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Regina looked into the mirror in the locker room, straightening her red and white skirt before moving to sort out her hairstyle, tucking the little plaits into the large bun that was on the back of her head. It also had red ribbons entwined within it, something the girls had suggested to show everyone that she was the captain.
"You ready?" Tink asked as she came out of the toilet, her hair in a similar style to Regina's.
"Of course," she nodded in response, "is everyone here?"
"Yep seems so," the blonde smiled before tilting her head at her friend, "is there something you're not telling me?"
"Like what?" Regina shrugged, she knew what Tink was referring to, they had been best friends for years and told each other everything, about every crush, every kiss and every sexual experience, well on Tink's part anyway. Regina had never really had anything to tell, she hadn't even made out with someone, the furthest she had gone with a guy was a chaste peck on the lips when she was thirteen years old. In later years she resorted to making up fake crushes on guys, pretending to fancy them to appease Tink, but nothing ever happened, she was still as single as ever, however she hoped that might be something that would change some time soon.
"There's something Regina, I think you forget I know you better than anyone," the blonde rose her eyebrows as she sat on the bench to pull her shoes on, "you know you can tell me anything right?"
"Of course, I know that it's just..." looking at Tink's expression she knew she could trust her, she'd already known that, but it was nice to have reassurance, she didn't want something so personal spread around the school. "You have to promise me you won't tell anyone okay?"
"Of course," she nodded taking Regina's hand in hers and leading her to sit beside her. "What is it?"
"I think I might have fallen for someone," she whispered, "I don't know how it happened, he was just so sweet, he's so kinda and smart and I just... I couldn't help it. I don't know what to do because I don't want to lose his friendship," she murmured looking at her hands as she twiddled her thumbs.
"Whoa, Regina it's been forever since you fancied someone even a little bit. You should ask him out."
"Aren't you going to ask who it is?"
"I think it's pretty obvious isn't it? Robin Locksley, I know he's your peer tutor and you guys have been hanging out lately."
"Oh, I thought I'd been more discreet about it than that."
"Hardly honey," Tink laughed as she shook her head, "the other day when you were watching him on the corridor was a dead giveaway. So, what's he actually like?"
Regina couldn't stop the bright smile from forming on her face as she let out a little chuckle, "in all honesty Tink he's the best guy I've ever met. I think he's pretty perfect actually, he gets really cute and awkward when you compliment anything about him. His glasses are geekily adorable and his dimples are just the most beautiful things I have ever seen. He's just so kind and considerate... god, what the hell is happening to me?" She rubbed her hands over her face.
"He sounds perfect," Tink grinned nudging her friend playfully.
"What if he doesn't like me that way? He's probably heard all the rumours, I doubt that he'd want me after hearing them."
"But Gina you know that those rumours are nothing but that, they are rumours, they aren't true and I'm sure that Robin will realise that, he's not going to judge you for them, he's intelligent enough to realise that it's nothing but a bunch of dicks that are lying," Tink's hand ran comfortingly over her back, "this is the first time I have ever seen you totally flustered over a guy, that has to mean something right?"
"I suppose it does," Regina smiled, "he's coming to watch the game, I invited him and he said he wouldn't come for the sports but he'd come see my routine."
"I don't think you have anything to worry about, something tells me that Robin is just as enamoured with you as you are with him."
"Do you really think so? I'm not sure, I feel as though there is something there, there's just this vibe whenever we're together, this undeniable chemistry and I'm sure it's not in my imagination."
"I don't think so, I think he's just shy and you probably need to tread carefully."
"I know," she nodded standing up from the bench and shaking her head, "I think we need to get out onto the field now," they'd been talking for longer than she thought and she didn't have all that much time to make sure that her team were fully warmed up before they began, the last thing she wanted was one of her girls spraining something.
She and Tink headed out towards the pitch, "do you think he'll be here?" Regina's asked stopping at the door.
"Sure, he will, he said he would be right?"
"Yeah, he did... but what if he decided against it?"
"Just chill your beans," Tink chuckled, "you really have got it bad haven't you."
"Stop it," she shook her head as her eyes closed, "I don't even know what to do, how do you even..."
"I have no idea what you're talking about Gina. Come on," she tugged her though the door and they saw the rest of their team stretching on the pitch with Kathryn giving them instructions.
"I swear they better all have their shorts on under those skirts," Regina groaned as she jogged over to the other girls. She didn't want a repeat performance of what had happened previously. A couple of girls in the past had forgotten to wear shorts whilst wearing a thong and let's just say the crowd definitely got a show. For Regina it was the first thing she did, there wasn't a cat in hell's chance she was risking the whole school seeing her underwear.
Once she reached them she instructed a few stretches, all the while her eyes scanned the stands, he could have been sat anywhere, so far she hadn't managed to spot him in the crowd. She turned in the other direction and found him sat at the front his little sister sat beside him seemingly excited to be there, she was almost bouncing in her seat. "Will you carry on with the warm up for me please Tinka," Regina whispered before heading off in Robin's direction, she could feel her skirt sway a little as she half jogged over.
"Regina!" The little blonde called out.
"Hi," Regina chuckled as she stopped in front of the barrier, "I'm glad you could both make it, I'm happy to have some cheerleaders of my own," she winked, "I'll see if I can sneak out and sit with you after the routine," she smiled, seeing the fries in his hands and pinching one before turning to re-join her girls. "Thanks," she smirked, walking backwards before turning around and beginning a jog.
"Hey, where'd you get that?" Emma asked, looking at the fry that was in her hand.
"A friend of mine gave me it," she shrugged before quickly eating it and wiping her hand on her skirt, glancing around at everyone, "okay, so we're going to be starting any minute and we all need to do our best okay, no slacking, make this the best we've ever performed the routine."
"We might be able to do that if you actually turned up to rehearsal," Marian grumbled from where she was stood towards the back of the group.
"Well, I have apologised that I haven't been around lately, but I've…"
"Regina you don't have to defend yourself against that," Kathryn snapped, turning to glare at the brunette who dare go up against her friend and challenge her in front of everyone, "why don't you shut up and keep your shitty little opinions to yourself. Not everyone can be a prissy little princess."
"Chill out Kat," Regina rolled her eyes, stopping her friend before she got into full ranting mode, she had already been halfway there. "In fact, I think I do need to provide you all with an explanation as to why I haven't been turning up to practice. I felt as though I needed some extra help in a couple of my subjects, so I've been in study sessions, I trust though that between them Kathryn, Emma and Tinka can manage to pick up where I'm failing," she tailed off before turning away from Marian, she didn't like the girl, there had been many times when she considered kicking her off the team, but she knew she couldn't do that without a valid reason, which meant that they had to put up with her.
She looked over to where the coach of the football team was, he usually was the one who told them when they could start and gave the cue to the sound people for them to play the music, he nodded at her as she told everyone to get into position, she was determined to impress Robin and that meant nailing each and every step.
The routine went by without a hitch and the cheer squad came off the pitch allowing the players to come on instead, Regina watched as all the girls filed into the stands where they usually sat and glanced over to where Robin was. Clearing her throat she shook her head, "I think I'm going to go," she stated.
"Wait what? Why?" Kathryn narrowed her eyes, "I thought you had the evening off, you said that you didn't need to study tonight."
"I know I said that, it's just I don't all that feel like staying, I have other things to do, sorry Kat," with that she made a dash for it, heading back to the changing rooms and finding her skinny jeans and a sweat shirt, she quickly changed out of her cheer uniform and into that before flicking the hood on the sweater up and walking ominously back out into the stands before avoiding her girls and heading towards where Robin had been sat.
Once she reached their row, she shuffled past a couple of people before flopping down into the seat beside him, "hey," he chuckled.
"Hiya," she smiled pushing her hood down as she looked around checking that her friends hadn't caught her move to sit with him.
"Regina, you were great!" Poppy clapped causing Regina to chuckle and shake her head.
"Thank you."
"How do you actually do some of those things?" the younger girl asked tucking her blonde locks behind her ear.
"I guess I was just taught how to," she shrugged, "so how's the game?" Regina asked looking to Robin hoping that he might get a word in edge ways.
"It's only been on for mere minutes and I'm already bored stupid," he chuckled, "but I'm better now. You were very good," he complimented awkwardly. He wasn't one for sports but Regina was really talented and she was super flexible, the kind of flips she had been doing proved that.
"Thank you and I know, sometimes I just get my sketchbook out when the game is on so I don't have to watch it," she stated, he was right, it was rather boring, sure it wasn't if you were into it, but she just wasn't and neither was Robin. "Do you wanna just get out of here, we could go get pizza," she suggested, she was rather hungry and she would much prefer to go get some food than sit there in the cold watching bunch of men ramming into each other.
Robin was totally game for that, his sister on the other hand, he knew that she wouldn't be so agreeable, she had been looking forward to the game, in fact she had been going on about it none stop ever since Regina had invited them. His mother had been driven crazy by it, she also hadn't been all that happy to find out that Regina was a cheerleader, not that Robin saw what was so bad about that. As long as she wasn't rude to her, he would just keep quiet about it. "I don't think Poppy would be too pleased about that," he rolled his eyes as he looked at Regina.
"I see what you mean," Regina chuckled leaning back in her seat, "maybe we could stay for a little while then, we can always just talk, we don't have to watch the game."
"Sounds like a plan."
At the halftime point she was feeling the cold a little and shivered, "do you wanna get out of here now?" Regina asked, trying to gauge Robin's reaction.
"Of course," he chuckled sanding up, "Pops, come on."
"Aww, but Robin I wanted to stay," the younger girl whined.
"We can go get pizza my treat," Regina suggested, she didn't know why but she rather fancied pizza and she had for a while so she just hoped that the rest of them liked it. Robin already knew of her plan and he seemed to be in agreement, now she just had to find out whether or not his sister was.
The blonde's blue eyes lit up at that and she nodded, "can I have a milkshake too please?"
"Poppy!" Robin scolded, he could believe she was so cheeky.
"Of course! We can't not have them, right?" Regina chuckled as she led them out of the stands heading towards the exit. Poppy wrapped her arm around Regina's, holding onto her as they weaved through the crowds of people. Regina couldn't help wish that she had a little sister of her own to look after and to teach things, seemingly though poppy was more than willing to play the part with her.
She looked behind her to make sure that Robin was following along, she hoped that he liked that she got on with his sister and that he was happy about it. Although she had initially planned for this to be something for just the two of them, she liked his sister and was happy for her to tag along with them.
Robin watched as his sister interacted with Regina, he was so pleased that they were getting along, because Poppy was really important to him and Regina was quickly coming to be so also, he'd developed deep feelings for her, even deeper than the ones he already had and he just hoped that they were returned, otherwise he was a stupid fool wasn't he.
"Oi slutty Mills!"
Regina's eyes widened as she turned to Robin in alarm, watching as he gritted his teeth and also turned around to see the guy who had followed them out. Regina's grip on Poppy tightened, "Robin come on," she murmured.
"And Locksley," Nottingham laughed, "well isn't this quite the group, the slag and the nerd hanging around together, can't say I saw it coming, however your performance on the corridor the other day should have been a clue shouldn't it. The slut…"
"Leave her alone," Robin spat with narrowed eyes, he was just about sick to the back teeth of this guy saying shit about Regina.
"Ooh nerd's got backbone, want's another arse kicking."
"Oi!" Poppy spoke up, managing to wriggle free from Regina's hold, "are you the boy that hurt my brother?!" she asked, Regina moved forward to try and pull her back a little, she didn't want her getting too close to someone like Nottingham, she could get hurt, she was tiny in comparison to him.
"Poppy, come on," Regina whispered, it was best to ignore the guy, not to play up to him because that was what he wanted, he was poking them for a reaction, for them to give him some sort of reply. He was a bully and that was what bullies wanted, they wanted a response and usually wouldn't stop until they got one. She guessed that Robin had probably faced his fair share of bullies.
"Such a pretty little girl," Nottingham cooed stepping closer to her and trying to reach out in her direction, "so cute and innocent…"
"Poppy, go to my car okay," Regina handed her the keys and the girl did as she was told, clearly sensing the urgency of the situation. Regina chanced a glance at Robin and watched as he clenched his fists, clearly trying to stop himself from striking out against Keith. She snuck her hand into her pocket and quickly took her phone from it, dialling someone's number before discreetly slipping it back in again.
"Aww, such a shame she had to leave, we could have had some fun…"
"You're a sick twisted bastard aren't you," Regina seethed, "praying on young girls now, that's a new low even for you."
"Come on Regina you know I'm just messing with you, it's you I want really," he took a step closer and she tried to hold her nerve, to stop herself from freaking out, stand her ground, but apparently, she didn't have to as Robin was slipping between them, his hand falling on her waist and pushing her backwards gently, not moving his hand from her.
Just as he was about to say something someone appeared in the doorway they had just come from, "Nottingham, get your ass back out onto the field before I have to kick it out," the guy snapped.
Regina looked up to find Daniel stood there, waiting for Keith to go and join him, the latter rolled his eyes and glared at Robin and Regina before doing as he was told and heading off. Once he was past Daniel the other man spoke up, "Regina, you okay?"
"Yes, fine thank you," she nodded, she was somewhat relieved that he had understood what that phone call meant and that he had come so quickly, she didn't want anyone getting hurt and she had a feeling that was the direction it was heading in if Robin's reaction had anything to do with it.
Daniel smiled awkwardly at them before leaving them stood alone in the entrance. Robin could still feel the anger towards the man bubbling at the surface, how dare he, going after Regina was bad enough, but to turn onto his sister and say things like that about her, that was the final straw, he couldn't take it. He'd been so close to just letting go everything he'd been holding back and had Daniel not intervened, he knew that he might have been in quite a lot of trouble.
"Are you okay?" Robin asked, turning around to look at Regina as he snapped out of his trance, his hand was still on her waist, his fingers absently caressing little patterns over her jumper, tickling her slightly.
"Yes," she smiled, her eyes drifting to where he was touching her, it felt surprisingly good, although was it really all that surprising? It was only around a mere hour ago that she had been confessing to Tink about her crush on him, so no, the fact that his touch felt nice was not a surprise, not really.
Robin followed her gaze and realised where his hand was, he quickly dropped it, "sorry," he mumbled awkwardly. It had felt so natural to just touch her he hadn't even realised he was doing so.
"Don't be," she shrugged with a smile before gesturing to the exit, "food?"
"Good plan," he chuckled with a shake of the head as they headed out together, Regina knocking her hip against his playfully as they both let out a bout of laughter.
They made their way into the parking lot spotting Poppy stood awkwardly by the entrance, "I didn't know which one was yours," she whispered, her eyes trained to the ground.
"That's alright," Regina smiled wrapping an arm around the girl's shoulder and steering her in the opposite way, "half the time I don't even remember what my own car looks like," she admitted giving the girl a light squeeze.
Robin had gone ahead and was already stood by her car blowing warm air into his hands as he moved on the spot, "its bloody freezing."
"Robin you swore," Poppy looked at him with wide eyes and Regina had to purse her lips to stop herself from laughing at the girl telling off her big brother. If Poppy thought that was swearing she should hear some of the things that she said on a daily basis.
"Sorry Pops," Regina caught his eye roll and couldn't stop herself from giggling as she unlocked the car and they piled in. She blasted the heat and tried to warm her hands on the heater.
"It's so cold," she half shivered.
"I don't know how you manage cheer routines in this," he shook his head, his hands joining hers about the heater.
"You move around so I suppose if helps keep circulation," she stated, "the waiting around to perform on the other hand, I think my legs may have almost turned blue at points."
"They should let you wear pants."
"Agreed," she chuckled, "I'll remember to put the suggestion forward," she noted as she started the car and took off the hand break.
"Regina?"
"Hmm?" she caught Poppy's eyes in the mirror before looking back to the road and concentrating on her driving.
"Why was that boy saying those things about you?" she asked.
Robin turned to look at her, seeing the scowl adorning her face, he sighed and shook his head, "because he's a horrid boy Pops," he huffed, "and you shouldn't listen to him okay? None of what he was saying about Regina is true, you got that?"
"But why would he say something like that?"
Regina took a deep breath and glanced at Robin, seeing the look on his face and realising how angry he actually was, she had initially thought it had been because Nottingham had threatened his sister, but maybe there was more to it than that. She was about to answer the question when Robin spoke up yet again, "because he just wants to hurt her and he knows that saying those things will do that."
Poppy seemed to be satisfied with his answer and turned her head to look out of the window, Regina sighed and tired not to show how deflated she was, but she couldn't help it, not when those were the kind of things which she was facing on a daily basis from that guy, his constant rumour spreading and lies.
Robin watched her and without thinking moved his hand to cover one of hers, giving it a little squeeze, "don't worry about him," Robin murmured, he kind of wanted to have this conversation without his sister being within hearing distance, because as much as she might look like she wasn't listening in, she would most likely be eavesdropping on what they were saying.
"I'm not," she looked up at him, trying to smile before pulling into the car park at the Italian restaurant.
"I need to go to the bathroom," Poppy stated, throwing the door open and hurrying out of the car before heading into the place, leaving them alone inside the vehicle.
"Okay," Robin un-clicked his belt and properly turned to look at her, "do you want to talk about it?"
"What's to talk about? We both know that Nottingham is a jerk, I think I've become adjusted to everything he says now."
"Well it's not on Regina, he shouldn't be saying those things about you, especially when they aren't true," he added, he didn't know for certain that all of them were false, but she had been spending most of her spare time with him lately so he would have noticed if she were up to something with someone.
"They aren't anywhere near to being true," she whispered, "they couldn't be further from the truth actually."
Robin reached out and gently took her hand in his, "they may not be true, but I understand why they bother you, who wants rumours like that going around?"
"I'm used to it," Regina smiled sadly, giving his hand a friendly squeeze, "don't worry about me, come on, I'm hungry and I want some food," she chuckled, pushing the door open. Once she was out of the car she closed her eyes briefly, trying to pull herself together, it wasn't the rumours so much that were bothering her, it was Robin's reaction to those rumours, she would hate it if he thought any less of her because of something that wasn't true. Not only that but she was afraid of him getting hurt again, she had seen the way he had reacted to Nottingham and had a feeling should the guy have said anything else there would have been fight.
Robin sighed, she clearly didn't want to talk about it, maybe she was just not in the mood, he wouldn't blame her. Some of the people at that school just didn't know when to quit and they had absolutely no knowledge of what their words could do to people, either that or they were totally and utterly heartless. The thing was she didn't realise just how much he did worry about her.
Regina sat with her legs crossed in her closet hideout leant over her phone as her eyes scanned over the words, her bottom lip was tightly pressed between her teeth as she shuffled somewhat, looking up at the door cautiously before staring back down at her phone once again. Lately she had been a little obsessed with reading people's stories online about her favourite couple, she hadn't even known that such a website existed until she accidentaly stumbled over it and then became hooked.
She'd had a free period and although she knew she should be studying, Robin had a lesson and she figured she might as well wait for him and have a little relaxation time. Her eyes widened somewhat as she read over a particular point and steadied her breathing, how did people write such things, they were almost scandalous, but she couldn't get enough of this, so called smut.
Her thumb found its way to her mouth as she bit down on her nail, still reading the story, she was so immersed within that particular part that when the door to the room opened she almost shot across the tiny space, her phone falling from her hands as she looked up, her eyes meeting sapphire blues and widening even more than they had been before. "What the hell!" she shook her head scrambling for her phone but Robin managed to pick it up before she could.
"What had you so absorbed?" he chuckled, making out as though he was going to read it only for her to literally throw herself at him and wrestle her phone from his hand, "chill out Regina," Robin laughed as he passed her the phone and closed the door before sitting down opposite her, "something on there you don't want anyone to see?"
"No," she huffed, "it's just rude to look at someone else's phone."
"I wasn't actually going to look at it," he rolled his eyes, nudging her playfully and seeing how her face was a deep red shade that he hadn't seen on her before, not to such an extent anyhow. "Come on then, what were you looking at?"
"It isn't any of your business," she murmured, unlocking her phone and making sure that what she looked at was bookmarked but the page shut down.
Robin had no idea what it was that she had been looking at, but clearly, she had been embarrassed about it, maybe she was messaging someone and she didn't want him to know, if that were the case, it was perfectly alright, but he didn't see the need for her to be so secretive about it. In fact, he had a feeling that she would probably have told him if she was talking to someone, they had been friends long enough now. They'd been hanging out every day for the past three months and now it was even spanning into weekends instead of being just after school, they told each other pretty much everything. "You okay?"
"Yeah, sorry, you just shocked me that's all."
"You know I wouldn't judge you right," he grinned, moving to sit beside her as he nudged her lightly.
"Of course," she smiled, resting her head on his shoulder. They were best friends, she had been meaning to tell him how she felt for a while, but every time she tried to she couldn't manage to get the words out, she'd try and say it, just confess that she was virtually in love with him and then she'd freeze and just ask him around to hers or something like that. "What time is it?" she asked, closing her eyes as her fingers found the end of the burgundy scarf he was wearing.
"Like half twelve, which is why I brought lunch, burger and fries?" he asked, reaching out for his bag and taking out two boxes, he passed one to her and opened his own.
"What about the…"
"I got you your ketchup and your burger sauce," Robin chuckled handing her the little pots, "and of course the sweet and sour for your fries."
"Thank you," she beamed, tearing the lids off the pots and positioning them accordingly inside her takeout box, she loved that Robin knew her order and he also seemed to guess what she was craving without even having talked to her that day, well that wasn't exactly true, they tended to text each other when they work up and let each other know what time they would be in school. In fact, there had been a couple of times where they had stayed up late talking and one of them had fallen asleep on the other. "How did you know where I was?"
"Really? We are literally in here all the time," Robin laughed, "and if not we're in the library, so yeah, wasn't too hard for me to find you."
She rolled her eyes playfully and dunked a couple of her fries in the sweet and sour sauce before taking a bite out of them, "I suppose you have a point."
He grinned and took a can of soda from his bag, opening it before taking a sip and putting it down between them, only for her to pick it up and take a sip of it herself. Robin shook his head as he took another can out, "I did get you one too."
"Hmm, but I wanted this one," she smirked looking back to her lunch. She couldn't help but think about what she had been reading, he had interrupted her at a vital moment and she really wanted to just get her phone out and finish it, but she could hardly do that with him sat right next to her.
"So, you're coming to mine tonight right?"
"Yeah of course, I wouldn't miss our Outlander day," Regina shuffled nervously, she knew that any time a scene that was remotely sexual came on it became slightly awkward between them. So she had purposely found out when any scenes like that were going to happen and she had a feeling that there would be one in the episode they had to watch that night.
"Cool," what was going on with her this morning? She was acting rather strangely, "what's up with you, you're being weird."
"Why?" she narrowed her eyes at him.
"I dunno, you just seem to be acting oddly, is it about the phone situation?" he asked.
"No."
"Because if it is don't worry, you're not the only person in the world who reads fan fiction."
"Oi!" she smacked his arm, "you said you didn't see," she whined, burying her head in her hands as she avoided his gaze.
"Chill out Regina, I've read fanfiction before, I mean come on…"
"Robin just… shush your mouth."
"Shush my mouth," he chuckled reaching out and moving her lunch from her lap before grabbing her playfully as he began to tickle her, "that's very rude Miss Mills."
"Robin!" she squealed as she tried to wriggle away from him, bouts of laughter falling from her lips, "Robin stop, okay, I'm sorry!" she hiccupped, laughing and looking up at him. She'd found her way onto her back lying on the floor with him hovering above her, suddenly the playful air changed and she swallowed heavily, the way he was looking at her made her heart race.
"Apology accepted," he stated, his voice seeming deeper than she had ever heard it, his eyes were looking straight into hers as she stared back at him, her mouth falling open a little as her hand came up to his arm and the silence washed over the room, only their laboured breathing filling the space between them.
Her hand moved from him to tuck her hair behind her ear, she knew she should do something, the best idea would be to move, but she couldn't bring herself to budge even an inch. "Robin," she whispered, her voice hoarse with pent up emotion.
"Regina," he breathed, he couldn't stop staring at her, she was so stunning laid like that with her hair fanned out around her. His eyes flickered to her lips and he imagined, not for the first time, what it might feel like to kiss her, one of his hands came to brush through her hair, the silken strands running through his fingers like sand.
A crash on the corridor behind the door broke them from their trance and Robin shook his head, "sorry," he moved from where he was hovered over her and sat back down, reaching his hand out to help her up.
Regina sat back up again and cleared her throat, "don't worry about it, I've just got to go to the bathroom, I'll be back in a few minutes." She stood from the floor and dusted herself off before hurrying out of the store room leaving him sat there alone. She needed a little moment to compose herself, she didn't know how much more of this torment she could take.