"Oh my gosh, Emma!" A longhaired brunette wearing mom jeans, a white tank top and a leather jacket, squeals, "Your foster dad is so yummy!"
Emma groans, scrunching her nose. "Uh…I guess. I haven't really noticed."
The girl giggles and lightly punches Emma's arm. "Oh, don't lie to me! He's such a DIlF."
"A what?"
"Dad I'd Like to F—" A boy a foot taller interrupts Ruby, the girl who Emma was holding a conversation with. He slings an arm over her shoulder, pressing a kiss to her temple, causing her to giggle again. He's also wearing a leather jacket, but his jeans are a bit snugger than Ruby's and dark and ripped. He's attempting to grow out a beard, but for over a week can only grow a five o'clock shadow. If you look closely, you can even see him wearing a hint of eyeliner. Eyeliner that Ruby calls yummy as well. Ruby thinks a lot of things are yummy. Especially boys.
Emma smiles at the two and adjusts her backpack on her shoulders. "Ruby was just telling me the meaning of DILF, Killian. But I don't think I want to know the rest."
Killian returns the smile, but beams down at Ruby. "Whose a DILF babe?"
"Emma's foster dad! He dropped her off today. I'd tap it." This causes Emma to scrunch her face in disgust again. "Why don't you have him drop you off more often?"
"Because…I don't know. I don't like the attention. You saw the car. I don't want people asking me about it and whatever." Emma shrugs.
"Car? What kinda car?" Killian finally finds enough interest in the conversation.
"It's a blue mustang. Another collectible, I think."
"He collects cars?"
"No." Emma steps aside to let some girls pass them as they try to enter the doors of the high school. "He fixes really fancy and old cars. Sometimes motorcycles. He's really good at it. I've been down to the shop several times."
Killian's eyes widen and scoff. "And you never invited me? Dude! That hurts. Right here." He taps an index finger where his heart is.
"So the car isn't his then?" Ruby questions as she stops at her locker, fiddling with the lock before giving up. Emma intervenes, unlocking it on the first try.
"Nah. I think he wanted to give it a test drive before the owner picked it up. But yeah, I'll ask him if it's cool, if I invite people. I just don't wanna do anything to make him anxious about keeping me, ya know?"
Killian and Ruby exchange looks. They don't really understand, but know how hard it is on Emma bouncing from foster homes. Luckily, she's been with David for almost a year. She's almost done with high school and grateful her last home was only several towns from David's. He allowed her to stay at the high school, even giving her a yellow bug to drive. It needed the oil and brakes changed today. She offered to take the bus, but David ruffled her hair, saying, "Why? When you can show up in a sick ride?"
"Anyway," Emma broke the moment of silence, "How are you guys feeling about these Spanish presentations?"
Killian rolls his eyes and Ruby screams into her locker. She slams it loudly after gathering her necessary books and putting some away. "I don't wanna talk about it."
Emma offers them sympathetic smiles as she casually leans against the lockers. "That bad?"
"The worse, Ems! I mean, you'd think our junior year in Spanish would be easier since we've all taken it since eight grade. But I suck. And not like I think I suck, but actually fluent, no I suck! My partner keeps making fun of my accent! I can't help that I'm a white girl from Connecticut, living in New York. The universe wants me to fail. But she's sweet and helps me out, but I can tell she's anxious I'll fuck it up."
Ruby pouts furiously and Emma cannot help, but think how ridiculously cute she looks right now. Well honestly, Emma always thinks Ruby looks cute. But totally platonically. Least she thinks.
"How's Regina? Is she still amazingly perfect and walks on water?" Ruby pokes Emma's arm teasingly. Killian and Ruby knew Emma harbored a small crush on Regina, even though she refuses to admit it.
Emma's cheeks heat, as she shies away from Ruby's finger. "She's okay." She wants to sound as nonchalant about Regina as possible. "I think we're presenting today."
"Uh-huh. Is she gonna give you a kiss for good luck?" Killian chimes in.
Emma's cheeks become even redder. "No! Why are you guys like this? I just think she's super cool."
"And pretty. Smart. Really talented. Smells unbelievably good. And the cutest laugh." Ruby rolls her eyes playfully. "Yeah. We've heard it all before."
"Do I really talk about her that much?" Emma bashfully questions as they proceed to the stairs since their Spanish class is on the second floor.
"Enough. I mean, not like I don't talk about my crushes all the time. We don't mind. Least I don't mind. I dunno about Killian."
Emma looks up at Killian with widened eyes. He sighs and pulls her into his side. "No. I think it's cute you have a crush on Regina Mills."
"I don't have a crush." Emma mumbles for the millionth time.
"Yeah, and I don't wanna bang my calculus substitute teacher." Killian retorts.
"Ew. I don't get it. She's like forty."
"Ruby. Lemme tell you something. She's a woman. And age means experience. I bet she can run laps around all these girls." Killian smirks. "And by run laps, I mean–"
Emma pinches and twists Killian's nipple to stop him from finishing his sentence. The boy stops on the landing of the second floor, bowing over in pain. A soft cry escapes him.
"Bloody hell!"
"Language, Mr. Jones!" Ms. Blue hisses as she walks pass the group.
Killian frowns and flips her the bird behind her back. Emma gasps loudly, while Ruby pulls his hand down. "Dude! Do you wanna get suspended?"
"She's so annoying. Why can't she leave me alone? Not my fault she's not getting laid."
Emma face palms and shakes her head. Ruby giggles, locking her arm with Emma, pulling her along. Emma smiles softly upon hearing Ruby's giggle and picks up her feet.
They enter Spanish classroom moments later, taking their usual seats in the middle of the desks formation. Emma sits in the middle of her two friends. She nervously glances at the clock, realizing there's only ten minutes to go over her presentation notes before class starts. Pulling the typed notes out of her bag, Emma reads over the material, praying she doesn't mess anything up.
About three minutes later, a shadow appears over her paper and she peels her eyes off it, slowly trailing them up the girl in front of her. The girl wore a yellow and black plaid fitted mini-skirt with a cropped white sweater, but it modestly covered her stomach and stopped at the hem of her skirt. She sported her normal hairstyle; pulled in a high ponytail, bangs out and the ends of her hair curled. Emma noticed a hint of makeup, but it's not like the girl needed it. She smiled sweetly at Emma causing Emma's heart to skip a beat. Lie. It stopped beating upon landing on her face.
"Hi, Emma."
"H-hey, Regina." Emma suddenly felt hot. Was it always this warm? And she needed some water.
Killian and Ruby exchanged knowing looks, leaning in closer to hear the conversation.
"How are you feeling about the presentation? I wanted to call you last night to go over it one more time, but I forgot your number, and I tried looking in the phone book, but then I couldn't remember David's last name." Regina continues to smile, her voice so sweet that Emma knew she could get a sugar rush from listening to it too much.
"Nolan," is all Emma managed to say. Ruby sighs, shaking her head. Killian drops his own on the table, knowing Emma is a loss cause.
"Huh?" Regina cocks her head to the side, her ponytail swaying with the movement.
Emma is slightly mesmerized by the motion of Regina's hair, but pulls her eyes away. They instead landed on Regina's lips, which Emma found herself thinking about more often than she'd like. It looked she painted them a baby pink. Emma made a mental note to compliment her about it. She liked giving Regina compliments, because the other girl always blushed then giggled as she thanked Emma.
"David's last name is Nolan. But it's okay, not like you need it anymore. But, uh, thanks. I think I'm gonna be okay."
"Oh. Right." Regina shakes her head lightly. "Okay. Well remember not to overthink it. Roll your r's and not to pronounce the h's."
Emma nods with each one. "Got it. Got it and got it. Thanks again. And good luck to you, or us."
Regina giggles, causing Emma to hold her breath. Gosh. How is someone so perfect?
"Thank you, Emma. I'm not worried. I had a great partner." Regina winks, as she turns on her heels to sit with her friends.
Emma releases her breath and slumps in her seat. She's sort of grateful the presentation is over today. She'll miss hanging around Regina, but Emma felt like she'd explode every time they met up to work. Regina was so cute and sweet and everything Emma imagined her to be. But a million times more. When Senora Jiménez paired them up, Emma could not believe her luck. Not only is Regina the smartest girl in their grade, but hands down the prettiest. But not like the last part mattered. She never heard anything bad about Regina and now she knew why. There's nothing wrong about Regina. She oozed perfection.
"Regina and Emma kissing in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G." Killian and Ruby lowly sing as soon as Regina is out of earshot.
Emma blushes, but shushes them. "Stop that. There's no kissing going on. Least not between us."
"But you want to." Ruby comments.
"N-no. No."
"Suuree." Ruby wants to add more, but Senora Jimenez walked in the room, obviously in a bad mood.
Everyone knows when the Senora is in a bad mood. She wears her aviators indoor, hair not in its usual bun, and sports a pair of jeans instead of one of her usual flowy skirts. Emma sighed, knowing her teacher grades even heavier when she's in a bad mood. It's bad enough, she's nervous already, but know she's stuck with Moody Senora. However, Regina turns around and flashes Emma a small smile, as if she read her thoughts. Regina looks sort of nervous too, but within reason. Emma quickly returns the smile and lifts two thumbs. Regina refrains from giggling then returns to face the front of the class. Emma mentally slaps herself, but least she got an almost giggle.
"Bueno. ¿Quienes presentan hoy?" Senora spoke up as leaned against her desk surveying the classroom and the students.
Six hands shot up. Regina and Emma along with Mike from the basketball team, Jenny from Emma's Lit class, then two kids Emma didn't really know, but names were Alex and Shane.
"¿Regina y Emma, sí? Mike y Shane. Jenny y Alex." Senora read off a paper with the pairings. Her eyes landed on Regina then glanced over to Emma. "Las dos chicas. ¿Podemos presentar primero?"
Emma swallowed thickly, mumbling, yes, underneath her breath. She walked to head of the classroom tightly clutching her notes. They're not allowed to directly read off of them, but can glance occasionally, if needed. Each pair had to read and analyze a Federico Garcia Lorca poem then sort of teach it to the class. Talking about the meanings, the history and story behind the poem, then how it related to other stuff they've read.
The Senora assigned them one about the moon and a little gypsy boy. After reading it several times, Emma still had no idea what it meant. Regina patiently explained it to her, least the general idea, and Emma felt enlightened. The poem, granted, is kind of messed up, but in a beautiful way. After that, Emma had a lot of fun with it and understood most of what Lorca was writing. She hoped she could relay her thoughts clearly enough with the class. Regina said, she understood everything Emma wanted to get across and thought it all made perfect sense. Emma kept playing Regina's words over in her head throughout the presentation. It helped her get through all of it. They timed themselves and knew it took about fifteen minutes for them to read the poem then go back and forth presenting. They finished in twelve. Only because Emma forgot something about the boy's parents, but the Senora asked about it, which Emma easily answered. She seemed impressed with her answer and let them sit, since no one asked questions.
Emma didn't really pay much attention to the next two presentations. Jenny kept stumbling over her words and Alex constantly read from his notes. It was brutal and Emma did not want to witness the embarrassment. From what she gathered from the last presentation, they worked on a poem about young men fighting for no reason, and their moms crying, something like that. After the presentations were over, Senora asked them to reread the last three pages of Bodas de Sangre.
She quite liked the play and even discussed it with Regina. Regina mentioned she cried several times and couldn't imagine having such forbidden love, but it sounded romantic. Emma laughed and told her nobody is worth dying over. Regina disagreed, even though she never loved anyone so strongly. That struck Emma weirdly, because didn't Regina have a boyfriend and weren't they dating for like two years? She never mentioned it to Regina, because it's not like she ever wanted to talk to Regina about her boyfriend, Daniel.
Senora discussed the final scene of the play and students chimed in, which caused the class to move kind of fast. Least fast enough for Emma's liking. As the bell rang, everyone rushed out to get to the next period, but Emma took her time. Her next class was two doors down. And not like she's excited about Physics. Ruby and Killian bid her goodbye. Ruby had gym class and Killian computer coding, both in separate buildings on the campus. She noticed Senora and Regina having an intense conversation. Emma did not feel like translating, because Regina is a fluent speaker. Her father is Cuban, so Regina grew up speaking Spanish. When Emma asked why Regina even took Spanish, the girl responded that she never grasped the grammar and writing is difficult for her. Emma scoffed at that. Why's it matter, if her writing isn't perfect? She can easily read and talk fluently. It's all that would matter for Emma.
She passed by them, shyly smiling. Senora Jimenez told Emma job well done and that she was very impressed. Emma's smile slightly widened and expressed her gratitude then left the two. As she headed down the hall, she heard the voice of Regina calling out her name. Emma lifts an eyebrow, turning around and sees Regina jogging over to her, ponytail bouncing. Emma met her halfway.
"Uh, what's up, Regina?" Emma nervously rubs the back of her neck. What if she thought I sucked?
"Great job today! Senora is not the only one impressed. You were on fire. Even better than when were practicing." Regina, as usual, is smiling. She loops her thumbs over the straps of her backpack.
Emma instantly brightens up. "Really? Oh, w-well, I thought about what you told me when I first presented." Regina blank expression leaves Emma to explain. "That you understood everything I was saying and it sounded smart and well thought out." Emma is paraphrasing, but she remembers word for word.
"You remembered? Aw, Emma! You're so cute." Regina giggles. "I'm happy, I could help. Senora said our grade is an A. She'll give us the notes and everything next class."
"An A? Wow. I've never gotten an A in her class."
"Really?" Regina pauses, looking down at her shoes. "I can help. Not like tutor you, but I enjoyed us talking about the poem and even the play. If we met up, once a week, and just discussed the class and what we're working on, I think that might help. Plus, I need the practice with grammar, so I don't mind editing papers with you. She looks up at Emma, met with a confused girl. Regina blushes, dropping her gaze once more. "You don't have to! It's just an idea."
Emma snaps out of her state and shakes her head. "No, no, I-I'd love to work with you. I have a B-, but if I can bring it up, then why not?"
"Oh, sweet! Have you started the paper yet?"
"Nah. I've been putting it off. I dunno what to write about. The topic is so broad." Emma shrugs, but knows she needs to stop procrastinating, because it's worth more than 20% of her grade.
Regina bites her lip, contemplating her next words. "Do you wanna meet up and start thinking about topics? We can probably complete an outline, if we are focused."
Emma watches Regina lightly nibble on her lip, which she thinks is so cute. Because Queen Regina Mills nervous about asking peasant Emma Swan to study and work on a paper? Yeah, sounds crazy just thinking it. "I have to work at Pop's after school, but I'm free around 7."
"I always forget you work there." Regina lightly smiles.
"W-why?" Emma juts out her bottom lip in a pout.
Regina takes notice, and stumbles over her words to explain herself. "Nothing bad! It's the uniforms are so girly. You know? It's so retro and 50s and not your style. One of my friends works there and she absolutely loves wearing those poodle skirts and the tight white polo shirt. Oh! And the cute little pink bow around your ponytail." She starts to giggle at the image of Emma wearing anything pink.
Emma groans, rolling her eyes at the ridiculous uniforms. "Yeah, I loathe it. My friends come in and constantly mock me. I'm sure there are pictures somewhere. I only wear the uniform at work. I change there, because it's so embarrassing."
"Oh, I'm sure it's not that bad. You probably look absolutely adorable. Maybe I'll stop by today and watch you in action."
"Please don't…" Emma whispers, averting her gaze from Regina's chocolate pools of eyes, as she blushes.
Regina's giggle rings in Emma's ears. "Fine. I won't. But can I pick you up at 7:15? We can go to my house then I'll drop you off at your house."
"Sounds perfect. I'll phone David and let him know I'll be home later than usual."
"Is he gonna be okay with that? I don't want you to get in trouble. Cause I can come to your place, if it's easier?"
Emma's heart flutters and her stomach tightens. She cannot understand how Regina is such a sweetheart and considerate of everyone's feelings. No wonder she's one of the most popular girls in school. Everyone loves her, or wants to be her.
"No yeah, David's cool about stuff like this. Especially since it's school related. And he likes you. Thinks you're a good influence."
Regina blushes. "Not like you're some rebel or a one of those potties."
"Ha. Guess I'm not giving off my hard rock image then." Emma crookedly smiles at Regina, mortified about her horrible jock. Regina seems to like it, because she lightly laughs. The bell, however, gives off the warning ring, indicating classes start in a two minutes.
"Shit. I didn't even hear the first ones." Emma mutters. "So, uh, see you at 7:15?"
Regina rolls her eyes and laughs. "Emma. I have Physics with you. We're going to the same class."
Emma face palms and sighs. "Right. Duh. I knew that. I promise, I'm not stupid or something. I just got caught up."
"No problem." Regina sweetly smiles, before slipping into the class. "Oh. And I don't think your stupid. You're one of the smartest people in our grade."
Emma almost trips over someone's backpack as she passes Regina, engulfed by Regina's words. Smartest in the grade? How did she come up with that?
A/N: If you like it, pls pls pls leave me a comment! It means more than you think. Also it lets me know, if I should keep posting. I have four other chapters written, but I won't know, if I should share, if no one comments or tells me they like it. Thanks! I hoped you liked it.