Chapter eight

Emma's eyes remained glued to the final piece of the cast as it was pulled away by Dr Whale.

"As good as new," Whale announced and placed the piece onto the tray next to him.

The girl's eyes remained on the tray for a second before she looked down to her bare arm and a smile tugged at the corner of her lips very briefly.

It was still very much stiff, but there was no longer a scratch barrier present.

The joy was short-lived though, when it occurred to her what would be happening in a couple of days.

She had never been this nervous to start school no matter how many she had been to.

Two weeks was a long time for the gossip to brew into serious interest. She couldn't help but imagine that it wouldn't be long until everyone was staring at her.

"Some stiffness is to be expected," Whale explained, "and you may want to continue taking pain killers for the next few days."

Emma looked up from her arm and nodded, before she glanced over to Cora who was looking at her with concern etched across her face, as she often did. Seeing fear on the girl's face and knowing that she probably didn't understand it only made the mayor feel more concerned.

Whale looked between the two of them, before he announced, "I'll just get you a prescription for some moisturiser. You'll just need to put it on your arm every night until you run out."

Emma nodded to tell the doctor that she understood before the doctor stood to leave the room. Once the door clicked shut, Cora offered the teen a reassuring smile, or at least she tried to.

The girl still looked as tense as ever, but she was trying to hide it behind a very tight, but still small, smile.

She longed to ask her what she was so worried about, there was a long list of things that she could think of that could cause this, including having Regina as a buddy, but she was determined to leave that to Archie as much as it was killing her.

"How does your arm feel, dear?" she asked.

Emma bent her elbow as if testing the waters and she frowned at the sensation that ran through the limb, but she quickly decided that it wasn't pain, so she just shrugged and replied, "it's fine."

Cora watched as the girl glanced back over to the cast and wondered whether she was considering if it was better to have it on. After all, it would solve all of her problems if she did since she could argue that she should get to continue working from home.

The mayor really wished that she could tell her that she didn't have to go to Storybrooke High School. After everything that the girl had been through, didn't she deserve some concessions?

However, she could practically hear Dr Hopper's voice in her head telling her how important the social aspect of things was for Emma in order for her to continue her development. She would have to one day live her life as a functioning adult, so Cora just had to focus on giving her all of the tools that she needed in order to get there.

Just as she was about to open her mouth to say something, the door opened to reveal Dr Whale holding a prescription in his hand.

"I would also suggesting avoiding gym until your next check-up," he said, clearly not thinking that he had interrupted anything since the pair hadn't been speaking.

Cora nodded and looked over to Emma.

Despite all of her worries, the girl was actually wearing a genuine smile.

There was nothing quite like a pass from gym to ignite hope.

S

"There is no way that your parents would let you do that."

"Why not?" Killian asked, with his hand over his heart as if he was actually insulted.

"Why would your parents let you go off on your own in New York?" Regina shot back with a small laugh, "and I find it very hard to believe that any girl would actually go for that."

The young man just raised his mug to his lips with a small scoff and when he placed the beverage back onto the table, he said, "believe what you want, Mills, even if it is rude to call your best friend a liar."

"Best friend?"

"Well considering that you haven't even considered telling Ruby or Kathryn your little secret…"

Regina's eyes widened as she looked around, but she quickly realised that the two adjoining booths were each vacant and she narrowed her eyes at her friend, though Killian just rolled his own.

"Oh relax Gina, I knew that there was no one around. Besides, I still don't think that it needs to be a secret. Your mom took that Emma Swan girl in so she obviously isn't the homophobic tyrant that you think she is."

"What does Emma have to do with that?" Regina asked clearly a little taken aback.

The other teen tilted his head as he inspected Regina's expression, trying to figure out whether she was being serious.

He may have only been back in town for a few hours but he still knew quite a lot about the case of Emma Swan. It appeared a lot in the news in New York since what had happened apparently signalled the failings of the child protective services and the media had been closely following what was going on in the prosecution of the Chases, who were residence of New York City.

Considering that the girl had been living in the mansion for the last two weeks, Killian figured that Regina would be the last person that he would have to explain all of this to.

"Because her foster parents beat the shit out of her when they found out she's gay," he replied slowly.

Regina sat stunned for a few moments as many emotions flashed through her in quick succession.

First, she felt a kind of intense relief (which she would later reflect was very much selfish of her). She would never have believed that her parents would have raised a hand to her when she eventually told them the truth, but she also never imagined that she would get instant acceptance, especially from Cora. However, the fact that she would take in an abused foster child and she knew the reason behind everything that had happened to her, made Regina feels as though she could actually tell her mother without any fear of repercussions.

Next, she felt her stomach drop in sympathy. She had always obviously assumed that Emma's former foster parents had physically harmed her, but her mind had never actually pictured someone actually hurting the blonde. She couldn't imagine what it must have been like to live in a home where she was beaten for who she was. She must have lived in constant fear and would probably never want anyone to know about her sexual orientation again. There was no way that she would be able to talk about it with her wither without giving away the fact that she now knew the very information that she promised herself she wouldn't search for.

Then, there was the sheer shock at discovering her crush was more viable than any she'd had before. When she'd had crushes in the past, they'd always been on girls who either had a boyfriend or who were undisputedly straight. Somehow, finding out that her crush was also gay, made it all the more intense and real.

Finally, there was an anger at Killian for revealing something that she wished she didn't know.

"What the hell, Killian?!" she whispered rather dramatically, though she had no idea why it was that she was whispering.

Killian tilted his head, noticing a distinctive hue of blush playing across her cheeks and he smirked.

"You have a crush on her, don't you?" he asked.

Regina's eyes widened and she once again checked her surroundings, even if she was well aware of the fact that there was no one within ear-shot.

"I…is it really that obvious?" she asked, sinking back into the seat with a heavy sigh, deciding that there was no point in denying his words. She had been planning for days to confide in Killian, but she had also been planning to ease into the whole crush thing.

It didn't help that this was the first time that she had heard it said aloud.

"I'm the only person in town who knows you're not strictly straight, it's probably not as obvious to other people."

Regina blew out a relieved breath.

Considering how smart Emma was, she couldn't imagine that it would be hard for the girl to figure out how she felt, but maybe if she didn't know that she wasn't straight, she wouldn't catch on. It was honestly part of the reason that she was so afraid to speak with Emma, which was why she had missed the opportunity to build a friendly relationship with the girl away from the influences of high school.

Killian examined her expression with a frown. He had a feeling that he knew exactly what it meant, so he asked, "you haven't spoken to her, have you?"

"I have," Regina retorted, though her shoulders sagged quickly, "I…gave her a bottle of water…"

"Gina, she had been living with you for two weeks, how have you not had a conversation?"

"She's always either with Henry or mom…I haven't had much opportunity…" Regina admitted, though it didn't sound very convincing.

Killian was about to continue berating her for her lack of effort before a confused expression played across his face as he asked, "why is she always with Henry?"

"Because she's tutoring him," Regina replied with a sigh as she stared back down into her coffee, "apparently she's a genius with an eidetic memory."

"Ask her to tutor you too, then," Killian said, "you could have a study night and then one you could suggest a movie and it would turn into a date. It's perfect."

The cheerleader ran her hand over her face as her friend slammed his palm down onto the table a little too loudly.

She had never been a fan of his strategies for getting girls and she always found it rather disturbing just how much thought he seemed to put into them, though she was glad that there was very little evidence that any of them actually working.

"My GPA is fine and I have a boyfriend," she deadpanned, finally looking up from her drink and over to her friend.

"Your boyfriend has a boyfriend, Gina. Why should he get all of the gay fun out of the arrangement?"

"Why do I tell you my secrets?" Regina muttered and slid down in her seat a little. It was true that she had promised Daniel that she would keep up the image of being his girlfriend when she had caught him kissing Jefferson. At first, she had been royally pissed at him, but it would have lasted longer if it was actually a real relationship. Of course, not even her 'boyfriend' knew why it was that she was so willing to agree to pretend for him, he didn't need to know that he was also helping her stay in the closet as much as she was for him.

"You know I wouldn't tell anyone," Killian replied with a shrug, "There would be a hashtag by now if Kathryn knew. Besides I assume that you tell me these things because you know that I give perfect advice."

Regina just shot him an unimpressed look.

It was unfortunate, but Killian was her oldest friend, so he was the only person that she really trusted in town, apart from her family of course, so it meant that she had to suffer some teasing when she wanted advice that she couldn't go to Zelena for.

She just nodded and a smug smile overcame Killian's face.

"So what exactly do you need advice for?"

"Emma is starting school on Monday and I'm supposed to be her guide…she seems really nervous about going to school and I don't know how to make her feel comfortable…"

"You could offer her a bottle of water," Killian suggested and scrunched up his face when a balled up napkin hit it.

"Could you at least try and help me here?"

Killian let out an overly exasperated sigh and said, "okay, you said she's a genius, right?" he asked and continued following Regina's nod, "so she must be pretty logical. Maybe if you go through the school's prospectus and syllabus with her, it will make her feel better and it will give you a reason to actually talk to her."

"I don't think that she's that worried about the learning part of school," Regina argued.

"Of course she's not, she probably loves it and the social part is not something that you can fix overnight. But you can make her more comfortable by focusing on the school part that doesn't make her anxious. Plus, it would show her that you actually care how she feels."

Regina propped her head up on her closed fist and said, "but that means I actually have to read the prospectus."

S

"How bad can Storybrooke High be?" Lily asked, "it's a small town, right?"

Emma shrugged even know she knew that her friend couldn't see her and replied, "that doesn't mean that the kids are any nicer. They're going know what happened to me from the news."

A silence passed between the friends for a moment.

Lily adamantly refused to look into what the Chases had done to her friend.

She, of course, had a vague idea of what happened and why it was that the assholes had done it, but she was pretty sure that if she knew exactly what happened, she would actually be sick. That, or she'd try to hunt them , if Emma wanted to talk about any of it, she would be quite happy to put that aside and listen intently. She somehow doubted that would ever actually be happening.

"They've probably got more information about me than they've ever had about the new girl," Emma finally continued.

"What kind of asshat would use emotional trauma as ammo?" Lily asked, already mentally planning what she would do to anyone who so much looked at her friend funny (assuming that she could convince Mal to take her to Storybrooke as planned).

"It's high school, Lil, there's always at least one…or a group of ones…"

"Em," Lily said, sensing the raising panic, even through the phone, "you've got two days, you have to try to relax."

Lily listened as her friend took a few deep breaths, counting in her head to make sure that she was breathing in and then out for long enough.

She knew that socialising was not Emma's thing, which was only confirmed by the fact that she had only made one friend in her sixteen years of life. Honestly, the situation that she had found herself in would probably have been perfect if she didn't have to go to school.

At this rate, Lily wouldn't be surprised if the girl was heading towards an actual panic attack.

She just hoped that the session with Archie later would help with the panic she could hear.

"You know, if you can't handle it, I'm sure that Cora will let you take more time off…or you could just graduate and go to college early."

Emma smiled at the thought, though very briefly.

It was true that she had already completed a lot of twelfth grade work in her own time, but she somehow doubted that August or the Mills would let her skip grades. So that was why the smile didn't last long.

Just because she brought her stupidly expensive Apple products, that didn't mean that Cora would pay for college, nor would she ever expect her to.

A timid knock at the door interrupted Emma's attempt to reply.

She furrowed her brow at the wooden construct.

It wasn't dinner time, Henry was at his friend's house and Cora had tried to stop randomly asking her if she wanted anything after she promised that she would let her know if she did.

"I'll call you back," Emma said and flipped the phone closed as soon as she got an 'okay' from Lily. She placed her phone onto the bed side table before she cautiously walked over to the door.

She had no idea who she was expecting to be on the other side, but she definitely didn't think that she would find Regina holding a couple booklets under her arm and a slightly worried expression on her face.

"Regina?" Emma asked and her eyes fell back down to the papers under arm. She had no idea what they could possibly be, if it was something important, it would have been Cora or Henry Sr. knocking at the door.

The cheerleader shifted uncomfortably.

This still seemed like a good idea in theory, especially when Killian had suggested it, but facing Emma actually made her throat close and go dry at the same time.

Emma raised a questioning eyebrow at the silent teen, but Regina snapped out of it and reminded herself that she had a plan.

She had rehearsed this.

"Mom mentioned that you haven't chosen your electives yet…I thought maybe I could help…"

Emma frowned.

It was true that she had yet to choose any electives since she had kind of hoped that she wouldn't need any with all of the AP classes she had signed up for.

Having free periods would mean that she could go and hide in the library for at least an hour a day.

However, with Regina stood at her door looking almost hopeful, she couldn't help but want to give up the possibility of a free period.

"Okay…thank you," she said with a smile as she pushed the door wider to invite the other girl in so that she could share the information that she had clearly spent time researching.