Chapter 1: It Has Begun
'What a wonderful day!' Galinda, Glinda now for Dr. Dillamond, thought with a bright smile. The sun was shining and making her golden locks shimmer, so she flipped them with her hand and saw the boys watching her intently. She loved it when the boys went into a daze because of her. She was standing outside in the courtyard talking with her two best friends Shenshen and Pfannee who were sitting on a bench in front of her. The grass was green and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.
'Nothing could ruin this day.' Glinda thought and believed, up until a skinny green girl her age ran into her. "What were you thinking freak!" she shrieked.
The green girl, Elphaba, took no notice of her roommate, or her annoying posse who had leapt up to 'save' Glinda, and kept walking. Her pointy green nose never once left the pages of her book.
"The nerve of that girl!" Shenshen glared at the quickly disappearing Elphaba.
"Yeah! She could've ruined your beautiful new dress! How do you stand rooming with that ugly green bean?" Pfannee asked with a disgusted look.
"Oh, I don't know really. We don't talk much. I study my sorcery and she sits on her bed and reads. You know, I bet she's read the entire library by now." Glinda checked her dress over for any tears or dirt marks, Shenshen and Pfannee joined in seconds later.
Shenshen sighed after they concluded there was no damage done to the dress and declared, "Come in close girls!" The three huddled. "Ok, that girl's a menace and a freak. It's time we did something. I've got the perfect rumor to spread. How about it?"
"Great idea Shen!" Pfannee exclaimed and broke the huddle.
"I don't know… what's the rumor?" Glinda raised an eyebrow.
"That's a secret. You're her roomie and it'll be all over school by the end of all our classes, so you'll know sooner or later." Shen said with a smirk.
"Doesn't it seem a bit mean?" Glinda trying to be thoughtful towards Elphie, but couldn't keep the smile from creeping onto her lips. She giggled signaling that it was ok.
"Oo this is so exciting, here goes!" Shenshen wandered over to a group of girls on a picnic blanket, leaned over, whispered the gossip, and wandered back over to her giggling friends. "The deed is done." She started giggling too and all three started to walk to class.
Elphaba surfaced from her book only when she got to the safety of class. She sighed, shook her head and thought, 'Oh, well at least she deserved it.' Secretly, she was pleased to have made the pink princesses upset. It was always fun to annoy those three. All they ever did to retaliate was shriek and glare. Elphie stared out the window at the brilliant sky and started to ponder its color.
She was snapped out of her trance by the three giggling 'pinkys' as Elphie liked to call them. The giggling was worse than nails on a chalkboard to Elphaba, who had sunk in her chair. Class started moments later.
It would've been a very interesting lesson to Elphaba, if she had heard it. She was too distracted by all the whispering and note-passing happening in the classroom. She figured someone got dumped or something happened worth gossiping about. She really didn't care until she started to notice that every time she looked up from her textbook there were at least two people looking at her. They immediately looked away once caught staring. Of course Elphaba was used to getting stared at, she was green for heavens sake, but by the end of class the staring had elevated to what it had been like when she had first arrived at Shiz. This puzzled Elphie but she ignored it and let it pass as if she didn't care.
Every class went by like this and she was getting a bit jumpy and stressed out with all these eyes following her. So, at the bell of her last class, she walked as fast as she could out to her dorm room. Once there she shut the door and flung herself on the bed. "Too bad this had to happen today," She said to herself, "It's such a nice day out" She sighed and read her book. A few minutes later Glinda glided in to put her books away.
"Hi Elphie. How are you today?" She attempted at a conversation, mostly to find out what the rumor spread was.
"I thought I told you not to call me Elphie any more Glinda." She kept reading.
"Well sorrrrrry." Glinda rolled her eyes, and then tried once more to get information out of her roomie, "Why don't you go outside to read? It's a gorgeous day today." She gestured at the open window.
"Well, I would but," She looked up from her book and tried to think of an excuse quick; she wasn't about to tell Glinda the real reason. Glinda was probably the cause. "I have homework. I like to do my homework in the quiet and away from…people." At the word people she gave Glinda a look of daggers.
"Alright, alright, I'm going! Jeez!" Glinda huffed and left the room. Once she closed the door behind her she smirked a bit. Whatever Shen spread around, or not knowing why people were looking at her, was getting to Elphie. Glinda could tell because she always did her homework outside when it was this nice out. That and she knew for a fact Elphie had no homework today. She walked off finally knowing that things did get through her roommate's defenses.
Back in the room Elphaba sighed. She could hear the birds chattering outside and every once and a while a slight breeze would come through the window that made her yearn to be out there. Once or twice she almost gave in and went outside to get some fresh air but then voices of students outside made her remember why she wasn't out there. She decided to stay in her room until all this blew over, whatever it is. She would only go out to go to her classes. She'd done it before she can do it again. Why it had to happen on nice days like this she just couldn't figure out. Sighing yet again she settled back in with her book.
At dinner Glinda looked around the tables. She saw everyone talking and chattering, even Boq and Nessa. Anyone who saw her looking waved. She politely waved back to them all. Sliding back into her chair she saw Shen and Pfannee's mouths moving but she was thinking about something, someone, else too hard to hear them.
'I wonder if Elphie's ok.' Glinda looked around from her seat once more, but there was no Elphie. Elphaba had done this before when people said extravagantly bad things about her. She normally ends up not eating for two days or more. Glinda never felt too bad for the green girl but this time it had been partially her fault, even though she still didn't know what the fuss was all about.
"Helloooooo? Earth to Galinda!" Pfannee waved her hand in front of Glinda's face waking her from her thoughts.
"It's ok Pfannee, she's probably staring at her crush of the week." Shenshen guessed then turned on Glinda, "Hey! You haven't told us who that is, it's a new week you know."
"Oh you guys and you're silly games." Glinda actually hadn't thought about this week's crush much so she just randomly scanned the food tables for a cutish guy, "Well, this week's crush is Omtyride."
"Oo, he is something isn't he? Tall, dark, and handsome for sure." Shenshen sighed dreamily. "You have the best taste in men Galinda."
"Did you guys see Elphaba at any point after classes were over?" Glinda asked changing the subject to what she wanted to talk about.
"Nope, Shen told a really good one. She's probably up in your room crying. She'll get over it. Everyone does." Pfannee stated as if it were an everyday occurrence. Sad thing is, it was almost an everyday occurrence, not always started by them though.
'Crying, no way not Elphie. Sulking, maybe. Wishing we were all dead, most likely.' Glinda thought. She ate and talked. Though, somewhere in the middle of her supper, she snuck two bread rolls into her purse for Elphie, out of guilt. After eating she talked with Shen and Pfannee and forgot about the green bean for a bit.
At eight she went upstairs to practice sorcery. Elphaba was perched in the same spot as when she had left so she sat down on her bed and pulled out her textbook and wand.
Elphaba watched from the top of her book as her roommate walked in. Everything was as if nothing had happened today. Glinda remembered the rolls she had smuggled and figured now would be a good time to try and give them to her. If Elphie didn't take them she'd set them on the desk sometime tonight, just in case her pride let her have them later.
"Elphaba," Glinda called while digging out the rolls, "I was eating supper and I didn't see you there so I-" She was interrupted by a knock on the door.
Elphaba set her book down. They both looked at each other, silently asking who wanted to get it. Elphaba knew no one ever came to see her so she raised her eyebrows and motioned with her head at the door.
"Oh, fine you lazy bum." Glinda scowled at her, she hadn't wanted to move from her very comfy spot on her fluffy pink bed. She opened the door and found a boy a year older than her standing in the doorway, "I'm sorry, do I know you? No I don't think I do. I'm Glin-"
"Is there an Elphaba Thropp here?" He asked trying to look in.
"You…you want…Elphaba?" Glinda was dumbstruck that that guy would want Elphie over her.
"Yes." He looked impatient.
"Um, just a moment then…" Glinda turned and shut the door.
"What?" Elphaba was truly curious. She had only seen Glinda look this shell-shocked and dumbstruck twice before. Once her friend had to move to Munchkinland and couldn't attend Shiz any longer. The other time was when she had heard she missed the shoe sale of the century because she was in bed sick last year.
"There's…a boy…at the door." Glinda slowly told her.
"And…? Come on, out with it, he's waiting for you." Elphaba was growing impatient.
"No…he wants…you." At the word you both of the girls just stared at each other, both of them at a loss for words. Then,
"Glinda I don't need a charity date. I don't want a charity date." Elphaba decided to go with the more believable route; Glinda had set her up.
"No Elphaba, I didn't. Why would I. I only do that for friends." Glinda had wanted that last comment to hurt but it didn't faze Elphaba a bit.
"You're right," Elphaba contemplated, "I guess I'll go see what he wants. Probably notes or something like that." She got up and walked to the door and slipped out, closing it behind her.
Glinda sat on a chair by her bed and listened carefully. She heard mumbling at first, then she heard Elphaba say loudly, "What!", then more mumbling. Soon she heard a loud smack and Elphaba, almost shrieking, "I am not, I was never, and I wont ever! You can tell that to your idiot friends too!"
The door whipped open and Elphaba stormed in. She leapt on her bed and started to read. Whipping each page instead of her normal slow quiet turn.
"May I inquire as to what happened and what he wanted?" Glinda asked carefully.
Elphaba whipped her head up from her book, eyebrows raised, "You don't know? Cause I'm pretty sure you do!"
"No Elphie, er, Elphaba, I don't know. I wasn't part of this, I don't know! Please tell me what happened!" Glinda realized she was pleading but really didn't care. Whatever happened out in the hall sounded exciting.
"Like you care," Elphaba muttered and got off her bed to pace the floor, then she erupted, "Why the hell did you say that about me? I knew we weren't friends but come on Galinda! What goes through that blonde head? Nothing? Is it because I ran into you today? I didn't mean it! I was just walking! Don't tell me you've never run into someone before! I know you have! Just last week actually! Boq. Did he spread untruths about you? No!" Elphaba finished her rant and was breathing fast.
When Glinda saw that the green girl had gotten a couple shades lighter green and started breathing normally, she daringly asked softly, "Could you please tell me what he said? If I did know what you were talking about it wouldn't matter, right?"
Elphaba looked at Glinda incredulously, "What? That would just give you and you're air-headed friends greater amusement."
"But-" A knock on the door interrupted Glinda once again. This time though, Elphaba quickly got up and opened the door a crack.
Galinda could see a boy a year younger this time waving a ten-dollar bill and smirking. He opened his mouth to speak when Elphaba intercepted, but instead of directing it a the boy, she stuck her head out to yell into the hall, "No! That's all lies! I never want to see any other sex-deprived boy at my door ever again or I'll rat them all out to the Head!" She turned to the boy, " How'd get here? Hopped the fence? And you're risking suspension for sex? You idiot." By then the boy had gone white and had started stammering. Elphaba slammed the door shut on him with all the force she could muster. Glinda thought the doorframe cracked.
Elphaba's face was a deep shade of green from anger and for a moment, Glinda thought for the first time, looked as if she was on the verge of tears. The moment passed and Glinda only saw an angry Elphaba again.
"Can you tell me now what's going on?" Glinda asked, genuinely feeling sorry for the girl.
"I guess, a few more laughs for you pinkys wont do me any worse or better, so why not?" Elphaba massaged her temples and pressed on, trying to get it over with fast, "As you know, and I just found out, the rumor that spread around the school today was extra juicy. Apparently, I'm a hooker, or a whore, depends on you heard it from. I guess I will have sex with anyone for ten dollars." Elphaba fumed.
Glinda was speechless. Shenshen had never been this mean before. There was a time she was on the verge of being overly hurtful but what she said about Elphie was just cruel.
"Oh don't look so shocked." Elphaba was confused at the blonde girls reaction. 'It couldn't be real, could it?' she wondered to herself.
"I…I don't know what to say." Glinda didn't want to trash Shenshen.
'I knew it' "Yeah, I thought so. Not so funny now is it?" Elphaba said calming down a bit.
"I really didn't have any part in this Elphaba. I swear, I didn't know until just now." Glinda was getting slightly frustrated. No one had ever doubted her word before.
"Whatever, go to bed. You don't want bags under those precious eyes." Elphaba shot Glinda a look that could kill and got into her bed without changing or anything.
"Goodnight…" Glinda whispered, got ready for bed quicker than ever and shut off her light.
As soon as Glinda fell asleep Elphaba sat up and whispered, "This means war." She got up and snuck over to Glinda's closet. When she opened it she saw all of Galinda's precious dresses. She got half of them out and found there were too many in there to carry them all. So she took the nicest ones and some casual ones and carried them off to the washroom. Grabbing Galinda's wand on the way out.
Once there she saw the tubs of water to wash clothes in sitting on the floor in rows. She set the dresses on the floor in front of one and picked up the wand. "Emika Heeking Fiimy," She whispered and the dresses rose and hovered before her. A flick of the wand and the dresses flew over above the tub. A downward flick and they sparkled their way into the water. She poured in some soap and with a twirl of the wand the dresses started to wash, pink, white, black, blue, red dresses together. While those were 'washing' Elphaba started to heat the clothes drying rack so it would be extra hot when the dresses were ready.
Once all that was done and she was waiting for the dresses to be done washing, she said out loud to no one, "It has begun."