2 - No Reason!

When Emma pulled into the school car park, she systematically scanned the area. No sign of her. She should really stop, she was getting obsessive but something about Regina Mills had caught her eye.

"Morning Emma!" her friend Killian's voice jolted her out of her daze.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Not much, you think you might actually show up for tutor today?" he teased.

"Will you?" she shot back, knowing full well that he knew as well as she did how pointless tutor meetings were.

"Hey wait up!" turning, they saw Robin running after them.

"Oversleep again?" teased Killian, grinning.

"Hey, I'm 5 minutes early actually!" said Robin, as he skidded to a halt beside them.

"Oh look, 2 losers and a lesbian walk into a room. This sounds like the worst joke ever!"

Turning the trio saw the 3 most popular girls in school giggling and pointing.

"Good job Mal, we've never heard that one before!" snapped Killian, sarcastically.

The blonde just smiled and Ursula and Cruella waved as they passed, smiling sickeningly sweetly.

"You okay Emma?" Robin's voice was filled with concern.

"Robin, she just called me a lesbian. That's exactly what I am, it's not an insult!" reassured Emma, as they entered the cafeteria were they spent most of their free time.

"Oh, I meant to ask you guys, do you know if Regina Mills goes to this school?" she desperately tried to sound casual but was fairly sure she was unsuccessful.

"What the mayor's daughter?" asked Killian, eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, she's in my biology class. I can see why you're into her, she is smoking hot!" grinned Robin, seeing the blush creep up Emma's neck.

"I'm not into her!" she said, a little too quickly, "She was just at Granny's the other day and seemed familiar!"

"Sure!" Robin and Killian exchanged knowing looks and Emma batted her hand at them but her mind was racing. So she did go to this school! Somehow, she was going to bump into her again.

This was desperate, she knew that and yet still here she was stood outside of Robin's biology class. She was under the pretence of waiting for Robin, but really was hoping to catch just a glimpse of the brunette that haunted her every minute. She saw Dr. Whale dismiss them and everyone started to pack up. The door opened and she stepped back as students started to flood into the corridor. Finally, there she was. She was dressed in a blue top and black pencil skirt, showing off her curves beautifully and she made direct eye contact with Emma as she exited the room. For a brief moment, brown eyes locked onto blue and then all too quickly, Regina bowed her head and made her way down the corridor. Without even thinking about it, Emma's eyes fell on the girls swinging ass, admiring the way her skirt hugged it.

"She is something else isn't she?"

Robin's voice jolted her out of her fantasy and glancing over, she saw his eyes exactly where hers had just been fixated.

"This is a nice surprise Emma, I wonder what inspired you to wait outside this classroom?" Robin made a big show of dramatically tapping his forehead in an over exaggerated thinking gesture.

"Oh shut it you!" Emma said, heading off down the corridor.

He laughed and quickly caught up with her.

"So, you gonna talk to her or just casually stalk her for the rest of the year?"

"Robin, I swear to god mind you own..."

"Well, if you're not interested I can have her?"

"No!" Emma said, before she could catch herself.

"Got it, that fine ass is yours!" Robin raised his hands in surrender, but smirked knowing he'd won.

It was later that evening and Emma was doing her homework at the kitchen table while her mum cooked.

"Hey mum?" said Emma, before her better judgement got the better of her, "What do you know about the Mills family?"

"As in Mayor Mills?" Mary-Margaret asked, a little surprised by her daughters sudden curiosity.

"Well, let's just say Madame Mayor is known for her tightness, unwilling to spend money on anything the town actually needs and keeping it to herself. Her husband, bless him, Henry is a lovely man but never stands up to her" Mary-Margaret continued to slice up carrots as she spoke.

Emma was listening to every word, "What about their daughters?"

"Oh right, well Regina's spent her whole life there, that's the younger one. She was always such a sweet little girl, loved horse riding. Now Zelena, isn't Henry's daughter so as far as I know Cora sent her to England with her father. When she was 14, her father died and she moved back to Storybrooke. It can't be easy for her! Anyway, what brought on this sudden curiosity?"

"Oh no reason, the girls just came into Granny's the other day and I wasn't sure I'd seen them before"

"Oh, you and Regina used to take horse riding lessons together when you were little!" Mary Margaret said, going over to a draw, "I think I have some photos somewhere, oh here we go"

Emma took the photo. It showed a very little Emma, couldn't have been more than 5, sat astride a big white horse smiling widely. Next to her, on a black horse sat a very young Regina, with long flowing black hair and a smile that lit up the entire photo. They both looked so happy together and Emma couldn't help but smile. When she thought her mother wasn't looking, she took a photo of the picture on her phone and quickly placed it back in the drawer.

"How could I not know she went to my school?!" she wondered aloud, picking a piece of carrot out of the pile before Mary-Margaret could slap it away.

"Wait until dinner young lady! And Regina's pursuits were always a little more" she fumbled for the right word, "academic than yours!"

"I am offended!" said Emma, but knew her mother had a point. She was studying art, photography and media, not the most academic of choices but she had never been very good at exams.

"You know what I mean? From what I heard she wants to go to med school"

Damn, she was so out of her league it hurt. Intelligent and beautiful!

"Why are you so interested?" her mother said, shooting her a knowing smile.

"No reason, I just recognised her but couldn't place it!" Emma sighed, exasperated.

Why couldn't everyone just accept her curiosity at face value? Not that that was all it was but still, she had hoped she wasn't quite so transparent. Every time she looked up, she saw her mother grinning at her to the extent that she eventually had to go upstairs to finish her media work!

The next day, Emma and Killian were sat in Miss Tink's art class nervously waiting for her give them the grades for their latest pieces. The brief had been an anatomical statue, Emma was nervous about her anatomically correct heart which she had painted with classic love symbols such as roses. Killian had assured her it was good but she was worried it was a little cheesy. Slowly, Miss Tink went through the class until she reached Emma.

"Alright Emma, your piece was of a very high standard as usual but I'm afraid it lacked a little originality. I'm afraid I can only give you a C+" Tink said, gently.

Emma's face fell a little but she nodded. The feedback was fair enough.

"How did you do?" she asked, turning to Killian.

"B+" he said, smiling.

"That's great, you definitely deserve it!" Emma smiled.

"Alright guys, listen up!" Miss Tink brought their attention back.

"Alright, your next topic is similar to the last one but the key word is 'human'" she said, writing it up on the board.

Suddenly, an idea hit Emma like a tsunami. Human? What if she drew a representation of the struggle between good and bad, the constant battle between the conscious and unconscious desires on someone's body? Literal human art! She quickly whispered her idea to Killian, who replied that it was a great idea. Well, much more original than her last idea anyway! Now all she had to do was find a model. She had someone in mind immediately. Now all she had to do was convince her!