"I hate history," Emma groaned. "I don't care about the fucking revolutionary war! Why do I have to learn this?"

"Because you're going to fail out of college if you don't!" her tutor retorted, slapping the notebook down on the desk. "Now focus before I get up and leave!"

Emma rolled her eyes and picked up her pencil again.

"Alright, alright. Whatever you say, Miss Mills."

"Oh, shut up. You're such a smartass."

"You love it," Emma replied, grinning.

"No. I think you're an impertinent little bastard, actually."

Emma bit her lip and didn't know what to say, realizing her light hearted joke had backfired. She hadn't expected the backlash to be quite so severe, but obviously, her tutor was uninterested in having a laugh. Nope. Unfortunately for Emma, she was all business.

"Can we take a break?" Emma whined, putting the pencil down again.

"No, Emma! You've taken three breaks since we started an hour ago. You need to sit still."

"I didn't take my pills."

"Oh, my God! You're fucking unbelievable!" Regina cried, throwing the notebook on the floor and standing up. "I'm leaving. Call me when you seriously want to study."

She let the door slam behind her.

Emma tried to concentrate, but sleep won out, and she passed out with her face in her textbook.

When she woke up the next morning, the sunlight was streaming onto the face. When her eyes fluttered open, she squinted and groaned.

"Ughhh. Fucking seriously? It's too early for this bullshit."

But just as she was about to climb into her bed, the alarm on her phone went off.

"Oh, fuck no."

She nearly smashed the cellphone, but slid her finger over the screen to silence the noise instead. She sat back down at the desk and rested her head on top of the book once more, but more alarms followed, five minutes between each. After about four more of them, she finally cursed and stood up, pulling her jeans off - which she had not changed out of the night before. She slid on a clean pair and put on a new T-shirt - something loose so she'd be comfortable enough to sleep through class - and stepped into her Converse.

"Here we go, world. Time to make you my bitch."

She checked her phone and noticed the new text message waiting for her.

'Don't forget you have an exam in history today. I hope you're ready. You should have studied. - Mills'

"SHIT!" she screamed.

She thought about typing a sarcastic response, but realized the girl was right. She should have studied. But, she got at least a few hours of sleep, and which she didn't regret. She skipped breakfast, instead electing to grab a granola bar for a snack later on. She usually didn't eat lunch either, mostly because she'd rather be napping than sitting in the dining hall. Her afternoon nap between classes, she reasoned, was the only thing keeping her sane. On the other hand, most of her classes were also considered fair game for nap time.

When she sat down in her first period class - English writing - she instantly pulled out her history notes and looked down at them.

"Fuck," she mumbled, staring down at the pages scattered across her desk.

Suddenly, the letters all seemed to twist and blur together and became unintelligible markings. She felt her eyes glazing over and her head spinning.

"So fucked."

"What was that, Miss Swan?" her professor asked, wandering over to her desk and looking down at her.

"I said... so... lucky!" she tried desperately. "Lucky to be in this class with such a great teacher."

When he noticed that her notes were for a class other than his own, he simply said, "Get out, Emma. I don't know why you bother showing up. You're going to fail my class either way."

She sighed, gathered her notebooks, and quietly left the class. In the hallway, she sat on the floor and slapped one of her notebooks against her forehead, leaning back against the wall as she covered her face.

"Emma?" a voice asked.

Emma instantly dropped the notebook and looked up in surprise.

"Oh... Hi, Ruby."

"You okay? You look... Well..."

"Yeah, I know. Professor Taylor just kicked me out of his class and I'm about to go fail my history exam with Professor Dawson."

"Shit."

"Yeah... I know..."

The brunette sat down next to her, taking Emma's hand in her own.

"It'll be okay, love. You're gonna do fine."

"You're so full of shit, Ruby," Emma laughed, shaking her head, causing her blonde locks of hair to bounce around her shoulders.

"I know," Ruby replied, laughing too. "You're totally going to bomb this, aren't you?"

"Pretty much."

The look on Ruby's face grew serious and she glanced over at her friend.

"I'm sorry, Emma," she sighed. She paused and then continued with, "You're going to fail out, aren't you?"

Emma nodded weakly.

"They're going to put me on academic probation after this semester, and if I don't get at least C's next semester, they'll kick me out."

"You still have a chance, then!" Ruby cried enthusiastically.

"You know I can't do this."

"That's bullshit. I know that you CAN. I just know you don't want to."

"I do, though," Emma protested, hanging her head in her hands. "I just can't."

"Emma, let's be honest. And I'm saying this as your friend, but you're just fucking lazy. You don't try. You don't even take your pills."

"They make my mouth dry."

"You're being stupid," Ruby said, kicking Emma's backpack.

Emma sighed but didn't say anything.

"Hey, aren't you getting tutored from that really hot bitch from last year's math class?"

Emma nodded and grinned.

"Totally."

Ruby rolled her eyes.

"You blew it off, didn't you?"

Emma nodded again.

"Mother fucker, Emma! Seriously!"

Sighing, Emma said, "I know, Ruby. I know. I'm trying."

"You are not."

Ruby stood up and grabbed her own bag, throwing it over her shoulder.

"I love you, babe, but get your shit together. If this chick is seriously trying to help you, you need to take advantage of that."

"Oh, I'd love to take advantage of her," Emma said, her mood brightening.

"Stop fucking around."

"Alright!" Emma yelled, kicking her own bag across the hallway. "I'll try. I'll take the stupid fucking pills and let her tutor me. I'll try, okay?"

"Good," Ruby said triumphantly, leaning over and planting a gentle kiss on her friend's forehead. "I'll see you around."

"Yeah," Emma said weakly, with a sigh.

So for during the 25 minutes before her next class, she actually studied.