So sorry for the long wait, usual combination of uni work and writer's block :/ I honestly can't say when I will be able to update again since I'm in my third year now but if the wait gets too long feel free to send me a message/review since there is a good chance that I might have forgotten lol

Major T/W for panic attack!

Chapter ten

Emma twirled her pen in her fingers as she paid attention to the teacher intently while she droned on about Jane Eyre. Every other person in the AP English class were furiously writing notes about every single word she said about the bildungsroman. Emma learnt early on that she never needed to make notes, even if she had gotten into trouble on more than one occasion for this, based on her first class at Storybrooke High, she could only assume that the teacher's were aware of her special circumstances.

There was also the fact that she had already studied Jane Eyre at one of her previous schools, though it hadn't been in an AP class she had done a lot of research in her own time so that she could satisfy her own need to be studying at all time.

Homeroom with Regina has been painfully awkward even though no one had actually said anything to her yet. She had simply been introduced by Mr Greene (a.k.a. her homeroom teacher) and then had been sent to sit next to Regina. She had certainly received some looks and she could have sworn that she had heard a few people whispering about her but she had yet to actually have someone approach her to say anything, but the day was certainly young.

Regina walked her to her first class, which was unfortunately now of her twelfth grade AP classes, which meant that the cheerleader wouldn't be able to be in the same class as her. There was no one in this room who she knew, but she was so relieved at the same time. Twelfth grade AP class meant that she was surrounded by students who were working their asses off to get into Ivy League colleges, so none of them actually gave a shit about who the new girl was. She was pretty sure that the same wouldn't be true when she finally went to a tenth grade class, especially study hall. She just couldn't decide whether it would be a good thing or not it was a good thing that she would have Regina with her during those classes.

"Now each of you please find a partner to discuss the task I have placed on your desks," the teacher announced, which brought Emma out of her small reminiscence of earlier that day, "and do please try to work with someone new," the woman added, hoping that the new addition to the class wouldn't know that it was for her benefit.

The blonde blinked a couple of times as people began dutifully milling around the room, with a few mutterings about how they hated having to work with new people. She resisted the strong urge to sigh at the fact that this lesson wouldn't simply be a lecture as she had hoped and she pulled the work sheet towards herself so that she could prepare herself to work alone. However, she was quickly brought away from looking at the words when she felt the force of someone slipping into the seat next to her.

Emma frowned and looked over to the blonde newcomer, she opened her mouth to say something but she was cut off by the welcoming smile.

"Hey," the older blonde said as she began to rifle through her notebook to find the right page.

Emma instantly felt a blush form across her cheeks at the distinct sound of a British accent and she looked intently back down to the page with a small, "hey," in reply.

A moment later, it appeared as though everyone had finally found their own pairs and the room was beginning to fill with a small hum of sound which was slowly getting louder the more that people actually started the task.

"It's Emma Swan, right?" The girl finally said as she looked away from her own notebook that she had been writing in for a few moments and she smiled at the younger girl who she had heard as much about as anyone else. Basically everyone knew the story of what had happened to Emma Swan and that she had been fostered by the richest family in town but there was something that she was far more interested in when she had read a couple of the news articles. One of the more obscure ones mentioned the girl's IQ and the fact that the sixteen-year-old was sat in a twelfth grade AP class only confirmed it. She found that to be far more interesting than desperately clamouring for any of the ugly details as some of her more morbid peers did.

"Yeah I am," Emma replied as her eyes cautiously flicked up to the stranger.

"Alice Kingsley," the older girl said in reply to the unasked question, "it's nice to meet you."

The younger of the pair actually felt a small smile tug at the corner of her lips as she allowed her eyes to quickly move over Alice. She was wearing a hoodie bearing an image of the Triforce which was coupled with tight black jeans and hi-top black Vans.

Alice seemed to notice Emma's eyes looking down at her chest and she smirked for a moment, before she asked as she pointed at the image, "you know what this is, right?"

Emma blushed slightly, obviously having had realised that the woman must have noticed her wondering eyes. However, she seemed to finally pick up on the fact that she had been asked a question and she replied, "yeah, it's the Triforce."

"Finally," Alice laughed, "everyone else in this town thinks that Link's name is Zelda."

The younger blonde allowed herself to let out a small laugh as she felt her shoulders relax slightly, she was sure that the last time that she had felt so comfortable around someone was when she had met Lily all those years ago. However, she'd never been attracted to Lily, which could only be a complication.

"I only played the first game…" Emma admitted.

"So you've never played Ocarina of Time?" Alice asked with her eyebrows raised as if she were genuinely hurt by that fact.

"I've never lived in a house with an N64," she replied, looking back down at her desk when she realised that she had basically just brought up being a foster child, which was not something that she tended to do, ever.

"That's just tragic," Alice sighed.

Emma smiled and was about to make a reply; however, she was interrupted by the sound of the teacher clearing her throat to get the classes attention.

"Your homework for Thursday is to complete the task with your partners and then please prepare a presentation based upon your findings," she called out just as the bell rang out.

Alice smirked when she saw the shocked expression on Emma's face as people began gathering their things so that they could shuffle towards the exit. The older girl nudged her as if to tell her that she should start moving as well.

Emma blew out a breath and picked up the notebook that she had brought in the event that the teacher decided that she wasn't allowed to simply listen. Alice seemed to finally notice the blank page and she smiled as she considered that could only support her actually being a genius since she didn't seem like the type to not try in class.

"I guess we need to actually start the task," Alice laughed as the pair began to walk towards the door (and she was sure that they were well out of ear-shot of the teacher).

"I guess so," Emma replied with a smile.

Alice was about to suggest a time when they could meet, but she was interrupted by the infamous captain of the cheerleading squad walking towards them and she had to stop herself from rolling her eyes at the girl. She had heard a few people talk about how Regina Mills was the new girl's buddy, but she had never found it within herself to actually care about something that could never possibly effect her life. However, the girl was certainly effecting her life right now.

Regina frowned at the blonde who Emma appeared to be talking to and she couldn't help but narrow her eyes at her on instinct.

Alice quirked an eyebrow the the expression, though another bell rang out to remind her that she hardly had the time to pry into what it meant.

"Hey," Regina said awkwardly, "are you ready to go?"

Emma nodded and she was about to turn to Alice to say something, but she was cut short when the older girl grabbed her hand and used the pen in her spare hand to scribble something upon her palm.

"Just text me and we can set up a time to meet," Alice said and when Emma nodded, she released her hand and began walking away.

Regina scowled over her shoulder until she was sure that the older blonde was gone and she turned back to Emma with a questioning frown.

Emma furrowed her brow at the expression on Regina's face. She was pretty sure that the expression meant jealousy, but facial expressions were not her strong suit so she decided that it was just wistful thinking.

"We're doing the paired homework task together," she explained, though she wasn't too sure why she had to explain that to her buddy.

Regina bit the inside of her cheek by way of stopping her internal screaming from becoming external.

"Oh, that's…good," she said, hoping that her words didn't sound too strained.

"You better get going to class, ladies," a random teacher called and Regina blew out a little breath of relief as she was reminded that there was a way out of this awkward situation.

The rest of the day went rather quickly for Emma. None of her classes were especially challenging, but they weren't mind-numbing so she was actually able to listen to the teacher between worrying about the next time that she would see Regina.

After Alegbra (a class which unfortunately did not have Alice in it) she was set to meet the girl at her locker so that they could have lunch together and something about the thought of that had Emma's stomach in knots. Somehow, having lunch with the brunette felt a lot more pressured than sitting together in her room for a couple hours talking about school.

The bell rang and brought the blonde out of the thoughts that had been consuming her since the beginning of this class and she quickly looked around to see if anyone had noticed that she hadn't been listening. If the reassuring smile that the teacher shot her was any indication, he had either not noticed or he was putting on the same 'supportive' face that she was fairly certain that the entire faculty had been instructed to adopt when they were in her presence.

Emma swallowed hard and made quick work of gather all of her things and throwing them into her bag so that she could join the rest of the class shuffling their way out into the hallway.

The moment that she crossed over the threshold, she froze as ten people rushed past her in about ten seconds, obviously all very eager to get to the cafeteria. The blonde stood frozen in place for a few more seconds before she felt someone push past behind her and she realised that she hadn't been the last person trying to leave the classroom. She looked down to the ground just in time to miss the dirty look that she was sure the people trying to pass her were shooting her way and she began to shuffle towards her destination.

She imagined for a moment that she could just go to the library and avoid the whole ordeal of the cafeteria (like she would have done in almost every other school that she had attended) but she quickly decided against it when it occurred to her that Regina would probably get in to trouble if she didn't perform her buddy duties perfectly. There was also the fact that Emma wasn't exactly in any position to pass up an opportunity to spend time with the girl who she was so infatuated with that made her continue her slow walk along the path that she had spent time memorising in the days before she started at Storybrooke High.

As she walked, the thought of just how much she wanted to spend time with Regina caused a blush to begin to creep up her neck and she instinctively pulled the straps of her backpack closer to her body as if it would protect her from the stares of the people who were currently staring at her from their lockers. Even if she logically knew that there was no way that any of them could know what she was thinking, this did nothing to subside the tightening knot in her stomach and she desperately tried to focus on the end of the hallway. All she had to do was make it to the end and turn the corner and she should find Regina waiting for her, but it seemed as though her destination was getting further and further away the more she took steps forward.

The sound in the hallway seemed to amplify and Emma's eyes quickly looked from side to side. They were all looking at her and whispering about her, she was sure about it. Many of them were clutching their phones as if they were waiting for her to do something weird that they could post online. All they had to do was bring up the name of 'Emma Swan' again and the media would jump right back onto the story. She would be the number one trending topic in no time: 'Social Services continues to fail Emma Swan: abuse victim has panic attack at school'.

She tried to push this thought aside and focus on her breathing (as she had been told to do by Archie many times), but someone pushed past her again and she realise that she must have been standing stock still and she had no idea when her feet had stopped working. The fact that she was standing blankly in the hallway probably didn't help with looking normal and she was definitely receiving curious glances from a few people, along with some smirks and increased whispering (though she would later realise that it was unlikely that every single person in the hallway was talking about her).

The blonde caught the eye of a couple of people who were definitely staring at her and her breaths now began to come out short and strained as her throat began to constrict.

Racing heart. Feeling dizzy and faint. Sense of terror. Loss of control. Breathing difficulties. Emma listed in her mind, she knew instantly that she was in the midst of a panic attack. But for some reason she found that her eidetic memory was complete blank of all of the techniques that she had purposefully memorised after the last time this had happened.

With what was left of her logical mind, she attempted to move forward and she quickly felt herself stumble into the locker next to her with a little thud.

If people hadn't been looking at her before, then they certainly were now and a girl who she had never seen before came over to her with a familiar look in her eyes. Behind her, stood a very familiar blonde with wide eyes as she looked on at the scene. Seeing Kathryn only reminded Emma of the mall and all of the questions that the entire student body probably wanted answers to.

"Hey, are you okay?" the lanky brunette asked, placing her hand onto Emma's arm and bringing her attention away from Kathryn.

At the sudden contact a male voice boomed in Emma's mind: 'so you're a liar and a dyke.'

Emma's eyes widened as Ruby's grip on her arm brought back memories of the last person who had physically touched her and she recoiled around from the blonde and brunette who were obviously trying to shield her from the other people in the hallway but were only succeeding in making her feel penned in.

She tried to open her mouth to say something in reply but she closed it when it occurred to her that there were tears falling down her face without permission. The completely silent hallway told her that people were now definitely staring at her with all of their attention. The thought that she was supposed to be meeting Regina at her locker offered the perfect means of escape, all she had to do was turn the corner and she would escape the stares of sympathy and intrigue.

It was for this reason that she dashed away from Ruby and Kathryn as quickly as she possibly could and practically stumbled around the corner.

She was vaguely aware that Ruby was following behind her (probably to make sure that she was okay) but she couldn't find it within herself to focus on anything else in that moment other than getting away.

She swallowed hard against her heavy breaths as she turned the corner and but she stumbled when a new sight came into her slightly blurred vision.

This hallway was just as packed as the other one and people here was slowly beginning to look at her as well. Emma breathed deeply as she looked around to see the exact locker that she was supposed to be looking for, but her heart dropped when she did not see the brunette she had been hoping for.

The teenage boy leant against his best friend's locker quickly unhitched himself and his expression changed from one of exasperation to one of concern when he noticed the blonde he had been asked to meet.

Killian crossed he hallway in as few steps as possible until he was standing in front of Emma, though not quite as close as Kathryn and Ruby had been just moments ago.

The blonde looked to be in complete panic mode and he looked over her shoulder to see Ruby and Kathryn. He instantly knew that the presence of the blonde couldn't possibly be helpful after the stunt that she had pulled at the mall and she shook his head to tell them to leave this to him.

When he was sure that they were retreating, he looked around the hallway for the options at his disposal. He noticed that the blonde's breathing was only getting heavier the more that she looked at all of the people who were staring right back at her and he knew exactly what he needed to do.

He grabbed her arm as gently as possible and led her towards the nearest vacant classroom.

Once he had led her over to a seat, he rushed back over to close the door and pull the shade down over the little window.

When Killian was satisfied that no one would be looking in to see what was going on, he went back over to Emma, once again ensuring that he didn't get too close to her.

"Breathe, Swan," he whispered softly and smiled when he noticed that she was already beginning to calm down.

Reviews would be much appreciated :)