Disclaimer: I don't own Once Upon a Time characters.
Emma squirmed where she was sitting. Under her blue graduation gown, she wore a lovely green dress. Emma hated wearing dresses. Never in a million years did Emma Swan imagine she would be standing in front of all the students and their parents, giving her graduation speech. It still hadn't really hit her that this was really her last day of high school; she was going off to the university after the summer.
Emma's school was different from other schools. It was just a small, private school that few people in her hometown of Storybrooke really knew about. And tuition tended to be expensive. The entire school went from pre-school to 12th grade. And Emma had been there since pre-school, when she was only three years old. She had excelled in school, even skipping 6th grade. Now, at 16 (almost 17), she was going off to college soon. Not to mention, she already had a two-year college degree, thanks to being dual enrolled at the community college. For her last two years of high school, she had been able to take all her classes at the community college and she earned high school and college credit. Yeah, Emma had it pretty good.
Emma was sitting in the gazebo, where the other three graduates (her small school only had 4 people graduating that year) sat, along with the principal and his wife, and one of the high school teachers. Every year, all the graduates had to make a speech, not just the person at the top of the class. Emma was third on the list, and she was beginning to get worried that her speech was going to get her in trouble. Not like I care, I'm just getting out of here. Her two friends who read their speech already, Ella and Aurora, had left almost everyone in tears. Grace, who would go up after Emma, would surely do the same. Emma was more of a comedian, so she had started her speech with a joke, to break the ice and make her more comfortable. She had also thrown some funny stuff randomly in her speech. Emma really didn't want anyone to cry.
Finally, it was her turn. She cleared her throat as she hugged Ella, who had just finished her speech and was blowing her nose. The principal announced that Emma was speaking next and the crowd practically went wild. Not necessarily wild, but she definitely got more applause than the other girls had. With good reason too. Not only had she been at the school practically her entire life, but she came in on the days she didn't have class at her community college and helped the teachers (well, one teacher specifically). And she had helped the pre-school teachers almost every day since she was in 8th grade. As a result, all 150 students and most of the parents knew and loved Emma.
Emma cleared her throat again when she stopped in front of the microphone. The applause didn't stop. Sighing, Emma held her hands toward the audience, "Thank you. Now, please. Calm down." Several chuckles ran through the crowd. Emma began opening the speech she had written down, after realizing she had folded it over several times. As she opened her paper, her eyes fell to the left side of the crowd, where she knew a certain someone was sitting. Emma's heart began racing, as it often did when she caught sight of the woman. Regina Mills. Just the thought of her drove Emma crazy. It was a long story between the two. But Emma considered them friends. They certainly weren't teacher and student. Not since 4th and 5th grade. Emma didn't know what she was to the older woman, mostly because she had been called many things, most of them jokingly. Shadow, Slave, Elf, Friend, pretend Stalker, Indentured Servant. "Muchachita," was one of Mrs. Mills's most common terms of endearment for Emma. Some of the names might seem creepy or strange, but they all held a story. And each one was precious to Emma. After all, this was the woman Emma had been in love with since she was ten years old.
Emma quickly looked back at her paper, not wanting to say something stupid. The audience has finally quieted enough for Emma to begin her speech. "How much does a polar bear weigh?" she waited a couple of seconds before answering, "Enough to break the ice!" She felt like such an idiot, but she had been saving that line all year to use at this particular moment. And it helped ease her nerves when everyone laughed. As she waited for them to be quiet again, she glanced back over at Mrs. Mills, or maybe Emma would be able to call her Regina after today. She allowed memories of Regina Mills to flash through her mind….