A True Friend

Galinda had spent her life in luxury and simplicity up until the day she met Elphaba Thropp. The green-skinned girl, who was also her roommate at Shiz University, changed Galinda's whole perspective on life. Because of that, Galinda could never go back to her old, simple life of fashion and flirting. Something had been irreversibly changed within Galinda from the very moment she met Elphaba. Part of her, however, liked the thrill of newness, and she liked how this new perspective on life expanded horizons for her in ways she could've never imagined. Elphaba had taught Galinda so much in their short time as friends and it was something Galinda would never be able to repay her for. Elphaba had opened so many new doors and windows for Galinda and, for the first time ever, Galinda felt as though she had found a true friend.

At the same time, however, there were certain aspects of this new life that Galinda resented. One of the largest was the painful realization about how... fake, her old life and old friends had been. Before Elphaba had ever entered the picture, Galinda had been a part of a nice little circle of friends. She had been happy with her little circle. After Elphaba had entered the picture, however, Galinda began to see what a charade that entire circle had been. It was an uncomfortable epiphany, to say the least.

"Did you see Galinda yesterday? She was hanging out with the green bean!" Pfanee whispered to Shenshen and Milla one day as they walked through the hallowed halls of Shiz. Galinda, who was in the next hall over, began eavesdropping, using a spell to sharpen her hearing.

"I know, how un-cool can you get?" Shenshen snickered coldly in agreement.

"Yeah, I don't think we should hang out with her anymore," Milla added sincerely. "She's a bad influence!"

"You're totally right, Milla" Pfanee agreed with a nasty grin. "Ms. Arduenna-Upland has proven where her loyalties lie, now let us do the same!"

"With each other!" Shenshen chanted. "We don't need that loser mucking up our popularity!" and the others nodded in agreement.

"Then it is official! Galinda is no longer a friend of ours!" said Pfanee. Shenshen seemed pleased with this decision, but Milla looked a tiny bit sad.

"And to think we used to be friends!" she sighed regretfully. She seemed to be the only one of the trio to be even a little bit mournful about this loss of Galinda. The other two, however, were quick to sneer.

"Don't lose any sleep over her!" Pfanee and Shenshen commanded of Milla. "She isn't worth it!" and Milla was forced to agree.

Galinda heard no more of the conversation, having finally broken down into tears and run away before she could be caught snooping. She had never run so fast before, and she didn't stop until her teary face was buried deep in her fluffy pink pillow back in her dorm room, door firmly shut and locked as she sobbed her heart out. Perhaps she and her little squad hadn't been on good terms ever since she began to hang out with Elphaba, but to hear them dismiss her so quickly, callously and completely stung far more than she thought. She began to bawl out her grief and loss, feeling hurt, embarrassed and betrayed.

"How?!" she screamed into her pillow. "How?! How can they just abandon me like that?! We've been friends for years! How can they be so quick to dump me?! Can't we still be friends anyway? It wasn't that much of a change!"

But as Galinda continued to cry, new thoughts began to fill her mind. They weren't any better than her previous ideas.

"Were we ever even friends at all? Or was it all only a lie?!" she demanded, face still buried in her pillow. It was soaking now. And she soon began to bemoan her fate of being so alone. "Am I cursed to be alone forever?" she demanded. "Will I never find a true friend who is actually willing to care?" and she reflected back on all the times across her childhood where she'd been considered the odd-girl-out just because she was different. Maybe that was why she'd taken up with Pfanee, Shenshen and Milla. It wasn't because she actually liked them, (though she had definitely grown fond of them during the time that they were friends, hence why their disowning of her hurt so badly) but because she just wanted to stop the loneliness and isolation she felt without them. And that was not a true friendship. It wasn't that she liked the trio, it was that she hated loneliness.