She was 4 years old. Wandering around the edge of her play-space, she was too focused on not getting caught outside the limits of Papa's eye to watch where she was going. All of a sudden, wasps shot out of the ground and began stinging her. Screaming and crying in terror, she ran back to Papa. He had no idea what to do. The only way to get rid of wasps was to go underwater, and that might kill his young daughter. He shut himself and Elphaba in a closed room, leaving many of the wasps outside, and killed the rest one by one. When all the wasps were gone, Nanny and Papa rubbed herbal paste onto the stings. Sobbing in pain and residual fear, she was too scared to go outside or be alone for the next week. Papa carried her when he went to preach, or she would cling to Nanny's skirt as the woman took care of her siblings. Unable to suck her thumb, Elphaba adopted the soothing habit of chewing her hair. When the swelling went down and the stings no longer ached, Papa tried to leave her home. Nanny had no patience for another whining child, so Elphaba walked beside Papa until she got too tired. Once, he was preaching in Nest Hardings when a bug landed on Elphaba. She ran, crying for her Papa, terrified. It took him half an hour to calm her down, then he set her on the ground and used her outburst as a teaching point. She clung to his trousers for the next month. Every bug that looked mildly threatening sent Elphaba into a tantrum, until she slowly overcame her fear of bugs. In small numbers. She still skirted ant-hills and stayed far away from beehives, and any buzzing sound threatened to send her into hyperventilation.
Elphaba awoke, terrified. Taking great, shuddering breaths, she crept to the window. The sky was just starting to lighten.
"Elphie?" Glinda whispered. Elphaba spun around, heart racing. "Are you alright? You were muttering and tossing in your sleep."
"Yes, I'm fine, just a bad dream. Did I wake you?"
"Not really." Glinda's eyes sparkled in the faint morning light. "Do you know what time it is?" Elphaba brought the alarm clock to the window.
"It's about… 7:35. I feel like moving around. Would you like to go on a walk?"
"Okay." Glinda went in the bathroom first, giving Elphaba a little more sleep. Then they traded places and Glinda put on her makeup and accessories. When both girls were prepared, they ventured onto the grounds.
Glinda gasped at the shock of the cold air. It nearly made her teeth hurt! She tugged her fur hat tighter around her head. Elphie had pulled her black scarf up over her nose. Glinda giggled.
"Great Shiz, is it ever freezing out here!" Elphaba complained. Glinda laughed.
"Would you like to see if the mess hall has some hot cocoa?"
"That sounds really good." They hurried over to the cafeteria, surprising one of the staff.
"Oh! Goodness me, I never see the chillens 'round here this early! What has got you two up afore the crack o' dawn?"
"Just wanted to take a walk." The replied in unison, grinning.
"Well, git on inside an' I'll make us sumfin. Anythin' ya want?"
"Could we please have some hot chocolate, sir?"
"Aye, that should about hit the spot. Have it fer ye in a clock tick!" The large Silverback Gorilla walked into the kitchen, tying on an apron as he went. Glinda and Elphaba attempted to warm up each other's hands. When the cook set their cups in front of them, they grabbed them eagerly. "Ach, don't go drinkin' it jest yet, girlies. Scald yerself, ye will. I best be gettin' ta my duties." They thanked the kindly man and headed back to the spare room to pack their things.
"He speaks so oddly." Glinda whispered.
"Yes, I wonder what region of Oz he comes from. Perhaps he's from Quox. That might explain the accent. It seems almost a sort of pidgin."
"Ok, what does 'pigeon' mean?"
"It's like a blending of languages. If people don't know other languages that well, they sort of come up with something on their own. Sometimes it becomes a new language."
"Do you think he'd teach us?" Glinda giggled.
"I doubt it." Her companion chuckled. "We'll just have to visit and learn it by ourselves." They nursed their drinks until it came time to go to class. "Warm enough?"
"Yes, thanks."
They headed to Life Sciences, where Elphaba did not raise her hand once. "Still mad about Doctor Nikidik not wanting to talk?" Glinda asked.
"Very much so. I understand that he might be busy, but he has no right to brush me off like that." Elphaba huffed. Glinda rubbed her girlfriend's shoulder.
"Some people are just like that, Elphie. Do you think our room is done?"
"Let's go check."
Not feeling up to going to the possibly bug-infested dorm room, they went to ask Horrible Morrible.
"Hello, girls. I heard your room was exterminated. Have you gone to survey?"
"Not yet, Madame."
"Well then, I will lend you Grommetik while you attend to your needs. Simply order him back to me when you're done. Go with Misses Galinda and Elphaba, Thingy. Carry their luggage." Grommetik wheeled after the girls slowly, it's head turning to watch Madame Morrible. Glinda stuck her tongue out at the tik-tok thing.
"I think it has a crush on Morrible." She whispered to Elphie. They giggled discreetly.
"Does it even have the parts?" They turned to look, and gasped when no evidence of this appendage was apparent. Giggling furiously, they led the machine to their dorm room.
"Grommetik." Glinda ordered. It turned to face her. "Set the luggage down. Survey our room for bugs. Do not disrupt anything." It had a little difficulty opening the doorknob, but managed to get inside the room. Curious, Glinda crept forward. Elphaba tugged her elbow.
"What if the bugs aren't gone?"
"I'm not going inside, I'm just looking." She peered through the crack between the door and doorframe. Grommetik was wheeling all about the room, looking under beds, in corners, in the closet, and anywhere else bugs might hide. Glinda was glad to see that the chemicals hadn't ruined too many of her things. When Grommetik was finished, it wheeled out and faced Glinda, waiting for instructions. "Grommetik. Good job. Return to Madame Morrible's office." It wheeled off so fast that it got caught on a rug tassel and the entire thing tipped over, crashing to the ground. Glinda and Elphaba couldn't hold back their laughter. Unable to right itself, Grommetik simply lay on the ground, spinning it's wheels and turning it's head. The girls picked it up, and it promptly went to find Morrible.
This caused another laughing fit, that Nessarose and Nanny came upon.
"What is so funny? Elphie? Glinda? What in Oz happened?" The pair looked at each other and began laughing anew.
"We hee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee. We got Grommetik from Morrible hahahaha. From Morrible and it has a heeheeheehee. Has a hahahahahahahaha."
"Grommetik has a what?" Nessa demanded, impatient.
"Crush on heeheehee. On her hahahaha! Grommetik has a crush on Morrible! Hahahahahaha! And when- and when- when we told it to go back to her office heeheeheeheeheeheehee. To her office, it fell over! Hahahahaha! Grommetik has a crush on Morrible!" At this point Elphaba and Glinda were clutching their sides, and even Nessa and Nanny were grinning.
"How is that even possible?" Nessa giggled. "Is Grommetik a boy? I mean, does it have…?" They all went into the dorm room to talk in private. Nessa and Nanny sat on Elphaba's bed, while the other two girls sat on Glinda's.
"Well, we thought the same thing, so we looked, and it doesn't have anything." It was hard to tell if their faces were red from laughter or embarrassment.
"Can tik-tok things have feelings?"
"Apparently so!"
"Oh, dear, this is too good. Do you suppose Morrible knows?" Nessa leaned forward a bit.
"I don't think so."
"She acted normal enough to me."
"Sooooo…" Glinda stage-whispered. "The big question is 'Do we tell people?'" Everyone paused to think.
"I advise against it. Blackmail can come around to harm you." Nanny quipped. The three students were still battling their consciences.
"Mmmmm… There are good points and bad points… What if we start a rumor anonymously?" Elphaba suggested. Glinda and Nessarose agreed. Nanny shook her head mutely. The girls discussed it and decided that Glinda would disguise her handwriting and leave the rumor on a folded bit of paper in a classroom.
"Life Sciences?" Glinda suggested.
"Oh, yes, imagine if Doctor Nikidik finds it!" Elphie grinned.
"Elphaba, don't be so mean!" Nessa admonished, but she was smiling as well. They were going to do it tomorrow morning.
For the rest of the day, Glinda grinned whenever she thought about their plan. When they went to their room for lights-out, there was a note stuck to the door.
Miss Thropp,
We thank you for coming to our shop for your dress, and hope you'll pass along the good word to your friends. Feel free to stop by anytime. Your dress in at the post office, awaiting your signature.
Sincerely,
Bella's Dress Shoppe
The girls peered at it, reading eagerly, then Elphaba carefully took it off the door and placed it in her suitcase. Glinda giggled in excitement.
"When shall we go fetch your new dress?"
"When we have time. Here, what does this mean 'awaiting your signature'?"
"That means you have to sign a slip of paper saying you got the package. It happens a lot with valuable things. Oh, let's go to the post office right now!" She bounced on her toes. Elphaba grinned.
"I would, but we would get back after lights-out, and I'd rather not deal with Horrible Morrible." She lay on her bed. "We'll get the dress tomorrow, after Life Sciences." Glinda sighed and went into the bathroom to change into her nightgown. The girls slept fitfully, still nervous about bugs.
When they awoke, Elphaba was anxious to spread the rumor about Morrible and Grommetik, and Glinda couldn't wait to see her girlfriend's new gown. They couldn't suppress smiles on the walk to Doctor Nikidik's classroom. Glinda didn't pay any attention to the lecture, instead working to disguisify her writing. When she had gotten a good result, she wrote a simple sentence on a half sheet of paper.
Grommetik has a HUGE crush on Morrible! She dropped the folded page to the floor as she left, hurrying Elphaba to the post office.
Elphaba stumbled as Glinda pushed her to the post office. She couldn't complain, she wanted to see the new dress as well. They showed their school IDs to the Kangaroo behind the desk, Elphaba signed her name on a slip of paper, and they were handed a large box with the Dress Shoppe's logo on top. She felt her face curve into a smile. Beside her, Glinda giggled in anticipation. They carefully carried the box back to their dorm, trying not to shift the contents.
They gently opened the box, and Elphaba lifted the dress. She ran into their bathroom to change. Before opening the door, she did a quick twirl and the skirt flowed about her ankles. She sashayed into the room, ending with a spin. Glinda squealed and inspected the dress at all angles. When they had finished oohing and ahhing, Elphaba settled gently on her bed. Glinda flounced down beside her.
"Oh, Elphie, this is simply fantabulous!"
"Mmmm." She couldn't contain her grin; her cheeks were beginning to ache. Glinda felt the soft material, then rested her hand on the bedspread. Right where Elphaba's hand happened to be resting as well. Neither girl moved. Elphaba felt her face get warm, and a quick glance showed her girlfriend was blushing slightly. Slowly, Elphaba moved her fingers until they were interlaced with the blonde's. She shifted closer. Glinda looked up shyly. Elphaba let her hair fall around her face. Her heart beat fast. Glinda squeezed her hand, and they leaned in slowly.