A/N: Okay, I decided to go ahead with the AU!School Production fic, partly because I'm procrastinating and putting off studying for my exams *ahem*

So for this fic, Karma and Amy aren't best friends, but they kind of know each other (like they share a few classes in my head), and Amy still has a crush on Karma, who doesn't know about it. Also, for the purposes of this fic, and usual casting for school productions, I've changed their ages slightly

"Amy,"

It was Karma. The girl stood right in front of her, close enough for Amy to feel the heat radiating off her. They were at school, the end of their shared math class, and Karma had caught her afterwards, asking about a problem she'd been struggling with.

"I – I thought it was a math problem you needed help with…" Amy breathed, eyes flickering between Karma's and her lips, already having trouble focusing due to their proximity.

Karma smiled deviously, inching closer, and Amy almost forgot how to breathe.

"Well," she started, "it's sort of a math problem. You see, I'm trying to figure out the answer to a particular sum, and I think I know the outcome but I want to be sure,"

"Oh?" and really, it's a miracle Amy even managed to say that much, because Karma was still getting closer and closer, and Amy could count the number of miniscule freckles dotting the bridge of her nose.

"Mmhmm," Karma continued, "see, the question I wanna know the answer to is as follows; you, plus me, plus this," and then Karma leaned in the rest of the way, and Amy couldn't hear anything over the thumping of her own heart and -

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Amy woke with a jolt, eyes snapping open and immediately focusing on the offending alarm clock. It had only been a dream. In one swift motion, she reached out and grabbed the alarm clock, flinging it across the room to silence it.

Amy sighed, and pulled the covers up over her head, groaning in frustration. That made three times in the last week she'd had that dream, and three times in the last week she'd woken up just before Karma kissed her.

She groaned again, louder, when she realised today was Monday. If it had been any other Monday, Amy would be figuring out a way to bunk off school; fake an illness or something and spend the day watching Netflix on her laptop. But it wasn't just any other Monday. Today was the day where they announced this year's school production, and Amy was finally going to audition. She was a junior now, and had spent her freshman and sophomore years watching the productions solely because Karma had a part in both of them. One time, during last year's "Hairspray" in which Karma had played Amber, she'd caught Amy's eye onstage, and had kept eye contact for longer than strictly necessary as she was singing. Amy had blushed and looked away, focusing on the bag of skittles clutched in her hand.

But not this year. This time, Amy was going to be part of the show. Shane, her best friend, had been trying to get her to audition every year. ("You have a fantastic voice, Amy, and I know how well you can act. I don't see why you wouldn't want to show that talent off!") He was going to kill her if she didn't show up for school today. Well that, and the fact that she was his ride to school. With that thought, Amy threw the covers off and climbed out of bed.

After a quick shower, Amy towelled herself dry and pulled on a random shirt with a cartoon cat on it (she tried to remember why she'd bought it, she really did) and a pair of skinny jeans. She emerged into the kitchen for breakfast, only to find her soon-to-be stepsister Lauren occupying the toaster. Amy rolled her eyes; Lauren, a senior and obviously thinking this fact made her better than everyone else, was standing in front of the toaster, blocking it, eating her (wholemeal, low-fat light unsalted buttered) toast with a smug expression on her face.

"Excuse me," Amy said, trying her hardest to be polite, "could I get to the toaster?"

Lauren cocked her head to the side, feigning ignorance "What's the magic word?"

"Could I get to the toaster, you vindictive harpy?" Amy deadpanned.

Lauren's face turned to thunder, and she stormed off, probably to find her precious ass of a daddy. Amy smirked, and put a couple of slices of bread into the toaster. Today felt like a good day.

…..

It was breezy outside, being October, so Amy grabbed a jacket before she left for school. Hopping into her car, Amy started the engine, driving the five minutes to Shane's house to pick him up. Her best friend, despite being fully able to drive, didn't yet have a car. His parents had promised him one on his seventeenth birthday, but that was in April, so until then Amy had offered him a lift to school.

Shane was without a doubt her best, and quite possibly only, friend. She knew other people, and she was friendly to them, sure, but there was no-one she trusted like Shane. He was, after all, the only person who knew about her crush on Karma. Amy remembered when she'd told him about her crush; he had hugged her, told her it was going to be okay, and that she could definitely do worse. He hadn't asked her about whether it made her gay or bi or pan or whatever, and Amy still wasn't sure she liked the idea of labels anyway, so she'd just accepted that she, Amy, liked a girl, Karma.

Shane, on the other hand, fully embraced the "gay" label, stating that as he was sexually and romantically attracted to boys and boys only, that's the label that made him feel like he had a home. That was one of Amy's favorite things about Shane; even though he felt comfortable with a label, he understood that not everyone wanted one.

"Hey there," Shane said, opening the passenger side door.

"Hi," Amy smiled at him, "how was your weekend?"

He shrugged, dark eyes glinting, "Pretty average. Are you still going to audition?"

Amy laughed; Shane always got straight to the point.

"Yes, I'm still planning on it, as long as Karma's auditioning too,"

Shane rolled his eyes good-naturedly, "Come on, I know you've been seduced by the world of theatre as much as you have been by the world of Karma,"

Amy laughed again as she put her car in drive, and pulled out of Shane's driveway. Okay, so maybe she did like musicals, and the Hester High productions were actually really good, so maybe Karma wasn't the only reason she was auditioning. And she was as eager as everyone to hear which musical had been picked.

…..

"Good morning everyone," Penelope, their principal, greeted them at assembly. The student body quietened down, waiting for the notices to begin. As it was Monday, the whole school were in assembly, before each year group had a separate assembly later in the week.

"Now I know everyone here is eager to find out what musical Hester High is going to be performing in the March of next calendar year, so I'll invite Miss Cooke of the drama department up here to finally reveal it," Penelope said, gesturing for a young woman with flyaway blonde hair and glasses perched on the end of her nose up to the front. A slightly over enthusiastic typical drama teacher, Miss Cooke was nonetheless one of Amy's favorites.

"Right," Miss Cooke began, clapping her hands together once to make sure she had everyone's attention, "As you know the last few productions have included 'Hairspray', 'Fame' and 'Grease', and this year we've decided to go for something a little more recent. Actually, it's still on its original Broadway run,"

Beside her, Shane gripped Amy's arm, eyes wide with anticipation. Amy tried to pretend like she didn't feel like doing the same thing.

"The musical we're going to be doing is called 'Wicked'," Miss Cooke said, and that's all she was able to say before the entire student body started whispering and chattering excitedly amongst themselves.

Shane squealed excitedly, "Oh my God, it's everything I could've hoped for and more," and Amy had to agree. While she'd never been to see the musical before, she knew the basic plotline, and had heard and loved "Defying Gravity" like every other mentally sane person. She was actually really excited, and turned to Shane with a big smile on her face.

Shane suddenly gasped.

"What?"

He then got a terrifyingly big smile, and Amy became concerned for her own wellbeing.

"What is it?" she asked, with more trepidation.

"You should audition for Elphaba!" he exclaimed.

"Wait, what?" Amy said, "As in Elphaba, one of the leads, with the 'Defying Gravity' and the being lifted up in the air? That Elphaba?"

Shane nodded, "Absolutely, I've heard you sing a million times, all the songs are within your range, and we can work on your breath control so you can hold the long notes,"

Before Amy could protest further, Miss Cooke was calling for their attention again. She went through a brief synopsis of the musical – which Amy already knew thanks to Shane – and a list of the characters people would be able to audition for. Amy's eyes automatically found where Karma was sitting with her friends, and she couldn't help but wonder what part she'd be auditioning for. As if reading her mind, Shane leaned over and whispered "I think she'd make a remarkable Glinda," and Amy smiled, seeing what he meant. She could already imagine Karma flouncing around to "Popular", wearing the blonde wig and the pink dress. It was actually quite scary how Glinda-like Karma was anyway.

Penelope read out the rest of the notices, but nobody was listening, and as soon as they were dismissed, many made a beeline for the news board, where a sign-up sheet had already been posted. Shane and Amy held back, waiting for the swarm to dissipate somewhat.

When they could actually see the sheet, Shane thought for a moment before putting his name down next to 'The Wizard'.

"You're not auditioning for Fiyero?" Amy asked.

Shane shook his head, "Nah, I can't dance very well. I'd much rather be the Wizard,"

He handed her the pen, and Amy took a deep breath before looking at the twenty or so names already next to 'Elphaba'.

"Maybe this isn't a good idea," she said quickly, "there are already a lot of people and I don't really think I'd make a good Elphaba anyway and just how much of your body do they cover in green?"

Shane laughed lightly, "C'mon, you're not getting cold feet on me now are you?"

"Well actually-"

Amy cut herself off when she noticed Karma was approaching, her voice dying in her throat. Karma was alone now, having left her friends behind to sign up, and oh God she was getting so close that Amy could smell her perfume. Karma smiled warmly at her and Shane before taking out a pen and putting her name down next to 'Glinda'. Shane shot her a look that said 'I told you so'.

Karma turned to Amy when she had taken an audition piece.

"What are you auditioning for?" she asked, noticing the pen in Amy's hand.

Karma Ashcroft was speaking to her, somebody send help please. Amy opened her mouth, fully intending to speak, but nothing came out. Saving her, or sealing her fate (whichever way you wanted to look at it) Shane jumped in.

"She's auditioning for Elphaba,"

"Cool," Karma said, smiling at her again, "Maybe I'll see you at auditions,"

Amy nodded mutely, managing a small smile in return. She knew Shane was silently laughing at her and she kind of wanted to slap him.

"Well I have to get to History now, so I'll see you guys around," Karma said, motioning down the hall, "Good luck at auditions Shane, you too Amy,"

And she left.

Amy let out a breath, finally able to speak again.

"Shut up Shane," she said.

"I didn't say anything," Shane raised his hands defensively, shaking with laughter.

Amy sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Guess I'd better put my name down then," she said, defeated, and Shane grinned like a Cheshire cat, knowing he'd won.

As she wrote 'Amy Raudenfeld' next to the other names by 'Elphaba', Amy couldn't help but feel excited. What if she did get the part, and Karma got Glinda? Trying and failing to hide a smile, Amy took an audition piece, and saw the audition song was one she hadn't heard before.

"'The Wizard and I' is your audition song?" Shane read the title over her shoulder, "Well, at least it's not as hard as 'No Good Deed',"

Amy nodded dumbly, and Shane tutted at her.

"After school, we're watching the OBC YouTube clips of all the songs and listening to all the recordings, okay?"

"What does OBC mean?" Amy asked, confused.

"Original Broadway Cast, duh," Shane looked at her like she'd fallen from the sky, "we've really got to educate you before this audition, haven't we?"

Okay, please let me know what you think. I'm planning on doing about eight chapters for this fic, and I've planned most of it out so I'm really looking forward to continuing it if that's something people want. Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I hope you enjoyed it so far!