing she thought before drifting off was her wondering where life would take her. Where it would take Elphaba. Where it would take Them. Because it, like the anthem of the Oz Dust Ballroom that night, life could end up changing. Galinda just hadn't realized how easily or quickly, but that was just life for you, wasn't it?
AN: Analysis of the Party scene because I feel like we don't appreciate Glinda enough for her courage in that moment, throwing away her whole life for a girl she didn't even like just because something inside of her said that what she was doing was wrong and she actually acted upon that feeling and fixed things. Glinda is my hero.
This fic was also somewhat inspired by Dumbledore's quote in Harry Potter 1, "It takes a great deal of courage to stand up to our enemies, but a great deal more to stand up to our friends."