A/N: I was re-watching "Greek"-(the tv show from a few years back) and this popped into my head. CS college AU's are my fave. Expect parties, drama, and good 'ole college shenanigans. And of course two adorable idiots who take a while realizing that they are kindred spirits and perfect for each other.
"She'll help you."
"No."
"She loves you and will want to help."
"No." She'd tried walking away earlier, but her adopted brother didn't take the hint. She could say 'no' a million different ways, yet David would continue to insist with his heroic nature of trying to save her.
"Emma," he reached out a hand to slow her steady march from financial aid to the student union. She was on waging war path and had little sympathy for anyone who got caught in the cross-hairs. "Asking for help is not a bad thing."
Emma couldn't contain the growl as she wrenched her arm free from David's grip, and continued on down the idyllic paved walkway through the lush green quad.
Recently paved sidewalks.
Seasonal flowers that were constantly being planted and maintained.
Hell, there was a whole staff on campus whose job was to weed the flower beds.
New paint on the chapel that she had only entered into a grand total of once per semester (plus that one time she had go in there for freshman orientation.)
Like a cash register, Emma's mind scanned and calculated every cent the university poured into its campus. Her look darkened as one of the security personnel drove past her in a brand new golf cart. Seriously who's job is it who gets to decide what perennial gets planted or how much- wait... did that golf cart have chrome wheels?
No wonder the gem of a liberal arts school has to charge and arm and a leg in tuition. It was a cruel reality that the very school of higher education that her brother had to fall in love with would be the very one she would want to go to. (Or really, the very school that David manipulated and used a vast amount of propaganda to convince her to join him a year later, but luckily for Emma by being clever and resourceful and by knowing from a young age that girls like her would just have to work their asses off to get anywhere snagged one of the only full tuition scholarships the University awarded). All of the other poor unsuspecting students suffered from yearly tuition hikes so that the University could stay afloat while the other private liberal arts schools caved to the poor economy and their rising debts.
"Mom would want to help you."
David, damn him and his honorable good intentions, was still following her.
"I couldn't do that to Ruth." Emma finally uttered something other than the two letter negative she had been feeding him. "She is so close to retirement." Sweet, kind, compassionate Ruth who had taken Emma in and dealt with all of her baggage and orphan teenage angst with the patience of a saint.
"I know," said David, "but she wouldn't want you give up on all that you have worked for."
"There's gotta be something I can do." She grimaced at her limited options. "I'll get another job or something.." It would be difficult to do on top of the job she had as a lifeguard at the campus pool, her work study in the library, and her 18 hour class load. It made her sick just thinking about adding one more thing to her load. "Maybe a loan.."
"Emma," David's voice was part exasperated, part begging. "Please, we can call mom."
"Don't you dare worry her about this." She finally stopped her quick pace down the sidewalk and rounded on him. "David Joshua Nolan, promise me you want call and tell her about this." He open his mouth to argue. "Promise me." And there, she knew she had him pinned. It was a rule of hers ever since she can remember. Don't ask for favors. Don't ask for promises. Don't expect anything from anyone. All those things lead to hope.. which could lead to change.. which could lead to failure.
David looked into his foster sister's fierce green eyes and spoke without realizing what he was agreeing to. "I promise."
She never asked for him to promise anything.. she never asked him for anything this desperately, that he didn't have it in him to refuse her.
"Now," Emma took a deep breath (which felt like the first one to hit her lungs since financial aid drop the bomb of her full ride coming to an end) and turned to walk in the direction they had been heading. "I'm hungry."
From day one, Killian Jones, had always seen the cafeteria as a place for a sociological study. In a small liberal arts school tucked away in the sleepy town of Storybrook, Maine, the good ole college kids at Carthay University had predetermined groupings that were not unlike those voracious high school cliques. Of course, all that Killian knows about the typical high school experience he gleaned from watching American teen movies. His secondary school experience was sadly limited to that bloody all boys boarding school he got shipped off to when his father was done dealing with him.
"Jones," a voice acknowledged from behind him before slipping around the table to sit across the way.
"Cassidy." Killian kept his voice equally as disinterested as his counterpart.
"So.. Senior year?" Neal Cassidy asked, obviously trying to scramble for something to say.
"Yup," Killian's answer was lacking in his usual verbosity. "Senior year, and just go ahead and stop yourself from asking what are in my plans for after graduation."
"Ugh.. hey man, I wasn't going to ask," Cassidy's dark eyes shrunk in confusion at Killian's hostility. The pair of them had come a long way from wanting to tear each other's throats out in their sophomore year, to this loose acquaintance they had form. It always felt, however, that they sat at a precipice ready to fall off the edge back into their feud.
A pair of blonde heads pulled Killian's thoughts away from the past and Cassidy's stuttering.
"Nolan," Killian nodded in greeting when his tall, blonde fraternity brother passed him.
David, however lacking his usual charming demeanor, tossed a short greeting Killian's way before following hot on the heels of his sister.
Emma Swan.
Easily, the most beautiful female on campus. Also, undeniably the prickliest creature on earth. He was so screwed for her. Had been since his freshman year when during homecoming David introduced his "sister" to him who was still just a senior in high school.
She seemed so bright, like she was made of air and light. During the loud party that raged around them in the house, somehow Killian had found himself on the back porch alone with her. Just talking. They talked for hours about everything and anything that suited their fancy that evening. (It was refreshing considering the things that were going on at the time in his life. The idea that a female could just want to talk to him and nothing else. Not use him. Not constantly put him in a place of submission. Unlike the woman who only wanted the use of his body to make herself feel better about her life.)
Cassidy rolled his eyes at the pair of them. "High and mighty asshole."
Killian wasn't sure he heard right. "Come again?"
"I asked her out."
Ice rushed down Killian's spine. No, he couldn't mean…
"Emma Swan," Cassidy provided when he say Killian's confusion. "She told me she would think about it."
"Oh." Killian could barely contain the nausea that rose up in him. Neal Cassidy with Emma Swan. No. It wouldn't work. It couldn't happen. She was untouchable to the likes of Cassidy.
Wait...
He asked her out?
Why didn't Killian think of that?... well, he did, and often. He could see it so clearly in his mind. Pulling out the usual suave attitude that worked on co-eds, coming through with some wit and a good timed smolder, and Swan... laughing her ass off at his expense. She had always made it clear how she only saw him as a joke.
"That was last semester." Neal went on. "I mean, man, I had a chance. Really. We were in the same sociology class and she was my partner for the final. God.. she is so hot. That ass.."
Killian's fingers gripped the edge of the dining table in a losing battle of control. How dare Cassidy talk about her like that. Her ass?.. Well, in all fairness, Killian had thought about her ass a lot in the past two years. The way her jeans hugged… Get a grip mate.
"So we were together a lot you know," Neal Cassidy continued. "She's cool. Not as hostile as everyone think she is. She's just smart. Anyways, I asked her out. She told me she would think about it, but we needed to focus on our final first. We finished it, turned it in, and bam! She's moved out of her dorm and was on her way home. We texted a few times this summer, and one night got enough liquid courage in me to call her and guess who answers?"
Cassidy paused long enough to cue in that he wanted Killian to actually answer. "Nolan?"
"Exactly," Cassidy tapped his finger in the table for emphasis. "Told me to not bother his sister anymore."
"You think Nolan warned her off of you?" Killian asked with the shake of his head. (Yet another reason her has never really gone after her. Killian was actually friends with David Nolan, and even he probably wouldn't get the brotherly approval.)
"Only thing that makes since." Cassidy said with a shrug biting into his burger.
Or she could have just didn't like you, mate. And had her big brother play security against you. Killian kept his thoughts to himself.
Over the past year, ever since Emma started attending school, Killian had begun to subconsciously always be aware of where she was. Her flashing blonde hair caught his eye as it normally did when she was close by. As Nolan and her sat across each other at one of the smaller tables near a window. The sunlight bouncing off her hair was almost blinding, and Killian fully knew that he was playing Icarus when it came to Emma Swan.
Cassidy asked her out.
Why hadn't he?
Killian managed a casual conversation through the duration of lunch, even when other mutual friends had joined them. One eye on what was going on around them; one eye trained on the sister and brother deep in a colorful argument. Every once and awhile, Nolan would reach across the table for her, prompting a fierce scowl on her face. God… sometimes when he stared too long he could barely breathe. You are a sap Jones. Lovesick tosser.
He had to get out of here.
Saying his goodbyes. He cleared out from his table and exiting through the back door into a long hall of the student union. (Going through the front door would mean walking right by her… and nope, he had put himself through enough torture for the day.)
"Hey Mr. President," a sweet cheerful voice called out to him.
"Well, hello Madam President," he mockingly bowed, but his smile was absolutely genuine.
Without a doubt, the friendship he had developed with the dark hair-sunshine all the time-A-type personality-do gooder Mary Margaret Blanchard was the strangest of his life. Can't say they have always been friends, and their beginnings definitely started with her wanting to make him her pet project so she could "fix" him. Lost cause darling. Eventually her philanthropic attempts turned into a steady friendship that was only bolstered by the all too perfect relationship she had with Nolan.
"Have you seen David?"
"Last I checked he was still in the Caf."
"Is Emma with him?" Her hazel eyes widen almost in fear- no, was that reluctance?- as she fidgeted her slim pale hands.
"Ugh." Killian put on an act like he hadn't just spent the past half hour ogling her profile. "I think so."
"Oh, okay." Her voice sounded diminutive, which was strange since he had always thought that Mary Margaret and Emma had gotten along really well.
"Everything alright in happily ever after land?"
A corner of her mouth pulled up dimpling her cheek. "Everything's good."
"I'm glad to hear that, m'lady." He added a cheeky bow.
"Shut up, Killian." Mary Margaret flicked her head to the side, her short black hair falling to a different angle across her forehead. "You still stuck in Gold's course?"
He had fought his advisor tooth and nail last semester during registration. Yes, he knew he had to take Philosophy of Law, but he had a shred of hope that he could push it back for the spring when he had, fingers crossed, had already been accepted into at least one Law school. His advisor had not seen his logic (and clearly had never heard of the rumors about the law professor who had it out for him), and insisted that he take it since the class was not guaranteed to be offered in the spring.
"Yeah." His answer came out with his exhale of air. "Looks like I'm trapped."
"Well," she grinned, dimples gracing her cheeks. "Maybe something good will come from it."
Mary Margaret's voice hinted at some other meaning than a vague wish of good luck to come his way. She was most definitely up to something.
"What are you on about?" He asked raising one dark eyebrow.
"Nothing." Lie. His good natured friend had always been terrible at lying. She was always terrible at keeping secrets, which he learned the hard way their freshman year.
"Right." He turned to go down the hallway as Mary Margaret headed for the back door of the cafeteria. "Not vague at all, m'lady."
Really, truly, Emma did like Mary Margaret Blanchard. When David went off to college when she still had one more year left of high school, no one was all that surprised when he brought home a preppy girlfriend. David was the steady sort, so during that first fall break home with his new girlfriend, all of their hometown friends began to take bets on when the wedding would be.
At the current moment facing her, Emma was more on the side of the fence of really not liking her brother's girlfriend as she marched across campus indignation fueling her fire for the second time that day.
"You're so smart, I wouldn't worry about it too much. When one door closes, another opens." Emma had been about two seconds from standing on top of the table screaming despite the crowded caf and her desire to keep a low profile.
"I've offered her another door," David had muttered none too quietly. "She's just too stubborn to waltz right through."
S he had enough of the golden couple and excused herself the second Mary Margaret took a pause in her hopeful future speech.
"Have a nice class," her brother's girlfriend (and alright, after all these years, Emma's friend) smiled her way as if she held the greatest secret.
The campus was its usual busy idyllic self during the early afternoon. Late August still had the unforgivable summer heat that caused beads of sweat to gather on Emma's lower back due to her fast pace retreat across the quad. She loved David, truly she did, but he had a tendency to push her past that point of no return. That place where she threw up her old walls even higher to keep him out. Having Mary Margaret on his arm didn't help matters.
She needed to slow down or risk the likelihood of looking like a drowned rat when she finally got to class. Nothing on campus was too far of a walk, 5 minutes was the minimum to get from the student union to the humanities and social sciences building. Emma was going to have 20 minutes to spare, so she took the long way through the building and visited the Ladies before finally strolling into the mostly empty classroom.
Philosophy of Law.
Emma really didn't know what she was thinking back in the spring when she signed up for the class, and sometimes it surprised her that her advisor never batted an eyelash whenever she kept signing up for law classes. She was a business major and her advisor, Dr. Hopper, was the head of the Business department. Surely between the two of them, one of them will get a clue when it comes to the weird classes she always seems to gravitate towards. Realistically, it would be smarter to focus harder on her major and try to graduate early. It save on the money, but ever since her freshman year when the electives available to her were on short supply and she fell into Intro to Law, Emma had been accidentally padding her class load from within the law department.
Middle of the classroom always seemed the best way to go when it came to a Dr. Gold class. There were only a handful of students in the class already, when Emma snagged her favorite seat.
"Semester after semester and you just never learn." Regina Mills, queen of the campus paused at the the table in front of Emma's. "Law classes are not fun. They are for us suckers who think that they can go to law school, be hired by major law firms, make partner before they are 30, and drive bad ass Ferrari's."
"Hi Regina," Emma rolled her eyes and the other girl's theatrics. Their loose acquaintance wouldn't even exist if she wasn't Mary Margaret's step sister.
"Really," Regina eyes her under her perfectly sculpted eyebrows. "Why do you put yourself through the torture?"
Emma shook her head not wanting to have the same old argument with her, just as she spotted Dr. Gold stalking slowly into the room. Maybe it was just her imagination but the room seemed to drop a few degrees whenever the terrifying professor entered. In a strange masochistic way, Emma enjoyed Gold's classes. They were challenging and she enjoyed watching the cranky man cave whenever he gave her an A.
It was technically 5 minutes before class was set to start, but Gold tossed down a stack of pristine white pages at the end of one of the rows of tables. "This semester's syllabus. Read and take note." He announced to the class before heading towards the podium.
"Why am I not surprised?" Gold snarled as the late comer crossed the front of the room and headed down the middle aisle only to slide into the seat next to her.
"It's bloody 1:27," Killian Jones muttered to himself.
Her breath seem to catch in her throat. She hadn't really been near Killian since that last Pi Theta party David and Mary Margaret dragged her to before finals last spring. The very same party where Jones had a few one too many and probably doesn't remember anything he said to her or the way he seemed to gravitate to her on the dance floor.
"You know Gold," Emma said under her breath as she handed the stack of syllabi passing down the row of tables. "Five minutes early means your on time."
"Wanker."
Emma hid her smirk as she reached to her bag on the floor to pull out her laptop. She always got a sick pleasure whenever Jones went what her brother called "full on Brit-mode." Normally, he was easy to follow having been living on this side of the pond since he was a young teenager, but when he was good and drunk or down right riled up about something, Emma had to struggle at following his slurring accent and over abundant British slang.
One look at the syllabus and it was easy to deduct that Gold had it out for them. All of them. As the cranky old professor began delving into the course requirements, the amount of tension in the room grew. The amount of papers due before midterm alone was daunting.
"And for a change of pace," Gold droned on over the syllabus, "there will be a semester long project you will complete with a partner."
Damn. She wasn't expecting that. Gold wasn't known for group projects or partner work, and of course Emma despised partner work of any kind. Relying on someone else was not on her top list of favorite things to do.
"I'll let you choose your partner." Gold level a dark gaze towards Jones. "So choose well."
Beyond the threatening like quality of that statement, Gold immediately delved into the beginnings of a class lecture. Emma had already read the first five chapters in the book they were using in the front half of the semester.
"Well, Swan." Jones' voice reached her from behind as she maneuvered out of the classroom. "What do you say?"
She didn't turn towards him until they had successfully dodged the hall traffic to get to the door leading to the stairs.
"What do I say about what?" She asked using her back to push open the door while taking the opportunity to get a good look at him and all his messy black hair and stormy blue-eyed glory.
"The project." He reached around her to take the weight of the door from her. "We should partner."
She turned away from him laughing, but not before she noticed Killian's usual cocky look drop for a second.
"I think we'd make quite the team." He argued, still following behind her.
"In your dreams."
"Then who?" He pressed as close to her as possible without causing them to tumble down the stairs. "You got any alternatives."
"If you had noticed," Emma grimaced a slightly appreciative smile his way as he reached around her to open a door for her again, "there are an odd number of people in the class. Not to mention this is a Gold class. People will drop."
"And?" He stopped on the patio that fed into different sidewalks throughout the quad. The late summer afternoon sunlight causing him to squint his startling blue eyes to really look at her, and Emma couldn't help but be fascinated by the hidden red hue the sun brought out in his infamous Killian Jones scruff.
"Well, I intend to pinpoint a potential drop person, and then convince Gold to let me finish on my own when they inevitably drop the class."
"What if I told you that I was going to drop the class?" He asked her with a grin she couldn't help but respond with one of her own.
"You're pre-law, you have to take the class."
"And so you bested me," he said leaning towards her. "I guess I'll just have to find another partner." The way he said it left no doubt the innuendo he was hinting at.
"In your dreams Jones," she turned and walked towards the Library.
"Exactly."
She couldn't quite swear that was what he said as she walked away from him, but Emma could most definitely feel his stare burning into her back.
So this is not only my first AU but also my first multi-chapter. Here goes nothing..
