"Slow down/ I wanna go round and round and round / Slow down / You can't stop the aging of change / I know the clock won't stop ticking / I know the seconds won't stop ticking away / But I wanna slow down."- "Carousel" by Jennifer Moody

Elphaba twisted her pen lazily in her fingers while Galinda examined her manicure and tapped her fingernails against her desk. Rolling her eyes, Elphaba sent a glare in Galinda's direction that she promptly ignored, continuing to beat out an erratic rhythm on the polished wood.

"Do you mind?" Elphaba snapped, slapping her hands against her own desk.

Galinda sighed and said, "I don't have anything else to do since Morrible obviously isn't coming. You're the one who won't let me leave even though she's thirty minutes late."

"She's just trying to make our lives difficult and make us mess up," Elphaba retorted. "She'll be here, and we had better be waiting on her."

Galinda just shook her head and twisted a curl around her finger, and Elphaba pulled out a book. A few minutes later, the classroom door opened, and Morrible swept inside.

"Let's begin, class," she announced dramatically. At both Elphaba and Galinda's bored looks, she said, "I was held up in the Emerald City and only just arrived back at Shiz. Now, we have a lot to cover. Miss Galinda, get your wand out. I have new spellbooks for both of you."

Elphaba took the book Morrible offered to her and asked, "What do we need new books for?"

"You have progressed to the point that you need to start working with more difficult spells," Morrible said calmly. Dropping a book in front of Galinda, she snapped, "Miss Galinda, pay attention."

"I was," Galinda protested. Morrible raised an eyebrow, and she sighed, "Madame."

"Good," Morrible said with a smile. "Miss Galinda, kindly open your book and read about how to magically create a fire while I work with Miss Elphaba."

"Madame, shouldn't it be the other way around?" Elphaba piped up, raising her gaze from where she had already been flipping through her new book. "Galinda is the one who needs more formal instruction. I'm sure I can handle working through some of this on my own."

"I am the teacher here, Miss Elphaba, and I would remind you not to forget that," Morrible replied.

"Yes, Madame," Elphaba muttered. "What do you want me to do?"

"There is a piece of magic that is difficult, but I think it will prove itself useful to you in the future," Morrible said as she took Elphaba's book and opened it to a page close to the back before handing it back to Elphaba.

Elphaba perused the spell quietly and said, "A spell to persuade people to do what I want?"

"Yes, I have found that it is very nice to have when necessary," Morrible said breezily. "Read it for me, and we'll work from there."

Galinda pursed her lips and leaned her head on her hand as she tried to read through the spell Morrible had picked out while Elphaba read her spell aloud. After a few moments, Galinda realized that she had read the same sentence three times, and she had yet to understand what it meant. Elphaba's voice was very distracting, and Galinda blinked before focusing again on the words in front of her. She decided to skip the explanation of the spell and simply started to whisper the spell. She sighed, and muttered the spell one more time, shrieking in surprise when her book burst into flames.

Elphaba snapped her head in Galinda's direction and shouted another spell. Galinda bolted from her desk as Elphaba's spell extinguished the flames, shaking from the shock.

Elphaba rounded on Morrible once she was sure the fire was put out and said angrily, "That is why you shouldn't just let her read a spell on her own, especially one that is potentially dangerous."

"She should learn to read all the instructions before trying a new spell," Morrible replied. "Miss Galinda, you can find a replacement for your book that you so carelessly destroyed in my office. Miss Elphaba, please continue with your spell. Maybe when Miss Galinda returns, you can practice on her."

"No, we're done here," Elphaba said in a low voice as she grabbed Galinda's hand.

"Don't you dare walk out on me," Morrible threatened.

"I'm not walking out," Elphaba replied with a smile, gesturing towards the clock on the wall. "This class is over."

Tugging on Galinda's hand, Elphaba stormed out of the classroom. As soon as they were in the hallway, Galinda pulled Elphaba into a hug.

"Thank you," she said simply, pressing an affectionate kiss to Elphaba's cheek.

Elphaba shrugged and slung her arm over Galinda's shoulders, "She shouldn't treat you that way. I'm going to tutor you instead so you won't have any more mishaps in class."

"Can we go back to our room now?" Galinda asked as they walked out of the building.

"I have to go tutor Fiyero," Elphaba replied with a sigh. "You can come with me if you want."

"Where do you tutor him?" Galinda said dubiously.

Elphaba smiled, "The library. We both decided his room isn't the most appropriate place for us to work."

Galinda wrinkled her nose and said, "I think I'll just wait for you to get done, and we can all go to supper."

"Just don't get into any trouble," Elphaba told her with a wink as she headed down a different sidewalk. "I'll see you in a few hours."

"Have fun!" Galinda called after her before continuing onto her room.


"I read that book," Fiyero said as he put it in front of Elphaba and sat down at the table.

She looked up and smiled, "Good. Did you find out anything interesting?"

He shrugged, "The Ozmas ruled Oz from the first year it organized as a nation until the appearance of the Wizard and the subsequent regime change, during which the Ozma and her regent mysteriously disappeared. Also, an interesting fact I found was that the rule of Oz still passes by heredity, even under the Wizard, and the law hasn't been changed as of yet. I double-checked in a more recent book."

"Wow, I'm impressed," she teased. "But, thank you for doing that. Even though it's not new information, at least I have all my prior knowledge confirmed."

"Do you mean to tell me that the book had nothing to do with History?" he asked in disappointment.

"No," she said slowly as she thought for a moment. "We have an essay coming up that you can write about the Ozma. Anyway, do you have anything you need to work on?"

He rifled through his bag and produced a sheaf of papers, "I got my test from Life Sciences back, and I was hoping that we could fix my wrong answers."

"How many?" she asked as she took the papers from him.

"I think ten," he said flippantly. "It looks like these sessions do help, though I don't ever remember doing a lot of studying with you."

She shook her head, "I don't think that's my fault. I think it helps that you've been paying attention in class. Ten out of seventy-five questions is actually very good."

"Well, I didn't want to brag," he said smugly.

She ruffled his hair and said, "I wouldn't want for your ego to get any bigger. I guess what you can do is compare your answers with your notes and see if you can't figure out the right answers on your own. Then, I'll help you with the ones you still don't have an answer for."

"Can I use your notes?" he asked with a sly smile.

"Yes," she sighed, pulling out her notebook and tossing it to him.

He flipped through the notebook casually and asked, "Hey, why were you early? Normally, I'm left waiting on you until you get done with your sorcery class. Did Morrible not show up?"

"Actually, Galinda set her textbook on fire," Elphaba replied absentmindedly.

"What?" Fiyero said sharply.

"Oh, it was a magical fire," Elphaba said quickly. "Morrible ignored her in favor of instructing me, and she set it on fire by accident when she recited the spell Morrible assigned her. Then, we left."

"You left your lesson early?" he questioned.

She raised an eyebrow, "No. We left on time. Normally, we both preferred to stay late in order to get more instruction, but I wasn't going to let Morrible abuse Galinda when the accident was Morrible's fault."

"Oh," he said softly. "Is Galinda all right?"

"I think she is," she said with a smile. "I think she's probably doing her nails or something equally as important. Now, do you want to start on those answers?"

He made a face, "What do you think?"

Laughing, she put her books to one side and said, "Fine, we can just hang out, and you can borrow my notes as long as you give them back tomorrow."

He stuffed the papers and notebook into his bag and leaned back in his chair, "Has Morrible mentioned anything more about what's happening in the Emerald City?"

"No," she replied as she looked at him. "Have you heard anything new?"

"Just more Animals are finding themselves unemployed. Do you think Morrible and the Wizard are working on new laws?" he said, looking up at the ceiling.

She snorted in response and crossed her arms over her chest, "I wouldn't doubt it."

He got up and said, "Let's go for a walk."

"What?" she asked in surprise as he pulled her out of her chair.

"Well, it's not like we're studying, so there's no point of staying in the library," he said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Plus, it's a nice day. Come on, it'll be fun."

She groaned and grabbed her bag as he led her outside and into the crisp air. She shivered, and he pulled her a little closer, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

Smiling up at him, she said, "You were right, this is nice."

He grinned, "I love hearing you say that."

"What?" she asked innocently.

"That I'm right about something," he said, squeezing her shoulder briefly.

She wrapped her fingers around his hand on her shoulder and replied, "Well, since the moments when you are right are so few and far between…"

He growled and tickled her side as she squirmed away from him, and they tumbled to the ground in a heap of tangled limbs. Laughing, she rolled and pinned his arms to the ground as he struggled against her.

"Let me up," he said as she grinned down at him.

"You shouldn't tickle me if you can't deal with the consequences," she warned. He pouted, and she sighed as she released his arms and stood up, "Fine. Now, I'm a little cold."

"I'll buy you something hot to drink," he offered.

She smiled and started to walk off, "Let's go, then, pretty boy."

He hurried after her and grabbed her hand, murmuring into her ear, "You know it."

Blushing, she shook her head and allowed him to pull her a little closer.


Boq sighed and asked for the third time, "Nessa, please, just tell me what I did wrong. You've been mad at me for days now."

Nessa glowered at him and snapped, "Fine. I'll tell you what you did. You spread a rumor about my sister around the entire campus, using information I told you in confidence."

"I…Nessa, I would never, ever do something like that," he sputtered in shock. "Who told you something like that?"

"I didn't have to be told," she replied. "Elphaba was accosted by a group of students who knew everything that I had told you. I know I didn't tell them, and Elphaba certainly didn't, so it must have been you."

Boq closed his eyes as he tried to remember, and sighed, "I'm sorry, Nessa, I didn't mean for that to happen. I was talking with Pfanee, and she was telling me something about Galinda, and somehow, it all slipped out."

"Galinda?" Nessa asked sharply.

Boq's eyes widened as he realized what he had said and immediately started trying to backtrack, "No, it's not what you think, Nessa…"

"Oh, don't think I don't know about your little crush on Miss Galinda," Nessa spat out, her pretty features twisting in anger.

"You know?" Boq asked cautiously.

"You think I don't see you when you're staring at her?" Nessa yelled. "You drool when she walks past you, and it's disgusting! What is so fascinating about her, Boq? Please, tell me, I want to know."

"It's nothing," he replied as he stared at the ground. "I'm with you, Nessa, you're my girlfriend. What I did was a mistake, and I'm sorry. Galinda is just a beautiful girl, and I promise you, I'm not in love with her or anything ridiculous like that."

Nessa closed her eyes as she shook her head, "Somehow, I just don't think I believe you."

Boq faltered for a moment before crossing the room and taking her hands in his.

"I love you," he murmured, kissing her gently.

Nessa's eyes glimmered with tears as she smiled at him and whispered, "I love you, too, Boq."

"Forgive me?" he asked hopefully.

"Of course," she said as he kissed her hand. "I always will, Boq."

Grinning, Boq leaned back in and kissed her, ignoring the flutter of a guilty conscience somewhere deep in his stomach. He wasn't lying; he did love her, just maybe not as much as she would like for him to. However, he was with her, he had chosen to stay with her, and he wasn't going to break her heart over a woman he couldn't have.