Disclaimer: I don't own OUAT, etc.

AN: I'm going to try and post one chapter a day now until Christmas over my various stories (a 12-posts-of-xmas idea), so this is the first. Enjoy.

Zelena had promised her mother that she would stay away from Killian and that she would make sure he stayed away from Regina. They had been friends growing up, but recently his attitude towards school and authority had changed. Over the summer he had been arrested by the local Sheriff on a weekly basis – nothing serious, just juvenile trouble-making – but Cora Mills didn't want her daughters involved with him anymore. It was going to be her final year at the high school, it would have been Killian's too if he had attended the examinations at the end of the last term or shown up to summer school. Zelena wondered how their principle, Mr Gold, would handle the new Killian and hoped that whatever was going on would be over soon.

She knocked on Regina's door when she had finished in the bathroom. Their mother had an en-suite but the sisters had to share. Sometimes that annoyed Zelena, like going in to find that her little sister had borrowed the last of her favourite shampoo, but other times she really enjoyed having someone who looked up to her and asked her for advice. She remembered helping Regina choose her outfit for the first day of high school, reassuring her that everything would be fine and that she had nothing to worry about.

Regina was lucky. She was smart, so the teachers liked her and she had a gentle kindness that made everyone like her. Although she hadn't chosen many friends, she didn't seem to have any enemies, and while she was pretty, she didn't worry about her looks or try to use them to get what she wanted. Sometimes Zelena worried that Regina was too unfocused, that she wasn't thinking about where she wanted to go or what she hoped to do after college. Her own goals had been set for years, she knew exactly what she wanted from life and she planned to get it. That attitude hadn't made her many friends at school, but it didn't bother her. She was tough, no-one crossed her, and that reputation had protected Regina as they grew up, until her little sister began to find her own feet in the new school environments.

"Morning Zee," Regina smiled as she exited her room and saw her sister waiting.

"Morning Gi," Zelena smiled back at her, enjoying their usual morning routine and realising that when she moved away to college she would miss this.

She watched Regina close the bathroom door and headed down for breakfast. The first day of her final year at high school was about to begin.

All of Emma's belongings were packed into three boxes, marked: 'clothes', 'school' and 'other'. She had moved to Storybrooke this time last week and hadn't begun to unpack. Her new foster mother, Mary Margaret, had tried to take her shopping, offering to buy whatever she wanted or needed for the new school year. Emma still worried about being sent away, everything she needed was in those boxes, there wasn't room for anything else. Still, Mary Margaret had picked out a few basic items and insisted on hanging them in Emma's wardrobe. She had been staring at them for nearly ten minutes since she woke, trying to decide what to wear for her first day at the new school. It shouldn't really matter, not if she won't be staying, but even if Mary Margaret keeps her around a couple of months it will be important to get off to a good start. Biting her bottom lip, Emma reaches out and removes a pair of black jeans. She wants to wear her black leather jacket, the one folded up at the bottom of her 'clothes' box. It's her lucky jacket, but too much black might make her look like trouble. This is her second-to-last year of high school. She doesn't know how she made it this far, how she kept her grades just above the failing line – enough to pass up year after year. Getting kicked out of new homes happened a lot, thankfully getting kicked out of school only happened the once. Mary Margaret told Emma that she wished she worked at the high school instead, so that she could have taken Emma and shown her around before school started. Emma is kinda glad she doesn't, she isn't sure how she would cope running into her between classes.

She picks out a white t-shirt, something plain with a small logo, and pulls off the price tags. If Mary Margaret had changed her mind, she would have been able to return the clothes. Once she's dressed, she rummages around in the boxes, grabbing some pens and paper to put in a worn backpack, and taking out the leather jacket. It's going to be a warm day. She doesn't have to wear it, but she wants to carry it with her. Even if it sits crammed into a locker all day she'll know it's there and that will be enough.

She can smell breakfast. Mary Margaret always seems to be cooking food for them, proper food that takes time and patience. As someone used to microwaves, it is taking Emma some time to get used to. Her new foster mother expects her to sit down when she eats and talk with her. There's usually more food ready, in case she's still hungry, and the smell of cookies waiting in the cookie jar. It's a small apartment, but Emma has her own room, which she doesn't have to share, and… it's almost too good to be real.

When she heads into the kitchen, Mary Margaret smiles at her. There's a brown paper bag on the counter, with some money clipped to it.

"That way you can choose what you want for lunch," Mary Margaret explains as she dishes up scrambled egg onto two plates. "I made you a sandwich, but if your new friends are buying something you won't feel left out."

"You didn't have to…"

"Once you know what you prefer, just let me know. We're out of peanut butter, so it's just cheese today, but I'll go shopping after work…"

Emma can't speak. She listens to Mary Margaret talking on and on, she sits at the counter to eat her breakfast, but these are all just automatic actions. When she offers the money back, her foster mother won't take it.

"Really, the sandwiches are enough," she tries to explain, but Mary Margaret insists.