Glinda stirred and looked at the clock, She had gone to bed fairly early, because she had a headache. As she had drifted off to sleep she saw Elphie sitting on her bed, lost in her own little world. She remembered saying good night and telling Elphie that she loved her, but didn't get a reply, which lately was not unusual.

Then she snapped out of her reverie. It was the last class day of the week, one of Elphie's early classes. She thought that her friend was already up and out, but as her eyes adjusted to the dimness of the early morning light she saw her sitting on her bed, in the corner her arms hugging knees that were pulled up to her chest, her head turned facing the wall. She was very still.

"Elphie" she called quietly "Elphie, Is everything alright."

There was no response from the other bed, none at all. Glinda got up and walked over to Elphie's bed, carefully sitting down beside her friend. She reached to touch Elphie's shoulder but the green girl seemed to fold into herself even more. Glinda moved to the foot of the bed sitting cross-legged across from her seemingly frozen roomie

"Elphaba, you're scaring me, what's wrong?" Glinda said trying to remain calm.

She sat there for a long time, just looking at her precious friend huddled on the corner of her bed, not moving, not responding, and barely breathing. Glinda thought that her emotionally fragile friend had finally shut down completely

"Oh Elphie" she sighed.

After what seemed like an eternity, she heard Elphaba's voice- barely a whisper.

"I had a choice to make Glinda, and I made it."

Glinda was afraid to speak.

"I've been awake all night, sitting here thinking about the past week trying to salvage or even find something I recognize. One week ago, right at this very moment, the world as I knew it, Me, my very being was turned upside down. Everything I thought I was, everything I knew to be real was ripped to shreds. Two men shoved me to the ground in an alley, and hurt me in ways I never imagined possible. And not just physically"

Her voice was strained, but flat. Glinda, tears streaming down her face, just watched her friend, who was still in the same position as when she first saw her.

I always thought I was a strong person, able to protect myself from people and their emotions, I had hardened myself. I wanted to learn and study and was absolutely sure that intellect was better than emotion, because it was reliable, safe. I could affect emotional responses when I needed to, play roles, but that's all it was. Then in less than an hour, at this very hour, that all changed. The emotions that had before affected I was now forced to feel, experience and share.

Elphie's voice was still flat, devoid of any trace of emotion, no anger, no sadness- nothing

Glinda sobbed quietly into a pillow, scared of what was happening, but terrified of trying to stop it.

"I always thought I took the big risks. I chose to be sarcastic and cruel-thinking that was the hard, risky thing to do, because people wouldn't tolerate it and revile me. I stayed bitter and angry, because those emotions weren't common everyday normal emotions, so therefore it was risky to live in them. I was confident and sure that this was the only way to be no doubts- It's really all I ever really knew. Then what I was, what I thought I was, shattered. I've been trying to re-invent myself since this time last week, into something I thought I should be, someone that could care and be cared for. I truly believed, before I was raped, that I could put those kinds of emotions on and off like a hat. And that I was above being emotional about what had happened. I tried to inteltualize it. It was easier that way. "

She still hadn't moved, and Glinda wasn't even sure if Elphie really knew she was there or not.

"All night long I've been thinking about the real risks in life. Loving someone and being loved-is a huge risk; the possibility of being hurt, rejected is great and scary. Being bitter and closing off isn't risky at all- it's easy and safe. Accepting affection is risky, because you could get used to it then it could be gone. Pushing people away isn't the risk- it's safe. All night long these thoughts coursed through my veins, circling my very being. I am not who I was and I'm not what I am. Everything that I've felt said, been over the past week, hasn't been real-and it hasn't been a lie- It's somehow been both-I felt like a fraud. I say I try, but I don't. I say I feel, but don't know if I do. Then somewhere during the night, an unwanted element entered into my nice, orderly emotional breakdown. You."

Glinda had calmed some, to stunned by the rambling monologue unfolding before her to cry, speak or move.

"I thought I had you under control- you didn't like me, I didn't like you. Then you tolerated me and I was able to tolerate you, knowing all the while that none of it even mattered. Then one week ago two men threw me down on the ground and something in you snapped. You became truly compassionate towards me. I felt it, I saw it, and I tried to condone it. Tried to accept it, experience it, but all the while knowing that there was no way it could be real- and I tried to go back into my own safer world.. But you wouldn't let me. For hours upon hours tonight. I have been battling to get back to who I was, the safety of not caring, not feeling, but with you pulling me towards, the big risk. You may or may not be real- you may or may not really care. Sometimes I know you do, but I don't want you to because that means I would have to care back. I wanted to feel safe; safe was always being closed up, inside myself. Until you.

In a macabre, absurd turn of events, Two men took away who I was, and in the process gave me you. The only real friend I've ever had "

Elphaba moved slightly turning her head away from the wall and putting her chin on her knees, looking straight at Glinda, eyes flat. Glinda was transfixed and terrified.

"I had been trying to live, to function in two worlds that are both very real. One safe and secure, known and very easy for me. And one full of things I truly know nothing about, not on any deep level, a frightening place full of unknowns and pitfalls, and caring about others and feeling-- and full of you. You became my guide for that world. For a week my battle raged on, in my head, not allowing me to concentrate. I was trying to make easy and safe win by a landslide. But one reality bled into another, me retreating into my safe one, but feeling you touch me, speak to me, love me from the other and against my will, and better judgement I was responding, even needing it and that petrified me. All of this was playing in my mind tonight. And two or three hours ago I realized I had a choice to make. I couldn't bounce between these two realities forever. I knew I couldn't be who I was before and be loved by you at the same time- I would become nothing at all if I tried. I had to choose between what I knew, who I was and how to be it and loving you and all that comes with that, not even knowing what that means or how to do it, or even if it is possible- or even if it will be reciprocated. But this whole week and this long night have put me here. Choose the known or the unknown. Chose safety or peril Choose to be who I was, or love you. Chose one, completely- totally, no going back, accept all consequences, pay the price. I had to choose, and I chose. Right or wrong, good or bad"

Glinda didn't even realize she had been holding her breath, but when Elphie unfolded herself and sat up straight, eyes clear and bright she let the air out the air in her lungs in a loud rush. Elphaba fixed her gaze on Glinda, took a deep breath and said:

"I chose to love you."