"Emma, wait!" August called after her, as Emma turned on her heels and started striding away from him. "Emma, please, just… Listen! Let me explain!"
"How do you know my name?!" Emma shouted at him angrily, turning back to face him with a furious glare. She'd just wanted the day to go by without any hassle, and this stupid boy had already ruined it for her. He smiled sadly at her.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to shock you like that, I just needed you to pay attention. The crutches don't exactly exude confidence, people tend to ignore me. I couldn't risk that happening with you, Emma. I really am sorry, I just got a bit overexcited, like I said, I've waited so long to see you again." He looked shamefully down at the ground, and Emma couldn't help feeling a little sorry for him. 'Again' she thought, wondering what he meant. He met her eyes and continued. "We were in a care home together, you probably don't remember me, do you?" Emma shook her head, puzzled, she knew she'd never seen him before, she was good with faces. "No, I wouldn't expect you to. It was your first care home, you were just a baby when they brought you in. I was the one who found you, or so they told me, I don't really remember that much, I was only 2 at the time. I'd been playing in the garden, and I found you, behind a hedge. We were there for 3 years together, until I was fostered… I begged them to take you with us, Emma, I really did. But they only wanted one child, they couldn't take on the responsibility of both of us. I still feel so guilty about that moment, I should've insisted, or refused to go with them, but I was young and selfish, I wanted a family."
"Why was that selfish? I don't blame you for that, there's nothing wrong with wanting a family. Why would you have risked that for me?" Emma couldn't understand why August was telling her all of this, there must've been loads of other kids in that home, why was August obsessing over her?
"Ah, Emma, you really don't know, do you? You're special," August paused and then whispered in awe, "You have magic." Magic? This August guy was insane! What kind of game was he playing? Oh. And then Emma realised, that's probably what it was, just a game. She doubted they'd even been in the same home, he was probably just a pathetic guy looking to have some fun at the new girl's expense. Enough kids at the new home already hated her, one of them had probably told him her name and got him to play a trick on her. Well, it wasn't gonna work. She sneered at him, and walked proudly away, she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of running, especially as he wouldn't be able to chase her on his crutches anyway. She ignored his calling out as she made her way to her class, just in time for the bell ringing.
She found her form tutor by looking at the school map Gina had thrust upon her before leaving, and she settled into one of the seats at the back, as the room steadily filled with teenagers. Her teacher, Miss Blanchett, wasn't here yet, so instead she paid attention to the other kids in the class. She could already identify pretty much all the cliques- there were the nerds at the front, sorting out their pens and chatting about the holiday work, there were the jocks with their letterman jackets, leaning back on their chairs with their feet on the table, there were the goths wearing black and talking solemnly to each other, and various other friendship groups dotted around the classroom. Only one guy didn't seem to fit in with the others, a cute dark haired boy with subtle eyeliner in the seat next to her who was sketching a ship on the front of his notepad. He looked up as he noticed her watching him, and winked cheekily as she blushed and looked away. She hoped he'd go back to drawing his ship, but instead he rested his elbow on the table, leaned his head against his hand, and continued to stare at her until an old man with a cane walked into the classroom and everyone shut up.
"I'm afraid Miss Blanchett isn't feeling well today, so as headmaster it falls upon me to do the introductions. I trust you all worked hard over the break. Anyway, dearies, you have 2 new students joining your class." The man's voice was thin and quiet, and yet it had a stern quality that instantly made people feel intimidated; his face was somewhat scary too, his skin was so dry it made it appear cracked and fractured. Emma wondered who the other new student was, maybe she wasn't the only one to get expelled last semester? "Firstly, let me introduce miss Emma Swan," he looked around the class till his eyes met hers, "You're lucky we accepted you after you got expelled from your last school, I assure you, we will not tolerate any rule breaking here, so I warn you to be on your best behaviour or I will personally send you straight back home to that care home of yours." Rage bubbled inside of Emma, how dare he announce in front of the whole class that she was not only expelled, but that she lived in a care home! "Secondly, we have a transfer student from England, he-" But before the headmaster could finish his sentence, the boy next to her spoke up.
"Actually, sir, having seen what a terrible job you did introducing Swan here, I think I'll just tell everybody who I am by myself." He ignored the headmaster's hostile eyes as he looked around the class, before smiling directly at Emma, "I'm Killian Jones."