Now that Elphaba had made friends with Galinda and Fiyero, she had also made friends with Boq, Crope and Tibbet. She and them, along with Nessa, would have great times together and they were becoming close. Although with Fiyero and Boq came Avaric, who she despised and loathed beyond the point of being civil. He constantly tormented her and was always making some remark about her in an effort to make her cry or show weakness, but she was not broken that easily.

It had been 2 months since the incident with Elphaba and her father (which everyone had seemed to forgotten, since the school was back to making fun of her, only a week after it'd happened. Elphaba figured that if the same thing had happened to Galinda, people would still be saying sorry to her and asking her if she was ok. But she wasn't Galinda, and she didn't mind all too much), the lion cub, becoming friends with everyone and now it was sort of charmed circle of friends. Well, maybe they weren't all friends, seeing as how Avaric and Elphaba hated each other so. Galinda and Fiyero were still dating, and Nessa and Boq had started a little while ago, when the subject of the ball had come up and Nessa needed a date. Avaric (being Avaric) knew he could find some girl to go with him and..., Crope and Tibbet were about a year younger than the girls, and two years younger than Fiyero and Avaric, so, they decided to go as friends. Elphaba (being Elphaba) decided not to go, she knew she wouldn't have a date, not that she wanted one, and she hated balls, she didn't think she was a very good dancer, then again, she didn't think she was very good at anything but studying.

As much as Elphaba liked her new circle of friends, she still valued her studying and time to be alone, that was where the library came in handy, seeing as she was the only brainy one in the bunch , except for maybe Boq.

Elphaba went to the library, her second favorite place to go. She usually liked going to the coffee shop to do her reading and drink coffee by the window, it was especially comfortable on cold days when she would order hot cocoa. People stared at her (as always), distracted by her skin color.

"What?" she snarled. When nobody answered, she shook her head and went to her favorite chair by the largest window and picked a book up from the pile she had made there the previous day. She began to read, and was quickly engrossed in the book.

It was mid afternoon now, and Elphaba had just started the book that day, and had 2 chapters left of the thousand page book. The librarian finally came over to her and stood before her. Elphaba, too into her book, didn't notice, nor did she notice that she was the only one left in the library. The librarian cleared her throat louder than necessary. Elphaba looked up and glared at her.

"The library's closed now, it's organizing and cleaning day." said the librarian, obviously annoyed.

"Oh, I wasn't informed, sorry." said Elphaba curtly, getting up and quickly stuffing papers into her bag, then she strode out of the library, book still in her face as she couldn't tear her eyes away from it, even as she walked. She suddenly ran right into someone.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Elphaba said quickly.

"That's alright, you're so small, I barely felt anything." said the boy in front of her. He was taller than her by at least half a head, looked about the same age as Fiyero (who was a year older than her) and he was very handsome. As handsome as Fiyero? No, but definitely not bad. Elphaba hadn't seen him on campus before, she wondered if he was new.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Elphaba, narrowing her eyes at his comment. She supposed that compared to him, she was a good deal shorter, she wondered how Galinda would look standing next to him, it made Elphaba smile a little.

"Nothing, it's just, you're small and delicate, I'd be more worried about you than me." said the boy. He looked at her now, noticing her green skin and it was surprisingly...beautiful. He had never seen anyone so beautiful than her. The way her hair, silky and smooth waved down her back, her lips, her eyes, her slender figure, the way her voice sounded, it was the most beautiful voice he'd ever heard...he stared at her.

"Um...okay." said Elphaba awkwardly, she quickly brushed past him. His staring was making her uncomfortable, reminding her of when Fiyero had stared at her those two months ago, and how he often did now.

"Wait!" he said.

"What?" asked Elphaba, not really wanting to hear what he had to say.

"What's your name?" he asked. Elphaba softened a little.

"Elphaba, and what may yours be?" she asked, being polite.

"Lucas." he said, smiling at her. She smiled back in an attempt to seem nice, then she strode away. Lucas stared after her, she was so beautiful and he was immediately under her spell.

The next day, Elphaba walked in to class, and unfortunately, the teacher had assigned seats. She groaned as she saw her seat was right next to filthy Avaric.

"Good morning artichoke!" said Avaric when she walked into class and was forced to sit by him.

"It was." she snapped back, digging a pencil out of her bag.

"You're not in a very good mood this morning are you?" asked Avaric, leaning towards her. Elphaba leaned back and scooted to the farthest corner of the seat.

"Not since I saw you." she said icily. Avaric draped an arm over her chair.

"I can't be all that bad, can I greenie?" he asked, enjoying himself.

"If you don't consider yourself 'bad', I believe we have very different opinions on what said term means." Elphaba glared at him as she looked to the front of the room.

Halfway through class, Elphaba noticed an empty seat next to her, and was about to take it when the doors flew open and a boy stumbled in.

"Sorry," he panted, "I couldn't find the building." he said. Elphaba recognized him from the day before, it was Lucas. Some of the girls giggled and gawked at him like they had before they realized Fiyero was dating Galinda, although sometimes some of the girls just wouldn't leave Fiyero alone. Elphaba rolled her eyes, girls were so stupid when they saw handsome boys.

"Oh, you must be our new student at Shiz, Lucas Cabral?" asked the professor.

"Yes sir." he said.

"Right, you're in the back," said the professor, "Next to Miss Elphaba." he said. Lucas nodded and headed back that way. Some of the girls shot Elphaba envious looks. She rolled her eyes again.

"She's the green one." added the professor. This caused Elphaba to look up at the ceiling with a look that said for-the-hundredth-time-already! Lucas just chuckled and smiled slightly as he sat down beside Elphaba. Fiyero turned to look at the newcomer, he didn't like the way he smiled at Elphaba, like...he was interested in her or something. Fiyero already didn't like the guy, but maybe it was just out of...was it jealousy?

"Hello." said Lucas pleasantly. Elphaba just nodded as she turned back to the board. Fiyero was pleased with Elphaba's obvious resistance to interact with the new boy. The rest of the class passed slowly for everyone, but to Elphaba, it seemed to go by much too fast, it was very fascinating...to her.

"So..." said Lucas, trying to think of a way to talk to Elphaba, "Where are you from?"

She turned to glare at him, "Do you think because I'm green I come from some foreign universe?" she snapped, taking his question the wrong way.

"No, no!" Lucas said immediately, he realized it would be harder to talk to her than he'd counted on, usually he and girls were easy to talk to, "I was just wondering."

"Well don't." she said, turning back to the board.

"The artichoke is steamed!" cried Avaric. The class laughed, except for Elphaba, her charmed circle of friends (not including Avaric, obviously) and to her surprise, Lucas.

"Oh just shut up you over-sized three year old," Elphaba snapped, "You've already used that one."

"I have?" he asked, "Well then how about, the broccoli is cooked?" the class laughed again. Elphaba rolled her eyes and ignored him and the class. Lucas glared at Avaric, as did Fiyero.

When class ended, Elphaba's mood had already dropped dramatically.

"So, Elphaba, that was the last class of the day." said Fiyero, walking over to her.

"Yes, it was, good job Fiyero." said Elphaba sarcastically. Fiyero smiled, "How about we get the gang together and go to the coffee shop?" Elphaba smiled at him and Fiyero smiled back, he loved it when she smiled. Meanwhile, Lucas watched the pair, seething at the one called Fiyero. Then he saw a bubbly blonde come up and take Fiyero's arm and kiss him. This immediately lifted Lucas's thoughts, but he still had a feeling about this Fiyero character. The way he looked at her just wasn't right.

"Um, ask me in about an hour, I've got studying to do." said Elphaba.

"You can study with us." said Fiyero hopefully.

"Oddly, enough, you aren't the most concentrated group of people when it comes to studying." Elphaba laughed the sound made Fiyero smile. She touched his arm reassuringly, "But in an hour, I'll meet you there." Fiyero's heart skipped a beat as she touched his arm, it seemed she had no idea the effects she had on him! Lucas watched Elphaba's subtle movement, while glaring at Fiyero. He noticed Fiyero smile at her and the look on his face when Elphaba smiled back and touched his arm.

"Alright...I'll see you in a hour." said Fiyero smiling, "And don't be late." he warned sarcastically, knowing how punctual Elphaba always was. She smiled and then exited through the double doors. Lucas stared after her, and then went up to Fiyero.

"You know her?" he asked. Fiyero looked at him, they were about the same height, Fiyero being about ΒΌ of an inch taller. Fiyero liked that.

"Sure, what's it to you?" asked Fiyero, crossing his arms, he didn't like this guy, and now he was asking him about Elphaba.

"Oh, I just thought she was interesting, that's all." said Lucas, "Do you know where she went?"

"Probably the library." said Fiyero, mentally kicking himself for telling the truth.

"Thanks." he said, and walked towards the library. Suddenly Galinda appeared at Fiyero's arm. Fiyero was still glaring at Lucas's retreating form.

"I absolutely loathe that guy." said Fiyero, eyes narrowed.

"Why?" asked Galinda, "He seemed pretty nice to me, and he was rather friendly to Elphaba."

"Yeah, that's why I don't like him." Fiyero murmured, soft enough for Galinda not to hear.