A/N: Thank you so so much for all of the reviews so far! I love receiving any comments about my writing whether they be positive or negative, I take all of them on board. They all mean a lot to me, especially since this is the first time posting my writing online and I was very self-conscious about it. I love getting lost in Elphie's head, it gives me a chance to escape my own for a while! My head is sometimes a pretty brutal place to be, haha. But in good news (actually, absolutely FANTASTICAL news, as Glinda might put it), I officially have booked SECOND ROW TICKETS to see Wicked at the London Victoria Apollo theatre on August 22nd at 2:30pm. 22 days and counting! This may be the death of me, haha. I don't know how much more excitement I can put up with. Anyway, I'll stop babbling on and leave you to read Chapter 3: Quarrels and Squabbles and Disputes (oh my).

QUARRELS AND SQUABBLES AND DISPUTES

Galinda watched Elphaba leave the room suspiciously. Why had the girl brought her water? Had she spat in it? She opened the clasp on the bottle and it snapped, signalling its first opening. Weird. Nevertheless, she replaced the lid and left the water untouched on her nightstand.

The thing about the sorcery classes had almost taken Galinda's mind off what had happened to her cousin Aimee. Almost. She wiped her eyes and pulled the recent letter out from her dress pocket, leaning back on the bed to reread it for the fifth time that morning. Immediately, the sorcery classes took a darker seat in the back of her mind whilst the worry she had felt before returned.

Dear Ms. Arduenna Upland,

Your father not long ago informed me of your close association with his niece and your second cousin Ms. Aimee Doe Mehmet. It is with my deepest regrets and sincerest sympathies that I hereby am obligated to inform you of her disappearance. Ms. Doe Mehmet was last seen leaving the Ozdust Ballroom on the evening of September 28th and her absence has been cultivated since. The parents of Ms. Doe Mehmet have publicised the distressing news to further broadcast any hopes of finding their daughter.

Your father has apprised me to notify you of any changed information which may occur. I deem you not worry.

I hope you are well.

Best wishes,

D. L. Rocket

She dropped the letter from her father's publicist to the floor and stood up.

"You deem I not worry?" she said out loud, "Oh, well if you deem."

The door flung open and Galinda screeched in surprise to see Elphaba rushing towards her bed, cradling an armful of books. She dropped them to the floor with a bang that made Galinda flinch.

"What in the name of Oz are you doing?"

"Class was cancelled," Elphaba murmured, "Actually, the rest of today's classes have been cancelled. Something about there needing to be more Animal training."

"And that is a bad thing?"

"Yes. It means I have to spend more time in here with you."

"Oh, well I do apologise."

"Your sarcasm is wry and uncharacteristic," Elphaba snarled.

Galinda's breathing heightened. She ran her fingers through a small knot in the ends of her hair. "There is nothing stopping you from going outside, Elphaba."

"I ran into Madame Morrible on the way over."

"So?" Galinda raised her eyebrow at the change of topic.

"So she wants to see you."

"Why would Morrible want to see me?"

"It probably has something to do with the sorcery classes I mentioned earlier. If you took a second to wrack your memory and stop crying over some boy for a moment, you just might remember that."

Galinda narrowed her gaze and walked over to where Elphaba stood. She glared into the pair of deep brown eyes opposite her before striding out of the room furiously.

It had been over three hours and Galinda still hadn't returned. Elphaba stood up, walked over to the window and looked outside at the various groups of students dotted around the grounds but she couldn't see her roommate anywhere. She paced the room four times before skidding on a piece of stray paper on the floor. Elphaba was about to kick the paper out of her way when a draft of wind flipped it over, revealing a dark scrawl of black inked writing. Frowning, she bent down and picked up the script. It didn't take her long to read the short letter about Galinda's missing second cousin, Aimee.

"Oh, no."

Elphaba pocketed the letter, grabbed her black coat and stalked out of the door, down the hallway and towards the cafeteria, all the while thinking of how she had blamed Galinda's tears on a boy. Well, in her own defense, how was she to know? She knew two things about her blonde roommate, one being that the girl was positively arrogant and the other being that she was seeing a fellow called Fiyero.

The cafeteria was busy and as soon as Elphaba walked through the doors, the grim remarks started.

"What is that thing doing in here? Doesn't it know it will put us off our lunches?" a girl with sky blue hair said loud enough for Elphaba to hear, "Somebody take it away!"

"I didn't order lettuce with my lunch today," another snorted.

"Ah!" a plump girl simply squealed, covering her eyes with both palms.

Peals of laughter followed the remarks, echoing around the dining room and reverberating from the yellow walls so that Elphaba found it hard to concentrate. She closed her eyes to summon all of her strength and opened them with such force, making several empty chairs transport into the centre of the room and fall to the floor with a loud clatter. The cafeteria silenced and the swarm of girls looked at Elphaba with terrified eyes.

"Where is Galinda? Have any of you seen Galinda Upland?" she yelled.

Nobody answered. Elphaba scanned the cafeteria and saw two familiar faces in the far left corner. She thought their names were Pfannee and Shenshen and only knew this because they were two of Galinda's devoted followers.

"You, and you!" Elphaba said, walking towards the two girls who regarded her with looks of revolt, "Where is Galinda?"

The shortest girl straightened her back and looked up at Elphaba. She pouted and turned her head to the side.

"Well? What about you?" Elphaba looked towards the taller girl and raised an eyebrow. "Where is Galinda?"

"We have no idea what you are talking about, do we, Pfannee?"

"We certainly do not!"

"Oh, drop the act and tell me where she is!" Elphaba yelled, "I can move occupied seats, too!"

"She's in the public bathroom!" Shenshen squeaked, "In C Block!"

Elphaba glared at them both. She turned around with a swift flare of her black coat and marched from the cafeteria towards the C Block public bathroom. The stalls appeared to be empty when she got there and Elphaba was about to go and give Pfannee and Shenshen what for when she heard a quiet snivelling coming from the end stall.

"Gli-Galinda? Are you in here?" she called, making her way over to the source of the hushed wailing. "Hello?"

Elphaba tentatively knocked on the end door. It opened almost immediately and she was left looking at a very uncharacteristically curled up Galinda. The blonde was sat on top of the closed toilet lid, her legs tucked beneath her chin and her arms encasing her knees. Elphaba watched Galinda for a moment before locking the stall door and sitting down on the bathroom floor opposite her roommate.

"Elphaba, please stand up. You are going to filth yourself sat on this germicidal floor," Galinda frowned, "Honestly, it is making me anxious."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't apologise, just stand up!"

"Not for sitting on the floor," Elphaba said.

"Oh... well then what for?"

"For automatically and quite bluntly assuming that the reason for your tears somehow related to a boy," Elphaba admitted, "I was wrong to think that."

"Oh, well, that was quite rude of you," Galinda huffed, "You were right to assume that an apology was hereby needed. How did you find me?"

"I threatened Pfannee and Shenshen."

"You did what?!" Galinda screeched, rubbing her eyes and searching Elphaba's face, "I don't understand! How?"

Elphaba rolled her eyes and uncrossed her legs. The tiles really were very uncomfortable and she hadn't planned on having such a long discussion with Galinda. She had wanted to apologise and leave. As it stood, it turned out Galinda was good at dragging out situations for longer than anticipated.

"There really is no need to go into detail," Elphaba said, "I just-"

"Wait a moment," Galinda interrupted, putting a finger to Elphaba's lips and holding it there.

Elphaba opened her mouth to speak, but was immediately hushed again.

"I said wait!" Galinda hissed, "How did you know that my tears were not in regard to a boy?"

"Because I -" Elphaba muffled, removing Galinda's finger from her lips, "I read the letter you left on the floor."

"You read my mail?!"

"You left it on the floor!"

"You read my mail?!" Galinda repeated an octave higher, if that was possible.

Elphaba stood up quickly, "Here's a tip, Glin-GAlinda, if you don't want people to read your mail, don't leave it on the floor."

They were both silenced immediately when two recognized voices sounded through the door. Elphaba opened her mouth to speak again but Galinda shook her head viciously in caution.

"We ought to warn her, Shenshen," the first voice said.

"Pfannee, the girl can look after herself! I don't want to be sought out and spat on by that foul green toad. Did you see what she did to those chairs? Those chairs could have been us!" the second tweeted.

Elphaba's nostrils flared in vexation at the brainless name-calling. Galinda, seeing this small movement, grabbed her roommate's hand and squeezed it as hard as she could, warning her against speaking. She stood up delicately to come as close as she could to Elphaba's height.

"They can't know you're in here with me," Galinda whispered, "They just can't."

Elphaba scowled, "Why not?"

"Because I have a reputation to uphold."

"Oh please."

"Galinda, Miss. Galinda are you in here?" Pfannee shrieked, pushing open the empty stall doors one by one.

"Just trust me," Galinda whispered, "Please, Elphie."

"Elphie?" Elphaba hissed, "Who in the name of Oz is Elphie?"

"Now is not the time," Galinda said, dropping Elphaba's hand, "Stay here, I'll get rid of them."

Galinda left the stall and shut the door after her. She rushed over to Pfannee and Shenshen, her hand pressed against the left of her chest in mock horror.

"Oh, Miss. Galinda!" Pfannee cried out, trotting over to her friend, "We were so worried about you! That, that green cretin just intimidated us into telling her where you were!"

"Yes!" Shenshen piped up, "And although we didn't want to tell her of your whereabouts, we were just so afraid."

Behind the end stall, Elphaba rolled her eyes.

"Oh, you two are such good friends!" Galinda cooed, "Let's head back to the cafeteria quickly before Elphaba finds us here."

The voices grew quieter as they exited the bathroom. Elphaba waited a few minutes before leaving the stall and walking over to one of the sinks. She pressed her hands against the white cast-iron and looked directly into the mirror above the basin, meeting her own eyes. She grimaced and left.