AN:

Hello, lovelies!

Here we go, I finally did it and finished this chapter! I hope it turned out as okay as I think it did...? The first scene in particular went through several phases of editing because it was tricky to write. Fingers crossed it's adequate now!
But what am I even rambling on about…? Just read and (hopefully) enjoy!

Thanks and happy reading!
xoxo MLE
(=^_^=)

Chapter Nine

Seeing Galinda waiting by the door startled her. She hadn't exactly anticipated a welcoming committee. It meant that she'd have even less time to think about how to approach her, what to tell her, and how to go about asking the favour she could hardly expect her to do her in the first place. Her jaw set in grim determination, she did not slow down, however. She continued on, with her eyes firmly trained on her classmate, her roomie, her friend.

"Elphie!" exclaimed the blonde before she'd even made it to the door.

They met midway between the front yard gate and the house. Elphaba resisted the terribly tempting impulse to brush past her and disappear into her room; Galinda, she could tell by her stance, resisted her own urge to make physical contact.

"You… don't look good," she merely said, biting her lower lip.

The visible concern in her eyes was too much to bear, and Elphaba averted her gaze. She could feel her plan slipping away from her and there was nothing she could do about it. Inside the pockets of her hoodie, her hands balled into fists. Her paralysis prompted Galinda to take the initiative. Laying a gentle hand on the taller girl's right arm and exerting the gentlest pressure, she guided her towards the entrance.

"Let's not stand around outside," she told her softly. "It's cold and nobody needs to hear any of this. Let's sit down, maybe have some tea. Food arrived, too, but if you don't feel like having any just yet, that's totally okay."

The door closed behind them and Elphaba stopped, refusing to move another inch.

"What's—what's wrong, Elphie?"

Elphaba ground her teeth and shifted her weight from one leg to the other. What she really wanted was to either bury her nose in a book to make herself forget, or, alternatively, punch something to release her anger. Neither was an option at present.

"Galinda, I—" Their eyes met briefly before Elphaba's drifted off to the side again.

"Did something happen? Are you alright? Are you feeling unwell?"

She appreciated what Galinda was trying to do, but in this particular case it seemed counterproductive. What she really needed was a moment of silence to gather her thoughts. Holding up one hand and shaking her head, she wordlessly asked her to wait, but Galinda couldn't or wouldn't understand.

"Talk to me, Elphie, please," she begged and tugged at the sleeve of her sweater.

Overwhelmed, Elphaba pulled her arm away sharply and escaped into the opposite corner. Galinda watched her in confusion, but finally stayed put, at least for now. The green girl didn't want to risk losing the precious distance between them yet again and grudgingly looked up at her so her well-meaning roomie wouldn't have to come closer in search for answers.

"I—I need money," she managed to toss out before her resolve crumbled, preventing her from explaining the situation more explicitly.

"What?"

Judging by her wide eyes and slightly parted, speechless lips, her request perplexed Galinda at least as much as Elphaba had predicted, if not even more so.

"I'll pay you back, you know I will," she immediately made to assure her, the tone of her voice imploring and desperate, even as she turned away to doggedly stare at nothing but her own feet.

"I don't really care about that," dismissed Galinda. "But Elphie, what—whatever for? Are you in trouble?"

An uneasy pause filled the narrow hallway. Elphaba suspected that Galinda feared something far dodgier than what she had in mind. At the same time, the true purpose seemed almost harder to talk about. Out of the corners of her eyes, she could see her fidgeting for a clock-tick or two, until she cleared her voice and pulled back her shoulders. Somehow mustering an abundance of poise and serenity, she suggested they move the discussion to the living room and sit down. After taking the first couple of steps to lead the way she looked back, only to find Elphaba rooted in her corner, not the least bit inclined to follow. She, for her part, simply couldn't fake composure. Galinda drew an agitated breath and didn't comment. Her questioningly tilted head indicated that she might be waiting for an explanation.

"They won't do it," Elphaba muttered at last, her voice thick with words she couldn't say yet. She pulled her hands out of her pockets and began wringing her fingers. "The community health centre. They... they determined that I'm eight weeks and three days along. By the time I complete my obligatory waiting period, I'm no longer eligible for a medical abortion, and… and it's the only type of termination they perform. I have no choice but to find a private clinic and get it done surgically."

"Oh."

Hearing the sound of Galinda's feet shuffling a bit closer again, she tensed. She was grateful when, in the end, she didn't get near enough to touch or hug her in an attempt to comfort. After releasing a breath she hadn't realised she was holding, she brought her steepled hands up to her forehead and momentarily squeezed her eyes shut.

"They are wrong," she pressed out between gritted teeth. "Their estimate is off by five days. Five fucking days, Galinda."

She cast her roommate a fleeting look to gauge her reaction, but Galinda's by now guarded expression offered no useful information. Exhaling forcefully through her nose, Elphaba continued.

"It's not like this stupid estimate is the best we've got; I actually know when I conceived and those imbeciles just won't listen to me. Do they think I'm lying? Do they think I'm just guessing? I've had one, single sexual encounter in my entire life, and this mistake has been tormenting me for the entirety of the past two months. I bloody well know how far along I am, and I am not too late. I'm just on time, and all they need to do is give me that pill and let me fix it. Is that too much to ask for?"

She gesticulated wildly with her hands as she spoke, then hit the wall with her left before wearily leaning against it. All the while, Galinda observed and waited almost stoically, betraying little of what she thought.

"I understand your disappointment," she said quietly when Elphaba eventually paused her ranting. "But, you know, from their perspective—"

"You see, you don't understand," interjected Elphaba briskly, glancing daggers her way. "If you did, you wouldn't take their side. It's not like I'm trying to fool anyone. I'm not lying, and I'm not too late. I say they are off by five days. Even if they granted me only three, I would be in the safe zone. Or perhaps they could shorten my waiting period—extraordinary circumstances and all. But these people are bull-headed, arrogant and without a trace of compassion. They don't seem to remotely consider that their decision directly impacts the course of someone's entire life!"

Galinda sighed and folded her arms.

"Please, Elphaba," she said, suddenly sounding unexpectedly patronising, "you have no way of knowing this. It's just their job. Routine and rules are what make it bearable. They can't beat themselves up over each patient who comes in, contesting their findings or pleading leniency. For them, you're not the only poor soul who hopes for special treatment."

"Are you serious?"

Elphaba was stunned. Her mouth fell open, and she turned to finally properly face her. She wasn't even used anymore to Galinda being anything but caring, helpful and sweet. Out of the two of them, Elphaba had always been the one to keep a more prosaic perspective. Why did this have to change now, when she needed her support and buoyancy more than ever?

"I—I'm not saying that I'm not frustrated with their decision—"

"Frustrated," scoffed Elphaba bitterly, jerking her head the other way, "is a bit of an understatement, wouldn't you say?"

"Well—" Galinda fiddled with the ribbons of her jumper "—what can we do though? I expect their decision is final."

"So it's that simple to you? They turn me away and deny me the treatment I desperately need, just like that. And you're okay with it, too."

"I'm not okay with my friend suffering," stressed Galinda. "But I don't directly blame them."

They once again lapsed into awkward silence. Taking some much needed time to breathe and think, Elphaba recognised that this was not at all how she'd intended this conversation to go. No matter how much it vexed her, the clinic staff's unfortunate decision should not be the main point of this discussion. The question she'd originally asked Galinda had been an entirely different one.

"So?" she began apprehensively, then cleared her throat. "Will… will you help me?"

The blonde was visibly troubled, and the small flicker of hope that Elphaba had still dared to entertain was dangerously close to dying.

"Elphie. You—you want me to pay for your abortion?"

Elphaba struggled to keep up the eye contact as she bit her lip hard. Making such a request was difficult enough without Galinda's palpable reluctance.

"Not exactly. I do intend to pay you back in full and as soon as possible. It's just… I can't postpone the procedure until I manage to round up that much money on my own. I would never have asked if there was any other way. You know that, right?"

"Oz, Elphie…"

She noticed the sparkling of tears in her friend's eyes, then watched her try and blink them away, not entirely successfully.

"I really, really do want to help and support you. Up until now I've done all I could for you—"

"But?"

Elphaba couldn't help the rude interruption. The dreaded answer was imminent, and she found herself incapable of patiently waiting for it.

Galinda swallowed hard, probably realising that Elphaba already anticipated the reply she was poised to give, but knowing that she had to spell it out anyway. For certainty's sake.

"I—I don't think I can do this," she half-whispered, shaking her head ever so slightly.

Elphaba nodded, but not in acceptance.

"Why?" she demanded, a bit too harshly.

"Because I'd feel guilty," answered Galinda promptly, her expression rueful yet resolute.

A mirthless laugh escaped dark green lips.

"Guilty of what? Saving my future, my life?"

"Oh Elphaba, don't say it like that!"

Galinda closed the gap between them with two quick steps and reached for her hands. Their fingertips brushed against each other fleetingly before the unwanted contact spurred Elphaba into action and caused her to retreat.

"It's the truth though!" she cried and stomped off to her room. "You just don't want to hear it."

Galinda followed her. She didn't truly care, or she'd probably have slammed the door right in front of her cute, little nose. Her eyes darted around the room. What to do next? She'd escaped the hallway, but not her problems, nor this argument, it seemed. Feeling her burden weigh heavily on her shoulders, she instinctively slumped onto her bed, uttering a wretched groan as she did so. Her back flopped against the wall, and she drew up her legs, wrapping her arms around them. She stared at the ceiling as though the solutions to her troubles might be found there. All she found was a fresh cobweb that must have sprung up overnight, and she made a mental note to remove it later.

"You know," she said after a while, with an odd sense of intermittent composure, "if I can't go through with this termination, my life will be nothing like the life I tried to strive for. I'm a poor student with no resources and no support. If I were to go ahead with this pregnancy, I'd have to give up my studies and rear a child in that ramshackle hole you coaxed me out of. It's not fair towards either of us."

"I could help you," suggested Galinda, but Elphaba rebuffed her offer just as quickly as it had been made.

"I cannot rely on that," she retorted firmly, though still strangely calm. "Besides, you won't even help me do what's really best for me. I couldn't possibly trust you with an even greater responsibly, another life even."

If her words had hurt Galinda, she didn't let it show. At least not enough for Elphaba to notice in her preoccupied state.

"You—you could consider adoption," she suggested innocently, and just like that, Elphaba once again flew off the handle.

"I have considered everything," she snarled angrily, sitting up abruptly and crossing her legs. Leaning closer towards the doorway, she fixed Galinda with a withering stare. "And I won't abandon a helpless, little human whom I brought into this world. With no way of knowing where they'll end up, this is a risk I'm not willing to take. That's what would leave me guilt-ridden for the rest of my miserable life."

Obviously taken aback by her friend's new mood swing, Galinda also turned more confrontational.

"So you'd rather eliminate them before they take the form of something your conscience cannot justify harming?" she demanded heatedly, stepping further into the room and Elphaba's territory.

"This organism is not a person yet," countered Elphaba. "It's not a 'they.' Right now it's not even a foetus. It's an embryo, still developing organs and structures that eventually will make it human."

Galinda huffed, but looked at least somewhat thoughtful.

"Even if those were the criteria; when would that change?"

"At roughly eleven weeks," supplied Elphaba without missing a beat. It was something that she herself had pondered and researched extensively over the past couple of days.

For Galinda, however, the answer was not convincing enough it seemed.

"Overnight, or what?" she sneered. "Don't you see how blurry this line is? How can you decide when it's okay to end a life, based on some arbitrary factors?"

"This 'life' you want me to preserve is still unable to exist outside of the nourishing environment of my body. If there is a grey area, we're still far removed from it."

"It has a heartbeat!"

"As do many of those other embryos that end up being aborted spontaneously and naturally during the first few weeks of gestation!" Elphaba responded passionately, staring her down. To her, Galinda's argument was nothing but a desperate appeal to sentimentality. "You do realise that about twenty percent of pregnancies end in miscarriage, right? Do you really want to tell all those distraught would-be mothers that their baby died? Like, really died, like a stillborn, a newborn, a three month old infant?"

Stubborn, Galinda raised her chin.

"I'm sure many mothers do grieve the children they lost, no matter how early."

"It's unhealthy," argued Elphaba. "There is a difference between a strong, viable pregnancy in its advanced stages and an undeveloped embryo. A certain sense of loss is normal, but there still should be a distinction, and language does make a difference."

"But we're not talking about a baby you might lose, are we? We are discussing a baby you want to make disappear. There's a difference for you!"

Elphaba shifted on her bed. Had Galinda scored a point?

"There is no difference whatsoever," she maintained despite the hint of a doubt creeping up on her.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to crush it. She was the one in the right. Galinda was just getting to her with all of her appeals to subjective emotions.

"And it's not a baby. If an excited mother wants to call it that, fine, but it's not, technically, a baby."

"You are just telling yourself that to justify making away with it!"

Was she? No, she wasn't. She couldn't possibly. Why was Galinda trying so hard to make her doubt herself rather than accept that she had the better argument? A sense of resentment rose within her, quickly bubbling to the top.

"It's all your fault anyway!" she spat in her last, desperate resort.

Rendered speechless by the horrendous accusation, Galinda took a step back, but Elphaba wasn't done yet. She'd finally found the blonde's weak spot.

"And you are clandestinely happy that they won't give me that pill, aren't you? Because you've been against this the entire time!"

"What!?"

"I see it now. This supposedly helpful, caring 'aren't I good routine' was just a pretence so you could quietly and gradually discourage me from doing what I should have done from the start."

"Now hold on just a tick-tock!" shrieked Galinda the moment she'd regained her bearings. "I encouraged you to go to this clinic. I warned you that it was dangerous to leave it for too long. You can't prove to me that you would have gone earlier if you hadn't come to live with me."

"I wouldn't have had a choice! You lulled me in with this cosy lifestyle. You seduced me into complacency. You are glad that I don't have the means to pay for the surgery on my own."

This time, the tears in Galinda's eyes would not be curbed.

"How can you say such terrible things! My reservations have nothing to do with any such feelings towards you or your situation. I'd give anything to turn back the clock for you and prevent this from happening in the first place."

"Then help me!" yelled Elphaba, opening her arms wide. "It's not too late yet."

"But what if it is? I have no way of knowing!"

"But you do know what happens if you don't. Can you live with that decision? Can you live with the knowledge that you wracked my future?"

"Listen to yourself! You're being unreasonable, Elphaba!"

"So, what if I am? I'm at the end of my tether."

"And so am I! I'm not going to listen to any more of your allegations."

"Ha!" Elphaba barked mockingly. "So you're going to kick me out at last?"

Galinda's mouth twitched, her eyes frantically tried to find an anchor point.

"Oh, for fuck's sake, Elphaba!" she sobbed, wrapping her arms around her waist. "You really should know me better than that by now. No. I'll simply shut up and remove myself from this argument. I'll leave you and this room, and I'll go upstairs and try and do my homework, no matter how much I doubt that I'll be particularly successful at that. And you can stay here and mope for the rest of the night. I'll put the food in the fridge in case you get hungry."

Shaking her head and sniffling some more, she turned to leave. Pausing at the doorway, she cast one last glance over her shoulder.

"Oh, and let me know when you feel ready to talk to me like a normal person again. You're angry right now but eventually, I'm sure we'll be able to set aside our differences and be civil. Good night. I—I really have to go."

Elphaba watched the door close softly, then proceeded to glare at it for what seemed like an eternity. No matter how much she believed her line of reasoning to be the superior one, the look in Galinda's red eyes stayed with her. She supposed her final couple of claims had been rather low blows after all. There was only sparse evidence to the contrary though; finally knowing Galinda's opinion on the matter really did make her question everything that had transpired between the two of them so far.

Was Galinda at all trying to help her, or had she always been out to save the tiny creature occupying her womb, no matter the cost? Was her compassion nothing but a façade? Had she secretly been looking down on Elphaba's naiveté and stupidity the entire time and only put up with her in order to implement her ridiculous scheme? What did she expect to happen next? Was she planning on remaining a part of the child's life if it were to ever be born?

Well, it wouldn't come to that. Elphaba would make sure of it. She'd earlier considered asking Galinda as her final recourse, but in truth there was another person after all. There was Boq.

By Lurline, how she dreaded telling him. And of course he wouldn't be able to help out as easily as Galinda would have. But if he loaned her just half of the amount she needed, she'd somehow come up with the rest. It would take a few weeks maybe, but the councillor at the health centre had told her that there were no specific hurdles or requirements for abortions performed before fourteen weeks of gestation. After that, more doctors would have to be consulted and could potentially decline her request. Still, it was a time frame she would be able to work with if need be. Or so she hoped.

She picked up her phone and looked up Boq's details. Perhaps it would be a bad idea to ask him via phone or text. But maybe she could invite him out for a friendly chat. Or maybe not 'out'—she really had to keep her hard earned cash together from now on. But maybe 'over'? Over to Galinda's house. The idea didn't sit right with her, but it still sounded better in her head than inviting him over to her own apartment. He'd never been there. He didn't even have the first clue how she'd been living those past eighteen months. Maybe this insight in her relative poverty could function as a good demonstration of why he should give her the money. On the flip side, it might only serve to scare him off, questioning how in Oz she could possibly pay him back.

Galinda's home it was.

'Hey, Boq! Wanna meet after class tomorrow?'

They met up after Boq's agricultural science class and Elphaba's history class had ended. She wasn't happy about the idea of dodging Doctor Dillamond's lecture—she knew that Galinda would ask about it, too—yet she had no time to lose and couldn't think of a better arrangement for a quiet talk with Boq. Besides, she'd been at work all morning and had only barely made it to uni after that; she was near sufficiently tired enough at this point to claim that she was too unwell to attend bio.

"How much further is it?" wondered Boq as they turned around a corner and into Galinda's street.

It was just starting to drizzle, and Elphaba was wrestling with her folding umbrella to get it to open.

"It's the pale beige house in the middle," she replied distractedly, continuing with her fiddling while the Munchkin's eyes grew wide.

"What, for real? I figured we were just walking through this part of the neighbourhood." He gave her a funny side glance. "I thought it looked a bit above your pay grade."

At last, the umbrella unfolded in all its glory, eliciting a sigh of relieve from the green girl.

"Oh, I assure you it totally is," she said, offering Boq to share the rain shade with her.

He wasn't overly bothered by the sparse, minuscule droplets.

"Then how do you even afford it?"

"I, uh… a classmate offered me a room. Just as a temporary solution. You could say I'm in between two places at the moment. My old flat wasn't that great, so I'm on the lookout for something else that's cheap enough but less draughty and leaky. Let me know if you come across such a place, will ya?"

No further questions were asked, and they made it to the door barely three seconds before the downpour started.

"That was close, Elphie, wasn't it?" grinned Boq.

Elphaba was not amused.

"Too close," she muttered as she disappeared into the bathroom to divest herself of the wet umbrella.

"That's my room over there," she said, gesturing in the direction of Galinda's former study. "My interim flatmate won't be back for another three hours, so I guess it's okay if we use the sitting room instead. Just… try not to make a mess, okay?"

Boq eagerly explored the ground floor of the house while Elphaba made tea and took out a bunch of chocolate cookies for snacks.

"Don't even think about it," she told him sharply when he cast a curious look up the stairway.

He made a face, shrugged, and turned his attention back to a collection of photos on the console table in the hallway.

"Hey, I know this girl," he suddenly realised and picked up a picture featuring Galinda and two older adults, presumably her parents; Elphaba had never bothered to ask. "Is—is this the girl you're sharing the house with?" he asked, shoving the photo right in Elphaba's face, wilfully ignoring her purposeful preoccupation with the tea making.

"No," she deadpanned, then moved to evade him. "It's just a random magazine clipping. Guess she thought it would look kinda decorative in a fancy frame."

Boq looked back and forth between his friend and the picture.

"You're taking the mickey out of me, aren't you?" he said, sounding not at all confident. "Those—those eyes, the blonde mop of curls. The small child in the other pictures looks almost exactly like her."

Elphaba had finally finished her preparations and picked up the mugs to carry them to the coffee table. She risked a glimpse at the picture on her way and worked her jaw.

"Don't be a dunce, of course it's her," she clarified, then invited him to sit with her. Only after returning the frame to its original position, of course.

They sipped their tea and had a biscuit each. Boq still seemed oddly obsessed with the photograph.

"I only met her once," he related. "She is a friend of Avaric's, I think?"

Elphaba scarcely knew anything about her circle of friends, though she'd heard a number of their names. She'd definitely never cared enough to keep track of them.

"And her name is Galinda or something, right?"

She nodded.

"Such a typical, old Gillikinese name," chuckled Boq. "I bet her family has ties to one of those ancient clans. She appears wealthy enough for that."

While the second part was certainly true, Elphaba had not much knowledge about her family as a whole, and Boq grew increasingly frustrated with her.

"But you're a friend of hers, aren't you? Don't you know?"

"You don't want to rely on what I know anyway," countered Elphaba, waving her hand dismissively. "Or what I say I know for that matter. I could be lying."

"I don't think you capable of that," laughed the Munchkin. "I mean, you lie to tease, but you never sound very convincing."

"And yet you doubt your own wit whenever I do."

He blushed a tad and took another sip.

"Why are you so interested in her anyway? Has she made such an impression on you that one time that you two met?"

"Oh Elphaba, you have no idea," he replied, but jokingly. "Could I hope she thinks of me?"

This drew a small smile from her.

"While I can hardly predict someone's affections, I'd rather caution you against hoping too strongly."

"What a shame," he sighed theatrically. "Ah well, she does have a friend I'm rather fond of anyway. She might be more easily persuaded."

"For real now?" laughed Elphaba. "Oh, merciful Oz, you are a lost cause after all."

The smile froze almost immediately on her lips, when her ears detected ill-boding sounds from the direction of the hallway. And sure enough, the front door soon clicked and opened.

"Shit, what is she doing back so soon?" she grumbled under her breath.

The two sets of shoes must have tipped Galinda off, for she immediately called out Elphaba's name.

"You look like your Nannie caught you smuggling a boyfriend into the house," snickered Boq, earning himself a fierce glare. "What? It can't be as bad as that! We are only sitting and talking and lucky for you, Galinda and I are already acquainted."

While he wasn't entirely wrong about that, Elphaba was still quite peeved about the unexpected disturbance.

Galinda walked into the living area, unwinding her scarf and rearranging her wind-blown curls.

"Oh, it's you," she said and smiled prettily. "I was wondering whose sneakers those were."

"Boq was just about to leave," Elphaba interjected, sitting up unnaturally straight in her seat, stiff as a poker. Her hands tightened around the mug in her lap.

The blonde's smile widened.

"Please don't leave on my account! In fact, I should invite you to stay for dinner, how about that? Elphie here cooks expertly. I'm sure she'll be able to conjure up an extra portion tonight? By the by, you are friends with Elphie? What a coincidence!"

"Re-united childhood friends, actually," Boq declared excitedly. "We were in a crèche play set together, in Nest Hardings, and last year we ran into each other, after years of separation. Same history course, can you believe it?"

"What a stroke of luck!" Galinda happily clapped her hands and put down her scarf and bag. "All the more reason to have you stay a while. I'd love to hear your anecdotes concerning Elphie and also Munchkinland, of course. She never is one for talking much about those things, and I'm left curious."

Elphaba had no choice but to uneasily look on as her flatmate and her friend huddled together to exchange their stories. She couldn't really stop them, but she also most definitely didn't want to hear any of it. To create a valid excuse not to sit with them, she skulked into the kitchen and prepared another cup of tea for Galinda. She continued performing odd jobs around the house, just to keep herself busy, but it was a long time till dinner, and so she was unable to escape the conversation entirely.

"Oh, Elphaba, what I meant to ask the other day," said Boq out of nowhere, "how is Nessa finding life in Shiz?"

"Who's Nessa?"

Elphaba pursed her lips. She'd never told Galinda about her sister.

"Not here yet, actually" she told Boq after deciding to disregard Galinda's questioning look for the time being. "I'm not sure what the hold up is, but she decided against starting this semester. She'll be here for the next one, I suppose, but I'm not certain. We don't really keep in touch all that regularly."

"I thought you'd rather miss her."

Elphaba shrugged noncommittally.

"A bit, I suppose. But I'm distracted enough with work and uni and more familiar with Shiz now. I think it was more difficult in the beginning."

"So… you've got a sister?" Galinda concluded correctly, much to Elphaba's surprise.

"Uh, yeah," was all she offered in return.

"Nessarose was supposed to start religious studies this semester," Boq informed her helpfully. "She's a few years younger. And not green," he added as an afterthought.

"How peculiar," murmured Galinda, more to herself than anyone else. Then, she perked up. "Elphie! You could have told me. Will your sister need any help at all? I would be happy to be of assistance."

"She's gonna be fine without your help, thank you very much" replied Elphaba tersely, almost hostile.

Boq blinked at the sudden shift in the mood and looked from one girl to the other. His unspoken question remained unanswered, however, as neither of them made any attempts to bring him into the loop. Instead, the conversation slowly trickled on until Elphaba determined that it was at long last late enough to start with an early dinner. Boq offered his services, which she declined.

She couldn't have been more pleased to finally be alone in the kitchen. The din and clattering that accompanied her cooking created a more than welcome barrier between her and the enthusiastically chatting pair on the couch. She cast them a brief glance and scowled. Her seemingly simple, little plan couldn't have backfired more spectacularly. The last thing she needed was for these two idiots to band together and turn against her, no matter their intentions.

Boq left not too long after dinner had concluded, citing homework as the most pressing reason and thanking Galinda profusely for her hospitality. Under the pretext of showing him to the nearest bus stop, Elphaba followed him outside and walked a few metres with him.

"I don't know why you look so put out," said Boq casually. "I thought we all had a good time."

"Well, someone did," she scoffed, stuffing her hands onto the front pouch of her jumper.

It was windy and cold, and she hadn't planned well enough ahead to throw on a jacket first. Out of the corners of her eyes she peered at her friend. This was her chance. Her original plan may have been foiled, but there always was plan B, right?

She coughed as if to clear her throat.

"I, uh, Boq?"

"Hm?"

He looked up at her expectantly, and she chewed the insides of her cheek as she grappled for words.

"There's… I…" exhaling noisily she shook her head. "Don't tell the whole world that we know each other, okay? Or that Galinda and I live together for that matter. I know that the entire campus is murmuring rumours behind my back. Just please don't brag about me only to make yourself more appear interesting and to get into the popular kids' good graces. I didn't realise that those were the crowd you hang with these days, but it's fine if you do. I'm happy for you. As long as you keep quiet."

He nodded his understanding.

"Sure thing. But Elphaba? Are you mad that I told Galinda so much about our childhood? I mean, you gals live together. She seemed to already know plenty about you."

"A bit," she admitted. "What Galinda knows about me and what you know are two wildly different things. I'm not really comfortable with those two areas overlapping and intersecting."

"Got it. I'll keep my tongue under control next time."

"Next time!?" she replied, feigning horror. "Well, to be fair, I doubt you have many more secrets to divulge after talking to her for literal hours and hardly ever changing the subject."

He had the decency to look at least somewhat abashed, but before he could make any more apologies, the bus arrived. Elphaba raised her hand for a sloppy wave, then turned around to quickly hurry back to the warm house.