"You mean...me?!"
Elphaba stared at her father in disbelief.
"Of course not you, your sister! But you are to accompany her and assist her and nothing else. Most of all, you are to remain quiet and you mustn't cause any of your little commotions! Your sister is the future governor of Munchkinland and it is of utmost importance that our family obtains a good reputation, do you understand that?"
"Yes", Elphaba mumbled, the short moment of elation blown out by her father's instructions.
Once again she would only be in the shadows, following her sister around.
Shiz University for law, logic, linguification and, occasionally rumoured, also sorcery, was an old established, ivy entwined building with many corners and niches, a number of windows in slightly crooked frames.
Elphaba's first thought upon seeing it, was that it looked like a friendly old grandfather, inviting children to sit on his lap so he could read them stories.
At least that was what the grandfathers in the books from her childhood had always done.
The huge front portal was standing wide open, students streaming in constantly.
There was no fix school uniform, every student was allowed to choose their own attire, as long as it consisted of white or blue, the school's colours.
So Elphaba had chosen an unflashy dark blue dress and jacket with a matching crochet cap to stick out as little as possible.
Of course she got the unwanted attention as soon as she stepped on the school ground.
People were turning their heads and started whispering as she passed them, pushing her sister's wheelchair in front of her.
Some of them even backed away with a frightened expression, but Elphaba kept approaching the door, pretending not to notice the staring.
"Alright, Nessa, I'm going to leave you out here and see if I can find out where our rooms are. Father should arrive every minute to say goodbye."
With that she grabbed her old battered suitcase, one of their servants had placed next to her as soon as she had stopped in front of the door.
Inside, the looks did not lessen, contempt or fear showing on many faces.
On the other side of the room stood a baggage cart with a ridiculous amount of white suitcases on top of it.
They all seemed to belong to a girl, dressed all in white as well, directing several boys carrying more suitcases around.
As she noisily chatted with some other girls nearby, the blonde locks peeking out under her white beret bounced up and down restlessly.
She was clearly a popular girl.
And when she turned around and discovered Elphaba, her stub nose scrunched in displeasure.
"What's that?", she mouthed at her newly-found friends, scanning the new arrival from head to toe.
Elphaba adjusted her glasses, tucked at her jacket and took a deep breath.
In secret she had hoped that all of this would be different at this school.
With a little shrug to herself she decided to just grin and bear it for now and went over to the judgmental bunch.
"Sorry, I couldn't help noticing that you're staring at me, do I have something in my teeth?"
With that, she bared her teeth at them and waited for a reaction.
Nothing.
Not even a laugh.
Good, then without the grinning part.
"Alright fine, let's get this over with.
No, I'm not seasick, Yes, I've always been green, No, I did not eat too much spinach when I was a child! And..."
"ELPHABA!", her father's harsh voice interrupted her little outbreak.
She whirled around, fuming.
"Oh, and this is my sister Nessarose, as you can see, she's a perfectly normal colour!"
Her father had hurried over to her, grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her over to where her sister sat in her chair.
"Would you stop making such a spectacle of yourself!", he hissed close to her ear.
"Do you remember what I told you?", he asked sternly.
"Yes", Elphaba mumbled, "I'm only here to take care of Nessa, I know. But-"
Before she could even say another word, her father had already turned his back on her.
"My precious little princess!", she heard him singsang to Nessa instead.
"Your first day at university, I am so proud of you!"
He waved the servant who had brought the suitcases nearer.
Now he was carrying a small wooden chest he handed to the governor.
"A small gift for you, my smart little girl."
He took a sparkling object out of the box and handed it to Nessa.
"Jeweled shoes! Father that wouldn't have been necessary!"
"The future governor of Munchkinland only gets what she deserves, my dear. Now, Elphaba", he declared, turning around to his other daughter again.
He still held the box in his hand.
Could it be that he had thought of her, too, for once and gotten her a present as well?
"Take good care of your sister and", he snapped, "try not to talk so much."
He shut the case and thrusted it into Elphaba's hands. Then he turned on his heels and left the school building.
Startled, Elphaba looked down at the wooden box into her hands, swallowing the pain of being overlooked as usual.
"Elphaba, I'm...sorry", she heard her sister's voice.
"Don't be", she smiled, "what could he possibly have gotten me? I clash with everything."
In that moment, a loud, piercing voice cut through the bustling noise in the entrance hall.
"Welcome, welcome, my dear new students!
My name is Madame Morrible and I am the headmistress of this wonderful University.
No matter what you decided to study, be it law, logic or languification, I am sure I speak on behalf of all my colleagues when I say we have the highest hopes for, well, most of you."
On the last words, her gaze had wandered to the blonde girl and her posse, much to Elphaba's amusement.
She went to push Nessa's wheelchair closer to the headmistress, shooing away some of the students in the way.
"Oh, you must be Miss Nessarose Thropp, the governor's daughter!"
Madame Morrible came closer to them, the heaps of fabric swaying graciously behind her.
She was short, almost a head shorter than Elphaba and, to phrase it respectfully, well covered.
Her hairstyle was bold, the mass of her platin-blonde hair was stacked up on her head to some kind of triangular sculpture - a work of art in its own way.
As the woman bent down to inspect Elphaba's sister further, the young girl became impatient and walked around the chair, building herself up behind the teacher, arms crossed.
"Oh Miss Nessarose, what a tragically beautiful face you have. Now tell me, who is here to take care of you?"
Now Elphaba had enough. She wasn't invisible, for Oz's sake!
Confident, she tapped the Madame's shoulder.
"I'm- aah!"
Madame Morrible backed away in shocked surprise.
Elphaba flinched a little at her scream but she made an effort to appear like she hadn't noticed it.
She forced a smile to her lips and introduced herself.
"I'm Elphaba, the other daughter. I'm...beautifully tragic", she added, but like everyone else at this school, the headmistress didn't seem to catch on to her humour either.
She only gave her a disconcerting look before she turned to Nessa again.
"I am sure you are very bright."
"Not bright, she's phosphorescent!", Elphaba heard the barely muffled comment by the impossible blonde girl.
The anger from before welling up inside her again, she wanted to lunge at this atrocious person but Nessa held her back by her arm.
She choked back her anger and stood quietly next to her sister.
"Now on to room assignments", the headmistress declared.
That was Elphaba's key word.
"Madame Morrible!"
The blonde girl again!
Elphaba couldn't help but roll her eyes. She looked forward to getting over with these room assignments so she wouldn't be forced to deal with this cow any longer.
"I have a question, Madame."
"Is it regarding room assignments?"
"No, thanks for asking but you see, I have made sure that I am assigned a private suite and..."
She was interrupted by collective gasping from the other students.
"Oh, but you are all invited to visit as often as you like!", she responded in such a pretentious tone that it almost made Elphaba nauseous.
"Oh Galinda, you're so kind."
"Oh, no, I'm not."
"Yes, you are."
"Okay, I guess I am."
Elphaba had never seen someone as selfabsorbed as this Galinda girl.
What kind of name was that anyways?
"You had a question?", Madame Morrible asked, unimpressed.
"Yes, I had, you must know, I am Galinda Upland", she stated, making a dramatic pause to get a reaction. As nothing happened, she proceeded, "from the Upperuplands. I have applied to your sorcery seminar."
As this still didn't ring any of Madame Morrible's bells, she went on.
"You might recall my entrance essay, 'Magic Wands: Need They Have a Point?'"
"Oh, I do remember now", Madame Morrible said, not looking too enthusiastic, "however, I do not teach my seminar every semester, you must know. Only if there was someone with a special talent of sorts..."
"I know, that's why I..."
"Madame Morrible, we really need our room assignments now, we haven't received ours yet!", Elphaba cut off the blonde girl energetically. She couldn't listen to that senseless blabbering any longer.
"Oh, my dear, the governor has made it very clear to me that your sister's wellbeing is his highest concern, that's why I have decided to take her under my wing.
She will share my premises and I will make sure that she is well cared for."
"But, but I have always taken care of my sister."
"I am sorry, but he never mentioned you."
Elphaba felt that well-known anger rising inside her.
They wanted to take her sister away from her!
"I am sure, this is just a minor mess-up, not to fret, darling, we will find a place for you to stay."
Elphaba did not like the way the headmistress just put her off in such a condescending manner.
"But, Madame!", she cried out and went after her teacher.
Meanwhile, Galinda was not at all content with the way her introduction to Madame Morrible had panned out.
She wasn't used to such dismissive behaviour towards her.
Usually, the world lay to her feet after she just so much as batted an eyelid.
"I don't think she even read my essay", she grunted frustratedly.
"That is so unfair!", a high-pitched male voice came from behind her.
She turned around to face a short boy with brown hair who nervously averted his eyes as she met his gaze.
"You...you should com-complain, I think", he stuttered, turning red in the process.
"Should I? Grizelda, Linette, what do you think?"
"Students, listen up! Who of you volunteers to share her room with Miss Elphaba here?"
"Madame Morrible!"
Oh, for Oz's sake, what did the blonde want now?
"I think you should..."
"Miss Galinda, how exceedingly curteous of you to share your private suite! You will be Miss Elphaba's roommate!"
"What?!", both of the girls exclaimed at the same time.
"No!"
"Madame!"
"I won't-"
"This can't be!"
Elphaba ran after the headmistress who now started pushing away Nessa's wheelchair.
"No, Madame Morrible, I want to take care of Nessa!"
"Elphaba, please!", her sister tried to calm her but Elphaba was outraged! There was no way she would live with this blonde bundle of joy in one room for the rest of her stay!
"You know that father said..."
"It's enough, Elphaba, I can take it from here", the headmistress repeated and wanted to leave the entrance hall.
"It's NOT enough, LET HER GO!"
Her heart beat so fast she felt as if it was close to bursting out of her chest. Her hands prickled and she felt as if something was tugging at her from inside.
Then her sister's wheelchair began moving. Madame Morrible backed away in surprise and watched as Nessa's chair moved across the floor until Elphaba got a hold of the handle.
Everyone in the room stared at her in shock.
Nessa clenched her fingers around the armrests of her chair and looked down.
"Elphaba, you promised this wouldn't happen again. Not here."
"This...this has happened before?", Madame Morrible spluttered, her eyes wide with astonishment.
Elphaba felt sick.
"I'm sorry. I- sometimes- Sometimes I can't control myself, something just comes over me and then...this happens, I apologize, it won't happen..."
"Never apologize for talent!", the headmistress cut her off.
"You, uh, talent?"
Elphaba was confused.
"My dear child", the Madame purred, laying an arm around Elphaba's shoulder.
"Have you ever thought about a career in sorcery?"