Claira walked down 3 longs hallways before she found the dorm she'd be living in all year. Claira hoped greatly that her roommate, whoever she may be, was not nosy. A nosy roommate was the last thing Claira needed. Room 112. "Well here we are..." Claira said to herself, unlocking the door.

When Claira slowly swung the door opened, she did not expect to see a shirtless boy laying on the bed to the left of the room, he had short dark brown curly hair, wide green eyes and an angular jaw. "Oh, oh, I'm sorry, I...I must have the wrong room." Claira said, her eyes wide. Claira shook her head, and turned away from the boy. "No wait!" he yelled after her. The boy picked up his shirt off the floor and flung it on. "I think you have the right room, the key opened the door." he said with a smart ass smirk. Claira hesitated, obviously confused. The boy extended his hand. "I'm Alex." he said. Reluctantly, Claira shook his hand. "I... I thought-" Claira began before being interrupted by Alex. "You thought Alex was a girl." he completed for her. Claira just nodded. "Well, the dorms are coed here, you know." Alex said. "No, I didn't know that." Claira said, entering the room again. "I'm Claira." she introduced. "Nice name, Claira. " Alex returned to his position on his bed, this time keeping his abs to himself. Claira obviously had no interest in sleeping 3 feet away from some smug, boy with a big ego that she had never met, but Claira wasn't going to make an issue out of it. She'd just have to sleep with one eye opened.

Claira opened her suit case atop her bed and began to unpack her things into the dresser on her side of the room. Claira wished she could just go to bed, the four hour train ride had really tired her out for some reason. After Claira almost had all her clothes stuffed away when Alex spoke, making Claira jump."Wow, you have got a lot of clothes. Different clothes too. I like it." Alex said. Claira turn around, a small smile on her face. "Thanks, I like clothes." Claira replied. "Well, you're lucky they don't make us wear those gross uniforms anymore. The year after my brother graduated was the year the changed the dress code. He's in the Gale Force now. Guess he'll never escape a uniform." Alex said. Claira had no idea there ever were uniforms here, but decided not to say that, just in case Shiz university uniforms were meant to be common knowledge in Oz. What made Claira pale was the talk of Gale Force. Her parents had warned her about them, told her to stay away at all costs, just in case. Her parents had told her they were just like police officers, but in most cases, much more brutal. Claira's parents had told her the Oz doesn't have a legal system like back home. Although they had also said there's much less crime in Oz. 'Maybe there's less crime because there's a much harsher legal system.' thought Claira. "Claira? you okay?" Alex piped, snapping Claira out of her thoughts. She raised her eyebrows at him, as if she didn't know what he was talking about. "It's just, you got really pale all the sudden." Alex questioned. "Oh yeah, I just haven't eaten in while, skipped lunch." Claira lied, putting away the last few things in her suit case.

At the bottom of her bag was a picture in an elegant black picture frame. A picture of her family. It was the one they had taken last spring. Emma figured it would be funny to make her dad float 6 inches off the ground in the photo, so just before the picture snapped, she cast the spell, causing her father to be floating in the photo with a look of shock and terror on his face, Emma doubled over in laughter, Elphaba just opening her mouth to yell at Emma with a furrow brow and pointed finger, Claira attempting to stifle a laugh. After the photo was taken, Emma realized she didn't know how to reverse the spell. Elphaba took 20 minutes to find a spell that would work. It had become Claira's favorite photo of her family, she knew deep down that it hadn't been a good idea to bring it here, but Claira didn't have the heart to leave it home. Quickly, she tucked it in the very back of her night stand drawer.

Glancing at the little clock on the night stand, Claira realized that it was nearly six o'clock, and that she really was hungry. "Do you know if the cafeteria is opened in the evening?" Claira asked Alex as she pushed her empty suitcase under the bed. "No, it's not, but there's a little store on campus, I'll go with you, I'm starving." said Alex. "Uh, okay." Claira said, pulling a pink cardigan out of the top drawer. Alex raised an eyebrow. "It's like, 25 degrees out there." he reminded her. "Just in case it gets cold." Claira explained. Alex shrugged. "Whatever" he muttered, walking out the door. Claira grabbed her purse and jogged to catch up.

The little store, surprisingly had quite a bit of selection. Claira and Alex parted to go search the store for something to eat. Claira selected a banana, a bottle of orange juice and a fairly large tin of peanuts. When Alex jumped in line behind her, she saw that he obviously didn't have the same healthy life style as Claira. Alex had an arm full of food, including 3 chocolate bars, labeled with a brand Claira had never seen before, a whole litre of pop, again by a brand she didn't recognize, a bag of butter flavored popcorn, and two pre made deli sandwiches. Claira stared at him, wondering how in the world he could eat all that and maintain the body he has. Claira looked him up and down, as if searching for where it all goes. "Are you checking me out, Claira?" Alex asked sarcastically. "No. I'm just wondering how in the world you can eat all that." Claira said plainly. The cashier coughed. "I don't really care if you're checking him out, but there's a line so can I check you out?" the man behind the register said, annoyance evident on his face. His comment for some reason made Claira snicker, it reminded her of something Emma would say if she was given the opportunity.

Walking across campus to the dorm, Claira and Alex took a detour around the grounds, so the two first year students could see all of Shiz. The odd pair made a loop around a set of beautiful fountains, when something caught Claira's eye.

Claira approached the statue of a young girl. The figure was only maybe four feet tall. Claira leaned over to read the plaque mounted on the concrete base.

Dorothy Gale of Kansas.

Brave young slayer of The Wicked Witch of The West.

Savoir of Oz

Claira visibly paled, staring at the statue of the little girl who had tried to kill her mother. Suddenly Claira didn't feel hungry anymore. Alex rolled his eyes at her. "Don't tell me your one of those people who can't even think about the witch without getting scared." Alex said. Claira nodded, her hands shaking slightly. "Yeah, I'm one of those people." Claira said, "My mom used to tell me stories about her." Claira added just for the sake of irony. "Well that's not very motherly." Alex said. Claira shook her head. "My mother is very motherly. She's great." Claira defended. "And your father?" asked Alex. Claira groaned internally. 'Great, now he's asking about my family.' Claira thought. "My fathers the same, great." Claira said. "Any siblings?" Alex asked. Claira really wished he'd stop. "A younger sister." she answered, thinking of Emma. "And where are you from?" Claira paused. 'Where am I from...' Claira thought, then she remembered what her father had told her in the woods. "Munchkin land." Claira replied. "Now your turn. Tell me everything." Claira ordered, before Alex could ask her anything else. He scoffed. "What makes you think I'll tell you?" Alex bothered. Claira glared at him. "Okay, okay. I live in the emerald city, my mom is grounds keeper at the palace, my dad's captain of the Gale Force, my brother Jacob is a novice officer in the Gale Force." Alex said. Claira shivered. How had she managed to be paired with the one person whose family probably wanted her and her family dead.

Claira saw from a distance, Alice skipping towards them. When she spotted Claira, Alice picked up her speed. Claira was quite surprise when Alice ran up to Alex and they hugged each other. "Hey! I was hoping to see you while we were out!" Alex said. "Are you guys getting along? I was so happy when mom paired you guys! Mom knew you guys would like each other. You're basically the same person!" Alice said enthusiastically. "I, I didn't know you guys knew each other." said Claira. "Like I said, my mom works at the palace. So Glinda and my mom kind of became friends. Plus my dad is captain of the guard so, our families are friends. Me and Alice have known each other forever." Alex explained. "How do you guys know each other? " Alex added. "We met on the train." said Claira. "Anyway, nice seeing you guys, but mom wanted me back 10 minutes ago." Alice said, skipping off. Claira and Alex also began to continue their way back to the dorm."Why didn't you mention you met Alice?" asked Alex. "Why would I have mentioned it, I didn't know you knew her." Claira said, figuring it was a fairly obvious answer. "Most people would want to brag about meeting Glinda the goods daughter." Alex stated, more loudly than necessary. "You're right. Chill." Claira said. "I am chill." Alex muttered, jiggling the key in the dorm door.

Claira sat on her bed, facing away from her roommate. She had finished her so called 'dinner' and was now just munching on peanuts. Claira had come to realize that Alex wasn't quite as bad his first impression to her, though it certainly freaked her out that his father was captain of the Gale Force and his brother was also an officer.

A knock came on the which caused Claira to turn around, facing Alex. "Are you expecting someone?" Claira asked him. He shook his head and hopped up to answer the door.

When Alex cracked the door opened, it was pushed the remainder of the way. In burst a group of five boys with obnoxious looking haircuts. None of them wasted time in making themselves comfortable. "Kay, so dude. You're Jake's brother right?" one of the boys asked Alex. Alex nodded slowly, still standing over by the door, clearly confused. The boy tossed his head back and grinned. "That so sick, he was in his fourth year when we started here. Everyone idolized him. We're in third year now. " Another boy said, brushing back his surfer like hair. Claira stood up and put the lid on her peanuts, placing the half full container on her nightstand with the intention to leave the room for awhile. "Whoa, you've got a hot roommate too!" another boy said. Claira rolled her eyes. "My roommate is Amy Oscar, ugh." the boy added with a fake shiver of disgust. Alex ignored his comment. "Claira where are you going?" he asked her. "I'm just going to... um, brush my teeth." Claira said, turning around to retrieve her toothbrush. "Oh... okay then." Alex said over the roar of the boys who had taken over the room.

Claira zipped out of the room and down the hall to the girls bath room. There were several other girls in there, sitting on the sinks and around the room chatting and giggling. A few of the girl tried to get Claira to join them but Claira just politely refused and brushed her teeth. When she was finished she bid the girls a farewell and walked back to her room, with the hopes that her five minutes away was enough time for Alex to get all those boys out of their room. When she got close to the dorm and heard shouting and intense laughter coming from inside the door, Claira sighed. They were still there. Claira turned the key in the door and stepPed into the room. The first thing she saw was her peanuts spilled all over her bed. The second thing she saw was the group of boys on Claira's side of the room, her dresser drawers all flung opened. A moment of panic surged through her as she look to her nightstand. The drawer looked untouched. Thank goodness. Claira's attention went back to the boys, her bra's underwear and sock were flung all over the room, a few of the boys had her tiny bra's held up to their chests, making poses and speaking in high voices. Claira looked to Alex, completely offended and shocked. He stood on the other side of the room, running his hands through his hair, Alex had no control over the situation. "Hey." Claira said in an angry tone. They didn't listen "Hey!" she tried again slightly louder. "HEY!" she screeched. The boys stopped and looked at Claira. Her face was red hot with anger and her teeth grinded against each other. "I want you all out right now!" Claira screamed, pointing an angry finger at the door. They stayed where they were with stupid grins on all their faces. "NOW!" she screamed. The boys chuckled their way out of the room, the last one to leave turned around, "your hot roommate has a temper." he said to Alex before Claira slammed the door.

Claira growled and began stuffing her clothes back in the drawers. "Claira, I'm sorry-" Alex began. Claira stopped him. "don't be, you had nothing to do with it." she said. Alex didn't say anything, instead he just started brushing the peanuts off Claira's bed. "Thanks." she said, offering him a smile. "No problem." said Alex, returning the smile.

I hope you liked this chapter, please please please don't forget to review! I love reading your reviews! :)