Galinda woke up and immediately wished she hadn't. She felt awful. Head pounding, stomach aching, awful. She laid there for a moment considering the possibility of being able to get up, but everything felt so horrible she kept her eyes closed and buried her face deeper into her pink pillow. She briefly wondered if she would be able to just go back to sleep, but her stomach lurched and Galinda raced for the washroom, all thought of sleep gone. She barely made it to the before contents of her stomach made a violent re-appearance. When the feeling of pure nausea finally subsided Galinda, flushed then pulled away from the toilet, and slumped against the washroom wall shivering. She sat for a moment before gathering her remaining strength, and, using the wall as a crutch she slowly got to her feet and staggered the couple of steps across the room where she leaned against the sink as she rinsed the vile taste out of her mouth. Once she was slightly cleaned up, Galinda slowly made her way out of the washroom and lowered herself unceremoniously onto her bed.
What a wonderful way to start the morning, Galinda thought sarcastically. She hated being sick. She had to miss classes, which meant that she missed out on a day of socialization, so much could happen in one day. Thinking about her classmates, Galinda started to wonder where Elphaba was. She didn't even need to look at Elphaba's bed to know that the green girl wasn't in the room. Elphaba was too light of a sleeper to be able to sleep through all the noise Galinda had made. She must have gone to class already. Maybe it's later than I thought.
That didn't make sense to Galinda either. Elphaba had the same first class, and she always woke Galinda up to make sure she made it to class. If Elphaba hadn't woken her up, then Galinda wondered just where she was. Just as Galinda was starting to get worried about Elphaba, which made her head hurt more, the door to their room opened and Elphaba walked in.
"Galinda you have to get up now. You're going to be late for class," Elphaba commented moving to open the blinds on the window, but paused when she saw how Galinda was laying. "Why are you almost falling off your bed?" Elphaba asked, continuing over to the window and opening the blinds wide. Elphaba often used opening the blinds to make sure Galinda stayed awake. Galinda just groaned, screwed up her eyes, and crawled weakly up her bed until she was buried under her blankets once again.
"Come on Galinda it's time to get up." Elphaba then noticed that the pink ball of blankets that was Galinda was shaking. Worry overtook Elphaba and she made her way over to Galinda's bed asking, "What's wrong Galinda? You're shivering."
Galinda wished that she could say that it was nothing. She didn't want Elphaba to have to see her so weak and sick. However, she knew Elphaba would see through it if she lied, and said she was fine. Instead, she just stayed under the covers and tried to ignore the churning feeling in her stomach.
Elphaba sat down beside Galinda on the bed and pulled the covers back. With Galinda's pyjama clad body now in sight again it didn't take long for Elphaba to guess what was wrong. She was shivering, she was pale, and, when Elphaba reached out and felt her forehead she found that Galinda was burning up.
"Galinda you're bu-" Elphaba was cut off by Galinda jumping out of bed and rushing towards the washroom again. Elphaba, slightly taken aback by the sudden movement, stayed where she was until she heard retching noises coming from the room Galinda had just entered and hurried after her.
Galinda was in the middle of emptying the contents of her stomach again when she felt Elphaba pull her hair back, holding out of the way. She felt Elphaba rubbing her back soothingly. Galinda was embarrassed that Elphaba was seeing her like this, but the small comforts Elphaba was offering felt too good, and Galinda couldn't bring herself to tell her to leave. When Galinda was fairly sure this bought of sickness had passed, she leaned against Elphaba who was still kneeling beside her.
"Thanks, Elphie," muttered Galinda tiredly. She tried to smile, but it came out as more of a weak grimace.
"Shh, you're sick Galinda. Let's get you back into bed." Galinda just nodded and let Elphaba guide her back to her bed. Elphaba helped Galinda back down onto the bed and brought the blankets back up over the smaller girl's body. Elphaba then sat down on the bed beside Galinda.
Once Galinda was settled she remembered that before her spontaneous trip to the washroom, Elphaba had been trying to wake her up for class. "Elphie you're going to be late for class," panicked Galinda knowing that Elphaba was never late for class, in fact, she usually tried to be early.
Elphaba smiled at Galinda gently. "I'm not going to class today. Not with you in this state." Galinda opened her mouth to protest and tell Elphaba to go to class, she was cut off. "Don't even think about telling me not to Galinda I can afford to take a day off classes to make sure you are okay. Now I'm going to go get us some breakfast, and tell Morrible that you're not feeling well."
As much as Galinda wanted to protest that she would be alright, and Elphaba didn't need to stay and look after her, she knew Elphaba well enough to know that once Elphaba made up her mind there was no changing it. As well, a small part of Galinda didn't want to be left alone and wanted the comfort Elphaba had provided so far. So, instead of fighting Elphaba, she just thanked the other girl again. Elphaba smiled, gave Galinda a small pat on the head, and made her way out of the room.
The rest of the day was spent in relative quiet. Galinda slept most of the day, waking up every so often, only getting up when she thought she was going to be sick. Elphaba stayed with her the whole day, watching over her even while she was sleeping.
Just before Elphaba went to bed, Galinda, who was laying quietly with her eyes shut, felt Elphaba tuck her in and give her a soft kiss on the forehead. Galinda tried to keep the smile off her face at Elphaba's actions. Maybe being sick isn't such an awful thing after all, thought Galinda before falling into a deep sleep.
Elphaba blew out the candle that was providing light to the room and slid into her own bed. She listened to the sounds of Galinda's breathing deepen, and when she was pretty sure the other girl was asleep she whispered, "Good night my sweet," before rolling onto her side and falling asleep.