AN:
Hello, my lovelies!
I hope your week has been treating you well!
Okay, listen up folks: I'm so thankful for everyone who's been following this story so far, but I think this is kinda the make-it-or-break-it chapter of this fic. As in: a major plot point will be revealed towards the end, and I would understand if it's not everyone's cup of tea. But it is what it is. If you kiss this story goodbye after reading this instalment, that's totally okay, and I thank you for your readership so far! Maybe next time I write something it will be more to your taste. If you are intrigued: Yay! Awesome. Glad to have you on board! Enjoy the ride!
I don't know, maybe I'm totally overreacting and it's much less of a big deal than I think… but I just wanted to get this off my chest anyway.
Important, entirely unrelated notice: Warning for mention of intersex phobia in this chapter!
Okay. Now that we've got this out of the way:
HAPPY READING! [I hope (^_^;)]
XOXO MLE (^_^)
P.S.: I take no credit for any book lines, other than my "hilarious" sense of humour for putting them in here. ;-)
Chapter Four
A small group of students arrived at the lab no more than a few seconds after Galinda's bottom had touched down on her chair. She cast them a fleeting look, but they weren't even loosely associated with her or any of her friends. Overcome by a sudden wave of fatigue, she let her folded arms slide forward on the table and wearily rested her head on top.
Oz, she really hadn't expected that painful pang in her chest when Elphaba had so casually exposed her pathetic, little strategy of deception and pretence. Perhaps it didn't seem like much for someone like Elphaba to expect that Galinda at least acknowledge that interacting with the 'green freak' wasn't at all as horrific and unpleasant as generally assumed. For someone like Galinda, however, too much was at stake. The higher she soared, the further she might fall. It was a principle she'd accepted and followed ever since primary school. Just like a leopard, she couldn't easily change her spots. Was she really such a terrible person for not being willing to risk her status and popularity on behalf of a girl she hardly even knew?
"Rise and shine!"
The sound of Pfannee's voice and the touch of her hand on Galinda's shoulder made her jump. She blinked twice, then lightly rubbed her hands over her face.
"Didn't sleep well last night?" asked Shenshen empathetically.
"Not particularly," lied Galinda.
Truth be told, she'd slept just fine, expect for the fact that she'd gotten up far too early again just so she could still make it to lab prep. Neither that, nor her distress over Elphaba's disapproval of her personal coping mechanisms were reasons she was willing to voice though.
At the end of class Galinda took just long enough with clearing her desk of the dirty beaker and the sad remains of her dyed strawberry DNA for her friends to go ahead without her. Thus being the last student of her stream to leave the room, she gathered enough courage to murmur a quiet goodbye in Elphaba's direction.
Elphaba on her part looked up, which supposedly meant that she'd heard the soft words, yet did not reply. It made the blonde wonder whether she'd really hurt her feelings earlier, or whether she simply couldn't be bothered acting civil with her if Galinda herself wasn't actually fully committed. The more she considered this notion, the more annoyed she got.
She did understand—to some degree. On the other hand, why did it have to be all or nothing? Why couldn't Elphaba simply be happy that Galinda was talking to her at all? It was a whole lot better than plainly ignoring each other, wasn't it? This lab camaraderie, their secret, circumstantial almost-friendship; Galinda had to admit that she kind of liked the unconventional nature of their relationship. As long as it didn't spill over into other aspects of her life to create confusion and havoc, of course. Was that so wrong?
She was glad that she wouldn't have much time to keep pondering over her minor predicament. While she usually spent the two hours between bio and her next architecture class with readings and research for her upcoming essays, she and Milla had other plans that day.
They met up at the Uni Square, and together they walked to the botanical garden. Milla wore a cute, fur-trimmed, white coat that flared out at her waist like a skirt. Her Leggings were black, as were her shoes, bar the light grey rabbit fuzz that covered the front. Her red hair was carefully coiffed and half pinned up with sparkling clips. When they reached the old greenhouses in the heart of the park, the girls stopped, and she produced a heavy camera from the depths of her bag. Carefully, she put the broad strap around Galinda's neck.
"You do know how to use one of these, right?" she giggled as her friend studied the camera's numerous buttons and digital interface.
"Yeah, sure. Popsicle has a similar one back home in Frottica. At least I know enough about the basics to shoot a decent picture. It's just for a dating app, not a model magazine."
"Never underestimate the significance of photos on dating apps!" Milla reproached her lightly and laughed. "This is very important work, and I need to take your job seriously."
"Sure," chuckled Galinda, shaking her head in amusement. "Then let's get started. We want to get a good selection out of this session. Only the best for your OzFlame profile, right?"
They entered the coolhouse which held an array of evergreen flowery plants that would otherwise not survive the harsh Shiz winters. Right next to the door, a line of wooden crates offered a perfect place for them to dump their bags and other belongings. Galinda first undid her jacket, then decided that it was still too warm and took it off completely. In the meantime, Milla explored the elongated building, trying to decide where best to begin with their photo shoot.
"Over here, Galinda!" she called out eventually, waving her over to an ornate garden bench, surrounded by pink Azalea bushes. "Isn't this lovely?" she asked.
"Yes, very pretty," agreed Galinda. "But perhaps a tad too… I don't know? Too springy? I mean, you are wearing a winter coat." Craning her neck, she surveyed the location. "Hey, how about over there?"
She pointed in the direction of a narrow passage. Ferns and green hanging plants with big, glossy leaves hemmed the area from both sides as well as from above. A sprayer was operating at that moment, gently misting the foliage and creating an almost mysterious ambience—if one were to disregard the immediate surroundings that was. Galinda could imagine the effect might translate well enough in a properly framed photo at least.
They took a couple of shots with Milla striking various poses, then moved on to another corner of the greenhouse. Before they left, the redhead insisted they take pictures with the bench and the Azaleas after all, just in case. Galinda couldn't be bothered arguing.
"Shall I take a few photos of you?" offered Milla just when Galinda was about to slip back into her jacket.
"Nah, don't worry. I'm good," replied the blonde.
"Suit yourself. Do you even use dating apps?"
"Nope. I don't mean to offend, but I find them a bit tacky."
Pursing her lips and crossing her arms, Milla playfully feigned indignation.
"Well, we can't all be as fortunate as you. Of course you already have Avaric eating right out of the palm of your hand, only waiting for you to indicate your interest. What's taking you so long anyway? Waiting for someone better to come around? I doubt you'll find anyone more eligible in all of Shiz!"
"Oh, there might be someone," teased Galinda cryptically.
"For real?" Milla laughed heartily. "Please share your secret, then you take the boy of your choice, and I content myself with the other."
"To be honest, you can have both of them," shrugged the shorter girl as she shouldered her bag and opened one side of the big double door. "After you."
"That is too kind of you. But what about you then? And who is this mystery contender?"
"Fiyero," said Galinda simply.
"Fi-who?"
Milla stopped to stare at her in confusion, prompting Galinda to roll her eyes.
"The Vinkun guy from ARCH 111."
"Ew!"
This time Milla looked positively horrified, and Galinda struggled hard not to glare at her.
"According to Avaric, he is of old Vinkun nobility. He might even turn out to be a prince. Changed your mind yet?"
"Hmm. That does change his prospects a little," admitted her friend. "But still…"
For a short while Galinda said no more. She worried her lip as they walked, then at long last took a deep breath and affected a cheerful smile.
"You know, I do think he's reasonably handsome. And he's a bit older than the other boys. Maybe not so much of a boy at all anymore—more like a proper man."
"You take him then," grinned Milla, slightly elbowing her ribs. "And once Avaric is forced to give up on you, he might finally start looking at me."
"Don't let Pfannee or Shenshen hear that!" warned Galinda. "They will not let you get away with it."
"True. So please don't tell them. This plan needs to remain our secret."
Both laughing, they linked their arms and made their way to the architecture building.
Her first statistics assignment was due by Friday, six o'clock—a terrible deadline for Galinda who wouldn't finish lessons before five that day. After failing to finish it off the night before, she nearly considered going home as soon as her double architecture lecture was over, but her compulsory perfectionism demanded that she stay and attend biology class. Still, despite her best intentions, she might as well not have gone for all the difference it made to her understanding of the material.
Having found herself a cosy, inconspicuous spot in the fifth row, she spent most of the time finishing her calculations and running data through her stats software. Thus mostly unable to follow the goings-on of the presentation at hand, all that was left for her to do was to hope and pray that Doctor Dillamond would not pick her out among the crowd and ask her a question she would not know how to answer.
As per usual, Elphaba took care of most of the professor's queries and Galinda couldn't have been more grateful. Absorbed in her work, she only belatedly noticed that, around mid-way through the lecture, the green girl's voice suddenly stopped piping up as regularly as it had before.
"Really?" she heard Doctor Dillamond exclaim soon after, sounding uncharacteristically impatient. "No one? Besides Miss Elphaba? Please, there must be at minimum a handful of students here who are brave enough to advance a guess?"
The unfamiliar silence in the room and Galinda's ignorance of the current discussion left her feeling rather disorientated. When the awkwardness became too much to bear, she cautiously lifted her gaze beyond the edge of her laptop screen in an effort to get a gist of what was happening.
'Allosomal Variations' was the title of the slide projected onto the wall. Galinda wasn't exactly sure what those were, but the pictures underneath looked like karyotypes to her, so it had to have something to do with chromosomes. Unfortunately, the actual question the professor had posed was written nowhere on the slide, nor the whiteboard. Almost as clueless as before, she looked sideways, risking a glance at Elphaba. Exactly as she'd expected, the green girl seemed almost at the edge of her seat, eager to impart her wisdom. Why in the name of goodness, could Doctor Dillamond not content himself with at least one student actively engaging with him?
Meanwhile, the Goat had picked up the attendance list. Galinda released a breath of relieve. If he'd wanted to call her up, he wouldn't have found it necessary to look up her name.
"Alright, let's see who we have here…" He cleared his throat, adjusted his spectacles. "Master Avaric."
Galinda couldn't help but let a hushed snicker escape her lips before stifling it with her hand covering her mouth. Avaric—right in front of her—had heard it nonetheless and turned his head around.
"Thanks for your support," he murmured sarcastically.
"Master Avaric Tenmeadows," repeated Doctor Dillamond.
Those students who were paying any attention at all were now beginning to search for the unfortunate soul belonging to the name.
"Please, if you are present, I need you to stand up or raise your hand. Otherwise, I will be forced to mark you as absent on the list and give you a warning for falsifying the roster."
Sighing in exasperation, Avaric finally put up his hand.
"Here."
"Ah," smiled Doctor Dillamond stiffly before clicking his tongue. "Better late than never, as they say.
"Well. Could you please give us your answer?"
"I—I don't know, sir."
The professor raised his brows, his beard twitched.
"Well, young man, I'm sure it's not too much for me to ask that you venture an educated guess. Let's begin with the easier example."
He clumsily picked up his pointing stick and tapped it against the first picture on the slide.
"What chromosomes do you see here?"
Galinda squinted her eyes in concentration. There were three long-ish shapes rather than just two, and they all looked rather similar.
"Are they all X-chromosomes?" asked Avaric, and the professor nodded approvingly before turning around and writing 'XXX' on the board.
"Good. So, if those are the allosomes, what phenotypic sex will this individual present as?"
It finally made click in Galinda's brain and the sensation was quite satisfying. Allosomes were evidently what she'd been taught to call sex chromosomes. Oz, if she'd only had the time to read the assigned chapter for this class!
"I don't know," shrugged Avaric.
Galinda had to bite her tongue to suppress a small groan. The silence between her classmate and the professor stretched on. Dillamond was obviously still waiting for a proper reply.
Shifting her weight onto her elbows and leaning slightly forward, Galinda moved just close enough to quietly supply the answer.
"Female."
Avaric tilted his head just the tiniest bit as if to ascertain that he'd heard her correctly.
"Female," he parroted at last, and Doctor Dillamond congratulated him for his correct response.
"Okay, that took some doing," he chuckled to himself. "I suppose we worked you hard enough for the time being. What about your neighbour, hm? Miss…"
"Shenshen," the girl next to Avaric stated grudgingly.
"Wonderful." He pointed at the third picture. "Could you please identify the chromosomes shown here?"
"One X and two deformed X's?" she guessed without thinking too hard about it.
"Well, you are not entirely wrong," admitted Doctor Dillamond. "There are some hypotheses that suggest that the Y-chromosome might have diverged from the X-chromosome. But the correct answer is this—"
He turned around to write 'XYY' on the board.
"So? What sex phenotype would an individual with these chromosomes present as?"
Galinda knew that her friend didn't have as much as an inkling and immediately supplied her with the answer.
"Male," announced Shenshen with a smug grin on her lips and crossed her arms.
"Very good. Let's move on for the final example.
"Miss Galinda."
The blonde first cringed, then smiled weakly. At least she now had a decent grasp of what the professor was talking about.
"Since you seem to be quite erudite on this particular topic"—Galinda's head turned red as he said this, realising that she hadn't been even half as subtle as she'd thought when whispering her tipoffs—"I'll give you a trickier one."
Wordlessly, he tapped at the picture in the middle. She took a breath and licked her lips.
"XXY. Male."
Her answer had come quickly. Maybe too quickly. Avaric and Shenshen were looking at each other. They'd been just fine with it when she'd served them the correct responses on silver platters, yet now, her knowledge had apparently turned into something unbecoming.
"Well done, Miss Galinda," cheered Doctor Dillamond. He almost looked too thrilled at the prospect of a second competent student participating in his class.
A boy in the back raised his hand in a rare display of interest.
"But wouldn't these chromosomes cause the individual to turn out to be like a hermaphrodite or something?" he shouted, much to his buddies' amusement. A number of other students also giggled.
Doctor Dillamond patiently waited for silence to return to the auditorium.
"First of all, let me advise you that it is preferred to use the terms intersex or individuals with differences of sex development when applying the concept of hermaphrodism to humans, as well as Animals. Secondly: no. XXY individuals of any species are not true hermaphrodites and do not express the primary traits of both sexes simultaneously." He returned his attention back to Galinda. "Miss Glinda, could you perhaps enlighten your classmates as to why that is?"
She swallowed hard. She fidgeted. She knew the answer from her advanced biology class at high school, but it seemed to her that she'd already showed off too much brain for one lesson. With a slight flutter in her chest, she lowered her head and shook it no.
Doctor Dillamond's face betrayed a hint of disappointment, she thought, and the uncomfortable feeling only intensified. Naturally, Elphaba practically flew at the chance to make up for Galinda's apparent lack of knowledge.
"Miss Elphaba."
"In each individual only one X-chromosome will be expressed. Even in typical XX females only one X chromosome will be active, while the second will be muted. This also holds true in XXX females, where two X-chromosomes will be prevented from being expressed. In a XXY male, one X-chromosome and one Y-chromosome determine the sex of the individual. The additional X-chromosome is practically irrelevant to sex determination."
"Wonderful, comprehensive answer," praised Doctor Dillamond.
I hope you all took notes. The suppression of X-chromosomes might be a topic to resurface in some of your next assignments.
With that, and a mostly superfluous reminder that there would be no lectures on the coming Monday, due to the Oz-versary holiday, the class was dismissed.
Her tote on her shoulder and her laptop tightly pressed to her chest, Galinda made to leave the auditorium. She was glad that she'd managed to nearly finish her stats assignment, despite the interruption towards the end. She'd be able to complete the last question at the library and send it in right on time.
"Hey, where are you off to?" Avaric called after her.
Shenshen and Pfannee swiftly caught up with her and playfully bumped into her from both sides.
"This was our final class of the day, and now it's a long weekend. Aren't you gonna come celebrate with us?"
Galinda tensed.
"I—uh, sure. I just have to go and submit something first. I'll catch you along the way. Where are we going anyway?"
"One of Avaric's pals from accounting is hosting a party. You're a bit out of the loop at the moment, aren't you?"
Blushing a tad, Galinda gave a half-shrug.
"Assignments. I have to at least complete them, even if I don't put too much effort into it."
"Yeah," replied Pfannee slowly, giving her a funny look. "But you really don't want to become a tryhard like the green bean."
"Urgh!" Shenshen groaned. "I mean, come on! Did you hear that? Why is she even in this class if she knows all of this already?"
"She's nothing but a total show-off," Pfannee agreed.
"Why doesn't she teach the course instead?" joked Shenshen, and Pfannee's eyes widened in horror.
"How can you even imagine something as dreadful as that!"
"Well, I don't know… what's actually worse? The old billy Goat or the mouldy-green thing?"
Unable to decide on one option or the other, both turned to Galinda. The blonde's heart leapt into her mouth as she looked back and forth between them, not knowing how to respond. This was not a discussion she wanted to have any part in. Unfortunately, she had not yet reached that point where she was confident enough to say so outright.
Perhaps it was fortunate then, that her expression seemed sufficiently perplexed and aghast for her friends to draw their own conclusions. Giggling sillily, they nodded.
This was when the boy who'd asked the question earlier joint the group of girls.
"I wonder though: why does she know so much about all this weird stuff anyway? As ugly as she is, I bet she is a freaking hermaphrodite herself!"
"A hermaphrodite freak!" added one of his chums who'd followed close behind, then roared a terrible laughter.
Thoroughly disgusted, Galinda tried to find an opening to excuse herself and walk away, but just when she opened her mouth, she noticed Elphaba rushing past them. Face straight and controlled, her stride purposeful, she gave no obvious sign of distress, but Galinda was convinced that she must have heard them. She suddenly fervently wished that she hadn't stopped to talk to those ninnies at all, that she'd long been on her way.
"I—I must be off, I'm afraid," she finally said with a tight smile and an uneasy chuckle. "I need to hand in my assignment. See you at the party, right?"
The others replied distractedly, still too absorbed in their hot debate. Paying them no further heed, Galinda flew up the last couple of steps to the door. Upon leaving the lecture hall, she spotted Elphaba, headed for the main exit. Part of her wanted to follow her and apologise, or at least acknowledge her, make sure her classmate knew that she wasn't as ignorant as the rest of them. But it was too risky and too embarrassing. It was far easier to forget about it all. Besides, her assignment had to be completed and dropped off. With a firm nod to herself, she spun around and hurried in the opposite direction, following the underground shortcut to the library.
Despite inventing a host of possible excuses on her way home, Galinda did attend the party as she'd promised. She also dragged Milla with her and was pleasantly surprised to find that Avaric had brought Fiyero along. She talked to him briefly and introduced him to Milla, but otherwise avoided him. Unsure about the vibes she was getting from him, she decided to give him plenty of space to make his own way in Shiz student circles. It wasn't a typical rich kid party anyway, and the mob of attendants was diverse enough for even a Vinkun dude to more or less blend in. With Avaric by his side, he really did not need her assistance.
Unstable as her mood was, she opted to spend most of her time alone in the kitchen, engaging in short-lived, meaningless chatter with whomever popped in to grab a drink from the adjacent balcony or a bite from the platters of sandwiches, fruits, and chicken nibbles on the counter. It was a good opportunity to catch up on all the gossip she'd been too busy to follow recently. Occasionally, she overheard snippets regarding herself as small groups entered the kitchen, saw her, and abruptly changed the topic. She was used to it, and most of the rumours weren't too vicious anyway—she was simply too popular and too careful for that sort of problem to arise. Anything vaguely negative was normally born out of jealousy, and it often showed. In a way, that was comforting to know.
What really upset her was when a pair walked right up to the food area, excitingly dissecting the latest titbits from this afternoon's biology class. Galinda had never consciously seen either of them before, and they were most definitely not participants of that particular course. Apparently, they'd only just now heard of the startling news, and the brunette girl, visibly drunk, appeared severely troubled by it all.
"And of course we all realised that she wasn't exactly normal," she said with a shudder, "but this! By Oz, I pity her family! Cursed with a discoloured child who's also equipped with all the wrong plumbing! How disgusting."
"But why didn't they fix it then?" wondered her companion out loud. "I kinda think that they are at least in part to blame?"
"I suppose you're right. And who knows, they might have done something to make her green, too. But it's dreadful, really, that they let such a creature loose on the general, unsuspecting public."
"And how exactly does it affect you, knowing—or speculating more like—what is or isn't present in other people's pants?"
The couple looked up from the food and stared right at Galinda. Galinda herself was astounded by the words that had come out of her mouth. She tried to think of a way to backpedal, but her mind came up blank. She wanted to run away right then, wanted to hide in the bathroom until the party was over and all guests were gone. Yet she knew that this was not how she needed to handle this situation.
She took a swig of liquid courage from the bottle in her hand and walked up to the platters to pick up a small bunch of grapes.
"You know," she said, as casually as possible, "it's all just rumours. Care for a piece of advice? Don't perpetuate this kind of rubbish, 'cause you'll only make yourselves look stupid when no one believes you. There's fun gossip and then there's irresponsible gossip. You don't want to go down that road, trust me."
The pair exchanged uncomfortable glances. Galinda wasn't sure how effective her little speech had been, but on the bright side, she felt marginally better about herself now. They didn't hang around for long—thanks goodness for that—and the blonde decided that neither should she. She was certainly not ready for another round of what she'd just been through.
Originally, her plan had been to get ready for bed as soon as she arrived at her flat. Ready she got, but even before she made any attempts at going to sleep, it was already plenty obvious to her that such an endeavour would be utterly futile.
Opening her laptop, she typed 'intersex' into the search window. Her screen was flooded with thousands of results and she resolved to first find herself something to sip and munch on before getting comfortable and reading through as much of it as she could manage.
It was nearly three o'clock, when her eyes finally and totally refused to stay open. Closing the lid of her computer, she wearily dragged herself to her bed right across the room. She pulled up her duvet all the way to her nose and snuggled in, having no doubts that sleep would claim her any second.
She was wrong.
Her mind kept reeling, processing all the novel information her research had brought up. Some facts had been astounding, some had been concerning; if she were someone less inhibited, someone like Elphaba, she would maybe go so far as to ask Doctor Dillamond to spend an additional lesson on correcting his student's misconceptions and misgivings regarding intersex individuals. Could it be that Elphaba was contemplating this very same idea at this very same moment? Was Elphaba one of those affected by this biological variation?
Although there was no way of knowing, Galinda highly doubted it. While it didn't really matter one way or the other, and none of it was her business to begin with, those claims had come basically out of nowhere and had been pulled from nothing but thin air. They were no better than wild speculations. That boy from the lecture might as well have stood in the middle of Railway Square, pointing at any random person and proclaiming them intersex. Only Elphaba was a much more believable target to the gullible, biased youths.
With a sigh, she pulled out her phone. Milla had texted her several times, she realised, as had her other friends. Worked up as she'd been, she'd entirely neglected to say her obligatory goodbyes, and for now, she couldn't be bothered sending out apologies either. It might all come back to bit her later, but that was nothing compared to the ridicule that potentially awaited Elphaba on the coming Tuesday when half of Shiz might already be abuzz with questions about her identity and anatomy. Perhaps it was time to come up with a way to find her, warn her, and reassure her if she could. From behind the scenes that was, for getting visibly involved would be societal suicide. But Galinda had to do at least something.
Thankfully, this time around Galinda knew exactly how to locate Elphaba. It was still a lot of work, for neither her immediate superior, nor the supermarket's manager were particularly willing to supply her with the information she was after. But in typical Galinda fashion, she still emerged victorious, after somehow wheedling and cajoling them until they gave up and accepted her fabricated pretext as genuine and worth an exception.
As it turned out, Elphaba's home was not at all what she'd expected—despite the fact that she'd had fairly limited expectations to begin with. The first surprise had been her satnav sending her in the direction of the Little Glikkus district of the city, which was generally avoided by ordinary Gillikinese folks. Truth be told, Galinda had had half a mind to abandon her mission right there and then. The questionable safety of the area would have been an understandable reason for sure; however, with a bag full of chocolates and another containing two servings of takeout food in tow, she found herself sufficiently motivated to overlook this minor complication and press on regardless.
Arriving at the address on her piece of paper, her apprehensions were not at all assuaged. It was a horribly run-down building with the one or the other cracked window and a broken front door. Graffiti covered more of the crumbling façade than did the old, chipped paint.
"Holy crap," murmured Galinda under her breath while tightening her grip around the strap of her small handbag.
She had second thoughts about leaving her car unprotected, but what else could she do, short of getting back in and driving off?
Standing in front of the entrance, she spent a few moments studying the scrawled over doorbell panel. Most of the names were crossed out, overwritten or left blank. Her heart skipped a beat when she recognised Elphaba's surname in the centre of the list.
So she really did live in this sordid place. Galinda couldn't say that she was pleased with that, but at least her search had reached its end. Casting a wary look inside, she figured that the coast was clear. At least, no one seemed to be hanging around the humble foyer at present.
The only obvious path led up a narrow, winding stairwell, and climbing it almost made her dizzy. Each level was made up of two opposing flats with continuous numbers from one to ten. The number next to Elphaba's name had been eight—almost all the way up the building. Needless to say, there were no lifts and if there had been, Galinda wouldn't have trusted them to operate smoothly.
When she at length arrived at the correct door, her knees were jelly and her stomach in knots. It was hard to tell how much of this was caused by the exertion, and how much by her nerves that had suddenly decided to act up.
She took a deep breath, coughed to clear her voice and pulled back her shoulders. Then, she reached out to ring the doorbell.
The walls were thin enough to let through all manner of noises. Somewhere from underneath she heard a baby wail. The voices from above sounded like an ongoing domestic dispute. From the other side of the door footsteps could be detected. For her sake, she hoped that Elphaba would open up soon, before one of the other occupants might accost and maybe even rob her.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
The muffled words drew her meandering attention back to the door. It was still tightly closed and, as far as she could tell, there was no peephole. Yet Elphaba's question suggested that she'd recognised her. Perhaps, she'd seen her enter the building through the window.
"It's me, Galinda. I need to talk to you."
There was a long pause. Maybe she had not been aware of the identity of her uninvited visitor after all. Apparently, her unwelcoming greeting had been of a more general nature then. Which did make sense, as she probably did not expect anyone to drop in on her in this grungy hole of a dwelling.
"Leave me alone," came her gruff answer after an excruciatingly long moment. "Leave me alone. Please. Please."
Once again, Galinda nervously checked her surroundings. She was still anxious, but also defiant. Her hands curled into fists, and she stomped her foot while she glowered at the door as if that would burn a hole into it.
"Elphaba Thropp. You're in trouble, let me in!"
"You are trouble, stay out," was her prompt retort.
The petite blonde released an agitated squeal.
"Stubborn, green mule," she muttered to herself as she began pacing the level space between the two apartments.
Eventually, she stopped in front of Elphaba's door. There was only one way to solve this problem.
Instead of using the doorbell, she raised her hand and knocked.
"Elphaba."
She knocked again.
"Elphaba."
More knocking followed, growing evermore frantic and boisterous.
Was it unladylike to create such a ruckus? Absolutely! But Galinda was beyond the point of caring. And who else but Elphaba was there to witness her unusual outburst? No one she anticipated to ever meet again in her lifetime.
The more significant flaw of her plan was the damage taken by her delicate hand. It was basic physics, really, but the harder and longer she knocked, the more her knuckles began to hurt. When she switched to the softer bottom of her fist, the relief was merely temporary. Her left hand somehow proved even less useful.
Quite exhausted, she slammed both of her palms into the rough door one last time and leaned her forehead against it. Oz, why was she even trying so hard? Obviously, Elphaba didn't want her help. What had gotten into her that made her care so much to begin with? This wasn't like her. Perhaps she needed to stop. It was like that impregnable piece of wood before her had finally knocked some sense into her. It was time for her to go home, quit thinking about the ungrateful, green creature and go back to her life as it used to be, with one less worry to fuss over.
But just when she'd finally come to this conclusion and was as good as ready to gather her resolve and leave, the door opened without warning, causing her to fall forward and stumble right into Elphaba's lousy apartment.
"Oh!" she exclaimed as she set one wobbling foot in front of the other until she regained her bearing.
"And I thought you were full of delicacy and grace," remarked Elphaba drily.
Galinda straightened herself and deftly brushed out her skirt without deigning to look at the other girl.
"You force someone to behave like a clumping boor," she moaned tiredly, studying her bruised hands and shaking her head. "You give them no choice."
"I gave you the choice to leave," intoned Elphaba, crossing her arms and lifting her chin so that she could peer down at her already much shorter classmate from an even greater height.
"Well, I'm not leaving. And I won't be ignored like this," declared Galinda with finality and advanced further into unknown territory.
Behind her, Elphaba was only left to gape at her impertinence. When the realisation set in that resistance was futile, she slowly closed the door.
"So this is home," said Galinda as she stood in the middle of the crammed living area.
There was a couch, littered with books and papers, a rickety coffee table, almost buckling under the weight of even more literature, and a tiny desk with an old, boxy laptop and a lamp that looked like something from a museum. The wallpaper was grey and stained. Galinda didn't assume that the fault for that lay with Elphaba, for the rest of the room looked sufficiently clean, bar the clutter which seemed much more the result of a lack of storage and surface space. A haunting howling sound coming from another room explained why it was so bloody cold; Elphaba herself looked like she was dressed to go out, but the shabby slippers on her feet said otherwise. Taking her unspoken advice, Galinda likewise thought it more sensible to keep her coat on for the time being.
"It's good enough for me, given my circumstances" supplied the taller girl sullenly. "Even though I can hear from your tone that you disapprove. As it happens, I never asked you to suddenly show up at my doorstep, just so you could judge me."
"Not judging at all," clarified Galinda with an uneasy smile, though it was more of a white lie—it really was too hard not to. "I merely doubt that this kind of environment is healthy or safe for a young woman all on her own."
Surrendering to the fact that her visitor had every intention to stay, Elphaba reluctantly began to clear the sofa for her.
"I must do with what I can afford on my own measly income. Shared accommodations are out of the question since—and you may be shocked by that—nobody wants to room with a verdigris monster.
"What a terrible way to talk about yourself," said Galinda, but without truly reprimanding her. It was more than obvious where this attitude came from.
"They need more than words to harm me these days. I'm no longer a vulnerable tween. I've been exposed to their malice my entire life, and I've risen above it."
Glinda hoped rather than believed this to be true.
"I—I came here for a specific reason," she ventured, and cast a shy glance at Elphaba. "Are you… are you going to stand there the entire time?"
Wordlessly, Elphaba turned around and retrieved the chair from the desk. She was still positioned much higher than Galinda, but it would have to do.
"Oh, and where are my manners!" cried Galinda, reaching down to angle for her shopping bags. "Here, I brought some sweets, as a sort of hostess gift, and some food. Simply because I figured that it's close enough to lunch by now, and we might as well share a meal together."
She pushed both across the small space where Elphaba had thrust aside the books on her table. The green girl checked them out cautiously.
"I'm vegetarian," she said flatly, and Galinda's smile faltered. "But I do occasionally make exceptions and eat meat if it's already been prepared. Thanks. I guess. Only… not again, 'kay? Well, not that I expect you to get me food again…or come here…again…"
"It's alright," snickered Galinda. "I get the idea."
They each picked one of the bamboo forks and rested the takeaway containers on their laps and began to eat.
"So, what exactly made you decide to hunt me down and bash my door in?" started Elphaba, seemingly nonchalant.
Galinda, nearly choking on her mouthful of rice noodles, had to clear her throat before she could attempt a reply.
"Well, goodness, where to begin?"
"At the beginning?" suggest Elphaba, one eyebrow raised.
Galinda exhaled and nodded.
"Alright. Biology lecture. Yesterday. See where I'm going with this?"
Nonplussed, Elphaba shook her head.
"Those boys… There were two boys standing there with us—Pfannee, Shenshen, and I. They were saying things about you. I think you might have heard."
Putting her unfinished food aside, Elphaba leaned forward, her elbows resting on her knees, hands folded. She said nothing, however, waiting for Galinda to continue instead.
"So…" the blonde licked her lips. "I generally don't agree with anything hateful that they have to say. And whether there is any truth to it or not, I despise the kind of language they used. I wanted to apologise for standing by and saying nothing. I wish I could be braver, but I'm not."
Releasing a long breath, Galinda put her noodles aside as well. Her stomach was too upset to process any food at the moment.
"Okay," said Elphaba slowly, causing Galinda to look up. "But if you wanted to clear your conscience, you surely could have waited until Wednesday and simply come early for lab duty and talked to me then. Right?"
"Well, there is more," admitted Galinda, squirming slightly in her seat. "I went to a party last night. And it's no longer just a few rogue guys in our bio course talking about it. There's no way of knowing for sure, but by the time you come back to class, half of uni could be debating what bits and pieces you might hide in your pants."
She flushed at the idea and even more for saying it out loud in front of Elphaba. The girl herself appeared strangely unfazed.
"This is nothing new," she shrugged at last. "The gossiping as a whole, I mean. It's always been like that. There is nothing they could say that I'm not already used to or have at least heard of." She briefly closed her eyes. Galinda wasn't fooled. It did still hurt her, no matter what she said. "The whole debate about my genitalia specifically," Elphaba continued suddenly, making Galinda cringe involuntarily.
"Does…does that mean that there's some truth to it?" she couldn't help but ask, then blushed an even deeper shade of pink. "Lurline! Sorry for asking, it's none of my con—"
"It's not," Elphaba cut her off briskly. When Galinda risked an anxious glance at her, she looked reasonably calm, but her eyes were unwaveringly trained on her own hands which now seemed to clasp each other tighter than before. "It's not true, I mean. And none of your concern either. No one's concern, actually. But it has long since been a favourite among those who think it a sport to tease the freakish green kid."
"Why?" Galinda asked, absolutely bewildered. "That's so totally screwed up!"
"Ask them," scoffed Elphaba. "Somehow it's a common accusation"—she described quotation marks with her fingers as she said the word—"made against unusual females in particular. Be they abnormally tall, overly androgynous, exceedingly successful, even; basically, anything that goes against the typical patriarchal image of female virtues and traits can trigger these sorts of rumours. Which is a shame—not only for those misidentified this way. In the meantime, there are plenty of truly intersex people and Animals who really don't need any of that negativity. There's nothing wrong with them to begin with."
Nodding, Galinda agreed.
"Yes, I read about that."
"You have?" the taller girl seemed impressed, and it somehow was a nice feeling. Galinda was almost proud of herself.
"So…You'll just rock up for class and let it all roll down your back?"
Elphaba's eyes met hers for a couple of clock-ticks, then drifted off to the side.
"I don't know."
For some reason, the admission made Galinda's heart clench painfully.
"But you said—"
"It's not about that. I have other things that came up, that I have to deal with first. Being called names is really the least of my concern."
"Your boss did say that you haven't been to work the past two shifts," said Galinda quietly before thinking too much of it.
"Is that where you got my address?"
Elphaba's expression had abruptly turned furious. Galinda's heart skipped a beat or two, yet she couldn't take her eyes off her.
"What does it matter anyway? I obviously did not find it in the phonebook. Consequently, I must have sweet-talked someone into giving it to me. That shouldn't come as a surprise. Aren't you glad it wasn't someone closer to you?"
Elphaba gave a mirthless laugh.
"Sheesh, thank you so much, Miss Galinda. How considerate of you."
"Do you think I want to care this much?" countered the petite blonde heatedly, jumping to her feet and placing her hands on her hips.
"Do you think I want you to care? Do you think I should be grateful?"
"Yes, I do!"
"Well, too bad. I'm afraid I'm fresh out of shits to give."
Goodness, this wasn't going well. They'd been civil for most of this conversation, but now things had turned sour incredibly fast. Galinda couldn't even tell if it had been Elphaba's fault or hers. At any rate, she supposed she'd mostly achieved what she'd come to do. Elphaba had heard her apology and her warning and seemed just fine on her own. There was nothing left for her to say.
"I—I suppose I should leave," Galinda said once she'd sufficiently calmed herself. "I'm glad you don't mind those idiots too much"—though she still doubted that this was entirely true. "And if you have difficulties with other stuff…I guess you wouldn't be receptive to any aid from my side. But if it helps at all, I can definitely handle bio lab prep. For the next couple of weeks at least. One tiny responsibility less to worry about, right?" She smiled softly at that.
"Thanks. Just this coming week would probably be good enough," replied Elphaba, also trying to muster a tiny smile of her own. All she could conjure up was a nearly undetectable twitching at the right corner of her lips.
"Oh, but before I go, could I please use your bathroom? I'm afraid it's rather urgent."
Elphaba mutely gestured towards the right-hand side of the room, and Galinda excused herself with a sheepish grin and a faint nod.
About three minutes later, the door suddenly slammed open and the small, but mightily exasperated girl came storming back into the living room.
"Elphaba Thropp, what the actual hell!"
Her face was flushed, her heart was beating a hundred miles per second, her hands were quivering, one of them clutching a white plastic stick. When Elphaba realised what had upset Galinda so, her face drained of almost all its colour.
"Fuck," she said more to herself than her classmate and turned her back to her. "You have to go," she growled, a fair deal louder and in a tone of voice that left not much room for argument. "Now!"
If she'd really thought that this would be enough to get rid of her nosy guest, she'd reckoned without Galinda's pronounced self-righteousness.
Instead of fleeing right through the main door, the blonde took deep, calming breaths. She swallowed the uncomfortable lump in her throat and considered what to say and do next. Her first step was to put aside the used test she'd discovered on top of the cabinet under the bathroom sink and return to the couch. Gingerly sitting back down, she hoped to signal both patience and determination. She wasn't going to leave Elphaba. Not like this.
"Oz, what the fuck are you doing?" demanded Elphaba, clearly agitated, but without much bite. She ran her hand over her face. "I already told you to get frigging lost."
"Then you'll have to drag me out of here by my hair," declared Galinda, feigning composure pretty well.
Elphaba gritted her teeth and walked over to the furthest corner of the room, but stopped protesting.
"Okay. Let's discuss this like sensible adults."
"An adult I may be, but I'm obviously not very sensible" retorted Elphaba. "Or I wouldn't be in this mess to begin with."
Galinda offered her a sympathetic smile.
"It's okay. It happens to so many girls. It's just usually not talked about."
"I—I know."
"Do you want to talk about what happened?"
Elphaba cast her an incredulous look, then cackled softly.
"Why would I? And how would that help? I fucked up. That much is obvious."
"Do you know the father?" asked Galinda without missing a beat. "I mean, obviously you two have come very close, but do you know how to contact him?"
Running her hand through her hair, Elphaba shook her head no.
"Not like it matters anyway. It's not like I'm going to keep it."
Galinda's mouth twitched at that. She wanted to say something, but knew that this was not the right moment.
"And—and" she drew a breath to steady herself. She'd had a similar conversation before, with a friend from high school; yet the small amount of practice she'd had didn't make it a whole lot less awkward. She cleared her throat. "Evidently, whatever kind of protection you might have used failed, so you should probably get yourself tested. For STDs, I mean."
"I already did," replied Elphaba. "That's why I missed class on day one of the semester. I guess after that it was just kind of easier to stay away. I… Well, it doesn't matter. I don't want to talk about it."
Galinda exhaled a long breath.
"Fine. Well, good you got this done." She sighed again. "Elphie… I'm not going to leave you here like this."
The green girl shook her head, confused.
"Like what, exactly?"
"In your current state," answered Galinda as if it were obvious. "This is a dreadful, dreadful place at the best of times, but right now? You need somewhere safe and cosy."
"My current state is very temporary and of no greater consequence," snapped Elphaba. "Besides, where else do you suggest I go? Back home to Munchkinland? Forget about that. My father would outright murder me if he had the faintest idea this ever happened!"
"My flat then," countered the blonde without a moment's hesitation, and Elphaba's jaw fell open.
"You gotta be kidding me!"
"Not at all. I care enough to want to ensure that no harm comes to you or—or, well, any part of you, really. And if there is no better place for you to go, I am ready to offer my hospitality. For a short while. My place is big enough, and I have nobody to share it with. My car is downstairs, and you don't have much to bring along anyway by the looks of it. There. Convinced yet?"
She really wasn't. One way or another, however, she would be by the end of the afternoon. Galinda was positively certain of that.