It wasn't until one o'clock that Elphaba opened her eyes. She groaned at the thought of what was to come that day. She had no idea what to expect from the evening's dinner party. Fiyero had invited her; she was fine with that, but she did not know what kind of people she would be meeting. Who would she talk to? What would she talk about? Surely she couldn't hang on Fiyero's side the whole evening. Her stomach lurched at this thought, and nervousness set in.

"What am I thinking?" She said as she placed her head in her hands, "I should've said no." There was no way she could go with Fiyero. Sure, they were friends, and they had gone to dinner a couple of times, but being invited to a party... Being the date?

'It's not a date.' Her mind suddenly argued, 'It's just two friends having dinner with a group of people. That's it; the end!'

She was somewhat comforted by this notion, but then she thought of Glinda. How would she react to the situation? Though they were best friends, Elphaba had a sneaking suspicion that Glinda would not approve of Fiyero taking Elphaba to a party.

Elphaba walked over to her wardrobe and brought out the dress that she had purchased the day before: an ankle length, black halter evening gown. She hadn't planned on buying a dress. She remembered the note that Glinda had left for her. She had given Elphaba permission to use anything that she had left behind: Glinda had left many different dresses, shoes, jewelry, and make up. Elphaba had never planned on borrowing anything; she had no use for anything that Glinda owned.

When Fiyero invited her to the dinner party, Elphaba had at first thought that she would wear one of her nicer frocks, but then she thought that she owed it to Fiyero to at least try to dress nice. She then thought that she could rummage through Glinda's wardrobe for a dress, but after a day of contemplation, she realized that she would not feel right in one of her dresses. It was bad enough that she was going to a party with Fiyero; wouldn't it be far worse if she dressed in one of his girlfriend's dresses?

Elphaba sighed as she hung the dress back on the out side of her wardrobe. She then headed out of Crage Hall for the commons, where she picked up a sandwich for lunch.

At six-fifteen that evening, Elphaba stood in front of the full length mirror. Her hair had come out better then expected; she had washed it and let it sit in curlers until her hair dried. She then brushed out her hair, bringing volume and fullness to her dark tresses. Since it seemed to be a day for branching out, Elphaba thought it couldn't hurt to try and wear a little bit of make up. She sat at Glinda's vanity and brought out a black eyeliner pencil. She carefully traced her lower lids, surprised at how easy she found it. She then added a touch of mascara to her long lashes, and applied to her lips, the vanilla lip gloss that Glinda had given her.

She now looked over her appearance in the mirror, not too sure of how to feel about herself. Elphaba had never been able to look past the color of her skin, thus, she did not think that the girl she now saw in the mirror, was at all beautiful... But she thought that if she were, perhaps, a normal color, she would be starring beauty in its face. Elphaba's focus was suddenly broken by a knock that came from her door.

She approached the door slowly and reached out for the handle. She closed her eyes, took in a deep breath, and let out a sigh as she turned the handle.

There stood Fiyero, eyes averted to the ground, dressed in his black evening attire. Elphaba turned quickly before he could look at her, and locked the door behind her. She turned slowly to find Fiyero's eyes looking at her adoringly, a smile plastered across his face,

"Wow," He said bewildered. Elphaba looked down to her feet as she blushed; she reached up to brush a strand of hair behind her ear, "No." Fiyero said softly as he reached up and stopped Elphaba's hand from moving her hair. He took her chin between his thumb and first finger and lifted her face up to meet his eyes, "You've got to be the most enchanting girl I've ever had the pleasure of escorting."

She blushed again and smiled slightly as Fiyero removed his hand, "Fiyero, you-"

But he stopped her again by placing a finger at her lips, "No." He said again, "No sarcastic come backs." He removed his finger, smiled, and extended his arm towards her, "Are you ready?"

Elphaba took his arm and they made there way out of Crage Hall and in to the awaiting carriage.

Fifteen minutes later, they arrived at the Ozdust.

"The party is at the Ozdust?" Elphaba asked

"Sort of." Fiyero replied as he stepped out and reached out his hand to help Elphaba out of the carriage, "Edmond and Gibson rented one of the private rooms on the second floor."

Elphaba stepped out of the carriage and Fiyero laced their arms together, "You nervous?"

"A little." Elphaba said shakily, "I don't know anyone, and I'm not usually good around people I don't know."

Fiyero smiled and stopped her just before they walked inside, "Would like the good news or the bad news first?"

Elphaba's brow furrowed, "What?"

"I wasn't going to say anything, but since you're nervous... The two guys that are throwing the party... They are really eager to meet you... That's the good news. The bad new is I'm sure they are going to be pawing all over you, asking your different opinions on social issues, etc. So instead of actually partying, you will most likely be in a somewhat intelligent discussion all evening."

Elphaba smiled, "You're serious?"

Fiyero nodded, "Come on, I'll introduce you to everyone... And don't worry, they're gonna love you... Just be yourself."

And with that, they entered the Ozdust and made their way to the dinning hall.

It was a small party, along with Gibson and Edmond, there was ten other boys that Elphaba recognized for campus. They approached the group and Elphaba's nerves set in again.

The group of boys was engaged in a heated discussion, all of them standing around the bar, each with a glass in their hands.

It was Edmond who broke out of the conversation, dropping his glass of champagne as his eyes immediately fell on Elphaba. "Tiggular, you've arrived!"

The entire group turned quickly and Elphaba never felt more scared in her life.

"Everyone," Fiyero said with a smile, "This is Elphaba."

Each boy looked on astounded. Edmond approached her first and took her hand in his and shook it forcefully, "Thank you so much for coming. We've all been looking forward to meeting you.. I'm Edmond."

Elphaba nodded slightly with a smile, unsure just how to respond.

"And I'm Gibson." He pushed Edmond out of the way as he took Elphaba's hand and shook it, "Can I get you something to drink? What would you like? Wine? Champaign? Or there's-"

"Christ, Gibson, give the lady room to breath!" Yelled one of the shorter boys who Elphaba knew to be named Thomas.

Gibson blushed and made a motion of apology, "Uh sorry."

"I'll get you champagne," Fiyero said as he left her side, and allowed the rest of the boys to introduce themselves.