Merry Christmas! (And Happy holidays to anybody who doesn't celebrate Christmas!) Hope you all have/had a great day and got lots of great presents and got to spend time with family and/or friends!
I want to give a big thanks to fermataoso for. reviewing every chapter! (And bringing us up past 20 reviews, which as pathetic as it sounds, I have never done until now!) Virtual [Insert your favorite holiday treat here] for you! Thanks so much!
Now, here is the promised Lurlinemas special!
It was the night before Lurlinemas Eve, which Galinda liked to call Lurlinemas Eve-Eve. Elphaba, on multiple occasions, told the blonde that Lurlinemas Eve-Eve wasn't really a holiday and to stop exclaiming "Merry Lurlinemas Eve-Eve!" To every person that she saw, not that she listened to Elphaba. They were currently in the Ozdust, which Galinda had masterly decorated with paper snowflakes. It turned out that making those was a hobby of hers and she'd been doing it ever since she was nine. On top of that, streamers were hung everywhere and the tables were adorned with beautiful silver-y table cloths.
"It's so pretty, isn't it ,Elphie?" The blonde asked as they stepped back to take a look at everything.
"Yeah, it is, isn't it?"
"This is going to be the most ozmazifying Lurlinemas ever!" Galinda giggled, then she turned to look at her friend. "And I have a special gift for you!"
Elphaba smiled. "Thanks, Glin."
"And you got me something, too, right?" The blonde asked. Elphaba gave her a look. "Of course you did! But it doesn't matter anyway! It's the season of giving, not getting!" She went silent for a second, deep in thought, and Elphaba braced herself for whatever stupid thing that was about to come out of the blonde's mouth. "But if it's the season of giving, it has to be the season of getting. Because if you give something, somebody has to get it. So it really is the season of getting, I suppose."
Elphaba just smiled and shook her head slowly. One thing was for sure, the blonde may not have been the smartest, but she was certainly good at (however unintentionally) lightening the mood. And also at hosting parties. They would have their party the next day, Lurlinemas Eve. Elphaba and Galinda had decided on not serving alcohol, they didn't feel like spending their Lurlinemas cleaning up a totally trashed ballroom.
"You have your dress, right?" The blonde asked.
Elphaba nodded. "Yes."
"And is it?" The blonde began before the green girl cut her off.
"Red or green, no. It's black. And don't tell me that I have to wear a Lurlinemas color because the last time that I checked, green was a very Lurlinemas-y color and, as you can see, I am covered in it."
Galinda huffed, though she did smile a little, and spun on her heel to leave the ballroom. It was late and they had a very busy day ahead of them on Lurlinemas Eve. Elphaba followed close behind her.
That night, they said goodnight and turned off the light, ready to sleep. Galinda was slowly falling asleep when Elphaba's voice broke the comfortable silence between them.
"Hey, Galinda, are you awake?"
"Yes."
"Well, I was wondering, for some reason, don't ask why because I don't know, what ever happened to that book you gave me? 'Galinda's Guide To Popularity', was it?"
"Oh, that one. I burned it." The blonde said casually, turning over so that her back was facing away from her roommate. "Good night."
"You what?" Elphaba exclaimed.
"Burned it." Again, the blonde's voice was calm and nonchalant.
"Why in Oz name would you do that?"
"You'll see soon enough. Good night." And that was it. The blonde was asleep.
The next day, they both woke up later than usual and were in a rush to get ready for the ball. As Elphaba had done for Galinda's party, they had hired a live band to play some Lurlinemas carols at the party. Galinda had gotten her family's personal caterer, Lorelei, who was in the area for another event, to cater for the party. They both had dresses, everyone had been invited, the band and caterer had been hired, the room was decorated, everything seemed perfect. Until Galinda had a mini-panic attack when she and Elphaba went over the checklist for a final time, about 2 hours before the party.
"Aaaaaaah!" The blonde screamed. Elphaba quickly turned to look at her friend, wondering what was wrong.
"What's wrong?" She asked, thinking Galinda was having some kind of heart attack or something.
"The tree! We forgot the tree!" She squealed. Elphaba wanted to laugh at how her friend was freaking out over a single Lurlinemas tree, but she realized that she was panicking, too.
"How did we forget a tree?"
"Elphie, now I remember!" She pointed to an empty corner in the ballroom. "We were supposed to put it there, but then we got distracted because I fell off of the ladder when I put up that snowflake!" She pointed to one of the many paper snowflakes that hung above their heads.
"Okay, well, I'll go buy a tree and you go buy decorations and we'll meet back here in an hour!" Elphaba exclaimed.
"Okay." The blonde agreed, the both of them turning to leave.
"And you have a limit of 5 pink ornaments and no pink tinsel whatsoever and if you get a pink star, I will break it!" Elphaba said as she rushed out the door with her pink puffball of a friend right behind her.
An hour and thirty minutes later, with only a half an hour left until the party started, the large tree was up and decorated. Luckily for Elphaba, Galinda had heeded her warning and only gotten 5 pink ornaments. She didn't get pink tinsel, either, but she got both a pink and yellow star just to see if Elphaba really would break it. She didn't break it, just snatched the star and receipt from the blonde, muttering something about returning it later under her breath.
About twenty minutes later, the band and caterer arrived and everything was set up for the guests, who arrived another teen to fifteen minutes later. Elphaba and Galinda had changed into their dresses shortly before.
Once everybody was there, Elphaba wondered why she had agreed to do this. Sure, planning a party was pretty fun, but being there was a whole different story. She just hoped that one of the many guys that Galinda flirted with would become the blonde's boyfriend. Then she could see how happy the blonde was and know that it wouldn't have happened if it weren't for the party.
She stayed in the corner, near the Lurlinemas tree, for most of the party, only moving farther out into the party when the blonde grabbed her by the arm and forcibly dragged her away from the corner, which did happen a couple of times. But Elphaba was quite happy when the party ended. They spent another hour cleaning up after everyone and then returned to their dorm to get ready for bed and sleep. It had been a long day.
The next morning, Elphaba awoke and saw the blonde sitting by the small Lurlinemas tree that they had put up in the dorm. Underneath it were two presents, one labeled 'to Galinda, from Elphaba' and the other labeled 'To Elphie, love Galinda XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO'. Elphaba smiled at all of the X 's and O's that the blonde had put on there.
"Merry Lurlinemas, Elphie! Let's open our presents!" She giggled. Her enthusiasm to open presents reminded her of how Nessa had always acted when she was little on Lurlinemas.
"Merry Lurlinemas, Galinda." She sat down next to her friend, who handed her a mug of hot chocolate with cinnamon, a weird thing they did, and marshmallows piled high. "You can open yours first." She said.
"Okay!" The blonde said, taking the present from under the tree and gently opening it, trying to preserve the paper. She smiled when she saw what was inside. "Oh wow! It's a..." She stopped. Elphaba could see the disappointment on her face, though she was trying to hide it. "Fishbowl."
Elphaba laughed. "I spoke to some of the administrators and they told me that we can have a pet, if it's a fish." Elphaba explained.
"Oh, Elphie, thank you!" Galinda exclaimed, her face lighting up. "Now open yours!"
"Okay." Elphaba laughed, picking up the neatly wrapped present and tearing it open. Inside it she saw a black journal. Written on it in in white, the cover read 'Galinda's Guide To Popularity: Elphie Edition'. Elphaba opened it. Much like when she opened the first book Galinda had made her, she saw a bunch of Galinda's neat writing, this time in black ink.
"The traditional path go popularity wasn't working for you, so I may have came up with a new plan." Galinda explained.
Elphaba flipped to the first page. The heading read 'Step One: Be Yourself'.
"Merry Lurlinemas, Elphie!"
"Merry Lurlinemas, Galinda."
Merry Christmas!
(I promised a Thank Goodness update as well, but I lost it when my device did this weird crash. I'm so SORRY!)
As I said, it may be a while until I next update, as academics are now my main priority. Thanks for sticking with me throughout this! I've decided that this will be the last chapter for now, though I will probably do an epilogue and I'm planning a sequel! It will be fully overwritten and should be published in a few months!
Thanks for reading, nominating and voting me for Greg Awards, and for all of your reviews! See you for the epilogue!
