Elphaba was surprised to find Nessarose in her next class. "Nessa!" she exclaimed. "How come you're in this class?"

"It has advanced Year 11s in this class, too." Nessa explained. "I guess I have you to thank, for looking up everything about this world. It's pretty much the furthest thing from Oz I can imagine, but your reading up on this

world helped me get into this class."

Some of the kids at the back glanced up at the new arrival. Elphaba chose a seat near a red-haired girl, who looked up and smiled shyly. "Hi." she said. "You're new to this school, right?"

Elphaba gave a nod. "My name's Elphaba."

"I'm Addison, but everyone calls me Addi." the redhead told her. "Um." She looked a little shy. "I like your...uh..." Elphaba noticed she was staring at her skin.

"Are you talking about my being green?" she asked quickly. Addi nodded gratefully.

"It's cool." she said.

Elphaba smiled a little. "The only other person who's ever said anything nice about my skin is my best friend, and even she was offensive about it at first."

Fiyero followed Anna Lee to Economics class. There were two free seats next to another girl, so they chose those. "Hey, Sam." Anna Lee greeted her, choosing a seat near her.

Samantha looked up. "Hi, Anna Lee..." Her eyes widened as she saw Fiyero. Finally, she regained control over herself and said "Hi. New, right? What's your name?"

"Fiyero." Fiyero answered carelessly, flopping into the seat in between Anna Lee and Samantha.

"Um." Samantha said shyly. "You're the third person I've met today that's new." she observed.

"Oh?" said Fiyero. "Four others from my old school came here too."

Samantha smiled. "A blonde girl and a girl with dark hair?"

"Galinda and Elphaba, did you mean?"

Samantha nodded, trying to pretend she wasn't at all affected by Fiyero's cuteness. "So, Fiyero. How come you chose this class? It's so boring, most of the time."

"I don't really bother with school." Fiyero said carelessly. "Why should I have to, with my background? I'm only taking Economics because my parents think I should."

"Boy, do I know what that's like!" Anna Lee said. "My parents said I have to take English next year even though I don't want to."

Boq was nervous in Geography. He was sitting next to a girl who was small for sixteen, with dark hair. She was pretty, not like Galinda, but still. She looked so shy Boq was able to talk to her. "Hi." he said.

The girl looked up in shock, then smiled shyly. "Hi. Are you new?"

"Yes. My name's Boq."

"I'm Heather. By the way, if you need any help, you can ask me."

"Thanks, Heather."

By the end of the lesson, Boq and Heather were getting to know each other quite well. Both felt more at ease with each other than they initially had.

Nessarose was outside, quite near to the classroom. She waved to Boq.

"Who's that?" Heather asked.

"Nessarose, everyone calls her Nessa, though." Boq answered. "She's a...friend..."

Heather, feeling less shy, smiled. "A friend, huh? Are you sure about that? Introduce me, anyway."

Galinda enjoyed Art. Although it was orientation, she talked to a freckled boy called Bodhi for a bit, who seemed quite nice. She looked forward to later sessions. "Are there any girls in the art class that are here today?" she sighed, looking around at the room which only had boys at the time.

At interval, the five new students were making friends. Addi and Elphaba still talked quite a bit. Samantha caught up with Galinda and asked her about Fiyero. Boq introduced Nessa to Heather and Twilla came over to hang with Nessa. Fiyero started talking to some of the boys. Even a younger boy came over. "Heard the new kids all went to the same school." he said. "Hey. Did you know the green girl?"

"And you are?"

"I'm Lucas, and I don't know yours." the boy answered, carelessly.

"Fiyero." the other boy answered. "What did you say it was? Lucy? Thought that was a girls name."

Lucas laughed at him, not taking offense. "Whatever."