Hey guys! So i'm completely new to this! I've been an avid fanficiton reader for about 2-3 years now and I always dreamed of writing my own, but never had the time or the actual mental capacity for it. After spending this past week writing my own, I have a whole new respect for my fellow writers and just want to say that I'm proud of the hard work you do!

This is my first fic, and I really hope you like it. Leave some reviews/comments and let me know what you think or how I can make it better! All mistakes are mine, and I don't own anything, all rights belong to ABC and Once Upon a Time.

ACT ONE: FALL

Chapter 1: Miss Swan

"Welcome back Miss Swan" Mr. Gold said.

"Thank you sir," Emma replied as she shook the older man's extended hand.

"I understand you're here to fill a teaching position yes?"

No dumb ass I'm here to get detention one more time she thought.

"Yes, I am." Emma decided that was the more sensible answer.

"Splendid! I'll get the paper work now for you to fill out, now I will need to conduct a proper interview and ask you questions to make sure you're qualified is that okay with you?"

"Of course."

"Very well, I'll be back in a few."

Emma glanced around the Dean's office. It had been 20 years since she had been here and a lot has changed. She now had her college education, she had traveled and seen some of the places she wanted to see, she got her degree in criminal justice and actually became a paralegal not too long after that. She loved her job, but it was never the quite fit for her. She was always missing something.

She now had a kid. a 20 year old boy who what he was up to nowadays no one really knew. She had him not long after graduating high school. The father was a drunken mistake, but her son was a blessing in disguise. She loved her life, but as her son got older and moved out of the house, she seemed a little lonely. She wasn't into relationships much anymore, her last love had broken her heart and cured her of truly loving again. As she kept looking around the office she realized nothing looked any different than it did 20 years ago when she was in the same chair, for different reasons of course.

"Miss Swan I presume," The older man acknowledged as the blonde started walking into his office.

"You presume correctly," Emma smiled as she tried to act fine, acted like this wasn't her 10th school in the past 12 years, and of course, acted as though this would be her last. Who knows, she was almost 18 it very well could be.

"Well Miss Swan, your education record astounds me as much as you've moved around, school to school; your grades seem to have kept up nicely. Job well done."

"Uh. Thanks," She replied back, not knowing if that was some twisted compliment or blatant insult towards her location commitment. It wasn't her fault no one wanted her. She finally came to that conclusion after 12 years of heart breaks and rejection.

"Well everything in your file seems to be in order, here take this," He instructed as he hanged her a rather thick file all about her life. "Take it to Ms. Blue in the hallway across the corridor and she will give you your schedule and also give you a tour of the place," He ended the statement with handshake and politely said, "I look forward to seeing you around again Ms. Swan."

"Thanks you too," Emma said.

This school didn't look too bad to Emma. She wasn't going to rate it 5 stars on YELP anytime soon, but it wasn't bad. The people were friendly and the girls seemed a lot less bitchy than those at her old schools, ehh, give it time. She took her file to the secretary out front and waited for her to give her the schedule.

"Here you go darling," the secretary smiled and handed her a white sheet of paper with a list of classes and times on it.

"Thank you so much."

"It is my pleasure. Would you like to learn the fight song or have a tour?"

"Uh. Maybe later and no thank you I've got a map, I'm sure I can manage. Thank you though." And with that the blonde turned and started her journey at the new school. StoryBrooke Prep.

She kept looking up from her schedule to the classroom doors trying to find her classes, she almost wished she had taken the secretary up on her tour offer. However she didn't want to follow her around like a lost puppy. Even though, that's pretty much what she looked like right now. Something felt different at this place. It wasn't familiarity or even comfort. It just felt different. She needed different. She was in a new foster home, wasn't sure if this one would be her last or not but a girl could dream.

It wasn't the easiest of homes, her foster parents were extremely strict. They were older, in the 50 year range, and all the wisdom that comes from that, rarely tolerates teenagers and their tendencies to want to live their own life. She could probably ramble and complain about them all day, but it was a home, and it was better than sleeping in her car which she had previously done at another home.

In this house, she had two brothers: Killian and August, they were her lifelines. They defended her for pretty much anything. Plus, when it came to guys, they acted like over protective fathers weeding out the ones that they actually approved of. They were the closest thing to a family she had known, and for that she would be forever grateful.

As her mind, not to mention her heart, was bombarded with questions she still didn't know the answer to, she decided to stop thinking so much and look around. She took in all the people going to class, took in all the different smells, from preppy girl's perfume to the cafeteria, and then she listened. She heard the gossip, the band practicing down the hall, a girl crying over a break up, and then empty threats between jocks. She couldn't help but smile and think to herself this was high school.

She had been to several in her life, while jumping from home to home. It was always the same old groups and same old teachers. She wasn't sure how this school was going to be different or why it felt like it was, but it did. She was sure the students would be the same as they had always been; always needing to borrow pencils, gossiping, breaking up and getting back together, surely there wasn't much more to these kids than the other ones she had been around. She was also positive the teachers would be no different. They're always the same because the people above them always made them be. They only thing that had changed from year to year is how many tests she would have to take and the amount of lessons they pushed into one semester. It wasn't easy being a teen these days.

She was now looking for the restroom, currently dying from her bladder being unattended. She was searching frantically and was on a mission searching when she suddenly ran into someone.