I awoke to the sound of whistling. My head was pounding, and I hissed when I touched my temple. Slowly, I sat up and took in my surroundings. My heart began to beat double time when I realized I was in a jail cell.

My eyes landed on the small man sitting in the cell next to me that was making the noise that had awoken me.

"What are you looking at, sister?" he sneered.

"Hey, Leroy," an old man who was not behind bars said, "manners. We have a guest."

"She's a kid," the man called Leroy said. "They're all brats. Who needs them?"

"Well I would give anything for one," the man said. He seemed so full of sadness that my heart went out to the stranger. Looking at me, he said, "My wife and I tried for many years, but it wasn't meant to be."

"Well cry me a river," Leroy said.

A much younger man entered the room and walked briskly to the grumpy man's cell. "Leroy, if I'm going to let you out, you're going to need to behave." He unlocked the cell and said, "Put on a smile."

Leroy plastered on the cheesiest grin I had ever seen and waltzed out of the cell. I wondered if grinning at the handsome sheriff would extend me the same freedom. I smiled at him.

"Your little joyride with the Mayor's daughter caused quite a bit of damage to the town sign, young lady."

The mayor's daughter? I repeated in my mind. Is he talking about Lily? "There was a wolf standing in the middle of the road," I tried to explain. "I swerved to miss him and hit the sign."

"A wolf," he asked with the same annoying tone grownups always used when they thought a kid was making up a story. "Right," he said.

"It's true," I said, trying not to sound petulant. "Lily can back me up."

"Lily is in the hospital."

Panic seized my chest. "Is she going to be okay?" I wanted to bang on the bars for him to let me out.

Concern creased his face. "Dr. Whale says we'll know more soon. Maybe you can convince your foster dad to take you to visit her."

Nothing was making any sense. How had I gotten a foster family so fast? I hadn't even met with a case worker yet.

The sound of a cane clicked against the floor, taking my attention to the entrance of the sheriff's station. A thin, middle-aged man appeared in the doorway. "Emma," he said, "are you hurt?"

I shook my head. Was he the doctor?

The sheriff frowned. "Good morning, Mr. Gold. Are you here to collect your ward?"

"Yes, I am," he said with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, "if that's alright with you, Sheriff Graham."

The sheriff didn't look like he wanted to release me, but he unlocked the cage I was in. "She'll have to do community service."

"I'm more than happy to pay for the damages to the car and the town sign," Mr. Gold said.

"You'll have to work that out with the Mayor," the sheriff said, "but she still needs to do one hundred hours."

"One hundred hours?" I snapped. "That's not fair."

"Come on, dearie," Mr. Gold said and put his hand on my shoulder. I fought the urge to pull away from him. "Let's go."

I glared at the sheriff as we walked out. He suddenly didn't look nearly as cute as he had minutes ago.

"I'm sure you're eager to head home," Mr. Gold said once we got into his car, "but I have to pick up the rent at Granny's first. I'm sure you're hungry anyway after the adventure you had last night with the Mayor's daughter."

"About that," I said, "I didn't realize she was the mayor's daughter."

"Stealing a car is a felony," he said. "Did you realize that?"

"Yes," I mumbled, feeling miserable. I didn't know how she'd done it, but Lily had lied to get me to that middle of nowhere town. Though why she'd done it didn't make any sense to me. The compass had to have been some sort of trick, but nothing explained how she'd known who I was.

"Can we go see her in the hospital?" I asked.

"That's probably not the best idea," he said as we parked in front of a quaint, little diner. "Her mother thinks you're a bad influence."

"Ha!" I said. "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her."

"Whatever do you mean?" he asked.

"She's the one who brought me to Storybrooke in the first place," I said.

Mr. Gold stared at me for so long that I wondered if he was having a stroke. "Best you keep that opinion to yourself."

"It's not an opinion," I said. "It's the truth. I'd never even heard of Storybrooke before I met her yesterday."

"What an incredible imagination you have," he said. "You've lived here ever since you were found abandoned along the side of the road a few miles from here."

There was something dangerous in his tone, some sort of veiled threat that there would be hell to pay if I didn't go along with him. What shred of safety I had felt evaporated, and I got out of the car, not wanting to be alone with him for another second.

The clock tower began ringing, and I counted nine tolls of the bell. The sound made him smile for some strange reason that I couldn't begin to fathom.

I took myself inside the diner, and the smells of fried food made me realize how hungry I was.

There was a beautiful, young woman standing behind the bar, wearing way too much makeup and far too little clothing. She had to be freezing, but she smiled at me. "Hey, Emma."

Before I had a chance to respond, an elderly woman came out of the kitchen carrying food. "Good morning, Emma," she said as she gave the younger girl the food to deliver. "Why aren't you in school?"

"Good morning," I said, wondering how the women knew me.

"Emma got into a little bit of a trouble last night," Mr. Gold said. "She's staying home today to think about her actions."

I felt my face grow red. I couldn't tell if the sudden chill coming from the women had to do with my crimes or their distaste for the man standing beside me.

The elderly woman walked up to him and held out a roll of cash. "It's all here."

"Of course it is, dearie," Mr. Gold said and tucked it into his pocket without counting it. "Perhaps we could have a word in private. Ruby, please get Emma whatever she wants. I'm sure she's hungry."

Ruby nodded. "Take a seat wherever you'd like, kid."

I chose the booth as far away from everyone else as I could find and buried my nose in a menu.

Ruby slipped into the seat across from me the moment the elderly woman and Mr. Gold were gone. "Spill."

"Huh?" I asked.

"What did you do? I want all the details."

I wasn't sure what version of the story to tell the girl. "I ran into the town sign," I said, and Ruby's eyes grew wide.

"Wait, that was you?" she asked. "Aren't you too young to drive?"

I shrugged, wondering if the girl was going to take my order or not.

"I get it," she said. "I've always thought you were a little badass. Very nice."

"I have to do community service," I told her. "One hundred hours."

"Yeash," she said. "That's a lot. You should talk to Mary Margaret. She'll probably have some not horrifying work for you to do."

"Who?" I asked, and she looked surprised.

"Oh, right, you've probably never called her by her first name. You know, Mary Margaret Blanchard, the fourth grade teacher."

"She wasn't my fourth grade teacher," I told her, and Ruby gave me a confused look. "Of course she was. She's taught fourth grade for as long as I can remember. Who else would have been your teacher?"

Ruby was obviously a part of whatever Mr. Gold was scheming, and she'd probably report anything I said back to him. "Of course," I repeated. "I guess I'll talk to her after school is out."

Ruby smiled. "And if you need driving lessons, I'd be happy to help."

"Really?" I asked, surprised by the girl's kindness.

"Of course," she said, "us troublemakers have to stick together."

I smiled for the first time that day.

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