Shake It Off 4

It's like I've got this music
In my mind
Saying it's gonna be alright

"Hey, Elphie?"

"Hmm?"

Galinda turned from where she was lying on the grass next to her roommate. It was a nice day in late spring, the sun was shining, and the two of them had been studying outside under a tree for hours. Now they were lying on their backs, staring up at the clouds, both of them lost in thought until Galinda had spoken.

"I don't think I've ever had a real friend," she confessed. "Of course I had girls to gossip and laugh and do fun things with, but until you, I've never really had a friend I could talk to, you know?"

Elphaba smiled. "I know. Me, neither."

"I like it."

"Me, too."

They were quiet for a while before Galinda broke the silence again. "Elphie?"

"Yeah?"

She propped herself up on one elbow. "I think," she said solemnly, "that no matter what, we're going to be okay."

Elphaba laughed. "What makes you say that?"

Her roommate shrugged. "Just... I don't know," she said. "A feeling." She reached out to take her roommate's hand. "I'm really glad we're friends, Elphie."

"So am I, Glin," said Elphaba softly, squeezing Galinda's hand. "So am I."


That memory, that moment, that conversation in the sun was what two women were thinking about years later; two best friends, even though they were far apart and would most likely never see one another again.

Glinda turned to the window, resolve straightening her back and bringing a smile to her lips despite herself. No matter what, she was going to be okay. Elphie would want her to be okay and she could never let her best friend down. She looked up at the night sky and knew that somewhere, somehow, her best friend was going to be alright, too. At least she was with the man she loved. All Glinda had ever wanted for her friend was for her to be happy. Perhaps now she finally was.

Near the borders of Oz, Elphaba slipped her hand into a straw-stuffed glove and laid her head against a scarecrow's shoulder as they walked. She looked up at the sky, which was now filled with stars instead of the clouds she remembered from that sunny afternoon, and she thought of her friend.

"Do you think Glinda will be alright on her own?" Fiyero asked quietly, but she just smiled sadly.

"I don't think so," she said softly. "I'm sure of it. She's stronger than she looks... stronger even than she thinks she is."

Some things aren't meant to last forever, she mused; but even when they don't, they sometimes leave a mark that does. Their friendship may be over, but she knew that she would always carry its memory with her... like a handprint on her heart.