Elphaba adjusted her googles on the bridge of her nose as she tried once again to pretend Fiyero didn't interest her in the slighest. But to bring her back into reality, it took the chemicals bubbling together together to fall and burn on the table, leaving a black sizzling hole.

"Oh. Oops." Fiyero's mouth cocked to the side in that sexy, half-formed grin Elphaba loved so much. "It's alright. We'll just start over. Madame Morrible won't even notice; she's probably drunk in the teacher's lounge."

Elphaba only listened for a bit. Her eyes wandered to his muscles bulging out of his red coat; his wavy-curly hair that flew back because of the ceiling fan; his long-lashed eyes that started darting across the table to pick up the cauldrons and spare wands.

Honestly, tutoring Fiyero in sorcery was the best thing that could have ever happened to her. Since he broke up with Glinda, he was fresh on the market...or, at least, by her standards. Every girl in the school that had hips to sashay and long hair to flip had crossed Fiyero's path to speak to him about the breakup. Under two, curved arms they held their school books between their fingers and ever so slightly moved closer than they should have been to him and spoke in low, monotone voices, which were meant for only him. Then, when they had figured the right amount or flirting, they would wiggle their curves all the way down the hall, hoping Fiyero would make like a dog and follow them.

Elphaba thought it was all sick. Fiyero was her only friend of the opposite sex, if you excluded Boq, who mostly only hung around for Glinda and gave Elphaba the shortest conversations possible (No pun intended; Boq was pretty short to start with). Her other two friends were Glinda and Nessarose. One was a fashion-crazed school wide celebrity, who had every single one of her steps documented and a safe full of money enough to stop world hunger. The other was Elphaba's sister, who was an angel in form but not so much in spirit. Elphaba always thought of a Bible when she passed her. Nessarose thought herself a saint to the Almighty Lord and Elphaba thought herself the one mistake the Lord had made. But the sisters had somehow found themselves in an odd sense of peace, one that only occurred when the wind blew between them in different classes and there was nothing more to say. The most the girls would do for each other was give a slight nod.

So yes, Fiyero was perfect. Everything a pariah of Oz could look for. The only pariah of Oz could look for, and what was more, he was looking her straight in the eye.

"Did you hear me?" He asked softly, grinning again and picking up one of the wands to place it towards the cauldron.

"Uh, yeah. Here...we'll try it again. Ready?" Elphaba gave her head a shake and reached across the table to grab the spellbook.

"Okay, so its Irragane Obvitius. Irragane Obvitius?" Elphaba's eyes narrowed at the page. "That can't be right, I've tried this already."

"Do you want to test it, just to see?" Fiyero's eyes still held the cauldron steady and set. He was so desperate to learn sorcery, it might have killed him.

Or it was about to.

"No, I need to be sure. Come back tomorrow," Elphaba sighed and slid the wand out of his hand, packing her belongings into her bag.

"El, nothing is gonna happen, just let me try!" Fiyero pleaded. "Let me show you."

"It has nothing to do with you, it's just the spell. I have to go to my room anyways. A new student is coming and I have to help her settle in."

"Who?"

"I don't know. It's Morrible's orders. Apparently, her parents are dead and she has a little sister. Seeing that I'm in a similar situation, she's tied them up with Nessarose and I."

"Well." Fiyero slung his bag over his shoulder. "I guess I can see that. But I thought you and Nessarse weren't orphans?"

"No, but my father hates me and Nana is so old she doesn't even know her own name. So it might as well be the same thing."

The problem was that she was so open to him. There was just this sense of peace, listening to Fiyero talk and she was able to respond back with ease, instead of shaking and getting nervous.

Fiyero headed for the door and looked over his shoulder. "Need help?"

"I'm fine, thanks."

"Hey, next week I'm having party. Bring your new roommate if you want."

"Her parents just died Fiyero. I don't think she'll want a party."

"Still."

They stood in silence until Elphaba agreed t ask the new student, who ever she was and was rewarded with a winning smile before Fiyero walked out the door.