"Emma, you have one job. Get here, on time, no exceptions," her parole officer chastised.
"I'm sorry. The bus had a flat at south station, and we had to wait for it's replacement to come. Ingrid will vouch for me, I was coming from her office," the teenager explained.
"Emma, I don't care. You should've left room for error. Now I have to-"
She was interrupted by the land line ringing. She sighed, knowing who was on the other end. Emma stood at the other end of the desk listening.
"Hello? Yes, hello Ingrid. She missed curfew aga- Ingrid you can't keep covering for- No. Yes I know that. Fine, but I won't be so lenient next time."
Her parole officer hung up the phone and rolled her eyes. Emma smiled at the ground as she turned to face the teen.
"Don't get so smug Swan. She won't always be there to save you. You have a month left here and you're sure to mess up again, and when you do I'll be waiting."
Her blue eyes glistened as if she wanted to get the blonde in even more trouble than she already was. Emma had no doubt that if given the chance, Kelly West would take it.
"Of course Ms. West. Can I go to my room now?"
The redhead glared at the blonde before waving her hand, dismissing her. She turned on her heels and headed to her solo room. The other women hated that she got her own room because it meant they had to go three to a room rather than two. There were two women who didn't mind so much, Eloise Gardner and Cleo Fox. Eloise was a mother herself and understood that a minor can't share a room with an adult in a half way house she treated Emma almost as if she were her own daughter (as much as she could in halfway house). Cleo also was a mother, but less motherly and more friend like. Both looked after her, but Eloise would be a Debby downer and actually try to give her rules to follow. Meanwhile Cleo was all for Emma's shenanigans.
"Hey kid, you had a visitor stop by your window earlier," Cleo informed, "I let her in, I think she might be waiting for you."
The woman winked and walked away from the teen and into her room. A smirk grew onto Emma's face, but before she could enter Eloise stepped in front of her door with her arms crossed. The teen frowned and rolled her eyes, "Ms. Gardnerrrrrrr…"
"Emma Swan. Think about what you're doing. I know to you she's just a girl you met, but I think she thinks you're more than that. Not to mention that if Kelly finds out you have someone in here she'll go ballistic."
"I hear you, I really do," she said as she tiptoed around the older woman, "but I think I have someone waiting for me in my room, and it'd just be rude to let her wait any longer."
She smirked once more and Eloise rolled her eyes and walked away. The blonde entered her own room and there on her bed was Lilith Page. The brunette looked up from her phone and smiled, "Emma, it's about time you got back. I was hoping to catch you before you do something else to piss off your prison guard of a parole officer."
Emma laughed before she kept onto her bed and hovered over Lily, "Well I'm glad you caught me before than huh?"
She attached their lips in a hasty kiss earning a quiet moan from the Boston native. Emma's hands travelled under her shirt, but pulled back when she felt a pair of hands pushing against her abdomen.
"What? What's wrong?" she asked.
"Emma, you're gonna be out of here soon," she started as the blonde attached her lips to her neck.
"Mhm," she hummed against her neck, "What about it?"
"Emma," she giggled, "Come on talk to me for a sec."
She looked up and sighed as she separated form her body, "What's up Lily? What's bothering that pretty little head of yours?" she asked as she placed a hand on her inner thigh.
Lily bit her lip and blushed, "Where are you gonna go once you're out of here?"
She shrugged as she drew circles on the skin of her Boston fling's thighs, "I don't know. Haven't thought that far left. I'll probably go to California. East coast hasn't really been to good to me."
"I get that, but what if," she hesitated, "What if you stayed with me?"
Her hands immediately retracted from the other girls thigh and her head snapped to face her, "What did you say?"
"What if you move in with me? I have my dorm, and my roommate is pretty chill. We could set up a air mattress or we could share a bed? I just- I'd really like it if we could further our relationship."
She ran a hand through her hir and hook her head. Lily's face immediately dropped.
"I-I-I'm sorry. I know that I kinda sprung it on you."
"No, it just-" she interrupted, "It's just- Look Lily you're a nice girl and all and I have absolutely loved our encounters since we've met but we aren't-did you think- did you think we were dating?"
The brunette giggled and tucked a strand of hand behind her ear, "Well yeah.We sleep together, you walk me to school if I end up staying over. Your parole moms love me. I mean-"
"Look, Lily, we have sex. That's it. There's no feelings associated with us. I walk you to class when you stay over because you stayed over at a halfway house. If someone saw you and then went missing the next day they'd blame me. I walk you to class to make sure that I'm not the one the police come to saying you're the last to have seen her alive. My parole possey or whatever you call them, only know about you because they're the only ones in this joint who want to make sure I make it out of this hell hole!"
Lily hopped off the bed and gathered her things, "So all I am is someone for you to screw? Is that it?"
The blonde rolled her eyes in response and laid down on her bed, "I won't catch a case for another girl, I won't!"
"You know what? Fuck you Emma Swan!" She yelled as she headed towards the door.
Emma quickly got up and blocked the door, "Been there, done that haven't you? And you loved it. But did you not hear me? I won't catch another case. My parole officer will see you if you go thru this door. Go out the way you came, through the window," she nodded her head towards the door.
She felt a stinging pain on her cheek as a Lily looked at her with tears pooling in her eyes, "Fuck off!"
She turned on her heels and headed out the window. She sighed a sigh of relief as she watched her room empty. Directly after there was a knock on her door. She knew it was the red head she devil.
She swung the door open, "Yes Miss West?"
"Who were you talking to? There are no visitors allowed."
"I know. Why would I risk breaking any of your rules?"
Her eyes narrowed, "Then who were you yelling at?"
"Myself. I like to argue about the impeding doom of my life with my past selves, They stay stuck up in the old noggin," she lied as she rapped her knuckles against her head.
"Do you think I'm stupid?"
"No ma'am. Quite the opposite really."
She glared at the teen for a minute before speaking again, "This isn't over Swan."
And with that she turned on her heels and headed back out where the other women were watching all of this go down. Emma watched as they dispersed except Eloise and Cleo. Cleo frowned and walked over to her and gave her a side hug, "Sorry kid."
Eloise stood at the door entrance of the room with her arms crossed, "Don't baby her. She was warned, multiple times. She knows she was in the wrong."
"Jeez Gardner why you always gotta be a party pooper. She's 17, we all got into trouble at 17," she responded with the roll of her eyes.
"And look where we are now. I'm hard on her now so that she isn't our age and back in a place like this. I'm hard on her now so that in a month, when she's 18, her slate becomes clean and STAYS clean. I'm hard on her in here so I don't have to see her again. She is a good girl Fox, she reminds me so much of my Alice. There is so much potential for you Emma and you can't go around breaking rules and messing with other people. I don't know what happened to you before you came here, but it's clearly messed with you someway because you're not going to sit here and tell me you enjoyed arguing with that nice girl and almost getting a strike from Kelly."
Emma's lip trembled as tears started to pool. Her body started shaking and Cleo could feel it.
"Now look what you've done. You've upset the poor girl. I'm sure she didn't mean any of it."
"She won't learn if you don't tell her it's wrong."
"She's just a kid!"
By this time Emma had travelled back to her bed and tried to block out the two women arguing before her. She didn't care. She didn't care about anything much anymore. But Eloise was right, she was being reckless, and she knew it was sheer luck the house P.O didn't throw her back in juvie. But her life just took the biggest turn it ever did since she was 9, nothing made sense anymore. She laid down on her bed and covered her head with her pillow until she either fell asleep or they left her earshot...