Elphaba Thropp

Time Spent As Galinda: 2 Hours

Elphaba had just left her biology class, the one class that she shared with Galinda. It was so strange, pretending to be Galinda. There was a certain fear that you would mess up, or that you would make one wrong move,say one wrong thing, and it would all be over. Yet there was a rush to it, a rush much like the one that Galinda had explained about acting. According to her, there was a fear before you began, but everything just left your mind and you became your character as soon as you stepped onto the stage. Elphaba did her best to channel that, to let everything go and be Galinda. She found that it was actually much easier than she thought that it would be.

"Ah, good morning, Miss Glinda." The professor said as Elphaba strode into the class.

"Good morning." She greeted, using the sweetest tone she could possibly use. Shoot! I forgot to correct him! It turned out that this new professor wasn't any better at pronouncing Galinda's name than Doctor Dillamond had been. Galinda always corrects him when he says her name wrong! Only a minute in class and I've already screwed up! She sat in Galinda's usual seat and prepared for class, extra careful to do exactly what she had seen Galinda do in their previous class all throughout the year.

"Alright, class. Today we have our history exam. I hope that you all have studied." The professor said. Elphaba bit back the urge to laugh. Galinda hadn't studied at all. Whatsoever.

"I will hand out your exam packets. You will have as much time as you need. You may begin once everyone has their packets." He continued as he began to pass out the exam packets.

Elphaba nearly laughed out loud as she looked through the book and saw how easy the questions were. This is the easiest exam ever! She thought as she flipped through. Then, she picked up her pencil and began to easily answer each question. She knew that Galinda was never the first done, so once she finished, she realized that she would have to wait for a few others to turn in their exams first. Curious at how much longer it would take, she peaked at Venisse, one of the smartest girls in the class's, booklets to see how far along she was. Oz, only half way done.

This was going to take a while. So she needed to find a way to make it look like she was working until people began to finish. But how could she do that? What would Galinda do? She didn't know, because Galinda would never finish early! Why was this so hard? She racked her brain for something to do, finally settling on pulling out a piece of paper and doodling on it in pink.

She continued to draw for a little while, waiting for about half of the class to finish. Once she believed that it would be a good time to go ahead and turn in the booklet, she did so. She noticed how the professor eyed her wearily as she returned to her seat. Oh no! What if he's onto us? She panicked, desperately hoping that this was not the case.

Fortunately for her, this was not the case. Unfortunately, it might have been worse than that.

"Oh, Miss Glinda, would you mind staying after for a moment?" The man asked, stopping her as she made her way to leave after the class had ended. Dang it. He's holding me back after class! What if he's onto us? Keep Calm. What would Galinda say if a professor asked her to stay after?

"Oh, it's Galinda. With a Ga."

"Of course, Miss Glinda. Now, I need to speak to you about something. After she turned in her test, Miss Venisse made me aware of the fact that she saw you looking at her paper during the test. After you turned yours in, I went and checked. You got a 98%. You only missed one question, number 48." He paused. "That is the only question that Venisse got wrong, as well. She told me that she was around that question when she saw you look at her paper."

"I..." Elphaba began, but paused. What would Galinda say? "Well, I would never sink as low as to cheat on a very important exam. I mean no disrespectation, sir, but I believe that Venisse was simply lying to you."

"Miss Glinda-" The professor began, but Elphaba, channelling her inner blonde, interrupted him.

"It's Galinda. With a Ga."

"Yes, Miss Glinda. May I remind you that your grade in this class is currently at an average of a D-, so would you like to explain your sudden ability to comprehend the information that you receive in this class?"

Elphaba wanted to give a smart reply, but she knew that that wasn't what Galinda would do. Galinda didn't even know what the word comprehend meant! "Well, I, um... You see, I... What does comprehend mean?" Elphaba wanted to punch herself right now. How had she let herself screw up so badly? I hope that it's going better for Galinda than it is for me!

The professor sighed. "Miss Glinda-"

"It's Galinda. With a Ga." Dang it! I forgot to correct him last time! Why I am so bad at this?

"Yes, Miss Glinda. Let me put that in a way that you'll better understand. Why is it that, on the one day that you absolutely ace a test, somebody catches you looking at their own test?"

"A coincidence. An unexpected twister of fate."

"Miss Glinda, I have asked a few other students, who all noticed you looking at their exams during this testing period." Ozdang it! Why was I so stupid enough as to look at other people's tests to see how far along they were? I should have just waited for a bunch of people to finish!

"I...um," she began, not knowing what to say next.

"Miss Glinda, I'm afraid that we have enough evidence to prove that you did, indeed, cheat on this exam. Because you've never done anything like this before, I'll give you a chance to retake it, for less credit."

"Oh, thank you, sir!" She exclaimed, turning and bounding out of the door.

"You're welcome, Miss Glinda!" He called after her.

"It's Galinda! With a Ga!" She called cheekily, still skipping towards her next class, not bothering to look behind her.

As she skipped away, she saw Galinda, the real Galinda who was currently disguised as the green girl, marching towards her. She grabbed Elphaba by her arm, stopping her in her tracks. Elphaba didn't know that the blonde was so strong.

"Oh, hi Elphie!" Elphaba said, the usual greeting that Galinmd gave her. She smiled, but the look on Galinda's face caused the smile quickly to dissolve. "What's wrong?"

"I'm going to kill you, Thropp." Galinda growled in a low tone. Elphaba swallowed. And she knew exactly why Galinda was mad.

She'd found out about Fiyero.

Special thanks to Love2read20 for inspiring the cheating idea.

Predictions? Why do you think that Galinda's mad? What's going to go go wrong next?

See you next chapter, which will be soon!