a/n: Just a warning that this fic has a pretty horrific setting, so there's a lot of racism/homophobia/transphobia. Like, all the time. In every chapter. Hope you enjoy haha! ha.. h

Chapter 1; The Witch

I was curling my hair for the second day of my eleventh year of highschool. I had been curling it for a little more than an hour now. I pinned it into place when I was done. Fringe swept to the right, hair pinned tight on the left behind my ear. I had a small scar on my right temple that I would rather cover. When people saw it, they would always ask how I got it. They couldn't see anything but that scar. I hated that.

The fashion, these days, was to have your hair straight until about your ears, then have it in thick ringlets the rest of the way down. A fringe that curled gently to one side was recommended; middle-parted hair was deemed boring, and very unfashionable. I knew this because the day before, the first day of my eleventh year, Pfannee and Shenshen had gotten in a big discussion over it when Mallonet Granhaitti had come to school with a middle-part. She always was a little frumpy, despite her wealth.

I reddened my lips and lined my eyes. I didn't need blush. Then I left for school.

North Dixxi College was about a half an hours walk from my place. I usually rode my bike because I'm not too good at waking up and leaving early enough to walk. I woke up early that day because of my nerves, so I took my time. It had been raining that morning. The paths weren't too messed up, and the air was crisp.

Shenshen and Pfannee met me at the gates to the school grounds. Compliments flew around. Pfannee gave her daily update on the talk of the class. She had given one every day before school for four years. She was the lifeblood of the rumour mill. She was the rumour mill. I found it to be pretty tiresome, but I liked being up to date. She was just so eager and annoying about it.

"There's a new student, but they're a demon!" Shenshen and I exchanged looks and laughed half to death. Pfannee was very upset. "Oh, don't hurt yourselves," She muttered.

"A demon? Really? Galinda, can you believe it?"

"An Animal wouldn't be admitted at our school."

"It's not an Animal of any kind!" Pfannee snapped. "Apparently their skin is green as anything, but they're human. Well, barely. People can't tell what it is! Not in species nor, you know, in the private way."

"What crap," Shenshen said. I agreed. Pfannee got all offended and needed consoling. That annoyed me about her, too. Forcing me to fake concern for her fake hurt so she was fake happy again. Shenshen wasn't so irritating, though she had her own little things. I didn't like the way she looked at people. She looked like she was always looking down her nose, even at her height. And I didn't like the way she talked about boys more than school or friends or the world all put together. All she cared about was boys.

We were walking to the locker bays when we saw a little pack of students in front of the faculty building. We lagged and came to a stop, curious. They were all sitting on the wet cement, back to back, their arms linked. A few of the year twelves were watching and muttering about them. "What on Oz are they doing?" I said.

Pfannee gave a kind of huff and said, "They're protesting Animals or magic or something. Protesting for it, I mean."

"Protesting what, exactly?" Shenshen asked as if it were a chore.

"I don't know. Ask them."

We didn't. We went over toward the year twelves and watched a little longer. A teacher came out of the building and told them to scram. When they stayed stony quiet, the teacher threatened to call the police. They stood there for a quarter of an hour before they went inside to make good on their threat. A boy from our year came up with his pack.

"What are you lot doing?" They didn't even look at him. He was Avaric. He was rich and strapping. Sheshen and Pfannee were sweet on him. I didn't much care for him, because he was one of those cocky boys. The kind of boy you couldn't feel too comfortable around as a girl.

He antagonised them a little more, then got bored, and began to throw rocks at them. His pack joined in. Most of them didn't connect.

"Knock it off," a female protester called sharply. That got Avaric going. He pelted a stone and hit one of the boys right in the face, hard.

The year twelves stepped in and got Avaric to cool down. He smoothed his hair back with his hand, his sleeves rolled up to his shoulder, and Shenshen and Pfannee swooned. I hated when they got all moony eyed. "Come on," I said, pulling at their arms linked through mine.

"Wait. Those the guard?"

The police really had been called. Ten or so moved in through the gates, lining up around the little barricade of students. A big guy in the middle of the line up spoke. "Your fun is over, lads. Time to get up."

"We aren't moving," One shot back. The police all chuckled between each other.

"You got one warning."

"We aren't moving till we're heard. Fairness for Animals! Freedom of Spellcraft!" They began to chant. They were trying to be inspiring, but it didn't work. I felt embarrassed on their behalf, watching their little commotion. As little as it was, the police didn't like it.

"Move, or you'll be taken to the station."

"We aren't doing anything. We're just sitting here."

"You're disturbing the peace."

"But-"

The police didn't let them finish and closed in, manhandling them to their feet. Most of them caved fast and let the police cuff them. A few of the angrier boys struggled away. One got forced to the ground by two officers. The other got hit full across the face with a baton, blood spitting from his mouth and down his white school shirt. Everyone just watched, amazed, as they were all dragged off.

A teacher came out and told us to get to class and we hurried off. We got barely a few moments of conversation before the next scuffle came up. Right where my locker was, there was a small crowd of students and some kind of fight happening. "That's Avaric again," Shenshen said.

"Stupid boy, always in the thick of the trouble," I muttered. Pfannee slapped my arm. "Well, it's true."

"But he is charming about it."

"Barely."

Shenshen checked her wristwatch. "We have a bit of time before class, but we'd better move if we want the good seats for Literature." Shenshen took Pfannee's arm and gave me a little wave. "See you second period. And tell Avaric I want to eat lunch with him, would you?"

"Tell him I would too!"

They went off and left me to the crowd of sweaty boys. I approached, and the boys were merciful, moving when they noticed me and who I was. I was a little well known in school now, being rich and attractive, and in the company of Shenshen, who was even richer. Not so attractive, but I would never say, of course.

When I got through the boys what I saw was Avaric and the demon student facing off. They were not what I expected: for one, they were clearly a girl, on account of their hair and the boring dress they were in. I suppose I could see the confusion, though. They were tall as the boys, and as flat in the front. They were against the locker scowling like a beast. Avaric was running his mouth.

"You a Lizard or something?"

"Do you see any scales, idiot?"

"Don't get fresh with me. You're outnumbered."

That shut her up pretty fast. The boys snickered. "I didn't realise this was a fight," She said. Her voice was a clear kind of voice, the kind of voice that pierced through things and forced you to listen. Just like her skin. You always had to look out of a morbid kind of curiosity, like looking at the corpse in a funeral.

"More like animal control," Avaric said.

"If you're going to do something, do it quick. I've got classes to attend." The demon girl stepped forward boldly. "What is it? Burning? Beating?"

They all stepped back. Even the big boys stepped back when she came forward. I couldn't tell if it was more disgust or fear. I think it was fear, because she was just the kind of freak the magic prohibition campaign always warned you about. She looked like a witch.

For me it was disgust. I could barely look at her without feeling sick to my stomach. I wanted this all out of the way, and I wanted her out of my vision, so I turned on Avaric. "Can you wrap this up? Class starts soon, and you guys are crowding my locker."

"Miss Arduenna." He got back a little of his bravado with me there to impress. "Sorry for inconveniencing you. Alright boys. Let's leave this bony fucking freak for later." He grinned all toothily at the demon girl. "I'll be seeing you around, Elphaba."

They took off. I went to my locker and got my books as fast as I could. Her locker was only about four down from mine. She looked at me, and her eyes were black and stark. She had a middle part and a single thick braid. I just looked away and went to class. I felt like I was going to puke looking at it.

My first class was history. Elphaba the demon girl was with me. She was active too, or tried to be, except the teacher never picked her. She gave up half an hour into class, her face murky and dark with embarrassment. I took notes, but I didn't give a lick about history. Every history teacher I ever had was an old man. I didn't feel right about old men. They were kind of pathetic, in some ways, but still insisted on acting all important. History mustn't have been very good if its biggest fans were old men and the freaky demon girl.

Second period was mathematics with Shenshen and Pfannee. It was kind of our best class, because the teacher this year was Ms. Plads, and she was too nervous to tell anyone to do anything. I still took notes though.

We went to the back of the bike shed during recess.

"I have a class with the demon," I said, kicking off the conversation with a bang. Shenshen couldn't believe her ears.

"You're kidding. It's true?"

"You haven't seen her? Her name is Elphaba Thropp."

"What's it like?" Pfannee said excitedly, leaning into their triangle.

"Well, she's green. She's not an Animal or anything. She's a little revolting, you know? It just looks so strange. Anyway, she's pretty aggressive too. She scared Avaric and his boys."

"She must be pretty damn revolting to scare Avaric," Shenshen said.

"They didn't want to get cursed. She looks like a witch. You'll get it when you see her."

"What, those characters on the posters? That is scary," Pfannee said. She was lapping it up. "Tell me more."

"Are you in love?"

"I'll be in love with you if you tell me more. A kiss for a tidbit."

My pulse jumped, even if it was Pfannee. "You're vile," Shenshen laughed. Pfannee smiled and batted her eyelashes coquettishly.

A lot of things about these girls annoyed me, but I liked them when we were all together and joking like this. Even when Pfannee tried too hard, or when Shenshen acted all high-and-mighty, I liked them.

"For a kiss," I started. "She's taller than Avaric, and flat as a board, but she insists on wearing a dress. She looks like some sad boy thats lost a bet." Pfannee was hunched in laughter. It made me feel victorious somehow, so I went on. "Her hair is black and looks dry as horse hair, so she keeps it in a braid with a middle-part. And when she blushes, her skin goes all muddy."

"I have to see this for myself," Shenshen said. She didn't like seeming too interested in things. It was kind of cute, but also kind of annoying.

"You said she was aggressive? Like, rabid? Wonder why the school let her in."

"No idea." Something about that bugged me. Rabid. She wasn't rabid. She seemed pretty cool about it, really.

"Sometimes schools have pity admissions, you know? Because they're a Winkie or a bit off their head, they'll get all sympathetic. Makes the school look better. Did she seem off her head?"

"I don't know."

"Who knows whats off with her if she's bloody green," Shenshen muttered. "Could go psycho and hex the whole school."

I was getting angry now, because they were just assuming things when they hadn't met or even seen her like I had. "She seemed a little more together than that."

"How together can she be?"

"I don't know."

Shenshen checked her watch. "Class starts in a few minutes. Up and at em'. Let's get our books now. Economics is next." Economics was taught by a young, fit Emerald man named Mister Reddik that Shenshen liked to drool over in class. Too bad he was married. "I'll seduce him all the same, just once," Shenshen had joked at one of their sleepovers. I knew she was half serious. She was the kind of girl to do that.

We stopped by the girl's bathrooms on the way back to check ourselves in the mirrors. Pfannee rushed into a cubicle. When she came out, she reapplied her makeup. She was always reapplying her makeup because she never went with the right brands. There was this trick back in the northern hills amongst the girls where you bit your lips raw every morning and every night, and eventually they just stayed red all on their own. I tried it for a month or so, but that was for girls that couldn't afford lipstick. Maybe I should've told Pfannee about that.

Shenshen gave me a look. "Your fringe is out of place. Come here." She liked to fuss over me and Pfannee. She was just that kind of girl I guess, a little motherly. It didn't suit the rest of her personality at all. Or maybe it suited it perfectly. Acted as a kind of balance for all of her pretentions.

I saw Shenshen eying the scar. She knew how I got it, of course. She always made this strange, kind of sympathetic, kind of envious look. I think her and Pfannee thought it made me more matured somehow. It didn't really feel that way.

I got it when I was thirteen. See, when I was thirteen and before then, we lived in Frottica, which is north of Dixxi House where we live now. We moved because Frottica and the Pertha Hills were so close to Ugabu, and when things started to get bad there it all spilled out to where we lived. I got the scar from a bullet.

It wasn't aimed at me though, and Frottica wasn't some kind of warzone. It was aimed at someone past me. It was a shot from behind that grazed me. A ruddy skinned guy was causing some commotion, and next thing he was shot. After that, mama and pop moved fast. They said it was for my safety, but they were really just scared. Who would almost be shot next, when there were more and more ruddy men causing commotions every day?

There weren't too many refugees in Dixxi House. Most of them went to Shiz. Dixxi House was small in comparison. And anyway, we never saw them, because all of them lived in South Dixxi and couldn't afford a school like North Dixxi College. South Dixxi was called The Pen to the rest of Dixxi House, because all it's where all the Animals and urchins lived. South Dixxi was the badlands.