I'm happy you guys liked my first chapter! I can really see this story getting somewhere. To the person who asked about the note, It'll be revealed later *wink wink*! If you have any suggestions or comments please leave reviews!

Chapter 2

Emma wanted to stay behind and see the look on Ms. Mills' face when she looked down at the note, but she didn't want to risk being caught. She truly believed Ms. Mills just needed to let her hair down sometimes, and Emma was going to make her do that, whether she liked it or not. Stopping at her locker she got her lunch and headed to the cafeteria. Looking around, she instantly felt awkward and out of place. Everyone around her was sitting with their friends and she was still being a loner by looking for somewhere to sit.

It was then that she saw Ruby standing on a chair far off in the distance, waving her over. She smiled internally as everyone at the table looked super excited to see her. When she approached the table, everyone around her greeted her with a "Hey Emma!" and a smile. Sitting down, she peered inside her lunch box to see a note from Mary Margaret.

Have a wonderful day! Heart you! Xoxo –MM

Emma smiled at the note and tucked it in her bag. She had only been staying with Mary Margaret for about a month but she thought this home was going to be a good one, and that made her immensely happy. Smiling when she saw MM had packed her favorite, she began to eat as she listened to the playful banter between Ruby and Graham.

"Ruby I didn't sleep with her, she slept with me! It wasn't my fault!"

Ruby gave him her famous death glare and scoffed, "Yeah and I'm sure your dick just magically fell into her, right?"

Everyone including Emma shared a laugh at Ruby's vulgarity. Graham simply shook his head and shoved another chip into his mouth. He got into these arguments with Ruby every day and never won any of them. Now, he decided that it was a lost cause. Seeing this as a new opportunity to get to know Emma, Katherine quickly went over and occupied the seat next to Emma.

"So Emma, what'd you think of your new English teacher?"

Emma couldn't hide the blush that crept onto her face. She's a sex goddess. "Uh…she was okay I guess."

"Was she a bitch like I said?"

Emma couldn't help but smile at this. She's a sexy bitch. "She yelled at me for being late and then I wasn't paying attention so she yelled at me after class."

Everyone at the table's mouths dropped open. A girl named Belle spoke up next. "You weren't paying attention to Ms. Mills?" Belle was the quietest in the group and also known as the sweetheart. She always had her head in a book, but this time she couldn't pass up the opportunity to ask Emma about this.

Emma looked around the table and saw all eyes were now on her. "I may or may not have doodled on my paper", Emma blushed and tucked a stray hair away from her face, "I was paying attention at first, but then she started talking about the different types of literature we'd be reading and I couldn't pay attention anymore, sorry."

By then, everyone at the table was laughing, including Belle. "Emma I like you! None of us would've ever dared to do that", said Ruby.

"Yeah, I mean she's boring but no amount of talking could make me defythe Evil Queen", Graham agreed.

"Evil Queen?" Emma raised an eyebrow. Did people really think that badly of her? She didn't understand why everyone hated the woman so much and thought so ill of her. To her, Ms. Mills just seemed like someone who demanded respect, and who was she to judge her for that?

It was Ruby who spoke up. "Yes, Evil Queen. She fails everyone and doesn't care about it. She's evil and she acts like a queen."

This time, Emma didn't respond. She didn't know why, but she was growing more and more annoyed with everyone's opinions on Ms. Mills. She wasn't saying she loved Ms. Mills, but there was something about Ms. Mills that told her there was more to her story than some yelling and failed students. Part of her wanted to get to know the woman, and that scared her more than anything. Brushing it off, she got up and threw away her wrappers.

Before Emma knew it, her first day of school was over and she was walking over to the elementary school to meet Mary Margaret. When she reached the woman's classroom, she took in how bright it looked. Typical Mary Margaret. Paintings, drawings, and other works of art adorned the walls. When she got up to the front of the room, she saw Mary Margaret's biography. All of it was kind of boring really until she saw in bold print 'Mother of Emma Swan'.

It used to creep her out when people would get attached to her so fast, mostly because she knew that they were using her or trying to get a check from the government. But with Mary Margaret, she just felt this inexplicable bond between them. Thinking about how much she cared for the woman brought tears to her eyes. Those tears were quickly stopped though as she heard footsteps coming from the boots that Mary Margaret had insisted on wearing today. Emma thought the shoes were hideous, and she was sure MM did too, she just probably liked to hear herself walk.

"Hey you!" Mary Margaret's face brightened (if possible) at the sight of her daughter. Her day had been good like any other day, but there was something amazing about seeing Emma after a day of being apart. She missed her whenever she wasn't around and there wasn't a second she wasn't wondering what Emma was doing. She smiled internally as she thought about this, she felt like such a mom. It made her the happiest woman in the world. Hugging Emma, she pulled out a chair for Emma to sit in next to her desk and sat down herself.

"Hey MM, how was your day?"

"Wellllll my day went well! Except, I couldn't help but miss you. How was your day?"

Emma couldn't help but chuckle as she watched Mary Margaret pout in a way that simply screamed Mary Margaret. "I missed you too. My day was good, I made friends!"

Mary Margaret held out both her hands so Emma could slap them. "I'm so happy for you! I knew people would love you!"

Emma beamed. "Yeah, my friends seem to like me. They invited me to hang out with them during my free period and I sat with them at lunch!" Emma couldn't help but be excited. She had never really been disliked other than by her foster siblings, but she loved the idea of making new friends and getting to know new people. She was shy at first, but once she warmed up to people she had a ball.

MM smiled, "Tell me about them! What are their names?"

Emma chuckled at Mary Margaret's eagerness to hear about her friends. She'd never admit it, but it made her incredibly happy to hear that MM truly cared about her days. When she was younger, no one ever asked her about her day or even pretended to care about her unless they were getting a check waved in their face. "Well, my first friend is a girl named Ruby Lucas. She's super friendly, a bit too friendly if you ask me, but she's very kind. Her best friend's name is Katherine and Katherine was the girl who helped me find the English room when I got lost. There's another boy named Graham who is a huge player but still super nice. There's another girl named Belle who is super quiet and reads a lot, but she seems to like me so yeah, we're friends. Apparently there's another girl named Tinkerbell, but she is still in Indonesia with her parents."

Mary Margaret couldn't contain her excitement any longer, she did a happy dance in her chair. "I'm so happy! I'm glad you had a good day because you don't deserve any less sweetheart. I hope the life I give you is better than the one you had."

Emma nodded her head. "You've given me a life full of love and warmth and that's something I never had. I'm not ready to talk about what happened yet, but I promise this life you've showed me is so much better."

That made MM feel so much better. All she wanted to do was make Emma happy.

"So, what do you say we have Granny's for dinner?"

Granny's…That sounds familiar. "You mean Granny Lucas?"

"Yeah, you know her?"

"She's my gym teacher!"

Recognition flooded Mary's face. "I did see that on your schedule. Anyway, Granny's is where everyone goes when they want a home cooked meal and either are too lazy or just want to taste Granny's food. I'm sorry I haven't taken you yet, I've just been so busy and—"

Emma cut the woman off and chuckled, "Mary Margaret! It's okay! We will go today and we will stuff our faces for once."

"For once? Emma you shovel food into your mouth on a daily basis!"

Emma threw her head back and laughed at the woman's attempt at a joke. She had to admit, Mary Margaret was funny, but only when she wasn't trying to be. After MM grabbed her bags, they got into the brunette's car and drove to Granny's. "Race you to the door!" Emma screamed at MM, knowing the woman wasn't going to race her. She honestly just liked to run and be active, no matter what the time of day. She didn't however notice the figure walking into Granny's, running into them full force. "Oh my gosh, I am so sorry, I didn't even—"

Emma's jaw dropped as she took in the disheveled appearance of her English teacher, Ms. Mills. If the woman hadn't been so livid, she actually would've laughed at the situation.

"Miss Swan, what a displeasure."

Emma nodded her head; she should've seen it coming. "Hello Ms. Mills…How are you?"

Ms. Mills responded with the raise of a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. "Really, Miss Swan? You almost kill me with your barbarism and now you're trying to make small talk? Wow, first impressions really aren't your thing."

Emma honestly couldn't think of a proper response to that. Why was this woman so sexy when she was ripping her apart with insults? Shaking her head, she merely nodded at Ms. Mills, letting the woman know she had heard her and was listening.

"Anyway, Miss Swan, I shall see you in my classroom on time, am I right?"

Emma thought Ms. Mills would've smirked or at least shown some sign of mirth, but she showed none and looked completely serious. Gulping, she nodded and continued to stand there.

"Well, I haven't got all day, are you going to step aside or not Miss Swan?"

Emma's face turned beet red, realizing she was blocking both the entrance to Granny's and the way she assumed Ms. Mills needed to go. "Sorry Ms. Mills.", stepping aside she watched as the brunette walked away from her, throwing in a "Have a nice night!" that was only met with silence.

Damn she hates me. Shaking her head, she turned as she felt the hand of her stepmother on her shoulder. "Hey sweetie, everything okay, who was that?"

Nodding her head, she gave Mary Margaret a reassuring smile, "Yes that was just my English teacher, I don't think she likes me very much."

Mary Margaret gave the blonde's shoulder a squeeze and looked her in the eye, smiling, "You're a wonderful girl and there isn't a thing about you not to love. She'll come around soon enough and if she doesn't, I think that says more about her than it does you."

Emma took comfort in Mary Margaret's kind words. A few words of encouragement from her meant the world to her and could make such a huge difference. "Thanks MM."

They had just gotten inside Granny's when Emma and Mary Margaret sat down at the counter. A cheerful Ruby Lucas approached the two, conspicuously very excited to see Emma. "Hey Emma! Oh my gosh, you didn't tell me Miss Blanchard was your mom!" Emma looked anywhere but at her awkwardly. If Ruby did know she was a foster child, she didn't show it.

"Yeah," was all she could say. It's not that she didn't think of MM as her mom, because she did, but she didn't know if MM wanted to keep her and she didn't know her well enough to go around telling the world she was her mother so she hadn't said anything.

"Hey Ruby! You can call me Mary Margaret, I'm too young to be known as Miss Blanchard."

All three girls shared a laugh. After Ruby took their order, Mary Margaret and Emma made small talk. "So Emma, have you met any cute boys at school?"

Emma groaned. No, but I met a sexy woman this morning. Does that count? She blushed.

"Oh my gosh you totally have! Spill!" Everyone in the diner drew their attention towards a squealing Mary Margaret.

Emma didn't like lying, so she merely avoided the question. "I haven't met any cute boys yet, but I'll tell you when I do, promise."

She saw the woman deflate, but she seemed to accept that as an answer. Before MM could interrogate her anymore, Ruby arrived with their food.

"Double cheeseburger with a side of onion rings?" Emma raised her hand. Giving MM her plate, Ruby winked at Emma and then went back to work.

The two ate in silence, Emma momentarily commenting on how good the food tasted. When they were done, they got back into Mary Margaret's car and headed home. Home. It warmed Emma's heart to be able to refer to some place as that. She never thought she'd find a family, let alone someone who loved her for her. No, she hadn't told MM of her sexuality, but she had a feeling the woman would be more than accepting.

That night when Emma lay in her bed, she thought of the family she had always dreamed of. She once wanted a mom, a dad, maybe a brother or a sister, and a dog. Now? She wouldn't trade her family for anything.