A/N: I'm going to spin you a tale… So, I've always been extremely intimidated by Wicked as a book- seriously, I was dying to write fanfiction but knew that it would never come close to the real thing. Which is of course rather depressing… But anyways, here I am with my Gelphie muse and it's told me to do this as a Real World AU because then it won't suck. :L Enjoy the product of my conversations with myself.

Disclaimer: No one mourns the Wicked more than I do because I don't own it.

Spectrum

Weaving her way through the throngs of people crowding the food court in the mall at lunch hour, Elphaba held her head high, struggling desperately to keep the smirk off of her face. Behind her, Galinda stumbled along clumsily in her new heels, holding one hand to her head to keep her carefully coiled golden curls in place.

"Elphie!" she whined, glancing nervously around at the curious faces that kept turning in their direction. "Elphie, people are staring."

"Your point?" the taller girl snorted, tugging her along by the hand, squeezing it tightly as if to make sure she wasn't going to run away. It was a valid fear. Little Miss Perfect had been hard to convince to come out in public with her in the first place- if one were to glimpse them now, they would probably have assumed that Elphaba were kidnapping the popular blonde for some nefarious scheme.

And they were sort of right.

"I have an image!" she protested weakly, smoothing down the faded pink sundress that she'd worn 'for matters of conspicuous-ness'. "I don't need this!"

"Oh, come on. You don't have to be so conceited all the time, do you?" Elphaba rolled her eyes, flashing a cheeky grin at Avaric, the self-proclaimed king of the school, as he gaped at the girls in passing. "It's just a little dare."

"Well I don't believe I recall being a part of this dare!" Galinda huffed, cheeks reddening as she ducked her head and avoided Avaric's confused gaze.

"Your point? Boq said to make a scene. That's what I'm doing." The taller girl just tipped her head back and laughed, her practiced witch cackle, and saw several people in a five foot radius of her flinch away in apparent fear. This was more fun than she had honestly expected it to be… Normally it took Boq, Crope and Tibbett to so much as drag her out the front door.

But a dare was a dare…

After circling the cafeteria a couple of times, Elphaba finally took pity on her friend and ducked into a scented candle shop, grinning like a loon. Galinda rubbed the circulation back into her hand, perhaps a bit exaggeratedly, and surveyed her with a huff as she placed her delicate hands on her hips.

"You look ridiculous," she seethed, brushing her hands up the taller girl's arm and rubbing her fingers together in distaste as she pulled away, bits of green paint smudging over her fingertips and flaking away.

"Thanks ever so much, sweetheart," Elphaba replied drily, an infuriating smile still gracing her lips. She wandered behind a shelf and extended a hand, which Galinda reluctantly took. After a quick glance around to be sure that the coast was clear, she ducked in and pecked her on the lips. "You know, I don't understand why we can't just do this in front of everybody else."

Galinda flushed pink, reaching up to touch her pouty lips as she averted her eyes. "Because I have an image-"

"Not after today you don't. You're running around with a bookworm whose painted herself green, Glin, your social status is plummeting as we speak."

The popular girl flinched at the thought, twisting her face as though she were in physical pain. Elphaba implored her with her eyes. She had brought this argument to light time and time again- if Galinda loved her, then she shouldn't see a need to hide away behind closed doors, should she? They were just another couple. True, they were the only lesbian couple at Shiz, but it was only a matter of time. If a black boy could date a white girl, and if people really didn't care, if love was love was love, then they could certainly date each other.

Publically. Something Galinda had resisted from the start. Elphaba had been patient. But…

It was possible that it bothered her more than she let on.

There was a long moment, a standoff between them, and- as she always did- the daintier girl finally slumped her shoulders and relented.

"… Fine. I suppose you're right… What do I have to lose?"

GELPHIEGELPHIEGELPHIE

"Are you certain we aren't going to get in trouble for this?"

"Nope!"

The green girl reached down and hoisted her less-than-enthusiastic girlfriend up onto the table beside her, looking around proudly at the sea of slack-jawed teenagers and baffled adults, gleeful children pointing at them and shrieking as they paused in their running-around. Galinda looked faint; she clutched at Elphaba's hand desperately, pressing a hand to her forehead as though she might pass out at any moment.

Drama queen.

Elphaba's favorite part of the morning wasn't jumping onto the table and it wasn't causing a scene (although that was delightfully fun.) It wasn't even the cell phone pictures that she knew were being taken of them, of her in her green paint, of Galinda whose embarrassment shone on her face like a beacon. And as amusing as it was, it wasn't Fiyero's face as he gazed upon his ex-girlfriend's hand entwined with hers in a comical sort of horror.

It was the feeling of Galinda's lips on hers, the delicate white arms encircling her neck, tangling in her long black hair. It was her own arms, wrapped around that tiny waist and pulling her closer for all the world to see.

Let them stare. That was the object of the day anyways, was it not? She would have to find someone to send her a good picture…

Boq was going to be so proud.