Veronica nearly bounced up to the table at lunch, "hello everyone!"

Everyone gave their greetings in between bites. Vee sat their impatiently tapping her fingers on the table. Much couldn't help the smile that spread across his face, "is there something that you would like to tell us?"

"Drama Club is putting on Wicked," Veronica squealed excitedly. When no one else seemed overly excited she decided to elaborate, "Tony award winning Broadway Musical."

She received a chorus of, "oh yeah," and, "right." Just then Mira walked up, "oh my God! Vee I love you. How did you talk Ms. Phillips into Wicked!?"

Veronica beamed, "well it is not quite set in stone." She turned and looked at Marian.

Marian put her fork down as she noticed everyone's eyes rest on her, "what? Is there something between my teeth?"

"Well Marian, I have a little dilemma, and I was hoping that you might be able to facilitate my little dream. Wicked requires two lead female roles. We already know that Megan will get one of them," Veronica's voice was dripping with disdain.

Mira shuddered, "oh I can't stand that girl!"

Vee nodded in agreement. Megan walked around like she was queen of the world and everyone should bow before her. She had been so angry when Veronica and Mira made President and Vice President of Drama Club. "Anyways, I think you would be a shoe in for one of the roles. You have a great voice, and you said yourself you have been professionally trained."

"It sounds like a lot of fun Vee, really, but I have so much on my plate as it is," Marian said nicely.

"Marian, please? Ms. Phillips said we could only do it if I found the talent to pull it off," she pleaded.

"I think it would be great," Robin agreed. He squeezed her hand gently under the table, "you have an amazing voice."

Everyone nodded their agreement. Mira and Vee knelt down next to her, "please." They were literally groveling at her feet begging her.

She laughed at them and tried to pull them to their feet, "alright, alright, I'll audition."

Allan laughed at his girlfriend as he pulled her into his arms. "You never beg me like that," he pretended to pout.

"Well maybe if you had something I really wanted I would," Mira teased.

"Oh I think I have something you want," he gave her a cheeky grin before bending down to kiss her.

Guy overheard his sister's excited cries from his table. Maybe he had a second chance with Marian after all. He could audition as well. Then they would see each other at every rehearsal.

Art class was almost over, Will thought to himself as he sighed. He began putting up his charcoals as he inspected his work. Sitting before him was an intricate landscape, a beautiful portrait of a forest so magnificent that it seemed almost mythical. Will had never actually seen this location, but for most of his life he had dreamed of this place. This magical forest, untouched by time and man, was his sanctuary.

"This is so beautiful, Will," Mrs. Ness said in her soft voice. Her fingers delicately reached out and touched the paper as if she were afraid it would disappear, "you have a true talent, and I really hope you chose to develop it. My suggestion; do something out of your comfort zone. It is only when we embrace our fears, insecurities, and the unknown that we truly grow."

Will thought hard about what she was saying, "I'm not sure I know how."

"Oh there are any number of ways," she smiled. "You draw such beautiful things, and I don't want you to think that is bad by any means. Try to draw something ugly; show the beauty in sadness. You could draw poverty, illness, death. Or, and please don't take this the wrong way, you could try your hand at the human form. I've noticed you are a very shy young man. You'd be working out of your comfort area, and I bet you would be amazed by your results."

Will blushed at the suggestion. Sure he had thought about drawing a nude portrait, he was a teenager after all, but there was no way he could bring himself to do it. He'd need either a picture or a model to work from, and both had their own agonizingly embarrassing problems. Maybe he would just try her first suggestion: find beauty in the ugly. "Thank you Mrs. Ness."

He quickly ran down the hall to Chemistry.

Marian was lacing up her cleats when Saffiyah came running into the locker room. Marian smiled at her, "so you and Will didn't get stuck in another closet did you?"

Saffiyah blushed a deep crimson, "no. I stayed over in Chemistry to ask the teacher something."

Marian brushed her hair into a pony tail, "so are you two dating now?"

"I think so," she said as she pulled her shorts up.

Marian rose an eyebrow, "you think so. Well from where I was standing it certainly looked like you are."

"You have a lot of room to talk. What was up with you and Robin at lunch? I saw the way he squeezed your hand, 'Marian you have such a beautiful voice. You should go for it.' When did you two start acting so chummy," Saffiyah asked with a cheeky grin.

Marian threw a shin guard at the other girl, "nothing is going on between us."

"Oh yeah, that's not what Vee said," she pulled her shin guard up her calf.

It was Marian's turn to blush, "oh my God she saw him climb in my window!?"

"What!?" Saffiyah's eyes were huge with shock, "no, she told me about the movies and about how Robin was so worried about you and came running to your side. Wait, he was in your bedroom?"

Marian couldn't believe she had let that slip. She should have found out what the other girl new before she opened her big mouth, "please don't tell anyone."

She shrugged, "I won't, but how do you know the boys don't know already?"

"They don't," she said confidently. "They can't."

"Well, come on I need details," she prodded Marian.

"Where to start," she sighed. "Robin called me after the movies to check on me. We ended up having the most amazing conversation. I've known Robin for a long time now, and I have never seen him act like anything other than a chauvinistic jerk. Anyways, before I knew it he was standing at my window." She smiled softly at the memory, "he wanted to see for himself that I wasn't hurt, and somehow we ended up kissing." She paused when Saffiyah squealed, "it was nothing like you and Will; you two can't keep your hands off each other. It was really sweet and perfect." She shrugged and tried to act like she hadn't made a complete fool of herself, "then he left. Like I said, nothing."

"That doesn't sound like nothing," Saffiyah said as they walked out to meet the boys.

Coach decided to have them scrimmage a bit. Instead of breaking them into two separate, smaller teams he just had them play offensive players against defensive. No one believed it possible, but somehow Marian and Robin were even more competitive than usual. Robin would have three or four people on him and instead of passing it to Marian he would try to take it to the net and fail. Marian wasn't much better. She refused to accept Robin's help, and at one point ran the ball in the wrong direction for a good twenty yards trying to get around him.

All of this amused the others but was really starting to piss the coach off. He whistled loudly causing everyone to stop what they were doing, "Fitzwalter, Locksley over here the rest of you continue."

Marian wiped the sweat from her brow and sprinted up to the coach, "you needed me?"

"No, I needed both of you," his fingers were rubbing his temples. "You two are great players, but if you keep this up this team is going to fail." He could tell by their expressions that they didn't understand, "you two need to learn to work together." He thought hard for a moment, "and I know exactly how you are going to learn. Stay put."

Marian sat down and began twirling blades of grass between her fingers. Robin sat next to her, "hey so check you out trying to be a superstar."

"Excuse me," she glared at him, "you were the ball hog."

"What? You were the one mucking everything up. If you would have just passed me the ball we would have scored," he said pointing at her.

She swatted his hand away, "I had a shot."

"That's enough," the coach's gruff voice yelled out. "You two will learn to be a team, to work as one!" He grabbed Marian's ankle and pulled it towards Robin quickly tying them together, "you will spend the rest of this practice and every practice after that together until you learn to be team. Now get out there with the others."

Everyone had stopped what they were doing. They nearly died laughing when they saw Robin and Marian stand up. They didn't take two steps before Robin fell over pulling Marian on top of him. She glared down at him, "did you do that on purpose?"

"You give me far too much credit," he gave her a cheeky smile, "not that I don't like this position."

She pushed herself up and tried to stand only to fall again, "well come on Robin we aren't getting anything done on the ground."

Alan leaned over to John, "if they don't end up killing each other this will be the funniest thing that I have seen in months."

After falling down several times Robin and Marian figured out a steady pace, carefully kicking off with the correct foot, and in fifteen minutes they were laughing at each other. They couldn't run fast enough to do any good with the ball, and kicking just looked ridiculous when you were tied together, but they were enjoying themselves. The whistled was blown again, "push ups."

They all dropped to the ground. Marian and Robin had to spread their legs in order to do their push ups without elbowing the other person in the face. Marian's arms were aching, her chest burned as she felt the muscles stretch and strain, as she fought to keep up with Robin. It was statistically proven that men had more upper body strength then women, but she didn't want him to think he was tougher than her. Robin was having his own difficulties as well. His arms felt fine but his inner thighs burned thanks to this unusual position. He glanced over at Marian, her cute red face, her pony tail falling down her shoulder, her breasts brushing against the grass momentarily before she lifted herself back up. Crap he turned his head away from her quickly, but it was too late. His body was already reacting making push ups that much more uncomfortable. He tried to clear his mind, homework, tests, cold showers, mom. He focused his thoughts on his mother. Yep, that did it.

The whistle blew again, "sit ups."

Marian let herself lay on the grass for a bit, her poor aching arms shaking, before she and Robin adjusted a bit in order to do there sit ups. This was much better. She had strong abs and could do sit ups all day. Putting her hands behind her head she brought herself up to her knees and then back down to the ground her elbow connecting with Robin's nose, "oh God, I'm sorry."

"It's okay," he said as he held his nose, "no blood, you didn't break anything." He turned to her and smiled, "maybe you should cross your arms over you chest instead."

They all stopped as the whistle blew, "running in place. I want your knees in the clouds."

Robin looked at Marian and groaned. This was not going to be fun. He was a good four inches taller than her. Marian started with her right as Robin kicked up his left. She began counting out loud to keep them in time. To his astonishment Marian had very little difficulty with the exercise. Sure Marian was shorter than he was, but she was all legs. He felt her jump up slightly, but she was able to keep up with him. He couldn't help but look at her again. She was so beautiful and so close to him. Even though this practice had been awkward it was the high point of his day. He loved being so close to her, and the nature of their situation allowed him to stare at her freely. His eyes again drifted to her chest, as her breast bounced slightly with each move. Not again, he groaned, mom, chores, doctor's appointments, food poisoning, bad Steven Segal movies, kissing Marian, ice cold showers, hospitals, grandma. He really had to stop looking at her. It wasn't so bad when he was in jeans, but loose soccer shorts would not hide his excitement in the slightest.

When they were finished they sat next to each other in the grass trying to catch their breath and let their muscles rest. Robin couldn't believe his luck when Marian rested her head on his shoulder. He very carefully put an arm around her causing her to giggle at his shyness, "so maybe Coach has a point. We are both amazing players, but we'd be unstoppable if we worked together."

"I'm willing to give it a try if you are," he smiled and hugged her tighter.

Veronica decided to stay after school and work on sets alone. Since the night at the movies she had no desire to be near her brother. She silently wondered to herself if everyone had the same type of problems with their siblings. She and Guy had been so close, but as he pointed out that was a long time ago. She moved over and turned on a CD of the Wicked sound track and started humming along as she painted a backdrop for the Emerald City.

Much had been worried about her lately. Everyone else might fall for her chipper act, but he knew something was bothering her. He went by her house after class to find that she wasn't there. Marian just smiled softly and told him to look in the drama department. He found the spunky girl with spiky brown hair in a pair of old jean shorts and last years high school band tee shirt. She had specks of paint from head to toe. He couldn't help but smile at the little bits of green on her cheek. Now that he found her he wasn't really sure what to do. He stood there nervously debating whether he should leave or walk into the room.

Vee was bouncing to the music, getting more paint on herself than the backdrop, but who cared. One of her favorite songs came on and she began singing along,

"Whenever I see someone less fortunate than I,
And let's face it, who is it less fortunate than I?
My tender heart tends to tends to start to bleed.
And when someone needs a makeover,
I simply have to take over!
I know, I know exactly what they need!

And even in your case,
Though it's the toughest case I've yet to face,
Don't worry, I'm determined to succeed!
Follow my lead,
And yes indeed, you will be..."

Much smiled as he watched her bounce and dance around the room. She had the cutest hand motions and facial expressions. When she sang she didn't just say the words and hit the notes, she put feeling and personality behind them. He tiptoed over to a piano in the room and shuffled through the sheet music there until he found what he was looking for.

Veronica started using her paint brush like a microphone as she spun around the room,
"POPULAR!
You're gonna be popular!
I'll teach you the proper ploys,
When you talk to boys,
Little ways to flirt and flounce.
Ooh!
I'll show you what shoes to wear!
How to fix your hair!

Everything that really counts to be..."

Vee froze when piano music began to fill the air, her precious paint brush/microphone fell to the floor. Her eyes were wide and her mouth hung open in shock. She tried to speak several times but couldn't seem to form words. Finally she took a deep breath, "I was just… you see… the CD… you shouldn't be here. School is out and you aren't even in drama."

Much felt terrible for embarrassing her. She played her clarinet in front of him all the time, she had solos at concerts, and was a member of drama club. Who knew she'd be mortified if someone heard her sing? "I'm sorry," he looked down at his feet. "I was worried about you. I just wanted to make sure you were alright."

He was really sweet, but that did nothing to help her humiliation, "I'm fine. You can go, and never tell anyone about this."

What would Robin do, he asked himself knowing all too well the answer. Robin would have some smooth line. "Well," he tried to sound Robin-like, "as long as it is our secret you could finish the song."

Her blush deepened, "no, as tempting as it is to acquiesce I'm going to have to decline," she picked up her paint brush and tried to create the world of Oz. She turned back and saw Much's sad face, "I'm sorry. It is not my intention to hurt your feelings. It is just that I'm awful, really, I don't sing in front of anyone. I'm terrible."

He shrugged, "well I'm not exactly a concert pianist. No one is perfect."

"Yes you are," she exclaimed too quickly. "I mean you are a great pianist. You told me that you've had lessons since you were six."

"So pretend I'm not here," he offered sweetly.

Yeah right, how was she supposed to act like he wasn't standing right next to her? He started playing where she had left off. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath,
"I'll help you be popular!
You'll hang with the right cohorts,
You'll be good at sports,
Know the slang you've got to know.
So let's start,
'Cause you've got an awfully long way to go!

Don't be offended by my frank analysis,
Think of it as personality dialysis,
Now that I've chosen to become a
Pal, a sister and advisor,
There's nobody wiser!
Not when it comes to...
POPULAR!

I know about popular.
And with an assist from me,
To be who you'll be,
Instead of dreary who you were...
Well, are.
There's nothing that can stop you,
From becoming popu-ler... lar...
la la, la la!
We're gonna make you pop-u-lar!"

Marian decided to check up on her friends. Vee had been a bit distant lately and Much wasn't the only one who was concerned. She was rounding the corner to the drama room when she heard someone belt out,
"When I see depressing creatures,
With unprepossessing features,
I remind them on their own behalf to think of,
Celebrated heads of state or especially great communicators.
Did they have brains or knowledge?
Don't make me laugh!"

As Marian peered in the room she saw Much playing the piano with Veronica next to him squeezing her eyes shut with her back to him. She was shocked. Vee had never told her that she could sing. Marian had assumed that it was Megan practicing for her audition.

"They were POPULAR!
Please!
It's all about popular.
It's not about aptitude.
It's the way you're viewed.
So it's very shrewd to be,
Very very popular like me!

And though you protest,
You're disinterest,
I know clandestinely,
You're gonna grin and bear it!
Your new found popularity!
You'll be popular!
Just not quite as popular as me!"

Marian was applauding as she stepped inside. Veronica again found herself in a humiliating position, "oh God!"

"So Vee, what are you getting at," Marian asked her with a smirk.

"What," she looked confused, "I don't know what you mean."

Marian laughed at her nervousness, "you told me I hadto audition because you didn't have enough girls that could sing. Yet here you are belting out show tunes." She arched an eyebrow, "are you trying to beat me out of a lead role."

"No," a scared expression on her face, "Marian I promise. I'm not even auditioning. I was just painting, and it is such a fun song, and then Much, and he was so sweet, and he started playing, and then you, but I promise it isn't like that," she stuttered.

"Oh yes it is," Marian smiled. She had no idea Vee could turn so red, "because I won't audition unless you do."

Much jumped up as Veronica collapsed on the floor. Her head was spinning. How did this happen, she thought to herself? She couldn't audition for the school musical, it would be humiliating, but if Marian didn't try for the role of Elphaba then there would be no musical at all.