When the heavy wooden door to the lecture hall slammed shut with an unexpected cacophony, not even the diligently focused petite brunette in the front row could resist whipping her head around to see a tall dark-haired girl in black adidas sweatpants and a scarlet red Storybrooke U Lacrosse pinnie, who was now turning a deep shade of pink and wearing the expression of a puppy that has just been caught misbehaving. The silent classroom cast a unanimous nervous stare toward the tardy girl. Yet, only the pretty brunette in the front row seemed particular perturbed by the disruption. Even the professor just shrugged off the distraction.

A loud sigh washed over the room from the front of the class as the elderly professor groaned, "Well, there is always at least one of you…" He continued to speak, addressing the entire room, "As I was just explaining, attendance and punctuality are mandatory for this class… And , as I am sure many of you will come to find, are skills required for success in the adult world." The white-haired professor motioned to the girl standing at the top of the stairs, "Alright, alright… Here, all latecomers are lucky enough to get front row seats." The girl slouched with displeasure at this statement. "They're the only seats no one else wants," he grumbled, mostly to himself, in the manner that older professors often do to express their weariness from years of preparing soul-sucking lectures and delivering them to aloof students.

As the tall almost-black-haired girl descended the steps, her athletic grace became apparent as she slipped down the levels quickly and smoothly, barely lingering on any one of them until she reached the first row of seats. She slid into a spot at least two seats away from a clearly annoyed but, notably cute, girl with mid-length wavy, brown hair, who shot her a harsh glare of disapproval before returning her attention to the professor. The lanky, white-haired professor began to drone information to the class as he walked up to drop a syllabus on the athlete's desktop. Across the top margin, it read Historical and Sociological Interpretation of Fiction Classics in neat, sprawling cursive. "Great start to your toughest class of the semester, Lucas. Really great…" Ruby thought to herself, rolling her eyes and slouching into her seat.

After what felt like three hours, the fifty-minute class was over and, with it, so was the first Monday of college classes for Ruby Lucas. She wouldn't have to return to what she assumed would be her least favorite class until Wednesday. She was on a full-ride for lacrosse and studying to be a criminal justice major, like her best friend from high school and current dorm mate, Emma Swan. Ruby's Granny nearly died of laughter when the girls announced their decided career path (considering that Ruby and Emma were "long-time, well established trouble-making hoodlums of Storybrooke," as she had put it), but couldn't protest since Ruby had saved up plenty from working at the diner and earned a full athletic scholarship too.

Most of Ruby's core curriculum classes seemed like they would be interesting and easy enough for her to do well in them. But much to her dismay, she was also required to take at least one 'art appreciation' lecture and she was forced to pick the only one that fit her lacrosse practice schedule—Interpretation of Fiction. Ruby had always hated reading, finding it too slow-paced and therefore boring. She would rather watch a movie, or better yet, play a pick-up game of nearly any sport. Luckily, the athletic department was prepared for the academic shortcomings of their athletes and had made arrangements for a student-tutor to help ensure that Ruby's grades were good enough to maintain her NCAA eligibility for lacrosse. Ruby was supposed to be meeting the tutor at the library at 6:00pm. It was now 6:20pm.

"You're late," a soft accented voice called out from behind Ruby, who whirled around smoothly on her heel to see the wavy-haired girl with her sapphire eyes and full lips pulled into a scowl.

"Actually, I'm Ruby," the tall girl joked as she smiled warmly at the smaller brunette, who was dressed like a fashionable grade-school teacher. She noticed the other girl's stern look and laughed, "And I recognize that icy glare from class. You must be my tutor!" Ruby flashed her distinctively charismatic smile at the other girl as she played light-heartedly at the other girl's blatant annoyance.

"Belle," the smaller girl let out quickly while trying to avert her gaze from the obnoxiously charming smile of the tall, pretty, athletic girl standing in front of her. She looked back up as she watched the Ruby pull out a chair, slide off her backpack, and seat herself across from Belle effortlessly. The girl's jade green eyes were flecked with black and yellow and seemed to sparkle as she smiled and said slowly, "Well, Belle," letting the name linger on her tongue as she said it for the first time, "I'm sorry I'm late. Sometimes I think my coach is just really intothe sound of his own voice. He just kept talking forever after practice," she elaborated. "And, I mean, I could have rushed right over, but I assumed you would prefer if I was showered and didn't smell like dirt and grass," Ruby joked as she unzipped her bag to pull out a notebook and pen.

Belle honestly didn't mind that Ruby was late. It gave her time to read her most recently acquired novel, The Hunger Games, which she had been dying to indulge in after a long day of classes. Still, Belle didn't like when people were late for the sole reason that it usually meant that they didn't care about what or, in her case, who they were late for. Yet, as she met Ruby's warm and focused eyes (still turnt up and crinkled at the edges because she was still smiling at her), she had difficulty assuming the same of the girl. She expressed the mildest of annoyance as she said, "It's fine, I was just reading anyways, and the book is really good," she managed a tiny smile that made Ruby's eyes gleam while a relieved half-smile crept across her face. Belle had to remind herself to avert her gaze from the other girl's lips again. There was something annoyingly alluring about the charismatic, handsome girl, who had just begun to pull her smooth dark hair into a ponytail. A few wild strands escaped the control of the elastic and fell to frame the beautifully angular features of her face. She tucked one of them behind her her with her left hand.

"You are already reading for class? It's the first day!" Ruby exclaimed in disbelief.

"Oh, no. This book is just for fun," Belle replied brightly, not able to hide her love for anything to do with fiction.

"Phew..." Ruby let out in a sigh of relief.

"This…" Belle heaved a small but thick brown book onto the library table with a light thud, "is the book we are reading for class." She smiled genuinely, which made Ruby believe that she might not be completely sane.

Ruby let her jaw drop and her head fall forward into her hands in a dramatic display of defeat and surrender. She peered up from behind her fingers when she heard the adorable chime of Belle's half-giggle. "Come on," Belle chuckled, "Crime and Punishment is a classic! It's a great, enthralling story! And it's written so elegantly!" she enthused. The tiny girl was now beaming at Ruby as she pushed a stray curl back behind her ear and began to rave about the book. When Belle finally stopped to take a breath after summarizing the book, its themes, and its socio-cultural context, she looked up to see Ruby looking at her with the expression of a confused puppy, head tilted and eyebrows raised with bewilderment.

"Oops," she squeaked, "Sorry… I get a little excited. I just love literature," Belle apologized, letting her smile sink into a slightly embarrassed grimace.

"No! Hey!" Ruby interjected. "I think it's totally cool that you like to read," she encouraged with a smile, "It's just that I've never been very successful in my English classes in the past. I don't really like to read and I hardly ever notice any 'symbolism' or that 'foreshadowy' stuff." Her usually confident grin reduced to a thin line, now only slight upturned at one corner. "I've always been jealous of smart girls like you," she admitted as she looked up slowly to see Belle with a look of genuine disbelief on her face.

"What?" Ruby asked, "What's so surprising?"

"That you would be jealous of someone like me. You were always so cool, pretty, and popular in high school…" Belle mumbled the end of her sentence as she realized what she was revealing.

"WAIT! You went to Storybrooke High?! Why don't I remember you?" Ruby exclaimed excitedly, disrupting a few students reading nearby. She leaned forward over the table, her eyes wide and attentive, like a dog waiting for a tennis ball to be thrown.

"Shhh!" Belle hissed, shaking her head, "No. I-I…"Then, the girl sighed with defeat as she explained to Ruby how she transferred to Storybrooke from France during her senior year and how she never really got to know anyone aside from her teachers. Belle was not particularly social in high school. She admitted that she was more concerned with her grades and her part-time job at the town library, which almost no one from her graduating class ever ventured into.

"Well, I wish I knew you back then," Ruby replied thoughtfully. "Then, maybe my GPA would have been higher than the minimum requirement for participation in sports," she joked. Belle smiled with relief at how surprisingly humble and sweet the beautiful jock actually was.

"Maybe this tutoring thing won't be so bad after all," they both thought to themselves.

"Oh!" Belle gasped as she looked at her thin gold watched. It was already 8:00pm and their planned tutoring session was up. "We didn't even get through the first chapter and we are supposed to have read through chapter three by Friday!" Belle worried aloud.

"I'm sorry. I get distracted easily," Ruby admitted, "but I was just interested in what you were saying." Ruby apologized but wasn't really sorry. She had enjoyed every minute of listening to Belle's sweet, lightly accented voice tell her stories and share her ideas and opinions. There was a sweetness to the girl's voice that Ruby could not get enough of.

Belle murmured, "I was just rambling on about myself…" she trailed off shyly.

"Yeah, that's what I liked about it," Ruby said softly as she bit her lip, worried that she might be coming on a bit too strong but, when she glanced up and saw that Belle's cheeks had turned a light pink as she tried not to smile at the comment, she relaxed. Confident once again, she flashed her charming smile at the still pink Belle who averted her eyes and began to hurriedly put her books into her backpack.

Belle was doing everything in her power to avoid eye contact with Ruby to hide the fact that she could feel herself blushing at the sweetness of Ruby's comment. The way Ruby had said it, and the way Belle had felt when she heard it made the smaller girl nervous—but a good kind of nervous, the kind that made her heart flutter and race. She had to try and make a quick escape before she said something stupid or, worse, dorky in from of Ruby. So, she began to gather her books quickly and tried to hurry back to the comfort of her quiet and most likely empty dorm room. But Ruby was not letting her off the hook so easily.

"So…" Ruby started, "Can I walk you back to your dorm? It's already dark out and I'd hate for you to have to walk alone." The taller girl was standing in front of the still-seated Belle, looking down at the adorable bookworm hopefully. Belle was silent for a moment, dumbfounded by the impossibly intoxicating effect of the beautiful girl's contagious grin. She just smiled back at her.

"Well? What do you think?" Ruby prompted after a few seconds passed without a response, still smiling but now displaying a look of mild concern.

"Yeahh…Um," she stammered, "Excuse me, I mean… Yes, that would be really nice," Belle recovered. She tucked another stray curl behind her ear, nervously, and stood to Ruby's height—well, not quite…the tutor just barely reached the chin of her pupil. She looked up at the taller girl to smile and say a quick, "Thank you," that sounded, to Ruby, like the soft, pleasant treble of bells.

Ruby watched as Belle tried to heave her heavy bookbag onto her tiny frame and chuckled softly at the extreme amount of effort that she had to use just carry the over-stuffed bag. "Here," Ruby outstretched her sinewy arm to Belle, "let's switch." She took the bag from Belle's shoulder and slung it over her own with ease, handing Belle her own nearly empty backpack with her decidedly frustrating, lovely smile still plastered on her face. "I don't have quite so many books," she teased.

Belle could feel herself blushing again, partly from embarrassment at her portable library of a backpack and partly on account of that nervous feeling she kept getting whenever Ruby looked directly at her. As she walked through the library exit, which Ruby opened easily opened and held from behind her with the swift motion of her right arm, she couldn't help but to feel confused about how excited she had become at the idea of spending more time with the girl that she had thought she would loathe. She also couldn't see the amalgam of disbelief and excitement on Ruby's face as the taller girl watched her beautiful and enthralling tutor walk out into the Fall air and wait for her to walk her home.