Author's Notes: I felt the need for something different, so I twisted the characters to my own liking and this is what has come to be. I just...let's have some angsty fun for a while yeah? Note that the chapters will be notably shorter than Miles To Go, for reasons...hope you enjoy the first chapter and are in on the ride I have planned out :)
It was a clear, warm day in the beginning of September and the warning bell rang loud and clear through the air, signalling the start of the day and their senior year. Eighteen year old Regina Mills peered over the top of her dark sunglasses, a small smile curling over her lips as she saw Emma Swan dashing from the parking lot to the front doors of Storybrooke High School, a blur of blonde hair, skinny jeans and red leather.
"Hey," Regina said easily just as Emma ran past her. Emma turned to look at her and came to a skidded halt, nearly tripping over her own feet. "It's only the warning bell. You're not late."
"Oh, shit, I thought I was late. I overslept and I couldn't get the Bug started and—"
"Relax," Regina said gently in an attempt to calm her frazzled friend. "It's senior year, Emma, and the first day. Even if you were late, you'd miss what, attendance and announcements."
"Mary Margaret has been on my ass about keeping up my grades. She thinks it's not too late to get into a good college," Emma sighed and shrugged off her jacket, the warm sun starving off the slight chill in the air. "She still supports my decision to take a year off, but that hasn't stopped her from her constant nagging about college."
"Your mother only wants what is best for you," Regina chuckled, the two of them not moving from the front steps. "Ruby and Kathryn aren't here yet," she mused when Emma didn't respond, instead she sat down on the top step, elbows on her knees as she scrolled through her phone absentmindedly.
"Oh, Rubes text me while I was driving here," Emma said after a moment. "They're already inside, said they got here early. They caught a ride with Frederick this morning."
"Shall we then?"
Emma winced as the second bell went off and rose to her feet. "Guess we have no choice now."
Regina watched Emma as she bounced towards the doors quickly, pulling it open and motioning her inside with a flourish. They both laughed as they walked into the main hall and past the auditorium. Following Emma's lead, they cut through the freshman hallway, dodging out of the way of the young, frazzled teenagers scrambling to get to their first class.
"You remember our first day?" Emma asked, chuckling as a pimply-faced boy ran into Regina, his face red as he sputtered an incoherent apology and ran off. "I can't believe we made it."
"That we have," she chuckled and they turned the corner and spotted Ruby and Kathryn waiting by their lockers. She chuckled again as Kathryn squealed and waved at them. "I'm willing to bet the first thing out of her mouth is going to be a suggestion that we skip the first day."
"I'm not going to say no," Emma smirked and they came to a stop in front of their friends. "Hey."
"Em!" Ruby laughed, flinging her arms around her. "God, I have missed you!"
"You should've come around when you got in yesterday."
"It was late," Ruby shrugged. "Besides, Granny made me unpack."
"How was your summer in Colorado?" Regina asked and with a simple roll of Ruby's eyes, she had her answer. "How is your mother?"
"Sober, at least," Ruby replied and she leaned up against Emma's locker, crossing her arms over her chest with a sigh. "What about you guys? How was your summer?"
Emma started to tell her about the summer and Regina just smiled to herself as she twisted the combination on her locker and opened it. She and Emma had spent the entire summer together, inseparable as they always had been since the first grade. Between spending the warmer days at the beach, random road trips into Boston now that they both had cars, there had been long nights spent laying under the stars and talking about everything and nothing at all in particular.
While they had spent some time with Kathryn when she wasn't with Frederick, it had mostly just been the two of them and it had been one of the best summers of Regina's life. Her mother, while strict, had loosened up a little more and allowing her more freedom than she knew what to do with it. She had barely spent any time at home, save for the nights she didn't spend at the loft with Emma and her parents.
Emma continued on, telling Ruby of their road trips to Boston and how they had gotten so lost the first time that they ended up in some small town in Vermont. Regina smiled at the memory and how they spent the night in Emma's yellow Bug at the side of the road, with a dead battery and zero cell phone service. A single slip of folded paper on the bottom of her locker stole her attention and she picked it up and unfolded it.
What she found was a note, more specifically a letter that had been typed up. She scanned over the page to the bottom, not finding a name or any indication on who had written the note and placed it in her locker for her to find that morning.
"What is that?" Kathryn asked, peering over her shoulder.
"Uh, a letter I suppose," Regina shrugged as she turned around to face her friends, Emma and Ruby suddenly quiet. "I'm not sure who it is from."
"Oh, maybe you have a secret admirer!" Kathryn swooned and Ruby chuckled as she shook her head. Emma, strangely, was quiet, her soft green eyes almost blue in the florescent lights, and she stared at Regina long and hard for a moment before turning to unlock her own locker. "What does it say, Regina?"
Regina rolled her eyes. "If you would give me a moment to read it, I'll let you know."
"I wonder who sent it?" Kathryn mused. "Who is single right now?"
"Don't look at me, I've been in Colorado for the last nine weeks!" Ruby chuckled. "Maybe it's Killian?"
"Oh gag me," Kathryn groaned. "Besides, Killian has a hard on for Emma, we all know that."
"Don't remind me," Emma muttered under her breath. "I'd do anything to take back going out on that date with him last year! He won't leave me alone."
While the three chattered on, Regina focused on the letter she held in her hand. It wasn't long by any means, the paper itself much smaller than the standard size as well. She inhaled sharply and started to read over the letter, finding almost immediately that it was a confession.
Regina,
For as long as I've known you, I've always known you were someone special and so very unique. You are out of almost everyone's league in Storybrooke, but I hope maybe you aren't out of mine, that maybe I can be good enough for you.
I have been nervous about telling you, finding it easier to write the words rather than to say it…
I am in love with you.
Regina's breath hitched in her chest and she was all too aware of the three sets of eyes that were on her, watching her read over the letter, the confession of love from someone who remained nothing more than a mystery.
I love the way you smile when you're happy, I love the way your smile, your laugh reaches your beautiful eyes. I love the way that you can, with just one look, render someone speechless or instil a bit of fear in them in an endearing way. I love the way you would do anything for your friends just to keep them happy. Most of all, I love the way you look at me, but I don't think you even know what one look from you feels like for me.
We're friends, Regina, and that's why I am nervous about telling you how I feel about you because I don't want to ruin our friendship in any way. I'll admit that I'm too shy as well to tell you any of this face to face. I keep thinking you'd laugh if you knew it was me, but now that you know, I'm hoping it'll be easier for me to tell you again with actual words.
I'll be waiting by the field next to the bleachers by the track just before last period today. If you come to meet me there, I hope you don't freak out when you find out who I am. I don't want to put any pressure on you because I'm not sure you feel the same way as I do, but if you do I'd like to see if maybe there is something more between us.
You'll know it's me because I want you to ask me just that and I'll say yes and tell you that I never had the courage to tell you until now.
If you don't show up (and I know you well enough to know that you will want to) I won't bother you again, I won't even confess to you how I feel either. Just know that I fell in love with you because you are you and not because you just happen to be, to me, the most beautiful girl I have ever laid my eyes on.
Until later…
Regina's heart was racing and she clutched the letter to her chest, giving herself a moment to catch her breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. She shook her head and turned, folding the note back up and placed it in her bag as she hung it up on the hook.
"Well?" Kathryn said with an urgency to her voice. "What did it say?"
"I—" Regina stopped herself, suddenly not wanting to share what had been written to her. She shook her head and grabbed a few text books she'd placed in her locker the week before on prep day. "It's nothing, really. Just a silly note from some guy, I suppose."
"Please tell me it's not Killian," Ruby laughed as Regina shut her locker forcefully. "It looked far too long for one of his "I want to take you out on my boat and fuck you" notes."
"You got one of those too?" Emma asked, a bit of a bite to her tone. "I swear to god, someone needs to put that asshole in his place. He just can't go around writing those notes and handing them off to every single girl in our grade!"
"It's not Killian," Regina said. "It could be Graham."
"Graham Humbert?" Emma asked, her right eyebrow rising slightly in question. "Why would you think that he wrote that letter to you?"
"I still want to know what he wrote," Kathryn chuckled. "Come on, Regina. We're all friends. You can tell us what he wrote to you."
"Well, I want to know why she thinks its Graham," Emma countered.
"Well, in the letter it states that we're already friends and as far as I know, Graham is the only one who doesn't have a girlfriend," Regina replied and she shook her head and glanced at the dainty watch on her left wrist, a gift for her sixteenth birthday from her father. "And as much as I would love to discuss this with you girls, we're late enough as it is for class."
"I have a spare," Kathryn said easily.
"And you came early?" Emma laughed at her and she pulled out a crumpled paper with her schedule on it. "I have History."
"Didn't you get that credit last semester, Em?" Ruby asked her and she nodded her head. "Then why are you taking it again?"
"I like history," Emma shrugged nonchalantly. "What about you?"
"Phys. Ed," Ruby groaned. "Regina?"
"Calculus."
"Do we even have any classes together this year?" Ruby groaned loudly and she let out a startled gasp when they saw the principal, Mr. Gold, headed their way, an unamused look on his face. "We'll talk later! I'll see you girls at lunch!"
The four of them went their separate ways, just managing to slip away from what Regina knew would be a scolding from the principal followed by detention. Still, as she quietly walked into class, unnoticed by the teacher who was tiredly sipping from a coffee mug while the rest of the class copied down the notes from the board, she couldn't seem to stop smiling as she thought about what had been written in the letter.
Someone was in love with her, someone wanted to be with her. Someone had gone out of their way to write her a love letter to profess their feelings for her. It overwhelmed her because she had never expected her day to start out that way, with an anonymous confession of love.
Taking a seat at the back of the class, she opened her notebook and pulled out a pen, but her thoughts weren't focused on taking down the notes from the board that outlined the class for the semester and the various tests they'd be taking over the next four months. Her thoughts were settled deep on the words she'd read and the fact that in less than five hours she would find out just who exactly had written her that letter.
Regina wasn't sure how she felt about it maybe being Graham Humbert. He was a nice, respectful guy, one her mother would even approve of if they started dating. She'd always enjoyed having him around when the boys would hang out with her, Emma, Ruby, and Kathryn. He was laid back and had a great sense of humour, not at all the type of guy she'd think would be too shy or too nervous to tell a girl he liked her, nor did he strike her as the type who would write a letter and leave it in her locker on the first day of school.
After two periods, the bell rang and Regina hurried out of the IT room and towards the cafeteria to join her friends for lunch. She looked around and spotted only Emma already seated at their usual table, Ruby and Kathryn absolutely nowhere to be seen. Before she joined the line to get something to eat, Emma waved her over with a smile and pointed to the tray that was on the table in front of her.
"Hey," Emma said as Regina sat down on the other side of the table across from her. "I got our usual. I had a spare last period and I came down early."
"I have a spare on Thursday's just before lunch," Regina sighed. "How was your morning?"
"All right, I guess," Emma shrugged and she slid the tray a little more towards the middle of the table so Regina could reach for a few of the french fries. "Ruby text about an hour ago, trying to convince me to skip with her and Kathryn."
"They're skipping?" Regina asked and rolled her eyes, not finding it surprising in the least. Out of all of them, Ruby was the worst influence and it was always Kathryn that gave in to her. "Let me guess, they're at the Toll Bridge."
"Likely drinking too," Emma said with a subtle nod. "They aren't the only ones. Half the senior class isn't here today. I have English every day right after lunch," Emma groaned and it only served to make Regina smile. "What?"
"As do I," she chuckled softly. "At least we have one class together."
"That makes this semester more bearable," Emma smirked. "So, are you going to tell me what that letter said or do I have to break into your locker and read it for myself?"
Regina playfully rolled her eyes, knowing Emma well enough to know that she couldn't hold back any longer. Emma was her best friend and she was far closer with her than she was with Kathryn and Ruby. After she ate a few more french fries, she leaned forward a little and grinned.
"Someone is in love with me," she said just over the din in the cafeteria. "Someone is in love with me, Emma. Can you believe that?"
Emma just smiled at her, her attention stolen away by her phone as it vibrated on the table next to where her elbow rested. She picked it up and laughed a moment later. She chuckled and turned the screen to show Regina the picture that she pulled up, a clear picture of Storybrooke's own Sheriff as he held a megaphone up to his face and was clearly shouting at them to disband immediately or be arrested, a situation Regina had experienced first hand during the one time she allowed Emma to drag her to one of the parties there over the summer.
"They got busted."
"Of course they did," Regina laughed. "Your father patrols that area on a regular basis now." Upon Emma's incredulous look at the mention of her father, Regina rolled her eyes before correcting her previous statement, "David. Honestly, Emma, I don't know why you keep calling them by their names. They are your parents."
"You know why."
"I know," she sighed and shook her head. "Despite those first few years of your life without them in it, Emma, they're still your parents."
"Whatever. They gave me up."
"You know that's not what happened," Regina said with a frown. "They were young, barely fifteen and they had you. You know that you were taken from them because they could not provide for you properly. They wanted to give you your best chance. That's why they let the state take you away without fighting for you."
"Yeah, the chance at knowing what it's like to be given up on. Twice."
"They got you back," Regina interjected, having had this very conversation with Emma far too many times to count.
"Yeah, when I was five and had spent two years in a group home because the family that adopted me had a kid of their own."
"And yet you insist on everyone call you by their name and not the one you were given."
"What's wrong with Swan?" Emma asked, her bottom lip jutting out into a pout.
"Nothing," Regina chuckled. "You know, I don't get you sometimes, Swan, but you're still my very best friend and nothing is ever going to change that. Not even when you're completely, infuriatingly stubborn when it comes to your parents."
"Nothing will change it, huh? Not even when you find out who wrote that letter?"
"Not even then," Regina smiled brightly at her. "I promise."
Regina fidgeted nervously, standing by the bleachers, the sun warm in the mid-afternoon sky. She continuously looked around, looking to see if anyone was headed her way, but there was not a soul to be seen when the warning bell sounded. She shook her head, wondering if she should wait until the final bell before giving up and she glanced at her watch, lightly running her fingers over the gold band. She wasn't planning on skipping last period despite her dislike for gym class, but it wasn't as if she'd miss anything too important if she decided not to go at all.
Willing to give herself at least five minutes for whoever wrote the letter to show up, she tapped the toe of her shoe against the gravel path, frowning as she crossed and uncrossed her arms and checked her watch once more.
The anticipation was driving her crazy and her head started to swarm with a hundred different thoughts, making her head spin slightly. What if whoever had written the letter suddenly had second thoughts about facing her, the Mayor's daughter, and decided not to show up after all? Was she being stood up or set up? That led to her thinking that maybe the letter could have been the product of some sick joke and that any minute now, whoever had written it would show up and laugh at her, teasing her for believing that someone would with to be with her.
It was no secret that she had never had a steady boyfriend and that the few guys she had dated, she hadn't been with them for very long. Regina knew that almost every guy her age in town were intimidated, not because her father was the town's Mayor, but because she knew she wasn't as approachable as other girls were. She kept to herself, to her closest friends and that was it, never allowing anyone inside her little circle.
She checked her watch again just as the final bell rang and she frowned, still not seeing anyone coming anywhere close to the field, the few people walking from the portables to the side entrance clearly freshmen. Just as the feeling of rejection started to settle in, the sunlight caught on the glass in the door closer to the field and out walked none other than Graham Humbert.
He was smiling as he jogged down the handful of steps down to the field and he casually slid his hands into the front pockets of his faded blue jeans. "Hey, Regina."
"Hey," she smiled, almost shyly when she remembered what had been written about her smile itself. "Was it you? It was you, wasn't it?" Regina asked quickly, her nerves putting her on edge. "I had no idea that you felt that way about me, that you…liked me…"
"Yeah," Graham nodded, his smile never fading, yet he blushed and scratched over his scruffy cheek. "I do like you, Regina. A lot. I just never had the courage to tell you."
Regina felt her face flush, subtly taking a step towards him. She licked over her lips, watching as his blue eyes glanced down at them and they both shared a smile before he kissed her softly.
And in that very moment, they both failed to notice Emma Swan stop mid-step on the stairs before turning around and running away with tears burning in her eyes.