okay... so i finally have another chapter! it sticks pretty closely with the book. very closely, actually... it's mostly just to develop characters and blah... the next chapter is DEFINATELY going to be more exciting. whoo!

Deal

The first few months of Shiz followed the same monotonous routine. Elphaba and Galinda would wake up early, have tea with Ama Clutch, and go to classes. Galinda would go out with her friends while Elphaba went back to the dorms. Elphaba noticed that Galinda had befriended the most shallow, appearance centered girls in Shiz, other than herself. They managed to go months without talking to each other, and that suited both of them just fine. Elphaba kept herself entertained by reading and learning new things about the Animals from Doctor Dillamond, the sole Animal professor at Shiz. As of late, Doctor Dillamond had been conducting experiments that could find the link between Animals and humans. Finding this would consequently lift the bans from the Animals completely. Since it was the spring holiday, she would often go to his office and help him with his studies, writing notes and finding new information on the Animals. She didn't quite understand everything that the Goat rambled about, but she found it completely fascinating.

"Doctor Dillamond, your research is amazing. Why aren't you making this a big deal? You could have supporters everywhere trying to help you reach your goal! You could get there faster." Elphaba said.

"Now, I've thought about this for some time. From the beginning, actually. I've decided that while I would have many supporters in this case, I would have many more people trying to stop my research. I believe that once I have enough evidence to prove for certain that we aren't so different from humans." Doctor Dillamond responded. He looked at Elphaba sternly. "You haven't told anyone, have you Miss Elphaba?"

"NO!" She responded. "I just wanted to know why. I figured that you had your reasons for keeping this secret."

"Good. Let's keep it that way" Doctor Dillamond said going back to his work. "We wouldn't want our infamous Wizard to catch us at it, would we?"

"So, why'd you tell me?" She asked quietly.

"Well, I saw that you were a determined girl with a good head on her shoulders." He said looking at her with a wise smile. "And obviously you know how it feels to be exploited and labeled as…"

"Different?" She offered.

He nodded. He looked back to his papers and his eyes widened. A large smile spread across his bristly face.

"Miss Elphaba, get a pen and paper. I think I've found something!"

For the rest of the afternoon, Doctor Dillamond dictated excitedly and Elphaba struggled to keep up. By five thirty in the evening, the professor realized the how long they'd been working and sent Elphaba off.

"You've done more than enough for one day, Miss Thropp. I can finish up here."

Elphaba picked up her books and quickly waved goodbye to her friend as she left. As she hurried out the door, she ran into a short boy. She picked herself up from the ground and looked questioningly at the boy.

"Uhh… Hi, I'm Boq… Do I know you?"

"Do you always hide behind doors, or is it just a new hobby, spying on Animals?"

He looked at the ground quickly and looked back up again. He seemed to search her face. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Stare much?" She asked coldly.

"Oh.. sorry. It's just…"

"Never seen a green girl before?"

"No!" He exclaimed. "Actually, just the opposite… Elphie?"

"Excuse me?" She said, flinching at the old nickname.

"Sorry. Elphaba. Right? The Thropp Third Descending? Remember me? We went to day school together in Wend Hardings? Boq."

"Were you the one who threw the rocks at me?" She asked stiffly.

"I –"

"Or were you the frog that I would talk to in the swamps? Oh, yes! I'm seeing the resemblance now. How you managed a semi human form is beyond me, but—"

"Miss Elphaba! Such words are not necessary" A high voice called behind her. There was Galinda standing behind her with her hands on her hips.

"Funny. You don't feel the need to give me the time of day any other time, but you feel like you can scold me" Elphaba replied shortly. " If you don't mind, I'll be in my room." She ran off toward the dorms leaving a very confused Boq and Galinda behind her.

"Oh, don't even bother with her. She's just angry because she has no friends besides that old Goat Doctor Dillamond" Galinda said, breaking the silence.

"Why did she talk like that?" Asked Boq still staring after Elphaba in surprise. Galinda looked at him for a moment. She realized what Elphaba was talking about. Boq did kind of resemble a frog, but he was cute. Adorable, like a little ragdoll.

"Hmm…" She thought for a moment. "Perhaps she didn't like being recognized for her appearance"

"But she's GREEN" He cried furiously. " How can you FORGET?"

Galinda stared at him with a questioning look. He seemed to blush.

"Well, if you're done, I suppose I should be going. I'll see if I can talk to Elphaba later." Galinda said, uncomfortable. She walked away toward the girls dorms.

"Bye…" Boq whispered as he watched her walk away.

As Galinda made her way to the dorms, she couldn't help but think about what make her disturbing roommate react the way she did with Boq. Maybe she does have feelings. Perhaps she IS hurt when people make fun of her and stare at her. She found herself at her dorm. She walked into her room and looked at her roommate huddled in her bed with the covers pulled over her face. Galinda sighed and changed to go the sleep before plopping onto her own bed. That night, she finally thought about someone else's feelings, rather than her own. How did some green girl manage to make her think without even saying three sentences to her?

The next morning, Galinda attempted conversation with her roommate.

"Elphie, huh?" She asked her, smirking a bit.

"What?"

"The Munchkin boy, Biq was it? He called you Elphie."

"Oh… that. It was an old nickname when I was in day school. I despise it." Elphaba looked questioningly at her roommate. What was she up to, talking to her out of nowhere?

"I think it's cute! Elphie…" She said again testing it. "Can I call you that?"

"Can I stop you?" Elphaba asked realistically.

"No."

Elphaba rolled her eyes and picked up a book to read.

"Why are you always reading?" Galinda asked her. She was in a talking mood now.

"Because I like to read"

"Why? It's so dull! You know what I think?"

"Do I want to know?"

"I think you should take a break from reading those boring old books."

Elphaba looked up. "And do what? It's not like there's anything else to do."

Galinda thought for a moment. She looked at Elphaba. "I KNOW! Makeovers!"

"Uhhh…how about not?"

"Oh come on! It'll be fun! I'll make you popular!"

"Oh…I can see it in the papers now: " Green Girl Made Popular, The New Exhibit at Shiz University"" Elphaba said sarcastically. Galinda was too busy getting out different clothes and make up to catch on.

"Exactly… now where's that hat…?"

What have I gotten myself into? Elphaba asked herself as Galinda was fussing with her hair. I'm going to regret this tomorrow…

Galinda looked at the girl in front of her. The girl who she had thought to be the ugliest thing in Oz wasn't actually so bad. Beautiful in her own way. Now if she would only keep her hair down. I wish I had hair like that… Galinda thought enviously. After a few more minutes of silence, Galinda couldn't take it anymore.

"So, did you actually know Boq?"

"That again?"

"Yes. Now, did you?"

"It's possible. I went to a day school in Munchkinland and he didn't seem to alarmed to see a green person."

"You should apologize to him."

Elphaba turned to Galinda. "After losing my temper like that, I'd be surprised if he still went to Shiz."

Suddenly they heard a noise outside of their window. Elphaba stood up and walked to the window.

"Are you done?" She asked.

"Yes, why? What was it?"

"I don't know. Probably nothing, but I'm going to go check." Elphaba replied before she walked through the door. "Oh, and thank you."

"You're welcome!"

Elphaba stopped for a moment and looked at her roommate, " You can do better than them, you know. You act dumb sometimes, but I know you're smart enough to know that you're 'friends' are superficial jerks."

Galinda stared at her hard, then started putting her things away. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Elphaba sighed as she walked through the door and into the garden. She looked around quickly. Her gaze fell upon a tree that led up to her dormroom window. She smirked and looked up.

" Bird watching, right?" She called up the tree. She held in a laugh as the boy in the tree lost his balance and fell.

"Oh… Miss Elphie – sorry… Elphaba. I didn't know you were here." Elphaba raised an eyebrow and she stared at Boq.

"So, you like Miss Galinda?"

"Erm… Well, I think that she's very pretty and would like to get to know her better, yes. What did you do to you're hair?" He asked trying to change the subject.

"Oh, you didn't see? Galinda had a crazy idea that she was going to make me popular. Sometimes I don't know what goes on inside of that little blonde skull"

"And you LET her?" Boq asked incredulously.

"I ran out of books" She said stiffly. Boq laughed. He looked at her and thought he saw the ghost of a smile on her face.

"Well, it looks nice. Just promise you won't start wearing pink." He said, warming up to the girl. "Oh… and um… how do you know Miss Galinda?"

"Unfortunately, Miss Upland is my roommate." She explained.

"Roommate? No one's ever mentioned…" He seemed to go deep into thought. Elphaba stared at him after a moment.

"Oz to Boq." She said smirking at him. He remembered she was there. "Whatever you're planning to get my fluff-brained roommate to go out with you, I won't have anything to do with it."

"What—is it that obvious that I like her?"

"I'm not sure if it was the drooling or the stalking that tipped me off."

"I drool?" He asked wide-eyed. Elphaba laughed.

"You know, seeing as how oblivious to reality you are, maybe you are a worthy suitor for Galinda."

"You'll help?" Boq asked excited.

"I never said that… but this seems like a nice challenge." She said thoughtfully. She saw the pleading look on Boq's face. It disgusted her, but at the same time she didn't want to lose her first friend at Shiz. "So… If I do help you, how do I benefit?"

"Uhh… I could help with whatever you and Doctor Dillamond are researching." He offered. "I work at the library on the boy's campus. You're studying the existence of Animals, right?"

"Why so interested?" Elphaba asked suspiciously.

"Well, Doctor Dillamond happens to be the best life sciences teachers Shiz has ever seen. Not to mention his theories are both amazing and feasible. I'd be honored to help"

"Fine. I'll get Galinda down to meet you in…say three days. Same place, same time. It'll take a while to get her to come, no offence."

"Great! I'll find some books as soon as I can. We can meet for lunch tomorrow."

"Fine. See you then. Just don't mention the experiment to anyone else." Elphaba said as she made her way back to her room. She felt kind of bad about how she had treated the Munchkin boy earlier. She just hoped that she could get Galinda to go with her to meet Boq.

When she returned to the dorm, she found Galinda talking to Ama Clutch.

"So, what was the noise?" Galinda asked her.

"Oh… nothing. Just a falling branch." Elphaba responded as she went to get her things for bed.

"And what kept you for so long?"

"Just checking on the garden. The peas are beginning to flower." She replied.

"And I suppose that you were just talking to the flowers, right, Duckie?" Ama Clutch asked suspicious.

Elphaba looked at her and smiled. "Yes. They grow better when they're talked to." With that, she walked into the bathroom and changed for bed. Ama Clutch rolled her eyes and busied herself with one of Galinda's garments that had ripped. When Elphaba came out of the bathroom, Galinda was asleep and Ama Clutch had gone into her little room. I guess I'll be talking to Galinda tomorrow, she thought to herself.

The next day, she spent the morning with Doctor Dillamond writing down his latest finds. She didn't catch much of what he meant other than that learning more about the history of Animals might help him make another find. In the afternoon, Elphaba waited in the courtyard for Boq. Soon enough, he came running to her, out of breath and smiling.

"What did you just win a race?" Elphaba asked sarcastically.

"Ha, ha." He said. "I just dodged the librarian after swiping this book. It's a really old book…" He said holding it out. The cover was decorated with pictures of different animals (or were they Animals?) in the margins. In the center was a smudged title. " See, I flipped through it for a while and I think that it's about the creation of Animals. I wasn't really thinking when I took it. It's not really stealing… I'm going to bring it back eventually."

Elphaba took the book from him and flipped gently through the pages. It was filled with legends and pictures depicting people's predictions on the creation of the Animals. "How did you get it out of there?" She asked, thoroughly amused.

"Well, two of my friends work there as well. Crope and Tibbett, perhaps you know them? Well, they distracted him for me."

Elphaba eyed him carefully. "You told them?"

"I didn't tell them everything! Only that I needed to get this book. They're up to anything that gives them an excuse to crossdress."

"Whatever floats their boat…" She said dismissively. "This book will be a great help. Doctor Dillamond was just telling me how he needed more information on this. Thank you ."

"No problem. Have you talked to Galinda?"

"Not yet. I'm not exactly going to go up to her and say "Hey, you remember that Munckin boy, Boq, that you met for less than five minutes? Well, he wants to go out with you. You're first date is on Friday." Yeah… that'll work out perfectly."

"Just remember, okay? I risked getting expelled for that stunt"

Elphaba waved away the comment as she made her way back to Doctor Dillamond's office. She gave him the book and left again to go back to her dorm. Boq had kept up his half of the deal, now it was her turn.

Yeah... next chapter will be better, i SWEAR! please direct any comments, complaints, and questions to the little bluish button at the lower left of your screen. i'll try to get back to you. by the way, i would like to thank the peoples that commented on the first chapter. ever grateful.

Annibelle White: I actually read your story a day or two after I posted mine. that was kinda creepy. great story though! as for discussing the whole Kubrician ideals, sounds cool. IM me or something.