Chapter One: Socialite

This is my first Wicked Multichapter, so bear with me. I promise that this story will be worth it.

The rising sun was unseen by the two girls still sound asleep. The curtains were drawn tight, and even though it was morning the darkness of night still lingered in the room. Jade green skin and golden curls were muted and buried under blankets. Nothing at all could awake the occupants.

Except, perhaps, the loud ringing of a fuchsia alarm clock. After a few seconds of the annoying sound, the blonde rolled over drowsily and stumbled out of bed. Her hand groped across the nightstand trying the stop the noise.

"Shut that thing up." Elphaba moaned, rolling over and flopping ungracefully out of her bed. She started to pull a brush through her raven colored hair, while making the bed with her other arm.

"I'm trying!" Galinda snapped back, locating the clock and quickly shutting it off. "See, I did it."

Ignoring Elphaba's grumbles about waking up at insane hours, Galinda quickly made her bed, brushed her hair, and dressed. She applied her makeup and fixed her hair, then started to wonder which necklace would match her blouse best.

Elphaba, on the other hand, had just finished braiding her hair again and was placing a hat over it when Galinda turned around to ask her roommate's advice. She let out a little shriek and dashed over to Elphaba, immediately starting to undo her braid without even asking her.

"What are you doing?" Elphaba hissed, yanking her head out of Galinda's reach and pushing her away, annoyed at her roommate's intrusiveness.

Galinda was knocked off her feet but managed to catch herself before she hit the ground. Scrambling to her feet, she scrunched her face up in annoyance and snapped at Elphaba, "Don't you remember anything that happened last night? If you want me to help you get some friends, you're going to have to make some changes. And that involves wearing your hair down, like I showed you. That also involves not knocking people over, snapping at them, and taking your nose out of a book every now and then!"

Elphaba was shocked at her friend's outburst. She'd never seen Galinda be angry like this before. Instead of being hurt, she was flattered. No one had ever agreed to do something like this for her, and they sure as hell hadn't been this passionate and determined to see that they succeeded.

"Alright, I surrender," Elphaba said, undoing the braid and tossing her hair a bit to let it regain it's body. "See?"

"The flower too." Galinda said, unimpressed by Elphaba's change of mood.

"Galinda-" Elphaba began warily, but she was cut off.

"No argument. Put it on too." Galinda took it off the nightstand and clipped it so it drew hair away from Elphaba's face.

"Am I done?" Elphaba asked, picking up her schoolbag and reaching for her books.

"No you aren't. You need to be nice to people. Say hello, look people in the eye, ask them if they had fun at the dance last night. People aren't going to come to you, you've got to come to them."

"I'll just creep them-"

"You creep everyone out at first, but you have to show them your personality. Your new, improved personality. You will be polite," Galinda took a step towards Elphaba, "Positive," She took another step, "And most importantly, social!"

Galinda was now glaring at Elphaba, inches away from her. The effect might have been threatening if she wasn't a full head shorter then her roommate. Usually Elphaba would have laughed, but she doubted that would help now. She just nodded and took a step back, starting to pack her bag up again.

Galinda turned around and did the same, and the two headed down to breakfast together. While they were walking down the stairs, Elphaba noticed a small cut on the blonde's finger.

"What happened?" She asked, carefully grasping Galinda's hand and examining the injury. It wasn't deep, but it looked like it stung nastily.

"Someone pushed me onto the floor," Galinda pulled her hand out of Elphaba's and continued to descend the staircase. "Someone I was trying to help."

Guilt flooded Elphaba. She had been rude, hadn't she? Looking back on things, pushing her probably hadn't been the best move.

"Galinda, I'm sorry. Really, I am. I know you're just trying to help, and I didn't mean to push you. I'm just not used to someone caring about my happiness, that's all."

"It's alright." The reply was quiet, yet genuine.

They reached the breakfast hall. Students turned to gape at Elphaba as she passed on a normal day, but now that she was accompanied by Galinda, practically the whole place was staring at the two of them as they got their food and looked for a place to sit. Galinda knew that Shenshen and Pfannee were getting breakfast in town, so she sat down with a few students from her Calculus class. It was one of the few classes that she and Elphaba had together. The students greeted Galinda happily, but just stared at Elphaba.

"You know my roommate, Elphaba," Galinda said warily, gesturing towards the green girl.

The students nodded, nudging each other and whispering. Finally one of them spoke up.

"Er-yeah. What's she doing here?"

"She's having breakfast with us," Galinda answered, "I thought you ought to meet her properly, considering you're in the same class."

One of the students looked at Elphaba and mumbled, "Hi", but the rest of them just stared at their food.

As the meal progressed, Galinda asked the students several questions about their time at the dance and a conversation struck up about who had gone with who. Usually Elphaba would have ignored their idiotic chatter, but Galinda had said that she ought to be social. So when the conversation turned to Boq and Nessa, Elphaba immediately spoke up. She talked about how Nessa believed that she and Boq were perfect and how excited she had been when he'd asked her, finishing with her opinion on why they made a cute couple.

Her change in mood and her contribution surprised everyone, even Galinda. Her bravery did not go unrewarded. For the rest of the meal the students included Elphaba in the conversation, even allowing her to steer into topics that interested her. One of the girls, who was named Alanee, seemed interested in chatting about what they were learning in History class. Talking to her seemed natural, and expressing her opinions with someone else who actually cared felt wonderful. Elphaba couldn't believe she'd been missing out on this for so long. She couldn't remember the last time that she'd talked to someone besides Nessa who'd actually, truly, listened.

When the meal was over, the students seemed much more accepting of Elphaba. Alanee even promised to save her a seat in Calculus.

As they walked to their first class, Galinda babbled on and on about how well it had gone, how amazing Elphaba had done, and how this was definitely going to work. For the first time, Elphaba felt hopeful. Maybe this plan could work.

As class emptied, Galinda got caught up in the river of students heading for the dormitories. She looked around for Shenshen and Pfannee, wondering where they were. They had been in the same class as her, but for some reason they hadn't sat next to her. She wanted to speak to them about Elphaba. They were Galinda's best friends, and they could help her remake Elphie. All she had to do was to make them understand.

She spotted them sitting under a tree. Shenshen was bent over a book and Pfannee was painting her nails. Galinda walked over to them.

"Hello, girls," Galinda said, sitting down next to them, "Pleasant day, isn't it?"

"Hello, Galinda," Pfannee said stiffly, "We hear you've been spending a lot of time with your roommate lately. Why the sudden change of heart? Only yesterday you tried to embarrass her at the dance."

Galinda's expression turned sour. "She helped me get into Morrible's Sorcery class. She's actually really kind and passionate and, well, normal, once you get to know her."

"Galinda dear, you can't be serious," Shenshen put her book down and glared at her. "It's not just her abnormal skin color that makes her a freak, it's her attitude. The way she speaks out in class, spends every free moment wrapped up in one of her dusty old books, avoids being with people, wears the drabbest, shabbiest clothes she can find; Galinda she's a lost cause, give up. You aren't doing yourself any favors associating yourself with her, and I certainly hope that you didn't come here to ask us to do the same."

Galinda was shocked and horrified at Shenshen's behavior. "She's worth half of you! How dare you speak about her like that?! You don't even know her! I ashamed to call you my friend! She can change, she will! I'll help her!"

"Oh Galinda," Pfannee said, practically purring as she stood up and advanced towards the blonde. "If you continue to associate yourself with that monstrosity, we will no longer call you our friend. We'll sit and watch as you fail to create a socialite out of that green heap of nothing, then we'll let you fall with her. No one in the school will speak with you, associate with you, even look at you. You'll be lower then she is now. Your little dabble at the top of the social ladder will be long forgotten, and you'll be a nobody. Without your vivacious personality, what are you? You barely pass your classes, you're no good at magic; all you have is a rich father and a good name. A name that you will soon disgrace."

Tears had risen in Galinda's eyes, but she took a step towards Pfannee and glared at her as threateningly as she could, despite the fact that she was shorter then her so called friend. She couldn't find words to express the mess of anger and confusion inside of her, so, instead of speaking, Galinda pushed Pfannee and stormed away. The tears fell as she made her way towards the outskirts of campus, where she was guaranteed a place to be alone.