Guys, I couldn't help but laugh at your reviews, especially Thedoctor24601's letter to Galinda. And for those of you who are wondering, Nelliee had nothing to do with Pfannee and ShenShen attacking Elphaba and karma is coming their way.
Thedoctor24601 (Guest): I promised NellytheActress that she could be a princess on one of my stories, hence Princess Nelliee.
Galinda marched across the campus, ignoring the looks and stares everyone was giving her as she stalked past them. Her arms were wrapped around her petite waist, hugging herself as the wind whistled past her. She was about to go into the Arts building for her music lesson when the sound of soft whimpers caught her attention.
Stopping dead in her tracks, the blonde turned towards the dark alley in between the buildings.
"H-Hello?" she whispered.
The whimpering ceased and Galinda took a small step forward. Squinting her eyes, she caught a flash of green and her heart leapt into her throat. "E-Elphie?"
"Galinda?" a small voice whispered. "Is that you?"
Galinda rushed towards the voice and knelt down in front of her friend. "I'm right here, Elphie."
An emerald hand slowly rose and grasped Galinda's arm. Elphaba slowly turned her head towards her, her dead chocolate eyes filled with hope.
"Sweet Oz, Elphie! What happened to you?" Galinda asked, noticing the bleeding scratches on Elphaba's cheek.
Elphaba turned away. "N-Nothing."
"Elphie, who did this to you?"
Elphaba slowly turned back to Galinda. The blonde sounded genuinely concerned about her. Why would she sound so concerned about the green girl after all she's done to her?
"Pfannee… and ShenShen," she finally whispered.
"I'm going to kill them," Galinda muttered. She softly touched Elphaba's cheek, causing the green girl to hiss and pull away.
"Please… don't," Elphaba whispered.
"Don't what?"
"I'm… not worth it."
"Elphie, don't talk like that. I'm sorry for everything. I wasn't being very understanding when I walked out on you like that. I'm so, so sorry."
"I'm the one who should be sorry," Elphaba said, shaking her head. "I never should have yelled at you or slapped you. I never –"
"Elphie, stop," Galinda interrupted, pulling the green girl in for a gentle hug. "I understand. You don't have to explain anything."
"Does this mean… we're friends again?" Elphaba asked hopefully.
"Of course," Galinda smiled, helping Elphaba to her feet and led her out of the alley. "Did you take the sorcery test yet?"
Elphaba nodded. "I did."
"How do you think you did?"
"With Morrible, I either passed or failed."
"Why would you think you've failed?"
"Well… I flew around on a broom pretty flawlessly."
"And?"
"Glin, I'm blind," Elphaba said blatantly. "And no one was supposed to be helping me. If Morrible thinks that someone else was controlling the broom, she would fail me."
"How did you do it?"
"Do what?"
"Fly on the broom without anyone helping you?"
Elphaba smiled slightly. "My mother helped me."
Galinda looked up at her roommate. Her mother had helped her?
"I heard her voice in the wind," Elphaba said softly, almost in a whisper. "I felt her presence around me. She was guiding me."
"Do you miss her?"
"My mother? I… I don't really remember much about her," Elphaba shrugged. "I do miss her voice though. It was soft, silky and gentle, especially when she would sing to me. Her voice was never any louder than a soft whisper. She would rock me in her arms and…"
Elphaba's voice cracked as a single tear slid down her emerald cheek and she quickly wiped it away.
"Oh, Elphie," Glinda whispered, gently squeezing the green girl's shoulders.
"It's… I'm okay," Elphaba sniffed, quickly composing herself.
Galinda remained silent as she led Elphaba to the nurses' office. The nurse cleaned the wounds on Elphaba's cheek and gave her an ice pack for her ankle.
"Try not to walk so much for the rest of the day, Miss Elphaba," the nurse instructed.
"Yes, ma'am," Elphaba muttered. She felt Galinda gently take her arm and help her to her feet. The two girls slowly made their way back to their dorm room.
"Are you hungry?" Galinda asked once they were back in the room. She led Elphaba to the bed and helped her sit down.
"A little," Elphaba admitted quietly.
Galinda smiled and turned to leave, but Elphaba called her back.
"Glin… if you see Pfannee and ShenShen…"
"I'll annihilate them."
Elphaba would have been impressed with the blonde for using a real word that was longer than seven letters long, but she just shook her head. "Just leave them alone. It's not worth it. I'm not worth it."
"Elphie –"
"No, Glin. Please. It will just make everything worse. Promise me you won't try to get even with them for me."
"They attacked you."
"I'm still alive."
"What if I just –"
"No."
"But can I–"
"No."
"But what if I –"
"No. Glin, promise me. Now."
"Fine. I promise you that I won't try to get even with Pfannee and ShenShen for you."
"Thank you," Elphaba said gratefully, giving the blonde's direction a small smile.
"Anything for you, Elphie."
Elphaba heard the door close and the faint sound of Galinda's footsteps growing farther and farther away. Sighing, she slowly leaned back against the pillows and waited for her roommate to return.
Galinda happily skipped to the café and greeted Chyla with a warm smile.
"You look as happy as cheese today," the younger girl smiled, wiping her hands on her apron.
Galinda scrunched up her nose. "Cheese?"
"I'm sorry… butterscotch. Better?"
"Not really."
"Oh," Chyla sighed, shrugging her shoulders. "What can I get for you today, Miss Galinda?"
"A large bowl of chicken soup, please."
"Coming right up!"
Galinda sat down at a nearby table to wait for the soup. The door opened and she looked up, surprised to see Nelliee walking up to her.
"Hello, Galinda," the princess smiled, sitting down next to the blonde.
"Hello, Nelliee," Galinda smiled.
"Have you seen Miss Elphaba? I can't find her anywhere," Nelliee said, holding up Elphaba's invitation to her birthday party.
"She's back at the room now."
"You two made up?"
"Yeah."
"Excellent! And she's feeling better?"
"Alright, Nelliee. What are you planning?"
"What? Me? Planning? Nothing."
Galinda narrowed her eyes at the princess. "Are you sure?"
"Yes. Positive. Why would you think I'm planning something?"
"No reason," Galinda said as she stood up and went to retrieve Elphaba's soup. "Have a nice afternoon, Nelliee."
Galinda made sure she was very careful not to drop the bowl of soup. She was halfway across the commons when she tripped over her shoes and spilt the soup, creating a large puddle of mud in the grass. Grumbling to herself, Galinda picked herself up, brushed the grass from her skirt, and walked back to the café for another bowl.
She quickly bought another bowl of soup and promised herself that she would be extra careful. While she was walking back, she saw Pfannee and ShenShen lying, face down, on the grass.
"Girls, what happened?" Galinda asked, slowly approaching them.
Grumbling, Pfannee and ShenShen pushed themselves to their feet and turned around to face Galinda, revealing large mud stains on the fronts of their white uniforms.
"Oh, dear," Galinda gasped.
"This is the worst day ever," ShenShen wailed.
"The worst. My uniform is ruined!" Pfannee sobbed.
"You could just wash it," Galinda suggested.
"Galinda," Pfannee frowned. "Look at this! It's ruined!"
"It's ruined," ShenShen said, casting the blonde a look.
Wailing, Pfannee and ShenShen stalked off to their room. Galinda was about to do the same when she paused. She looked at the mud puddle once more. Her eyes widened as she realized something. This was the mud puddle caused by her spilt soup. Smirking, she hurried back to Elphaba.
"I'm back, Elphie," Galinda announced, walking into the room and closing the door behind her.
"Galinda?" Elphaba whispered, slowly pushing herself up into a sitting position. She felt her roommate push something warm into her hands and the smell of chicken soup filled her nose. Smiling, she lifted the spoon to her mouth and began to eat.
"How are you feeling?" Galinda asked, sitting on the edge of her roommate's bed.
"Better," Elphaba answered. "But…"
"But what?"
"Did you do something to Pfannee and ShenShen?"
"W-What makes you think that?"
"I heard them wailing from all the way downstairs. Something about their clothes… and mud."
"Well… it wasn't intentional."
"Galinda, what did you do?"
"I didn't do anything. I was on my way to bring you your soup when I accidently dropped it. It created a mud puddle and I went to get you another bowl. I came back and saw that Pfannee and ShenShen tripped in the puddle."
"I told you not to get even with them!"
"I didn't… on purpose."
Despite herself, Elphaba cracked a small smile.
"What?"
"Nothing. It's just… thank you."
"You're not mad?"
"No," Elphaba shook her head.
"Good. Because that's what best friends do. They take care of each other and stick up for each other."
"I'm glad you're my friend, Glin."
"Me too, Elphie. Me too."
Elphaba was waiting for Galinda and Fiyero to return from class. She smiled, listing to the waters of Suicide Canal rush in front of her.
"Miss Elphaba!"
Elphaba snapped out of her daydream and turned toward the voice, wondering who was addressing her. "Yes?"
"It's Nelliee," the girl said.
Elphaba stiffened. What did Nelliee want?
"You can relax. I'm not going to hurt you. I don't bite… much."
Elphaba stiffened even more. "W-What do you want?"
"I want to give you this," the princess said, pressing a small envelope into the green girl's hands.
"What is this?"
"Read it and you'll find out."
"I…"
"I printed it in braille just for you. Now open up the letter and read it!" Nelliee demanded.
Elphaba tore open the envelope and pulled out the piece of paper. Her fingers scanned over the braille and she frowned. "You're inviting me to your birthday party?"
"That is what the invitation says, isn't it?"
"I… what type of trick is this?"
"It's not a trick. I just wanted to invite you. Any friend of Miss Galinda's is a friend of mine."
"We're friends now?" Elphaba asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Of sorts."
"Meaning?"
"Look, are you coming to my party or not?" Nelliee pouted, her voice on the boarder line of sounding like a whine. "I've been looking for you for the past two weeks. The party is next week. Are you coming or not?"
Elphaba pondered the thought. Should she go to Nelliee's party? The girl seemed to have a change of heart. "This is very… uncharacteristic of you."
"How do you know what's uncharacteristic of me?"
"I'm a pretty good judge of character, considering I don't have to worry about judging people based on the way they look."
The green girl was implying something else, and the princess knew it. "If it's an apology you're looking for, I'm sorry for the way I treated you. And I really mean it. Can't we start over?"
Elphaba bit her lip and narrowed her eyes. "Alright. I'll come. But if I find out that this is some joke, you will regret it."
"I'm glad we've reached an agreement," Nelliee smiled and held out her hand for Elphaba to shake.
"What are you doing?" Elphaba asked, sensing Nelliee's movements.
"I'm holding my hand out for you to shake."
"Why?"
"That's what people do when they make deals. They shake hands."
Elphaba slowly extended her hand towards the princess and waited. She felt Nelliee slip her hand into hers and give it a light squeeze before giving her a firm, yet gentle handshake.
"Thank you, Miss Elphaba. I look forward to seeing you at the party," Nelliee smiled before skipping off, leaving Elphaba alone to wonder what just happened.
Favorite lines? Opinions? What do you think is going to happen in the upcoming chapter?
Also, on August 1, 2014, I will be changing my penname to Fae'sFlower. Just letting you all know.