Part 2: Dancing through life
The next few days produced a ceasefire of sorts. Or more accurately, an awkward charade of life, neither prepared to acknowledge what had gone. Mornings were by far the worst. Half pained embarrassment, half some bizarre comedic dance. They would dart about the room, avoiding touch at all costs, one making way for the other with studied grace. Pretending that their eyes never met in the mirror, that Glinda never watched her struggling into that black dress, every stolen glimpse goading her wayward thoughts still more, mind filling with images of green skin on her own. Pretending that Elphaba didn't notice the change, how her ever-perfect roommate now looked pale and drawn. How neither of them had slept a full night since.
Who knows how long this would have carried on, were it not for Fiyero. Fiyero and the Ozdust. His arrival stirred Glinda and her idiotic friends into a veritable frenzy of delight. And Elphaba? Who was she to compare?
Little rich girl threw herself into the social whirl once more. She became, if possible, more Glinda-like than before, carrying her flights of mockery to new heights. For one thing, there was that awful hat.
Elphaba took the gift for what it could have been – an offering, a sign their difficulties were over. Clearly, Glinda had forgiven her her lapse, and now, maybe, they could start to move on. So it was that when she darkened the Ozdust's doors, ready to face the hated formal occasion, those cruel taunts hit her like physical blows.
Glinda must have been the only one that saw. Saw the tight lines of despair in her face smoothed over by the force of her iron will. Saw the light leave those dull, unseeing eyes as, in that dreadful silence, she began to dance alone. And, as the horrid laughter echoed in her ears, Glinda hardly noticed that she'd begun to move. Unconsciously, she matched every ungainly step, heart racing with a sick, indefinable fear. The ache lessened as those deep, sad eyes met her own. When, unheard by any of the crowd who'd now joined them, Elphaba whispered a heart-felt,
"Thank you,"
Glinda knew she'd take no other partner that night.