A/N: Sorry for the long wait guys, I've been rather busy with school!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, always enjoying the lovley notes :)

The room was so quiet one would have been able to hear a needle drop.

All eyes were resting on the girl in the middle of the dance floor who had her lips pinched into a thin line, avoiding to make eye contact with anyone.

Elphaba's heart was pounding.

What had she been thinking?! It was so unlike her to get drawn into things like this and there was a reason for that.

No matter where she went people were always laughing at her.

No, she wasn't like other people.

No, she wasn't pretty or popular or normal for that matter, whatever that meant, but she couldn't understand the constant resentment she got from all sides, even her own family members.

She just wanted to belong, to fit in somewhere.

And this time she wouldn't just give in, run away and hide again. This time would be different.

Her dancing surely wasn't top notch but she could at least try.

Elphaba started to move her arms and slightly bounce her legs, eliciting more laughter from the observing crowd.

Every fibre of her body stung with embarrassment and the desire to exit this room but she couldn't give them the satisfaction of it.

She felt tears pounding to escape her eyes and a big lump in her throat but bursting into tears in front of all those people was not an option either.

So she just carried on with her dance, feeling terribly out of place and wishing for this nightmare to stop.

Galinda was still standing next to Fiyero, biting her lip as she observed her roommate's gawky attempts to dance.

She felt horrible.

"Well, I'll say this much for her, she doesn't give a twig about what everyone else thinks", she suddenly heard Fiyero say into her ear.

Obviously he hadn't seen the hurt Galinda had caught a glimpse of beneath Elphaba's icy stare.

"Of course she does, Fiyero! Oh, I feel terrible!"

"Why? It's not like it's your fault or anything."

Galinda flinched at his words and she turned away from him.

"Excuse me, please."

"What, wait, what are you gonna do?"

But the blonde didn't answer. Instead she made her way over to where Elphaba was still trying to make whatever she was doing look like dancing and tapped on her roommate's shoulder.

"M...may I - cut in?", she mumbled, her face flushing from the shame she felt.

Elphaba had gone on her nerves but she had done nothing to deserve being treated like this.

Now that she was closer to the other girl she thought she could see the shimmering of tears in her eyes but maybe this was only the light reflecting in Elphaba's glasses.

Without a word Elphaba stopped her quirky movements, pointed to the space in front of her as if saying 'Here, the center of attention is all yours again' and crossed her arms, sceptically awaiting Galinda's next action.

She was surprised to discover that the blonde girl started to imitate her 'dance', awkwardly waving her arms and bouncing her knees. The apologetic smile on her face appeased Elphaba's disappointment - her roommate seemed to be genuinely sorry.

She watched as Galinda danced on, transforming Elphaba's clumsy trampling into a slightly more elegant routine, including more steps and a turn.

Grizelda and Linette were standing not far from them, throwing depreciatory glances at the scene unrolling in front of them.

Their friend and leader bonding with the greenie? That was not something Galinda was going get away with so easily.

As she caught their contemptous glares, she stopped dancing for a moment, locking eyes with her friends.

Her pleading look didn't help, their stare remained cold and Galinda knew she would have to make a decision.

She slowly backed away and with the slightest implication of a shrug she turned around and smiled at Elphaba who still looked very confused.

Galinda owed her roommate that much.

She didn't know if she would be able to make up for all that she had done to Elphaba, but she knew that sticking to her now would at least be a start.

The two girls continued dancing and to Elphaba's great surprise she soon noticed that the rest of the people weren't laughing or staring anymore, but had picked up Galinda's steps as well.

The band had resumed playing and everybody was dancing around the pair of girls in the middle.

Elphaba couldn't help but smile.

For this feeling alone Galinda deserved a second chance.

On the way home, the two girls walked together in silence, neither of them knowing what to say.

Grizelda and Linette hadn't so much as looked at Galinda since the little incident on the dancefloor and Fiyero had taken off with some new friends he had made at the party, leaving the two roommates to themselves.

Elphaba was used to staying silent, but Galinda dreaded the seemingly endless pause in the conversation but she just couldn't find a topic to talk about with Elphaba, she was just so different from her!

As they arrived in their room, both girls started talking at the same time.

"Thank you."

Both were startled for second and then burst into laughter.

"This whole night is simply strange", Elphaba mused, taking off her hat and placing it on her bed.

"You think so?", Galinda replied with a little laugh and sat on her own bed, her legs dangling.

"Although I'd love to know what you thanked me for", Elphaba asked, sitting down next to her hat.

"I don't know", Galinda admitted, "maybe for, uhm, not being angry at me because of the hat thing."

Her voiced had become small and she was biting her lower lip, softening Elphaba's heart.

"I don't think it's necessary to hold a grudge. They would have laughed at me no matter what was on my head."

She peered at the black headpiece on her left and smiled.

"I actually still like it. It made my first party special somehow. That's why I thanked you, by the way, for making this night..."

"Your first party", Galinda interrupted her.

"Your first party...ever?!"

"Do funerals count?", Elphaba replied drily and shifted around on her bed, getting increasingly intimidated by Galinda's suddenly very eager looking face.

"But this is so exciting! Your very first party! Oh, I know, I know, we should celebrate this!"

"Uh, what do you have in mind?", Elphaba asked alarmed.

"We should tell each other", Galinda began, stressing every word with rising anticipation, "something we have never ever told anyone! I'll go first!"

She bounced off her bed, hopped over to Elphaba's and buried her face in the pillows.

Elphaba watched her in amazement, witnessing just how bubbly Galinda actually was up close for the first time.

After an adequately long dramatic pause, Galinda's face reappeared and with big eyes she announced, "Fiyero and I are going to be married!", followed by a squeal that made Elphaba's ears ring.

"He's asked you already?!", she almost shouted, looking at her roommate incredulously.

This relationship had taken off much faster than she had expected. She would have given them at least two weeks until one of them had proposed!

"No, he doesn't know yet", Galinda admitted nonchalantly, which made Elphaba laugh.

"I see."

"Now it's your turn, tell me a secret!", the blonde girl demanded, impatiently bouncing up and down on Elphaba's bed.

"Like what?"

"Like..."

Galinda had stopped bouncing and moved closer to the upper half of the bed.

"...why you sleep with this funny little bottle under your pillow!"

Swiftly, she snagged the glass flask from under the bedding and held it as far away from Elphaba as possible, as she instantly tried to grab it.

"Give that back!", Elphaba shouted with a hint of desperation and tried to rescue her most treasured belonging from the giggling and squirming Galinda who tried to get a closer look at the curious object.

"Galinda, give that back now!", Elphaba yelled angrily and as the blonde noticed how upset her roommate was getting, she finally gave in.

When she handed the bottle back, Elphaba averted her eyes and quietly mumbled, "It belonged to my mother, you know?"

There was a moment of silence.

"My father hates me."

Galinda gasped.

"That's not the secret", Elphaba clarified with an eyeroll.

Yet another proof that Galinda payed no attention to her surroundings whatsoever.

Everyone knew that the governor hated her.

"The secret is", Elphaba continued hesitantly, "that he has every right to."

"But -"

"It's my fault. That my sister is...well, the way she is."

She didn't want to let Galinda interrupt her.

She was the first person Elphaba had ever told this secret and she didn't want to regret this decision.

"See, when my mother was carrying Nessa, father was worried she might come out - green - and he made my mother chew milkflowers, day and night.

Only that made Nessa come to soon and my mother - never woke up.

If it wasn't for me..."

"Nonsense!", Galinda finally interrupted.

She had listened to Elphaba's story calmly - something Galinda certainly wasn't very good at - but now she just needed to interfere.

"How is this your fault?"

"My mother wouldn't have had to chew milkflowers if I hadn't been green."

"But that is not your fault! Just because this is your secret doesn't mean that it's true!"

Both of the girls were silent again.

Elphaba thought about what Galinda had said.

Everybody had always blamed her and eventually she had just accepted it as a given fact that she was responsible for her mother's death.

All of a sudden the blonde jumped up from the bed and pointed at the window.

"Look! It's tomorrow!"

And really, as Elphaba looked outside she could see the faint reddish glow of the sunrise on the horizon.

She, Elphaba Thropp, had stayed up until the break of dawn?

This surely was something entirely new to her.

"Elphie, I've decided to make you my new project."

"Elphie?"

"Oh, is it alright if I call you that? I think it's very sweet."

"Sweet?"

"Don't you like it?"

"It's a little perky."

"You can call me..."

She thought about any suiting nicknames for herself but didn't quite seem to find one that quickly.

"...Galinda", she ended unspectecularly, which made Elphaba smile.

"You really don't have to do that by the way."

Galinda looked at her blankly.

"Do what?"

"Make me your project, whatever that means."

"Oh, but I'd love to! That's what I'm good at! You have so much potential, Elphie!"

Elphaba looked at Galinda sceptically.

But Galinda just carried on.

"I'm going to teach you everything there is to know about popularity since I'm obviously the most popular person around here, I'm sure you've noticed."

Elphaba was already starting to regret her decision to try and befriend her peculiar roommate.

"You are so humble!", she said mockingly, but Galinda didn't listen.

"First thing tomorrow...er, today, we're going shopping and to the hair salon and I'll teach you everything you have to know - how to spark up a conversation, how to get a good reputation and how to flirt with boys!"

Galinda was almost screaming by now and Elphaba was starting to feel a little afraid of what she had embarked on.

"I'm not sure..."

"Oh and you have to try this lipstick!"

Without any further warning she smudged the bright pink lipstick on Elphaba's lips, then took a good look at her and started to undo the long braid that fell down Elphaba's back, leaving her thick black hair in subtle waves.

"Oh, and this needs to go away as well", she sputtered and took the pair of glasses off the other girl's nose.

Elphaba blinked a couple of times, now having to squint her eyes to be able to see sharply.

"Whew, this might be a little harder than I thought", Galinda stated as she observed Elphaba.

"What's that supposed to mean now?"

"Do not worry, I'll help you, Elphie", Galinda went on cheerfully, "it's all about how people see you, not about knowledge or intelligence."

"Well, obviously", Elphaba mumbled sarcastically.

"Take the world's most famous leaders for example, do you think they were elected because they were smart or skillfull, please, all they did was gain enough popularity and renown so people would think they were smart and skillfull!"

Elphaba stared at her roommate in disbelief.

But Galinda couldn't be stopped.

"Okay, first things first, I'll show you how to toss your hair. Follow me. Toss, toss!"

Galinda threw her hair back over her shoulders with an elegant movement of her neck and displayed her sweetest smile, her head tilted to the side ever so slightly.

When Elphaba tried, her outcome was neither elegant nor sweet.

She nearly threw out her neck trying to maneuver her long and heavy hair behind her shoulders and her smile turned out rather crooked.

"This is never going to work", she huffed frustrated which made Galinda scurry over to her immediately.

"You mustn't think that way anymore! Your life is going to change from now on! You'll just practise the tossing.

Now I have another idea."

Elphaba feared the worst.

"I am going to transform your simple frock into a terrificacious ballgown! Step over here please."

She pointed the training wand she had gotten from Madame Morrible at Elphaba and called out in a demanding tone.

"Ballgown!"

Nothing happened.

She pointed again.

"I said, BALLGOWN!", she shouted, making Elphaba jump back a few feet.

Galinda inspected the wand carefully.

"Is this turned on?"

She walked over to her bed and started slapping the wand against the mattress.

"Do you want me to try?"

"No, just wear the frock, it's pretty, we'll just go looking for something else tomorrow."

She threw the wand behind her and it flew across the room, landing behind Galinda's bed.

"You know I could, maybe, help you with the sorcery exercises", Elphaba offered.

"Oh Elphie, that would be fantastic! Thank you!"

Galinda proceeded to nearly suffocate Elphaba in a hug.

The hug left Elphaba startled for a moment.

She wasn't really used to being hugged, or even touched, for that matter, so the small gesture from Galinda filled her with an unfamiliar warmth.

Galinda hadn't noticed the effect of her embrace and just went on blabbering as excitedly as before.

"Now for the finishing touch!"

She took the pink rose out of her hair and worked it into one of Elphaba's dark strands.

"Pink goes good with green!"

Then she looked at Elphaba for a moment, a smile spreading across her face.

"Why Miss Elphaba, look at what a beauty you are!", Galinda rejoiced and handed her roommate a small silver hand mirror.

Elphaba stared at her image, the ridiculous pink lipstick smeared all over her mouth and the ridiculous flower in her now dishevelled hair clashing terribly with the colour of her skin.

Yet sowehow something had changed.

Galinda had said she was beautiful.

No one had ever told her that and much like the thing with the green bottle, Elphaba had never even considered looking at herself in any other way than the abominable disgrace she was for her father.

She felt tears welling up inside of her and the urgent need of fresh air.

"I - have to go", she stuttered out and leaped towards the door, leaving a confused Galinda behind in the dorm room.

"Your welcome", she called after Elphaba, slightly disgruntled by her roommates sudden escape.

"She'll learn to appreciate it once she's popular like me", Galinda said to herself.

"Well, not exactly as popular as me, that's simply not possible", she added, stressing her statement with a satisfied nod and started to prepare for her beauty sleep.