sorry for being a bum and not updating, for those of you who read. i'd like to thank Annibelle White for editing and giving me some ideas to move the story along, since i've seemed to have lost the plot somewhere along the way... yeah, so... here we go. (ha, that rhymed)

For the next night, Glinda slept. She was like a rock. No matter how many potholes in the road they hit, she kept right on sleeping. Elphaba, on the other hand, was afraid to go back to sleep. She didn't want any more of those terrible dreams. They reminded her ever so slightly of her own past, though she never had a huge break in her control over her magic. She had, however, had various things thrown at her. She never wanted to think about those times ever again. She spent enough of her time trying to force those memories out of her mind. The last thing she needed was a nightmare to bring them rushing back to her head.

She stared at her hands in the darkness. This was the time of day, or night rather, that she loved. Nobody could tell what color her skin was. She looked almost normal. She flexed her bony fingers and tangled them together, an old nervous habit. She clenched her jaw and broke her hands apart. Lingering on memories and dreams is useless, she told herself.

She looked out the window into the dark abyss of the night. The sky overhead was blinking with stars. They sparkled like…like diamonds. As she watched them shine, her vision blurred. The luminous stars seemed to move around and change colors. Before she knew it, a vision of Fiyero was in her mind. She felt a burning the corners of her eyes. She wiped the unconscious tears from her eyes and swallowed the lump in her throat.

No, Elphaba. She thought. You can't miss someone so much that you've only known for such a short time! You can't love anyone! You're incapable. She tore her eyes away from the window and spent the rest of the night staring unblinkingly at the wall.

"Elphie?"

"Mm?"

"Are we there yet?"

"No." Elphaba said, irritated.

"No need to be so grumpy! Did you get any sleep last night?"

"No."

"Was it because of the nightmare?"

Elphaba looked the blonde, thinking. It had started out that way, yes… But then…

"Or was it…?" Glinda trailed off, not wanting to press much further.

"What?"

"Fiyero."

Elphaba was quiet for a moment. Surely she wasn't THAT transparent. "Of course not! Why would he be keeping me awake at night?"

With that, the Gillikinese burst into a frustrated rant. "Oh, come on! Why do you keep on lying to yourself? He loves you and you KNOW you love him back! You may think you can fool the world, Elphie, but you can't fool me! Well, at least not this time. And why did you sneak off like that? You scared me, and you definitely scared Fiyero."

"It wouldn't be the first time," Elphaba said, sarcastically. But the words came out tinged with regret.

"Stop thinking like that. No matter how scary you pretend to be, I know that you're a real person on the inside. Don't give me that look. I don't mean you were ever a beast or anything. I mean you have emotions that need tending to. You're just different from most people because, unlike them, you're usually true to yourself. But you've changed lately." Glinda watched Elphaba as she sat silently, taking in those words. "I think we need to have some, dare I say it, girl talk."

Elphaba winced at the notion. She pulled her knees up to her chest.

"So… what happened between you and Fiyero?"

"Nothing!" Elphaba said sharply.

Glinda sighed. "No, I mean, exactly what happened? I know you two spoke to each other after the spell. Alone." She clarified. "He came looking for you. He said you'd run off."

Elphaba felt a lump rising in her throat. She tried to ignore it, focusing her attention on a spot on the carriage wall. "Glinda, I really don't want to talk about this right now." She said, trying to sound composed. Her voice almost cracked.

"Elphie…" Glinda said sympathetically. She moved forward to hug the distressed green girl. Elphaba pushed her away.

"Stop. I don't need your pity. Nothing happened." Elphaba snapped.

Well, at least she's back to normal… Glinda thought to herself. "Tell me what happened or I'll put make-up on you while you're sleeping."

"N—what?" Elphaba lowered her knees from her chest and stared at the Gillikinese.

"I'll put make-up on you while you're sleeping" Glinda said proudly.

"You won't touch me!" Elphaba said threateningly.

"Try me." Glinda said brightly. Elphaba glared at her.

"Fine." She said, simply.

The blonde frowned. Why did Elphaba have to be so stubborn? Surely there was something that would make her talk… "Well, will you at least tell me if you still like Fiyero?"

"Why? What difference does it make?"

"Maybe I like him" Glinda lied. Sure, she liked him as a person, but nothing more. "But I won't take him if you still like him."

Elphaba looked at Glinda, shocked. She felt betrayed. "You can't have him." Elphaba said protectively. Glinda put on a mock look of surprise.

"Why? I thought you two weren't going out? He should be a free agent." She said in her snobbiest voice.

Anger began pulsing through Elphaba's veins. "The only reason we're not is because I ran when he tried to kiss me!" She screamed. She clapped her hand over her mouth, realizing what she'd said.

Glinda cut off her act. "Aww! He tried to kiss you! That's adorable." She gushed. Suddenly her mood changed. "And you RAN? Are you crazy?"

"That seems to be the consensus." Elphaba said, "but at least I'm not a damned trickster. What's the count now? Glinda two, Elphaba nothing." She added icily.

Glinda folded her arms across her chest, offended. "It's not like I have much of a choice with you! If you were more open with people, I wouldn't have to trick you into telling me anything."

Elphaba sighed. She has a point, a voice in her head told her. Shut up, she told it back. "So I suppose you'd like to know the whole story?" She said, realizing there was no point in not telling her the rest of that day's events. Glinda, after all, was her best friend.

Glinda nodded her head excitedly. Elphaba closed her eyes and recalled what had happened.

"So, as you know, I went for a walk…"

"And you ran into Fiyero?"

"Yes, and - "

"Where?"

"Are you going to let me finish one sentence? I'll get to it when I get to it! So, I went for a walk in the woods, yes where I fainted, and I was looking at that paper you had me magic."

"Can I see it?" Glinda asked anxiously.

"What?"

"The paper, dummy!"

Elphaba reached into her cloak's inner pocket. It was empty. "Oz no…" She said quietly. She looked at Glinda. "Fiyero has it."

"So, you told him that you love him?" Glinda asked puzzled. "I didn't think that you were one to express your deep, dark feelings like that."

"Well, that's because he said it first. I was just, I don't know… filling in the blanks for him, for lack of better words." Elphaba said, uncomfortable with all of the questions.

"Oh…" Glinda nodded her head. "Go on! This sounds good." Too bad the ending is terrible, she thought.

"Well, I sat for a while under this big willow tree, and I looked up and Fiyero was in it. I guess he was startled when he realized I was there, because he almost fell completely out of the tree."

Glinda stifled a laugh.

"--Yeah, it was kind of funny. Something seemed to be bothering him, so I asked him about it. Oh, and you're plan wasn't exactly flawless. He understood the spell. He asked me what the paper said; I asked why, and then… Well, he told me that he likes me. I don't really know what came over me. I just handed him the paper."

Glinda had a sickeningly sweet look on her face.

"Don't look at me like that!" Elphaba snapped.

"Then keep going," Glinda replied, looking at her normally again.

"Well, he read it, smiled, and looked right at me. I—I felt like I couldn't do anything. Like I was frozen. I don't know what it was. Then next thing I knew, his forehead was touching mine and he was about to kiss me."

"And then you ran." Glinda finished.

"Yeah." Elphaba said, looking down.

"Where did you go? Fiyero came to the dorm looking for you. I told him you went on a walk, and he says that you two were talking and that you ran off."

"The roof," she said laconically, "to think."

Glinda was about to open her mouth to ask more, but the carriage lurched to a stop, and the cabbie cried, "We've arrived at the Emerald City!"

the next chapter will be more eventful, but i'm most likely not going to be updating for quite a while (like that's new...) because of finals. runs and hides in corner. oh, yeah. i also have to thank lorelei alice for having my back. you rock. andof course, here's me being obnoxious: R+R! Danke.