Ruby had only seen Belle a few times throughout the day. She had tried to speak to her at one point, but was pulled away by Graham. Ruby did her best to hide her disappointment, giving Belle a small finger wave, mouthing that she would see her later as Graham dragged her away. It made her smile when Belle smiled shyly, nodded, and waved back.

She walked down the hall, lingering in the memory of Belle's smile. An arm wrapping around her shoulders snapped her from her reverie. She glanced to her side to see who had joined her. Emma was smiling brightly next to her causing Ruby to smile back.

"What's up, Emma?." she greeted, nudging her lightly.

"Guess who's not grounded anymore." Emma said, her smiling growing wider.

Ruby released a small laugh. "So, you've been taken off lockdown? That's awesome." She stopped at her locker for a moment. "Does Regina know?"

"Yeah, I told her earlier." Emma leaned against the lockers. "Since I have freedom again, we should hit up Granny's after practice."

"I can't." Ruby exchanged a few books from her locker to her backpack. "I have to meet Belle in the library."

Emma furrowed her brow in a questioning manner. "Belle? Since when are you hanging out with her? And in the library of all places."

Ruby smirked, placing the last book inside. "She's my tutor." She shrugged one shoulder. "She's actually pretty cool. I invited her to the party on Friday night."

Emma's eyes widened in surprise. "To Ashley's party? You're going to bring another girl to Ashley's party?" She released a small laugh. "Man, you are just asking for drama."

"What are you talking about? There's no drama." She closed her locker and turned to face her friend fully. "Belle and I are just.." Her sentence trailed into silence as she her eyes caught sight of Belle over Emma's shoulder. "..friends."

Emma looked at Ruby curiously before turning to see what had caught her attention. Belle was walking in their direction with August chattering by her side. Emma looked at Ruby once again, but she was watching Belle. It was almost as if she was waiting for the girl to notice her.

Emma raised an eyebrow, waiting patiently for their interaction to take place. Her focus fell on Belle for a brief moment, noticing the girl was only half listening to August. She was nodding along as he spoke, but her attention shifted slightly toward Ruby. Emma turned her head slowly to look at her friend. Ruby was paying her no attention. Her eyes locked firmly on Belle.

Ruby raised her hand, giving Belle a short wave. The girl smiled timidly, tucking her hair behind her ear before waving back. Ruby watched her as she passed. Belle looked back, her teeth pressed into her bottom lip with another shy smile. When August glanced back to see what she was looking at, she quickly diverted his attention and ushered him forward.

Emma smirked, knowingly. "Just friends, huh?"

"What?" Ruby muttered, her attention still on Belle's retreating form.

Emma raised her hand, snapping her fingers in front of Ruby's face. The taller girl jumped and she laughed, shaking her head. "Yeah, you like her." she teased as Ruby shot her a look.

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She started walking down the hall and Emma followed her closely. She squinted slightly, turning her attention to her friend for a moment. "Did you know she's originally from Australia?"

"Really? Was learning that part of your English assignment?" Emma kidded, receiving another dirty look. She nudged her lightly. "Just admit it. You're into her." She shrugged one shoulder. "It's okay. She's kinda cute."

"Kinda?" Ruby huffed. "Have you ever really looked at her? She's beautiful." A wide smile unconsciously covered her lips. "And she has the most amazing blue eyes…." She paused when Emma stopped walking. She stopped as well, looking at her inquisitively. "Why are you stopping? We have to get to class."

Emma shook her head, laughing at her friend. She started walking again and resting her hand on Ruby's shoulder. "Bring her to Granny's." She walked ahead, turning so she was facing Ruby while walking backwards. "I want to get to know this girl who has you so captivated."

Ruby gave her a flat stare. "I am not captivated." she argued, not even believing herself at this point. She sighed and followed behind Emma. "I'll see what I can do about getting her to go."

"Excellent." Emma replied, proudly as she turned and hurried off down the hallway with Ruby, ducking her head and trailing not far behind….

Belle continued to push August until they reached their class. They walked toward their seats and sat down. August watched her for a moment as she opened a book and began randomly flipping through pages. He smiled, knowing she was doing everything possible to avoid eye contact with him. He couldn't deny he was curious about her eye exchange with Ruby Lucas.

"I'm guessing tutoring Ruby went well." he noted, unable to contain his curiosity any longer.

Belle kept her eyes on the pages. "It went fine." she replied. "She's not as bad as the others. She just lacks focus."

"She seemed to be focusing on you pretty well."

Belle pressed her lips together, fighting the smile that was begging to split her face. Ruby was watching her rather closely. When Ruby tried to talk to her earlier, she chalked it up to her just wanting to be friend to the girl that was tutoring her. But, what happened just a moment ago was something Belle had never experienced before. It was like they were the only two people in the hallway. The world seemed to slow and their focus was solely on one another.

Belle cleared her throat, trying to shake the thought from her mind. "What are you implying, August?" she inquired, finally raising her attention from the pages.

He shrugged. "Maybe she's interested in you being more than just her tutor."

She felt her stomach jump and her heart began to race as she swallowed nervously. "No..no.." She shook her head. "Ruby Lucas? Interested in me?" She released a light disbelieving laugh. "That's preposterous."

"Don't sell yourself short, Belle." August said, turning his attention to the front as the teacher entered. "You're pretty amazing." He smiled. "It's about time someone actually took notice of that."

She felt the blush rise up her neck and into her cheeks. "Thanks, August."

He gave her a friendly wink with a small smile. "You're welcome."

The tutoring session seemed to fly by. Ruby actually paid attention to everything that they had gone over. There were the moments when Ruby would watch her while she was reading out loud then look completely confused when Belle asked her a question. When Ruby would read, Belle would catch herself getting lost in the sound of her voice and have to bring herself back. She had fidgeted more in the last hour than she had her entire life.

"You did well today, Ruby." Belle complimented as she gathered her books and placed them in her bag. "I don't understand why you aren't doing better in your actual class."

Ruby smiled, putting away her things as well. "Probably because my teacher doesn't hold my attention as well as you do." she returned, suddenly embarrassed by her own confession. "I... uh.. I mean.. you just make it easier to understand."

"I do my best." Belle smiled, a small blush on her cheeks from Ruby's previous statement. She checked her watch then zipped up her bag. "Well, I know you must have somewhere else you'd rather be so I'll leave you to it." She stood from the table and took a step closer to her. She rested her hand on Ruby's shoulder, smiling down at her. "I'll see you tomorrow." She gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze and started to walk away.

Ruby watched her go for a second. "Belle, hang on a second!" she called out as she rushed to get to her feet. Her knee banged against the table loudly just as Belle turned around. "Son of bitch!" she muttered, loudly.

"What happened?" Belle asked, concerned as she rushed back over to her. She dropped her bag, kneeling by Ruby's side as she placed her hand on her knee. "Are you okay?"

Pain covered her face as she pressed her lips tightly together to muffle any other curse that may try to escape. She nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." she groaned, breathing in and out deeply. She looked down at Belle. Once she looked into those concerned blue eyes, the pain seemed to fade away. She swallowed nervously before speaking. "Do.. uh... do you wanna go to Granny's with me? My treat? A-as a thank you.. for helping me?"

Belle stared at her already feeling the nerves building in her stomach and running through her veins. She stood from her kneeling position and began to play with her hands. "We've already discussed going to Granny's, Ruby. It's just not somewhere I think I would fit in." She shook her head slowly. "I'm still debating on going to that party with you and I don't think-"

Ruby stood quickly, cutting her off. Without a thought, she took Belle's hands in hers. "Belle, how about you just stop thinking for once and just go for it? Take a leap." She looked into her eyes, resisting the urge to brush her fingers against her cheek. "I promise, everything will be fine."

Belle stared back, feeling her resolve weakening. She found herself bouncing anxiously on her heels as her hands remained in Ruby's. Her eyes still locked onto beautiful hazel. "Al-alright.." She felt a lump develop in her throat and she swallowed it back. "I'll go."

A wide smile spread across Ruby's face as she unconsciously intertwined her fingers with Belle's. "Cool! That's..so cool.. okay.." she stated, excitedly causing the tutor to chuckle lightly. She reached down and grabbed her bag. "Well, let's go. I swear you're going to have a good time."

"I better." Belle teased as she allowed herself to be lead out of the library. She made sure not to point out the fact that Ruby was still holding her hand. She was afraid if she did, Ruby would let go, and a very large part of her didn't want her to...

Ruby sat close to Belle, her arm resting on the back of the booth. She glanced at her for a moment, smiling as she watched her sip her ice tea. Emma sat across from them with Regina. She looked at Regina, motioning her head in their direction and making a kissing face. Regina rolled her eyes, reaching under the table to squeeze Emma's thigh, silently scolding her. Emma laughed loudly at the action causing both girls to look at her.

Emma cleared her throat. "So, Belle, Ruby told me you might be coming to the party Friday night." She placed her arm on the back of the booth behind Regina. "You should totally come to the game too. That way you'll have a reason to celebrate."

"Oh..I uh.." Belle found herself fidgeting with her hands again and put them underneath the table. "I'm still not sure if I'm going to the party and I've never been to any of your games before.. I guess I'm just not very social..." She frowned inwardly at her own confession.

"Why?" Emma made a face. "You're pretty cool. You should definitely hang out more."

Ruby beamed at her friend's compliment and she could see Belle start to blush. She moved her arm from the booth and placed it under the table. She hesitated for a moment, but found herself taking Belle's hand once again. When blue eyes turned to her questioningly, Ruby smiled. "Come to the game." she requested, lightly squeezing Belle's hand before letting it go. "You can be my good luck charm."

"From what I've heard, you don't need any luck." Belle responded, smiling back.

"That's true." Emma reached across the table, slapping her friend's arm. "Ruby is awesome." She looked at Belle again. "And, you could totally witness it if you come to the game."

"Belle, I'm not a fan of sports either, but I can promise you the games are a lot more exciting when you witness them live." Regina chimed in, receiving a smile from Emma. She flashed a smile. "You can sit with me if you decide to go. We can get to know each other when it gets boring."

Belle was overwhelmed by the kindness of Ruby's friends. All this time, she didn't give these people a chance. She never thought they would accept her. She wasn't overly social. She was far from popular. She was just the girl who liked to study and spend time in the library around the things she loved most. She turned her attention to Ruby, who pouted adorably, pleading with her to say yes. To take a leap.

Belle nodded. "Alright. I'll go."

"Yes!" Ruby exclaimed, triumphantly as Emma gave her a high five.

Regina rolled her eyes at the action. She leaned forward causing Belle to lean forward as well. "If you plan on sticking around.." she whispered, grinning at the other girl. "You'll have to get used to their foolishness."

Belle laughed lightly and leaned back away from Regina. She watched as Ruby and Emma began talking about the upcoming game. She found herself staring at Ruby, smiling at the excitement in her face. She jumped when Ruby turned to her suddenly with a raised eyebrow. "Do I have something on my face now?" she joked.

"No..I..." Belle stammered, nervously running her hand through her hair. "I just..." She exhaled frustrated at the fact that she was unable to form a coherent sentence. She rested her hands on the table. "I should go."

Ruby frowned. "It's still early."

"I have-"

"Homework." Ruby finished as Belle narrowed her eyes in a mock glare. She chuckled and slid out of the booth. She held her hand out to help Belle out of the booth. "I'll walk you home."

Belle accepted her hand and slid out of the booth. Once she was out, she reluctantly released it. "Oh, you don't have to. I don't want to take you away from your friends."

"Please, take her." Emma ordered, jokingly. She waved her hand. "I get enough of her all day. She's all yours."

"See. My best friend is already sick of me so it's time for me to go to." Ruby held her hand out. "After you."

Belle dipped her head, clasping her hands in front of her. She glanced at Emma and Regina. "It was very nice finally speaking with you both." she said, glancing at Ruby before walking ahead of her.

"You too." Emma replied as she shoved Ruby playfully giving her an approving smile. Ruby shook her head, shoving her back, and followed after Belle...

"I told you they'd like you." Ruby said, walking up the pathway to Belle's front door.

Belle gripped her backpack, the smile still on her lips. "Your friends are nice." she admitted, walking side by side with Ruby. She stopped in front of her door, turning to face her. "I had a nice time. Thank you."

Ruby nodded. "I told you it would be fun." She reached out, lightly tugging on Belle's sleeve. "Thanks for agreeing to come to the game."

"I'm just giving you fair warning that I'm bringing a book in case I get bored." She smiled brightly when Ruby laughed.

"As long as you come, you can do whatever you want."

Belle felt the blush coming on again. No one had ever made her feel this wanted. She bit her lip, shifting on her feet. She pointed over her shoulder. "I..should go inside."

Ruby placed her hands in her front pockets and nodded again. "Okay..." She squinted, flashing Belle an adorable look. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Of course."

Belle's hands toyed with the strap on her backpack as they stared at one another for a moment. She raised her hand in short wave and turned to walk inside. Before she knew it, she was turned back around and found herself in wrapped in Ruby's arms. She hesitated for a moment before hugging her back. She breathed in deep, taking in the scent of shampoo and perfume. She felt Ruby's lips press against the top of her head before she slowly moved back.

Ruby looked into her eyes and smiled. "Have a good night, Belle." she said, softly then turned and walked away.

Belle watched her go. When Ruby glanced back at her, she gave her an awkward short wave. Ruby smiled then gave one of her own before disappearing down the street. Belle felt warmth run through her body as she wrapped her arms around herself, lingering in the memory of Ruby's hug. She couldn't stop the smile from returning as she turned and walked into her home...