Laughter

For the first time in three months, for the first time in forever, actually, the green girl was laughing. Happy tears shone in her eyes but never spilled over. It had been three months since the tragically beautiful Nessarose and her beautifully tragic sister Elphaba had enrolled at Shiz.

-Three months earlier-
Everyone pitied the lovely Miss Galinda, who was forced to share her private suite with the green girl. They were always insulting each other, and that was the only time they spoke. Elphaba’s personality thoroughly annoyed Galinda, while Galinda, the happy, ditzy, foolish blonde who always got her way, made Elphaba furious.

Until one day, when Galinda opened the door to the suite and found Elphaba’s side of the room empty. Her blankets, clothes, books, and other personal things were gone. Only an empty bed remained.

“Oh, excuse me.” a gentle voice said as the door opened again. Galinda turned on her heel and came face to face with a very pretty girl. Golden-red curls cascaded in waves, falling onto her shoulders and down her back, and her teal eyes stared into Galinda’s own blue ones.

“Have you seen my roommate?” Galinda asked impatiently. “She’s green.” she added.

“Elphaba? Why yes, Madame Morrible let her switch rooms and room with me.” the girl explained as she crossed the floor to a corner and picked up a box. ‘Danced’ was more like it. She moved so gracefully and fluidly that she could’ve been dancing.

“I’m Galinda, are you new here?” Galinda suddenly asked in a sugary-sweet voice, when she had figured out just how much of a threat this girl would be to her popularity.

“I'm Kindrea, and yes, my family just moved here. Well, it was nice to meet you, Miss Galinda.” Kindrea gave her a dazzling white grin before vanishing into the hallway.

*Present*
“Come on, Kindrea, get up!” Elphaba lightly hit Kindrea’s back with a pillow. The redhead simply groaned in response and rolled over.

“Oh, come on, Elphie, we stayed up until one, studying for that awful test! Five more minutes!” Kindrea grumbled.

“You said that ten minutes ago!” Elphaba huffed good-naturedly as she brushed out her long hair. Sighing in defeat, Kindrea pulled herself out of bed and into the bathroom.

“Do you do this to Galinda, too?” she asked, her voice muffled by the closed door.

“Only to make her angry.” Elphaba shrugged.

“Really? Ms. Queen of Sparkle and Rhinestones doesn’t get up to sing good morning to the sunrise? I thought she was up early every morning to dress in sparkles from head to toe!” Kindrea huffed as she left the bathroom, fully dressed, and flung open the heavy blue curtains to let in the early sunrise.

“I mean, she’s so perfect and all, shouldn’t she be ready to greet the sun so she’s the first thing the light hits?!” Kindrea continued as she pushed open the window. “I guess I’ll have to take her place.” she sighed in mock-depression.

“HELLOOOOOO!” she sang, shattering the early morning peace as the sunlight hit her face. People stopped in their tracks to find out where the noise was coming from and startled birds took to the skies.

“Kindrea!” Elphaba exclaimed in shock as she pulled the giggling girl away from the window. Even so, Kindrea could see amusement dancing in Elphaba’s eyes when she turned around.

Suddenly, they heard a familiar voice through the open window sing “HELLOOOOOO!” in a much more musical tone. As Kindrea shot a terrified look at the wall beside her, Elphaba burst out laughing. Her rough, scratchy voice was gone, replaced by pealing laughter that could only be compared to the bells that rang in the clock tower every day at noon. The noise shocked Kindrea into silence as she gaped at the laughing girl. Meanwhile, Elphaba held her stomach in laughter, eventually making Kindrea dissolve into laughs as well. The two girls collapsed on the floor in breathless giggles.

“Oh dear, we’re terrible!” Kindrea said when she could finally breathe. “And we’re about to be late!” she suddenly yelped, looking at the clock on the wall.

Everyone in the hall stopped and stared in shock as the two laughing girls burst from the door and hurried down the hall.

Galinda and her two followers suddenly sauntered from Galinda’s suite. Kindrea lurched to a halt and Elphaba crashed into the back of her.

“Excuse me, Miss Galinda.” Kindrea bit her lip to suppress her laughter, and Elphaba did the same.

“Was that YOUR horrendous singing that awoke us from our beauty sleep?” the brunette standing beside Galinda sniffed.

“N-no, of course not!” Kindrea suddenly looked very innocent.

“Yes, her singing was excruciatingly loud, but not horrendous.” Elphaba chimed in, mischief dancing in her emerald eyes.

“Elphie!” Kindrea exclaimed in shock.

“Kindrea!” Elphaba exclaimed teasingly. Both girls burst out laughing again, and everyone stared at them. Galinda’s mouth dropped open as both girls joined hands and ran down the hallway. Black waves and red curls caught the light as they passed by the windows, and people dove out of their way. Not because everyone was still repulsed by Elphaba’s emerald skin, but nobody could believe she was happy.

And laughter, two breathless voices, one bubbly and familiar, and one musical and new, echoed through the hallways of the university.