An explosion of tossed shoes, clothes, and accessories spread out like a fashionable, sparkling, pink wasteland before Elphaba. She uncertainly stood in the dorm's doorway, at the very edge of the mess, picking at her elbow, not daring to enter quite yet for fear of breaking a limb. She chewed on her lower lip as she scanned the room; her roommate was nowhere to be found amongst the mayhem.

She felt some of her usual annoyance with Galinda bubble to the surface, it was just like her to leave the place in shambles for Elphaba to piece back together, but reflecting on the night they'd just spent with each other she shelved the feeling with a sigh. Galinda had truly shown herself in a different light and for once, especially as she had helped with the mess, Elphaba found herself reflecting on her roommate with affection rather than loathing. Sure, she hadn't been sold on the idea of a makeover, but Galinda's insistence and fervor were quite charming and made it hard to say no.

As Elphaba carefully moved into the room, picking up pink articles of clothing as she went, she couldn't help but smile at the thought of the past 12 hours of her life since the ozdust. For once, she thought she had a friend.

But where was Galinda anyway?

The tiny blonde hadn't appeared in the dining hall at breakfast with the rest of their class that morning, nor had Elphaba seen her taking her daily strut across Shiz. Her absence had been noted by most of the students who were used to and looked forward to her routine sashay. Galinda was nothing if not vastly admired.

Elphaba, who had always been rubbed the wrong way by the vapid practice, had grown surprisingly concerned when she didn't spot her roommate traipsing across the grounds. After their first class of the day, in which Galinda failed to appear, Elphaba's concern peaked and she found herself skipping her next class in search of her. Something most unlike her.

After a peek into their class, where the blonde was also missing, Elphaba set out to search the grounds asking anyone she came across if they had seen the blonde. People were much more willing to help her today than they had been the day before, especially since she was searching for Galinda. An hour later, she had come up empty and decided to return to their dorm before their sorcery lesson.

Now, she found herself, a slight grimace in place, spinning on the spot in the middle of their room hoping to spot Galinda amongst the chaos and suitcases. It was without success and she deposited her armload onto Galinda's bed before sitting down hopelessly amongst the scattered clothes.

She wasn't sure why she was so concerned about Galinda's whereabouts, just the day before she had despised any time they were forced to spend together, but today was different. Today Galinda was her friend. And today she was worried about her.

As the minutes ticked by the lack of sleep from the night before slowly caught up to her; her eyes grew heavy and she felt herself relax back onto Galinda's bed, her body sinking comfortably amongst the bedding and pink attire. Thoughts of the ozdust and Galinda bouncing in place filled her mind as consciousness slipped away from her.

"Elphie…Elphie," a hand reached out and shook the green girl gently rousing her from her nap.

Elphaba woke with a start, she sat up straight, quickly wiping a small amount of drool from the corner of her mouth as thoughts of her afternoon classes rushed to her brain. Her groggy eyes focused and unfocused, she took in the rosy figure smiling down at her and sighed in relief.

Galinda.

"Where have you been?" She asked getting to her feet without further adieu; concern for someone beside Nessa was new and unfamiliar for her and it came across a bit more aggressively than she intended. Galinda took a shuffling step backward with a small grin; she was gripping two shopping bags in her hand.

"Hi to you too," she jested back, depositing her bags onto the spot Elphaba had just vacated. "I know we had that silly incident earlier with my wand—" she paused with a dramatic sigh as she tried to blame the object; Elphaba fought back a laugh, remembering Galinda's futile attempts to turn her "froat" into a ball gown. "—So I took it upon myself to go above and beyond, because I'm just that good a friend," she smiled brightly with a wink, almost as if she was waiting for Elphaba to agree wholeheartedly.

"Oh, Galinda—" Elphaba eyed the bags wearily, hoping they didn't contain her very own pink monstrosity.

This didn't go unnoticed. "Don't look so scared," Galinda simpered, reaching into the bag ceremoniously and withdrawing the contents. Elphaba snapped her eyes shut, not wanting to look disgusted by Galinda's gift right away. "Yea, Elphie, getting into the spirit of surprise!" She giggled gently to herself. "Alright, miss Elphaba, open those gorgeously green eyes of yours."

Elphaba cracked one eye then the next, before they opened wide in shock. Galinda was standing before her holding a long black dress, in front of her. Upon closer inspection it was covered in an intricate design made of the lightest pink. A compromise.

"It took forever to find one I thought you would like…a task I was more than prepared for," she straightened her back like a soldier and held the dress out for Elphaba to take, "but I think I did pretty well if I do say so myself," she sang the last few words with a wiggle of her eyebrows and a twirl as Elphaba paused before tentatively taking the dress in her hands. This was a side to Galinda Elphaba didn't know existed, a generous, caring, thoughtful side.

"Galinda…" Elphaba wasn't sure what to say, words were failing her. She held the dress close to her, hugging it to her chest, "thank you," she breathed out. "This was really…well…really worth being worried sick about you—" she heard herself almost as if someone else was speaking the words. How had she gone from despising Galinda to worrying about her so quickly? She pushed the thought and embarrassment from her mind as she stopped midsentence.

Galinda, who had been bouncing around, happy that Elphaba liked her dress, stopped abruptly with a grin. "You were worried about me, miss Elphaba?" Elphaba could tell this greatly interested Galinda.

There was no response.

"You," she pointed her finger accusingly at Elphaba, "were worried," she pointed sharply to herself, "about me! You were, you were," she sang again with another pirouette. Elphaba rolled her eyes. "That's what friends do, Elphie. Your green heart might want to fight it, but we're friends now."

Elphaba felt an unfamiliar warmth spread in her chest as she watched the now humming girl dance about their room, gathering discarded items as she went. All uncertainty in Elphaba melted away. Galinda was right.

Her unexplainable worry about Galinda's whereabouts backed that up.

She crossed the room, side stepping various discarded items and sank onto her bed, clutching the dress tightly to her chest as she fought back a smile. She hadn't received such a thoughtful gift ever and she wasn't quite sure what to make of it. The warmth in her chest spread further, heating her arms and stomach as she appreciated the new dress.

"Are you alright?" Galinda asked tentatively, she had abandoned her task of cleaning her mess and was standing nervously beside Elphaba whose face was stony. Out of all the reactions she had expected Elphaba to have, bothered silence had not been one of them. She bit her lip as she worried she had upset the other girl.

Elphaba sighed, lowering the dress to her lap, "I've never gotten such a nice present," she whispered softly, trying to hide her embarrassment. She gave Galinda a warm smile and the blonde girl visibly relaxed.

There was a pause as she decided what to respond. "I'm sorry no one's ever cared for you properly," she chose. Although from the saddened look on Elphaba's face she sorely wished she had chosen something else. "I would like to," she added hastily.

Elphaba chewed the inside of her cheek, the warmth in her chest replacing with a sick cold as she cast about for a response to such a bold statement. "We should head to class," she said, deciding to change the subject completely instead of acknowledging the tragic facts of her life and Galinda's suspiciously kind offer. "It's your first sorcery class!" She added excitedly, rising to her feet with a forced smile.

Galinda observed her uncertainly, but decided against continuing the conversation. Clearly Elphaba didn't want to talk about it. She tried to not let her un-acknowledged offer of loving care bother her. "I don't think I ever thanked you—"

"Don't mention it," Elphaba responded quickly, "you deserve your chance at greatness too, Galinda."

Galinda's cheeks flushed pink to match her outfit, and she grinned happily. "We'll be great together," she reached out to clutch Elphaba's warm hands in her own. Elphaba stiffened fighting her natural instinct to pull them away, deciding the contact wasn't so horrible, she allowed Galinda to swing their hands between them. "Come on," she insisted, dragging Elphaba behind her to Madame Morrible's class.

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"Don't be so hard on yourself," Elphaba insisted sympathetically, jogging to keep up with Galinda who was speed walking away from their private class. "It's your first lesson, you can't have such high expectations."

Galinda stopped walking so suddenly Elphaba nearly ran into her. She turned, a familiar cold look on her face; the only difference was this time it wasn't due to Elphaba's presence. "Elphie, this year has been most confusifying. I haven't gotten what I wanted at least two times now," Elphaba held back a laugh, "those numbers are most upsettifying," she nodded as she spoke.

Elphaba, who had never had anything besides attending Shiz go her way, had a hard time relating to her new friend's issue. It was a glimpse of the Galinda she had grown familiar with over the past couple months.

"It comes so easy to you," Galinda said sadly, her usual singsong voice falling flat, it was clear she was recounting the past hour in which Elphaba had successfully made a chair fly around the room. Galinda had struggled to make a coin so much as wiggle.

Elphaba looked around as she tried to find the words; they were standing in the middle of the hallway, students were skirting around them as they headed to lunch, eyeing them interestedly. Even if most of the school had witnessed the scene from the night before it was still odd to see the two girls standing so close together having such an earnest conversation. Elphaba took a steadying breath and tried to ignore the eyes she felt on her; Galinda was the more pressing issue, and right now people weren't staring at her, they were staring at a distressed Galinda.

"Well," Elphaba started slowly, "maybe it's because everything else has always come so easily to you," she shrugged slightly. "But it doesn't mean you can't do it," she leaned in with an eyebrow raised, unsure if this was sufficient support for the tiny blonde.

She watched as a smile flickered across Galinda's perfect face and felt that unfamiliar warmth in her chest reappear. Once it had burned with hatred, but now this was something new, something Elphaba was entirely unfamiliar with. Something about Galinda had changed the fire within her, and she wasn't sure what to make of it.

Luckily, Galinda didn't dawdle with her sadness and seemed to not notice her new friend's internal conflict, "to lunch, Elphie!" she announced, slipping her hand into Elphaba's to drag the girl down the hall. Elphaba flinched, but figured the physical contact was something she would have to adjust to. "We're meeting my Fiyero," Galinda explained as she tugged on the green hand in her own, "he'll be so excited to hear about my lesson…I think."

Elphaba grimaced slightly at the mention of her Fiyero, Galinda spoke about him like he was a prize she'd won, she really didn't know anything about him yet and she seemed to be jumping in head first. It was none of Elphaba's business however, and she heard the echo of her father in the back of her brain telling her to keep her head down and out of things.

She allowed Galinda to lead her down the hallways to the cafeteria, listening as she babbled on about what she wanted to do as a sorceress and various outfits she had planned for dates with Fiyero. She had to give it to Galinda, the girl had most of her very elaborate life figured out and organized to a t.

Elphaba stopped listening when, as they passed by other students, she realized for once they weren't staring at her and sneering when she walked by. For once in her life they smiled and nodded as she passed. She bit her lip as they neared the cafeteria fighting back tears that were forming in her eyes, she didn't want anyone, especially Galinda to know just how special this moment was for her. It would be too embarrassing.

The night before had been bad enough; Elphaba wasn't against embarrassing herself, most of her life had been an embarrassment, but to start crying outside the cafeteria after her performance at the ozdust might be one too many times for her classmates. She wouldn't blame them; the ugly, crying, green girl is much worse than just the ugly green girl.

She focused instead on the unfamiliar weight of someone else's hand in her own; no one had ever wanted to give her so much as a high five before and now here was this girl, this perfectly poised and praised girl who wasn't afraid to touch her. A second passed before she realized she was sliding her thumb back and forth over the soft back of Galinda's hand. It wasn't until Galinda gave her hand a light squeeze before letting go that Elphaba realized she'd been enjoying the contact.

Galinda's voice floated back to her as if from far away, "Fiyero! Darling! We're right over here," she waved, stopping in the entrance to the cafeteria to clutch onto Elphaba's arm with a shaky breath, "Isn't he just the most handsomemostest?" She sighed, tossing her hair over her shoulders, while she stared dreamily at the prince who was waving back.

Elphaba looked closely at the boy who had nearly ran her over on a horse two nights before: he was good looking, tall, well built, but Elphaba wouldn't have gone so far as to call him the "most handsomemostest" and even from afar she could tell he spent more time getting ready in the morning than studying ever. She cast a sideways look at Galinda who was nearly shaking in her heels at the sight of her prince; it was almost like a child who had been given a new puppy.

They joined him at the table where he sat a lone, a newspaper spread before him. All around his table small throngs of students were milling abou, or huddling at their own tables, whispering together as Galinda and Elphaba made their way to the prince. The whisper that followed Fiyero everywhere was nearly as loud as the one that, until that morning, had always followed Elphaba.

"Galinda, darling," Fiyero rose spectacularly to his feet, looking far more impressive from this angle than he previously had. He flashed her a dazzling smile, slipped his hand onto her waist and kissed her cheek softly. Galinda's eyelids fluttered happily and she tossed her hair over her shoulders again.

Across the room there was a crash as Boq knocked his tray off the table; Elphaba tried to ignore that she had noticed the munchkin staring longingly past her little sister at Galinda when the accident occurred. Nessa was too busy dabbing at the food that had spilled onto Boq's clothes to catch his hasty glances across the cafeteria.

Elphaba watched on as she thought to herself that perhaps she didn't blame Boq for his admiration, glancing at Glinda she felt a now familiar, but confusifying tug in her stomach. Her understanding didn't however ease her mind when it came to Boq; he was with her sister after all and she would hate to see Nessa get hurt.

She frowned and took her seat with Galinda and Fiyero, who was casting quick glances at her every chance he got, as if by looking he would become an expert on her.

He was the first person to truly stare her down the whole day and Elphaba felt herself squirm in discomfort, was she really that odd that he couldn't look away? And even then, when people stared before it hadn't been with this intensity.

He was facing Galinda, who was busy checking her makeup, rattling on about her first lesson like it hadn't been a disaster. his chin rested on his palm, but his eyes were now glued to Elphaba, dancing slightly as he watched her. She was just about to ask him what his problem was when he spoke.

"I don't think we've been properly introduced-" she was taken slightly aback, having expected a rude remark about her appearance from the vain prince.

"You don't call almost running me over with a horse a proper introduction?"

"Fiyero Tigelaar," he chuckled, then stuck the other hand out with a lazy smile, "Winkie Country."

Elphaba glanced down at the newspaper under his elbow, it bore a large picture of his face, "I'm aware," she replied dryly, motioning to the newspaper before tugging hard on the edge, sending the boy's elbow flying and his head crashing to the table, making the silverware and plates jump. Maybe now he would stop staring, she thought with grim satisfaction.

Galinda screamed at the ruckus, sending her mirror flying across the table. Everyone in the cafeteria swung around to stare at the three of them: Galinda clutching her chest, Fiyero rubbing his forehead and Elphaba smiling awkwardly, hoping that eventually everyone would lose interest in them.

"You are something else," Fiyero chuckled with an award winning smile. Elphaba could tell that he wasn't bothered in the slightest, rather amused more than anything. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"I know," Galinda agreed, unaware he wasn't speaking to her, "the first great sorceress of my family, a true inspiration for many," she nodded as she reached across the table to collect her thrown mirror.

Elphaba stifled a laugh, Galinda truly was in her own world most of the time and Elphaba was impressed with how quickly her mood turned around from her disappointing first lesson. Galinda shoved her mirror back in her bag once she was satisfied, happily humming to herself as she went, not a single care in the world.

Fiyero's eyes finally tore away from Elphaba, almost like he was shocked to find his arm thrown around Galinda beside him, "oh, right, Galinda, darling I almost forgot…" he turned in his seat and motioned to someone behind him. Three men came hurrying forward, carrying something between them rather large that was covered in a sheet.

All around them eyes were drawn to the scene; even Elphaba who had cracked open her history book looked up with interest.

Rising spectacularly to his feet, Fiyero stepped forward and grabbed a hold of the edge of the sheet. "I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate our perfection than to immortalize it forever.." he paused, allowing for the suspense to build.

He wiggled his eyebrows and Galinda squealed with excited expectation. Finally, with a flourish, he pulled the sheet off the hidden object to reveal what was underneath. Elphaba had to stifle a laugh in her sleeve while Galinda gasped with admiration.

"Oh, Fiyero, it's the most beautimus thing I've ever laid my eyes on," she rose to her feet to inspect the marble statue of their first kiss. Glinda clearly thought it was a magnificent present, Elphaba quite clearly disagreed. She looked between the couple, each enamored with their own portrayal, and shook her head, perhaps the two of them were perfect for each other.

"You like it?" He asked, grabbing her hands to look steadily into her eyes.

"It's wonderful, darling," she simpered, getting on her toes to kiss him lightly.

Elphaba cleared her throat, "how did you manage to have this made so quickly?" She asked curiously, leaning forward to inspect the craftsmanship. It was a near flawless representation. Despite her obvious disdain for the self centered gift, she had to admire the work.

"I said prince Fiyero…Winkie country," he said, as if this explained everything, with a wink at Elphaba, who would have blushed if she hadn't been green. Much like she had never had someone so willingly embrace her as Galinda she had never had someone stare at her or wink at her with as much intensity as Fiyero. Whether that was due to malice or interest she was unsure.

It made her slightly uncomfortable and she wished momentarily that she was still clutching onto Galinda's hand. That thought surprised her and she quickly pushed it from her mind.

"Elphie, isn't it the most incredible thing you've seen," Galinda asked as she circled the work of art, mouth slightly agape, she wasn't quite over her surprise.

"Ah," Elphaba wanted to respond that she thought the subject matter was far more incredible in real life, but given that she had no clue where that came from she decided to remain silent. Luckily Glinda seemed unbothered.

As Galinda gushed over her gift and a small group of students queued to view the statue, Elphaba looked on for once feeling unnoticed in the best way possible. She had spent her whole life being stared at and mocked; for once the group of people surrounding her had decided that her green skin wasn't her defining trait.

A part of her was saddened that it took Galinda's presence to ease the vicious looks she received, but the other part was just extremely grateful to be free of speculation. As she watched Galinda, a small smile appearing on her face she caught Fiyero's eye again, he winked with a smirk, this time leaving her cheeks a darker green—and her thoughts more tangled than ever.