A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter. You all are wonderful.
Glinda refused to go back to the way things were. She was tired of getting to know Elphie behind their closed door only to shun her the next day. It wasn't fair to the green girl, and honestly, she was sick of the whiplash.
But she stuck by what she had said to herself a couple days ago. She wanted both. She wanted to still be friends with Pfannee and Milla and Shenshen. She wanted to be with Fiyero. Maybe she could show them all that the green girl wasn't so bad. Maybe they could reach a truce. Maybe they could all…
"Galinda!"
The blonde looked across the courtyard, trying not to flinch at the name. Shenshen and Milla were waving her over. Next to them, Pfannee was standing with her arms crossed over her chest, obviously fighting a scowl.
"Hello ladies," the blonde said, walking up to them.
"What happened to you yesterday?" Shenshen asked. "We couldn't find you after the old Goat's class."
Glinda shifted her weight. "Well, we went—"
"We?" Pfannee demanded, her eyes narrowing.
"E-Elphaba and I." Oz, why was she trembling all of a sudden? "You guys saw how she reacted. So I-I took her back to our room a-and tried to calm her down."
"You went with the green bean willingly?" Milla gasped.
She struggled to find the right words. "Y-yeah. I did. Look, isn't it time we let all that go?"
"What's gotten into you, Galinda?" Shenshen's eyes were full of concern.
Glinda, she mentally corrected them, but she tried to put on her most dazzling smile. "Oh come on, girls. We were horrible, she was horrible, can't we all just move on?"
Pfannee made a noise of disgust. "Are you saying you want to be…friends with her?"
"I'm saying I am friends with her."
"You're only trying to make her feel better," Shenshen said quickly, waving a dismissive hand. "You just feel sorry for her because of the whole Dr. Dillamond thing."
Before Glinda could argue, Milla leaned forward excitedly. "What do you think about all that?" she asked in a loud whisper. "Why do you think they sent the old Goat away?"
"Who knows?" Pfannee said. "But it's about time. Really, what was Morrible thinking? Keeping an Animal at the school for that long."
"He was a good teacher," Glinda said heatedly. She smoothed out her dress, trying to steady her hands. "One of the best minds in Oz."
Milla made a gagging noise while Shenshen looked quite shocked. Pfannee, however, simply raised an eyebrow. "You're starting to sound like the vegetable."
"She's not—" Glinda cut off and took a shaky breath.
"Why are you defending her?" Pfannee demanded. "Honestly, Galinda, it's like she's bewitched you or something."
"Don't be absurd. And it's Glinda."
"What?" Shenshen asked.
"It's Glinda, not Galinda."
"Why?" Milla asked, downright horrified.
"Because…because…" Glinda looked around at her friends, all of whom were staring at her, judging her, and suddenly it was all too much. "Because I don't want to be Galinda anymore." The words came out as a mumbled excuse, and she was sure the others didn't hear, but she found herself unable to say anything more.
She pushed past the girls, not wanting to see the looks they were giving her or listen to their jeering insults. She could feel her heart pounding and her throat starting to ache. When she was sure she was out of sight, she fell against a building, leaning heavily on the brick, and tried to catch her breath. She wanted Elphie, although she wasn't entirely sure why. Something about the green girl was steadying, and all she wanted right now was to stop shaking.
What was with this adrenaline? Why did talking to her friends cause her to panic like this? Everything she had just said was only a repeat of what she had told Elphaba. Yet, even though she barely knew her roommate, it was easier to confess these things to her.
She couldn't be vulnerable around Pfannee or the others. They would hold it against her, using that weakness and manipulating her with it. But something about Elphaba made that vulnerability feel less like a weakness, and more like a strength.
Unfortunately, she didn't see Elphaba until later that day, at dinner.
The green girl sat alone in her usual corner of the café, swirling her glass and listening to the liquid whirl inside.
"Elphaba?"
Boq was standing in front of her, looking rather timidly down at his feet. "I, uh…I wanted to…" He cleared his throat, trying to avoid the sharp look she was giving him. "I know if I offer you sympathy, you're likely to never talk to me again. So I just wanted to say that…I'm going to miss Dr. Dillamond as well."
Her face softened a little. "Thank you, Boq," she said quietly.
"Did he say why?" the Munchkin asked. At Elphaba's questioning look, he went on. "I know you stayed after class with him. Did he tell you why he had to leave?"
Elphaba had always considered herself to have a pretty good poker face. At the very least, she was good at talking her way out of things and avoiding truths. But she found, as her eyes met Boq's, that it was a struggle to blatantly lie to him.
"…No. I-I asked, but he wouldn't really say."
He looked at her, tilting his head slightly and narrowing his eyes. But before he got the chance to call her out, another voice cut in.
"Elphie!"
Both Munchkinlanders turned as Glinda approached the table, holding a tray of food. The blonde blushed a little as she realized she had just interrupted something. "M-may I sit with you?"
For a split second, Elphaba was bewildered. But then she shook her head a little and gestured to the seat across from her. "O-of course."
Boq looked just as confused as she felt. He raised his eyebrows at Elphaba, trying to ignore the blush that was creeping up the back of his neck. "S-since when—" he stammered weakly. But then he just shook his head. "You know what? I'll talk to you later Elphaba." He gave her a look that clearly said the conversation wasn't over, then turned to Glinda. "And, uh…I, um…it was nice seeing you Miss Galinda." The Munchkin blushed even deeper and hurried out of the café. Elphaba resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
Across the table, Glinda huffed and pouted at her bowl of soup. When the green girl raised an eyebrow at her, she just shrugged and stirred the food around. "Galinda," the blonde stated quietly. "That's not my name anymore."
"To be fair, no one else knows that yet."
Instead of responding, Glinda continued to mess with her dinner. Elphaba stared at her, still shocked—and, if she was being honest, a little uneasy—that the blonde was sitting across from her, claiming to be her friend. She had never been good at friends—neither at having one nor at being one. Wasn't her relationship with Boq proof of that?
"You know, it's better if you actually eat it," Elphaba told her roommate.
Glinda put her spoon down and sighed. "Elphie, you terrible green thing," she mumbled. The green girl tried not to wince, but Glinda seemed not to notice. Her brooding was starting to make Elphaba nervous.
"I don't understand. You were perfectly happy when you first sat down. What happened?"
But the blonde shook her head. "You know what? You're right. Forget it. Let's just enjoy our dinner."
Now Elphaba was really concerned. She narrowed her eyes at her roommate. "Now hold on. Something's wrong here. What's going on?"
"It's nothing, Elphie. It's just…" Glinda let out a breath. "I just ran into Pfannee and the other earlier, that's all."
The green girl tilted her head to the side. "They put you in this mood? But they couldn't possibly have treated you badly, could they?" That group practically worshipped Glinda. The only reason they wouldn't was if… The pieces suddenly clicked together. "You…Glinda, did you tell them we…?"
The blonde wouldn't meet her eyes. "They asked where I'd gone yesterday, and I told them we spent the day in the room. And then they—oh, Elphie, the way they talk about you! They even said you'd bewitched me and forced me to get along with you. It was simply awful and—why are you smiling?"
Elphaba pursed her lips, but her eyes still danced. "Really? They think I bewitched you? One tiny outburst of magic and they think I have the power to bewitch people?"
"This isn't funny, Elphaba!" The blonde looked close to tears, but she found that she couldn't stop the smile tugging at her own lips.
Elphaba saw her roommate start to relax again and let out her own breath of relief. Inside, she was reeling with the idea of Glinda defending her to Pfannee. As the blonde finally dug into her food, Elphaba continued to watch her with something close to wonder.
You really have changed, she said to herself. Then she wondered why the thought made the back of her neck heat up.