"You know what we haven't done in a while?" Shenshen said. "Shopping."
Milla lit up. "Oh, we haven't been to town in forever!"
Pfannee glanced sideways at Glinda. "We should go this weekend! That is, if Miss Galinda can make time for us."
The blonde ignored the jab and smiled. "That sounds wonderful, actually. What about this Saturday?"
The others nodded. The girls were sitting on a bench in front of Crage Hall. It was chilly out, but the sun was shining and they were huddled together enough to stay warm. Glinda was enjoying one of the rare afternoons of civility with her old friends. A voice nagged at the back of her mind, telling her that this moment of truce couldn't possibly last, but she pushed it to the side, just as she had for the past week or so. Who cared what would happen later? Right now, everything was peaceful and easy.
"So Pfannee," Milla said. "Tell us about your lunch with Avaric the other day."
"Yes, let's hear all about it!" Shenshen squealed.
Even Glinda smiled. "Yeah, you were practically glowing in class that afternoon," she said. "What happened?"
Pfannee jumped into the story, her eyes dancing gleefully as she soaked in their attention. Glinda only half paid attention to her words, but she nodded and giggled whenever the situation called for it. Maybe she was playing a part, but it was a part she knew well. And if it helped the group get along, then she didn't really mind. But then something happened that made her stop paying attention completely. Or, more accurately, someone happened.
Don't let her come this way, Glinda begged silently. Don't let them notice her.
"Hey." Milla nudged Pfannee. "Look." Glinda's heart sank. Too late.
Elphaba was walking up the path toward Crage Hall, her nose buried in a book as usual. Glinda's fists clenched and she pressed them into her thighs.
Pfannee's face lit up. "Oh, I've been waiting for this," she muttered to them before calling out to the green girl. "Why Miss Elphaba! What are you doing in the cold without a coat on?"
Elphaba's brow furrowed, almost imperceptibly, into her book. "I don't see how that matters to you," she replied without looking up.
The rich girl made a noise of disapproval. "I'm simply looking out for your well-being, Miss Elphaba. It's not wise to leave your coat inside on a day like today."
Milla covered her mouth with her hand and whispered loudly to Pfannee. "Maybe she doesn't have a coat. Maybe she can't afford one."
"Is that it?" Shenshen asked. "The green bean is too poor to afford a coat?" Elphaba's cheeks darkened and she shoved the book into her bag, avoiding their eyes.
"Is that why you were starving yourself, too?" Pfannee asked, her voice sickeningly sweet. "Could you not afford food?"
"How did you—" the green girl cut herself off. Her eyes fell, just briefly, on Glinda. Then she looked away and headed for the doors to the dorm.
"Oh yeah," Pfannee went on, having noticed the look. "Galinda used to give us all that dirt on you. It's a shame she's claiming to be your friend now. I kind of miss hearing all the good stuff. By the way, how's your sister doing?"
"Leave her alone," Glinda said. Pfannee rolled her eyes.
"You just have to be the martyr, don't you Galinda?"
"Glinda," the blonde nearly hissed. She stood up. "And if you can't be decent, I'm leaving."
"Goodbye then," Pfannee replied with a glare. "Oh, and while you're still pitying the vegetable, maybe you should buy her a coat. Although I can't imagine anything looking good with that skin."
Elphaba was already at the doors, completely ignoring her. Glinda followed after her, but not before looking back over her shoulder. "Anything would look better than that," she said, nodding at Pfannee's current outfit. "Didn't anyone teach you not to clash colors?" As she hurried inside, she swore she heard a small giggle from Shenshen.
Glinda found her roommate at her desk, unloading her books from the day. "I'm sorry, Elphie," she said.
"Please," the green girl said, rolling her eyes. "I'm used to it."
The blonde shuffled over to her side of the room. "Yeah, well, I'm sorry for that, too."
"Are you?" Elphaba said under her breath.
"What?"
"Nothing," the taller girl said. She grabbed a book and moved to her bed.
Glinda looked at her curiously. "Why do you read so much, Elphie?"
Dark green lips tightened. "Reading is just as much a part of me as gossiping is a part of you."
"Hey, I resent that!" The blonde was trying to be lighthearted, but something in Elphaba's voice made her uneasy.
"Is that not what you were just doing?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at her. "You were sitting out there with Pfannee and them."
"We can do more than just gossip," Glinda replied coolly.
"Maybe you can, but you don't."
"What would you know about what we do?" she demanded.
Elphaba put her book down. "Fine. If you weren't talking bad about someone, then what were you talking about?"
"Why are you so curious?"
"Why are you avoiding the question?"
"We made plans for this Saturday, to go shopping." Glinda crossed her arms over her chest, a sense of victory in her smirk. "Happy?"
Elphaba's eyes darkened slightly. "Not particularly."
The blonde scowled. "Of course. You're never happy, are you?"
"How can you stand them?" Elphaba demanded suddenly. "I don't get it. You talk about how much you want to change, and how you don't want to be Galinda anymore, and then you go right back to that crowd of awful girls. And it's not as if they're even treating you nicely! Why put yourself through that?"
Glinda froze, her arms fell a little, hugging herself rather than crossing her chest defiantly. The back of her neck prickled a little, and she turned away from her roommate. "You don't understand," was all she said.
"Oh? Enlighten me, then."
"What do you want me to say?" Glinda glared at the window as she spoke. "I can't just walk away from everything I've ever known, Elphaba. What if I still want to be friends with them? What's so wrong with that?"
"Gee, let's think." The blonde turned to see her roommate looking up, mockingly pondering the idea. "I don't know, maybe the fact that they're pathetic and cruel and a bunch of spoiled brats?"
She scowled at the green girl. Every word she spoke was hitting a little too close to home, although she would never admit it. "You know, you're not exactly innocent, either."
"Wow, did you come up with that by yourself?"
"See, just like that! You're as cruel as they are!"
"Then why in Oz are you bothering with me?" Elphaba asked, jumping to her feet to tower over the blonde.
"Maybe I won't from now on!" Glinda answered, stepping forward to get into Elphaba's face. Just like last time, the green girl took a half-step back, flinching away from the sudden close contact. Glinda seized the advantage and followed her. "You know, I've gotten nothing but trouble since I started standing up for you. My friends mock me, the whole school is spreading rumors about me, and you can't even try to understand! Maybe I should just go back to making your life miserable."
Elphaba let out a short, harsh laugh. "That didn't last long. Is the real world too much for Miss Perfect?"
Glinda made a noise of frustration and took a step away, giving them both space. "Maybe I struggle with myself, Elphaba, but I'm not the only one. At least I fit into society. At least I'm trying to be nice. At least I'm not some devilish, green-skinned—"
Glinda clapped her hands over her mouth as soon as the words slipped out, but it was too late. The door banged shut, rattling the entire room, and Elphaba was gone.
Elphaba stormed out of Crage Hall, gritting her teeth so hard her jaw hurt. I don't care, she thought to herself. It doesn't matter. Nothing she says matters. I should be completely used to this by now.
Her first thought was to go to the library, but her feet took her somewhere else. The sun had dipped below the horizon, and the temperature was dropping quickly. As much as she hated to admit it, Pfannee had been right about her not being able to afford a coat. The green girl felt her cheeks darken at the thought, and suddenly she was furious all over again.
She didn't want Glinda to face the cruelty of her friends, but how could she protect her if she insisted on still hanging out with them? And why in Oz did she care so much anyway? Glinda Upland meant nothing to her. She was airheaded and rude, just like her pack of snobs.
But…that wasn't quite right. Galinda Upland was all of those things and worse, but not Glinda. Elphaba sighed, rubbing her forehead. Glinda was the girl who turned in her history paper early, who actually tried in her classes, even when her friends laughed their work off. She was the girl who fixed Elphaba's dress without any explanation, and who risked getting soaked without knowing what the water would do to Elphaba. She was the one who stayed after class when Dr. Dillamond said he was leaving and who picked the green girl up off the ground when she completely lost control. Even before she had officially decided to change, Glinda was there, shining through her well-groomed, primped and proper exterior.
Maybe everything had just switched now. Galinda was still there, coming up every once in a while. The blonde girl couldn't turn her life around overnight. Elphaba knew that. And she also knew that she had no idea how hard this was for her roommate. She just didn't know how to protect her, how to support her. She didn't know how to be Glinda's friend.
The green girl found herself on the steps of the history building.
She now hated that class. Professor Nikidik was clueless and arrogant, and he shared the rest of Oz's prejudice against anything that was different. She desperately missed Dr. Dillamond. Without really thinking about it, she pushed the doors open and slipped inside.
Glinda pulled her coat tighter around herself. Great job, Glinda, she silently cursed herself for the thousandth time. All this talk about changing who she was, becoming a better person, and she still couldn't be a good friend to Elphaba. After all that she had put her roommate through…
The blonde wandered through campus, wondering where to go. She had grabbed her key and gone after Elphaba as quickly as possible, but of course she wasn't fast enough to catch up with her—it also didn't help that the green girl's legs were so much longer than hers. She had tried the library, but for once, there was no sign of her roommate there.
So where would she… An idea came to her, and she headed toward the academic buildings.
Night had long since fallen on campus, and the buildings were mostly locked. Glinda looked around and, when she saw no one, murmured a quick spell under her breath. The door to the history building clicked open, and she slipped inside. She wasn't as familiar with the place as her roommate was, but it didn't take her long to find what she was looking for.
"Elphaba?"
The green girl was sitting outside Dillamond's old office, her back against the closed door, hugging her knees to her chest. She didn't open her eyes at the blonde's voice, but she did respond, her voice just as soft. "How did you know where to find me?"
Glinda hesitated, still standing a few feet away. "Well, you weren't at the library. I figured this would be the next option."
Dark lips twitched ever so slightly, and she opened her eyes. "This place is empty, you know," Elphaba said hollowly. "Morrible cleared it out, I'll bet. There's not a single scrap of paper left. Everything he ever did is just…gone."
Glinda raised her eyes to look at the dark wood behind her roommate. "What do you think happened to it all?"
Elphaba closed her eyes again and let out a breath. "She destroyed it. But…the place still kind of smells like him."
She bit her lip. "Elphie, I…"
"Yeah," the green girl said. Her eyes opened and met the blonde's, glancing over them long enough to tell her everything she couldn't voice. "Me too."
Glinda smiled sadly, but her roommate was looking away again. Slowly, gently, she padded over and sat next to the green girl. And then, with all the tender shyness in the world, she placed her hand next to the green one and hooked her pinky around Elphaba's.
Neither one of them said anything, but they stayed like that for a long, long time.