Chapter 1
An Ordinary Day
Rachel prepared for an ordinary day in Storybrooke. She had her cereal breakfast, which consisted of less than two hundred calories. As a ballerina, she had grown accustomed to eating light. Her small apartment had limited lighting, only a few ceiling lamps every couple yards above, several which had burned out. The rest of the room's light depended on the windows. Some of the walls contained flowered wallpaper, which began to tear. The sea blue painted walls was starting to chip. Rachel never bothered with simple house repairs. There hardly seemed to be a point with the lack of company she had.
Throwing on her oversized grey shirt, Rachel made her way towards the exit of her one-room apartment. As she walked down the steps towards her old run down Mustang, she combed her long straight hair back into a ponytail with her fingers. Once she approached her car, she spotted Dr. Hyde in a white coat across the street walking towards his pharmacy. Rachel only spoke with him once to get pain medication when she fractured her foot. She remembered noticing how handsome he was with short his dark brown wavy hair, brown eyes, and tall in-shape figure. Rachel had wanted to either him to ask her out or vice versa, but something she could not explain, made it feel as though it were impossible to move forward with him or anyone.
Today, however, Dr. Hyde spotted her and waved. Rachel awkwardly returned the gesture and got in her car. That felt different. The more she thought on it, Rachel realized, lately, Storybrooke as a whole seemed different. It began back when Emma Swan first arrived. Mayer Regina Mills did not care much for Ms. Swan. Rachel knew very well, it was not good to be on the mayor's bad side, especially if it involved her son. His schoolteacher, Mary-Margaret, currently faced trial for a murder she likely did not commit. Rachel had the feeling the mayor had something to do with it. Fortunately, Mayor Mills did not take a personal interest in Rachel's dance studio. Every now and then, she would bring her son to watch her studio's performances, but nothing more.
Rachel drove and parked in front of her studio and saw, the 'g' in Living Waters Dance Studio' had burned out. She sighed, thinking there was no way she could afford to have it fixed now.
Throwing her bag over her shoulder, Rachel walked inside. She was pleased to find that the majority of her class was stretching. Paige, her star performer, was already practicing her steps for the next performance. Young Paige had been dancing since she was four years old and she had always been Rachel's most dedicated ballerina. Every class, she would arrive early so she could practice more in the studio.
"Hi, Miss Rachel!" Paige greeted, brightly, as she finished her last spin.
"Hello, Paige," Rachel replied, returning the smile and then glanced at the clock. "Hi guys. Sorry I'm late. Since I see you all have stretched let's go ahead and start working on show material."
The class prepared for the ballet version of Sleeping Beauty for their upcoming show. Paige had been cast as the princess. Rachel purposely picked this ballet because she knew her star student would shine. Paige always loved fairy tales. She would sometimes tell Rachel about her friend, Henry's, fairy tale book and how it told the classic stories with a different twist to each tale. Rachel found it interesting, but she never cared much more fairy tales. Although she desired a fairy tale-like happy ending with her own Prince Charming, she never felt much connection with the actual stories.
Once class was over, all her students got picked up by their parents, leaving Rachel alone in the studio. With no desire go home alone to her empty apartment, she decided to stay and practice some dance moves of her own. She switched the Sleeping Beauty CD to her Swan Lake music. This was Rachel's favorite ballet. She wanted her students to perform this one day, but now, she feared the storyline was much too dark for them since they were young.
Caught up in her own world, Rachel danced the solo of the Black Swan, unaware she was, at this moment, being watched. Once she caught sight of this man out of the corner of her eye, she came to a dead stop and gasped.
"Can I help you?" Rachel panted, with her hand on her chest.
"My name is Sydney," the man answered. "I come on behalf of Mayor Mills. She wishes to have a word with you."
A/N: Hello readers! Thank you all for taking the time to check out my first OUAT fic. I hope you like it so far. It will take place during the show but the story itself will revolve more around my characters which come from the story, 'Swan Lake.' I do have a basic plan for this story, but as I am not entirely sure where the show is going, the same applies to here. Please, tell me what you think. Reviews are greatly appreciated! :)