Five-year-old Emma Swan always enjoyed recess. It was a time she could take a break from all the mind-boggling color-by-numbers and annoying nap times. Whenever the time would come for her class to visit the playground, Emma always sprinted as fast has her little legs could carry her to her favorite swing–the one her older brother August said had magic.
Emma loved the feeling of the wind in her face, which caused her long blonde curls to flow behind her in ripples. She felt she could touch the clouds and fly away with the birds when she swung. Having grown up in the foster system with little means of comfort, swinging was one of the girl's few joys in life.
One day, a dark-haired boy named Killian joined Emma's class. Quickly, rumors of the boy getting into fights with other kids began circulating around the playground and no one wanted to be his friend.
The blue-eyed boy wrote off the kids' dislike for him as them being jealous, and he often lingered around the other girls on the playground, who spent their time gossiping on top of the jungle gym.
Emma didn't pay much attention to the playground drama. She was more of a loner and tended to fade into the background. Or so she thought.
After a day of being told to 'leave the girls alone' by Miss Blanchard, Killian sighed to himself and made his way over to the swing set, where he knew not many of the kids spent their time.
He quickly took notice of the little blonde girl, who was smiling from ear-to-ear, lost in a daydream of running through the clouds. He grinned to himself and then began pumping his legs, in attempts to match the girl's movements.
Once the boy had caught up to her height and speed, he decided to make his presence known.
"I'm Killian," came a squeaky voice.
Not one to talk to others, aside from her brother, Emma immediately stopped swinging and stared at the boy blankly.
When it became obvious the blonde wasn't going to reply, the boy commented, "Usually people say something back."
Still, Emma remained quiet.
After a moment or two passed, their teacher called them back in for class and they left the playground wordlessly.
Ever since the first day Killian introduced himself to Emma, he began spending all his time during recess on the swings. He desperately wanted the blonde girl to speak to him, though he did not know why.
One day, when Killian was swinging aside Emma in matching motions, he made a joking comment.
"Hey, look! We're married," the boy blurted aloud, laughing to himself.
Immediately following the words leaving his mouth, a high-pitched growl could be heard from the monkey bars.
A girl with dark-brown hair began storming over to where Emma and Killian were swinging, wearing as fierce of a scowl as she could manage.
Unconsciously, Killian stopped pumping his legs, having taken notice of the approaching girl. Emma did the same.
Once she reached them, the girl opened her mouth to say something, but the boy cut her off.
"Get your own swing, girl. This one is taken," he smirked to himself as he turned his attention away from the brunette and began pumping, once more.
The action only further angered the girl, who then quickly made her way to the other side of the swings and forcefully pushed the boy's back–causing him to loose his grip and fall flat on his face.
There was a brief pause and then the playground erupted into laughter at the sight of Killian Jones eating dirt.
Emma and the other girl didn't laugh.
The brown-haired girl looked over to Emma to see curious, hazel eyes staring back at her.
"Regina Mills!" shrieked the short-haired teacher as she sprinted over to help the boy, who was now crying from embarrassment, off the ground. Casting the girl a look, the schoolteacher said, "Your mother's not going to be happy when she hears about this."
As Miss Blanchard called everyone back inside, Regina and Emma made no effort to move.
After a moment, Emma shook herself from her stupor and hopped off her swing.
She looked toward her retreating classmates and then back to hopeful, brown eyes then said, "Hi. I'm Emma."
Regina smiled in response and took the blonde girl's proffered hand in a sloppy handshake.
"Regina."