A few days later and Galinda still hadn't been sure exactly how to make conversation with her roommate. Part of her hadn't wanted any part of this odd girl's life, but the other part had felt embarrassed about the rumor she'd accidentally started. Functioning principally on this idea, she'd plopped ungracefully on Elphaba's bed while the green girl had been reading.

"So," Galinda had said quite thoughtfully, "Do you like it here?"

Elphaba had looked up, her glasses perched precariously on the end of her sharp nose, and scowled angrily. "Miss Upland, no, I don't like it here. Why don't you ask some of your lovely friend's opinion; I've had about fifty catty remarks thrown at me today. A good thirty-five percent of those remarks came from your closest friends, Miss Pfannee and Shenshen." She raised a critical eyebrow toward Galinda's fallen face that stared blankly at her. "They seem to think that I savagely bludgeoned my only sister with a dull axe, cut her up into bitty pieces, and ate her."

It hadn't gone as well as she'd expected.

So, another few days later, seated at a local café, Galinda was determined to talk to her again.

Elphaba was sat at the counter, her booked propped open again the wall, reading. Galinda herself was with all of her friends at a large wooden table near a window. They were laughing and talking about so many various things, Galinda's mind was at a blank, so she found all she could concentrate on were things of utterly no importance, such as school, homework, her need of a boyfriend, and Elphaba.

Galinda snuck another look at the green girl, and saw her flip a page on her book. Another minute and she had turned the page again. Galinda wondered how she could read so fast. . . .

And then Elphaba had snapped the book closed, and Galinda, dismayed, could vaguely read what she had been reading up on: law. The book itself was none-too-miraculously titled: The Historical and Present Laws of Oz. Just the fact that she was reading of such a horrid subject made Galinda's stomach hurt. And it was obvious as to why she was reading about it.

Maybe that's why it was sickeningly heart-breaking, she realized.

Galinda leaned back in her seat, as though tired and thought some more. She tried to focus her energies on other "unimportant" matters—such as the trivial boyfriend dilemma. Did she need a boyfriend? No. Would it be nice and look publically good to have a boyfriend? Yes. . . .

Galinda wondered if Elphaba had ever had a boyfriend. . . .

Annoyed, Galinda sat up again and glared menacingly at Elphaba. How could one so ugly be so exasperating? Irked, Galinda tossed her hair and kicked up her foot, which, coincidentally managed to whack one of Galinda's lesser-important friends, Kega, in the shin.

While apologizing heavily, Galinda saw Elphaba snickering to herself at the counter. Galinda wondered whether it was about herself and felt anger heat her cheeks. Maybe Elphaba was just a naturally irritating force of nature. But it had been nice to see her smile for once.

Since then, Galinda hadn't gone out of her way to plan to make peace with Elphaba. They tolerated each other while in the other's company, but there was more or less no communication between the two girls. Every once in a while, Galinda would politely ask Elphaba to get the door when she was busy, and Elphaba would kindly cooperate until Shenshen or Pfannee laughed when she'd finally got it open. At that point, it usually turned into a vocal and/or physical war to which Galinda would break up by taking her dearest friends elsewhere.

So the roommates were constantly stuck in a position where they neither liked nor disliked the other. They were somewhere in between, and significantly enjoyed it that way.

Galinda's general idea of a rumor was that it was made, played, and then eventually died out. In Elphaba's case, though, everyone seemed completely content to continue "playing" with the rumor that she'd killed her sister. It seemed that almost the whole school was excited for her trial, and hoped it would be a vigorously blood-thirsty thing, and that she'd lose horribly and shoved into Southstairs.

Galinda's thoughts were different, but she kept them to herself.

And another person's thoughts were different, too. She also tried to convince him to keep that to himself, too, but the stubborn boy wouldn't listen. He was soon labeled "Tree-Hugger" due to his awkward friendship with the green girl, who didn't seem to enjoy his company as much as he'd hoped. The two were openly laughed at around campus, whenever he decided he wanted to follow heraround.

His name was Boq. He was a proud Munchkinlander, and Galinda wasn't aware of his last name because she hadn't been paying much attention at the time he'd told her.

This munchkin was also curiously infatuated with Galinda, to which she could perfectly understand. She understood, but didn't like it. Boq was happy to follow Galinda around whenever he wasn't following Miss Elphaba Thropp around.

Boq was a slightly higher-than-normal munchkin in Galinda's eyes, for she had only ever been semi-acquainted with extremely short munchkins. He had corrected her when the odd conversation had surfaced, though, explaining that munchkins could be all shapes and sizes, and that Elphaba was actually part munchkin herself, thus classified as a munchkin. This had particularly interested Galinda, because Elphaba Thropp was so tall. . . .

Galinda herself was around 5'1. Elphaba was a good few feet higher—5'9?

And, after all, Boq was only slightly higher-than-normal. And he only slightly followed Galinda around, which gave her the impression that he was utterly alone.

Boq also took great pride in his dirty blonde hair that always seemed messy. He attempted to gel it, but it always looked cluttered, as if he'd just popped out of bed. Galinda could tell how much time people spent on their hair, and knew that he spent abnormal amounts of time on it. She could also tell that it was useless; his hair was stuck forever in a permanent cowlick.

Galinda tried to avoid him, too, but knew that was also incredibly useless; she had so many classes with him.

It was there in class one day that Boq finally managed to get a conscious statement from her.

"I heard that Elphaba's been trying to get her trial delayed," he commented one day, while they were meant to be taking notes. Galinda was doodling on her parchment, but stopped to stare at him.

"What? You mean it won't be next week anymore?" She was particularly crestfallen, for the rumors would surely be flying until she'd had the trial. Galinda, at this point, was sure that Elphaba was harmless and would be let off, but if the trial was going to be postponed. . . .

Galinda lay down onto her arms, which were criss-crossed on top of the table. "Stupid girl," she muttered.

Boq looked surprised that he'd finally managed to strike up a good conversation with her. His smile was almost comical. "Not really—she's convinced the judge and jury that she wants more time to look up evidence for her case, because I'm sure her father wouldn't dream of buying her a lawyer. She's told me herself he's convinced she's guilty."

Galinda lifted her head to gape. "Her own father thinks she's hurt her sister?"

Boq rolled his eyes. "Yes; Frexspar Thropp was the one who found Elphaba over her sister. Elphaba had told him she was trying to help Nessarose—that's her sister's name—but Mr. Thropp has never really like Elphaba. As you can imagine, he was the one who accused her of treachery."

"And Miss Elphaba told you all of this?" Galinda asked. She remembered how uncooperative Elphaba was, and highly doubted it.

For a moment, Boq stared at her, then he sighed. "Miss Galinda, I'm the only one who will listen to her. Can you imagine what she has to go through? Or that how on more than one occasion I've found her absolutely fed-up with herself, miserable and crying?"

Galinda couldn't voice her thoughts for the teacher called on her a moment later, and she didn't have the answer.

After class, though, Galinda decided that she would just outright forget about Elphaba Thropp. After all, did Galinda honestly want to become a part of another girl's drama story? No.

She was becoming stressed-out worrying about someone she hardly knew, and couldn't even concentrate enough to talk to her own friends properly. She'd also been told on more than one occasion that she was drifting. Galinda didn't want someone else's sad, sad tale to mess with her life.

And, just like that, all of Galinda Upland's worries about the strange Miss Elphaba Thropp simply melted away, and she could concentrate on the definite "important" things—such as finding herself a boyfriend immediately, which had suddenly and unexpectedly become "important".

And Boq, noticing that his tales of his wayward friendship with Elphaba no longer interested Galinda, collapsed into a forever-grating pout.