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ONE
Galinda’s chest heaved. She gripped the front of her blouse in an attempt to pull herself together from being so out of sorts, her back pressed firmly against the door. She didn’t know what had come over her since the intrusion that was her roommate had come into her life but she did know one thing.
It was most upsetting.
She groaned, stomped the ground with her heel and allowed herself to be the improper mess she felt inside her chest at the way Elphaba toyed with her across the Shiz grounds as if it were all a game. Why did Madame Morrible have to pair her with the most insufferable being to step foot onto campus? Elphaba Thropp got under her skin in a brand new way—ruining her goodness in the process. Made all the worse by how deeply Galinda wanted to hate her and how deeply she didn’t.
“Boo!” Elphaba appeared out of nowhere, making Galinda let out the most unladylike screech, before breaking into a cackle.
“Oz help me, Elphaba Thropp! I am taking my room back!”
Elphaba scoffed as she pushed past her to drop off two heavy textbooks on her cot of a bed before grabbing a book Galinda had seen her read for fun, to her horror. “Good luck with that. If my father had it his way, I’d be rooming with Nessa. Yet here we are.”
“That could still be arranged, you know,” Galinda said, tilting her chin upward. “My parents haven’t even gotten my letter yet. They could call Miss Coddle!”
Elphaba stared at her. “My father’s the governor. Do you think he didn’t try that already?”
Galinda knitted her brow. Elphaba always seemed to have the answers… “Well… I don’t care! Something has to be done.”
Elphaba nodded her head and let out a little laugh. “You just despise the idea of someone not catering to you, don’t you?”
Galinda gasped. “That is—” She paused. Okay, maybe that was a little true, but she definitely didn’t despise Elphaba. That was the problem. “Completely and utterly false.”
Elphaba’s eyes narrowed. “Sure it is.”
Galinda wanted to say something back but Elphaba left the room before any words materialized on her tongue. That woman…
She balled up her fist.
Whenever she was around it was as if Galinda’s heartbeat quickened, her palms dampened, and she couldn’t even keep up with her own thoughts. What was happening to her?
Maybe she was coming down with something. Rooming with Elphaba and the damned crack in her balcony door—that she should’ve reported—could’ve given her a cold!
Yes. That explained it. All of these weird feelings stirring began after that incident so that made sense!
Galinda sat on her bed and took a deep, steadying breath. A brief illness? She could handle that.
TWO
The silence in the Ozdust was deafening. Her blood roared in her ears while somehow every nasty word she’d ever heard muttered about Elphaba was amplified. All of the things they’d said and she’d stood by without speaking up. Now here she was before her.
In her granny’s hat.
Oh no, Galinda thought. She held her breath. What had she done?
Madame Morrible, the wand, her training! And it was because of… Elphaba.
Galinda fought back the stinging acid in the back of her throat as she stepped onto the open dance floor with her roommate. She followed Elphaba’s lead. Mimicked every gesture. Kick of her feet. The fluttering moves Elphaba conjured up as she moved from one side of the crowd to the other.
Galinda felt their eyes on her.
She was used to attention but not like this. There was something decidedly different about the way her fellow Ozians—her friends—watched her.
What are you doing?
Stop it!
ShenShen and Pfannee’s words must’ve echoed what the others were thinking but wouldn’t say. She didn’t care. She couldn’t stand idly by and let Elphaba be humiliated when she’d trusted her…
They were a hair’s breadth apart as the tear ran down Elphaba’s cheek. Galinda’s heart ached as she let her fingers press into Elphaba’s skin. Briefly. Faintly.
It sent a jolt through Galinda when they touched. Her stomach felt like it flipped when they embraced. She took the moment to relish in the warmth between them before taking Elphaba’s hand as they ran up the stairs, giving one final look to their classmates as they left.
The Ozdust didn’t deserve Elphaba.
Oz only knew if she did, either, but if Elphaba felt that way then… She owed it to them both to go with her. There were so many things she wanted to say and too few hours left in the darkness to do so.
They came to a stop near the waterfront, their lighthearted laughter fading out until it was just the two of them in the quiet. As the adrenaline wore off from their dance, Galinda took in the sight of Elphaba in the moonlight’s glow. Her fingers instinctively intertwined, slotting hers between Elphaba’s. She thought back on the tear that had rolled down Elphaba’s face and wished she would’ve wiped it away. Wished she would’ve swept her thumb delicately over her cheekbone as she drew her closer. She could almost feel the breath between their lips as she—
“Thank you,” Elphaba said abruptly with a squeeze of her hand. It broke Galinda’s illusion and sent her stammering backwards from how close she’d gotten. “You didn’t have to do that in there.”
Galinda smiled kindly. “Of course I did. That’s what friends are for.”
“Right,” Elphaba said, the corner of her mouth lifting. “Friends.”
They stayed still for a few moments before a group of voices echoed behind them and Elphaba pulled her hands away. Galinda nearly reached for them on reflex but she stopped herself.
“We should probably get back to Shiz?” Elphaba offered.
“Of course,” she murmured, putting on a reluctant smile.
THREE
“I have to go,” Elphaba whispered.
Galinda stood staring at the empty space, picturing Elphaba’s form still there—her eyes staring back in the mirror, the red tinge they had when Galinda told her she was beautiful. Then she was gone and a sudden breath shuddered from Galinda’s lungs as Elphie rushed out of the room.
Did she not believe Galinda’s words? Did she think— Galinda couldn’t bear to think it were true, but did Elphie think it was some sort of a trap?
The whole night and early morning was supposed to show Elphaba how beautiful Galinda thought she was. It was all there in every tip and trick she’d offered over how to be popular, wasn’t it?
And the most confusifying part for her was that it was the truth. Perhaps Elphie wasn’t beautiful in the tradition sense—the way people praised Galinda for being—but her eyes were honest, her smile was warm, with features that complimented the softness of her face, pigmentation aside. How could Elphaba not see it?
Galinda took a seat at the vanity and let her face drop into her open hands, racking her brain over what she could’ve, and should’ve, done differently.
She supposed it was always an option to tell Elphaba how she’d counted the freckles that crossed the bridge of her nose when she was supposed to be reading in the library. Or that she’d memorized the creases in Elphie’s palms from the brief times they’d touched hands. Perhaps she could’ve told her the reason she should keep her glasses on had more to do with accentuating the precise shade of green that colored her eyes, and less to do with the scenario Elphaba had probably imagined for herself.
Maybe she needed to think bigger! Outside of the box. She’d try anything—anything—to get Elphie to see herself through Galinda’s eyes.
“Galinda—”
Galinda whipped her head around so quickly she nearly threw herself out of the small seat, but it was just Fiyero standing in the still-open doorway. “Oh.”
“Expecting someone else?” he asked, taking a step toward her.
Galinda drew her mouth to one side. She did have to admit she was hoping it would be Elphaba coming back, saying she’d reconsidered, but… “Not at all,” she replied.
“I just thought I’d drop by given how you ran out last night and see if you’d like to accompany me this afternoon?”
Galinda’s shoulders lifted almost on cue as she inhaled deeply, prepared to accept the offer. She blew the air right back out and shook her head. It wouldn’t be particularly fair to Fiyero when she’d only be preoccupied by the thought of missing a chance to talk to Elphaba again.
“I just have so much—” She hesitated and panic rose in her chest at the lack of a satisfactory answer for turning him down. The book she’d flung earlier caught her eye. “Studying to do!”
“Ahh.” Fiyero nodded his head. “Of course. The sorcery seminar, right?”
“The sorcery— Yes! Oh, yes, very busy with all of the sorcering I’ve got to catch up on for Madame Morrible!” Galinda finished the rushed statement with a tight smile as she ushered Fiyero back toward the door. “But maybe later I can come find you?”
Fiyero tilted his head to regard her. “Sure… Later’s also fine. I guess I’ll see you around then,” he said then turned to leave.
Whew. She breathed a sigh of relief, then another thought hit her. She rushed to lean into the hallway after him. “Fiyero! You didn’t happen to see… Elphaba… Did you?” she asked, as composed as she could be.
He considered the question for a moment. “I’m sorry, I can’t say that I did.”
“Thanks anyway. We’ll catch up later!”
She sighed once he rounded the corner, kicking the door closed behind her. Apparently her efforts to convince Elphie of her true beauty would have to wait after all.
Not to worry. It gave her enough time to work it out herself in her diary first.
FOUR
“You’ve probably never felt that way,” Elphaba said, letting her head fall away from its place on the pillow next to Galinda’s.
Scattered open spellbooks lined the tabletops and Galinda’s nightstand from their shared lesson before they veered away from studying the text and turned to one another. The breeze coming from the partially opened balcony door was just enough to make them squeeze in closer for warmth.
Galinda snapped back to the moment as Elphie shut the heavy book laying between them. Rather than continue laying there, transfixed on the contrast between the bright moonlight and the shadows it cast over Elphaba’s face, she realized that was something of a question.
She’d never felt…
“Never felt what way?” she asked, hesitant.
Elphaba turned back in her direction. “Never felt like what you do isn’t good enough. Like it doesn’t matter since everyone’s already made up their mind about who you are. About what you’re capable of.”
Galinda rolled the words around in her head. Did people perceive her a certain way? Well, yes, of course. She’d worked so hard to make it so, ever since she was just a little girl—following Momsie and Popsicle to all of the social events, watching the people around her, making friends. It’d all become part of her own self image to keep up appearances. To not step out of line or turn the tide against her. In fact, the only time she hadn’t felt that kind of pressure was when she was with… Elphie.
She swallowed hard. “I know what you mean,” she said, laying a hand on Elphie’s arm. She looked unconvinced so Galinda gave a small squeeze. “Really, Elphie, I do! I know that I say I don’t care what people think, but you know—”
A brief smile tugged at the corner of Elphie’s mouth. Her hand covered Galinda’s and for some reason, that made her heart pound in her chest. “I know, my sweet.”
But not with you, her brain says but her tongue doesn’t seem to be persuaded to move. She couldn’t even explain why, but something just lights up in her when Elphaba smiles. Or when she gets the last word in a class debate. Or they lock eyes from across the courtyard. It’s one of those unexplainable feelings—the kind she thinks better than to share with others, but she wants to, desperately, with Elphie if she could just spit it out.
A series of knocks at their door interrupt her before she gets to, though, as ShenShen and Pfannee rushed in and Elphie jumped up from her bed before they even noticed she was there.
“We got here just in time,” Pfannee said at the sight of her. “You aren’t dressed at all for tonight and have we got somewhere for you to be.”
ShenShen started rifling through her closet before she even knew the plan, tossing two dress options at her. She gave Elphie a sympathetic look over their shoulders and hoped it conveyed how much more she had to tell her.
Elphaba smiled back, taking a seat on her own bed—much closer than it once was—with the book on levitation they were working through earlier in the evening.
Just like that, the feeling in her chest returned and Galinda made up her mind.
The next chance she had—she’d do something. Even if it came out in fragments of sentences she couldn’t control about those flutters in her stomach, the heat she felt in her cheeks… Elphie had taught her so much about being imperfect, she would understand.
Of that she was sure.
FIVE
Galinda took the hat away from Elphie’s face and set it to her left atop the Ozconomist she put aside to watch her sleep. The noise from the tracks beneath them and the faint sound of the engine was all that filled the train car beyond Elphie’s slow breathing.
She dared to brush her fingertip along the edge of Elphaba’s cheek and smiled to herself as her features scrunched in response.
How far they’d come.
Galinda so badly wanted this for Elphie—to have anything and everything she’d worked so hard for. For everyone to see the real her and how wonderful she was. With the invitation from the Wizard himself, it would mean all of that and so much more and that filled her heart to the brim.
It also put a pit in her stomach over the future. If Elphaba got all she ever wanted, what if she… Didn’t return? Galinda could hardly bear to think about returning to Shiz without Elphie hand-in-hand with her. The initial reluctance to a roommate, to Elphaba as a whole, had turned into the most wonderful thing and she’d told herself—so many times—that she’d tell Elphaba just how wonderful it was.
Now she was only concerned about standing in the way.
Elphie was so strong in her convictions, yet so vulnerable to people’s opinion. It wasn’t something she could easily shake. So how could Galinda take a chance on ruining all of her progress? For possibly the first time, she felt an ache over the idea of her own selfishness. Her vision blurred but she choked back the emotion.
Her diary would most certainly be hearing of this later—how Galinda Upland, of the Upper Uplands, had somehow fallen completely for the girl with an odd complexion and even odder personality.
And “fallen” was the only word that captured what must’ve happened to her. The kind of falling she’d pretended to do her entire life. The kind of falling it seemed everyone expected. The kind everyone had done for their boyfriends, girlfriends, everything in between. It was the only way to explain the push and pull she’d felt since they’d crashed onto the train’s platform together and considered what if this was the end of their journey.
Elphie shifted in her sleep and Galinda quickly maneuvered to let her head fall after pressing a fleeting kiss to her temple. If this was the end, she ought to make it worth it. For the both of them.
She smiled through the tears that threatened to trickle down her cheeks. I love you, Elphaba Thropp, she mouthed.
“Now approaching: the Emerald City!” The conductor’s booming voice sent Elphaba shooting upright, flinging the hat from their bench and making Galinda quickly dry her eyes.
They both rose from the seat to gawk at the buildings jutting out of the earth toward the sky—everything a shade of bright green.
This is it, Galinda thought as she snuck her hand closer and intertwined her fingers with Elphie’s. “Are you ready, Elphie?”
“Of course.” Elphaba turned to her, beaming. She lifted Galinda’s hand in her own and held it close. “And I’m so glad you’re here with me.”
“There’s no place I’d rather be,” Galinda said. She matched Elphaba’s smile as it grew wider yet.
She just had to hold it together one more day.
+ ONE
It was easy to keep her mind preoccupied, pushing off the inevitable while they bounced around the city, taking in the sights. The people. The atmosphere. It was nothing like Shiz and Elphaba’s joy was contagious, anyway.
Galinda glanced up at the varying levels of balconies, trimmed in decadent gold. She couldn’t help but let her imagination run wild with the possibilities of her life there. Of theirs.
Elphaba yanked her by the arm toward the center of the town where a theater performance began. She’d been so grateful to only have the one day—to make the potential for goodbye quick and easy, and yet she was already wishing for more time.
The Ozians inside the city made them feel welcome. They’d opened their arms to Elphaba rather than shun her as her own people had. And Galinda, well, her social skills couldn’t lead her astray. She’d need no more than a week to be on their collective good side.
But with every shop they exited, every wave of a hand from people on the streets, she knew they were getting closer to the palace and she wasn’t anywhere close to prepared to let go.
“Isn’t it just amazing, Galinda? I mean… Look around us.” Elphaba’s voice was giddy with excitement, her eyes fixed on the blue sky above them.
Galinda’s were fixed on Elphie. “It so is,” she murmured.
Elphaba’s gaze slowly drifted back to hers. “If… If I knew this was waiting for me…”
“We could’ve come sooner,” Galinda finished with a light chuckle.
“Exactly!” Elphaba opened her arms and spun in a small circle beneath the extravagant fountain. “Can you imagine living here?”
She perked up. Now there was a thought.
“We could just move, you know,” Galinda said before she thought better of it. “Just… Go back to Shiz, pack up, and then come back. I’m sure there’s endless real estate here. Ooh! Or better yet,” she continued, on an unstoppable roll now. “We could just send for our things! Have them packed and delivered to us… Oh, Elphie, think of the possibility!”
“Wh—” Elphaba stopped spinning, her expression growing serious. “Galinda… I have to see the Wizard. I— That’s the whole point.”
Galinda’s heart rate sped up as she looked Elphaba in the eyes. She took a step toward her. “But… What if you didn’t?”
Elphaba looked like Galinda had kicked her with her words. “That’s not how it works. I got an invitation! I’ve… I worked so hard to get here, why wouldn’t I go?”
“Because you would stay with me,” Galinda said, her tongue betraying her and all she’d told herself about keeping her mouth shut. She stuttered as she continued. “I— I mean, like I said we wouldn’t even have to go back to Shiz if you didn’t want to?”
Elphaba held her hands out and took a stumbling step backwards. “Why would we do that? Why are you telling me this? Is this why you came? To talk me out of—”
Galinda took a step toward her but she backed up again so Galinda froze. “Because I love you!” she forced out, fighting to steady her voice. “Elphie, I love you. I can’t… I don’t want to go back without you, but you’re so happy here! Look at you! Elphie, I so wanted to tell you but this is your dream and I don’t know what came over me now…”
Elphaba stood there with her mouth agape while Galinda’s lungs burned from her outburst. “You—” Elphaba started. Her tongue swept across her lip as her brow creased. “When— You weren’t going to tell me?”
Galinda’s eyes raced to find something else to focus on. The pattern of the cobblestone. The sound of splashing water as theater performers rolled behind them. Her own feet. “I didn’t want to ruin this… I wanted you to have all you ever wanted.”
Elphaba huffed out a laugh.
“What? I’m serious, Elphaba, I wanted this to be about you!”
“Oh, Oz, Galinda,” Elphaba said, sweeping a hand over her face. “You didn’t bother to ask me what I wanted.”
“But who wouldn’t… You worked so hard with Madame Morrible. I saw you. Watched you practice. Helped you practice. All for this! I thought—” Galinda was quickly running out of steam as Elphaba just stood there and listened without helping her.
Elphaba sighed, closed the distance, and gathered Galinda’s hands in her own. “I did. I do. Want this. I think I deserve to want this. But… Maybe I want something else, too?”
Galinda threw her arms up, exasperated. “What else could you possibly want?”
“You.” Elphaba grabbed her hands from the air and held them to press a kiss to Galinda’s knuckles. “Because I love you, too.”
Galinda’s eyes widened. She wasn’t sure if she or Elphaba moved first but suddenly they were colliding, tangling their arms around one another, their lips crashing into each other. It was all of the feelings she’d kept inside since their first night rooming together all at once, in a fury. The flutters, the jolts, the quieting little voice in the back of her head all coming together, melting away, and leaving just her and Elphie.
Elphie smiled against her lips when she pulled back. “I can’t believe you weren’t going to tell me.”
Galinda huffed, indignant. “I was trying to be considerate.”
Slender fingers brushed against her cheek, pushing a loose blonde curl behind her ear. “You were. But I still want you to be honest with me.”
“Okay.” She nodded, then leaned in to kiss her again.
There were so many questions still running through her mind—with the impending invitation from the Wizard at the top—but what were a few extra seconds between the two of them? It soothed something in her to think that whatever came next, whatever decisions Elphie made, they would follow through with them. Together.