Finally, here's chapter 8!

I've been arguing with myself over whether I should even continue with this story. I'm not even convinced it's worth it at the moment but here we are. If you're still reading, thank you so much and I hope you enjoy it! Double thanks to those of you have ever left a review, even if it's one word, it makes me feel all warm inside!

That said, this chapter is mostly rehearsing (finally!), Galinda being Galinda and Avaric making some... awkward innuendos.


It was raining again the next evening, wind howling it's way down the chimney and out through the fireplace. The soft pattering of raindrops against the window would have been relaxing if it wasn't accompanied by the noisy turn of a page every few seconds.

The two roommates were waiting, rather impatiently, for Milla, and Boq, and unfortunately - Avaric. After their disastrous rehearsal the day before, Galinda made it her duty to ensure that the group would never again meet in a place where the threat of rain could swoop in and ruin another script. So Galinda had gone ahead and invited the other cast mates to rehearse in her and Elphaba's room that evening. Without asking the green girl, of course.

Galinda hadn't had visitors during her time at Shiz, and not only because Morrible's dorm rules were borderline oppressive and impossible to keep to; she just hadn't wanted to remind anyone that she was stuck rooming with Elphaba.

Things were different now, though.

Elphaba wasn't somebody she was ashamed of, and the previously scandalous fact that they roomed together had slowly changed into an odd comfort she couldn't hope to explain. Having Elphaba beside her, even with her nonexistent social skills and the tendency to dive into a story and not emerge from it for hours, Galinda felt safe and comfortable.

It didn't seem to help, though, when a violent gust of wind all of a sudden rattled the window latch, sending Galinda up and off her bed, eyes wide. Rain was pelted against the glass and she sighed, sitting back down on the edge of the bed.

"Shouldn't I be the one who's afraid of the rain?"

Galinda smoothed out the front of her dress and shuffled herself further back. "I'm not afraid. Only... startled." Elphaba snorted. "Will it ever end?" she continued, taking a long look out of the window. Not that there was much to see. It was all grey and dark and cold-looking. Galinda even shivered a little.

"Everything ends," Elphaba replied. And she must have thought she was being clever, because she just went right back to reading, ending the conversation before it began. A habit that disappointed Galinda every time.

"Are you sure you don't mind?" Galinda asked, so quietly it was almost a whisper. "We could get in trouble with Morrible. And Oz knows that's not what I need - not with how badly I'm doing in her sorcery classes. She could turn me into a frog if I were to get on her bad side! And with how awful I am with a wand I wouldn't have the faintest idea how to turn myself back! Do you know what she sai-"

"Galinda," Elphaba said, peering over the top of her book. "I told you, I only had a problem with you not telling me sooner." She turned a page. "That isn't to say I'm happy about having our room invaded by two boys, though I like Miss Milla well enough. So long as Master Avaric stays away from my side of the room, I'll attempt to be... civil."

"Your attempts to be civil don't usually go smoothly, Elphie," Galinda pointed out.

"Not when it comes to him."

"Or Fiyero," Galinda said without thinking.

Elphaba's eyes narrowed. "Of course you'd find a way to bring him into this."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Well, he was your knight in rusting armor the other day, chasing that page in the rain," Elphaba said with a roll of her eyes.

Galinda thought back on the image of Fiyero flailing about and had to bite back a laugh. "He meant well! And he did get it back in the end..." she trailed off, trying to convince herself more than Elphaba.

"I suppose his astute observation that 'paper dries' also impressed you."

"That was stupid, wasn't it?" Galinda admitted, flushing as soon as the green girl raised an eyebrow at her. "Well it was!"

"I'm not arguing that it wasn't, I'm just surprised you're admitting it," Elphaba said, the corner of her lips turning up. "I don't know why you ever forgave him in the first place."

"Well it's easy to forgive a pretty face," Galinda said, smiling. "I'm sure you'll agree." She couldn't pass up the opportunity to toss her hair.

"I'm not like you, I don't care much for looks."

"You're no fun!"

"I've been told."

Galinda shook her head and leaned back slowly until her head hit her bed. She bounced up and down a bit, hoping to throw Elphaba off her reading. "However much of a bore you can be, I'm beginning to think you're right."

"About what?"

"About Fiyero. And how vain I've been in the past," Galinda mumbled, starting to rethink her decision to tell Elphaba all this. She couldn't see her, all she could see was the ceiling, but Galinda could imagine the green girl smirking to herself between the pages of her book. "I shouldn't have forgiven him so easily. I should've let him stew and squirm in his own guilt, until he came to me on his own to apologise!"

"You've been spending too much time with me," Elphaba muttered, but Galinda could hear the smile in her voice.

"Perhaps that's what I needed."

"Perhaps."

After a moment of sneakily watching her roommate read, Galinda eyed the green girl's hands and took a deep breath. "Elphie, I've been thinking," she said, propping herself up on her elbows.

"Troubling," Elphaba said nonchalantly, swiftly turning a page.

"I've been responsible for hurting you twice now. That's two gazillion times too many!"

"Galinda-"

"So..." she said, drawing out the word as long as she could. "I'd like you to let me do something."

That finally caused Elphaba to lower her book. "What is it?"

"Let me..." Galinda murmured, so quiet that the green girl scowled at her. "Don't laugh!"

Elphaba crossed her arms, and if Galinda could trust her eyes; gulped. "Fine."

"Let me... kiss it better?" The words were so rushed that at first she didn't think the other girl had heard. But then Elphaba seemed to sink further into her bed, her long legs moving beneath the covers, her book completely forgotten and tossed to the side.

Elphaba seemed to become a different person whenever challenged.

Unfortunately for Galinda, she wasn't the only anxious one. The blonde's heart was thumping in her chest, so much that it made her feel dizzy and sick to her stomach as she sat up.

"You don't need to do that."

"It helps!" Galinda exclaimed, cutting Elphaba off before she could say anything to make the blonde's heart skip. "My mother used to do it, when I was a child. She told me it was a magic spell!"

"Did she also tell you that monkeys fly?"

Galinda pouted and gradually slid herself off the edge of her bed, closing the gap between the two beds and hoping not to scare off Elphaba - who presently looked like a frightened animal ready to flee. "It would make me feel better," she whispered. "Come on, Elphie. I just know your Nanny used to kiss your knees when you grazed them, or when you bumped your head! Nobody goes through childhood without that!"

"I had no childhood," Elphaba snapped, eyes still on Galinda, her hands frantically feeling around for her book. Unbeknownst to her, it had fallen on the floor.

Galinda snatched it up, dove onto Elphaba's bed and held it out as bait. "If you want this back you'll let me do it."

"Keep it. I have my own library," the green girl sneered, nodding towards her messy desk piled high with old books.

"But this one is..." Galinda began, examining the thick book in her hands and realising it was upside down. With a glance at an unimpressed Elphaba, she turned it around. "It has... oh, speeches of the early unionist fathers? Ugh, Elphie, I thought you had better taste in books." Galinda smirked and leaned further in, holding the book between her thumb and forefinger, teasing the other girl into relenting. Though, as expected, Elphaba wasn't the relenting type.

"Go back to bed, Galinda."

"With your book?"

"I don't care," Elphaba said through gritted teeth.

The air was thick between them, Galinda could feel that, and it only seemed to get worse as the weather outside grew wilder. The window panes rattled and the wind whistled a loud tune down the chimney; the flame of Elphaba's beside candle flickered and the awful ancient mattress groaned as Galinda crept closer. Elphaba's sheets fell from where she'd been holding them, up under her chin, and before Galinda could react, a quick green hand had stretched out and stolen the book out from under her nose.

"That's cheating!" she cried, letting herself fall forward with an odd 'fwump' sound from the mattress.

Elphaba was kneeling before her, glaring. "I don't care." She held the book to her stomach and looked about for her bookmark. "You made me lose my page." She turned back, frowning. "And valuable reading time."

Galinda huffed. "Honestly, you should be thanking me. Of all the things to read! Unionist speeches! That romance novel you were reading the other day would be much more deserving of your valuable reading time."

"I'll take boring, nonsensical speeches over silly, premature confessions of love any day," Elphaba remarked, though her cheeks were dark.

Galinda smiled, all of a sudden completely aware of their close proximity. She was on her knees, the skirts of her dress bunched up around her waist, with Elphaba stiffly hunched over - close enough that her long hair tickled Galinda's arm whenever she moved her head.

All reason was knocked out of Galinda when she let her eyes wander down to the green girl's hands, which remained locked tightly around the book. With a weak intake of breath, Galinda's hand moved forward, just as Elphaba's moved up. And when Galinda tried to lean over, Elphaba fell, purposely, back into her messy bed. The book was back up, somehow open again, hiding most of Elphaba's face. What it couldn't hide, though, was the nervousness in those brown eyes. Elphaba was trying her best to look focused, but Galinda could see she was far from it.

They sat there for a long moment, Galinda staring and Elphaba trying not to look like she noticed. With the way the green girl would let her eyes flick up every few seconds, Galinda thought she was in for a tumble to the floor. Elphaba's leg did look dangerously close to pushing her off. She didn't, though. And so Galinda decided to dive in and try again. She hadn't lied - though she hadn't told the entire truth either - she did feel horrible about inadvertently harming her roomie, and the kissing would have made her feel better. That was all true. But when it came to motivations, that was only the beginning. She had an urge to touch Elphaba, and it just so happened she wanted to do it with her lips.

It took all of her courage, which wasn't much at all, to lean forward in one swift motion, half crawling towards Elphaba and half pouncing. Brown eyes quickly shot up, wider than Galinda had ever seen them. The blonde knew she would regret it, and yet it didn't stop her. But before she could even hope to reach out and take Elphaba's hand, she had a book in her face just as something crashed, loudly, outside. Galinda almost screamed and threw herself back, just now noticing that Elphaba's face had been the other side of the book, so close to hers. The green girl was still holding it up like a shield, her fingernails digging into the binding.

Then there was another crash from outside, this time against the window. That was when Galinda saw him. Boq, hanging from something - what - she couldn't say. She was far too shocked, and slightly afraid. Why was he hanging in the rain? He wouldn't be going anywhere near her side of the room.

She hurried over and unlatched the window, a gust of wind almost pulling it closed again before she could do anything. It was lucky the window opened all the way, or there would be no hope of fitting even the Munchkin-sized boy through.

"Master Boq! What are you doing?" she yelled through the rain.

"I'd rather answer that inside, if -" he whimpered, quickly adjusting his grip on the wet window ledge and nearly falling in the process, "if you - you wouldn't mind?" Galinda could only nod, still awe-struck that he'd managed to climb so far up. He then clambered through the window, not meeting her gaze. Soaked through, his hair sticking up in every direction possible, he shuffled his way in. Though as soon as he saw Elphaba, he balked and turned back to the window. "Sorry for... interrupting! I'm interrupting, aren't I?"

"You're doing nothing of the sort," came Elphaba's muffled response from behind her book.

Galinda was sure her face was red enough to clash with her pink dress. "How long were you hanging there for?"

"Not long!"

"Too long," Elphaba muttered.

"I - well - I saw you-"

"Saw us what? What were we doing? Elphie, weren't we just - studying? Studying!" Galinda crossed her arms, then straightened them by her sides, and then gave up altogether and dove as gracefully as she could onto her bed. "Elphie was reading me some of the most interesting speeches by the early unionist fathers! Weren't you, Elphie?"

"Miss Galinda, I'm so sorry, this wasn't how I intended to arrive. I-"

Elphaba silenced him by snapping her book shut. "Did you break anything?"

"No, no, I'm fine!"

"I meant outside."

Just as Boq's cheeks flared an even deeper red, there was a faint knock on the door. Galinda, already a bundle of nerves after their previous interruption, flailed her arms about as if she were drowning. Elphaba watched her, arms crossed, obviously the most irritated she'd been since the two had become unlikely friends. Sheepish, Galinda dragged herself off her bed and towards the door. Another knock came, louder this time, and Galinda had to stop herself from screaming at whoever it was to be patient.

She twisted the doorknob, pulling open the door slowly enough to make sure it wasn't Morrible. Instead, she was greeted by a grinning Avaric and a flustered, red-faced Milla. He had his arm around her, leaning on the door frame without a care in the world. Galinda breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank Oz! I thought you were Morrible!"

"Miss Galinda, I'm offended," Avaric gasped. "I'm much more subtle with my make-up."

Galinda hurried them in, slamming the door closed as quickly as she could. "How did you make it without anyone seeing?"

Milla flushed. "My room is just down the hall."

Galinda, having forgotten and overtaken with embarrassment, quickly nodded. "Oh, yes! I knew that."

"I travelled beneath the shadow of the night, ducking and diving through the rain, just to accompany you, my fair Miss Galinda," Avaric said, rubbing his hands together by the fire. Elphaba rolled her eyes. "Just getting into the theatrical mood."

"Master Boq?" Milla whispered. "How about you? How did you manage to sneak in?"

"Oh, I - well, I climbed up."

"How gallant," Avaric teased.

"Something like that," Boq replied, still refusing to look anything but scared stiff.

Galinda pried herself away from the door, which she had been stubbornly clinging to in an attempt to avoid Elphaba's gaze. "Anyway," she said, drawing out the word for as long as she could, "as you all should know, we're already far behind schedule!"

"I didn't know there was one," Elphaba deadpanned.

"Well, there is one! And we're behind. So very behind."

"W-what should we do?" Boq asked.

"Rehearse, of course!" Galinda rushed over to her bed and grabbed the script. "Everyone take a seat." Milla gingerly sat on the edge of Galinda's bed while Avaric had no qualms about boisterously leaping onto the other end of it. Galinda wrinkled her nose but said nothing. She only took one look back at Elphaba before taking advantage of the empty space on the green girl's own drab bed. As expected, Elphaba sent her a disgruntled look but made no move to stop her. Though she did look like she would hiss when Boq made his way over. "Master Boq, you should sit by the fire, don't you think? Elphie only ever lets me on her bed and that's when I'm not absolutely sopping wet." Avaric let out a laugh at that and it took Galinda a moment to realise just what she'd implied. A quick look at the green girl out of the corner of her eye made her heart leap. Elphaba had moved out from under her blankets and was sat, casually, beside Galinda. Boq was far enough away for her to be comfortable, Galinda supposed. It made her smile. "Now, I've already memorised my lines from the beginning of Scene One, which is entirely myself."

"Of course," Elphaba muttered.

"So we'll take it from the bottom of page three," Galinda announced. "Master Avaric, set the scene, if you would."

Avaric took the script from her, tapping his chin as he read through the page. "A palace, in the middle of the night. The stars are shining and citizens are cheering and celebrating the death of the Witch."

Galinda nodded. "Go on."

"She's dead! She's dead! She's really dead?" he yelled, with much more vigor than Galinda had expected at such a late hour. She was surprised Morrible didn't thunder through Crage Hall and expel the five of them right there and then.

"Yes, it's true. She's dead, very, very dead," Galinda sing-songed.

"Dead is dead," Elphaba grumbled.

"Let us rejoice this victory against evil! She's dead!" Avaric delivered the line with some extra flair, though much quieter than before, due to some scolding from Galinda.

Soon Milla was required to join in on the lead in to the first song of the musical. Galinda, being Galinda, assured everyone that there would be separate singing rehearsals. She didn't want Morrible adding 'disruptive behavior' to the already long list of reasons why the headmistress of Shiz had taken a severe disliking to her.

"I don't have many lines, do I?" Avaric complained a while later, during a particularly Galinda-heavy piece of dialogue. "Scared I'll show the rest of you up, Miss Galinda?"

"You should be thankful, Master Avaric," Elphaba replied. "The fewer lines you have the less chance you have of making yourself look stupid."

"That sounds much like a challenge."

"So you're stupid and deaf," Elphaba fired back.

"Elphie! Be quiet and read this," Galinda said, shoving the script at her green friend. It was Elphaba's first appearance in the musical, something that Galinda had been very careful in writing. Originally, the witch had been terrorising the local farmers, cackling and being the villain Galinda had always imagined Elphaba to be. The Witch's first appearance now, though, was almost the exact opposite. Of course, the way in which she is introduced was too good to pass up, especially since Galinda knew Elphaba despised the idea of having to learn how to balance herself onto a broomstick suspended in the air. And so, Galinda's newly written song also took place in the sky - just without the terrorising and threatening. The Witch instead flies around, musing to herself about how much she wishes she could be a part of the beautiful world around her. The scene then leads into Elphaba's first song, about how lonely the Witch is and how she yearns for a different kind of life. Galinda was extremely proud of it, considering how much time she'd forced herself and Boq put into it. She'd only hoped for more of a reaction from Elphaba when she'd given the green girl the script to read.

"This is the song you're always humming, isn't it?"

The question made Galinda want to pinch herself a few dozen times. "You... heard me?"

"Yes, Galinda, all you ever do is hum that song and count on your fingers."

"You... saw that?"

"Do you make a habit of watching Miss Galinda, witchy?" Avaric teased.

Elphaba shifted uncomfortably. "We live in the same room, we have all the same classes, it's hard not to look her way on occasion."

"Oh, is it now?" Avaric leant forward, smirking, thoroughly interested.

"Stop it, Master Avaric! Elphie may have a few... peculiar habits, like hoarding that strange green bottle under her pillow and licking her lips when she's reading, but she's not some scoundrel like you!"

"Well, I'm sorry," he quickly said, not meaning it at all, of course, "but lips and fingers and gazes from afar? Are you sure Miss Elphaba wasn't meant to be your prince, Miss Galinda? I heard that she looked quite dashing in that royal garb during her audition? Though of course, you'd know that already, it sounds like you look her way enough."

Galinda's stomach flipped and she felt her legs turn to jelly. All she could do was be thankful that she wasn't stood up, however much she wanted to get up and throw Avaric out of the room by his collar. Her small stature and the way he was daring her to challenge him with his narrowed eyes and his smug grin made sure that she wouldn't even try. "I - well, that's-"

Beside her, Elphaba watched her descend into a stammering mess, all wide eyed and flushed cheeks. "Thank you, Master Avaric," she said, surprising everyone.

Avaric himself was quick to quirk an eyebrow. "You're welcome, but whatever for?"

"For providing me with a way to disarm Galinda's tongue. Oz knows I needed it earlier on, but I'm thankful all the same."

"That really isn't very good wordi-"

"My tongue is absolutely fine!"

Elphaba let out a laugh and made Galinda feel like her terrible embarrassment was worth it.

The next hour and a half was spent reading and rereading lines, with Galinda having no qualms over correcting the others delivery. Avaric was usually the one to earn her attention. Anybody listening in would have had to assume that he had the starring role with the amount of over exaggerated flair he put into a role. He was, after all, only a farmer - a fact that Elphaba reminded him of whenever he overstepped his mark. He would feign offence but never learn his lesson.

Boq, on the other hand, was the complete opposite and Galinda, being the worry wart that she'd slowly become over the past weeks, considered Milla's previous remarks about Boq being an utterly unconvincing villain. One look at him stumbling through his lines, eyes shifting from Elphaba to Galinda and back again, confirmed their suspicions that Boq was incapable of being any kind of threatening.

Granted, the Munchkin boy did try. But each frown and ill-conceived sly expression he attempted to make fell flat. It didn't help that the group was getting tired by his tenth try at an especially 'evil' line of dialogue. And at one point he was interrupted by a long, drawn out yawn from Avaric.

"Hmm, it could use some work," Galinda eventually said, earning enthusiastic nods from everyone else. "You'll come to me and we'll work on it alone, Master Boq!"
"What did I do wrong?" he asked, hanging his head in shame.

"Nothing," Elphaba said clearly, tucking herself back against the headboard of her bed. "But you're trying much too hard to do it right."

"Miss Elphaba, I'm not sure I understand..."

"Wrong is what you should be aiming for."

"I-"

"What I'm saying is that there is no right way, not for innocent Master Boq," she continued. "If you want to do it right, you have to allow yourself to do it wrong." Galinda blinked. In some strange roundabout way, Elphaba's cryptic advice had managed to bring a small smile to Boq's face.

"Oh, and Master Boq," Galinda interjected, "don't forget that villains always have the best songs!"

"You're only saying that because you wrote it," Elphaba said, trying to hide her smirk.

All that remained of Elphaba's bedside candle was a stub by the time Avaric and Milla left, tiptoeing their way down the hall, floorboards creaking. With the promise of more rehearsals the following week, Boq blushed and thanked Galinda for her help. She tossed her hair and made sure he knew that she was counting on him to improve. Though turning the bashful and somewhat clumsy Boq into a sly, arrogant prince would take more work on her part than Galinda was prepared for. In fact, every aspect of every part of the musical production was taking more from her than she'd originally realised.

Finally, Boq left and Galinda shut the door as quietly as she could. She leaned against it, unaware of Elphaba's stare, and let out a shaky breath. Elphaba suddenly stood, blocking the very little candlelight and startling an already shaken Galinda.

"You're worried," she said, as if it were a fact.

At first Galinda wanted to protest, but even in the dark she knew Elphaba would roll her eyes and see right through her. "Well, if I wasn't worried I would have to be more worried, wouldn't I?"

Elphaba moved out of the way, walked over to her chest of drawers and took out her nightdress. "We should go to bed," she said, though she didn't seem anywhere near as tired as Galinda.

Galinda nodded and drew away from the door, hastily gathering her own pink nightdress from her wardrobe. "I suppose so. Shall I go first?" The only reply she received from Elphaba was a vague mumble as she shut the bathroom door.

She was removing her make-up and yawning in the process when she heard what she thought was humming. Humming or perhaps snoring from one of the dorms next door. Galinda stopped mid-motion, staring at herself in the mirror, biting her lip to stop herself from grinning. It was humming, a low sound, as if someone was attempting to stop themselves but couldn't.

But there was only one person who knew how that particular song went, and she was green, and stubborn and sweet when she wanted to be.