Chapter eight

"As good as new," Whale announced as he pulled away the final piece of the cast.

Emma looked down at her bare arm and a smile tugged at the corner of her lips. It still felt very much stiff, but she was finally free from the scratch barrier. However, her grin quickly fell away when it occurred to her what would be happening in a couple of days. She had never been so nervous to go to school before.

Usually when she arrived somewhere new, people didn't really have much warning that she was going to show up. But she was pretty sure that the majority of Storybrooke High had been gossiping about for the past two weeks and were anxiously awaiting to find out whether she was as weird as the image of her that they had concocted in their minds.

"You may want to continue taking some pain killers for the next few days and some stiffness is to be expected," Whale explained, which brought Emma out of her mini-panic attack.

Emma finally seemed to notice that Cora was looking at her from across the room with a concerned expression etched across her face.

She had been well aware of Emma's low EQ so it was all the more concerning to see her look afraid.

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

Emma nodded her understanding as the doctor left the room. Once the door clicked shut, Cora offered the teen a reassuring smile, or at least she tried.

Emma still looked as tense as ever, even if she was trying to hide it behind a tight smile.

As a politician, she was well aware how it felt to suppress emotions especially in the pursuit of professionalism, but she couldn't imagine how it felt to have an intense emotion and not understand them. Being afraid of something and not understanding it could only lead to more fear, which could only end in a vicious cycle of anxiety. It was part of the reason that she had suggested that Emma study at home for a couple of weeks but the other part of the plan hadn't quite worked out. She had hoped against hope that Regina would have actually built some kind of relationship with the blonde so that she wouldn't feel quite as lonely when she finally arrived at Storybrooke High. Of course, it appeared to her that Regina had made no effort since she would have never imagined that Emma could have made her daughter nervous.

"How does your arm feel, dear?" she asked, deciding that this was not the time to bring up what was going to happen on Monday.

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

However, Cora could clearly tell that the blonde wished that she could keep the cast on forever if it meant that she didn't have to leave the mayoral mansion. She had the strong urge to press the matter but Archie had warned her about doing so. It was her job to provide a safe place for Emma to live and it was his job to work on her emotional state. Apparently, blurring the boundaries between the two wouldn't be good for the teen.

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 suggest avoiding gym until your next check-up," he said, clearly not thinking that he had interrupted anything, which he technically hadn't.

Cora nodded and looked over to Emma. She couldn't help the smile that overtook her face at the sight.

Even if it was because she didn't have to do gym for a while, it was still one of the few genuine smiles she had seen her wear.


"I don't believe that your parents would let you do that," Regina laughed.

"Why not?" Killian frowned as if he were actually surprised by her disbelief.

"Why would your parents let you go off on your own in New York?" Regina said with a raised eyebrow, "and I find it hard to believe that any girl would fall for that."

The young man just chuckled and raised his mug of coffee with a single quirked eyebrow. When he placed the beverage back onto the table, he said, "believe what you want to Mills, even if is rude to call your best friend a liar."

"Who said that I'm your best friend?" the brunette shot back.

"Because Kathryn and Ruby spend too much time bickering, you haven't even thought about telling either of them your little secret."

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

"Oh relax Gina, I knew there was no one around, plus 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 you think she is."

Regina frowned, "what does Emma have to do with that?"

The other teen tilted his head at Regina's expression. 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 child protective services and the media had been closely following what was going on in the prosecution of the Chases.

He had been sure that Regina would know all about what had happened to the girl who had been living in her house for the past fortnight.

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

Regina sat stunned for a few moments as many flashed through her.

First, she felt a kind of intense relief (which she would later reflect was very much selfish). 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 feel 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 was daily beaten for who she was. The blonde 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 either without giving away the fact that she now knew the very information that's he had warned Emma to trust her enough to talk about with her.

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 she was whispering.

Killian blinked a few times before he noticed the distinctive hue of lush playing across her cheeks and he smirked.

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

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.

"How…is it really that obvious?" she sighed, 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. Especially since this was the first time that she had actually 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. She wasn't too worried about the prospect of Emma knowing how she felt, since she had hardly spent any time around the blonde to actually give off any hints, but she definitely spent enough time to realise how adorable she was. In that moment, she wished that she had actually fulfilled her mother's wishes and actually tried to build some kind of relationship with the two weeks she had 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, "you haven't spoken to her, have you?"

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

The other teen furrowed his brow, "Gina, she has been living with you for two weeks, how have you not had a conversation?"

"She's always either with Henry or mom is asking her if she needs anything…"

"Why is she always with Henry?" Killian asked with a confused expression playing across his face.

"She's tutoring him," Regina sighed, "apparently she's a genius with an eidetic memory…"

"Ask her to tutor you too, then," Killian laughed, "you could have study night and then one of you would suggest a movie and it would turn into a date."

The cheerleader ran a hand across her face in frustration. She had never been a fan of Killian's strategies to get girls and she always found it rather disturbing just how much he always seemed to have thought them through. But, she was glad that they never seemed to work for him.

"I have a perfect GPA and a boyfriend," she deadpanned.

"Daniel is not really your boyfriend. He just doesn't want anyone to know he's really dating Jefferson. Why should he get all of the gay fun out of this little arrangement of yours?"

"Why do I tell you my secrets?" Regina sighed while sinking further into the booth. Her and Daniel has originally been dating for real, but a few months ago, she had caught him with Jefferson. At the time, she had been royally pissed at him, but it didn't take her long to realise that their relationship had never really been real. She was using him just as much as he was using her, even though she had yet to actually tell him why she was so willing to let him use her as a cover. He didn't need to know that he was he was her cover for as long as she stayed in the closet with him.

"Because you know I wouldn't tell anyone. There would be a hashtag by now if you told Kathryn," he laughed, "and I assume you tell me because you want my advice."

Regina sighed again. She didn't know how it happened, but Killian was her oldest friend. Other than her family, there was no one she trusted more in town, which meant that she usually had to suffer some teasing whenever she wanted genuine advice. The brunette nodded and a smug expression overcame Killian's face.

"With what exactly?"

"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 give her a bottle of water," Killian suggested with a smirk. His smirk quickly fell away when a balled up napkin hit him square in the nose.

"You could at least try and be helpful."

Killian rolled his eyes and said, "okay, so you said she's a genius, right?" at Regina's confused nod, he continued, "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."

Regina opened her mouth to protest but she stopped herself short. Henry did seem to think that Emma much preferred facts and logic, which made perfect sense if she truly was the genius he claimed she was.

"I don't think the actual learning part is what she's worried about…" she frowned.

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

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


"How bad could Storybrooke High be?" Lily asked.

Emma sighed and shrugged even if she knew that her friend couldn't see her, "just because it's a small town, it doesn't mean that the kids are any nicer. They're going to know what happened from the new…"

A silence passed between the friends for a moment at the mention of what happened. Lily had a vague idea of what the Chases did, but she refused to look into the specifics, mostly because she knew she would most likely be sick if read anything specific about what they had done to her best friend. At the same time, she would be willing to put that urge aside if Emma wanted to talk about.

Finally though, the silence passed and Emma added, "they've probably got more information about me than they've ever had on the new girl before…"

"What kind of a dick head would use emotional trauma as ammo?" Lily asked, already planning what she would do to anyone who dared to look at Emma funny (assuming that she could convince Mal to actually take her to Storybrooke eventually).

"It's High School, Lily, there's always at least one…or a group of ones…"

"Em," Lily said, sensing her raising panic, "you've got two days, you have to relax."

Emma blew out a breath and nodded to herself, this was precisely why she had a session with Archie later. Socialising was not exactly her thing, which was only confirmed by the fact that she had only made one friend in her sixteen years of life. Things in Storybrooke had been amazing so far and she didn't want to ruin it by becoming the strange girl at school. The more she thought about it, the more anxious she became, which made her think about it more. At this rate, she was sure that she was going to be the girl who had a panic attack at school.

"Just try and focus on the actual school part of it, I'm sure that if you can't handle it, Cora would let you take more time off…or you could always just graduate early and go to college."

Emma rolled her eyes. Even if she had already completed a lot of twelfth grade work in her own time, she somehow doubted that she Cora would allow her to skip grades. She may have brought her stupidly expensive Apple products but that didn't mean she would be willing to pay for college. Then again, Emma was used to foster parents who couldn't keep a child for more than a few months, let alone someone who would allow her to live with them post-eighteen.

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 and Henry was at his friend's house and Cora had tried to stop randomly asking her if she wanted thing after she promised that she would let her know if she did.

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

She had no idea who she was expecting on the other side of the door, but she certainly didn't expect Regina holding a couple of booklets under her arm and a slightly worried expression on her face. Emma looked at her for a second, wondering how she even looked unfairly beautiful even when she looked nervous.

"Regina?" Emma asked in confusion as her eyes fell back down to the papers under her arm. She had no idea what they could possibly be about. Cora or Henry Sr would have been the one knocking at the door.

The brunette shifted uncomfortably. Even if this had seemed like a good idea when Killian had suggested it, actually facing Emma though made her throat constrict and go dry at the same time. Emma raised a questioning eyebrow at the silent teen, who quickly 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…"

The blonde frowned. It was true that she had yet to choose any electives and she had kind of hoped that she wouldn't need any electives and she had kind of hoped that she wouldn't need to with all of the AP classes she had signed up for. Having free lessons would mean that she could go and hide in the library and possibly be left alone.

However, with Regina stood at her door looking almost hopeful she couldn't help but want to look into more of what Storybrooke High had to offer.

"Okay…thank you," she smiled, pushing the door wider to invite the brunette in so that she could share all of the information that she had clearly spent time researching.

A/N I did try and write their whole conservation, but they're literally just going to talk about school so I decided it wouldn't be very interesting so just thought it would be best to end here lol

Reviews would be much appreciated, they're a great motivation XD