Happy New Year! Sorry it's been a while since I updated; there was a bit of a crisis with the app. I updated the app, but then it stopped working on my iPad, so I had to try and figure out the website, which didn't go brilliantly, but then, in a Christmas miracle, I got a new iPad for Christmas, and the app worked on the new iPad! So, I'm back! (Warning: if you use the app on an iPad with iOS 12 or earlier, the update will not work, even though it says it will, or at least, that's my experience.)

Thank you to everyone that's reading this story, and have a fantastic New Year!

The dorm was quiet, the only noise the gentle snuffle-snores of Naomi and Roxy's intermittent shifting in bed.

The drowsy morning silence was split by the sudden playing of Kirsten Arian's 'Invincible', and Roxy groaned slightly and reached out a hand, drowsily fumbling around on her bedside table for the source of the noise.

'Snooze...' Her hand closed around her phone, and she randomly tapped at the screen until the noise stopped.

She opened her eyes and glanced around in sleepy confusion, taking a minute to remember where she was. Her memories quickly rushed back as a loud groan emanated from the bed across the room.

'Ogron...I'll get up in five...' A head of rumpled pink hair appeared as Naomi rolled out of bed.

Roxy yawned. 'Good morning.' Naomi squinted at her for a moment, and Roxy couldn't help but think that the shapeshifter was a lot less intimidating sitting on the floor with bedhead hair and no makeup, yawning sleepily. Her yawn was surprisingly catlike, Roxy noticed. It was actually kind of adorable.

The cuteness was quickly diminished as Naomi seemed to remember who she was looking at, and her expression returned to its usual disdainful glare, and she grunted at Roxy, getting to her feet and heading into the bathroom.

'Good morning, Roxy. How'd you sleep? Great, Naomi, thanks for asking. How about you? Same, thanks, Roxy,' Roxy muttered frustratedly, rolling her eyes and getting out of bed. Apparently a good night's sleep had done absolutely nothing to improve Naomi's attitude towards her.

She followed Naomi into the bathroom and found her roommate aggressively brushing her teeth. Her eyes widened slightly as she noticed just how sharp Naomi's canines were; they were practically fangs!

Naomi caught her staring in the mirror and spat out her toothpaste.

'Something interesting in my mouth, Princess?' Roxy shook her head and quickly looked away.

'No, sorry.' Naomi rolled her eyes and walked out. Roxy facepalmed. Staring at her teeth. What a great way to get Naomi to like her. She should write a book: 'How to Offend Shapeshifters Without Saying Anything'.

She quickly brushed her teeth and headed back out to find Naomi rifling through her dresser, randomly throwing apparently-unacceptable items of gothic clothing behind her. Roxy ducked to avoid a pair of Doc Martins and caught a midnight-blue cropped jacket that reminded her of Anagan's trench coat. It was actually really cute, with a high collar and silver lining that shimmered in the light.

Naomi turned around to see her looking at the jacket, and Roxy quickly handed it to her.

'It's really cute,' she said, trying for a friendly smile. Bloom had said to keep trying, and so she was going to keep trying. Naomi raised an eyebrow.

'...Thanks.' Roxy blinked a few times. Had she just got an actual non-sarcastic response from Naomi?

'Where'd you get it?'

'Made it.'

'Really?' Naomi shrugged.

'Most stores don't cater to my tastes, so most of my clothes I either made or customised.'

'Customised?'

'You know, with dyes, studs, rips, spray paint...'

'Spray paint?' Naomi nodded.

'Yeah. I did the wolf on that shirt I wore yesterday with spray paint.'

'Cool!' If Roxy squinted slightly, she could almost see the barest hint of a smile tugging at the corner of Naomi's lips.

'Yeah.' Naomi turned back to her dresser and continued to rifle. Roxy stayed standing there for a minute, until Naomi lifted her head and raised an eyebrow. 'Were you gonna get dressed, or are you planning on going to class in your pyjamas?' Roxy looked down and remembered she was still in her pyjamas and quickly dashed over to her closet, searching through her clothes for something for her first day of magical fairy school.

What did a princess even wear to school? Could a princess wear jeans? Aisha was a princess, and she'd seen her wear jeans plenty of times in Gardenia, but maybe the rules were different at school. Were there even rules? And if there were, could Bloom explain them to her? And preferably give her a full list she could carry around with her at all times? A princess probably didn't wear t-shirts with pictures of anime kittens on them, right? What shoes did a princess wear? Maybe she was meant to wear heels. She hoped not. She hated heels. Did she actually own heels? She had once had a pair of heels for a spring dance at her school, but on the night of the dance she'd found an injured fox trapped under a fence, and she'd lost one of the heels crawling through some bushes to get to it, and she'd snapped the other one when she'd used it to help dig the fox out. Her dad hadn't bothered buying her heels since.

She pulled a dress out of her closet. A dress certainly sounded like a princess-y choice. But, then again, she wasn't really a dress person. She was happy to wear a dress for more formal occasions, but for sitting in class? She decided to put the dress back in the closet and continued to search, finally settling on a pair of pink leggings, a forest-green skirt that went down to her mid-thigh, a pink camisole, a slouchy green cropped sweater and a pair of green ballet flats. Seemed appropriate enough. And if she got to breakfast and inadvertently caused a scandal, she could always run back to her room and get the dress.

Her gaze caught on the time on her phone, and she gasped. It was already eight-thirty! And she still needed to eat breakfast! How had she spent so much time deliberating over her outfit?! Before this whole princess thing, she'd usually just grabbed whatever was closest and got going; she'd never spent longer than five minutes thinking about what to wear! There wasn't much point, seeing as how most things she wore were ultimately likely to get covered in mud and leaves on some quest to help an animal in trouble. And now she'd spent a full thirty-five minutes thinking about what to wear!

'I was wondering when you'd catch onto the time.' Roxy turned to see Naomi lying on her bed, reading The Inheritance Games.

'How long have you been dressed?' Naomi shrugged and continued to read.

''Bout twenty minutes. I've been waiting to see your reaction to how long you spent picking out an outfit for the last ten.' Roxy folded her arms.

'And you didn't feel like pointing out how late it was?'

'Nope.' Roxy opened her mouth to respond, but caught herself and closed it again.

'We...we should really get going. We don't want to miss breakfast.' Naomi shrugged and closed her book.

'You don't have tell me that; I've been ready for ages.'

'Then why didn't you get going?' Naomi performed a perfect backwards walkover off the bed and smirked.

'Well then I'd have missed your whole gasping and staring at the time thing.' Roxy blinked at her roommate. Naomi walked past her and out of the room, poking her head back in when Roxy didn't follow. 'You coming, Princess? 'Cause I kinda assumed you spent seven million years picking out that outfit so you could do a little more than stand around gaping.'

'...Coming.' Roxy grabbed her bag and ran after Naomi.

'...Wow...' Roxy craned her neck to look up at the high ceilings of the dining hall.

'Doesn't take much to impress you, does it?' Roxy looked at Naomi.

'You mean you're not even a little in awe?' Naomi raised an eyebrow.

'Of a cafeteria?'

'It's not...It's not a cafeteria!'

'It's the room in a school where all the students eat. It's a cafeteria.'

'Okay, maybe, technically, it's a cafeteria, but still! I mean, look at this place!' Naomi glanced around disinterestedly.

'What exactly is meant to be impressing me? The giant windows that are letting through way too much sunlight for this early in the morning? The excessively tall ceiling? The crowds of chatty fairies?' Roxy folded her arms and Naomi rolled her eyes. 'Fine, it's a nice cafeteria. Are you happy now?' Roxy raised her eyes to Heaven.

'Let's just sit down.' Roxy looked around the dining hall and saw the Winx sitting at the end of one of the long tables. 'C'mon, my friends are just over there.'

Naomi snorted. 'Yeah, 'cause I'm just champing at the bit to go sit with your friends.' Naomi started walking towards the furthest possible seat from the Winx.

'Naomi! I'm not just going to ignore my friends.'

'I didn't ask you to. Enjoy the cafeteria.'

'You're just going to eat alone?' Naomi pulled her book out of her bag.

'Who said I'm alone? I've got Jennifer Lynn Barnes for company.'

'You sure? You're really welcome to sit with me and the Winx.' Naomi furrowed her brow.

'Hmm.' She lifted her left hand. 'Sitting with the people that put my family in Omega...' She lifted her book. 'Thrilling mystery and a billion-dollar fortune...' She pretended to carefully consider the choice. 'I'm afraid the thrilling mystery wins out. But you have fun talking about shoes and glitter or whatever.' She sat down and started to read, firmly signalling that the conversation was over.

Roxy looked between Naomi and the Winx. Stella had seen her by now, and she was waving enthusiastically. Roxy just stood there for a moment, deliberating where to go. On the one hand, she'd never get anywhere with Naomi if she didn't spend any time with her, but on the other hand, Naomi was clearly done talking to her for now, and she doubted interrupting her book would be met with a positive response. She sighed and walked over to the Winx.

'Hey, girls.'

'Hey, Roxy!' Stella frowned as she took in Roxy's disappointed expression. 'Why the sad face?' Roxy sighed.

'I was kinda hoping Naomi would sit with us, then we could actually talk, but she's sitting on her own, reading.'

'Oh.' Stella grimaced sympathetically. 'Sorry.'

'So you're not making much progress with Naomi?' Musa asked.

'I...I'm not sure. We actually talked a little back at the dorms, and she wasn't sarcastic or anything, but the conversation was only about a minute long.' Roxy paused to eat some of the pancakes that had just magically appeared in front of her (forget what Naomi said; this place was awesome!).

'What did you talk about?' Tecna asked, taking a bite of a croissant.

'Mm.' Roxy swallowed quickly. 'She was looking for something to wear, and I complemented a jacket she'd decided against.'

'What kind of jacket?' Stella asked interestedly, her eyes shining at the mention of fashion.

'It was a cropped leather jacket in a deep navy blue. Remember Anagan's trench coat?' Stella nodded. 'Like that, but cropped and navy.'

'Interesting...' Stella stared off into the distance thoughtfully. 'Where was it from? Navy is very in right now.' Musa snorted.

'Roxy's rooming with the daughter of the evil wizards we just defeated, and you're asking about this girl's fashion sense?' Stella nodded seriously.

'If I'm going to be a designer, I need to stay on top of trends and look for inspiration in everything.' Roxy raised an eyebrow.

'You're going to be a designer? Since when?' Stella beamed.

'Since this morning. We were all super stressed about the whole Sirenix Book thing, and I decided to cheer everyone up with a new look.'

'So you designed these outfits?' Roxy gestured to the Winx's cute new clothes. Stella nodded.

'Yep. Everyone loved them, and Bloom suggested I should be a fashion designer, and it just clicked!' Roxy smiled at Stella, but couldn't help thinking that this sounded a little sudden for a life-defining career choice. Also, wasn't Stella already set to be Queen of Solaria?

'So, Roxy, you said you and Naomi talked about the jacket?' Bloom gently directed the conversation back to the original topic. Roxy nodded.

'Yeah. I asked her where she got it, and she told me she made it.'

'Ooh, really?' Stella looked over at Naomi with renewed interest now that she knew she made clothes. Bloom rolled her eyes at her affectionately.

'Uh-huh. She said that for most of her clothes, she's either made them or customised them.'

'Think she made any of the clothes she's wearing now?' Stella asked, still staring over at Naomi. Naomi was wearing a black biker jacket with a hot-pink lining, a silver t-shirt depicting an image of a full moon with a wolf silhouette, jeans with silver claw-mark detailing, and a pair of black combat boots.

'She kinda dresses like the wizards, doesn't she?' Tecna pointed out. Naomi looked up from her book and glared over at them. All the Winx quickly returned their attention to their food, except for Aisha, who held the glare for a moment. Roxy decided to change the subject.

'So, have you made any progress on finding the Sirenix Book?' Bloom looked over at Tecna.

'Tecna's almost finished her algorithm to find it. At least, that's what she's told us. I don't understand anything I've seen on her screen, but it looks technical and brilliant.'

'I think it'll be ready to test out this afternoon.' Tecna looked at Roxy. 'You're welcome to come back to the Archive with us.'

'Thanks, but it's my first day; I'll probably be snowed under with homework.' Stella smirked.

'All the more reason to come do something interesting with us.' Roxy snorted.

'Thanks, Stella, but I'd rather not fail all my classes on my first day. But let me know what happens, okay?'

'Of course, Roxy,' Bloom said. The redhead's brow furrowed, and Roxy followed her gaze back over to Naomi. Her roommate was talking to Miss Grizelda. 'What do you think is going on?' Roxy shrugged.

'I'm not sure.' Naomi was nodding along to whatever the head of discipline was saying, and Miss Grizelda looked decidedly annoyed, though, from what the Winx had told her, that was probably just her face. Eventually, Naomi grabbed her bag and got up. Stella was so curious what was going on that she leaned out to see around Flora. Unfortunately, she was sitting on the end of the table, and tipped just a little too far.

'Aah!' Grizelda's head snapped around to stare at the princess of Solaria sprawled on the floor.

'Stella! What in Magix are you doing on the floor?'

'Um...' Grizelda pinched the bridge of her nose.

'As the three-time saviour of the dimension, I would expect better conduct, Stella.' Stella got to her feet, blushing furiously.

'Sorry, Miss Grizelda.' Grizelda sniffed.

'See that you remain off the floor for the rest of the day. Now, you girls should be getting to class.' All the Winx quickly got up and grabbed their bags, and Roxy scrambled to do the same. Grizelda turned her gaze to Roxy.

'I look forward to seeing you in my class later, Roxy. It's not often that I get a first-year with your magical experience. I'm expecting great things.' Roxy blushed.

'I'll do my best.' Grizelda nodded.

'See that you do. You and Naomi need to get to Elementology; can you find your way on your own?' Roxy nodded. 'Excellent.' The head of discipline turned and walked out of the dining hall, pausing to berate a girl heading to class with a large quantity of jam spilled down her shirt.

Stella winced.

'Wow, so no pressure from Grizelda, huh, Roxy?' Roxy grimaced.

'You'll fine,' Aisha reassured her. 'After all,' she shot a brief glare at Naomi, 'you beat the Wizards of the Black Circle. You can handle first-year Combat.' Naomi glared back at Aisha, and Roxy winced.

'...Thanks, Aisha.' Naomi started to walk away, and Roxy turned to hurry after her. 'See you girls later!' Bloom waved and grinned at her.

'Good luck!' Roxy gave her a thumbs-up, before falling into step with Naomi.

'Hey.' Naomi didn't say anything. Roxy grimaced. 'Look, about what Aisha said...' Naomi rolled her eyes.

'Save it, Princess. We both know that was directed at me, so don't insult my intelligence by pretending otherwise.' Roxy looked away. Naomi was right. Aisha evidently disliked her, and her comment had clearly been intended as a dig at her. Roxy wanted to apologise, but got the feeling that it wouldn't go very well. She changed the subject.

'...What did Grizelda want to talk to you about?'

'After everything that happened yesterday, she and Faragonda aren't going to give me detention for the thing with Olivia. Apparently saving blondie was,' she made air quotes, "an action befitting a fairy', so I'm off the hook. Plus, they've probably got bigger fish to fry right now, what with the dimension's most well-known criminals somehow managing to sneak in here for the gazillionth time.' She sighed. 'Seriously. Isn't this place supposed to have a magical barrier that keeps out threats? Or does that only appear when the Winx need to illicitly sneak out?' Roxy stared at her in surprise.

'How'd you know they'd done that?' Naomi snorted.

'A little thing called the Internet.' She rolled her eyes. 'Oh, don't look so surprised. Yeah, I looked up the Winx.'

'When?'

'When my family got back from Alfea and said that Bloom was a dead-end. I got curious who she was if she wasn't the last Earth Fairy, so I looked her up. Found a bunch of articles about her, both terrestrial and otherwise. I kept researching as my family fought the Winx - know one's enemy and all that.' Roxy raised an eyebrow.

'And you found out that they used to sneak out of Alfea? That was on the Internet?' Naomi shrugged.

'Stella mentioned it in an interview with Solaria Today.'

'Really?'

'Yep. Along with her favourite brand of foundation. That's five minutes of my life I'm never getting back.' The girls had arrived at their class, and they headed inside, Naomi claiming a desk in the back right corner. Roxy sat down at the desk next to her, much to the other girl's evident annoyance.

Roxy opened her bag and pulled out her textbook, a very full pencil case, and a notebook decorated with a picture of a puppy, a starting-school gift from her dad. She adjusted her things, trying not to feel nervous about looking like a total newbie to the world of magic. What if she said something stupid? Don't start thinking that way, Roxy. You got this.

A shadow fell over her desk, and she looked up to see a girl with long blue-black hair standing over her and Naomi, shooting the latter a spiteful glare.

'Hasn't anyone called Animal Control about you yet?' Roxy flinched at the malice in her voice, but Naomi seemed unfazed by the snide comment, just raising an eyebrow.

'No.' The girl blinked, clearly having expected more of a reaction. Naomi looked at her for a moment, before returning her attention to her book.

'Um, hello?' The girl put her hands on her hips. Naomi lowered her book and gave her a bored stare.

'Hi.' Nothing happened for a minute. 'Did you want something?'

'How come you're still here?' The girl spat. 'I'd have expected Faragonda to expel you after yesterday.' Naomi rolled her eyes.

'Well, she clearly didn't, so if you don't mind...' The girl evidently did mind, as she stayed standing in front of Naomi's desk. Who the heck was this? Stella's words from yesterday played in her mind. Naomi just got into a fight with Princess Olivia of Aria! Was this Olivia? If it was, she could kinda see why Naomi would want to fight her. Her suspicions were confirmed when Naomi sighed and shot the girl a pointed glare.

'Olivia, I'm not sure what exactly you want to happen here, but if you want me to tackle you again, just say the word and I'd be happy to oblige.' Olivia's lips pursed into a mean little frown.

'I don't want you to tackle me, weirdo. You think I want to get fleas?' Roxy was getting sick of this girl.

'Class is going to start soon; maybe you could just go sit down.' Olivia slowly turned her gaze on Roxy, and she realised Olivia had been the girl who'd made a snide comment about her never having sen a travel hub before when she'd arrived on Magix. Sitting under her spiteful glare, she really was reminded of Mitzi.

'Maybe you could just stay out of this.' Roxy folded her arms.

'You're being really unpleasant.' Olivia sneered at her.

'It's Roxy, right?' Roxy nodded hesitantly. 'The Princess of Tir Na N'og.' She looked Roxy up and down. 'Can't say I'm impressed.' Her gaze travelled over Roxy's desk, and she burst out laughing when she saw her notebook. 'Oh my Dragon!' She picked it up like it was made of toxic waste. 'What the heck is this? What are you, five?' Roxy blushed, feeling about four inches tall. In all her worrying about Alfea, mean girls had somehow failed to come up.

'Give it back, Olivia.' Roxy looked to her right in surprise. Naomi was standing up and glaring at Olivia. Olivia smirked.

'Make me.' Naomi shrugged.

'Okay.' She snapped her fingers and the notebook flashed with blue lightning.

'Aah!' Olivia shrieked and dropped the notebook. Naomi flicked her finger before it could hit the floor, sending it floating back onto Roxy's desk. Naomi turned back to Olivia and smiled.

'There. I made you give it back. Happy now?' Olivia clenched her teeth.

'I don't know who you think you are, but nobody shocks me.' Naomi cocked her head.

'Uh, I just did, so...not true?'

'Listen here, you little freak...'

'Miss Silvers!' Olivia and Roxy's heads snapped around to see a stern-looking man with grey hair in a ponytail glaring at them. Naomi just sat back down and watched with mild interest. 'Miss Silvers, is whatever conversation you are having more important than my lesson? Clearly it must be, or else you would have been sitting down when I arrived.' Olivia blushed furiously.

'Sorry, Professor Zyron.'

'Hm.' Professor Zyron gestured to the last empty desk. 'Have a seat.' Olivia grabbed her bag and obliged, shooting one last venomous glare back at Roxy and Naomi. Zyron cleared his throat. 'Well, now that everyone is seated, I can begin. I am Professor Zyron, and this is Elementology. For those of you that don't know, elementology is the study and control of the four elements: air,' the entire class gasped as a cold wind blew through the room, and Roxy had to grab hold of her things to keep them from flying away, 'fire,' the professor's hand glowed brightly, and a geyser of fire shot upwards, 'water,' rain fell from the ceiling and put out the fire, causing several students to shriek as their carefully-styled first-day-of-school hair and makeup was ruined, 'and earth.' Everywhere a raindrop fell, slender green vines sprouted from the floor, wrapping around the students' desks and blossoming into delicate pink blooms. Roxy breathlessly reached out to touch one of the flowers, but it quickly closed back up and the vine retreated back into the floor, the crack from where it had appeared sealing back up as though it had never been there.

'Wow...' Roxy breathed. This was...amazing! She was going to learn how to do that? She quickly turned back to look at the professor as he continued to speak.

'Now, that little demonstration was the result of years and years of careful study and dedication; do not expect to be able to even come close anytime soon.' There was some disappointed murmuring. 'But by the end of this semester, you should all be able to wield each of the elements at an exceptionally basic level.' Exceptionally basic? This guy should be a motivational speaker. 'Of course, some fairies have a predisposition towards one or more elements. A notable example would be Bloom Taylor, Fairy of the Dragon Flame, who, as one would expect, has a natural skill with fire. However, even if you are the Fairy of Water, or of Wind, or of Stone, do not think this class will be easy for you. In fact, a natural relationship with one element can actually make it harder to control the others. For instance, Bloom had great difficulty working with water.' Roxy raised an eyebrow. She couldn't picture Bloom having great difficulty with anything. 'Even if you do not have a natural relationship with an element through your powers, you may find one or more elements easier to control than others. Or you may find them all exceptionally difficult.

'By the end of this semester, I expect you all to be able to do the following.' He snapped his fingers and a small orange flame flickered in the air above his hand. 'Summon a small spark of fire.' He extinguished the fire and turned to a bowl of water on his desk. He raised his hand and an orb of water rose up from the liquid. 'Create an orb of water.' The water splashed back into the bowl, and the professor spun his finger in the air, a miniature tornado spinning above it. 'Create a mini twister.' The twister vanished, and Professor Zyron placed his hand on a closed flower bud in a pot on his desk, and the flower opened slowly. 'Make a flower bloom.' Roxy swallowed nervously. She wasn't even close to achieving any of those goals. Her magical studies with the Winx had pretty much been limited to spells she could use against the Wizards of the Black Circle.

Professor Zyron snapped his fingers and the flower closed up again. He turned to the class and clapped his hands.

'Well then! Shall we get started?' There were some hesitant murmurs from the students. Clearly Roxy wasn't the only one having some doubts about her skills. 'Excellent. Now, for our first lesson, I want to see what I'm working with this year.' He gestured to the bowl of water. 'I'd like everyone to try and create a bubble of water.' Roxy's heart dropped. She was going to look like an idiot in front of everyone. Perfect. 'Now, this spell is fairly simple. Hold your hand over the water, and splay your fingers.' Zyron demonstrated. 'Lift your hand slowly, keeping your fingertips lowered for longer, then flatten your hand again.' Well, that seemed pretty simple. 'While performing the hand movements, you must have a strong focus on your energy. When working with water, your magic must be relaxed and fluid, flowing out through your hand and into the water.' That seemed less simple. 'Now, do I have a volunteer?' A hand shot up. 'Yes, you. What's your name?' A girl with dark skin and long dark blue hair stood up.

'Lexi Hale, Professor Zyron.' Zyron nodded.

'Alright, come up and show me what you can do.' Lexi walked over and stood behind the desk. 'Go ahead.' Lexi took a deep breath and held her hand over the bowl, performing the hand movements Professor Zyron had demonstrated. Nothing happened for a moment, but eventually the water rippled slightly and a small bulge appeared in the centre of the liquid. Lexi frowned in concentration, and the water rippled more, but the liquid didn't come any closer to forming an orb. Zyron held up a hand.

'Alright, that's enough.' Lexi let her hand fall. 'Very impressive, Miss Hale. A commendable effort.' Lexi's face lit up and she returned to her desk. 'Alright, who's next? You.' Zyron pointed at a girl with long black hair, who looked significantly less eager to try the spell than Lexi.

'M-me?' Zyron nodded.

'What's your name?'

'Y-yomi Kuroyanagi.'

'Come up and try the spell.' Yomi gulped and got up from her desk. She performed the hand movements, screwing her face up in concentration, but nothing happened. She tried again, but still nothing. Roxy's heart went out to her; this was humiliating!

'Okay, that's enough.' Zyron held up a hand. 'Do not expect to be perfect on the first day, Miss Kuroyanagi.' Yomi nodded and went back to her desk, blushing furiously.

'Well that was pathetic,' Olivia hissed to the girl at the desk next to her. Roxy glared at the back of the princess's head. Olivia was just…horrible! She was at a magical fairy school in an enchanted castle in another dimension, but somehow she had still run into a mean girl. Looked like some things were universal.

'Okay, next…' Olivia's hand shot up.

'I'll do it, Professor.'

'Okay, Miss Silvers.' Olivia practically strutted over to the desk and held her hand over the bowl, gracefully performing the movements. To Roxy's surprise, the water slowly rose up in a column, the bottom beginning to taper in to form a sphere. The water didn't quite form an orb, but it was still a very impressive effort. Zyron nodded at the spell.

'Very impressive, Miss Silvers.' Olivia let the water fall back into the bowl and flounced back to her seat. She turned to whisper to her neighbour again as the professor started looking for the next student to try the spell.

'Seriously, everyone else here is just basic. They should all go back to magical kindergarten and learn to suck less.' Her neighbour snickered, and Roxy frowned. She'd love nothing more than to get up there and do the spell and make Olivia eat her words, but she'd likely just fail, or somehow do the spell wrong and flood the room.

'I'll do it, Professor.' Roxy heard a voice on her right, and she turned to see Naomi with her hand in the air and a determined glint in her golden eyes.

'Alright. Miss Hunter, isn't it?' Naomi nodded and walked over.

'This should be good,' Olivia whispered.

'We'd better get ready to duck,' her friend whispered back. 'If she does the spell wrong and gets wet, she'll probably shake off like a dog!' Both girls snickered, and Roxy glared at them, before looking worriedly at Naomi. Her roommate had her hand over the bowl, and she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, fluidly performing the hand movements. Olivia's snide whispering trailed off as the water rose up into a perfect sphere, and most of the students' mouths dropped open. Naomi opened her eyes and grinned at the orb hovering in front of her. Olivia was staring in shock, and Roxy couldn't resist. She stood up and burst into applause, quickly being joined by every other student except Olivia and her friends. Even Professor Zyron clapped a few times.

'Exceptional, Miss Hunter. You may return to your seat.' Naomi let the water fall back into the bowl and walked back to her desk, receiving many impressed looks from other fairies.

'That was amazing!' Roxy whispered when Naomi had sat back down. Naomi shrugged.

'It's not difficult when you know how.'

'Well I guess I'd better learn how, then.' Naomi nodded.

'I think that's the point of class.' Zyron clapped his hands.

'Alright, next!' The following attempts had varying levels of success. Crystal managed a few bubbles in the water, a girl with reddish-brown hair didn't get the water to do anything, a girl with long blonde hair managed to freeze the water and part of the desk, a girl with brown hair and glasses almost managed it, but burst the bubble by accident and splashed the front row, and Olivia's friend accidentally created a raincloud that followed her around for a full five minutes until Professor Zyron managed to get her to stop shrieking long enough for him to dispel it.

'Okay, final student.' Roxy tensed. She was the only student left. She should have volunteered earlier! This way, her failure was going to be the last thing the students saw before they left class.

'Miss Wilde?' Roxy winced. 'Come up.' She got to her feet and walked behind the desk, taking a deep breath and holding her hand over the bowl. What had the professor said? Her magic must be relaxed and fluid. What did that even mean? Maybe she should try to relax. Easier said than done with a room full of fairies watching your every move. She wasn't used to using her magic relaxed. The first time she'd transformed, she'd been so angry she barely remembered the change, and with one or two exceptions, every time she'd transformed after that had been in order to fight the wizards or the Fairies of Vengeance. Not exactly a spa day.

She focused, trying to sense her magic. She let her energy flow through her fingertips, sending it into the water. There was a tiny ripple. She narrowed her eyes. Come on, come on, come on… The water bubbled slightly. She tensed her hand and sent more magic into the water. Her heart leapt as the liquid started to bulge. The bulge grew bigger, and the water rippled. Yes! Wait…What's happening now? The water sloshed violently in the bowl, and the bulge burst and jetted water right into her, knocking her over.

'Aah!' There were snickers from Olivia's desk, and Roxy lifted the curtain of wet hair from her face, blushing furiously.

'Hmm.' Professor Zyron looked down at her. 'Far too tense and forceful. Water is a relaxed element, but when handled with force, it becomes very violent.' He turned to the class. 'Class dismissed. Work on the bubble, and tomorrow we'll discuss some of the technical theory behind hydro-elementology.' The students grabbed their bags and headed out of class, and Roxy got to her sodden feet.

'Nice work, Roxy,' Olivia snickered. 'Now whenever anyone needs a pressure-washer, we'll just call you!' Roxy blushed harder and pushed past Olivia and her friends to her desk.

'She'll never make it as a princess,' one of them said as they walked out, and Roxy felt like she'd been punched in the stomach.

'Well that was certainly…interesting.' Naomi was sitting on top of her desk, looking at Roxy with what almost appeared to be sympathy.

'No, it was a disaster,' Roxy replied miserably. 'I don't know anything about technical magic; I just know how to talk to animals and fling stuff.' She grabbed her bag and headed for the door, Naomi following behind. 'I just…I just never needed to know this stuff before! Magic was…easier in Gardenia. I just had to be able to throw attacks! Ogron was never going to give me a pop quiz!' Naomi snorted.

'You obviously don't know much about Ogron.' Roxy sighed.

'I don't want to fail here.'

'Roxy, you weren't the worst person in there. You gotta remember, everyone here is here to learn. And Professor Zyron is here to teach. You'll get better.' Roxy raised an eyebrow.

'That's…pretty good advice.'

'Thank you.'

'How come you're being nice?' Naomi rolled her eyes.

'Because, believe it or not, I'm actually a nice person. Did you just assume that, because I was raised by the Wizards of the Black Circle that I was some kind of Olivia?' Roxy shook her head.

'No…'

'C'mon.' Naomi hurried up. 'We're going to be late to Potions class.'

Roxy threw herself down on the grass. Naomi sat down across from her.

'It wasn't that bad.' Roxy covered her face with her hands.

'It was that bad and worse.' The classes following Elementology had been complete disasters. First, in Potions class, they'd had the basics explained to them, and simply practiced using a pestle and mortar to pound some leaves. Unfortunately, Roxy had used the wrong leaves and unintentionally started a lightning storm as she'd crushed thunder leaves, releasing electricity that had shocked Professor Palladium.

Then, in Magic History, the teacher had delivered a lecture on the beginnings of the Magic Dimension, and she'd called on her to answer a question about the Great Dragon that was apparently common knowledge, and she'd just sat there, unable to answer.

Finally, in Incantations, she'd pronounced the words wrong and turned invisible for a full fifteen minutes. Her hand was still a little see-through.

She groaned.

'That could legitimately not have gone worse.' Naomi raised an eyebrow.

'Really? What if you'd unleashed the Abyss in Potions? That would probably have been worse.'

'That's not funny, Naomi.'

'Who said I was trying to be funny? You're being a little dramatic.' Roxy glared at her.

'Easy for you to say. You breezed through this morning!' Naomi had undoubtedly been the most impressive student across the morning, answering every teacher's questions perfectly and flawlessly performing the incantation that had left Roxy invisible.

'How are you so good at all this?' Roxy asked. 'You were flawless in Elementology.' Naomi shrugged.

'I've just studied it before, that's all. My family homeschooled me, and Ogron taught me magic. Evidently, he did a good job.' Roxy sat up.

'Ogron taught you all of that?'

'Yep. Who did you think taught me to use my powers?' Roxy shrugged.

'I never really thought about it.'

'Ogron taught me magic and standard academic subjects, and Duman showed me how to shift.'

'What about Gantlos and Anagan?'

'They didn't really do lessons, but they'd help where they could.'

'Cool. I wish I'd had some magical experts around to teach me magic right about now. I'm crashing and burning.' Naomi rolled her eyes.

'Oh, come on. Get it together, Princess. The fastest way to fail is to think you will.' Naomi got up. 'Break's pretty much over, and we've got Combat next. Pretty sure you know what you're doing there. Gantlos said you did, anyway.' Roxy raised an eyebrow and got to her feet.

'Huh? What do you mean?'

'When I talked to Gantlos over the phone after your whole 'Earth believes in the fairies again' thing, he said you were good. I mean, maybe he was just exaggerating, but I knew him for fifteen years, and I've never once heard him exaggerate, so probably not.'

'Oh.' Roxy blushed. It was weird to think about Gantlos calling Naomi after their fight and talking to her about it, but she also felt weirdly proud that the wizard had said she was good. Naomi was right. She knew how to fight. She could do this.

'Gather around, girls!' Grizelda clapped her hands, silencing the chatter of the freshmen. 'Welcome to Combat class. As guardian fairies, you will someday need to defend your planets, and in order to do that, you will need to know how to fight. I am here to teach you how to do so. Most of this class will consist of practical skills, hence why we practice outside. Now, before we begin, I would like to inform you that this class is not a place to show off. Magical combat is dangerous, and any showboating will not be well-received.' She glared at the students, as though her gaze alone was enough to keep a group of immature fairies from messing around. Naomi rolled her eyes. She guaranteed that someone would have shown off by the end of the week.

She looked to her left. Roxy was practically vibrating with nerves, and she could smell the worry coming off her. As much as she hated to admit it, the princess was kinda growing on her. She didn't want to be her best friend, but she was willing to tolerate her. It was weird how little faith Roxy had in herself. From everything her family had told her, the Fairy of Animals was incredibly powerful and capable, but Roxy was acting like she was the Fairy of Unbelievable Failure. Granted, her performance in class had left a lot to be desired, but no one rolled out of bed and knew Elementology. Maybe she'd do better in Combat.

'Let's get started with a little demonstration,' Grizelda announced. 'May I have a volunteer?' There was silence, and Naomi rolled her eyes. She gave Roxy a gentle nudge, and Roxy stumbled forward a little. 'Miss Wilde! Excellent.' Roxy glared at Naomi, but she just shrugged and gestured for her to go forward. 'Miss Wilde, please transform. You and I will spar, just to give the class a demonstration.' Roxy gulped, but stepped forward.

'Roxy, magic, transform!' There was a flash of light and Roxy was in her fairy form.

'Good. My turn. Enchantix!' Grizelda was enveloped in blue light and transformed into Enchantix. 'Now, attack me.' Roxy looked uncomfortable. 'Go ahead, Miss Wilde.' Roxy took a deep breath.

'Okay then. Let's do this. Mystic Talons!' The attack shot straight for Grizelda, who snapped her fingers and summoned a shield, effortlessly blocking the attack.

'Energy Burst!'

'Crystal Shell!' Roxy gritted her teeth, evidently struggling to keep up the shield. As the attack pushed harder against her defence, Roxy flipped backwards and dropped several feet, dispelling the shield and letting Grizelda's spell fly harmlessly over her head.

'Wasp Sting!' A sharp burst of magic shot for Grizelda, and the older fairy flew out of the way. Roxy shot another attack, then another, keeping up a barrage that forced Grizelda to dodge, giving her no time to use her own attacks.

'Barrier Deflect!' Grizelda flicked her finger, summoning a shield that bounced Roxy's attacks back at her, and Roxy shot upwards and away from the spells.

'Crystal Shell!' Roxy summoned her shield and flew at Grizelda, knocking her to the ground with the impact. 'Mystic Talons!' Grizelda rolled out of the way and flung an attack at Roxy.

'Maximum Impact!' Roxy tried to summon her shield, but the attack was too fast, and it knocked her to the ground. Grizelda got to her feet and clapped her hands, de-transforming.

'Nice work, Miss Wilde. I'm very impressed. You may transform back now.' Roxy sat up and de-transformed, breathing hard. Naomi offered her a hand, which she gratefully accepted, and Naomi pulled her to her feet.

'Told you knew what you were doing,' Naomi whispered, and Roxy blushed.

'Thanks.' Crystal walked over to them.

'Roxy, that was amazing! You're so good!' Roxy smiled bashfully.

'I've had a lot of practice.' Grizelda cleared her throat.

'Let's save the congratulations for after my class, shall we? Now, let's discuss the contents of that fight.' There was some disappointed muttering; clearly the students had been hoping for more fighting, less discussing. 'Roxy was an excellent opponent, and she demonstrated many vital combat skills.'

'Looked more like she demonstrated how to land in the dirt to me.' Naomi stiffened at the now-horribly-familiar snide whisper. Did this Olivia person ever shut up? Naomi turned to glare at her.

'You think you can do better, Olivia?' Olivia sneered at her.

'I know I can do better. I could beat every fairy here.' Naomi rolled her eyes.

'Yeah, and vampires love sunbathing. Give me a break. The only way you'd beat anyone here would be by boring them to death.'

'Ahem.' Grizelda had her hands on her hips and was glaring at Olivia and Naomi with the fury of…well, a high school head of discipline witnessing a general lack of discipline. 'Ladies, perhaps we could keep the chatter to a minimum? Or maybe your conversation is so important, it needs to be shared with Faragonda.' Naomi and Olivia looked at the ground. Grizelda sniffed. 'As I thought. Now, to discuss the battle…' Throughout Grizelda's lecture, Naomi and Olivia continued to shoot each other glares. She'd only known her for twenty-four hours, but already Naomi hated Olivia Silvers. She was petty and spiteful, and she was making her really wish she knew her family's spell for stealing wings.

'Now that we've been through the finer points of that fight, let's move on to something a little more practical, shall we?' The faces of every student lit up with the anticipation of a fight. Grizelda waved her hand and a series of targets appeared. 'Target practice.' The faces of every student fell. Naomi rolled her eyes. Target practice? She'd been hitting targets since she was eight. When she was thirteen, she'd been hitting targets Anagan had been holding while running. She was a little above the level of this class. Oh, who was she kidding, she was way beyond this class. A few months before the whole Roxy thing had kicked off, she'd beaten Ogron in a fight. Ogron. A centuries-old dark wizard who'd overpowered the freaking Earth Fairies. Targets were child's play for her. Nevertheless, she transformed and stepped forward with the other students, aiming severely weak blasts at her target.

Grizelda walked up and down the line, inspecting the students.

'Good. Put more force behind it. Aim at the target, not your foot, Kyral. Excellent work, Miss Silvers.' Olivia hit the target again, apparently doing an amazing job. Her blasts were much stronger than Naomi's restrained magic. She smirked.

'Thanks, Miss Grizelda. I was trained by the Arian royal guard.' Grizelda nodded and moved on to Naomi, who was holding back dramatically in order not to completely obliterate her target.

'Hmm…Needs work, Miss Hunter.' She moved on to correct a girl with long blonde hair called Kelli. After a few more minutes of target-practice, Grizelda clapped her hands. 'Alright, girls! We'll finish there for today; grab your bags!' Naomi lowered her arm and headed towards where she'd left her bag. Unfortunately, a decidedly bitchy obstacle decided to get in her way.

'Hey, Naomi.'

'Olivia.' Naomi stepped to the side, but Olivia moved to block her. Naomi raised an eyebrow. 'Are you trying to win the award for the most annoying person ever? Because if you are, I think you better start working on your acceptance speech.'

'Ooh, ouch.' Olivia smirked. 'What's wrong? Didn't get such great feedback?' Olivia made a fake-sympathetic face. 'Needs work. Guess you're not as good at magic as you made out earlier. Don't feel bad; next to me, everyone else just looks basic.' Naomi clenched her fists. Olivia was really getting all over her last nerve, and she'd had just about enough.

'Obsidian Flux!' Naomi spun around and flung a full-power attack into her target, blasting it to smithereens. She smirked at Olivia. 'How's that for basic?' Olivia stared agape at the destroyed target, and Naomi grabbed her bag.

'How…' Naomi patted Olivia on the shoulder condescendingly.

'Let me know when you figure out an end to that sentence, m'kay?' She strode away from the group, leaving everyone staring at the target, including Grizelda, who seemed unsure of whether or not to go after her.

'Naomi!' Roxy fell into step beside her. 'That. Was. Awesome! You left Olivia speechless!' Naomi grinned.

'It was pretty awesome, wasn't it?' Roxy nodded.

'Totally!' There was a pause, then Roxy hesitantly asked a question. 'Hey, Naomi?'

'Yeah?'

'You want to go get dinner together?'

'What about the Sparkle Club?'

'The what? Oh, right, the Winx. They're looking for the Sirenix Book in the Archive; they'll probably be there all evening.' Naomi raised an eyebrow.

'And I'm your second choice? How flattering.' Roxy flushed.

'No, you're not my second choice at all…Look, just…come eat dinner with me. Please?' Naomi looked into Roxy's beseeching eyes and sighed.

'Fine, I'll come to dinner with you. But if your Winx clique show up, I'm out. Clear?' Roxy nodded.

'Crystal.'

'No, she can't eat with us either.' Roxy snorted.

'So you've been homeschooled all your life?' Naomi nodded.

'Up until yesterday.'

'So what did the wizards teach you?' Naomi shrugged and took a forkful of pasta.

'Oh, you know. Evil spells, global domination for beginners, maniacal laughter…that sort of thing.' Roxy blanched, and Naomi laughed. 'Relax, Princess! I'm kidding.'

'Oh.' Roxy laughed awkwardly. 'I knew that.'

'Sure you did. What do you mean, what did the wizards teach me? Just standard subjects. Math, English, science, magic…'

'Magic isn't a standard subject.'

'It is for a fairy.'

'Right.' Roxy slumped. 'I'm starting to figure that out.'

'You'll learn all this stuff, Princess. That's what college is for.' Roxy sighed.

'Yeah, but everyone else here has at least a basic understanding of magic.'

'So? You've got a basic understanding of magic. You just got yours in a different way to everyone else. And you were a total badass in Combat.' Roxy smiled slightly.

'I guess I did pretty well there.'

'Are you kidding? You were awesome. Way better than that girl who blasted her own foot.' Roxy laughed, and Naomi joined her. The rest of dinner passed in that way, relaxed and lighthearted, and Naomi let herself admit that maybe this wasn't as bad as she'd been expecting.

So Roxy and Naomi are finally starting to get along. If anyone's wondering about Naomi warming up to Roxy, Naomi is naturally a very protective person, and that part of her really came out when Olivia was bullying Roxy, and now she's just a little more attached to her roommate. I mean, so far they've only really eaten dinner together, but it's a start.

Professor Zyron is not my OC, he's a teacher that features in the comics.

Sorry to anyone who was hoping to see Roxy fight a robot Tecna, but this story isn't really about the Winx. They'll still be in it, lots, but they're not the main focus. However, Roxy will fight alongside them in the next chapter.

And to anyone who's wondering about the killer robot that was in the synopsis: it's coming, trust me.

If you're enjoying this story, please review! (Also, in the notes at the end of the last chapter, I mentioned submitting OC's: I now have a freshman class, so please don't submit any OC's. Sorry, and thank you.)

Got a lot coming up in the new year, so it might be a while until the next update, but it will come, trust me.

Happy New Year!