A/N: Readers, I'll now dispense with all courtisies and tell you the truth: I adore you all. I really do. To all of you who read the story, feel free to drop me a review and let me know how I'm doing. It can be anything, though no flames please. Constructive (note: constructive) criticisms I'll accept, though.

With that said, the subplot will be revealed in the next entry, but for now I wanted to show another original incident demonstrating Elphaba and Galinda's early friendship. Though there is something coming, I'll tell you that. But, going over my schedule for the next few weeks ahead, I realized that I'm busy every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday night from now until the middle of March. So, while I'll try to keep posting, the entries might be coming a little more...sporadically. Please bear with me.

And now to the Diary!

9th Entry

One could say that everything went back to normal after that incident yesterday, but that wouldn't be quite true. I've started getting hostile stares from some of the students again, but not as many as before Galinda decided to befriend me. The students who haven't heard about what happened in Dillamond's last class (or those that choose to ignore it) occasionally talk to me without me having to approach them, and I've learned that some of my fellow students share the same tastes in, say, novels and the like that I do. Galinda, though, tends to try to steer me more toward the rich, popular crowd, which hasn't worked as well as she'd like. Even so, she is constantly flanked by Shen Shen and Pfannee, whose dislike of me is only matched by my dislike of them. I believe that, on several occasions, they have tried to discourage Galinda's friendship with me.

Oddly enough, Galinda and I seem to be becoming closer. She was one of the ones who pointedly ignored what happened in Dillamond's class, or even seemed to take it as a sign that she needed to work even harder at what Fiyero charmingly termed "Galindafying" me, which has, by now, become a bit of a nuisance. But even though we're polar opposites of each other, there are many things I like about Galinda. Her boundless energy and enthusiasm never cease to amaze me, and she can always find some way to make me laugh even when I'm in my sulkiest moods. And although she is a bit of a slave to popular opinion, she has a good heart inside of her. That I know from that night at the dance.

Besides that, it's good to have someone else in Madame Morrible's sorcery seminar, no matter her magical abilities (or lack thereof). We always find ways to keep each other entertained, sometimes unintentionally. And, like friends are supposed to do (or so I've heard), we help each other out.

Take today, for example. We've backtracked a little since Galinda joined the class, and had to practice lighting candles by magic again. The first time I did it, when it was just me in the class, I used a training wand to help me concentrate my power on the one goal: igniting the wick of the candle, simply by flicking the wand and saying "fire." It hadn't been hard, and we'd moved along to the next lesson pretty quickly. This time, though, Morrible let me try it without the wand, with Galinda, who's still trying to master the basics, still using one.

Halfway through the lesson, Galinda got so frustrated that I thought she was going to actually break her wand from waving it so hard. Madame Morrible, trying to help Galinda to the best of her abilities, ducked quite nimbly to avoid being hit by the wand. "Miss Galinda," she drawled, "I understand that you are quite flusterated, but injuring me or Miss Elphaba with your wild wand-waving is not going to solve anything. Now, more gently."

After a few more tries from Galinda and a few more near-injuries for Madame Morrible, M.M. muttered a far-fetched excuse about needing to rest for a minute and left the room. Galinda looked disappointed, although she kept trying to pretend nothing was wrong. It wasn't her fault, really. She just doesn't have the gift of magic. But she has the potential for so much else, and she just can't see it. She's peppy, friendly, smart when she wants to be (she'd never admit it, but there are brains under those curls somewhere) and drop-dead gorgeous, and yet she's so fixated on this one thing that she cannot have. Just human nature, I guess. But seeing her so unhappy bothered me. There was surely some way to cheer her up. And then it hit me.

After much coaxing from me, Galinda decided to try again. As she flicked her wand, I murmured "Fire," under my breath. Sure enough, the candle lit itself. Galinda squealed with surprised delight then pointed her wand back at the candle and commanded it to go out. With my help, the candle was extinguished. After a few successful attempts (Galinda had so much fun after the first that I could not let her down for the rest), Galinda's squealing brought Madame Morrible back into the room.

This is where it got a little tricky. Of course, M.M. wanted to see a demonstration of Galinda's newfound powers, but as Galinda positioned herself in front of the candle M.M. kept one eye on me. She knew Galinda didn't have any real power, of course, and was going to watch me to see if I had anything to do with this candle trick. So, I did something I had never done before. I thought the command for the spell instead of vocalizing it. As Galinda said "Fire" and I thought it, I kept my face impassive but inwardly willed for it to work. And it did. I can't say who was more surprised, me or M.M., but Galinda was very pleased with herself. After a few more demonstrations, M.M. dismissed us.

As Galinda ran off to tell her other friends what had happened and I gathered up my books, M.M. appraised me warily. When I left the classroom, she only said four words, "You're learning, Miss Elphaba." Four words to let me know that she knew about my charade with the candle. Four words to tell me that, while she might not have approved, she'd recognized that I'd made progress. I know I don't need the approval of someone like Madame Morrible to make me feel complete, but it was, in a way, reassuring.

Galinda returned to our room an hour later than I did. I assumed she'd been out with friends for awhile, but she'd apparently spent most of her time not with Shen Shen and Pfannee, but with Fiyero. I have to admit, when she said "Fiyero" my heart involuntarily skipped a beat. I need to learn to control myself, or I'm going to ruin my relationship with the closest friend I have. But when Galinda mentioned something about him being "a little different, though," I started paying closer attention. I asked her what that meant, and she said something along these lines:

"Oh, I don't know, Elphie. That's the problem. It's sort of like he's not entirely with me, y'know? He's—he's moodified. It's only just a little bit; I bet he just didn't get enough sleep or something. Anyway, he and I—"

Galinda just continued on as if nothing had happened. But that's Galinda, always more willing to brush away her problems as if they're nothing than to actually face facts. If there were any facts in that statement to face, that is. But I shouldn't be caring so much about what happens in the life of my friend's boyfriend, and I'm going to have to get over myself. It's hard to pretend to stop caring, though. I know I shouldn't be such a fool, especially not for someone like him. Not when there's so much else I should be caring about.

And now I have to stop writing before I wake Galinda up. I just saw her stir.

Elphaba