It took about half an hour to unearth all of Fiyero's neglected textbooks; Boq found two under the bed, while Fiyero was able to dig one up from under a pile of dirty laundry that had been accumulating in the far corner of the room, and yet another tightly wedged in the opening of a window. As luck would have it, his schedule- sloppily folded and unevenly creased- was tucked within the first page of his history textbook.

"I didn't even know I took liberal arts," Fiyero muttered, cocking an eyebrow at the unkempt sheet of paper. Boq rolled his eyes.

"Never mind that. Look," he said, pointing at the top of the page. "You and I have the same class right now." Boq furrowed his brow. "Come to think of it, I do recall seeing you there… once." Fiyero chuckled.

"Well, at least I took a swing at it before deciding I didn't like it," he replied, absorbing the rest of his schedule.

"It's a basic physics class," Boq commented. "It's not all that hard. What didn't you like about it?"

"The fact that it started at seven in the morning," Fiyero remarked without missing a beat. "What time is it now, anyway?" Boq's eyes drifted over to the miniature clock perched on the desk. In the face was a beige silhouette of the Time Dragon thrown against a pale, white background. The night-black hands grazed over the similarly shaded digits of "6" and "11". Six fifty-five.

"Time to go," Boq replied before swiping his own books from off of his desk and hastily running out the door. Fiyero casually strode after him.

They were only about two minutes late; they made their way into the room inconspicuously with a cohort of stragglers who were trudging in with all the eagerness and life of a mortician. Galinda apparently had the class as well; Fiyero could immediately tell it was her by the bouncing, golden curls and the familiar faces of her god-awful friends surrounding her. And by the way Boq's head immediately snapped in that direction when they walked through the doors. He bit his bottom lip, an expression of longing spreading over his face.

"Okay," Fiyero addressed him, raising his voice slightly to snap him out of his lovesick-schoolboy state. Boq jumped. "You go sit wherever you usually do. I'm going to get a little closer to the professor. We'll meet up again… what was it? Two classes from now?" Boq nodded. In a few hours they had history together with Dr. Nikidik. And Galinda, Boq thought. He had yet to figure out whether having both Fiyero and Galinda in the same class was a good thing- for the reasons that Fiyero could help him out at close range- or a very, very bad thing- with Fiyero in the vicinity, Galinda wouldn't even acknowledge his existence. He sighed. I guess I'll just have to wait and see how this plays out, he decided.

Boq strode over to his seat, which was, much to Fiyero's surprise, nowhere near Galinda. They were separated by at least three rows of people horizontally as well as the aisle that divided the seating in two. Boq was slumped over in his seat; all the confidence that had built up in him just an hour ago had vanished without a trace in the presence of Fiyero's girlfriend. Poor sap, the Winkie shook his head, empathetically. He glanced at his girlfriend sitting on the other side of the room. She just needs a little push in his direction, Fiyero smirked, his mind beginning to formulate a plan. He took a seat two rows behind her, diagonal from one of her friends. That could've been considered fairly risky, considering the last thing he wanted to do was get found out by Galinda. (If that were the case, she'd never let him pay attention. Plus, it's be a huge set-back for his efforts for Boq.) However, no one was expecting to see him here, so it was a pretty safe guess that they wouldn't register him sitting just out of their line of vision.

As the class began, Fiyero acted on the idea that sprung into his mind. Tearing out a spiral sheet of notebook paper, he jotted down a simple, one-line note and folded into a square.

"Excuse me," he whispered hoarsely, placing it on Galinda's friend's desk. "Do you mind passing this to Boq for me?" She didn't even glance his way.

"Whatever," she muttered, turning to pass it on. Catching a glimpse of the Munchkin two rows away, she faltered.

And now just sit back and watch the domino effect, Fiyero smirked and leaned back in his chair. The girl- Pfanee was her name?- quickly passed the note down and swiveled around in her chair, excitedly tapping the girl in front of her on the shoulder. If Fiyero recalled correctly, that was Milla.

"Shen Shen!" Pfanee called under her breath. Ah, well. I was never good at guessing games, Fiyero shrugged. Shen Shen turned around, a meticulously plucked eyebrow raised in questioning. Pfanee flashed her a suggestive smile and gestured in Boq's direction.

"What in the name of Oz?" Shen Shen's painted red lips parted in surprise. "Is that… Biq?"

"Boq, actually," Pfanee corrected, as-a-matter-of-factly, as if she hadn't just learned his name just a moment ago, herself. Shen Shen flashed her a bewildered look, before jerking forward and practically slapping Galinda over the head.

Watch the last domino teeter.

Galinda turned around and shot her friend a repressed scowl."Oh, don't you give me that," Shen Shen giggled. Her voice acquired a teasing tone. "Look. I think someone's trying to impress you."

Galinda's head turned, and, just as the other two girls had done, her eyebrows shot up her forehead and her mouth stood agape.

And fall.

Boq figured that Fiyero would be passed out as soon as the lecture started, therefore it was up to him to pay attention for the both of them. He had been scribbling down notes in his horrid, chicken-scratch handwriting when a small square of paper plopped down in the middle of his desk. For a moment, he assumed one of the guys behind him was just making a game out of throwing whatever was at hand at him- it wouldn't be the first time this had been the case- and he nearly swept the note to the floor before realizing it was different than the usual ammunition. Instead of being carelessly wadded, it was folded neatly- or, at least, someone had made an attempt to folded it neatly. One of the creases was on a slight slant, just as Fiyero's schedule had been. And that was the sign for Boq to unfold it.

"Don't look now, Lover Boy. Galinda is staring right at you."

Of course, Boq's head turned without pause. Sure enough, the blonde and all of her companions were eying him. A little chorus of giggles erupted from her cohort of friends upon his recognition. Galinda turned, shushing them, but smiling light-heartedly herself. Boq stared at them. Were they mocking him?

Galinda's gaze slid back over to him, her eyes narrowed. A small smile flickered over her full pink lips.

And she waved at him.

A little twitch of two of her fingers in his direction. It could just have easily been a sudden muscle spasm being as minute as it was, but Boq decided to accept it as otherwise. His heart skipped a beat. No, that was an understatement. His heart was fluttering within the confines of his chest. Using a ridiculous amount of self-control, he forced himself to retaliate with all the nonchalance Fiyero might've used. Grinning at her- but not too widely!-, he offered a little flick of the wrist back. She accepted this acknowledgement and faced her body forward once more, her gaze lingering on him for a second longer before following.

She had waved at him.

She had made eye contact.

She had acknowledged him.

Boq beamed. It wasn't requited love but it was a start.

Fiyero couldn't help but feel proud; that massive smile on the Munchkin's face was his doing, after all. He ripped out a second piece of notebook paper and jotted down another note.

"Wow, Boq! A wave! Looks like you're really moving up in the world. Here's a tip, though; stop glancing over at her every five seconds. Playing hard-to-get will get you much farther much faster."

He folded it, unable to avoid that uneven little slant in his crease, and passed it along through a different chain of people. He didn't want to push his luck in being surreptitious.

The note plopped on Boq's desk, who promptly read it, and reacted as quickly as he did to the last one, training his eyes forward. Of course, only a few seconds drifted by before his vacant, dreamy gaze was fixated on Galinda once more. Fiyero passed another note.

"I'm not kidding. It's not going to bide well if she catches you with that lovesick, little grin plastered on your face. Stop."

Boq didn't even bother to read this one; he just pushed it to the side of his desk and retained his smitten stare. Fiyero, genuinely annoyed now, scribbled down and passed along yet another warning note.

"Listen, Lover Boy. I'm a clock-tick away from coming over there and holding your head in place myself."

It wasn't long before a perfectly folded square plopped itself right smack in the middle of his desk. Not expecting a response, Fiyero curiously unfolded it and, after a couple seconds of deciphering, was able to make out a message in Boq's near-illegible script.

"Shouldn't you be paying attention to the professor?
-Lover Boy"

Fiyero threw Boq a side-glance and saw that his roommate was smirking at him condescendingly. Fiyero couldn't help but return a grin. They held eye contact for a moment before Boq's bemused gaze slipped away towards the professor.

Eventually, Fiyero's did the same.