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Nothing is quite what it seems in this world. Elphaba Thropp learned that lesson as a small child, and now that she is grown - at least, grown enough to be attending Shiz University - the impression is only being further reinforced.
Avaric, for example, though he seems little more than a pretty playboy and libertine on the surface, actually does have a brain, and knows what to do with it. Most of the time, he just doesn't want to put in that amount of effort, or so he says. At first she'd thought it was simply laziness on his part, but after spending some time around him, she begins to think differently. Perhaps he hides as a way of making the world give him an easy ride, as he'd say; to fool everyone around him. Almost everyone.
Nessarose... Oh, of all the people in the world that she knows, she knows the details of Nessa and her life more than most. Sometimes, she thinks, she knows Nessa better than Nessa knows herself. There are good things about her sister: plenty of them. They would be easier to see if they weren't so overshadowed by how great her selfishness can be. She always was a pampered child, unable to do so much for herself, and, while Elphaba feels some pity for her (and yes, some envy perhaps), she'll also acknowledge that her sister could have made herself so much more than she has. No use thinking about things that can't be changed, she reflects; Nessa's path in life has been set from childhood. In some ways, she still is a child.
Galinda - Glinda, now - is someone she's found to be even more of a deceiving character, though in some ways she is so innocent that Elphaba isn't quite sure whether she realises it or not. Perhaps she was, at first, as shallow and society-obsessed as Elphaba thought her. Clothes (she remembers that excursion only too well), boys (girls, less loudly), new experiences... And that name Glinda has for her: "Elphie". It isn't the first time she's been called something other than her proper name; she's not sure she would have accepted such a frivolous nickname had it been the first one. But Glinda's becoming a whole new person, or so it seems. The alteration is not a bad one: it's a maturation, of sorts. More sense, less thoughtlessness. She no longer behaves as though her beauty (she is beautiful, Elphie admits) makes her significant.
If only she could say the same about herself. The development of trust, while not having taken away all her ability to be wary of other people, has affected her judgement. She can't risk it any longer, not now that she knows that the Wizard, too, is both so much more and so much less than he appears to be. The danger of trusting people further would be too great.
Truly, nothing is what it seems.
The final kiss she exchanges with Glinda before leaving her behind is one that will have to last her years.
Perhaps even a lifetime.