The incessant ringing in her ear was what woke Emma up from the deep sleep that her body had succumbed to. Even behind her closed eyelids she could tell that it was barely light outside, as it usually was when the alarm clock forced her eyes open at a grueling time of seven in the morning.
A groan slipped through her lips as she pushed herself from the bed and pulled a hoodie over her head. She caught sight of herself in the mirror when she finally opened her eyes and sighed back at her reflection.
"Fucking beautiful, Swan," she growled out. She shoved her hands into her front pocket and trudged her way down the stairs where she was met by the welcoming smell of cinnamon and bacon cooking on the stove.
"Well good morning, sunshine," her mother chirped out, waving at her with the spatula. The blonde only grimaced, her body still under the impression that she was asleep, and trudged her way over to the table that her little brother was sitting at.
Almost as if on cue, her father waltzed into the room with a bright smile on his face and chuckled when he saw Emma's frumpled state.
"Don't look so happy to see us, kiddo," he chuckled out, pressing a kiss to the back of her head. She forced a smile and picked up the coffee cup that her mother had just sat in front of her and sipped the hot cocoa slowly. v
"Season starts today," Neal said around the half of the poptart he had stuffed in his mouth. Her father perked up at that and nodded, setting his plate down in front of him and pulling out his newspaper. The blonde sighed and nodded her head.
"Yeah it does, bud. When is your first game?" She didn't want to talk about her last season with the girls she had played with for the past thirteen years of her life. She didn't want to think about that until it was actually over and done with. She sighed and turned her attention back to her little brother who was going on about how he hit it over Daniel Colter's head at practice last night.
After listening to her family drone on about what their day held before them, she made her way to her room to get ready for the drowsy day ahead of her.
She showered and washed her hair. She ran a comb through the curly locks and pulled the cleanest hoodie she had over her shoulders and pulled up a pair of skinny jeans over her legs. As soon as she had all of her workout clothes packed and she had made she all her needed books were in her backpack, she was rushing out the front door with a bye to her mother over her shoulder.
She didn't know what she had been expecting when she got to her high school. Part of her was expecting people to come up and ask her how she as feeling about the scrimmage after school or one of the pesky journalism people to ask her for a quote for the yearbook like they did every year of the first day of softball season.
None of that happened, though, and she couldn't act like part of her wasn't disappointed. The day was already shit and it wasn't even first period yet. There were clouds covering the entirety of the sky, casting a gloomy grey over the earth and dampening her mood further.
She trudged her way past the clueless freshmen and made her way to the locker room where she knew she wouldn't be bothered so long as no one was in there. She quickly threw her bags down and sat on the ottoman that they had bought when they redid the room. She closed her eyes, but was interrupted by the buzzing of her phone in her back pocket.
"Who the fuc-" she slid the green answer button over and held it up to her ear.
"Swan, where are you at, love?" She stifled her sigh and squeezed her eyes closed.
"Locker room, Killian. Same place as every morning," she ground out, her voice hoarse for no reason at all.
"Love, you were supposed to meet by my car half an hour ago," he sighed out, his accent slipping through. When she was a freshman Killian Jones had moved across the world from Ireland to the small town of Storybrooke, Maine. He had learned quickly how to hide his accent, but when he was tired or upset it usually slipped through.
"I just got here, Killian. I'm sorry, I just totally forgot." She did forget. When she would meet Killian in the morning she would wake up at least an hour later so she could do her hair and actually put some effort into her appearance. This morning was not the case.
"Today is the first day of season," he said knowingly. Emma nodded to herself and sighed.
"Yeah. Look, I've really got to get to class. I'll talk to you later, Killian." On the other side of the line she could hear him sigh.
"Okay. I'll see you in third. I love you," he said hopefully.
"Yea, you too," she said quickly before hanging up and slamming her phone down on the ottoman below her.
As her classes drug on throughout the day, she started to dread the upcoming scrimmage. It wasn't like she didn't want to play, that was actually all she wanted to do. She was dreading the idea that it would be her very last first game with the people that she cared about most. She didn't want it to end.
"You should really eat something, Swan," her boyfriend of two years whispered in her ear, his hot breath making her shiver and not in a pleasant way. Emma only pushed her plate away and grimaced.
"Not hungry," she mumbled, shoving him away from her. After endless minutes of convincing Killian that she was in fact fine and she wasn't hungry, she stood and left the cafeteria with her backpack slung over her shoulder.
"Emma! Emma, wait!" She recognized the voice but she definitely didn't want to talk to Tink. Not now when she was about to hit something. She sighed and pulled her backpack further up on her shoulder and continued walking.
She knew the annoying girl wouldn't leave her alone, she never did. The sophomore was always looking to seek Emma's attention. When Emma felt a small hand wrap around her elbow was when she turned around.
"What, Tink," she growled out, turning to face the girl. The blonde was all smiles and giggles and the thought made Emma want to barf.
"Did you hear?" The giggled out, completely oblivious to the fact that Emma obviously didn't know what the hell she was talking about. She raised a brow and shrugged her shoulders.
"Hear what, Tink?"
"Oh, we got a new coach! And apparently she is super intense and some of the other girls on the team are saying she is a bit of a bitty, but I don't think that she could be that bad. Oh! And are you going to Killian's party tomorrow? I mean, I assumed you would but-"
"That's great, Tink. And no, I don't think I will go." The younger girl was talking so fast that it seemed that all her sentences were combined into one and it made Emma's head spin.
"Oh, really? I would assume that you would-"
"Bye, Tink," Emma finally said before walking away. She heard Tink yell something at her but she only ignored her and walked to the next class she would indefinitely sleep through.
Emma did sleep through the last four class periods of the day, which came to a grand total of six extra hours of sleep that she wasn't sure she needed. When the bell rang telling her that she was on her way to athletics she sighed and hooked her bag over her shoulder.
She made it to the parking lot in record time and managed to avoid Killian completely. She sped her way down to the field, completely ignoring the fact that there was a cop sitting on the corner waiting for students just like her.
She had the advantage, though, because her father was the sheriff and he signed all the police's paycheck. They wouldn't touch her unless her father said to, which he never did.
She whipped her little yellow bug into the parking lot at the field and quickly exited the vehicle, slamming the door shut with her bag of clothes thrown over her shoulder.
Without a word to anyone in the locker room she got dressed, knowing good and well that this was the last time for the rest of the season that her issued workout clothes were going to be washed as good as they were know. She cringed at the thought. She pushed her way through the crowd of the girls that still thought they could survive the next two years of their high school career and sighed of relief when her lungs filled with the fresh air of outside.
That was when she say a sleek, silver Infiniti that she knew couldn't belong to anyone that was native to their little town. The windows were tinted so she couldn't see into them, but she knew that this must have been the new coach that the locker room was abuzz with gossip about.
Emma sighed and rolled her eyes, knowing that this woman was just going to be another replacement for the year and then she would realize that softball wasn't really her sport because it was too hot and dirty.
"Swan!" Her coach's shrill voice broke her from her thoughts and she felt a warm hand clasp around her bicep. Emma turned to the older woman and smiled when she saw her familiar face.
"Hey, Coach," she sighed out, her unexpected nerves calming significantly. The older woman smiled at her and let go of her arm, throwing her head to the side in the process.
"Come to the coach's office. I want you to meet Regina," she said quickly, turning around and making her way to the secluded office behind the building.
Emma was almost knocked out by how cold it was in the brightly lit office. The cold air hit her face when she walked across the threshold, forcing the hot air from her lungs. Coach Cass was ruffling around papers almost as if she had lost something but she had a goofy smile plastered on her face.
"You know, it makes me laugh every time when I think that you have had as many assistant coaches as I have," she chuckled out, pointing to the seat behind her. Emma took it easily, knowing it was where she always sat when she was in the office.
"It is an odd thing to think about, honestly," she sighed out, pulling her long blonde curls into a high ponytail. Finally, Cass found the paper she was looking forward to and handed it to Emma.
"What is this?" She ground out, scanning over the paper, but she knew that it was basically a background check on the new coach.
The only thing the paper told her was her height, which was five foot six inches, her previous coaching positions, which there were none, and her name among other things Emma decided to ignore. Regina Mills was to be the new assistant coach at Storybrooke High and Emma was certain, once again, that she wouldn't last the full season.
"Where did you-"
She was cut off by the annoying office door squeaking open, forcing her to fold the paper quickly and shove it in the back pocket of her black softball pants. The door swung open to reveal a woman, shorter than expected, with perfectly styled hair and an expensive looking purse hanging from her arm. Emma held back a scoff.
"Regina! I am so glad you could make it today!" Coach Cass giggled out. The older woman rushed over to Regina and wrapped her up in a bone crushing hug much like she did with almost everyone she met. Emma rolled her eyes and took a step forward.
The mysterious woman had pushed the shade up off of her nose and Emma finally got a proper look at her face. This woman was stunning to say the least. She had deep brown eyes, caramel colored skin, and if Emma looked close enough she could see a scar over her top lip.
"Yes, well, my father is doing much better now, thank you. I'm just glad to finally be here," she smiled out, her eyes never leaving Cass' face. Part of Emma whispered to her that this woman was lying and this was where she didn't want to be, but she chose to ignore it and watch thing beautiful woman talk with one of her favorite people in the world.
"And this right here is Emma Swan. She's only the best player to come through this program in the past thirty years," her coach gloated, forcing heat to rise up Emma's neck and face.
She blushed and took a step forward, sticking her hand out in front of her.
"Hey," she pushed out, her lips stretching into a grin. The older woman smiled back at her and took her hand in her and shook it once, twice, and then dropped it.
"It is good to finally be able to put a face with a name, Miss Swan," she drawled out, her voice so soothing that it could probably put someone to sleep. Emma suppressed a shiver.
"I wish I could say the same. I only heard that we were getting a new coach during lunch today." She shot a quick look to Coach Cass and smiled a little when she saw the woman cower back into herself.
"Well, I'm sure everything will sort itself out, Miss Swan. It was very lovely to meet you, though." Emma nodded her head and smiled at the older woman.
"I'm sure it will, Ms Mills."
"You have to have that pitch working, Emma! We can't lose tonight! This game sets the tone for the rest of the season!" Her coach screamed at her from the dugout. Emma sighed and rolled her eyes to herself, knowing that by tonight she would be perfectly fine and the pitch would drop like it needed to.
She wiped the back of her hand across her forehead and tossed the ball back into her glove, hearing the satisfying pop from the leather fill her ears. She stepped up to the mound again and threw the very same pitch, but this time she kept her arm closer to her body and the ball dropped just at the edge of the plate. The freshman quivering up at the plate swung, and to no surprise to anyone at all, missed.
"Atta babe!" Her teammates cheered, clapping for her even though it was just practice and the strike out meant relatively nothing. Emma huffed out a breath, peeled off her glove and made her way to the dugout where she threw herself onto the bench.
"You know, Cass talks about you a lot," she heard someone say from beside her. She had her eyes closed and her head thrown back so she couldn't make out who it was that was talking to her.
"Cass talks about all of us players. It's what she is known for, whether it is good or bad," she joked, finally picking her head up and being met by deep brown eyes.
"Yes, well, I have only heard her say good things about you, Miss Swan." Emma scoffed.
"Drop the 'Miss Swan', would you? It's kinda annoying," she sighed out. She picked up a water bottle and unscrewed the cap probably harder than she should have and drained the contents in seconds.
"It is just how I was brought up, Emma. A flaw, one might call it," Regina teased, sitting beside her on the bench. Emma eyed her without fully looking at her and sighed. She successfully raised her arm and tossed the water bottle to the oversized trash can, successfully making it into the white barrel.
"Well when you're with me don't feel so inclined to enforce it. I'm not some college professor that is grading your vocabulary," she snarked back, a chuckle lacing her words. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the older woman smirking, fiddling with a loose string at the end of her shirt. She opened her mouth to say something, but before she could get it out Coach Cass' shrill voice caught her attention.
"Well it is good to see that you two are getting along!" The sweating woman was way to chipper for Emma right now and a sigh fell from the teenagers mouth before she could stop it.
"I was just give my dear pal Regina a lesson in properly addressing an eighteen-year-old. She seemed rather out of practice." Beside her she could feel Regina stiffen and out of the corner of her eyes she saw her top row of teeth dig into her bottom lip.
"And I was just about to tell Miss Swan that my mother was a hardass that only let me call he by Mrs Mills when we were around each other," she quipped back. Instantly Emma felt her heart drop to the pit of her stomach. The words Regina spoke left a foul taste in her mouth and her throat had suddenly gone dry. It felt like red hot anger had started coursing through her blood and she couldn't help but blurt out her next words.
"And I think you would enjoy to know, Ms Mills, that I would say that you are lucky you had a mother. Some of us weren't so fortunate," she growled. Without saying another word she stood, slung her bag over her shoulder, and exited the dugout.
