So so so so sorry! I was supposed to upload this chapter last Thursday or Friday but it's been a crazy busy week at school so I wasn't able to. I'm sorry I truly am. By the way. The Captain Swan scene in 4x15. It brought tears to my eyes. And I cried yeah.

Chapter 10: Prickly but not hateable

"Emma!"

She turned around, only to see Elsa running after her.

"I'm coming with you." she said, giving her a warm smile.

Emma didn't bother hiding her surprise. So the Australian girl wanted to spend more time with her?

"Don't you want to finish your shopping session?" She asked rhetorically.

"Nah, I'm a bit tired." was what she answered, wincing slightly.

They kept walking for a while, without talking to each other and the ambiance was starting to get a little bit awkward.

It was a sunny day; which was a rare thing in this period of the year. It almost seemed like spring.

"Tell me more about yourself." Elsa blurted.

She looked at her with a confused expression, well she didn't see that one coming.

"What do you mean by 'more about yourself'? She inquired, frowning.

"Well I don't know, date of birth, what you like, how your family situation is like and all, siblings etc."

Oh, so she was trying to bond with her wasn't she?

Emma wasn't in the mood for that, so maybe she should turn her down right now.

But she didn't know why; she felt like it was wrong to do so, it definitely didn't sound like a good idea to her.

She inhaled deeply before responding: "Okay. October 22th, I don't like a lot of things but I for sure love hot cocoa with cinnamon and" she paused, thinking about rather she should tell her or not but decided to continue anyway.

"I don't have a family, I'm in the foster system." she admitted with a shrug, in the attempt of looking nonchalant.

She finally looked at Elsa, and she was confused because she seemed truly surprised.

So Mary-Margaret didn't tell them? Well she didn't certified it as a secret though.

She was now expecting the saddened expression and the pity look, (which she hated more than anything else) and was about to make up an excuse so she could leave; but then Elsa asked with an imperturbable voice: "How is it like? The foster system I mean."

Again, she didn't see that one coming. That blonde with braided hair was definitely full of surprises.

"Shitty." Emma groaned.

"Is it that bad?"

"You couldn't even imagine."

The way she said it was harsher than she wanted it to be.

Not like she cared about offending people or something.

Everybody knew Emma Swan was neglecting and careless.

But it didn't change the fact that at the moment, she regretted putting so much acerbity in her words.

Elsa hadn't responded yet. Was she mad?

"You're right." she huffed after a while. "I couldn't even imagine, for the simple reason that I've never been in any of this."

Emma could feel that the teenage girl was controlling herself, she could almost feel the anger growing inside of her body.

'Well done' she thought, 'you made a girl as sweet as Elsa angry. How did it even happen?'

"See Emma, I noticed this thing you're doing ever since we met. You think I'm too ordinary, the average, not worthy of being a friend of you-"

"I never said you weren't worthy of my friendship, it's just that I don't usually do friendship." She cut her off.

One thing she didn't want for sure was her having such a low opinion of herself.

Because she noticed that Elsa was lacking confidence, and she didn't deserve feeling this way.

"Whatever. I'm just trying to be nice out there but it would be great if you could you know, warm up a little bit more to me too." she added with a sad smile.

That was it.

Emma felt guilty.

She felt guilty because she made the platinum blonde feel bad.

"Elsa, you do know I'm not really into this." she said awkwardly, trying not to offend her this time.

"I do Emma, I do. But I just wanted to tell you that..." she paused, playing with her hands.

"Just because I haven't been through those things you've been through, or because you feel like I'm too much of a girl, talking about stuffs that the average persons of our age would talk about. Well it doesn't mean that I can't understand you."

Okay the girl in the leather jacket was pretty embarrassed at the moment.

She wasn't a huge fan of those 'serious talking sessions about personal feelings'; it was more than awkward to her.

She didn't respond anything to it, so Elsa continued.

"I know what you're thinking. You're probably thinking something like 'who does she think she is, this blonde with her Aussie accent'"

it made her giggle.

"'Pretending to know everything about me; she can't understand me she's just trying to convince herself that she can'"

She then shrugged, before adding with a sigh: "And you're probably right. I don't know if I understand you or not, but this isn't the matter here. Sometimes, you have to stop thinking so much. Sometimes, you have to stop being serious because it isn't a shame to laugh, you know? And sometimes, it can be good to talk to people. Not necessarily to me, talk to whoever you trust but perhaps it could make you feel... Better?"

Man. The girl was impressive.

First of all, she revealed herself as being really talkative.

Then, she wasn't as ordinary as she pretended to be.

She wasn't right in everything she said, but almost; so in some ways she understood her.

A little bit.

Her speech mostly showed that she was a really nice person.

She was trying her best to help, without forcing her to talk about things she didn't want to talk about.

She wasn't the kind who would do anything to just know; even if she was dying to on the inside.

She was great.

"You're such a good person Elsa. I wish you could realize it. You're definitely not another sheep in the herd you hear me?" Emma said, looking at her straight in the eyes.

"Thank you Emma." she gave her a genuine smile.

"Thanks to you, I mean you come hear and try to help me when I'm so hateable." she joked in response, even if she meant it.

"Emma, you're a bit prickly, but you're certainly not hateable."

"I'm prickly?"

They both bursted out into laugher and Elsa was right about one thing for sure; laughing was definitely not a shame.

When Emma walked through the door; Blue was sitting on the sofa, talking to someone on the phone.

She sneaked in discreetly, but stopped dead in her track when she heard her name.

"Emma? Well uh yeah she's doing pretty good at home."

She didn't know if it was the lie or the word 'home', but she felt like throwing up right now.

"Thank you Principal Gold, my pleasure." she hang out the phone, and that was when she saw her.

"Emma! Where were you sweetheart?" Blue said with the sweetest voice she had in her.

"Out with girls from school." she shrugged.

"What was this thing with Principal Gold?"

"Oh, that's great you made some friends!" She said with enthusiasm.

"And for Principal Gold, he called to say that you'll have to go to his office tomorrow in the first hour."

In his office?

What did he want seriously.

Couldn't he just leave her alone?

"He also asked me how your first week went but I couldn't answer to this, since you know. You don't really tell me things." she winced slightly.

Emma rolled her eyes and let out a long sigh.

Why was she so annoying; constantly trying to bond with her?

Couldn't she just leave her alone too?

She was about to go to her room but Blue stopped her by saying: "Emma please, talk to me."

She looked at her and she saw something that hit her.

Sadness.

Blue was sad.

She was sad because she refused to talk to her.

It was genuine sadness, she wasn't acting.

"What do you want me to say?" She huffed, sitting on the sofa in defeat.

"Anything, just don't lock yourself in your room." Her tone was pleading.

It was almost endearing.

Almost.

"I don't have much to say."

"Emma, I'm trying to understand you, you know that? I'm doing my best. I know you didn't have the easiest life out there but please, give me a chance." She said, her voice shaking gently.

"I want to help you. I don't know how I could, but one thing I know is that I want to."

"I don't need your help." the teenage girl blurted, keeping her eyes fixed on the wall, as she started clenching her fists.

"You don't need it or don't want it?"

"Both."

"Emma try to talk to me."

"What do you think I'm doing right now?" She was already wroth.

One thing she had difficulties to handle was her anger.

She was working on it but she just couldn't control it.

Blue looked down, before saying: "I just want you to know that you can count on me, I care for you. And I was hoping that..."

"Maybe I could be a family to you-"

"YOU'RE NOT MY FAMILY!"

She was now on her feet breathing heavily, her eyes turning red.

Family.

A word too many.

The one she shouldn't have pronounced.

What was she saying? She thought she could replace the mother she never had? The mother she never knew? The mother she never loved and all of this because she abandoned her?

She shot her a death glare before rushing in the stairs; with the intention of locking herself in her room for good now.

"Emma! Please come back it's okay!"

Too late. She slammed the door.

I hope you enjoyed it! And one last time: so sorry for being late on my update. Anyway, I wanted to tell you that I'm going to meet Jennifer and Colin in 3 months! So excited! Xx