Author's note: I don't own the characters. I don't even pay my bills so technically I don't own anything. English is not my first language so pardon me for any mistakes, I'll fix them as soon as I can! This story came to me as a dream. Hope you like it! Stay hydrated!
My twitter: capshawzete
Emma was on the third year of her biomedicine course. One more year and she would get her degree. She was studying at Storybrooke's University on an athletic scholarship she had earned due to her amazing ability to get from one point to the other faster than people usually did - also known as running. She was great at it, and she had been doing it forever; it was a way to clear her mind and some psychiatrist would probably say that this was how she learned how to deal with her troubled mind. But how not to have a troubled mind when you had been going from foster home to foster home your whole life, always feeling abandoned, always having your hopes built up when a new family picked you up only to be left down when they gave up on you. It's not that she wasn't a good kid - her first foster parents found out they were expecting as soon as they adopted her, and raising two kids wasn't on their budget. The second filled for a divorce 5 months after getting her. The third just didn't bound. And suddenly she was too old for anyone to want her. So yes, she ran. But she didn't want to run her whole life - not from her problems and not literally either. Running was just something that opened doors on her life but once she finished college what she really wanted was to become a scientist.
This semester she would be taking fewer classes and focusing on her lab experience, which would be much needed if she wanted a job later. She didn't know yet where she would get her internship, but she had 2 weeks after classes started to decide it.
She was just back from her Christmas vacations. She had spent them with August, a friend she made during her years in the foster system. He had become her family. They always tried to spend big holidays together, since for so long they were all each other had. Now that she was in college she had other friends like Ruby, whom she shared a room and most of her classes with and Belle, a literature student who worked at the library with whom she had started a friendship after spending so much time together at what they liked to "the books home". They were both great and Emma was grateful to have someone to talk to now and then.
She arrived at her room early on Sunday, just to find Ruby laying in bed watching some TV show on her computer.
"Hey, Rubes" Emma said touching the girls arm so she would take the earphones off and acknowledge her presence.
"Emma! I missed you, how was Christmas?"
"It was good. I went to Boston to be with August. I stayed in his apartment and got a job as a saleswoman at Forever 21 for the Christmas period, so I got to same some money" Emma said with a smile while opening her backpack "And with the sales I got to buy myself a new laptop" She said as she took a macbook pro out of her bag.
"Finally Emma! That fossil you carried around shouldn't even be called a computer."
"Don't you dare say this about Harriett, she and I went through a lot together" Emma looked angrily at Ruby, pressing her lips together and frowning her eyebrows. Ruby laughed and Emma's face quickly relaxed into a smile "and how was yours? I see you dyed your hair" Some of the girl's hair strands were dyed red.
"Oh! The red. Beautiful right? It's so me! About the holidays… Same old, same old. Worked at granny's, ate a lot on Christmas eve, went out with a few guys, a few girls; and you, any girlfriend? Kissed anyone on new year's eve?"
"Ha. No You know I don't... I don't even have time for this right now"
"Right." Ruby answered with a suspicious tone. She wasn't insisting on the subject because she knew Emma was not open about these things. But since she knew Emma the girl had never had a partner. She only knew the girl was a lesbian because the subject came up once at a party when they were talking about Killian Jones beauty (turns out Emma didn't agree with Ruby and thought the guy looked like a filthy pirate). She just felt that sometimes Emma was so alone, but the blonde didn't seem bothered by it at all. "Anyway how are your classes this semester?"
"Uh.." Emma didn't know them by heart yet, so she had to open her computer to look for it. "wait..." She had written them in some note, she just didn't know where the note wa- "here! It's advanced biochemistry with Mr. Gold, Celular biology with Mr. Smith and Biophysics with Ms. Mills, you?"
"Same. Except for Mr. Gold. I got chemistry with Mr. Nolan and physics with Ms. Gomez. I see you got less classes than me this semester, it almost doesn't seem like you miss overachiever"
"Yes, I have to do some lab work this year, find myself somewhere to start an internship. And I can't stop training. My times weren't great last semester and the regionals are coming; I don't want to lose this scholarship."
"EMMA WE ARE GOING TO BE LATE" Ruby said as she shook the girl on her bed, trying to wake her.
"What are you tal-" Emma reached for her side desk trying to find her phone "FUCK it's 7:30. Fuck fuck fuck I forgot to set the alarm" she jumped out of bed, almost fainting due to the sudden change in posture, and grabbed the first pair of jeans and blouse she found. She quickly went to the bathroom, brushed her teeth, threw some water on her face and put her hair in the best ponytail she could make. When she came back to the room Ruby was still putting on her shoes. Emma grabbed both their backpacks and hurried the brunette "let's go; the building is 20 minutes away and it's already 7:35".
"I want to kill the past me that decided that a class at 8a.m. was a good idea"
"And I want to kill the present you, COME ON"
The girls ran out of their apartment building. Emma tried to keep the faster pace once they hit the street but Ruby was already out of breath
"How is that possible?"
"I'm sorry but I'm not a professional runner. Not even an amateur. I just… don't run."
Emma was pissed at herself for forgetting to set the alarm but even with Ruby's slower pace they were able to get into the classroom at 7:58. They looked around for places to sit and found available seats on the second row on the far left. They let their bodies fall into the chairs and as soon as Emma felt more relaxed the clock hit 8 and the sound of heels hitting the wood floor invaded the room.
