The first week was simple for Galinda. She fit in seamlessly...except for that awful roommate of hers, but in a few ways it was beneficial.

"Galinda, Galinda, Galindaaaaaaa," Pfannee sang, coming up from behind Galinda and linking arms with her. "Did you hear what happened in history class?"

Galinda's fair face was already covered with a grin like wallpaper with eyelashes. "Better. I was there!"

"Really? Was it as hilarious as everyone's saying?" Pfannee asked in a hushed voice. Gossip was really the one thing she had in common with Galinda, but they both chose to ignore it.

"Greenie and the Goat becoming kindred spirits? Yeah, it was classic," Galinda giggled.

Her voice dropped even further. It was hanging off the edge of the cliff for dear life. "And did you actually talk back to the teacher?"

"The teacher deserved a talking back to!" Galinda exclaimed. "My name is clearly Gaaaaaaalinda!"

"Could you possibly walk a little faster, Glinda?" said a harsh voice behind them. "And maybe you want to talk a little louder. They can't hear you in Quadling Country yet."

Galinda spun around and Elphaba smiled falsely at her. "Oh, it's you."

"I have a name."

"I do too," Galinda said coldly, silently deploring how Elphaba could show up out of nowhere.

They stared at each other for a moment and then Elphaba pushed past Galinda. Pfannee jumped out of the way as if Elphaba was poisonous. If Elphaba weren't so cold, Galinda would actually feel slightly sympathetic at the way people avoided her. Everyone automatically knew when she was coming down a hall because it cleared down the centre. How did that girl honestly expect to survive without a single friend?

"My subjects are: history, design, sorcery and something else, which I cannot for the life of me remember," Galinda stated confidently, as she attempted her history homework with Fiyero. They had made Galinda's dorm a rendezvous point and Fiyero was taking advantage of it, seeing as Galinda was gaining popularity faster than the speed of light.

Much to their enjoyment, Elphaba also made the dorm her refuge after class. She usually sat on her bed and worked, while Fiyero and Galinda plopped down onto Galinda's bed and made a big show of pulling out their textbooks and complaining about how much work they both had (not that either of them did it.)

"I've got history, science, something, then math," Fiyero replied. "All four of 'em with Elphaba." He threw a look in the green girl's direction, but no acknowledgement was returned.

"Gosh, I bet that's just wonderful!" Galinda said in the falsest tone she could muster. She had Elphaba in her history class and that was pain enough. Poor, beautiful, Fiyero.

"Are you enjoying Shiz, Elphaba?" Fiyero asked politely. Galinda didn't know his tone could be so measured. He was usually so much fun...

Elphaba nodded hesitantly, not looking up from her book.

"What are you reading?" Both Fiyero and Galinda could see how uncomfortable he was making her feel.

"A book."

Fiyero placed a hand on his chest as if the revelation would cause a heart spasm. "You're reading a book? No way!"

Galinda was getting bored and desired Fiyero's attention again. "So Fiyero, I heard you were organizing a party for tomorrow..."

"Today, actually," he corrected. "It'll be fun."

"I'm sure it will...so I was wondering if you had an escort yet." Galinda's voice rose with her question, blossoming into pure hope.

"No, as a matter of fact, I don't," Fiyero said evenly.

"What a coincidence!" Hair flip. "Neither do I!"

"Oh, really? That's a shame," Fiyero relented. "Pretty girl like you should have a date in no time. I heard Avaric doesn't have a date if you're looking." With that he flipped a page in his history textbook and searched for his own name.

Galinda's mouth fell askew. "But what's that supposed to mean?"

Elphaba chuckled in the background. "It means he's rejecting you kindly, Blondie."

"For the last time, my name IS NOT Blondie!" Galinda shrieked, planting her hands firmly at her sides and rotating at the waist to fix Elphaba under a dirty look.

Some sort of emotion seemed to be sparked in Elphaba for the first time. "And my name is not Greenie and I am not an artichoke!"

Fiyero hid his smile, pretending to retrieve a pencil he had knocked to the ground. He liked seeing Elphaba stand up for herself. She didn't do that enough.

"I wish you would just disappear!" Galinda whined. "I'm so sick of you!"

"Then the feeling is mutual," Elphaba said shortly and returned to the folds of her book.

Galinda turned back to Fiyero as if nothing had happened. He always marvelled at the natural ability girls had for doing that. If that were Avaric he probably would have gotten up and slapped some sense into him. But right now Galinda looked upset and he didn't like seeing her like that. Galinda Upland was supposed to be the epitome of bubbly.

"Galinda, maybe you wanted to accompany me to the OzDust tomorrow?" Fiyero whispered in her ear.

Perking up immediately, Galinda nodded her ecstatic agreement and everything returned to its previous state. Fiyero looked over at Elphaba who hadn't twitched a finger.

Fiyero slid into the seat next to Elphaba, before Doctor Dillamond would enter and so rudely interrupt his conversation. The nerve that some of these teachers had. "So why didn't you come to my party?"

"I wasn't under the impression that I was invited."

"Why not?" Fiyero demanded. He hadn't outwardly been rude to her like everyone else was, had he?

"I didn't think you and I were friendly enough," Elphaba said, looking up at him for the first time in a week.

"Friendly enough?" Fiyero repeated incredulously. He narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously. "How could you even think that?"

Elphaba leaned back in her seat and pushed the pencil through the loop of hair stacked on her head. "You have some really great friends now. I'm never going to be one of them."

Fiyero wasn't THAT stupid. He caught the sarcasm. She was obviously referring to Galinda and Avaric, the two people that were currently occupying his life. "I don't see the problem."

"The problem is that I don't like them and they don't like me, so I don't mingle with them and they pick on me."

"But I like you and they like me, so I mingle with them and I..." He trailed off uncertainly.

"That's it, isn't it? You don't talk to me, so how exactly do you expect me to count you as a friend?" Elphaba crossed her arms across her chest. "Now don't get me wrong. I don't particularly care for having your friendship, but I'm not about to condone hypocrisy."

Fiyero opened his mouth to retort, but he was simultaneously distracted by the two people entering the lesson ten minutes late, laughing at some obnoxious joke that one of them had connived. Following, his gaze, Elphaba noticed Galinda and Avaric's entrance too and also noticed the tension that had consumed Fiyero. "Go ahead," she said plainly. "I know you'd rather be around them."

Guilt consumed Fiyero, but he still abandoned his seat on the desk beside Elphaba, knowing that not a single person was going to take it.

"Do you find that everything about this place just seems really boring?" Galinda complained. "I feel like it's all just repeated over and over and over." She bobbed her head around on her neck to illustrate her point.

"You've just got to make it more interesting for yourself, Galinda," Fiyero advised from the right side.

"Or make trouble," Avaric added deviously, from the left.

"Are you really going to listen to the one that got us two more weeks of detention?" Fiyero asked.

Galinda groaned. "You two got detention again! Honestly...what am I supposed to do now?" If she didn't love them so much, she'd hate them.

They unlinked their arms from hers at the same time and started backtracking the way they came. Fiyero winked at her. "Talk to someone new."

Galinda pondered the words as she headed towards her dorm. She pondered all of Fiyero's words. They were like gold to her. She came to her door and knocked out of overwhelming laziness. There was no answer but she knew Elphaba was inside. She knocked again. "Elphaba, open the door! For Oz's sake I know you're in there!" Heavy footsteps crossed the floor and the door was thrown open. Galinda trudged in sullenly and dropped her bag beside her bed. Elphaba had already returned to her usual position against the headboard of the bed. "Who are you writing to that you have to concentrate so diligently?"

"My sister," Elphaba replied quietly, hiding her surprise at Galinda's innocent question. If there's one thing Galinda had shown her it was that she was not at all innocent.

"Is she younger than you?"

"By three years."

"So she'll be at Shiz," Galinda assumed.

"She's hoping to graduate early and come sooner," Elphaba explained. "Part of me hopes she doesn't."

"I always thought you'd be one of those people who would make schooling absolutely mandatory," Galinda treaded carefully. She knew Elphaba was slightly sensitive. As to what, she hadn't quite figured out. Perhaps it was everything.

Elphaba hesitated. "Nessarose wasn't born like everyone else."

"Oh, I see," Galinda mused. For her lack of demonstration, Galinda actually had quite the imagination. Now it was wandering like a kid in a candy store. "So is she purple then? Or blue?"

"Nessarose has no arms," Elphaba replied suddenly. "It's a sensitive issue."

"You can't protect her from the world forever," Galinda stated casually, stretching her legs out in front of her and reaching for her toes. Having no siblings, she couldn't hope to relate, but she didn't realize it. "I can already see that you try to. The last thing you'd want is for people to rely on you."

"Why is that?" Elphaba asked, her curiosity betraying her.

"Because then the moment you do something for yourself everyone blames you," Galinda replied knowingly.

"I don't agree with that," Elphaba retorted, "I think that's selfish."

Galinda shook a finger at her. "But sometimes we have to be selfish to be happy."

"I thought you were a unionist," Elphaba chuckled.

"Well then I'm starting Galindism and you can be my first member," Galinda giggled. She paused and a question came to her mind. It was the one that was always on her blonde brain when Elphaba passed. "Elphaba, why haven't you talked to anyone?"

Elphaba stayed silent for a few moments. "No one's talked to me."

"Sometimes you have to be the first to talk," Galinda pointed out bluntly.

"Not everyone is born with your confidence, Galinda," Elphaba snapped. And just as they had it, they had lost it over again.

"I think you should join us tomorrow," Fiyero commented out of the blue. "You never leave this room and it's not good for you."

"You go out too much, it's not good for you," Elphaba retorted.

"Please, Elphaba? You can be my guest."

"I thought you were taking Galinda," Elphaba stated. She had the annoying habit of not looking up from her books.

"I never asked her!" Fiyero replied bewilderedly.

Also maintaining the annoying habit of not showing him any emotion, Elphaba expanded, "Galinda's under the impression that you're exclusive."

"Funny thing...when Galinda gets an impression, she automatically believes it's true. It makes her a skilful gossip," Fiyero chuckled.

"And yet this doesn't seem to bother you."

"Why would it? I don't really mind."

Elphaba looked at him blankly. "So there's a girl who believes you're interested in her and you're leading her on, so that she just falls even more in love with herself?" She scoffed. "I see."

"What's there to see?"

"I see that it just gives you a nice self-esteem boost," Elphaba answered, shifting her books in her lap. "When you have the time why don't you share some of it with the rest of us?"

Raising his hands in defense, Fiyero snapped, "All I said was that I think you should join Galinda and I at the OzDust."

Elphaba snorted characteristically. "Galinda doesn't want me there."

Right on cue, Galinda burst into the room. "I don't want who, where?"

"Oh look, it's the princess herself," Elphaba complained, throwing down her pen.

Galinda crinkled her nose in disgust and narrowed her eyes. "Oh look, it's the prince and the frog. What's eating you anyway, Froggie?"

"You act as if anyone around you just catches your bubbliness," Elphaba muttered loud enough that Galinda could hear, but strained herself to do so.

Overall, Galinda wasn't pleased with Elphaba's attitude. In her opinion, someone needed to teach her a lesson. Could this be the perfect opportunity arising? "If you're talking about the OzDust, I think it would be a fantastic idea for Elphaba to come."

"And that's exactly why I'm not going."

Galinda stamped her foot twice. "Don't you ever believe that someone might be doing something just for the sake of being nice to you?"

"No, I don't." Elphaba rose from her bed and stopped close to the door. "Because no one's ever done anything for the sake of being nice to me." She slammed the door behind her.

Fiyero's attention turned to Galinda. "Okay. What secret plan have you got going on?"

"I genuinely want her to have a good time," Galinda pledged.

Fiyero had to credit Galinda for her lying talents.