The Refinement

Emma Swan is sixteen, smart, slightly awkward, potentially pretty, and less than five seconds away from killing her new roommate. SwanQueen. [boarding school au]

Chapter One

Emma Swan is sixteen, smart, slightly awkward, potentially pretty, and less than five seconds away from killing her new roommate.

When her parents dropped her off at Storybrooke Academy approximately one hour ago, they'd reminded her that her roommate was essentially royalty with not only having successful business-oriented parents, but an entire bloodline that was dedicated to such success. To say the heir of the Mills Granulating, Co. was rich was a huge understatement.

Emma got that. She really did. She'd expected Regina Mills to be a little spoiled (as she was an only child as far as Emma was aware), pampered, and a bit selfish. However, she'll admit that she didn't expect Regina to be all that and then some.

When Regina had rolled in with designer suitcases, sunglasses that probably cost more than Emma's MacBook, and a wad of cash which she presented to the boy carrying her suitcases after he'd dutifully dropped the mountain next to what was going to be the girls' shared bathroom, Emma still tried to hold on to a tad of hope that the two of them could be friends.

"Thanks, Graham," Regina said with what Emma regarded as a haughty tone. "You're dismissed now."

The so-called Graham kid nodded once and immediately took off with the money Regina gave him which could probably carry his entire tuition for the year and Emma's.

With Graham gone, that left just Emma and Regina. Emma had smiled at the chance of getting to know her roommate and immediately hopped off of her bed to cross the room and introduce herself to the heiress.

"Hey, you must be Regina," said Emma, adjusting her reading glasses and then extending her hand. "I'm Emma."

She'd tried so hard. So very hard to be friends with Regina.

Regina had glanced over at Emma, giving her the once-over and then wrinkling her nose in what was obvious disgust. At her look, Emma had suddenly felt self-conscious in her seemingly overly-casual t-shirt and sweats.

"Sorry, but I don't need to know the name of the help."

THE HELP?

Emma was thoroughly confused.

"Maybe you didn't hear me. I'm Emma. I'm not the help. I'm your new roommate."

At this, Regina seemed to process it. It was as if she couldn't comprehend that Emma was quite possibly the person she'd be living with for the next year.

"Oh, I see. Well. That's unfortunate."

More confusion. "What is exactly, Regina?"

"I'm sorry, but I'd expected someone a little more refined?"

Appalling to say the least. "You mean…someone more like you…"

Regina seemed to smile a little at that. "Exactly. But, no hard feelings, right…uh, Emma was it? In a week, we can request different roommates. I'm sure someone will want to room with you."

And at that, Emma's newfound homicidal tendencies emerged. She wasn't quite sure when she'd gotten this violent, but every possible fate she pictured for Regina was well deserved. She was sure that there were people out there who disapproved of the way she dressed or acted, but NO ONE had ever insulted her in the way Regina did. And she didn't seem the least bit sorry!

Emma sighed once as Regina turned back to unpacking her suitcases. Maybe Regina was just jet lagged and speaking carelessly? It was possible that this was the case and maybe some time by herself would allow them to get off on a better foot.

With that in mind, Emma grabbed her copy of Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales, quietly closed her dorm room door behind her, and set off to find a quiet place to read.

Emma had to admit that Storybrooke's campus was breathtaking.

She hadn't had time to explore the grounds or do much of anything besides unpack and share a tearful goodbye with her parents before they were whisked away to a life in New York far away from Storybrooke, Maine.

The dorms were in the heart of the campus with all of the buildings built into a unintended rectangle. In the middle of said rectangle was a parking lot. One building was all-girls, another all-boys, and the remaining two co-ed. Emma now lived in the only all-girls building which faced the West side of the campus.

It was getting close to the curfew time, but Emma could see that many of the students didn't plan on retreating to their rooms until they absolutely had to. Several kids were walking around or simply standing outside of their rooms and looking around.

Many of them looked unapproachable and although Emma wanted to make friends, she had no desire to speak to any of the students that she currently seen around. Except for one of them.

She'd noticed him by accident, but now that she did, it seemed as if she couldn't look away. A normal person would chalk it up to the fact that the boy was fairly attractive, but Emma was concerned with the fact that he was standing next to what could be none other than Regina Mills' car (it was red, had apple-themed seat covers and was the only sports' car in the area for God's sake) with several paper clips (two bent out and shoved into the car's keyhole and a few more in the guy's mouth).

Emma sighed and approached him.

"What are you doing?" she asked even though it was clear the guy was trying to steal Regina's car.

The boy barely spared her a glance, instead choosing to shove the paper clips more viciously into the keyhole in an effort to open the door. "Isn't it obvious? I'm trying to steal Mills' car. It isn't working out so well though."

As much as she disliked Regina for her careless insults, Emma wasn't just going to let this random guy steal her car. "As her roommate, I can't let you do that. What'd she even do to you to warrant you stealing her car?"

"Absolutely nothing," the boy responded, laughing. "I just want her car. She has enough money to buy one for every sophomore at this academy anyway. By the way, I doubt you care enough about her to save her from being stolen from. I heard she's a total bitch."

Emma figured that wasn't a complete lie.

"She's…complicated." she finally said. "I barely know her."

"Then how about instead of saving her, you go on a joy ride with someone who's actually cool?"

And with that, a click sounded and the boy hopped into the driver's seat of Regina's lavish car. Emma wanted to refuse. She really did. But after what had happened with Regina, she was pretty sure this random guy was right. Regina was a bitch, but she was a loaded one who didn't even need this car.

The guy easily hot-wired Regina's car which was confusing, considering the the trouble he had with the lock. He put his hands on the wheel and settled down into the driver's seat. "Name's Neal by the way. And you are?"

Emma smiled. Everything about this situation was so strange. She never imagined that she'd meet her first friend in her roommate's hot-wired car. Neal was a complete stranger and still she trusted him enough to go on a ride to who knows where with him. That's more than she'd ever trust Regina.

"Emma. I'm Emma."

As soon as Emma was a considerable distance away from the dorm room, Regina ceased pretending to unpack and retreated to the window to make sure the girl stayed far away from her for a while.

There are three things that Regina must admit about Emma Swan.

Emma Swan is awkward beyond belief. That was quite possibly the worst meeting Regina had to suffer through, complete with all the long pauses and silences between complete strangers that she tried to avoid. During the entire ordeal, it was as if Emma didn't even notice how uncomfortable she was.

Emma Swan has potential to be pretty. And yet she hides it underneath unflattering clothing and large, thick-rimmed glasses. Now, of course Regina would not admit this to anyone except herself because that would mean that she was interested in something Emma had to offer, right?

Emma Swan is…climbing into the passenger seat of her car?

There was no mistake. It was Regina's cherry red Alfa Romeo with an unknown guy in the driver's seat and her new roommate next to him. Regina didn't even have time to fully be shocked when the guy pulled off and shot out of the parking lot.

Did they just steal her new car?

Regina was seething. She'd been nothing but nice to that lowlife and this is how she repaid her? She had half a mind to call the cops on her and her delinquent boyfriend. However, doing so would seem like a plea and Regina Mills needed no one's help.

So, on that note, Regina turned away from the window and entered the bathroom, turning on the shower in order to relax while subsequently thinking of ways to destroy Emma Swan's life.

Emma and Neal returned about fifteen minutes before curfew. They hadn't done much, just taking Regina's car around the outskirts of the academy's grounds. Neal had wanted to ultimately take the car from himself, but doing so would basically be sentencing yourself to death so Emma gladly shot that idea down.

She didn't think she would, but once the adrenaline of doing something remotely bad had died down, she began to feel guilty. What would she do if Regina had found out? And she most certainly would.

Emma sighed and turned the knob to enter her and Regina's shared room.

She entered to the sight of Regina blowdrying her hair. Now, normally this wouldn't be much of a problem except for the fact that Regina was only wearing a towel tightly wrapped around her body.

Emma stepped back and a crimson blush covered her cheeks.

"I'm, uh, so sorry, Regina!" she stammered out.

Regina smirked. "Don't worry about it. We're both girls. We share everything."

She set down her blowdryer and began to comb through her fairly long black hair. "Except my car that is."

At this, Emma started. "W-what?"

"You heard me."

Regina rose from her spot on her bed, abandoning her comb and blowdryer to stand in front of Emma. In an effort to avoid the other girl's wrath, Emma began stepping back through the dorm room door as Regina approached her.

"How could you?" Regina demanded. "I've been nothing but nice to you! And yet, I see you and your boyfriend taking my car for a spin!"

Emma instantly felt guilty because maybe Regina didn't realize that what she said earlier was everything but nice. "Neal's not my boyfriend! I barely know the kid!"

"Well, you sure as hell know him enough to let him steal my car!"

By this time, people had started to emerge from their dorm rooms to see what the fuss was about. Emma caught sight of a few phones coming out to record the events. Oh God, everyone was going to know about this.

"I'm sorry, Regina! I'm so s-…"

In a way that couldn't be anything but cliche and what Emma had to chalk up to her incredibly bad luck, her frantic hands reached for Regina's shoulders to try and calm her down. However, this made Regina try to pry Emma's hands off of her and the movement caused her towel to fall away.

"-orry…"

In a matter of three shock-filled seconds, Emma and Regina were both blushing so hard, they rivaled the color of Regina's car. Emma's hands were still tightly grasping Regina's shoulders while Regina's hands were around Emma's forearms in an effort to detach her. All around them, cameras were flashing and record buttons were being pressed. By the morning, this would be everywhere.

Regina shrieked and gathered up her towel as quickly as possible, retreating to their room and shutting the door in Emma's face. The sound of a lock clicking into place was the only sound in the silence afterwards.

The crowd of interested girls soon dispersed to their respective rooms when they realized Regina wasn't coming back out, leaving Emma to her thoughts. Curfew was in two minutes and Regina had locked her out.

Perfect.

About thirty minutes after curfew, Regina opened the door with an angry force, causing Emma to fall back into the carpeted room since she'd been leaning against the door. Regina trudged back to her bed in silence but not without Emma noticing her red, puffy eyes.

Regina may be a bitch, but no one deserved the publicity that was going to happen to her in the morning. Emma had never felt more guilty in her entire life.

She immediately went to her bed which was parallel to Regina's and climbed in.

"I'm so sorry, Regina," she whispered. "I really, really am."

She dreaded waking up in the morning.

Author's Note: Wow, okay so I just finished OUAT and I am OBSESSED. Obsessed with the show, the fandom, every pairing, etc. I have so many feelings for this show, oh my gosh. Also, yes, this is SwanQueen, but that doesn't mean there won't be other pairings on the way. As in, Swanfire is going to be a thing of relevance for a bit. Nevertheless, thank you for reading! Sorry for all the drama in the first chapter of all things, but hopefully you stick around! :)