It’s times like these that Glinda wonders whether or not the people in her social circle, her nice, respectable, upper-crust, and well-bred peers, were born with some sort of birth defect. But, to wonder that would also cause Glinda to wonder about herself since that had been her a few weeks ago— before the Ozdust and Dr. Dillamond’s abrupt departure or capture as Elphaba would say if someone got her riled up enough. But, still, Glinda’s not the same, narrow-minded girl she once was, even if Pfannee and Shenshen seem to think so.
Speaking of the two— Pfannee has been running her mouth for about a minute now. A minute is too long, in Glinda’s humble opinion, especially when it’s spent on the particular subject Pfannee, in her limited wisdom, has chosen. Glinda is beginning to find that keeping her smile in place is becoming harder to maintain as Pfannee rambles on about “that green freak” answering all the questions in their shared Biology class.
Glinda’s grip on her fork tightens and she carefully places a piece of lettuce in her mouth, taking care to chew extra thoroughly so she doesn’t do something stupid, like knock Pfannee’s plate of food onto her skirt from last season.
“I just don’t understand why she needs to make a spectacle of herself wherever she goes!” Pfannee exclaims, waving her expertly painted nails around like a lunatic. “Lurline knows she gets enough attention from her skin alone, no need to open that awful mouth and make it worse.”
“Maybe she gets off on it,” Shenshen supplies, tilting her head like a confused puppy.
Pfannee pauses in her tirade, eyes glinting sharply as she regards Shenshen with something like surprise. Glinda pointedly eats another piece of her salad.
“Why, my dear Shenshen, that is the smartest thing you’ve said all semester,” Pfannee purrs. Shenshen blanches and shakes her head.
“Oh, please don’t lump me in with those people,” she says. “But it would make sense, wouldn’t it?”
Pfannee nods. “No one really pays attention to her, past the green skin,” she muses, one sharply nailed finger coming to rest on her chin thoughtfully. “Maybe she is a little bit of an attention whore.” Pfannee turns to Glinda abruptly. “What do you think?”
Glinda, who has been steadily picking away at her salad, pauses, staring at them with wide eyes. “What do I think about what?” she asks, with a toss of her hair.
Pfannee scoffs. “About that abomination taking up all the professor’s attention, of course!”
Glinda blinks. “I’m sorry?” she replies. Surely, she’s heard wrong.
“Maybe she’s hoping they’ll call her in for a ‘private meeting.’” Shenshen giggles.
“Ugh, she would like that, wouldn’t she?”
“She would never,” Glinda says, setting her fork down with a decisive click. “Besides, she’s not the one whose grades need an unethical boost.”
“Careful, Glinda,” Pfannee says, eyes narrowing. “You almost sound like you care about her.”
“And what if I do?” Glinda sniffs. “She’s my friend, I care about her just as much as I do the both of you.”
“Oh, please!” Pfanne scoffs.
“Glinda, anyone can tell that she’s just a charity case,” Shenshen says, placing a slightly clammy hand over Glinda’s. “You don’t have to put up the act around us, we know the truth.”
Glinda shoots to her feet. “Elphaba’s not a charity case and I do not appreciate you speaking about her in that way!”
Pfannee and Shenshen blink up at her and Glinda feels her stomach begin to sink. That was too much, she had shown too much and now everything was going to come toppling down.
“I didn’t realize you cared about that artichoke so much,” Pfannee finally said. Glinda exhales sharply and smooths her skirt down.
“I just think that you’ve exhausted every green insult there is,” she replies. “Surely, we can come up with a more thrilling conversation than… petty insults.”
Pfannee stands up as well, leaning forward over the table. “You know, ever since the Ozdust, you’ve been different. Hanging out with that freak and changing your name? Who are you trying to impress, Galinda? Fiyero sure as hell doesn’t care, he just likes you because you’re pretty!”
“I could care less about what Fiyero thinks of me,” Glinda spits back.
“Then is it Elphaba you’re trying to impress? She’s worthless. Her opinion means nothing. Newsflash, honey, if you associate with that vegetable masquerading as a human being any longer, your reputation will be dragged down into the mud just like hers is. Is that something you’re willing to risk?”
Glinda doesn’t even register her hand moving, only the tingling of her palm in the aftermath and Pfannee’s face turning a steady shade of red.
The entire dining hall comes to a halt and Glinda’s stomach drops even more. Still, she can’t bring herself to fully regret it, not after gritting her teeth and listening as insult after insult passed through Pfannee and Shenshen’s lips.
Well, she’s already changed her name in honor of Dr. Dillamond. Yeah, it took her a while to come around to accepting the fact that she did indeed feel something about the old Goat being fired and didn’t just do it in a last-ditch attempt to get Fiyero-and-maybe-Elphaba’s attention. She’s Glinda Upland, for fucks sake, ‘last-ditch’ isn’t even in her vocabulary.
But whatever, she’s getting off track.
The point is that she’s already felt the slip in her social standing. She feels it in the stares that are slightly more hostile than usual and the whispers that hold a tad more venom than worship. She might as well make sure the entire collapse happens for a good cause. And if it’s a good story where she comes out on top? All the more reason to do it.
Pfannee’s screech pierces her ears and Glinda lunges across the table.
----
Later, Glinda finds herself being dragged through the dormitory halls by a furious Elphaba who had the unfortunate luck of walking into the dining hall just as Glinda finished smashing her dinner tray over Shenshen’s head and Pfannee had used the opening to clock her in the nose. Glinda stumbles behind her blindly, Elphaba’s handkerchief pressed to her nose and her knuckles smarting from where they had cut across Shenshen’s teeth and her cheek stinging from when Pfannee's nails caught her face.
“What were you thinking?” Elphaba hisses, practically throwing Glinda onto her bed. She bounces for a moment and braces her good arm against the covers, willing the room to stop spinning. “Oh, who am I kidding! You weren’t thinking. Oz, Glinda, you could have gotten hurt.” Elphaba pauses in her angry search for a first aid kit and whirls around, one spindly finger pointing at the blonde. “You did get hurt! And for what? A disagreement over shoes or something?”
“Please!” Glinda replies as haughtily as she can with a handkerchief pressed to her nose and her head throbbing like a hangover on steroids. “As if I’d stoop to that level when Pfannee doesn’t even know what skirt is in season.”
“Oh? If not clothes, then what else would you have to argue about?” Elphaba stalks over and gently but firmly yanks Glinda’s hand away from her face. “Tilt your head up.”
Glinda obliges. Elphaba pokes and prods at her nose and she yelps. The pain is enough to bring tears to her eyes. Elphaba clears the dried blood from her face, brows furrowed in concentration.
“You ever think about why the sky is blue?” she asks, breaking the tense silence between them.
“What?” Glinda replies before blinding pain shoots through her nose and into her brain, courtesy of Elphaba setting it back into place. “Oh, Oz damn it all to hell, Elphie!” she shrieks, attempting to squirm away. Elphaba practically climbs on top of her to keep her from moving and delicately places a bandage over her newly throbbing nose. Glinda feels the tears streaming down her face, which Elphaba wipes away with a vaguely regretful look.
“Your nose was broken,” Elphaba says quietly. “I had to reset it.”
They stare at each other for a moment, the tension settling around them like a suffocating coat, before Elphaba remembers herself. She climbs off Glinda’s lap, cheeks flushing violet, and settles next to her, gently taking Glinda’s hand. Carefully, she cleans the cuts on it and begins to wrap it.
“They were talking about you,” Glinda says quietly, unable to bear the silence any longer. “They were insulting you and insinuating some very unflattering, very untrue things and I just couldn’t take it anymore. So I slapped her.” Elphaba finishes wrapping up her hand and presses the most fleeting kiss to Glinda’s bruised knuckles. She looks up and cups Glinda’s face between her palms.
“The last thing I want is for you to get hurt because of me,” Elphaba says, tiredly. Her eyes are blazing but her hands, cradling Glinda’s face, are painfully gentle. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
“Well,” Glinda replies with a sniff, which she regrets immediately. Elphaba wipes away the tears collecting in her eyes before they can fall, and Glinda leans into her touch. “They had it coming.”
----