Chapter three

Zelena pulled into the nearest parking space and looked over her shoulder to the blonde in the back seat.

It had been four days since Emma had arrived at the Mills household and Cora had decided that it was time that the girl left her little cocoon of academics. The mayor had asked if she would be willing to go to the mall with Regina and Zelena to buy some new clothes. Emma had agreed to go, but Cora had still proceeded to go and lecture her two daughters about how important this could be. They had promised that they would do all they could to make the blonde feel comfortable and maybe lay the groundwork so that Emma would start interacting with more than just Henry Jr. Of course, Cora had been more than thrilled to discover that Henry and Emma had seemingly bonded over comic books, but it didn't really help with her concern about the girl's impending first day at Storybrooke High School.

So far, their mother's orders were proving to be far more difficult than she had made it see at the time. Granted, Zelena was doing far more to try and make Emma comfortable, by asking her questions every so often, mostly about what she was studying, but it didn't seem to be helping. She knew that it was because of a certain brunette's presence in the car. Regina had basically been texting since she had walked downstairs to get to the car and she could tell that it was doing nothing to help achieve what their mother had asked them to.

It was for this reason that the red-head quickly reached over and snatched the device out of her younger sister's hands, which earned her a look of complete and utter shock.

"What the hell was that for?!" Regina exclaimed.

At the sudden sound, Emma looked up from her lap to see the younger of the two Mills staring at her sister with an expression between shock and confusion. She couldn't help but smirk at the triumphant grin Zelena was sending back.

"You can text Daniel later, Gina, mom said that you have to get some school supplies for yourself anyway, so you should really be focusing," the red-head replied as she placed the device into the glove box.

"It doesn't take my full attention to pick up a few notebooks and some pens," Regina huffed as she crossed her arms.

Zelena tried to take in a deep and calming breath. She knew exactly what she actually wanted to say in that moment, but it was very well like she could just come out with 'stop ignoring Emma or we'll get in trouble'.

It was for this reason that she instead tried to silently convey her message, which didn't seem to work as the brunette continued to look at her with a dumbfounded expression. The red-head rolled her eyes deeply and shot a quick look over to Emma to see if she was aware what was happening. She relaxed slightly when she saw the amusement on teen's face. Obviously she must be used to this kind of thing, statistically she had probably been in a home that had someone as self-absorbed as Regina before. She just couldn't help but wish that the brunette could at least realise what she was doing wrong right now.

"You can have it back when we come back," Zelena said resolutely as she moved to open her car door.

Regina dramatically huffed while she did the same and Emma decided that she could just watch the moment for a few more seconds before she moved to do the same. She could clearly tell that Zelena was trying hard to try and make her feel comfortable, but she didn't understand that constantly asking someone questions was not the best way to do so. Of course, having people who tried too hard was much better than some of the alternatives that she had experienced in her life, so she really couldn't think of anything to complain about. Plus, in that moment, all she could actually think about was just how adorable Regina had looked when she was acting so childish.

A moment passed and she used her good hand to reach over and let herself out to find Regina standing next to her sister, refusing to make eye contact with her arms crossed.

Emma looked over to Zelena who was shooting daggers at her and she wondered just how long this could go on for.

The blonde shift from foot to foot and asked, "so which way do we go?"

Regina tilted her head and looked over to the huge structure that was the mall, which was obviously the direction that they would be going in. She was about to come out with some sarcastic comment, but she quickly realised that the girl had simply asked because she didn't want to spend her time awkwardly standing in a parking lot while she and Zelena silently argued over a phone that was so clearly taken unfairly.

So, the brunette attempted a genuine smile, despite the mood her sister had put her in, and lightly gestured in the direction of the mall.

Ten minutes later of walking in almost complete silence, the three of them stood in front of map of the mall and Zelena asked, "do you have any preferred stores?"

Emma allowed her eyes to roam over the list and she wondered whether she had ever even heard of half of them. There were a few families that had taken her shopping when she had first come to them, but none of them were even close to be as rich as the Mills family, so it wasn't as if she had any choice in what shops they took her to. She had just been grateful to get something that wasn't a hand-me-down.

"I…I'm not sure…"

Regina took in a deep breath and Zelena shot her another dirty look before she looked back at the list and asked, "do you mind if I choose for you? I think I know what you would like…"

The blonde's eyes widened slightly and she couldn't stop the blush that started to creep up her cheeks. She quickly nodded knowing that there was no way that she would be able to verbalise her consent without stuttering.

Zelena quirked an eyebrow and briefly wondered whether Regina had spent nearly enough time with Emma to know what she likes. In fact, she knew that the brunette hadn't really seen the girl at any other times than at dinner and they certainly hadn't exchanged words since the first day that Emma had arrived.

Regina brought her bottom lip into her mouth in concentration as her eyes roamed over the list of stores and she kept intermediately glancing over to Emma while she mentally went through what could be found in each of the establishments.

"Okay I have an idea," she finally said just before the silence became oppressive.

Without explaining further, the brunette began to walk in the direction of her chosen store and Emma furrowed her brow curiously before she and Zelena began to follow the cheerleader.

It wasn't long until the three of them were stood in front of Hot Topic and Zelena looked over to her sister questioningly while Emma inspected the clothing articles on display in the window.

When Regina noticed Zelena's gaze, she shrugged and said, "she gives off a nerdy hipster vibe."

The red-head raised her eyebrows and looked over to Emma to see if she was at all insulted, but then she realised that the blonde probably hadn't even heard what Regina had said. Instead, she seemed to be slightly shocked, which must mean that she was more than surprised that the brunette had actually chosen correctly.

A moment passed as they all just stood there before Regina rolled her eyes and began to walk towards the entrance, "can we please get this over with?" she asked, gesturing towards the door, "I have other stuff to do today."

Emma frowned, but quickly pushed aside the feeling of disappointment in her stomach. She knew that Regina was reluctant to spend time with her, but it didn't make her feel as dejected as she had when her foster siblings didn't want to spend their time with her. She knew that it wasn't because she was the weird orphan girl, but rather it was because she was a socially-awkward dork. It was strange that she couldn't find it in herself to be too insulted, but somehow having a cheerleader act such a way towards her made her feel more normal than she had since she could remember.

It was for this reason that she offered Zelena a small smile of reassurance when she looked over at her worriedly and she proceeded to walk towards the store.

Ten minutes later, Regina leaned against a wall and pretended to be interested in one of her nails while Zelena stood next to her with her arms crossed as her eyes flicked over to the blonde who was inspecting a t-shirt decorated with an image of the Evil Queen.

"How much do we have to help her get?" Regina sighed, obviously already impatient after just five minutes.

"I don't know…" the red-head shrugged, "I'm pretty sure that she only had like five outfits…so I'm guessing that she needs a lot, why do you have somewhere you need to be?"

"As a matter of fact, I'm supposed to be meeting some people at the diner. You act like you want to spend your Saturday waiting for her to pick clothes…"

Zelena rolled her eyes and shook her head at the same time. She had never quite understood how Regina could find a way to be so rude at all times without looking like a complete bitch. It wasn't as if she had actually done anything horrible to their new foster sister, but at the same time, it wasn't as if she had gone out of her way to try and make Emma feel welcome in their home.

"It isn't going to take that long, she doesn't exactly seem like the picky type," she replied as she turned her attention to Emma looking through a rack of clothes. The blonde was smiling at whatever she was looking at but it didn't escape the red-head's attention that she had yet to actually pick anything up.

"Stay here," she muttered before she went over to the blonde.

Regina rolled her eyes deeply at her sister's back and continued to pretend to be interested in her nails whilst Zelena actually went to pick stuff off the rack that she had noticed Emma looking at. She knew that it couldn't be easy to go into a new home and have complete strangers buy you things, but she was also slightly annoyed that the blonde was taking so long. It wasn't that she didn't want to help the girl, it was just that she couldn't see how her being there could possibly be at all helpful, Zelena seemed to be better at that stuff anyway. She had thought about going to talk to Emma over the past few days, but she had stopped herself each time when she realised that she had nothing to say, it wasn't like constantly checking on her was going to make her feel more comfortable in the mansion, after all, she knew that she would go crazy if her mother came to talk to her as often as she did with Emma.

She had decided that she could wait until she would have to be the blonde's buddy to try talking to her, not that she wanted to think about why the idea of talking to her made her throat constrict slightly. She had known that she was attracted to her the moment she had seen Emma cross the threshold of her home, but nothing had happened to make that initial crush fade. She had noticed Emma and Henry seemed to spend a lot of time together and she couldn't help but feel ridiculous for being jealous of her thirteen-year-old brother. Just because he had something in common with Emma and had actually gone to talk to her about it, she was sure that she could go and have a conversation about Marvel if she really wanted to. So she decided that she would just try and maintain indifference until her crush faded, that was what usually happened when she met someone that she found attractive.

"Regina?"

The brunette blinked out of her deep thoughts and forced herself to stop covertly trying to look at Emma, before she turned around to see who had called her name.

Instantly, she sighed deeply and shook her head, "Kathryn? Why are you here?"

The blonde shrugged with a smirk playing across her lips as she looked at a random piece of clothing, "I like this store…"

"So why have I never seen you wear anything from here?" the brunette asked sceptically.

"Because…" Kathryn tried, but Regina cut her off with a raised hand.

"You saw me coming in here with Emma didn't you?" she sighed.

"You know me so well," the other girl laughed as she came over to stand next to her friend, openly looking over to the rack where Zelena was showing Emma some jeans.

"She's kind of cute…"

Regina secretly swallowed hard and hid her slight blush by looking down at the ground. After a few seconds, she managed to will the crimson hue to disappear and she looked back up to her friend with a shrug, "I guess so…I hadn't really noticed."

Kathryn raised an eyebrow at her for a second as she tried to figure out why her friend seemed to be being so defensive. However, she quickly dropped it when she sensed two people approaching from behind her.

Turning around, she smiled at the two approaching people, both of whom had a pile of clothes in their arms, which the blonde was frowning at.

A smile spread across the cheerleader's face and Regina resisted the urge to throw her head into her hands and groan deeply.

"You must be Emma," Kathryn practically squealed, which caused the girl's eyes to widen as all of her muscles tensed at the same time.

Zelena looked at her sister's friend cautiously before she looked over to Regina with narrowed eyes. For a moment, she thought that the brunette had somehow called her here, but then occurred to her that she had taken her phone and they hadn't known what store they would be going to until after that had happened. Plus, there was the fact that she was in no way surprised that Kathryn would find them just so that she could know the latest gossip.

"Hey Kathryn," Zelena said after a moment.

Said girl offered the red-head a quick wave before she turned back to Emma with an expectant look.

Emma swallowed hard, anxiety was seeping out of all of her pores and she mumbled, "yeah…"

"I've heard so much about you!" Kathryn exclaimed.

The blonde raised her eyebrows and shot a look over to Regina who was shaking her head in exasperation.

"Well I haven't heard that much really, Regina is pretty stingy," she laughed, nudging the brunette in amusement.

Emma tilted her head and tried to figure out what Regina's death glare was supposed to mean, but she decided that she would just brush this off and looked down at her feet, willing this girl to stop drawing attention to her.

"What happened to your arm?" Kathryn blurted out after a moment.

Zelena and Regina both gave her withering looks, which she didn't seem to notice.

The blonde looked down at her casted arm and felt her mouth go dry as images passed through her mind. She took a couple deep calming breaths, as the psychiatrist at the hospital had told her to do, and she just continued to look at her feet, hoping that the other girl would understand that she wouldn't be getting an answer.

"Where did you live before here? Do you think it's weird that the mayor fostered you? Is it awful living with Regina?"

"Okay," Regina said louder than necessary as she came forward and grabbed her friend's forearm, "I think that's enough questions, Kath."

The blonde pouted at the fact that she hadn't gotten any answers to the questions that some other cheerleaders had told her to ask. Her brunette friend rolled her eyes at her and looked over to her older sister as if asking permission for what she was about to do.

Zelena seemed to understand completely and she nodded as she said, "why don't you go with Kathryn to get your school stuff? Me and Emma can go to Old Navy to get the rest of her clothes…"

Regina tried to shoot Emma an apologetic look as she dragged a reluctant Kathryn out of the store.

The red-head blew out a breath and looked over to Emma whose ears were deeply red and was still refusing to look up and she lightly nudged her with her elbow to tell her that they were once again alone.

"Sorry about that, Kathryn can be unbelievable sometimes…she just wants something to tell people about the new girl and she has absolutely no filter…"

Emma nodded before she furrowed her brow before she thought aloud, "didn't Regina already tell them all about me?"

Zelena tilted her head for a moment but just shrugged and replied, "I guess not…we should probably get going, we've still got a lot to get and mom will kill me if we don't get all of it…"

A/N I hope you guys enjoyed XD and I would love to hear what you thought :)