(Warning- the following is rather emotional and girlie-girl-ish. I also don’t wish anyone who knows Robert to think I’m being insulting; when I say "sweet", I genuinely mean "sweet", not "pathetic, puppy-dog-like".)

There have been many things in my life I’ve regretted, whether it was something I did or neglected to do. I disobeyed a favorite teacher and then lied about it once. But while I can correct the lie, undo what I did as best I can and accept the consequences, once more falling into their good graces, there is nothing that will take me back in time and make me dance.

Now, I’m not a very becoming or outgoing person. I’m not popular nor into popular things- especially parties and dances. Things with many people, I tend to avoid. I don’t have an abundance of friends and I tend to bother people that do. I’m not exactly a girl boys follow.

That didn’t stop my friend, Michael’s, friend Robert from asking me to the dance (please note all names, proper nouns, ect. have been changed to protect the privacy of everyone involved).

Robert is outgoing, mildly popular and someone everyone knows. All the other boys try to talk to him if they can- he’s one of the "cool" guys while managing to not be a jerk. All three of us- Michael, Robert and I- rode the bus together and lived in the same apartment complex. However, Robert and I never spoke except of our mutual friend. We were completely different people. Therefor, it must have taken a lot of pluck to do what he did that day.

I got onto the bus, having had a very trying day and in a horrible mood. Robert and Michael were sitting in the front seat while Robert’s brother, Jason, was sitting two seats behind. As I walked onto the bus, Robert nervously asked, "Are you going to the dance tomorrow night?"

"No!" I snapped, sounding angrier than I intended, and took the seat behind Jason (all to myself, I like that ). From the front seat, Michael started laughing raucously, and the two started bickering. I thought about it a moment, then, in typical middle-schooler fashion, asked Jason, "Can you ask Robert WHY he wants to know if I’m going to the dance?" Jason gave an "I think I know, hahaha" look and turned around, relaying the message down the bus. A moment later, Michael popped up and crowed, "I know why! I know why!" and the bickering started up again. Finally, I heard Robert shout, "I’ll tell you when we get off the bus!"

If any of you have read the fourth Harry Potter book (and remember it!) then this next bit might seem a bit familiar. After hearing Michael teasing, "Should I tell her?" over and over (with me hiding in Phantom of the Opera till we got to our stop), the bus creaked to a stop and about fifteen kids (a LOT of us lived at that apartment complex) got off. Robert was waiting for me when I got off and he indicated I follow him to the side. With everyone on and off the bus watching on, he started fingering his shirt and finally mumbled, "W... w... willyougodancewime?" I took that to mean, "Will you go to the dance with me?" and was shocked. I reiterate: boys ARE NOT interested in me. Boys don’t TALK to me. I was shocked when MICHAEL first talked to me.

I, however, accepted and ran home to tell my mom. She was thrilled and immediately commenced to teach me how to waltz. Remember, I don’t go to dances and therefor don’t know how to dance. However, I can do CLASSIC dance. I out-waltzed Mom and was proud. I bought a lovely (rather stunning, in my opinion) outfit for the following night.

The dance was hopping. Tons of people were already there, and I waited for Robert. I finally found him with Jason and his father, and we wandered off to do our version of "dancing". This outgoing, cheerful person was suddenly bashful, nervous and gallant. (We stopped to buy something to eat. He considerately asked what I wanted and got in line before me. He bought nachos as well... for me. Oops.) We actually had a fun time, me "dancing" and he basically mirroring my movements. It was incredibly sweet, the way he always stayed close to me.

However, I finally royally screwed up. It finally came time for one of the slow numbers- time for the waltz. He paused a moment, looked at the ground, and finally said, very gallantly, "Will you dance with me?"

And I said no.

Looking back, I can’t believe it. No! I actually said no! This wonderful, sweet guy had already risked a lot- he obviously liked me very much. And after all that, the part that makes a dance really meaningful, the slow number, is declined. I felt dirty even as I said it, but I panicked. I don’t even know why!

We spent the time- sitting- to "talk", if it can be called talking in that incredible din (SO LOUD!!!!). I finally asked, making all attempts to sound casual, "So, do you REALLY like me? Like, REALLLLLLY?" (Remember, middle-schooler...) It was just about the sweetest thing I ever saw: a dark blush and finally a rapid turn away and, ".........Yes........."

It was one of the most memorable and best nights of my life, right up there with seeing RENT live.

From then on, I noticed definite crush signs. There was one day when that school year was almost over and everyone was allowed a celebratory hour outside. I was celebrating with my lovely Phantom of the Opera, not surprisingly. For those of you who don’t know, a GREAT romance novel. Anyways, I’m propped up by this two-pronged tree- a tree whose trunk had split two-for-one. There was a bush behind it and two other trees further off to the left. Even further off to the left was the group of boys, Robert included, playing some form of "Light and Dark Jedi" with giant sticks. Every once in a while, he would stop playing and very noticeably stare in my direction. Made reading difficult. Finally, he put down his stick and crept behind one of the trees. He stayed there a while, then crept behind the tree closer to mine, Finally, he crept all the way over to my tree and hid behind it! The bush made a little rustly noise, even. (As you can probably imagine, I hadn’t been reading for a while by this point in time.) One of my other friends walked up at this point and murmured to me, "Did you know there’s someone behind the tree?" I whispered back that yes, I know and could they please check if it was Robert? I don’t know how he wasn’t seen, but he checked and made the affirmative.






"...Hi, Robert." "HI!!!!!!!!"

He jumped ten feet in the air!

I was impressed at how much daring he had. It takes a lot of guts to blatantly walk up to the person you like and hide right behind them while everyone can notice you. Please note these trees were in no way hidden from the view of ANYONE.

I got many of my friends to ask if he liked me, as I was away from school more and more lately for health reasons. The unwavering response was, "No, because my parents won’t let me." Now, I’m all for the thought that love is a gift of God so, even if it WAS a choice (which it isn’t, anyway), it’s a good thing. Love=good. But that’s neither here nor there. Never mind.

More than anything now, I want to go back in time and change what I said. Or, even better, I want a second chance.

If Robert even still remembers me and that crush is still going strong, I want to start up the music and out-waltz everybody there.

It’s my deepest regret in life.

Robert, I’ve got a message:

Yes, I’ll dance with you.

OK, so I'm in the hospital once again. I don't have a long time to type all this up, and I have a lot to say, and I don't have enough time to do it in.

Tuesday evening I was watching House MD with my mom. As it ended, I was going upstairs to get some water, brush my teeth and wait for he rin bed while she stayed behind and watched the weather. As I stood to head to my room, I took four steps and keeled of sideways, pummeling into the ground.

A few minutes and zeven milligrams of morphine later (my dosage had been upped earlier that day from 5 milligrams every 6 hours to seven), I was curled up in bed with the first actual full-fledged level eight-point-five headache I've had in forever and only hoping I could die. An hour later, being killed to death by pain, I finally gave in to my cleaved head and begged to go to the ER across the street. They rushed me in pretty quickly (I was only there for pain management, or so my mom said) and I hid in the back, pain racking through me, convincing me all the more I was dying.

I ended up staying the night, and then staying on. I've been here since Tuesday night, and these are the highlights since that time:
~I had my first level TEN headache in a year.
~We missed a very important drs a[[t in Memphis... to be looked at in Chi Town.
~I'm having surgery tomorrow. It's shunt revision surgery. I'm going to have parts of the tubing replaced so the whole tube should work better.
~I apparently went completely whacko yesterday. Mom told me all about it. Being on so much narcotics give me hallucinations, and not pretty ones. Apparently, since I couldn't sleep and was high on narcotics, I was so tired I had "waking dreams"-- that is, I was dreaming nightmares while I was awake. Shay even came in to give me my third shunt tap in five days and got drawn into the fray. Poor Shay.
Because of this, I got moved down to the ICU. I now feel insane and am eagerly awaiting my revision surgery tomorrow. I can't wait to be cut into again! :grin:

In any case, that's the overview. More details come after the fact.

Sincerely,
Goes "Bump" In The Night... And Day *sigh*

This is Act Two of the fantabulous musical WICKED!!! YAY!!! (And remember, they contain excess spoilers. I do this so you can get as close to the musical as possible without actually seeing it, which I personally think is a wonderful experience. However, if you think you'll be seeing it soon, it's probably not a good idea to read it. Look for a short overview online to get the basic idea.)


Fiyero, Glinda, and Madame Morrible have all gathered in the middle of a terrified group of Ozians who are panicking about the Wicked Witch. However, Glinda tells everyone that she has planned to throw a party that day- in fact, it's an engagement party! Fiyero is not the only one who is surprised, who thought they were happy that he had just been promoted to Captain of the Guards for the Wizard himself. Everyone is shocked, but, since he knows it will make Glinda happy, he (sighing all the while) agrees to marry his new fiance´. However, she is upset that he doesn't seem to be very into the marriage and is worried that he might be smitten with someone else instead. Meanwhile, going with the festive spirit, Madame Morrible tells all the Ozians about Glinda's alleged "braverism". Apparently, the Wizard had called her to his counsel to appoint her Glinda the Good. However, the evil Witch had leapt from concealment, jealous of the job appointed to someone other than herself. This prompted the Ozians in the crowd to shout out rumours they had heard about the Witch, includingthat her soul was so unclean that pure water could melt her. Fiyero, sick of all the lies and concealment, angrily leaps up and leaves the scene, where Glinda is left alone to think whether it was worth working so hard to achieve all she had achieved- the fame, the glory, the nearness of his Wizardship, and her beloved Fiyero- because of all the sacrifices she had had to make along the way. Especially lying about her best friend.

Meanwhile, Elphaba has chosen to visit Nessarose after years of seperation between the two. She comes begging her to ask their father for his help, but is shocked and greatly upset when she finds out that her own father had died of shame from having an evil witch in the family. Nessa is furious that Elphaba would use her powers to save Animals she had never even met, but had never even considered using them to help her own sister. Suddenly having a brilliant idea, Elphaba takes out the Grimmerie with a flourish and begins to mutter under her breath. Suddenly, the bright silver sequined slippers Nessa's wearing begin to glow. While she cries out in panic, she sees then slowly turn from silver to red, then just as slowly rises from her wheelchair, standing for the first time in her life on her own two feet! Ecstatic, she calls for Boq, who walks into the room dressed in a servant's outfit. Apparently, ever since Nessa had become govornor of Munchkinland, she had been restricting all the Munchkins of their rights so that she could keep Boq by her side. He sees that Nessa no longer needs him and, as kindly as he can, explains that he was planning to leave, now that she no longer needed assistance from him, to explain his feelings to Glinda before her and Fiyero's marriage. However, his own wife is furious, and hearing that he had lost his heart to the Good Witch ever since he first saw her, she furiously grabs up the Grimmerie and, much to the protests of the other two people in the room, casts a spell on Boq to remove his heart completely. Hurridly trying to make it so that he wouldn't need a heart (since, once cast, a spell cannot be un-cast), Elphaba turns him into a tin woodsman, then hurries off into the night, saying that she had some "unfinished business" in the Emerald City. As soon as Boq comes to, not knowing what had happened but knowing that he was supposed to be a Munchkin and certainly not made of tin, Nessa explains angrily, "Elphaba did this!" and secretly vows that, if Boq leaves her, she would no longer be good, but an evil- nay, Wicked- Witch like her sister... only she would truly be evil. And Boq did leave her. So she vowed to be evil. More on that later.

Elphaba flew on her enchanted broomstick to the Emerald City and snuck into the Wizard's personal quarters, wanting to free Chistery and the rest of the flying monkeys. However, the Wizard shows up and tries to reason with her. In doing so, she discovers that he really has no magic and is appaled at how "Wicked" he himself was turning out to be. He imploringly explains that he really did just want what was best for all of Oz and so had simply told them what they had wanted to hear. He then launched into the story we all know- how he had blown in from Kansas in a hot air balloon and began to command Oz because the citizens of Oz "needed something to believe in". Enticingly explaining how wonderful it was to be revered and offering the same chance to Elphaba ("There are none more celebrated than the rehabilitated!"), they dance and she finally accepts- on one condition. That he set the monkeys go. He agrees and they fly away, shrieking into the night. She is pleased and is just about to join the Wizard when she sees a particularly shy Animal hiding underneath a blanket. However, when she lifts the blanket, she sees none other than her old teacher Doctor Dillamond, shaking and shivering like a terrified kitten! Elphaba is deeply upset, but even more so when she finds out that he is an Animal no longer- he cannot speak! Furious, she angrily declines the Wizard's proposal and rushes off, determined to help all the Animals more than ever now.

Meanwhile, Glinda is terribly upset when she finds out at last who Fiyero truly loves- her friend, Elphaba. She is devastated and, when she hears that Madame Morrible and the Wizard are trying to figure out a way to take her down, she huffily suggests something she hadn't thought of- to put Nessarose in danger. Elphaba would rush to her sister's aid, and they could nab her easily. But Morrible has a better idea than that. She stirs up a terrible storm in a far-off land and simply waits for nature to take its course. Glinda is deeply upset over the loss of the two most important people in her lives, and the Wizard offers her a little green bottle filled with what he calls "miracle elixer" that should take the pain away, but she declines, too miserable.

Meanwhile, Elphaba and Fiyero run into each and are finally alone together. Fiyero offers Elphaba an escape- to go and live with him forever in safety away from the Ozians in one of his two castles (the one they never lived in). She thinks it's a wonderful proposal, but is suddenly terrified as she senses that her sister's in danger. She rushes off to find that a house has fallen on Nessa! Worse off, the special shoes that had allowed her to walk had been stolen by some morbid child what takes shiny red shoes from dead feet! She falls to her feet, sobbing, as Glinda wanders, also mourning- for the loss of Fiyero. As they begin, once more, to argue, Fiyero suddenly rushes to the scene, four guards at his tail. But instead of throwing a bucket of water onto the Wicked Witch, like he's supposed to, he protects her and asks the guards to take him instead, allowing Elphaba time to escape. They take him off to the Torture Field by the fallen house as Glinda watches, heartbroken.

Elphaba rushes off to Kiamo Ko mountain (that's the Witch's lair ) and desperately tries to cast a spell that would save Fiyero- a spell so that, no matter what they did to him, he would never be hurt. But she gets frustrated, thinking that her spellwork is doing no good. Thinking over all the people in her life she had failed- Nessarose, Doctor Dillamond, and Fiyero- the decided that, since it seemed that simply no good deed could go unpunished, was there any point in being good anymore? So it was agreed.

She was Wicked.

Now that she was properly Wicked, the many Witch-hunters started searching for her. Among them were three people of sorts- the Tin Woodsman, who had a score to settle with the Witch, as well as the Cowardly Lion (who was cowardly because the Witch hadn't allowed him to fight his own battles when he was young- remember the lion cub in the cage?) and the Scarecrow, who wanted to assist everyone in finding the Witch as a duty to his fellow Ozians and his Wonderful Wizard. They set off with Dorothy in pursuit of the Wicked Witch.

But that didn't last long. As she was keeping Dorothy (that obnoxious brat who had stolen her sister's shoes, her only final link to her family!), Glinda showed up at Kiamo Ko. Elphaba tries to make her go away so she wouldn't get caught, but she refuses to leave. So the "Wicked Witch" takes the esteemed Grimmerie and hands it ff to Glinda, making her vow that she would pick up where the work had been left off and take care of Oz. She also made the Good Witch swear to never clear her name, for as the Wizard had once said, "Everyone needs a good enemy". Though she didn't understand it, Glinda agreed, and they attempted to clear the air, reminding each other that they were who they were today because of the other.

Suddenly, Elphaba hears the group of Dorothy-savers and guards coming up the stairs and begs Glinda to hide. She wants to save her friend, but is finally persuaded to hide behind a curtain. As Dorothy is freed, Glinda is left alone as she sees her best friend melting under the fire of water. After everyone else had left, she walks out and finds Elphaba's hat and cloak... and a tiny green bottle.

Back at the Wizard's place, Glinda accused the Wizard of having his own daughter liquidated. When he challenges her, she tells him of the bottle she had found, and an echo of him seductively enticing Elphaba's mother all those years ago floats through his head. Realizing that he had gotten the daughter he had always dreamed of killed, he promptly gets up and leaves Oz, ensuring that Glinda will make the announcement that the "strain of Wizarding all of Oz became too much of a strain and so the he has taken an interminable leave of absence". Glinda then accuses Madame Morrible of making Nessarose's death happen and orders the guards to send her off to prison. As Glinda is now in charge of Oz, she goes off to address her subjects about the death and downfall of the Wicked Witch once and for all.

The past is now caught up with the present, and as Glinda is sadly recalling the death of her friend, with the Ozians still standing around, crying harshly and triumphantly, "Good news!" At the same time, off at Kiamo Ko mountain, the Scarecrow has stayed behind. He walks up to the place where the Witch melted into the ground and raps smartly on the floor. Elphaba suddenly arises from a trapdoor in the ground and greets Fiyero, who was transformed into the fumbling but unharmable Scarecrow. He gently leads her off to his castle so that they can live the remainder of their lives together in happiness, but she stalls for just a moment, almost seeming to sense the pain her friend is feeling for her, miles away, mourning softly how she was changed for good. Hesitating only once, Elphaba walks away with the Scarecrow as a cry rings out all over Oz, "No one mourns... the Wicked!

Wicked!

WICKED!"

(Warning to any and all readers- there be spoilers ahead! TO WICKED!!)

Well, I went to Wicked on Wednesday and it was FANTASTIC!!!!!!! To properly comment, however, on the performance and get all my obsessing out, I need to describe the story of WICKED!!! (Sorry.) But This is the ENTIREEEEEE musical, so it'll contain tonstonstons of SPOILERS!!!! WHEEEEEE!!

I'm SORRY!

In ANY case, here follows the incredibly long-winded but (hopefully) interesting and fascinating story of WICKED!!

(I'm working on it!!!)


The story begins as Glinda, that wonderful, tow-headed witch we all know and love, is leading the citizens of Oz in an almost clashing harsh celebration of that evil witch we've all come to know and hate, the Wicked Witch of the West. She explains what we already know- that by the direct result of a female child throwing a bucket of water onto the Wicked Witch, she did promptly and with much smoke, melt until very THROROUGHLY dead. ("That she's not only relly dead, she's really most sincerely dead!" OK, so that's from the original movie, but I couldn't resist! ) Glinda continues on with the explanation of how she was born with such an interesting skin tone- emerald green.

Apparently, her mother (though it's not given, her name is Melena) did not love her father as he loved her. Which is all fine and dandy, because he was the govenor of Munchkinland. (His name is Frexspar, or Frex for short, though this also is not given.) Melena had been seeing a mysterious stranger (the audience doesn't know who he is) on the side, and he let her drink a "magical elixer" that would make you erase all your troubles, much like an intoxicating drink. Well, this green liquid, in a bright, jewel-like green bottle, should not be drunk when one is pregnant, or, as the family, to their shame, found out, it can quite drastically change the growing baby.

As Glinda is telling all this, of the mysterious stranger and never-there father, the crowd continues to be cold and callous, not caring in the slightest, seeing, like normal, only our side of the story. But what if we got a brief chance to see a different definition of "wicked"- that is, the one the Witch herself would give you?

The audience gets this brilliant chance as one person in the crowd calls out angrily, "Glinda- is it true, you were her friend?!" and Glinda once again sees the past come alive before her eyes. Soon, we get to see through her eyes...

As she has admitted, Glinda did know her when she was still Elphaba, in their days at Shiz University, back when rich, popular, pampered Galinda (as she was known then) was young and innocent and thought the whole world should love her. On Elphaba's first day at Shiz, as she appears with her father and younger sister, Nessarose, who is wheelchair-bound, the students all spend a good time gawking at the strangely-colored child. And as Nessa's safety is so important to their father (who loves her more than Elphaba) the "HeadShiztress", Madame Morrible, vows to keep her safe by keeping Nessa in her personal quarters. This conpromises Elphaba's promise to her father that she would watch out for Nessa, and in fury, as Morrible is wheeling her away, she shouts angrily, "LET HER GO!!" and, to everyone's surprise including hers, Nessa's chair spins quickly out of Morrible's hand and slides easily into. Elphaba's own. Morrible sees that she might have the gift of sorcery and offers to teach her- and no one else, much to Galinda's frustration- in the sacred art of magic. She also illuminates the fascinating possibility that Elphaba just might work for the Wonderful Wizard of Oz himself as his Magic Grand Vizier! As the students finally disperse, Elphaba dreams of finally meeting the Wizard, her dream for as long as she can remember.

She finds out that her roomie, to no one's pleasure, is the stuck-up (and obnoxiously blonde) Galinda herself. Dutifully writing home to both their fathers, the children explain their predicament. Elphaba is worried that Nessa won't be able to be taken care of and that Galinda will mock her until she can't stand it, while Galinda is disgusted that she has to share a room with someone, in her own words to her "dearest darlingest Momsie and Popsical", "Unusually and exceedingly peculiar and altogether quite impossible to describe...". They angrily feud and prepare for one of their first classes.

Now is the time to quickly give an Ozian word and definition- Animal. There is a difference between Animals and animals. The one with the capital letter is sentient, having a soul and being able to talk and think and have emotions. Well, at Shiz, an Animal can be jusgt as revered a teacher as a Munchkin or Winkie can. (Winkies are the taller forms of huminoid life. As we all know, Munchkins are child-like in their stature. Usually, a Munchkin from a proud family name married into height somewhere along the line, so many Munchkins aren't as short as all that.) Dr. Dillamond is a goat, a teacher of history with a kind soul and a problem pronouncing "Galinda", preferring to call one of his least-favorite pupils (as opposed to his most-favorite, Elphaba, who is different like himself) "Glinda." As he turns the chalkboard over to pose a question, he sees that someone has scrawled in rude, red paint across the board, "Animals should be seen and not heard". Shaken and upset, he dismisses the class. Elphaba is the only one staying behind, and she eats her sandwich with his company in thoughtful silence while he chews on her paper sack. Hwever, he loses his appetite as he explains that he has heard rumours that the Animals were slowly but surely, all throughout Oz, forgetting how to speak. Elphaba is shocked and scared, especially when Dillamond is singing "Something bad, happening in Oz" and he can't finish because it turns into "Something baaaaad", much like a goat braying. Upset, he leaves the room. Elphaba, left behind and deeply worried, murmurs to herself, "It couldn't happen here in Oz..."

While the other students are milling around, having nothing to do since their class was ended early, Galinda notices the famous Prince of the Winkies, Prince Fiyero, showing up with his personal coach. Having a reputation of being thrown out of more schools than anyone could count and being dangerously cool, Galinda falls hard and fast for him- not at all noticing the wishes of a Munchkin named Boq (that's pronounced "Bock", just so you know, though she nevers pays attention nor remembers and always says "Bick"). Fiyero is shocked at the amount of boring, studious work that's going on (that Elphaba and Boq are very comfortable in) and tells his life philosophy of "dancing through life". He tries to liven up the joint by planning a party at the most "swankified" place in town, the Oz Dust Ballroom. Boq nervously asks Galinda to dance at least once with him, she deflects his wishes by pointing out Nessarose and suggesting he ask her, because any boy who did that would "be her hero". He goes and nervously asks Nessa instead, freeing the girly blonde up for a dream date with her dream prince, Fiyero. (As they comment, "Youre perfect" "You're perfect" "So we're perfect together!") Nessa rushes off to tell her sister, and Elphaba starts to think that, perhaps her roommate isn't such an awful person if she's finally gotten Nessa one night of happiness. Meanwhile, as Galinda (in a pretty, frilly pink dress) and her friends are getting ready for the party, one of them discovers an ugly, pointed black hat among their popular friend's things. Being basically mean by nature, they dare Galinda to offer it Elphaba to wear to the party. As the two bump into each other and the green-skinned girl thanked her for doing something so kind for her sister, the other interrupted, offering up the hat and dashing away, leaving Elphaba, to seriously reconsider whether she is really a bad person or not.

Galinda and Fiyero show up at the party and are the centre of attention, especially to Boq, who is miserable with Nessarose, whom he doesn't even love. He finally feels guilty about asking her when he doesn't love her and tries to fess up, but when he mentions the reason isn't fair, she says she knows why- because she's in a wheelchair and he felt sorry for her. Not being able to finish what he was going to say without feeling so cruel, he finally bursts out, "Because you are SO BEAUTIFUL!" giving her a false idea that he loves her. In a burst of kindness, he starts wheeling her around the dancefloor in a dancing pattern, moving alone but seeming to have a great time, all the more making Nessa completely smitten with the kind Munchkin. Suddenly, Elphaba (who, as you must remember, is bookish and doesn't know much about style) shows up at the party in a black frock and the pointed black hat and immediately becomes the centre of attention. She notices immediately that the hat is a prank but keeps her eyes fixed straight ahead and goes to the centre of the dancefloor and listlessly begins to dance alone. Fiyero stares wide-eyed at Elphaba (who is pretty, despite being green, just no one can notice because of that), though Galinda doesn't notice because she's too busy feeling overwhelmingly guilty. At that moment, Madame Morrible comes in and walks up to the tow-headed student and tells her that she had better show up at the sorcery seminary the next day. Confused, because she had just said she would only accept Elphaba, she asked what she meant, and the HeadShiztress explained that Elphaba had insisted that Galinda be put in the class too just a few minutes ago, or she would quit immediately. She wanted Elphaba so much, she was willing to accept. As she walked away, Galinda was left behind with an even deeper sense of complete guilt. After watching Elphaba resultely and sadly do the same dance moves over and over, she slowly walks up to her and joins in the dancing, adding her own dance move. Elphaba slowly copies, and they quickly form a dancing group of their own, and the party resumes (now that cool Galinda thinks it's OK) and they dance the night away.

Back in their dorm room, Galinda and Elphaba (who has been nicknamed "Elphie" by an overly-perky Galinda) stay up and tell their deepest secrets. Galinda asks why Elphie always sleeps with a green little bottle under her pillow, but she refuses to say why, only stating that it was the only thing her mother left her before she died. Finally, Galinda declares that Elphaba is her new friend AND her new project. Though the one protests, the other pushes it aside and cheerfully tries to give her "popular" lessons, which include such things as being able to toss your hair. Elphie, however, doesn't exactly feel comfortable with these "Galinda-fying" new style suggestions, and she leaves in a hurry.

The next day, in Dr. Dillamond's class, Fiyero sees her tossing her hair and is surprised by the Galinda-fying. He points out that she didn't need it just as the professor walks into the room with terrible news. It had just been decreed that Animals were no longer allowed to teach! The students were shocked and surprised, and as officials walked in and took Dillamond away (as he shouted hurridly, "You don't know all the truth! Remember that!"), one of the officials took over the class. He introduced a new renvation- the "cage" with a lion cub in it, able to keep young Animal cubs imprisoned so that they never learned to speak and became only dumb animals. Elphie, furious, casts a spell on the entire class except for herself and Fiyero. She employed his help while the class was busy and took the cub out into the outdoors to let it free so it could learn and not be cruelly locked up. For a brief moment while they're arguing (Elphaba's first impression was that Fiyero was a mindless, pampered prince but she's having second thoughts; Fiyero, however, is proudly and stubbornly saying, "Excuse me- I happen to be genuinely arrogant and truly self-obsessed, thank you! There is no acting here!"), their hands touch and eyes meet, and in that moment, they both realise they love each other. Nervous, Fiyero rushes off to free the lion, leaving Elphaba behind to remind herself that Fiyero had been claimed by Galinda (the secret Galinda had told her last night was that she and Fiyero were getting married... even though he didn't know it) and that she had to stop having any fantasies about she and him, him and she, them... sorry, Captain Sparrow moment.

Finally, the news comes in that the Wizard wants to hold council with Elphaba and perhaps hire her as his Magic Grand Vizier, so shes off to the Emerald City so quickly. Galinda confides in her that she's worried about Fiyero (he's beeing THINKING lately... and that worries me!" Remember, she's a bit of a mindless flake), and he suddenly shows up to see Elphaba off. Galinda is reminded of the day Dr. Dillamond was forced to resign, and seeing it meant so much to them (though why she didn't know because she was bewitched by Elphaba at the time) and not wanting to be left out of anything, proves it was important to her too by "officially" hanging her name from "Galinda" to "Glinda" because he could never pronounce her name. Fiyero leaves, upset that his actual true love is leaving, and Glinda breaks down, sobbing, on Elphie's shoulder. To make her feel better, Elphaba asks her to accompany her to the Emerald City in consolation. Excited and greatly cheered, Glinda does indeed accompany her new "best friend" (for once, meaning it) to the wonderful city of green, which greatly excited Elphaba because for once, she fit right in.

Finally, they're called to the company of Oz. As soon as he realizes that it's Elphaba in his midst, he drops the whole "fake Wizard" thing (remember, the giant "I... AM... OZ!!!" green head? Well, in the musical, it's a giant mechanical head, but same thing.) and rushes out from behind the contraption, calling in his "new Head of Secretary". When she presents herself as Madame Morrible herself, they are both surprised, but she brings out with her The Grimmerie- the ancient book of spells that even she, a master sorceress, can only read a few spells out of. The Wizard then explains that he has always wanted a family, so he has vowed to treat each citizen of Oz as his own child, so he would love to help Elphaba with her magical powers. He then proposes a challenge. He shows her his monkey, Chistery, who has been watching the birds with a great deal of interest and wishes that he could fly. Before Morrible could help her, Elphie is already chanting from the ancient book, and soon, Chistery has sprouted a pair of fantastic, feathery wings. However, in the pleasure and excitement of her successfully doing the spell, Morrible and the Wizard reveal what their ulterior motive was- Chistery was to be a spy for the Wizard to stop the Animals from speaking forever! The cunning man offers a position for Glinda, who forgets her morals and rushes up quickly to accept the years of fame and glory that were soon to follow, but Elphaba, furious and heartbroken, declines. She rushes away, Grimmerie and Glinda in hand, causing the Wizard to send out a call for his guards to catch the runaway at all costs.

They go and hide in thew attic, where the two girls overheard Morrible prclaiming to all of Oz their new enemy- the Wicked Witch, just ommitting the information that her name is Elphaba and that she really isn't the Wicked one in this equation. Elphaba, bent on never going back into Oz until she has cleared her name and saved the Animals, enchants a broom and readies to fly away. She and Glinda are first angry at each other, but quickly realize that they only have this one chance to say goodbye, so they quickly do so, apologizing and Elphie running away.





OK OK OK, Act Two later. I'm TIREDTIREDTIRED!!!