Yes, yes, I know. Everybody's panicking.

Elphaba stayed curled in a fetal position on the floor for the next two hours. She wondered if anyone would come. She hoped Galinda would come back so she could apologize to her. She couldn't lose her best friend.

"Help… please," she whispered, though she knew no one could hear her. She closed her eyes, fighting the tears threatening to spill. Shaking, she tried to push herself up, but quickly fell back to the ground. "Somebody… please… help…"

A click and the door opened. Elphaba lifted her head, hopeful her roommate had returned. "G-Galinda?"

"Fae."

"Yero?" Elphaba whispered as she heard Fiyero rush over to her.

"I'm right here, Fae," Fiyero whispered, gently pulling Elphaba into his arms. The green girl winced at the sudden pain and snuggled closer to Fiyero.

"Oh, Fiyero," Elphaba whispered, leaning her head against Fiyero's chest.

"What happened?" Fiyero asked, his voice filled with worry.

"I thought you would never get here. I thought I would…"

"Fae, what happened?"

"Glin… she was just trying to help me and I… I pushed her away. It all happened so fast, Yero. One second, she's trying to help me and the next, she left and yelled that she wasn't going to come back."

"Why did she…?"

"I slapped her," Elphaba admitted, her voice barely above a whisper. "I… lost control of my temper and… I didn't mean to. It just… happened."

Fiyero held Elphaba close as she sobbed into his shirt. He didn't know what to say. He knew how stubborn Elphaba could be at times, and being injured was definitely making it worse.

"I'm sorry," was all he came up with.

Hearing a soft sigh, Fiyero looked down and noticed that Elphaba had cried herself to sleep. Fiyero slowly got to his feet with Elphaba in his arms, trying not to hurt her. Elphaba whimpered and Fiyero whispered soothing words into her ear until she calmed down. He carefully laid her back in her bed and grabbed the chair from her desk. He slowly dragged it across the room, trying not to make a lot of noise. Positioning it next to the bed, he sat in silence, occasionally humming a lullaby his mother used to sing to him. He gently stroked the back of her hand, enjoying the soft, smooth feeling of her skin against his fingertips.

Elphaba would occasionally mutter incoherent words under her breath. Every now and again, he would catch the words "Galinda" and "friend" and it would break his heart even more.

Galinda marched down the hallway, fuming and muttering under her breath. She walked into the café and sat at an empty table with a quiet huff and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Another problem?" Chyla asked, coming up to Galinda with a teakettle in her hands.

"I don't wanna talk about it," Galinda whispered, turning away.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!" Galinda snapped, angrily glaring at the younger girl.

Chyla jumped back, spilling some of the tea onto the floor.

Galinda sighed. "I'm sorry, Lalie," she whispered, grabbing a handful of napkins and helping Chyla clean up the mess. "I just…"

"You and Elphaba got into another fight?"

"Yeah."

"You don't want to talk about it?"

"I just don't get what her problem is. All I was trying to do was help her and she…"

"She pushed you away," Chyla finished for her. "I see. I'm going to tell you what I told Elphaba the last time. Try to put yourself in her shoes for a second."

"But I'm one size smaller than she is."

"Not what I meant," Chyla sighed, slowly shaking her head. "I meant that you should try to see this from her point of view. I mean, she's blind, green, and everyone is constantly tries to help her. And now she has a bruised hip and has to stay in bed for a while and that makes everything worse. The minimal amount of things she can do by herself has decreased, at least for the time being."

"So, what are you saying?"

"Pretend that you are Elphaba; blind, green…"

"Where is this going?"

Chyla face-palmed. "Never mind. Would you like a chocolate croissant?"

"No, thanks. Chocolate can't fix everything," Galinda said, her elbows resting on the table. Sighing, she slumped her shoulders and buried her face in her hands.

"Yours was the last mouth I expected to hear that from," Chyla said, giving Galinda a chocolate croissant anyway.

Galinda responded with a muffled 'thank you' and begin picking at the pastry.

"Galinda!" a perky voice called.

Galinda looked up to see Pfannee, ShenShen, Milla and Nelliee approaching her. "How are you doing?" Pfannee asked, sitting in the seat across from Galinda.

"Fine," Galinda said half-heartedly.

"And how is the artich- Miss Elphaba?" Nelliee asked, her lips curling into a half-smile.

"Why should I care?"

The four stuck-up snobs exchanged a surprised look before turning back to Galinda.

"Did she do something to you?" ShenShen asked, placing a gentle hand on Galinda's shoulder.

"I heard that the green bean jumped from…" Pfannee whispered.

"She didn't jump from anywhere," Galinda hurriedly interrupted her. "She fell off a broomstick while practicing for Morrible's exam."

"The poor thing," ShenShen said in mock-sympathy.

"I wonder what color you get when you mix black, blue… and green," Nelliee said, giggling as she pondered the thought. ShenShen, Milla and Pfannee broke into a fit of laughter, but stopped when they saw the uninterested look on Galinda's face.

"She…" Galinda whispered.

"What? Galinda, what did she do?" ShenShen asked.

"She… slapped me," Galinda whispered, her hand rising to her cheek as she felt the ghost sting from when Elphaba's hand made contact with her face.

Pfannee and ShenShen exchanged a look of horror. Nellie and Milla stared at the blonde with wide eyes.

"Galinda, dear, how would you like to go shopping with us?" Milla asked, smiling sweetly at the blonde, trying to cheer her up.

Galinda considered it for a moment. "O-Okay." She needed a break for a while. She needed to clear her head for a while and forget about everything. She forced Chyla's words out of her mind, deeming them unimportant and followed the girls out of the café.

A week went by and Galinda had not returned to the dorm. Elphaba was beginning to get worried as she realized that Galinda was serious about her threat. She was never coming back.

Elphaba was slowly making progress in her recovery. She was finally able to sit up and lean against the headboard, with help from Fiyero. Nessa would frequently visit to check up on her sister, though there wasn't much the wheelchair-bound girl could do in terms of helping her.

"She's never coming back," Elphaba whispered sadly one afternoon.

Fiyero turned around and gave his girlfriend a sympathetic look. "She'll come around."

"I hope you're right."

Smiling, Fiyero walked over to her and sat on the edge of the bed. Taking her hand, he whispered softly into her ear. "I know I'm right."

"Let's not get cocky," Elphaba smirked.

"Who's getting cocky?"

"You're such a dork."

"I know. But I'm your dork."

Elphaba rolled her eyes.

"I knew that would make you smile," Fiyero chuckled, hugging Elphaba closer to him.

Sighing peacefully, Elphaba snuggled closer to Fiyero. "I love you so much, Yero."

"I love you, too, Fae."

"C-Can I ask you something?"

"Sure. Anything."

"You… you won't ever leave me… right?"

Fiyero froze. "Fae, Galinda hasn't left you."

"Yero, it's been a week and Galinda still hasn't returned. The only people that have been in this room with me are you and Nessa."

"Just give her some time. She'll cool down."

"Yero… promise me… please."

Fiyero wrapped his arm around Elphaba and kissed her nose. "I won't ever leave you, Fae. I promise. I'll always be here."

"Thank you," Elphaba whispered, leaning her head against Fiyero's chest.

"Anything for you, Fae."

Galinda's eyes were closed as the wind whistled past her.

"Remember, Miss Galinda, you must keep yourself levitated on the broom for at least three minutes," Morrible reminded her.

Nodding, Galinda mounted the broom and chanted the spell. She felt her feet rise from the ground and gripped the broom handle even tighter. Taking a deep breath, she realized that now wasn't the time to be scared.

I wish Elphie was here, she thought, remembering how easier it was when she was practicing with her roommate. Shaking the thought from her head, Galinda resumed to making the broom fly.

Morrible watched from the ground, her mouth slightly agape as she watched Galinda. The blonde was… dare she admit it, good. She never believed the blonde would be able to stay in the class, let alone pass the exam.

"V-Very good, Miss Galinda," Morrible said, surprise evident in her voice as Galinda dismounted the broom.

"Thank you, Madame," Galinda said, nodding politely at the headmistress.

"Now, where is Miss Elphaba?" Morrible asked, looking around for the green girl.

"She had a terrible fall and is still recovering," Galinda answered, struggling to keep conceal the tightness her voice.

"Oh, yes. The poor thing. She will just have to take the exam when she is better. You will inform her of this, Miss Galinda?"

"Yes, Madame," Galinda nodded before hurrying back to the dorms.

"Galinda!"

The blonde turned around and was surprised to see Nelliee running up to her. "Hi, Nelliee."

"I was looking for you all over campus. Did you just have your exam? How did it go?"

Galinda was taken back. She had never seen Nelliee this interested in anything before. "I think I passed."

"That's good. Here," the princess said, handing Galinda a card with the blonde's name on it.

"What's this?"

"Open it and find out."

Galinda opened the card and scanned it over. "Hear ye, hear ye," she read out loud. "You are cordially invited to the 19th birthday extravaganza, celebrating Princess Nelliee of the Glikkus, daughter of King Yuylius the Great and Queen Taylianna the Gentle." She scanned the rest of the card silently. "It's at the Ozdust."

"Yes," Nelliee confirmed.

"I… um…"

"Please, Galinda? I would absolutely love it if you would attend," Nelliee smiled.

Galinda looked at the princess. Nelliee was giving her a genuine smile. She didn't even know Nelliee was capable of giving a genuine smile.

"Sure, Nelliee. I would love to come."

"Great! It's in three weeks. Oh, and I have one for the artich- Miss Elphaba," Nelliee smiled, pulling out an identical card with Elphaba's name on it.

"I… I haven't seen Miss Elphaba all week."

"Aren't you two roommates?" Nelliee asked, confused.

"Yes."

"Wait, now I'm confusified. Where have you…"

"I've been sleeping over in Milla's dorm."

"Doesn't she have a -"

"Yes, she does. But she has a big room."

"I see…" Nelliee said slowly. The blonde wasn't making any sense, so she decided to let the conversation drop. "I'll just give this to the arti- Miss Elphaba personally when I see her. Have a nice day, Galinda!" Nelliee smiled, giving Galinda a dainty wave before walking off.

Galinda stood there, confused. Why didn't Nelliee call Elphaba 'artichoke'. It was good that she wasn't insulting her anymore, but Nelliee was never nice to Elphaba in the past. What caused the sudden change of heart? Sighing, Galinda walked off in the opposite direction. Should she go back to Elphaba?

"No! If she doesn't want me around, I'm not going to be there. I'm done with trying to help her and only have her pushing me away. I don't get why she doesn't want me to-"

"Miss Galinda?"

Galinda turned and saw some of the boys from her Literature class staring at her. "Are you alright?"

It took her a while to realize that she must have been talking out loud to herself. "Yes, quite fine. Thank you." Nodding, she walked off, quickening her pace.

As she walked to Milla's room, she passed her own and stopped. She turned, swearing that she could hear the faint noises of someone crying. It sounded like… Elphaba.

No, she doesn't want me to help her. She never wants to see me again. If she doesn't want me to be her friend anymore, I'm not going to be her friend. I'm giving her what she wants.

That's what Galinda continued to tell herself for the rest of the day.

So, favorite lines?