Disclaimer: Characters, events, and lines belong to either the musical Wicked or Gregory Maguire's The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.


Chapter One

She was the most beautiful thing he's ever seen.

Her hair was of golden locks that rained down her shoulders, her gentle features of such kind goodness radiated like the sun, and her hazel eyes reflected a different color at different angles.

The way her name sounded. Galinda.

"Are we going to eat or are you going to continue gaping?" asked Avaric.

Boq turned his head and saw his athletic friend waiting impatiently, He raised an eyebrow and tapped his foot against the pavement.

"Give me one more gape," said Boq as Galinda tossed her hair back coyly. She giggled. Boq sighed dreamily.

"Okay that's enough buddy," said Avaric pushing him along. He stumbled forward, but caught himself before any major damage.

They walked across the path and onto the emerald green grass where they settled under a great oak tree. They placed their trays on the ground, but Boq couldn't stop thinking about the blonde beauty. She was so... so...

"She's so gorgeous," he thought aloud.

"I know, I know," said Avaric carelessly. "Boq, stay on ground will you?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"You're cruising on cloud nine," he said plainly. Boq smiled, shaking his head.

A group of Shiz students from the glee club started to sing not too far away, their harmony and notes floating in the air effortlessly. Avaric began to get annoyed, but Boq didn't mind it much. He actually thought it was kind of nice. They were in the middle of "When grey and sere our hair hath turned..." when Avaric picked up an apple and launched it toward them. A few screams were heard seconds later.

"Some people are trying to eat, you know!" yelled Avaric.

"You're an asshole, you know that, right?" asked Boq.

He shrugged and continued with his lunch. "So why don't you just ask her out?"

"What?" questioned Boq eagerly. "To the Ozdust Ballroom? Is she going?"

"She will if you ask her," he answered.

"I knew there was a catch," said Boq frowning. He knew in the back of his head that no decent-looking girl would say yes to him. He never really had much luck with the females, but he decided that this was just the way it was. He rested on his elbow and closed his eyes for a few minutes. He liked the way that felt. It had been a while since he got a full night's sleep. It was a shame too. He had plenty of dreams when he slept pleasantly. Dreams of Galinda. He convinced himself that someone like Galinda Upperland of the Upperuplands would never be interested in someone like him- nothing, but a poor munchkin from Munchkinland.

"So what are you going to do with Miss Galinda once you get your hands on her?" asked Avaric curiously.

"Oh, I'm not sure," he said meekly. Actually he had it all planned out. Mapped out every detail from the moment he saw her. "Small home cooked dinner, maybe an evening show, carriage ride along the river."

"Ooh, kinky," said Avaric sarcastically.

"I'm not going to have S-E-X with her on the first date," said Boq.

"For the last time, you don't have to spell it out- they're not going to haul you away for that. Boq, you act as if it's a crime."

"It can be!"

"Then you've acquainted yourself with a fugitive."

"Avaric," said Boq slightly turning red. "Can you stop thinking with your... your... jewels for once?"

Avaric raised his eyebrows and smirked. "I can't help it." He leaned back against the bark. "It's habit."

"It's because his jewels are bigger than his brain," said a voice. Crope and Tibbett propped down beside them. They were sneaky that way. Avaric leaned forward to protest. He began to speak, stopped, and leaned back again.

"Actually they are," he stated.

"No doubt about it," said Boq bitterly.

"Are you calling me stupid?" demanded Avaric.

"No- just very horny," claimed Crope. Boq rolled his eyes. This was a great way to kill the mood, he thought sadly. He couldn't think of his Galinda in such an improper way. Not his Galinda. He couldn't think of her that way. Not that way.

"Why are you guys late?" Boq asked Tibbett and Crope, hoping to change subjects.

"Our usual lurking and snooping," said Tibbett.

"Searching and trooping," added Crope.

"Burping and pooping," said Tibbett. So much for changing subjects, thought Boq.

"Find out anything?" asked Avaric casually. Boq cracked open a book. Tibbett and Crope were fun to listen to because of their cracks, but they could go on forever. These times were probably best used to catch up on homework. One time Avaric told Boq he snored through their whole spiel and when he woke up, they were still gabbing like he had been awake all along. The two newsmongers could care less if they listened. Just as long as they got to tell their story.

"Actually, we were checking out that weird colored girl," said Crope taking a gulp of his bottled cider.

"Sweet oz, why?" complained Avaric. "She's so disgustifying."

"You just don't like her because she'd be the first one you wouldn't be able to control," said Tibbett nonchalantly.

"And then there's her skin color," said Avaric irritably.

"Yes she does have earthy tones," said Tibbett thoughtfully.

"I wonder what her mother drank to birth such an ugly child," sniggered Avaric.

Boq closed his book loudly. He never liked it when they sneered about others. It was so disgraceful, and he didn't like the fact that society was being judged so much on their appearances. They could be deceiving after all. Boq sighed. It was the reason why he didn't want to ask Galinda out. He was afraid she's strike him down. He would do anything to make her smile.

"Didn't she have a sister?" asked Boq, changing subjects yet again.

"Oh yes, the Pale-Colored One," said Crope.

"She's actually not bad-looking," said Avaric.

"She's just in that wheelchair," pointed out Crope.

"Dear Lurline, isn't anybody right-looking in their family?" commented Tibbett in a facetious tone.

For some reason steering in a different direction wasn't working, Boq realized. He could have mentioned something about muffins and they would be able to veer into their cynical topics again. He wasn't quite some why he hung around them much. Maybe because they would always make him laugh when he was stressing over things like midterms. He admitted to himself that he'd rather spend his time with Crope and Tibbett than Avaric on any given day. Avaric wasn't all bad. He was just too much for him.

"Boq?" a hand waved in front of his glazed eyes. He blinked a few times and focused his vision. He just noticed that he had drifted away for a moment. The guys were just staring at him, grinning. Oh no, thought Boq.

"What?" he asked timidly.

"Are you okay? You didn't answer for a while," said Tibbett.

"I was just thinking," he explained.

"Oh, about Galinda," cooed Crope.

"No," said Boq and although he was telling the truth, his cheeks still turned warm.

'Yes you were, our little wittle Boq," teased Crope.

"Why do you have it in for her anyway?" asked Avaric. "She's not perfect."

Boq almost dropped his jaw. What? thought Boq. "You can't be serious."

"She's not," said Avaric. "First of all, she's arrogant-"

"Self-confident," corrected Boq. "With elegant grace, I might add."

"She's annoyingly nosy, and always prying into someone's business."

"Helpful because she has a good heart."

"She's unbelievably short-"

"-enough for me!" Boq finished. Avaric grinned. He placed his arms behind his head and closed his eyes.

"Green girl at ten o' clock!" said Tibbett in a low voice.

Boq turned his head, but didn't see anyone of a odd tinted color. All he saw were normal looking kids, eating lunch, racing around the tables, chatting away in a...

"I said ten o' clock Boq, not 4:30!" hissed Tibbett. Boq turned the other way, and saw a long haired girl with grass colored skin pushing her sister along the artificially arranged meadow. They were struggling a bit because they couldn't seem to get across.

"Nessa, can't we just walk along the path?" asked the green girl.

"But it's so nice along the meadow." her sister said cheerfully.

"They look like fools," insulted Avaric.

"They look like two girls trying to get through the meadow with a wheelchair to me," said Crope.

"Thank you for pointing out the obvious," said Avaric.

"It's what I do best," said Crope. "Quit staring, they'll see."

"Too late," said Boq biting his lip. Apparently, the two sisters had caught a piece of their conversation, and was heading their way. Boq began to feel a knot in his stomach and his nerved began to jitter. He could only imagine what Avaric would say to them. They approached discreetly.

"And how can we gentlemen aid such a lovely pair of beauty?" said Tibbett standing and bowing in a refine manner. Nicely done big shot, thought Boq bitterly. He knew he was faking it.

"First of all, I don't want to be here-" started the green girl, but was interrupted.

"Likewise," muttered Avaric. Boq put his head down.

"But," pressed the Green One, "my sister wanted to meet you, although I don't know exactly why."

"How utterly sweet," commented Crope with odd gaiety.

The girl in the wheelchair laughed. "You two are in my poetry class." She pointed at Crope and Tibbett. "There once was a man from the Vinkus..."

"She remembers!" Crope and Tibbett exclaimed. Crope jumped up and kissed her hand. "Who would you be m'lady?"

"Nessarose," she said blushing. Boq rubbed the back of his head. At this point, he wasn't sure what to say.

"Nessarose, like a sweet scented red rose," recited Tibbett.

"And this is Elphaba," introduced Nessarose.

"Elphaba, like a phaba-lously healthy strand of string beans," said Crope poetically.

Boq pressed his lips together as everyone laughed. This was so embarrassing. He looked at Elphaba and to his surprise, she cracked a smile. He pondered for a moment. She probably wasn't as bad as everyone made it out to seem.

"Well... we really... must be going," grunted Elphaba as she started to force the wheelchair along the grass.

"Why in such a hurry?" asked Crope.

"Crope, let them leave," said Avaric in a fake innocent tone. "We wouldn't want to keep them from anything important."

Elphaba paused and gave him a glowering look. Her eyes seem to burn like fire because Avaric didn't say anything afterwards. He merely shifted in his position and looked away with a sort of disappointed look. Boq actually felt good about that and smiled a bit. Finally someone standing up to Avaric. It was an awkward moment after that because once they left, subjects changed. Usually, Tibbett ad Crope would have something to scoff at Avaric about, but this time was different. This time Tibbett and Crope couldn't say anything bad because they actually enjoyed their company.

"Hey," Tibbett spoke up, "did you hear about that Ferguson fellow?"

"You dope, his name is Fiyero," said Crope.

"Right. Some wealthy fellow from a high-classed family. He's got all of Shiz eating out of his hands. Everyone loves him and you know... he's got my attention too!"

"Why?" asked Boq interested.

Tibbett leaned forward. "He's been kicked out of eight schools. Eight! All for different reasons."

"I love him too!" proclaimed Crope. "All hail his Royal Fiyero!"

"And you know what Boq?" inquired Tibbett.

"What?" he asked.

"He's been claiming his territory on your eye candy."