Galinda and Chloey spent awhile in the parlor, talking about the incident. The green eyed blonde basically just needed someone to vent to.
"Thanks for letting me take out my frustration on you G." she said sheepishly after she realized she had been ranting.
"It's fine Chlo, I understand. I'd be frustrated too if I had to clean that whole cafeteria" Galinda said. "But I really want to thank you for standing for up for Elphie. That means more than you know."
"It's no problem G. I may be a popular girl, but I'm not a mean girl. At least I try not to be…" the green eyed blonde said.
"You've definitely proven that you're not." Galinda smiled.
"I just wish I knew who threw that first tray at Feana. I'm mad they lucked out not having to clean up, but they're still awesome for doing that to her." Chloey said.
"I kind of know who it was but I'm not sure if I should say anything…" Galinda said.
"Wait you know? Who was it G? Spill!" Chloey prodded.
"Well...it was Elphie." Galinda said and Chloey raised an eyebrow.
"Elphaba? What? She was right beside me...how could she...what?"
"She told me that she did it. She's not entirely sure how herself but from what she said it sounds like some sort of psychokinetic ability." Galinda said then told Chloey a brief version of what Elphie told her.
"Wow. Do you think she's a sorceress?"
"I don't know. Sorcery is usually genetic, like in my family. My mom's side of the family possesses magic. So as an Arduenna, I'm biologically a sorceress but I haven't developed powers yet because I'm not trained. Elphie has never mentioned anything about magic in her family and if there is, I doubt she knows about it. Psychokinesis is the ability to move things with your mind. I've heard it's a very rare and difficult skill to acquire." Galinda explained.
"And she said this has happened to her before? She must be very powerful if she has these abilities and isn't even a trained sorceress." Chloey said, amazed.
"Yeah I know, but please don't mention it to her. She seemed very uncomfortable and uncertain about it." The blue eyed blonde said.
"Alright, although that is pretty neat. I wish I had magic in my family." Chloey said then hesitated for a while. The talk of sorcery managed to trigger certain memories for her. "Galinda...can I tell you secret?"
"Of course you can."
"Well a few years ago learned that my mother had an affair with another man before I was born."
"Really?" Galinda said, surprised.
"Yes. I'm not suppose to know this, but I was a nosy 15 year old and I read it in one of my mom's old journals. I don't know much details except for that they worked with the same company and he was currently on travel in Wittica, where we live. Whatever they had going on didn't last long however because the man left and ended up marrying a sorceress. Ever since then I've been so confused. I don't know if my father is actually my father. I love him so much. He's the only dad I know. It's not like I can talk to them about this because I'm not suppose to know."
"Oh Chloey." Galinda said sincerely, placing her arm around her friend.
"I hate to think he could not be my father, but there is evidence that could prove that he isn't." Chloey said.
"What evidence?" Galinda asked.
"I'm the only blonde in my family. I mean, I have cousins who are blonde, but they all have at least one blonde parent. Both my parents are brunettes and both my sisters are. My oldest sister, Hildegard, is my stepsister from our dad's previous marriage. We obviously don't look alike at all. My little sister Christa and I are supposedly whole sisters and we look alike to some extent but she looks far more like Hildegard than me. Hell, you probably look more like me than my actual sisters do." Chloey said with a weak chuckled. Galinda had been following along and at that last statement her eyes went wide and a very freaky realization came to mind.
"Everyone always said Christa favors our father while I favor our mother. So I grew up thinking that I just got all my features from my mom such as my green eyes. But after reading what I read, it all makes sense now. My dad...probably isn't really my dad."
"Wow...Chloey….I don't even know what to say. I can't even imagine how confusing that must be for you." Galinda said.
"Believe me, it is."
"Do you think your dad is aware?"
"I don't know. He's had to have noticed that I look nothing like him. Maybe they both know and they just don't want to hurt me by telling me. I basically grew up under the false pretense that this is my father." Chloey explained.
"That might be the case. Maybe sometime in the future they'll be able to bring it up to you or you'll be able to bring it up to them. Until then you know I'm always here if you need to talk about it or just vent." Galinda said. She was confused, a little freaked out and her mind was reeling. Could it be that my twinnie...my unbiological sister, is actually my… sister? No, no, no, no, no. That's impossible! That can't be possible! Can it? There was no way that her father was the man the Chloey's mother was seeing all those years ago. But we look so much alike…. Oh my Oz! She didn't know if this was something they should talk about now so she decided to put all of this information away for now.
"Thanks Galinda." Chloey smiled, hugging her friend.
"Hey I need to stop by Elphie's physics class to pick up her classwork, wanna come with me?" Galinda asked after checking the time on her phone.
"Sure."
xxx
"Why exactly are we getting Elphaba's work for her?" Chloey asked after they left the physics building.
"She had to miss class. She was sort of...injured during the food fight."
"Injured? Oh Oz, G is she ok?" Chloey asked, concerned.
"She's ok...or well, she will be soon." Galinda said.
"What happened?"
"Well...look Chloey, you might find this hard to believe and I'm not even sure if I should be telling you this in the first place…"
"It's okay G. Just tell me."
"Elphie is allergic to water." Galinda said straight forward.
"I'm sorry...what? Allergic to water?" Chloey said highly confused.
"Yes."
"How in Oz is that even possible? How can any human being be allergic to water? She is human, right?"
"Of course she's human!" Galinda said. "I know it sounds strange but it's real. It's a very extremely rare condition. Her doctors diagnosed it as 'Aquagenic urticaria'. Look it up if you don't believe me."
"Okay so… what happens if she's around water? Does she sneeze? Or itch?" Chloey asked, trying to wrap her mind around this.
"No, much worse. It burns her." Galinda said.
"Burns her?! Great Oz. How is she even alive?" Chloey exclaimed.
"I agree that it sounds difficult to live with. But she's obviously use to it. She's very cautious and knows how to deal with it. I live with her and this was my first time ever seeing her burned so badly. She took an open water bottle right to abdomen." Galinda said.
"Oh no, I hope it wasn't too bad."
"She has oils to specifically help with this, so hopefully she'll heal soon." Galinda explained.
"Good to know." Chloey said. "I've never heard of anything like this. I just have so many questions. If she's allergic to water then how does she bathe? What does she drink? What about when it rains? Can she cry?"
"She had special oils to use for basic personal hygiene. She can drink milk and some juices, as long as there is a low concentration of water. When it rain she either stays in or wraps up extra well. She can cry, she just doesn't do it often because it would harm her." Galinda explained.
"I knew Elphaba was complicated but I didn't know she was this complicated." Chloey said. "So you're dating a psychokinetic, green girl who burns when she's wet. That's very interesting G." she chuckled.
"Well I love her and I wouldn't have her any other way." Galinda smiled. "I'm gonna bring dinner back up to the room for Elphie and I. You can eat with us if you'd like." She offered.
"Thanks but no thanks. I'm sneaking into the boy's dorm to spend the rest of the evening with Dylan. He's ordering takeout. Apparently his roommate is studying abroad in Vinkus for the rest of the semester so he said I could spend the night if I'm comfortable with that. And I am. I want to be as far away from Feana as possible right now."
"Won't you get in trouble?" Galinda asked.
"I could always hide in his bathroom if the dorm advisor comes by, but I doubt it." Chloey said. "You're lucky you live with your girlfriend and you don't have to sneak around."
"I sure am." Galinda chuckled. "Well have fun twinnie, I'll see you tomorrow." She said and gave Chloey a hug before heading off.
She went to the cafeteria to purchase dinner for her and her girlfriend. When she brought it up to their room they ate and chatted about whatever came to mind. They spent the rest of the evening relaxing and taking it easy. After Elphie did her work, she indulged Galinda by watching that annoying dance reality show with her that the blonde loved so much.
xxx
The next two days breezed by. Galinda was starting to notice girls from the popular crowd starting to not speak to her, give her strange looks when they saw her, avoid her or just keep their distance. A few people would ask her questions about the type of relationship she has with Elphaba. The blonde was trying to deflect them as best she could but it was getting difficult and really taking it's toll on her. Elphaba on the other hand, noticed no major difference in the way that people treated her. They didn't speak to her, gave her strange looks, avoided her, kept their distance… but it's not like they didn't already do those things anyway. She got a few questions as well. Some were about Galinda and some were about the incident with Feana.
The green girl was thankful when her last class of the day had ended. She was looking forward to going to her room to see her beautiful girlfriend. Elphaba was disappointed to find that the blonde wasn't there. She decided to wash up a little then got comfortable on her bed with a book. About a half hour later the blonde came through the door.
"There you are, I was getting worried. I thought you'd be back before me." Elphie said, getting up to give her a hug and kiss.
"Oh I'm sorry sweetheart. I was studying in the library… I guess I lost track of time." Galinda said sheepishly.
"Well this quite a role reversal." Elphie chuckled.
"I was just thinking that." Galinda laughed. Elphie took her books and things while she got settled.
"What were you studying in the library so intensely?" Elphaba asked as Galinda sat down beside her on the bed.
"Well I started out studying for my sociology quiz. But then I ended up just...thinking." Galinda said.
"About what?"
"About a lot of things really. I've noticed a lot of people's demeanor towards me starting to change lately…" Galinda with a little sigh.
"Oh my precious, did they hurt your feelings?" Elphie asked.
"Yes. Well at first it bothered me a lot and I did cry about it earlier…."
"Galinda, why didn't you tell me?" Elphie said, upset. " I hate the thought of you crying over people who were mean to you...because of me."
"Stop it Elphie. Don't go there." Galinda said and laced their fingers together, giving her a soft kiss. "It's not because of you, they're just ignorant. At the end of the day I love you and that's all that matters and it's not gonna change. Now let me finish and stop interrupting." Galinda said and Elphie nodded.
"Anyway, I assume Feana must have told them something. I'm going to make this long story short because I was doing a lot of thinking. I've always been the type of girl to care very much about what other people think of me. I try to be what other people expect me to be even if it's something that I'm not. And I'm not straight that's for sure." She chuckled and so did Elphie.
"I ended up in a crowd of shallow girls who probably deep down will never be happy. I was probably shallow before I met you but you gave me depth. And you make me happy. Almost everyone sees...or saw me as some popular persona but very few people get to see the real me. The me that's hiding behind the stupid mask that I always have to wear. The me that's afraid of rejection and losing what she has. As long as I keep that me hidden, the longer I'm hiding a huge part of who I am. I'm tired of wearing a mask. I think the people who really care about me will be willing to get to know the me that's hiding behind the mask. And the people who only like me for the mask I'm wearing are really not worth my time or tears. If any of this makes sense." Galinda said, looking at Elphie who was trying to process it all.
"So what you're saying is that you're tired of hiding who you are, you don't care about what others think anymore and you're ready to just come out to everybody?"
"Yes. Well...I'm trying not to care. And Oz no, I don't want to come out to everybody yet." Galinda said. "But my real friends will still accept me for who I am, they won't care who I choose to love and they'll being willing to get to know you."
"Like Chloey for example." Elphie said.
"Exactly. And I have other friends, like Unah. She seems really open minded." Galinda said. "All these other ignoramuses, as you call them are really not worth it and I don't need them in my life. If I had to choose between them and you of course I choose you. I love you and I'm not ashamed to love you. I'm tired of hiding. I want to try to just be who I am for once."
"So...Lindie you think we should just go public with out relationship?" Elphie asked, not sure if she was ready for that yet. "We have to be careful you know if Morrible were to find out we could possibly get in trouble for living together as a couple. We could be separated." Elphie said with a frown.
"I can't bare the thought of us not living together." Galinda said and started to cry. "I'm sorry Elphie. I don't want us to go completely public. I don't think I'm ready for that. I don't know what I want."
"Please don't cry my sweet. I think I understand. You're saying we shouldn't worry about the shallow, ignoramuses. We shouldn't let them control us. We should try to just be ourselves...within reason." Elphie said.
"I think that's what I'm saying." Galinda said and dried her eyes. "It's not like we have to make a huge announcement and tell the entire school. Let's just be us and not make a big deal about it."
"I'm sure we're not the only gay people on campus anyway." Elphie smiled. "We'll figure out what to do. Baby steps my sweet.."
"At least we only have a little over a month left, then we don't have to come back and worry about this until next year." Galinda said. "I love you Elphie."
"I love you too Lindie." The green girl said and kissed her girlfriend deeply.
"Do you have much homework?" Galinda asked.
"Nothing urgent. You?" Elphie asked.
"None at all. Wanna go for a walk before dinner?" The blonde asked.
"A walk sounds nice." Elphie smiled and they kissed again before getting up. Galinda sat at her vanity to put her hair while Elphie went to the bathroom. The green girl was rinsing her hands with her antibacterial oil when she heard a loud thump and a cry. She rushed out to the main to find her girlfriend on the floor.
"Oh Oz Lindie what happened?" She worried. The blonde wasn't crying, so that was a good sign.
"I fell backward off my vanity stool."
"Oh no my sweet, are you okay?" Elphie asked, helping her up.
"I don't know. My bottom really hurts." Gainda whined.
"I leave you alone for two minutes and you go and hurt yourself." Elphie shook her head. "Come here my precious." She helped her up. "Where does it hurt?"
"Right here." Galinda said, pointing to her lower back. She placed Elphie's hand there and the green girl rubbed it gently.
"That sounded like quite a fall. It may be sore for a while."
"What if I broke my bottom Elphie?" Galinda panicked.
"It's not really that Lindie. It's more like your coccyx, which is the lowermost part of the spine, commonly know as the tailbone. You may have bruised it. Turn and let me see." Elphie and said and the blonde complied. The green girl discreetly lowered Galinda's skirt and undergarment in the back.
"No outward bruise. Let's wait and see if it feel better soon, if not you should probably go to the nurse." Elphie said.
"Can you kiss it and make it better?" Galinda asked innocently.
"Lindie..." Elphie blushed.
"Oh come on. You've kissed me in far more intimate places before." The blonde giggled and Elphie blushed darker. She bent down slightly and placed a soft kiss on her girlfriend's lower back.
"Does that feel better?"
"Not really, but I like feeling you lips there"' the blonde smiled. Elphie, feeling playful, turned Galinda around, lifted her shirt and blew a raspberry on her stomach.
"Elphie!" The blonde squealed and Elphaba laughed.
"I'm gonna get you back for that once your abdomen in healed." Galinda giggled.
"Are you going to be okay?" Elphaba asked seriously.
"I think so, it's just sore." The blonde pouted.
"I have painkillers in the bathroom cabinet if gets worse." The green girl's said.
"Thank you Elphie." The blonde kissed her.
"I guess we should forgo our walk now." Elphie said and kissed her back.
"I guess so." Galinda sighed. "Well now that you've taken care of me, it's my turn to take care of you. Come along." She said as she guided her girlfriend into the bathroom. Elphaba had been letting her do this for the past three days. The blonde grabbed a fresh cloth and Elphie's special oil while the green girl removed her top. Galinda gently applied the oil over Elphaba's stomach area, which was healing quite well.
"Elphie" Galinda said as she was putting the oil away. "I feel like I should tell you that I told Chloey about your water allergy the other day…"
"Galinda why would you-"
"Save your anger for the end because I also kind of told her about your powers…"
"Really Galinda? Did you just tell Chloey all of my secrets?" Elphie asked irritated.
"Of course not! I didn't tell her that you didn't understand bra sizes until about a month ago. Or about the dolphin shaped birthmark on your inner thigh." The blonde chuckled, trying to keep this from turning into an argument.
"It's a confusing subject to me! And...my birthmark is not shaped like dolphin!" Elphie said, unable to keep herself from chuckling.
"It is too!" Galinda giggled. They laughed for a few moments.
"I'm sorry Elphie. I know I shouldn't have told her those things without your permission." Galinda said seriously after they calmed down.
"Then why did you?" Elphie asked.
"She was curious as to who dumped the tray on Feana and how they did it. I also mentioned that you were injured and she was concerned. I figured I may as well just tell the truth now instead of lying and having her find out later." Galidna explained.
"Makes sense." Elphie said as she put her shirt back on.
"So you're not mad?"
"Not really. I mean, the water allergy isn't really a secret. It's more like information on a need to know basis. But I'd prefer nobody else know about my powers."
"I'm sorry. I promise not to tell anyone else." Galinda said sincerely. "But there is something else I need to talk to you about. My mind has been reeling for the past two days and I need to tell somebody." She said as they went back out to the main room.
"What is it Lindie?" Elphie asked.
"I think Chloey and I are...sisters." The blonde said tentatively. The green girl raised an eyebrow and Galinda proceeded to tell her everything that Chloey had told her the other day along with the connections she had made in her own mind.
"Oh my Oz…" Was all Elphie could say
"My thoughts exactly! What are the actual odds of two girls being long lost sisters, not knowing each other for 18 years, then ending up at the same college, becoming close friends and being completely oblivious to the fact that they're related for almost two semesters! This is a movie plot or something. Things like this don't happen in real life!" Galinda said as she paced around.
"I'd be lying if I said this was not the most bizarre thing I've ever heard." Elphie finally said. "But if all of this really is true then I think it would explain quite a bit. I mean, anyone would agree that you two do look unusually similar and you have so much in common. If I didn't know both of you personally I would think you were related."
"All this time I just thought it was a big coincidence that we're so much alike. We call each other twin and say that we're sisters as an endearing joke! It's not suppose to be real, but it probably is! This is really confusing." Galinda sighed.
"Let's analyze this Lindie, starting with what we know. Chloey's father is most likely not her biological father…"
"And the man who her mother was with before she was born left to marry a sorceress. My mother is a sorceress! Oz almighty, we have the same father!"
"You don't know that for sure Lindie. There are many sorceresses out there…" Elphie said trying to calm her down.
"But it really seems like that is the case here. I can't wrap my mind around this. I can't imagine Daddy ever cheating on Mommy." She looked se going to cry.
"Lindie you told me once before that your parents knew they were pregnant with you before they were married. Exactly how far apart in age are you and Chloey? I don't believe your father would have...made love with two different women in such a close time frame." Elphie asked.
"She was born in November, the same year as you so she's 19 and I was born in August the next year. So we're about ten months apart." Galinda explained.
"Maybe during that time your father was seeing another woman ten months before he and your mother conceived you...Maybe they weren't together at the time? I really can't say for sure."
"I don't know either. The thought of her being my sister is really cool, but it's also really weird. It's like this whole time we've been living a lie. There's no way to know for sure right now. We'd need a DNA test or something. I would need to talk to Chloey about this, which I haven't done. She'll need to talk to her parents about it, which she can't do. And I'll need to talk to my parents about it which I have absolutely no idea how to do." Galinda sighed and put her head in her hands.
"You're stressing yourself out Lindie."
"You're right. I should try not to worry about this yet. I have other complicated things to figure out how to tell my parents."
"Such as?" Elphie asked.
"That I'm madly in love with you." Galinda said and passionately kissed Elphie.
