A/N: Welcome to the new and improved version of "Defying Gravity!" I have almost completely rewritten the first three chapters or so, because I didn't yet have my hands on the script of the show when I started this story at the beginning of last summer. Also, the writing style in the first five chapters or so left much to be desired. (Plus, when I posted this story the first time, I hadn't yet learned that you get many more reviews by posting one chapter at a time… and we all know what a review addict I am:D ) So, I hope you like the changes I made!

Disclaimer: All I own are green makeup, a pointy black hat, the OBC and karaoke soundtracks, the Grimmerie, my special "I Won the Wicked Lottery!" button (the story behind that one amounts to the single luckiest event of my entire life thus far – just ask if you want to hear about it!), and tickets to see the show on July 5.

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Well, here I am at last, on my way to Shiz University! I've been looking forward to this day since… sweet Oz, since before I can remember! Father's never let me do anything like this before – he'd never have believed I was capable of university level work. But I passed all my school exams at the top of my class in every subject, so, after lots of hemming and hawing, he finally admitted grudgingly that there was no real reason he could think of to keep me from going. I know the main reason he's letting me come is because of Nessa, but still, I'm going to prove to him that I do count for something!

I'm perhaps a couple of years older than one might expect of a girl about to begin her first year of university, but that's because Father wouldn't let me leave home to go to school until Nessa was ready for university, too. What with her disability and everything, he needed me at home to take care of her. But now that she's starting at Shiz, he decided that I could accompany her. I suppose having me there with Nessa will be cheaper and easier for him than having to hire someone else to take care of her, not to mention that it will eliminate the need to entrust our family history to an outsider. We tend to guard our privacy more than most people, you see, because of Nessa being in a wheelchair and me being… well, the way I am.

I suppose I should explain here just exactly what I mean by "the way I am." No, I'm not crippled like poor Nessa, or disfigured, or anything like that. But from the day I was born, I've always been a bit… different from other people, in a couple of major ways.

First of all, I'm green. Yes, you read that last bit correctly. My skin is the color of grass, frogs, the Emerald City – take your pick. No one is really sure exactly how it happened. But just before my mother died, she gave me a little green glass bottle with the label 'Miracle Elixir.' I was too young to understand its significance at the time, but I put it with my few other little treasures, and as I grew up I came to understand that it had something to do with why I look the way I do. Seeing as how the contents of that little bottle have caused me so many problems in my life, I would not ordinarily want anything to do with it. But it's also the only tangible thing I have left of my mother, so I sleep with it under my pillow every night to remind me of her.

Now for the second reason. I can make things happen. I have no idea why or how. I can't usually seem to do it on command. But when I get really good and angry, strange things just…happen. It's so embarrassing. I hate it. It absolutely mortifies Father whenever I have an "episode" (his word, not mine!), so over the years I've learned to stay away from situations that might cause my strange powers to flare up. And for when I can't avoid these situations altogether, I've learned to keep my temper under control, at least enough to keep things from getting out of hand. This isn't always easy, but usually I manage to keep myself calm enough that my powers don't act up. However, I also have a rather strong temper when provoked, so sometimes I can't quite manage to rein it in, and the next thing I know everyone is staring at me like I'm some oddity in a carnival freakshow.

Needless to say, between my strange powers and my green skin, I've never really found it easy to get close to anyone. My greatest wish for my time at Shiz is that for once I'll be able to just fit in and make friends like a normal girl instead of being the outcast, as I've always been before. Maybe the people at Shiz won't be as incredibly small-minded as everyone back home. Maybe, instead of judging me by their first glimpse of me, they'll actually take the time to look past my green skin and accept me for the person I really am.

And maybe Pigs will sprout wings and fly.

Oh, who am I kidding? What reason do I have to believe that Shiz is going to be any different from home? I've got to learn to stop giving myself false hope that's only going to be crushed in the end. No one at Shiz is going to want to befriend me any more than anyone back in Munchkinland did. I've known that all along; it's time I accepted it. That was why I bought this diary in the first place, after all – to have somewhere other than inside my own head to talk about my private thoughts and problems. Because goodness knows I certainly won't have any people who are willing to listen to them. Putting my impressions of the world down on paper is better than not having anywhere at all to discuss them, I suppose. At least paper can't run away screaming or fall down in a faint at the sight of me, or tell me that my feelings and opinions don't matter.

I guess I'd better go for now – we just pulled up to the railway station at Shiz, and Father will want my help rounding up all our luggage and getting Nessa off the train. I'll try to write more in the next few days, once Nessa and I are settled in.