Dedicated to ReallyUhSharp for the amazing comment!
Elphaba woke groggily, and fell off the make-shift bed when she tried to roll over. Slowly, the events of the night before came back to her, and she leapt back on the bed. Chastising herself for being so skittish, she went to see if Morrible had gotten an exterminator yet.
"Madame?"
"Yes? Oh, Elphaba, the exterminator will be coming today. They'll be spraying chemicals in your room, so you and Miss Galinda should get anything that might be damaged."
"She's changed it to Glinda, Madame. Thank you." A while later, she was standing in front of her door. She couldn't open it. She knew there were many, many bugs in there, and however hard she tried, she couldn't make herself go in. She inched a foot forward, her shoes never leaving the carpet. Her hand shook as she tried to unlock the knob. Cursing, she returned to her post about a metre away from the door. She had been repeating this for nearly a half of an hour. The carpet was showing wear from where she'd paced in desperation. She needed to go inside and get a change of clothes, but her stupid, irrational fear kept holding her back.
"Come on, Elphaba, you can do this." She muttered. "You survived in Quadling country, you can beat a few measly bugs. Go get it over with. Just march in there and get what you need. Don't think about anything else. Don't think about anything else." Of course, she thought of the one thing she was trying not to think of and lost her nerve. "Focus, Elphaba, focus! Just get your clothes and get out. Just get the clothes and leave. Just get the clothes and leave. Just get the clothes and leave." She then turned and walked away.
At the library, she found what she was looking for in an encyclopedia. Running her finger down the index, she located Bugs/Insects, Fear of on page 543. "Entomophobia: An abnormal and persistent fear of insects. Sufferers experience anxiety even though they realize that most insects pose no threat." She whispered to herself. She then hunted down treatments in Entomology and Phobia books, but there was nothing that would help her now. She would have to just get it over with. She marched to her bedroom door and took a deep breath. Holding that breath, she dashed inside. She blindly grabbed a dress and underclothes from her things. Tearing out of the dorm room, she slammed the door shut. Breathing hard and shaking, she took a moment to compose herself before heading to Pfanee and Shenshen's room.
She knocked on the door and waited. She heard muffled whisperings and rolled her eyes.
"Psspsspsssssstpsspssss."
"What? Elphaba's here?"
"Shhh! Pssstpsssspstpsstpsssss"
"What?"
"Pssstpss-"
"I can't understand you, just talk in a normal tone of voice."
"Your roommate is waiting outside." A few moments later, Glinda opened the door, with her 2 friends huddled together on the opposite side of the room.
"Hello, Elphie."
"Hello, Glinda. I'm just here to inform you that Madame Morrible is having our room exterminated with chemicals, and she recommends taking out anything that could be damaged."
"Oh. Thank you." Elphaba nodded and went to class. "Elphie?" Glinda asked quietly. Elphaba stopped in the hallway and turned, her roomie had called her by her nick-name in front of the popular girls. "Could you come with me?" Glinda held her skirt with both hands, knuckles white, looking at her shoes. Elphaba swallowed hard.
"Yes. I should, uh, grab something myself." The pair made their way to the room. In front of the door they clasped hands. Holding tight to each other, they opened the door. The bugs were gone, and they could see that all that was left of their feast was an apple core. Elphaba tried to hide the chill down her back. Where were the bugs hiding? She let go of Glinda's hand for an instant to get her suitcase of treasures out from under her bed. She couldn't feel it. Perhaps she had pushed it farther under than she thought. She slowly lowered herself to the floor, trying very hard not to think about bugs, shocked to find her suitcase missing! She began searching anywhere it would fit when Glinda shyly cleared her throat. She was holding the suitcase!
"I, um, hid it under my bed when I was mad at you. I'm sorry." To full of adrenaline to speak, Elphaba simply hugged her girlfriend. Glinda quickly retrieved everything she didn't want her Momsie and Popsicle replacing, and the girls rushed out of the room. "It was different last night, not having you there. Do you suppose Madame Morrible might let us take a spare room together?"
"L-Let's go ask." Still a bit shaken from the bugs, Elphaba let Glinda ask Horrible Morrible their request.
Glinda emerged from the Headmistress's office tear-stained, but she was grinning.
"We got it." She whispered. "Good thing I can cry on cue." They traipsed to the room and left their belongings on the beds. The furnishings were too frilly for Elphaba's tastes, and too plain for Glinda's. They had missed their first class, and skipped their second to get breakfast. The day passed normally, but Elphaba was still a bit anxious getting into bed that night.
"Glinda?"
"Yes, Elphie?"
"You were really brave today, to go into our room with all the bugs."
"Thanks. You, too."
"…Glin?"
"Mmm?"
"…Nevermind." She turned away from the other bed.
"What, what is it? … Elphie, what's wrong?"
"It's stupid." She spat, her voice thick with tears. She heard Glinda pad over to her bed.
"It's not stupid if it's worrying you."
"Yes, it is." She glared at the wall. "It's utterly moronic, just go back to bed."
"Please? Please tell me?" Elphaba sighed. If she really wanted to know…
"I'm scared of bugs. Petrified. I can deal with one, but that just put me over the edge. Now you know." She caught her tears in a blanket, which also served to hide her face.
"But you were so brave, to go back to the room."
"I was holding back a scream the entire time. If I had seen a bug, the entire campus would have known."
"But you still went. And now the bugs are gone."
"No, they're not. The bugs may be gone from that room for now, but there's bugs everywhere. Millions upon millions outside. Small enough to fly up your nose and as big as your hand, most of them with some form of self-defense." She curled up tighter. "I may be good at everything academic, but I'm worse than Nessarose if a bug comes near."
"Can a sing you a lullaby my mom used to sing to me?"
"Okay."
"There's a song that's inside of my soul, It's the one that I've tried to write over and over again, I'm awake in the infinite cold, But You sing to me over and over and over again, So I lay my head back down, And I lift my hands, and pray to be only Yours, I pray to be only Yours, I know now you're my only hope, Sing to me the song of the stars, Of Your galaxy dancing and laughing, and laughing again, When it feels like my dreams are so far, Sing to me of the plans that You have for me over again, So I lay my head back down, And I lift my hands and pray, To be only yours, I pray to be only yours, I know now you're my only hope, I give You my destiny, I'm giving You all of me, I want Your symphony, Singing in all that I am, At the top of my lungs I'm giving it back, So I lay my head back down, And I lift my hands and pray, To be only yours, I pray to be only yours, I pray to be only yours, I know now you're my only hope…" Softly, Elphaba drifted off to sleep.