Changed for Good: I don't really have a favorite cast, but my fav Elphies are Willemijn and Jessica Vosk. I've read the book multiple times, and it's one of my favorites.


"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"No, Glin."

"Pretty, pretty, pretty plea-"

"The number of 'pretties' in front of the 'please' won't increase the chances of me saying yes."

"Everyone is coming."

"That just decreased the chances of me saying yes, which weren't high to begin with." Elphaba took off her glasses and rubbed her temple. It was clear that her roommate wasn't going to leave her alone, even after almost an hour of pestering her. "I don't like parties," she frowned, sliding her glasses back onto her face.

"How would you know? You've never been to one. You told me yourself."

"Because I don't like them."

"But Fifi would go with you and you would have fun."

"I would have even more fun not going."

The blonde pouted. She just had to get Elphaba to come to her birthday celebration at The Byward Angel, a fancy restaurant just off-campus. Her birthday wasn't until the summer months, but she wanted to have a celebration with all of her friends. "But it's my birthday."

"Your birthday's in July."

"Please? It would mean so much to me! Plus, this will officially be the last social event of the semester."

Elphaba finished her last math problem and closed her textbook. "Why is that so important?"

"Because it is!" Galinda pouted. "It's my birthday, Elphie. Please?"

Elphaba rolled her eyes. "If it will get you off my back, I'll go."

Galinda pushed her lip out even more. "That's not what you're supposed to say when someone invites you to their birthday party."

"I would hardly call this an invite. You threatened to enchant my side of the room so it always rains lavender rose petals."

"A threat I am fully prepared to follow through."

Elphaba worked her jaw.

"I promise I won't ask you to come to any more parties."

"Ever."

"This semester."

"The semester is almost over."

"Exactly."

The green girl sighed. If this was going to be Galinda's party, it was bound to be over-the-top, frilly, pink, and sparkly, just like the blonde, and throwing presents and cake into the mix would just add to the chaos. The idea of having to experience Galinda on a sugar rush didn't appeal to her. "Alright. I'll come," she found her mouth saying before her brain gave its consent.

The blonde squealed and wrapped her roommate in a tight hug. "Thank you, Elphie!"

Elphaba awkwardly patted her friend's shoulder. "Alright. Now, may I please get back to studying now?"

Galinda, having got what she wanted, happily complied with Elphaba's wishes and retreated to her bed with a magazine.


Elphaba fumbled with her room key, trying to find the keyhole in the darkened hallway. Whether it was late at night or early in the morning, she had no idea. All she knew was that if she didn't get to bed as soon as possible, someone was going to get turned into a fruit fly.

"Ooooooooh, Elphiiiiiiiieeeeee!"

And she knew exactly who that "someone" was. Elphaba grimaced as the blonde flung herself on top of her, looping her arms around her neck. "Oz, Glin, get off!"

"Didn't you just have soooooo much fun tonight?"

"You had way too much to drink."

"And you didn't have enough to drink!"

"For Oz sake, Fiyero, help me out!"

"I am helping! By staying back here, out of the way!" came the prince's voice from around the corner. "Trust me, you don't want me involved. I'll end up hindering instead of helping."

Elphaba muttered under her breath, still fumbling with the key. She was beginning to regret every life decision that brought her to this moment. She finally managed to unlock the door and practically fell into the room. She flipped on the light switch and turned, yelping loudly when she found the blonde's face a bit too close to hers for comfort.

"Dance with me, Elphie!" Galinda giggled, placing her hands on Elphaba's waist and swaying dramatically, threatening to fall over.

Thankfully, Elphaba caught her before she did and easily carried her over to her bed. She unceremoniously plopped the blonde down, eliciting a gasp from the doorway.

"Be careful!" Fiyero warned, having finally come over, but not entering the room.

"She's fine. She has all these pillows."

"Yeah, I'll have more cake," Galinda slurred before falling asleep with a loud snore.

"Thank Oz, she's done," Elphaba sighed, collapsing onto her own bed. "Thanks for your help, Yero."

He ignored the sarcasm. "Now that my gentlemanly duties are discharged, I will see you both tomorrow," he nodded, giving Elphaba a salute.

"Wait! You can't just leave me here with her like this!"

"She's sleeping. She's harmless."

"I don't know how to take care of a drunk person. What if she wakes up?"

"Trust me, she won't. She'll be out until at least eleven tomorrow morning, if not noon."

The blonde let out a loud snore and rolled onto her stomach, snuggling deeper into the pillows. Elphaba glanced over at her, then back at Fiyero. "Please stay."

"I mean… if no one tells Morrible, I suppose I could stay for a bit. Plus, someone needs to make sure you don't turn Galinda into a gnat."

The two settled on Elphaba's bed, sitting on top of her simple comforter. They talked for a bit, and Fiyero was somehow convinced to study. Well… Elphaba read a chapter of their philosophy textbook, making it sound like a bedtime story. His head was resting comfortably in her lap. Surprisingly, when Elphaba questioned him on what she just read, the prince had been able to retain a lot of information.

"Your voice is much more engaging than Tough-As-Nails'," the prince admitted. "And you're much prettier." He sat up. "I have a feeling you wanted me to stay for more reason than just making sure you don't turn Galinda into something squashable."

"Maybe I enjoy your company."

Fiyero perked up. "You enjoy my company?"

"I said 'maybe'."

He pouted, then chuckled. "I like your company, too."

They talked a bit more, and as the conversation died down, Fiyero made to leave, but a half-asleep Elphaba pulled him back.

"No… go," she muttered, cracking open one eye.

Too tired to argue, Fiyero climbed back into the bed. Elphaba immediately snuggled closer to him. The prince responded with a light kiss to her forehead before drifting back to sleep.

The next morning, Galinda awoke with a loud groan. She tried to open her eyes, but her pounding headache forced her to rethink that decision.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," came Elphaba's voice somewhere to her left.

"Elphie, please don't shout."

"I didn't shout."

"Then don't."

The green girl rolled her eyes and gently helped the blonde sit up. "Here," she said, handing her a mug of dark liquid.

The blonde took a sip without question, then immediately regretted it. "Great Oz!" she cried, spitting it out, her taste buds on full alert. "What in Lurline's name is this?!"

"Coffee," Elphaba answered simply, sitting next to her on the bed. "It's to help with your headache."

The blonde took a closer look at the mug. "This doesn't look like coffee."

"Glin, it's pure, Gillikin coffee."

Galinda took another small sip and grimaced. "It doesn't taste like… wait, there no cream or sug- this is black coffee, Elphaba!"

"Yes. You're lucky. Munchkin coffee is much stronger. It would have knocked you right out of bed."

"I've never had just straight-up coffee without sweeter before."

"I never would have noticed."

The blonde made a face. "Do I… want to know how crazy last night was?"

"Let's put it this way; I didn't turn you into a gnat."

She offered her friend a small smile. "Yeah. I'm a party animal. I can get a bit carried away."

"A bit?" Elphaba repeated incredulously, but with a twinkle in her eye. "In all honesty, your party… wasn't as bad as I thought it would be."

She knew that was high praise, coming from her usually stoic roommate-turned-friend. "I'm glad you had an enjoyable time at your very first party." She slowly slid closer to the green girl. "You spent your very first party with your very first bestest friend and boyfriend? That's so romantisifying!"

Elphaba was about to comment that 'romantisifying' wasn't a word, but Galinda wrapped her in a tight hug before she was able to. She slowly relaxed and returned the kind gesture, making the blonde smile even more.

"You give really good hugs," Galinda smiled, moving to rest her head in Elphaba's lap.

Elphaba absentmindedly began to run her fingers through Galinda's hair, combing through the untamed curls. "Nessa and I used to sit like this all the time. We would go outside and lay down in the grass, surrounded by flowers. She would always ask me to braid the flowers into her hair, but then Father would make her take them out because it made her hair dirty. But she kept asking me to do it, so it became our special time together."

"I've never sat like this with anyone," Galinda whispered. "It… feels nice."

"Yeah. It does. But we should probably get ready."

"What time is it?"

"Almost eleven."

"Didn't you have a class this morning?"

"Professor Lexu is sick, so she canceled class and told us to just study for the final. My shift at the library doesn't start for another hour. And you should finish that coffee."

"It's bitter."

Elphaba rolled her eyes, but took the cup from the blonde and finished the drink in a few gulps. There was no use letting perfectly good coffee go to waste.

Galinda got out of bed, her head feeling much better, showered and got ready for the rest of the day. "Did Fiyero stay over last night?"

Elphaba gaped at her. "What makes you ask that?"

"You don't smell his cologne?"

Once she mentioned it, she realized that her roommate was right. "Yes. He did."

"Oh. Okay."

"You're not… upset?"

"Why would I be upset? Fifi's with you know and I've moved on. I just never realized how his scent can permeate a room." She paused, then added, "And I didn't wake up to you two doing anything that would require your own room, so you're fine."

"We didn't do anything. We just talked."

"Ooh! About what?"

"Stuff."

"What stuff, Elphie? Come on! Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!"

"Our summer plans."

"Elphaba, you know I'm going to keep asking questions until you stop being so vague."

"I'm staying with Fiyero over the summer break," Elphaba blurted.

Galinda stared at her, her mouth agape, as she processed that sentence. "That's all you talked about?" she finally said.

"No, but that's what we ended on. I told him that my plan was to go back to Munchkinland and avoid my father as much as humanly possible. Apparently, the thought of me being by myself for three months terrified him, so he invited me to stay with him. I told him –"

"That it's a bad idea and that his parents don't know you and they might not like you, but only for your green skin, but Fiyero convinced you that wasn't going to happen and it took some time, but you finally believed him and accepted his invitation."

Elphaba blinked, wondering how Galinda managed to say all that on one breath. "You heard us?"

"Honestly, I don't remember hearing you, but apparently, my brain did," Galinda shrugged. "My drunken brain remembers the most random things."

"Well, now you don't need me to tell you what happened, since you just told me."

"Elphie, I still want you to tell me. It's more fun to have a conversation. Plus, I just gave you a basic summary. I need you to give me word-for-word details."

"I'll tell you everything later this evening. I have to get to the library."

Galinda pouted. "Ugh. Fine. So that took up most of your conversation."

"Yes."

"And you two didn't…" She wiggled her eyebrows.

Elphaba walked out without another word, hearing the blonde's loud laughter as she hurried down the hallway.


Three more chapters!