"How was school?" Elphaba asked the traditional question as Faye and Liir walked in the door.

"Fine. It was fine," Faye answered, and went into the kitchen.

"Great!" said Liir. "There's this really cool dance on Wednesday and the most popular girl in school asked me to go with her."

"That's my boy!" Fiyero told Liir as he walked into the foyer.

"I'm glad you and Faye are fitting in well," Elphaba smiled. "But just don't get too involved in a relationship, Liir, our family has to be careful. With my luck, that girl's family will be the biggest Wicked Witch haters in all of Oz."

"Don't worry Mom, it's nothing serious, just a dance. Oh, yeah, and Dad- I'm going to need a purple suit."

"How was your first day of high school?" Glinda asked her daughter Holly.

"Great! I met this girl named Faye and she's pretty cool. I think we're going to end up being good friends."

"That's wonderful, honey. Now, I'd love to stay and talk but I have a diplomatic meeting with the ruler of Quadling Country. See you at dinner! Kisses." Holly and her mom made kissy noises on each side of each other's faces.

"Biq!" Lady Glinda yelled. "We're going to be late. Come on!" Biq, or rather, Boq, his true name, was the royal advisor to Lady Glinda. She hated him. Unfortunately, he was elected by the citizens of Oz, so there was nothing she could do until his term ran out.

Boq was very unusual. He had been turned into a tin man awhile back by the Wicked Witch of the West. That was when they had all gone to college together- Glinda, Fiyero, Elphaba, Nessarose, and Boq. It was a very confusing story, but it went something like this.

Glinda and Fiyero were engaged to be married, but Fiyero ran off with Elphaba, and now both of them were assumed to be dead. Nessarose loved Boq, but he didn't love her back, and Nessa had died in an accident. Boq had always liked Glinda, but she loathed him. But they were the only ones left of the five now. Glinda was constantly avoiding him, and reminding him of the fact that she was already married. Boq hated being a tin man and he would do anything to get revenge on the one who caused it. Too bad she had been melted.

"Hey Faye!" Liir yelled down the hall, arranging his white corsage, and laughing to himself because he made a rhyme. "We have to go now!" It was the night of the dance, and Liir was looking forward to an evening with Holly.

"Where?" Faye shouted back, lying on her bed deeply engrossed in a book. Her mother lent her it, Famous Witches of the Twentieth Century. The Witch of the West had been mentioned twelve times already, and Faye was only on chapter three.

"Uh, the dance!" Liir said, opening her bedroom door and scowling at her appearance. "What are you thinking? We have to leave and you're not even dressed yet!"

"Of course I am! What, you think I like going around naked or something?"

"You know what I mean."

"I do?" Faye gave him an innocent smile.

"Mom!" Liir shouted, facing downstairs. "This isn't fair! Can't I go to the dance without her? She's going to make me late!"

Elphaba came up the steps. "I already told you. You two have to stick together for these kinds of things. If you're like your father, which, heaven help me, you are, who knows what kind of trouble you'll get into."

"But she's not even dressed yet!"

"Of course she is! You think she likes going around naked or something?"

"That's what I told him!" Faye commented.

"Dad, they're driving me crazy!" Liir yelled down the steps.

His father appeared at the foot of the stairway. "What's going on up there, honey?"

"Oh, nothing." Elphaba replied. "Faye and Liir are just having a little argument. They'll be down in a minute."

"I'm not going," Faye insisted. "And that's final."

Five minutes later, Faye and Liir were flying toward the Ozdust. Elphaba had threatened to take away Faye's sorcery temporarily, so after that Faye was glad to go.

"Thanks a lot," Liir said sarcastically to Faye. "We're making Holly wait. Who knows what the school will think of us now. She probably already found another date."

"Oh, I wouldn't be worried if I were you. I'm sure the princess will be fashionably late." Faye retorted.

Surprisingly, she wasn't. Holly was inside talking to some friends when Faye and Liir walked in.

"Where have you been?" She squealed. "Oh well, no matter. Let's dance!" She and Liir twirled away to the tune of Dancing through Life, a good oldies song. Faye was left standing with a bunch of Holly's friends.

"So…" A short blonde one said. Actually, they were all blonde, and apparently only two were naturals from what Faye could tell. Weird. Faye thought. It looks like they all copied Holly. They must have no individuality. Oh, I guess I better say something. They're all staring at me.

"Uh, nice, uh, bracelet…thingy," Faye said to the girl. Faye actually meant it; the bracelet was silver with rubies. It was the only unique style she could find. The other girls looked like clones of each other with diamond bracelets.

"Thanks! I love your locket. Where'd you get it?" The girl asked.

"My mom gave it to me."

"Can I look inside?"

"NO!" All the girls backed away. "I mean, uh, I haven't put any pictures in yet. Uh, will you excuse me for a minute? I have to go uh, fix my make-up." The girls gave her fake smiles, but as soon as Faye looked away, formed a huddle and started whispering.

Faye started toward the refreshments table at the other end of the ballroom. That was a close one. No one could see her parents' pictures or they might recognize them. Especially since most of pictures available of the Wicked Witch were photos of her college days, one of which was in Faye's locket. She glanced around for Liir. He wasn't hard to spot, seeing as he was dancing with the only person dressed in white in a sea of purple. He and Holly seemed to be happy, so she returned to drinking her punch beside the rest of the unpopular girls who didn't have dates.

"Wanna dance?" Faye turned around. The person who had just spoken to her was an extremely good-looking guy.

"Sure," she said, and they made their way to the dance floor.

This is my chance, Faye thought. Everyone's going to think I'm so cool because I know this really neat dance my mom showed me. She started dancing erratically, as strangely as possible. Her arms and legs were going everywhere. The boy that had asked her to dance backed up and started dancing with another girl, not wanting to be associated with Faye.

Holly had her back to Faye, but Liir saw her. "Oh, no," he said.

"What?" Holly asked.

"She's doing the Elphie."

Holly turned around and her hand flew to her open mouth when she saw Faye. "I've got to do something!" She turned to Liir. "Excuse me just a sec." He just nodded.

Holly made her way over to Faye. "Hey everyone!" she shouted. "This is a cool new dance that everybody who's anybody is doing. It's the new style this year!" Holly starting dancing just as terribly, which made everyone believe her. If Holly Upland was doing something, it must be cool.