A/N- This is an AU Swan Queen story, mainly just your run of the mill Rom Com, and I'll keep it nice and light without too much angst :). I'll try and keep this updated regularly. Hope you enjoy!
Tina Bell hated parent teacher conferences. Ever since she had graduated and been hired full time at Storybrooke Elementary, she resented the day her classroom would fill with a passing parade of concerned parents all determined to convince her that their student was a prodigy. This year's conferences were sure to be no exception.
She had 26 kids in her class. That meant 26 sets of parents invading the sanctuary of her kindergarten classroom. But she was prepared, it was her fourth year teaching and she was well versed in dealing with pushy parents. She did one final run through of her classroom, collecting stray crayons and Duplo blocks while readjusting her headband so her blonde hair was pushed professionally off her face.
Returning to her desk, Tina swiveled her rolling chair away from the door and dug through her purse until she found the small child proof bottle, and swallowed two ibuprofen tablets dry.
"Should you be popping pills on the job?" an amused voice called from the doorway. If the voice weren't so familiar, Tina would have jumped and tried to hide the bottle, as it were she recognized the voice instantly.
"How else do you expect me to get through the day?" She screwed the lid on the bottle and tossed it effortlessly over her shoulder towards the door. Hearing it caught safely, Tina remained bent over her desk to rummage through the bottom drawer for her favorite pen and a class roster.
"Alcohol," the low voice replied sarcastically,"that's how I do it."
Tina turned around, an amused smile playing on her lips, "And that, Regina, is why you would be a horrible teacher."
"That and an intolerance for sticky things." Regina swallowed a couple of pills herself before lobbing the bottle back to the blonde.
"Lucky for the kids you're only an administrator."
Regina worked at the school before Tina had gotten there, and had systematically worked her way up the food chain until she was the youngest woman on the board of administration. Tina still didn't know what made her friend go into education: whenever she asked, the only answer she would get is that it paid well. But Tina knew that was a blatant lie.
"Only," Regina scoffed, "I am assistant principal in charge of public affairs, logistics, and recruitment." She rattled off proudly.
"Oh, my bad assistant principal Mills."
"You do realize I'm your boss, right? I wouldn't mock my boss if I were you." Regina smirked walking into the room fully and sitting on the edge of one of the tiny five-year-old sized desks. Though she dwarfed the furniture, Regina somehow made that action graceful with her perfectly tailored skirt suit outlining the supple muscle of her legs: the two women ran together every morning and it certainly paid off.
"I wouldn't mock you if you acted like my boss." Tina shot back, though the brunette was technically the blonde's superior, they had been friends for so long that Tina was the only person able to poke through the woman's normally guarded exterior.
"Shut it, Barbie."
"Really? Barbie?" It was a rare occasion that Regina resorted to the college nickname for her friend.
The brunette rolled her eyes, "Make a round with me?" She suggested, already pushing off the miniature desk and heading to the door expecting Tina to follow behind her- which she did.
The pair strolled casually around the preschool hallway, Regina stopping every so often to correct some minor imperfection only she managed to find with the school she took so much pride in, before they moved onto the younger grades' hall. Right as they turned the corner to walk past the first grade classrooms, a blur of white and purple collided with Regina. The taller brunette stepped back, a practiced scowl already in place, while the juggernaut who had run into her shook her hair out of her face, already mumbling a rushed apology, "Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry Ms. Mills-"
"Save it Ms. Blanchard." Regina cut the shorter brunette off with a hand, "I do hope you are more cautious when walking around your students." She admonished with a calculated glare before continuing on as though the interruption had never happened leaving an entertained Tina to smile sympathetically at the young teacher before hurrying to catch up with her friend.
She reached the older woman's elbow in time to hear her still angrily muttering about the collision while straightening her blazer, "Uncoordinated little, pathetic excuse for a teacher, looks like damn Bambi."
At that the blonde couldn't contain a wide grin, "Did you just call Mary Margaret 'Bambi'?"
Regina halted and gave her friend a questioning glance, "What else am I supposed to call her when she's looking like that?" She waved a hand dismissively where the other brunette had disappeared into her classroom.
"Looking like what?"
"Like the picture of innocence with her white dress- purple cardigan- and perfectly coordinated headband and Mary Janes?" Regina sighed in exasperation.
"You looked at her for two seconds, how did you notice that her accessories and shoes were coordinated?"
"It's Mary-Margret, when are they not?"
That earned a chuckle from both women as they found themselves approaching the main hallway again, Regina checked her sterling silver watch with a faint look of concern on her face, "It's nearly six. I had better get out front with the rest of the administration to greet the parents. I'm supposed to be giving directions. Seriously, what the hell am I, an assistant principal or a damn cruise director?" The brunette ranted, fluffing her already perfect hair.
"Have fun, Captain." Tina mocked with a half hearted salute, heading back to her classroom as Regina strode purposefully towards the front of the school, not even looking behind her as she flipped her best friend the bird and continued walking, the blonde's surprised laughter providing a soundtrack to her trek.
A/N- Up next, Emma's coming!