Oh gahd I am so sorry for the delay. I got a little busy for enrollment
Buuuuuut here you go!
Thank you for the follows and favorites and for that little guest review. :D
Happy panda is happy for those.
Again, apologies for the errors. And reviews and constructive criticism are always welcomed!
When Regina woke up the next day, she immediately groaned. Her body was sore and hurt all over. Her eyes were red and swollen from all the crying last night and her throat was dry; probably from all the screaming.
When she undressed in front of the bathroom mirror, she cringed at the sight of her body marred with the red slap marks from her mother's beating last night. For once, she sighed in relief that her mother had gone easy and used the belt instead of the riding crop or the horse whip.
She was tired, she was hurt in both physical and emotional aspects, but she forced herself to take a bath, get dressed and go to school.
She slowly descended the staircase, expecting the possible breakfast scenes that might occur in a few moments. She expected her mother to give her a cold shoulder, or even harsh glares and spat of words.
What she didn't expect was the smell of breakfast and a sweet good morning from someone she didn't expect as well.
"Good morning, my dearest darling sister!" Zelena Mills said as she poured coffee in Regina's mug, "I would eat already if I were you since you would be late for school just standing there."
Regina stared at her red haired older sister with mixed emotions. Sure she was happy that her sister was back from college, but she was shocked as well; no calls or texts or even an email that she was coming back. It made her suspicious if she was reacting the way her mother had about the revealing news.
"Reggie," her sister said, "I heard about what happened last night. And from how mother acted this morning, I know how rough things are for you right now. I assure you, I'm here to help you."
Where was the red head bitch from Storybrooke high that was Zelena Mills? This person is entirely different! Regina thought, I'm sure there's a reason why Zelena is acting this way... More importantly:
"Why are you really here, Zelena?"
Her sister took a sip of her coffee, Regina mirroring her action. They stared into each other's eyes and studied each other; Zelena couldn't have just gotten home for Regina. It wasn't her to just walk away from the freedom an luxury in a far away city.
The tense silence was cut off by the sound of Regina's cellphone alarm, signaling she was about to be late for school. Regina stood up abruptly and threw all her stuff into her bag and rushed off.
"Oh Regina," Zelena said before her sister could run off outside, "I've missed you. It's nice to see you again. That's why I came back."
Regina threw her a quick glance and a curt nod before running out of the mansion.
Her secret was out, and the whole town knew for some reason. So at her third year of high school, Regina's precious reputation had already been scarred; one little hour of detention wasn't comparable to that for being late. She didn't care if she was still in the parking lot, inside her car when the third bell had already rung. When the swarm of students had disappeared into nothing outside, it was then Regina went out of the car and into the halls; dutifully heading to the principal's office before going to her classes.
When she did arrive at the door, her hand was stuck in mid-air, failing to knock on the door. Suddenly fear crept into her mind; the whole town knew the sudden revelation, so that would mean the principal knew as well. Next to her mother, Regina was just as scared of him. Not in the sense of being her school principal, but because next to Cora, this was the man who looked after her reputation. Not much of a father figure type, but she knew her mother has a shady relationship with this man. She didn't know much of it, but she guessed it when he was constantly looking after Regina's status. Regina was definitely afraid of what this man would think of her, what he would say to her when she walks into the very room.
Still, she was taught to put her head up high. She willed her body to stop shaking and calmly knocked on the door.
When she entered, the secretary looked at Regina like she had three heads. Regina didn't resist the urge to roll her eyes at the older woman.
"Of course you would be judging me," Regina said, annoyed, "I can see the gears in your petty little head working. As you can see, I'm late for this goddamn school. May I please get my permit-to-class slip and the details for my detention?"
Regina spat at the last statement, causing the secretary to jump back to reality and wrote something on a paper.
"Miss Mills, I was about to call you," she said frantically, "Principal Gold would like to see you right now."
Clearly this woman was still scared of the young Mills, seeing how Regina still had power despite the big news everyone was making a big deal about.
Regina marched inside the office, trying to hide the sinking feeling in her stomach as she met Gold's eyes the instant she walked in.
"Well well, if it isn't Regina Mills." Gold greeted her with a smirk, "You're looking more and more like your mother everyday."
"Cut the crap, Gold." Regina said, sitting down on the chair across the principal, "I'm already late for class, if you haven't noticed. What do you want?"
"You can try, dearie," He retorted, "But no matter how hard you try, no matter how brave you try to sound, I can always smell fear. Especially yours right about now."
For a while, silence filled the room as the two of them stared the other down. Suddenly, all that fear Regina had earlier was replaced by anger. This man barely knew her, and she wasn't about to go down.
"I assume you had a lovely chat with mother about the issue," Regina said, breaking the silence, "So tell me, how did you know about it?"
Gold smirked at her, amused. Regina was challenging her, as if his status as her school principal and his connection with her mother wasn't enough evidence of power over the young Mills.
"A little bird told us," He said, "It flew by here and told us, right on time when your mother paid a little visit."
Regina tried to brush a disturbing mental image off her mind. She didn't know her mother that well.
The principal chuckled at the sight of Regina scrunching her nose in disgust at what he said. He slowly reached for his cane and stood up, Regina watching him opening the door for her.
"I called you here for a little advice, Regina," He said in his shady tone of voice, "I suggest you be careful of who you trust. Especially at this time."
And with that lovely note, Regina stood up and left.
Time was extremely slow for the newfound trio. When the bell that signals lunch had finally rung, Ruby, Emma and Regina had wordlessly gathered on one table at far corner of the cafeteria.
It wasn't much of an awkward silence between the three of them. But with the constant stares of people, the silence invoking them became an issue. It wasn't long before Emma had caved and stood up to "go get some cookies", leaving Regina and Ruby alone together.
Regina hadn't eaten at all, just playing with the food she ordered. Ruby stared at her and wondered if she was eating well as of recent.
"I do eat, Ruby." Regina sighed, "I'm just in the mood for lunch right about now. And it's rude to stare."
Ruby jumped in surprise, like Regina had read her mind. She mumbled an apology before turning away to drink her coke. A brief silence passed between them for a moment before Ruby was able to realize what the cheerleader called her.
"You called me Ruby." She said, a smiling forming on her lips.
"Well, isn't that your name?"
Ruby could only nod and give her a wider smile as the two of them shared a light moment. Ruby knew Regina usually addressed people not from her clique with their family names, often with formalities. On meaner days, she called them other names that would get the girls behind her into a screeching laughter. Right now, it felt nice that Regina wasn't caller Ruby any of those despite the situation they're in.
"I never got to thank you," Regina said, "When you stood and Emma stood up for me back then."
"Well," Ruby reached out for Regina's hand, "You're Emma's girlfriend. Emma's like my sister... She's family. I'm pretty sure you two are going to be married soon and that makes you family too. And I make sure no one in my family gets hurt; otherwise, they'll receive hell from me."
A loud crash had interrupted them, their heads snapping to where the sound came from. The sight of Emma down on the her stomach was enough for both brunettes to rush to her aid.
Back then, Regina was one of those girls who laughed with the others when they would extend their legs and trip other people. Right now, her blood boiled at the sight of her very clique of cheerleaders and jocks laughing their asses off at Emma.
Before any of them could react, Emma's fist had connected with the nearest jock's face. Their laughter died quickly at the sight of blood dripping down his nose.
Frederick, as Regina remembered him, didn't have time to even register the pain inflicted on his nose. The amusement was wiped off his face was now replaced with anger. He got up and stood up near Emma, intimidating her with their body difference.
"You got guts, bitch." He hissed at the small blonde, "You broke my nose."
"Yeah," Emma retorted fearlessly, "Want another bone broken?"
Frederick reeled his fist back, exerting all force into his hand. He threw the punch, but oddly, it hit a harder target. Ruby now stood between Emma and Frederick, her hand blocking his fist. Ruby squeezed it, bones on his fist crunching loudly. The jock yelled loudly but before he could even make another move, Ruby's heel collided with his abdomen and knocked the wind out of him; finishing him off with a back hand to the face.
The whole cafeteria stared at her in dead silence. The only sound was Frederick's grunts of pain. Normally, Emma would be proud of her best friend for kicking the bastard's ass, but when the principal stood in front of them, all Emma could do was hold her tongue as Gold pointed at her, Regina, Ruby and Frederick and the words rung in her ears:
"To my office. NOW."
There wasn't a need for an explanation as Gold said he was already informed by students who witnessed what happened. All Gold did was give them a sharp reprimand on the school not tolerating violence and that all of them were given detention at the end of the day until Saturday. Ruby rolled her eyes at him. She wanted to explain that Regina was not part of the fight, but Gold had her silenced before her sentenced was finish.
The trio got out of school that day very late, the sun almost set and the skies getting darker each moment. Regina had volunteered to take Emma and Ruby home using her car. They took Emma home first, Ruby looking away as the two of them shared a kiss goodbye. Once again, Ruby was alone with Regina.
The silence wasn't awkward, more like comforting. Ruby insisted that Regina just drop her off at the front of the Mayoral Mansion since Regina was obviously tired and was aching to go to bed. Regina had argued at first, but ultimately, she agreed to Ruby.
Ruby's house wasn't very far from Regina's, so the small walk wasn't so bad. What made it so horrible was that halfway through, Ruby was cornered by someone who made her blood boil to the limit.
"What do you want?" Ruby snarled at her.
"Aaaawe, what's wrong, Ruby?" the woman said with a pout, "Don't want to see me? I thought you loved me!"
"Loved you?" Ruby said with a scoff, "This all your fault! You created this mess! You used to create it!"
The woman slowly came closer, but Ruby stepped back and held a hand.
"No!" Ruby said, "I think you heard what I did to that guy. I practice Karate, and I am so not afraid to use it on you. Don't you dare come any closer."
She dared to take another step forward, and did get so close to Ruby. Her mouth met Ruby's and she snaked her arms on her hips. Her mouth trailed down to Ruby's neck, eliciting a moan that was obviously held back by Ruby.
"You said something different," the woman breathed out, "a few nights ago."
Ruby snapped back to reality and pushed the woman away from her, briskly walking past her and onto her house.
"Fuck off!" Was the last thing Ruby said before running off to sanctuary, leaving the woman smiling ever so devilishly at her.
Oooooooooh! It's Once Upon a Femslash! :D
Hahaha! I'm so excited for school (ahem, so not) in two weeks! I'll try to update as much as i can! Don't worry, i promise to continue this and not abandon it!