Still don't own Wicked. If I did... oh, the things i'd do. I thought that this chapter would be more exciting. I t is, but not by much. The next chapter, I swear on Kumbrica!

Only after tricking Galinda was Elphaba able to get her to come to the gardens. Boq, sitting under a tree, looked as if he'd been waiting there for some time.

"Elphie, I don't see a photographer from the Oziad—"

"Sorry Galinda, my mistake. Oh! Look, it's Boq." She said with mock surprise. Boq stood up from under a tree and stared at Galinda.

"Uh—I—H-hello, Miss Galinda. I'm Boq." He said introducing himself. Galinda looked confused, but played along.

"It's a pleasure. Were you the one that Elphaba was yelling at a few weeks ago?" She asked. Elphaba looked down.

"Oh, that? Old news. We're friends now." Boq said as casually as he could.

"Friends? That's great" She said looking at Elphaba, surprised that her roommate had made a friend.

"Pay no attention to the girl behind the tree" Elphaba muttered. "This is your conversation."

Galinda furrowed her brow. Now she was confused. Their conversation? Was this whole thing planned? She looked at Boq.

"What's going on?"

"Uhh…Well, Miss Galinda—"

"Call me Galinda"

"Galinda… I was wondering if you would like to—uhh—come with me to lunch tomorrow…?" He said stumbling with his words.

"Like on a date?" Galinda asked slowly. She didn't really want to go out with someone of Boq's type, meaning poor and unpopular. She also didn't want to hurt his feelings.

"Well, only if you want it to be…" He said, getting a little excited.

"How about this, I'll go to lunch with you, but as friends. We wouldn't want to rush into anything, now would we? That isn't good for anybody." Galinda offered diplomatically.

"Of course!" Boq said quickly. "So, I'll come by around…"

"Noon?" Galinda suggested.

"Great!" He said excitedly. He seemed to grow an inch or two as he stood up straighter, proud of his accomplishments. Even so, his eye-level was somewhere around Galinda's nose. 'It's a good thing Galinda's short' Elphaba thought, barely listening to their conversation. 'Or this might be even more awkward' She smiled at the thought of Boq asking someone of her height. She was half a head taller than Galinda.

"So, I see that you're doing fairly well, so I think I'll leave." Elphaba said to the pair. Galinda looked at her watch.

"Oh, dear! It's getting late, and I have some work to do!" said Galinda. "I'll see you tomorrow, then"

She said as she wave to Boq and caught up with Elphaba.

"Bye!" Boq called to her. He walked back to his dorm with a spring in his step, smiling widely the whole way.

When Galinda and Elphaba entered the dorm building, Galinda grabbed Elphaba's arm and dragged her back to their room.

"What was that all about?" Galinda asked her sternly, after closing the door.

Elphaba sat on her bed and blinked up at her. "Why, I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about!" She smiled innocently.

Galinda rolled her eyes. "Right."

"What? Not incline to go to lunch with someone of Boq's social, for lack of a better word, stature?" She asked, completely amused.

Ama Clutch walked in just then. "So, what were you two doing out?"

"Oh, nothing! Just went for a stroll." Galinda answered fakely.

"Then I see you've picked up Miss Elphaba's habit of talking to plants. But it seems they're talking back now."

"Well, perhaps I'm getting better at sorcery" Galinda said waggling her fingers. She didn't want Ama Clutch to know that she was talking to Boq. It because of him, it was because he was a boy. Ama Clutch had a strict rule about her seeing boys. It was quite simple, really. She couldn't see boys unless Ama Clutch was there to chaperone.

Elphaba smiled at Galinda's response. Obviously she didn't want Ama Clutch to find out who she was talking to, but that was possibly the worst cover-up she had ever heard. And seen.

Ama Clutch sighed in frustration and walked to the window. Whatever the girls were up to, she was sure she didn't want to know. "Fine, if you're not going to tell me…"

Her voice trailed off as she stared out of the window. "Hmm…that's odd"

Galinda ignored her. "What's odd?" Elphaba asked giving Ama Clutch a strange look.

"Oh, I'm sure it's nothing. You two have sweet dreams. I'll see you in the morning." She walked out the door.

The next morning Elphaba was shaken awake by Galinda.

"What is it?" She asked, still half asleep.

"Ama Clutch isn't here!" Galinda cried. A look of intense worry crossed her face.

"What?" Elphaba asked shaking her self awake.

"She's gone. Ama Clutch is gone!" Galinda said, worry growing in her voice.

"I'm sure it's nothing." Elphaba scanned the room quickly, looking for a hint as to where the dear old guardian had disappeared to. Her gaze fell on a slip of parchment slipped under the door.

"What's that?" She asked. She walked to pick up the sheet of paper. She unfolded it and began to read outloud.

"Classes will be cancelled today due to an unfortunate accident involving one of our professors and chaperones. Please gather in the main lecture hall at three o' clock for a campus wide meeting. The is mandatory for all students. Signed, Madam Morrible, Headmistress…" Her voice trailed off as she quickly put the pieces of the puzzle together. She looked at Galinda, who seemed to be deep in thought.

"You don't think… Ama Clutch was in the accident, do you?" Galinda asked desperately. Elphaba gave Galinda a sympathetic look.

"I truly don't know. But from what I can deduce…" She didn't finish. Galindas eyes began to well with tears. "Come on, it probably isn't bad…"

There was a knock at the door. Elphaba opened it to find Ama Vimp, one of Ama Clutch's friends.

"Come on out. I'm to watch you two for the time being." She said curtly. "It's not good to stay cooped up like this anyhow." She looked questioningly at Elphaba.

"Is that all?" Elphaba asked coldy. Ama Vimp nodded. "Then we'll be out in ten minutes or so." She shut the door and turned to Galinda. "Come on. Get dressed." Galinda looked at her solemnly, fresh tears streaking her face, and moved to her closet. Instead of picking one of her normally frilly pink gowns, she chose a plain dress and didn't even bother putting on make up.

Elphaba grabbed one of her signature black frocks and quickly did up her hair. Soon enough, the two were headed out the door. When they got to the courtyard, they were greeted by a weeping Phanee, Milla, and Shenshen. They ran to Galinda and sat her down next to them. Elphaba, ever reasonable, turned to Ama Vimp.

"What happened here?" She asked seriously. Ama Vimp sighed.

"Seeing as you'll find out anyway, I'll tell you . Last night one of our professors had an accident. Doctor Dillamond. He seemed to have fallen on one of his magnifying lenses and severed an artery. Ama Clutch was the first to find him and fainted in shock. She's in the hospital wing now."

"He fell on a magnifying lens?" Elphaba asked, clearly not convinced, but sounding worried.

"That's what they're saying. He's dead, you know." Ama Vimp said, clearly wanting to stay away from the topic of death.

Elphaba sank beneath a tree. She felt like she would cry. No, she felt like she SHOULD cry. Alas, her eyes stayed dry. Anger built up inside of her. He didn't have an accident, she thought. He was killed. Probably by the same group of people that make all of the laws against the Animals. She felt heat rise to her cheeks. The 'Wonderful' Wizard's people. She shook her head. She couldn't let herself be to angry, or she'd lose control. She gazed off in to the distance. She squinted. Boq was running their way.

"What happened?" He asked Galinda. Galinda's quiet tears turned into sobs. Her entourage gather closer to her and mimicked her reaction. I guess I'm not getting an answer from her, Boq thought to himself. No lunch either. He a pang in his heart to see Galinda cry so uncontrollably. Even when she's crying she's beautiful, he thought. He suddenly snapped back into reality. He saw Elphaba sitting a distance away under a tree, just staring into space.

"Elphie! What's going on?" He asked urgently. She looked up with a look of sheer malice in her eyes.

"Somehow the bastards found out." She said in low voice. It scared him that such strong emotion was eminating from such a normally stolid person. "Doctor Dillamond is dead. They say he had an accident, but I think otherwise." She stopped.

A gurney was being wheeled by to a nearby truck. The men rolling the gurney stopped and walked over to the truck to open the doors. When they were not even three feet away, a gust of wind blew away the bloodstained cloth covering it's occupant.

There was Doctor Dillamond, his neck twisted in an odd fashion, ropes of drying blood adorning his wiry fur. There was an immaculate cut right across his throat and a look of terror in his dead yellow eyes. Ama Vimp jumped up and recovered the professor, the proceeded to yell and the medics for letting the 'poor, helpless young children' see such a sight.

Boq was speechless. Elphaba was grinding her teeth. Suddenly, she furrowed her brow and bolted. Boq was too dazed to see where she was going.

The next time he saw her was at the meeting that afternoon. He looked at her, expecting to see her with red, puffy eyes. He sat between her and Galinda, who was always either crying or on the verge of it. He put an arm around her. She didn't protest.

Morrible began her speech saying how terrible it was to have lost such a great professor. She seemed to spit the last word. Professor. Elphaba's anger flared. She did nothing though. Morrible continued by telling them about the Doctor's 'accident' and that a new professor would be taking his place. She made it clear that classes would resume the next day. So much for mourning, Elphaba thought to herself.

After the meeting, Boq met up with Elphaba. "What do you think really happened?" He asked her.

"I'm not sure, but if I were to guess, murder." She said with anger still in her voice.

"How do you figure? How do you know it WASN'T just an accident?" Boq asked, thinking that she was just exaggerating the situation.

"Do you think that I'm stupid?" She asked him. "I went to his office before anybody could rope it off, or put binding spells on it. It was no mistake. And did you SEE the cut on his throat this morning?"

Boq winced. He felt himself get nauseous. "Yeah… what about it?" He didn't really want to know, but it seemed like Elphaba knew what she was talking about.

"It was a clean cut. Not something that you would get on a broken piece of glass." She said pointedly "But something MEANT for cutting. A knife."

For the next few days, Boq tried to ignore the feeling that Elphaba was right. He tried to avoid talking about the accident at all costs. This was fairly easy because Elphaba got angry each time she spoke about it, and also avoided it. Not to mention she was busy preparing for her old Nanny to come to replace Ama Clutch until she was better. Naturally, her sister would be coming also.

Galinda had mellowed in the heat of all of the events and began to act less and less like what her posse like to see her as.

"Galinda! Do you want to go to a party this afternoon?" Phanee asked her in an overly perky voice. Galinda looked at her 'friend'.

"Sorry. I'm just not up to it." She said. "I've got a lot to think about"

"Oh, come ON! How long is THIS going to last?" Shenshen asked scoffing. Phanee and Milla nodded in agreement.

"Seriously! You've been like this for, like, days! We could be meeting up with hot Briscoe Hall boys!" Phanee said exasperated. Galinda looked at her so-called friend, shocked at her apathy. She furrowed her brow and gathered her things.

"Elphie was right." She said to them as she left. "I CAN do better that you girls"

All three of them stared after her.

"I can't believe we actually liked her!" Milla said as Galinda walked away.

For the first time, she left them to go see Elphaba. She realized that Elphaba was the best friend she ever had, and didn't even realize it. Sure she could be callous and blunt, but at least she didn't judge people unfairly.

She found her roommate rearranging the furniture in their dorm.

"What are you doing?" Galinda asked, confused.

"Rearranging. Oh! I forgot to tell you … my old Nanny is coming to look after us until Ama Clutch recovers." She said while attempting to move a large bureau. "My little sister is coming to. She has special needs."

She paused for a moment. "Weren't you with your friends?" She said 'friends with disgust.

"I was… I ditched them" Galinda said. "You have a sister?"

"Good going" Elphaba said impressed. "Didn't I tell you? Nessarose. You'll meet her in a few days."

"What's she like?"

"Normal colored." Elphaba said shortly.

"Well, I ought to know more than that if she's coming to stay." Galinda pointed out.

"Fine… well… she's crippled. Her legs were terribly deformed at birth, so she's confined to a wheelchair. She spoiled and my father's favorite. She's a devout Unionist, like my father, and she has a taste for pretty things."

Galinda stared at her, taking in the information. "She's religious? I never would've expected that seeing how you're atheist."

"Well, she wasn't used by her father to demonstrate religious points."

"Why do you say that she's your father's favorite?"

"Because she's hard not to like. Not to mention she's not green and she's religious."

Galinda shrugged. "Did you hear that we're getting a new student? I hear he's a Winkie."

From the Vinkus? Perhaps he would know more about Kumbrica, Elphaba pondered. "Don't call them Winkies. It's a derogatory term" She said, not quite paying attention. "I'm going to bed." She said to Galinda.

Galinda watched sleepily as her roommate sat on her bed and pulled an old book out of under her pillow. She didn't think anything of it. She'd had a long day. She was asleep before she hit the pillow.

Elphaba stared intently at the cover of the old book. She had often read the stories in it. All about Kumbrica, Lurline, and the emergence of evil. She flipped through the familiar brown pages and stopped when she came to an illustration. She had never noticed this before. She felt her heart leap for a moment. She traced a green finger over the drawing of a blue diamond, one of the many objects associated with Kumbrica. She recalled her favorite tale of Kumbrica. It was of when Kumbrica had met a stranger who had befriended her, even after her declared feud with thelegendary 'vizier'. This man, she couldn't recall his name, had given her an necklace with a teardrop shaped blue diamond hanging from it. It was said that Kumbrica had loved this man, and that the necklace was a parting gift when she was captured that hung just over her heart, even as she was killed.

Elphaba snapped out of her daydream. She looked at the picture again quickly and put the book back under her pillow. She imagined for a moment a man that loved her for who she was. She shook her head. Don't even think about it, she chided herself, wishing only wounds the heart. She fell heavily onto her bed and stared at her ceiling. Tomorrow is a new day, she told herself. She fell asleep, dreaming.

Please don'thurt me for being boring and sticking to the book too much! just gimme suggestions, and i'll take em!(most likely)