Galinda let out a sigh as she sat outside the auto repair shop, looking down at her phone. Milla was the last of her friends to give her the same bad news: everyone was too busy to come pick her up. The blonde still couldn't understand how her car had broken down; it was practically brand new! And with no one to pick her up, she was stranded here until they finished the repair, and Oz knew how long that would take.

There is one more person…

No. No, her newest suitemate was an absolute last resort. Besides, she hadn't been "can you come pick me up?" nice to her; she'd barely been "can I borrow your pen?" nice. Still… it wouldn't hurt to try. Galinda scrolled through her contacts until she found the name she was looking for: Elphaba Thropp.

"Hey… could you come pick me up? I'm sort of stranded at the auto repair shop… if you can't, it's okay."

The moment she hit send, the Frottican felt a lump in her throat. Asking Elphaba for help was almost humiliating… after her behavior towards the green girl, she wouldn't blame the Munchkin if her text went ignored.

The blonde's phone tinkled, and she looked down.

"Okay."

That was it. No questions, just agreement. Galinda could hardly believe it; there was no way she would have ever done the same for Elphaba without hesitation.

About ten minutes later, Elphaba pulled up in that broken-down navy car she insisted on driving; it was a wonder that hunk of metal still ran. As Galinda approached, the green woman got out and went around the passenger door, giving it a solid pound with her fist before opening it.

"Sorry, I don't usually have passengers," the Munchkin said as she tossed a handful of books into the backseat. She made her way back to the driver's seat as Galinda slid in, closing the door after her. The blonde put her seat belt on, feeling very uncomfortable as Elphaba started the car and pulled out onto the road. As they drove, Galinda noticed that Elphaba kept moving a stick on her right side, and she looked at the green woman.

"Why don't you just leave it in drive?"

"My car is a manual; I have to change the gears myself." It was so matter of fact… no accusation towards the blonde for not knowing.

A silence passed, and Galinda turned her attention toward the radio, which was turned down low. She had never given much consideration to what kind of music Elphaba listened to… in a way, she had sort of forgotten that Elphaba was even human, and typical human preferences would have no need to apply to her. The blonde turned the volume up, surprised to hear a song she knew, and liked to boot.

"I didn't think you'd like a song like this."

"My sister made this CD for me," Elphaba explained. She made to change it, but Galinda grabbed her wrist; it was the first time the two had ever touched. Galinda found that she was not repulsed, as she had expected, and Elphaba wasn't trying to pull away.

The blonde held on perhaps a bit longer than she should have, and she quickly cleared her throat, saying, "Leave it. I like this song."

Elphaba withdrew her hand, and another silence fell between them. It remained that way until they reached Shiz, and in a way, Galinda couldn't wait to get away from the confined space (not that she had anywhere to go, seeing as the two lived together), but another part of her almost wished that the drive would never end. She had seen Elphaba in a whole different light, and she was, against her will, intrigued by her green suitemate, an intrigue that had begun with Elphaba's unexpected move-in about a month ago…

Junior year at Shiz had just started for Galinda Upland. Being upper classmen, she and her friends had been granted the option of living in a suite on campus: a shared living room with a full kitchen, and four bedrooms. The four of them were all too happy to move in, and upon arriving, they found that the living arrangement was thus: Milla and Shenshen shared a double, Pfannee was in one of the singles, and Galinda was lucky enough to snag the super single (a double that she was allowed to have to herself). That left one single still open, which the girls reasoned could be used as a guest room (if they could procure the key).

The four girls were currently in the process of unpacking; classes began the next day, and schedules had to be compared.

"Do you have Morrible for junior literature?"

"I think everyone has Morrible for that class."

"I heard she uses her own quells for the homework."

"I heard she always reeks of mothballs."

The four girls shared looks of disgust at that, and their gossip would have continued, but a knock at their door interrupted them.

"Who is it?" Pfannee asked as she went over to the door.

"Your friendly neighborhood RA."

Pfannee opened to the door to reveal a dark-skinned male standing there, blue diamond tattoos running down one side of his face; obviously Vinkan.

"Fiyero Tigelaar," he introduced as he stepped inside, offering his hand to each of the girls.

"We've heard of you," Milla commented.

"Good things I hope."

"Oh yes."

It was true; Fiyero was known for being rather laid back, and letting most minor transgressions slide. As far as RA's went, he was on the preferred list.

"How is move-in going?" the Vinkan asked, sitting down at the table and putting his feet up; he obviously had no qualms about making himself at home.

"All right so far," Galinda replied, sitting down as well. Her suitemates nodded in agreement, joining them at the table.

"Good to hear," Fiyero said with a nod. "I'm just here to let you know that you'll need to sign your roommate agreement by the end of the week."

"Can't we just do it today?" Pfannee asked.

Fiyero shook his head. "Everyone needs to be present, and your last suitemate will be moving in a bit late."

There was a pause at that; all four girls were wearing the same confused expression.

"We don't have another suitemate… the fourth room was empty when we signed up," Pfannee finally said.

"Yes, but there's a transfer student coming in, and she's being placed in this room; it was very last minute."

Another pause.

"I see you were not aware of this," Fiyero continued.

"No, we weren't." Pfannee looked a bit ruffled at this news. Galinda could tell that this was not fitting into her plan; it had taken Pfannee well over a semester just to get used to being friends with the other three. She was a person who did not like to have her plans altered; she was, in Galinda's opinion, a bit of a control freak.

"Well, in any case, I'm sure you'll all get along." The Vinkan sat up, putting his feet on the floor before he stood. "If you ever need me, my room is just down the hall; my door is always open."

The girls all nodded, and once Fiyero left, Pfannee closed the door behind him. There was a silence before Milla broke it, saying, "I wonder when she'll move in?"

Pfannee gave her a look, which was the redhead's cue to shut her mouth.

"There's nothing we can do about it, so we might as well pick up where we left off," Galinda said, trying to diffuse the tension. "We haven't even met this girl yet; maybe Fiyero is right, and we'll get along."

Pfannee let out a "hmph", but the four returned to their unpacking, claiming cabinets in the kitchen and shelves in the fridge. Once their shared areas were set up, the four went off to their respective bedrooms.

Galinda's own room was in a state of chaos, with boxes and suitcases and plastic tubs everywhere. Resigning herself to an evening of hard labor, the blonde moved some boxes out of the way so she could get to where the beds were. After much struggling, she managed to push the two beds together, and then proceeded to make them.

The rest of Galinda's afternoon was spent unpacking her possessions and setting up her room. She hung strings of lights over her bed and around her window, and put up her posters. Her desk had been arranged to her liking, and her clothes were organized neatly in her double closet. Copious amounts of make-up, skin products, and hair products were arranged in her bathroom, and everything matched the pink motif.

The four celebrated their successful unpacking by ordering a pizza, and subsequently flirting with the delivery boy, a tall blond Gillikinese boy named Avaric who didn't seem to mind in the slightest.

Upon going to bed that night, Galinda surmised that it had been a good start to what she hoped would be an equally good year.

"Poetry is an art, one that you will come to appreciate over the course of this semester. Granted, it will not be easy, but if you apply yourselves correctly, this class will seem less of a chore, and more of an experience."

The four suitemates in the back of the lecture hall were already disregarding Madame Morrible's advice by passing notes and giggling at their own jokes. The class was rather boring in Galinda's opinion, and a few times, she caught herself rubbing her fingers against her lips, trying to feel for any loose cuticles. She managed to stop herself before any biting started, glancing quickly at her friends to make sure they hadn't seen; luckily, they were too wrapped up in their note passing to notice.

"This class is going to be absolutely dreadful," Pfannee announced as the four left the lecture hall upon Morrible dismissing the class.

"I can't believe she gave us homework on the first day," Shenshen added.

After more griping and complaining (seeing as the four had the class three times a week), the four set off for their own classes; their schedules did not entirely line up, due to their difference in majors. Galinda herself was an architecture major, and she was looking forward to finally taking classes that pertained to her desired area of study.

Her architecture professor was a rather frazzled looking woman named Miss Greyling who believed very firmly that the design of ancient buildings reflected the use magic at the time. The blonde wasn't quite sure what to make of that, but Miss Greyling seemed harmless, and it was architecture nonetheless.

The four suitemates had just come home from eating dinner at the commons, and upon opening the door, they came face to face with their new suitemate. She paused at the sight of them, straightening her lanky frame from where she had been picking up a box that had E. THROPP written on the side.

At first, Galinda thought it was some sort of trick; something she'd eaten that hadn't quite agreed with her and was now playing with her mind. But based on the others stunned silence, the Frottican deduced that the new girl was indeed green. It wasn't an ugly color; on the contrary, Galinda thought it was a very nice shade of green. It just wasn't natural, and Galinda could tell right away that this new girl did not fit into Pfannee's plan, and that would not bode well for the green woman.

"You must be the new girl," Pfannee finally said, though her tone wasn't friendly in the slightest.

The green woman didn't reply, her dark eyes flashing between the four; she reminded Galinda of a cornered animal.

"You must be from Munchkinland if you're a Thropp," Milla said, pointing to the box in the green woman's hands.

The new girl looked down at the box before nodding slowly. "Yes..."

Another silence passed between the five, and Galinda had just thought to introduce herself when a familiar voice said, "I see you've met Elphaba."

The girls turned to see Fiyero walking through their still open front door, setting a box on the kitchen table.

"Yes, we were just getting acquainted," Pfannee replied.

Fiyero nodded. "That's everything," he said, looking at the green woman.

"Thank you…"

"I'll be back later tonight with the room agreement." The Vinkan left, closing the door behind him, and the girls turned their attention back to Elphaba, but she had already disappeared inside her bedroom, which Galinda found was right across from her own.

"The new girl is green!" Milla hissed, as if they had not all seen it for themselves.

"She didn't even say hello," Shenshen added, sounding a bit put off.

Galinda thought to mention that they hadn't said hello to her either, but she instead kept her mouth shut.

"She certainly is odd," Pfannee agreed with a nod. "We'll have to keep an eye on her…"

Elphaba didn't emerge from her room for the rest of the night; the other four knew this because they were sitting in the living room, combining their brainpower in an attempt to complete Morrible's homework.

"What do you think she's up to in there?" Shenshen wondered, looking towards Elphaba's closed door.

"Probably unpacking," Galinda supplied.

"Still? She didn't appear to have many boxes, and the one Fiyero brought in is still on the table," Pfannee said.

The Frottican shrugged. "We don't know how much she had in her room before we arrived."

"I suppose…"

There was a knock on the door, and Pfannee stood to answer it.

"Good evening ladies," Fiyero said, coming into the room. "Sorry, I'm a bit later than I expected; I had to deal with some boys who wouldn't accept that they cannot have a pet snake in the dorms." The Vinkan sat down at the table, setting his folder down before opening it. "Is everyone here?" he asked, looking around. When he received no reply, he continued by asking, "Where's Elphaba?"

"In her room," Pfannee replied.

"Can someone get her?"

Another pause, in which no one gave any indication that they planned to get the green woman. Fiyero let out a sigh, and began to stand, but Galinda stopped him, saying, "I'll get her."

"Thank you."

Galinda nodded before she made her way to Elphaba's closed door, taking a deep breath before she knocked. "Elphaba? It's Galinda… Fiyero is here, and he needs us all present so we can sign the roommate agreement."

There was no reply, and after a minute or so of silence, Galinda wondered if Elphaba had heard her, or if she was being ignored. She was about to knock again when the door opened, revealing the Munchkin. The blonde got a quick glance of her room: a drab brown blanket was sitting on the bed, and the walls bore posters and flyers that seemed to be put up with not particular order in mind. Before the Frottican could get a chance to see anything more, Elphaba closed the door and started for the kitchen table, giving Galinda no choice but to follow.

"All right, now that everyone is here, we can get this done, and you can return to doing what you were doing," Fiyero said, pulling out a piece of paper. "Let's start with the rules of the kitchen—"

"Everyone has their own dishes," Pfannee interrupted.

Fiyero glanced up at her. "I assume that means you do not wish to share dishes?"

"We don't need to."

The Vinkan raised an eyebrow, looking at the others. "Is everyone all right with that?"

The others nodded, and Fiyero scrawled something down before moving onto the next topic.

The rest of the agreement went much the same way, though Galinda noticed that Elphaba didn't say a word throughout. After they all signed at the bottom, Fiyero tore the top page off the carbon copy and handed it to them.

"All right, we're all done," he said, standing up and closing his folder. "Remember, I'm always around if you need me."

After saying their goodbyes and sending Fiyero on his way, the remaining four decided to turn in for the night and went off to their respective rooms (Elphaba had already escaped to her room earlier). As Galinda sat on her bed, she wondered what Elphaba's story was. It was true, neither party had been entirely friendly… no one had even introduced themselves. The only reason they even knew her name was because of Fiyero, and she assumed Elphaba had learned their names after seeing them sign the agreement.

Galinda became aware of a sudden pain in her finger, and she realized she had been biting her cuticles. She quickly lowered her hand and stood, changing into her pajamas before she lay down, picking up her phone and scrolling through her social media sites. She had just opened a game when she heard a door open, and she paused. There was the sound of footsteps, followed by another door opening. Galinda rolled out of bed, going over to her own door and opening it slightly. Her eyes fell on the sight of the open pantry door, and a moment or so later, the door closed, revealing Elphaba clutching a box of crackers and a jar of peanut butter. The green woman disappeared back into her room, leaving Galinda to ponder why the Munchkin felt the need to sneak about.

Elphaba couldn't sleep. This was not a new problem for her; she often had trouble falling asleep, which led to her staying up until at least one in the morning. She was currently sitting in bed, her laptop sitting on her knees. She had been too lazy to turn on the light, so her reading had been forced to come to a stop. At this particular moment, the green woman was playing her favorite RPG game (and had just beheaded a troublesome bandit).

The sound of her phone ringing pulled the Munchkin away from her game, and she paused it as she picked up her phone. "Hello?"

"Why are you still awake? You're not playing that game again, are you?"

Elphaba groaned. "Father—"

"You should be in bed."

"Then why did you call me?"

"Because I knew you wouldn't be in bed."

The green woman sighed. "Father, you know I have trouble falling asleep—"

"Because you stay up playing those games."

Elphaba sighed again. "All right, if you want me to sleep, then I have to hang up."

"Don't start playing again!"

"I won't."

"Elphaba—"

"Goodbye." The Munchkin hung up before setting her phone down with a sigh. She shook her head before unpausing her game and resuming where she'd left off.

The next morning, Galinda awoke to the smell of coffee, something that was very welcome. The blonde rolled out of bed, yawning as she walked into the kitchen. However, she soon realized that the coffeemaker was off, and hadn't appeared to have been used recently. Brow furrowed, the blonde followed the scent, finding that it seemed to coming from the other side of Elphaba's closed door.

Said door suddenly opened, revealing the green woman herself. She was already dressed for the day, wearing a faded t-shirt, jeans that seemed more holes than fabric, and dirty, worn high tops. A slim eyebrow rose at the sight of the blonde.

"G-good morning," Galinda said.

"Can I help you?" It was the first thing Elphaba had said directly to her.

"I… I smelled coffee… I was just trying to find out where it was coming from…" It sounded somewhat pathetic when she said it aloud.

"I have a coffeemaker in my room. It was coming from there." Her answer came out very matter of fact, and Galinda wondered if she was hiding some sort of sarcasm behind it. "Can you move so I can go to class?"

"Oh… sorry." Galinda took a step back, and the Munchkin closed the door to her room before putting the earbuds that had been hanging around her neck into her ears. Galinda noticed that they appeared to be duct taped in several places, and she soon heard music blaring out of them. There was no time to ask Elphaba how she could stand it though because the green woman was already leaving, soon disappearing out the door.

The blonde wondered why Elphaba would keep a coffeemaker in her room, but then she recalled the scene from last night with the crackers and peanut butter. Obviously Elphaba felt she needed to eat and drink in private; it was probably just as well. The coffeemaker in the kitchen belonged to Pfannee, and Galinda had a feeling that she wouldn't much like Elphaba using it.

As it turned out, Elphaba ended up being in Morrible's literature class with her suitemates; Galinda noticed her sitting in the back, on the other side of the room. Her earbuds were still in, and perhaps that was for the better; Galinda could see their classmates beginning to whisper, and she had a pretty good idea what about.

"All right, settle down everyone," Morrible said, sweeping into the room. "We have much to cover today."

It had not gone unnoticed by Galinda's friends that Elphaba had been in lecture with them, and as they sat around their table eating lunch, it was inevitable that they would begin gossiping.

"What is her story?" Milla wondered.

"She certainly isn't the social type," Shenshen added. "I wonder what prompted her transfer."

"She probably caused some sort of trouble," Pfannee said, not looking entirely pleased with the fact that she and Elphaba shared a home province. "She certainly looks the type."

Galinda chose to remain silent, focusing on her wrap. She wasn't going to join the gossip, but she wasn't going to defend Elphaba either. After all, the green woman had yet to do anything that warranted being defended, in the blonde's opinion.

"Did you see her in Morrible's lecture?" Milla continued. "Taking notes as if she actually cared what that old bat had to say."

The front door was suddenly unlocked, and the four looked up to see the very subject of their conversation enter the room. If Elphaba knew they had been talking about her, she didn't say anything. In fact, she didn't even acknowledge her suitemates' existence as she made her way to her room, disappearing inside for a few moments before emerging with a black, beaten up backpack that looked like it had been kicked around a room one too many times. The straps had duct tape around them (much like the earbuds from earlier), and Galinda could see where the fabric had been sewn in several places. Without a word, the Munchkin disappeared out the front door, closing it behind her.

"Where do you suppose she's going?" Milla wondered aloud once Elphaba was gone.

"Off to participate in some sort of illicit activity most likely," Pfannee said with a pretentious air.

That night was Big Nite, a night for celebrating the end of the first week of classes; it reminded Galinda very much of the fairs she had attended back in Frottica. For a moment or two, the blonde considered asking Elphaba if she wanted to attend, but when she knocked on the green woman's door, there was no answer.

"Galinda, let's go," Milla said from where the others were standing at the door, ready to leave.

The blonde looked back at Elphaba's door, letting out a sigh and figuring that she was just being ignored. She left the Munchkin to whatever was busying her and headed after her friends.

Upon returning from Big Nite, Galinda wanted nothing more than to collapse into bed. It had been a night of fun, yes, but she felt exhausted. Upon passing Elphaba's room, the blonde noticed that the door was slightly cracked; Elphaba rarely left her door open. The Frottican glanced inside, noticing that the green woman was asleep on her bed. She had just thought to close the door fully when she heard the others enter, followed by, "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing," Galinda replied quickly, making to close the door, but Pfannee caught it before she could do so.

"So the vegetable left her door open, did she?"

Galinda already didn't like where this was headed. "I'm sure it was a mistake, she's sleeping now—"

"And missing all the festivities? That won't do." Pfannee and the others pushed past Galinda and entered Elphaba's room, approaching the green woman's sleeping form.

"Don't, just let her sleep—"

Galinda's pleas went ignored as Pfannee uncapped the water bottle in her hand and promptly emptied it over Elphaba's face.

The green woman jerked awake, the unexpected feeling of water on her face causing her to panic instantly. She let out a somewhat strangled noise that reminded Galinda of a drowning victim, and it made her stomach clench uncomfortably. Elphaba sat up, sputtering and gasping for air, and Galinda saw a flicker of fear in her eyes for just a moment.

"So glad you could join us, Miss Elphaba," Pfannee said, an unfriendly smile on her face. "We didn't want you to miss all the fun of tonight."

Elphaba's dark eyes narrowed, but she didn't reply, instead fixing the four with a hard scowl.

"Well, that was all. Feel free to go back to sleep."

The others left, leaving Galinda alone with the green woman. A few moments passed before Galinda left, soon returning with a pink, fluffy towel from her own bathroom. She held it out to the Munchkin, offering her what she hoped was an apologetic smile.

Elphaba looked between her and the towel for a few moments, as if trying to determine what Galinda could have done to the towel that would humiliate her further.

"Oh, just take the towel," Galinda said after a minute or so. "Unless you enjoy being soaking wet."

A toothy grin spread slowly across Elphaba's face, one that gave Galinda the feeling that Elphaba's mind had gone somewhere unsavory, and causing her to flush. The green woman took the towel and Galinda quickly fled back to the safety of her own bedroom.