Deadly Class
Class Eleven: Truth is Never Pretty
"Emma, we need to talk," August grabbed Emma's arm and pulled her to the side during study days when Emma had been trying to go back to the library to force herself into studying. She didn't go back to her dorm room because Ruby was asking too many questions. And she wouldn't go back, not until she needed to sleep.
"What?" she hissed, annoyed and pulling free. "I have work to do. Can't it wait."
"No, it fucking can't." August was vibrating with some sort of odd energy and he had bags under his eyes. It was creeping her out a bit to be honest.
"Alright," she reluctantly agreed. She let him lead her to a bench that was out of the way of a group of students.
"Why were you coming out of Regina's house in the middle of the night?" August demanded and Emma stood there a while, not sure she had even understood him.
"What?"
"I said-"
"No, I heard what you said, just how the fuck would you know that?"
"Friday night after that dinner with Robin, things weren't making sense." Great. Emma had fooled no one. No surprise there she supposed. "I was going to go and talk to you but then I saw you ending down campus and you were so upset that I wasn't sure if I should talk to you. But I went to go get my car so I could drive by and give you a lift in the cold weather except by the time I find you, you're going into this random house. I think it's Robin's place but no. Regina opens the door." He's practically vibrating as he's saying this. She takes a step back because he's freaking her out. Why was he spying on her? "And I wait there, thinking I'm crazy but no you leave her place a couple hours later. So, why the fuck were you at her house?"
Emma shakes her head. She doesn't have time for this. Nor does she care for keeping this a secret anymore.
"What the fuck do you think I was doing there? Knitting scarves for her?" she responded with nastily.
His eyes got wide and he sharply inhaled. "You're in a relationship with Regina? You're actually fucking her!?" he whisper screamed and it looked like he would explode from this knowledge. Emma rolled her eyes. He was really annoying her now.
"How the fuck did you get so lucky-"
"I didn't. Get lucky that is. It was all just one big power trip and now it's over," she said with finality and steel in her voice. "So I don't want to talk about it any more." She made to move past him. But he blocked her.
"Are you kidding me? I want to know everything. You lied to me, Emma. You lied to all of us. But you lied to me especially. We were in that club together-"
"Fuck you and your fucking creepy obsession," she spat, frankly irritated. Today was not a good day to test her. "I don't own you anything and I won't be fucking talking about that bitch. If you want her, you can have her." She shoulder checked him as she stomped away.
He raced after her through the snow. "If you don't give me what I want than I'll tell everyone! You'll get in trouble with the board and be kicked out! And she'll get fired!"
Emma laughed, actually laughed at that. He just gave her a good idea. One she had toyed with but never truly sunk onto. "August, look at my face." She paused so he could do that.
He was breathing hard, looking slightly maniac. He really did need help. But then again, it seemed like Regina had that magical ability to fuck up perfectly normal people. "Does it looking like I care?" she asked, brow arched.
"Uh..." he seemed stumped and his breath billowed around him.
"The answer is no, August," she answered for him, quite sharply. "So go ahead, tell anyone you want because me and her are through. For good." This time when she left, he didn't follow.
Unexpectedly, facing August had actually somewhat prepared Emma for her conversation with Regina. Still, Emma had listened to rock music to pump her up and had done a tequila shot, which she regretted a bit because it left a nasty taste in her mouth, but she was ready for this.
She didn't bother to knock, just pushed the door open to Regina's office. She found the professor there, sitting behind her desk like always and it made something in Emma's chest clench so hard it hurt. She slammed the door shut and Regina looked up. Gone in her eyes were the adoration she often wore for Emma. Instead they were cold.
Emma's hands began to sweat. She was here and she didn't know how to fucking start or end this. Regina got up from her desk, pushing back her chair, letting it scrap loudly against the floor in the silence that lay thick. "How much did you hear?"
"Enough," was the sharp answer.
Regina's jaw clenched. "I see. And even then, it still makes you feel this way."
"How else should I fucking feel?" Emma demanded. She had never cursed at a professor before but Regina had stopped being that a long time ago. Emma didn't care how unprofessional this was going to get. "Happy to learn I had been used?"
"I knew this would be your reaction-"
"Oh, so I was supposed to take the news of it laying down, and not hate it? Hate how I had been used?" Emma screeched, working herself up.
Regina narrowed her eyes. "Did you really hear everything-"
Emma didn't let her finish, too worked up to stop. It felt good to let all the pain of the past couple of days out.
"I could expose you, tell them that you've been having inappropriate relations with your own student!"
Now Regina was on the defensive. Folding her arms across her chest. "And what about you? What do you think will happen when they find out you've been sleeping with a professor for your grades? How would mommy and daddy dearest look after the scandal breaks out? They'd have to throw you out to save the school's face and because I have tenure they won't be able to kick me out, only forced to bury the truth so that I can get away with it all," Regina hissed out, lips curled up because she knew this was true.
"In fact," Regina continued on, "I want you to tell your parents. I want them to know. It would give me immense satisfaction."
"You're sick, you know that," blurted out of Emma's mouth. "All this to get back at my mother? Over what, something stupid?"
Regina slammed her hands on top of the desk, startling Emma with the sudden vitriol in her voice. "You have no right to say that when you don't know anything!"
"Well maybe if you had fucking talked to me like a normal person I would know. Maybe I could have helped you!"
"You can't bring back a dead person," Regina said so suddenly and so quietly that Emma's ears rang from all the screaming before and she almost hadn't heard.
"W-what, what are you talking about?" Emma questioned, suddenly afraid of what she might learn. Mary had hurt someone? She didn't look like she could!
Regina slumped down into her seat, suddenly tired, words pouring out of her.
"I was in love with a girl named Daniella. A stable hand at this horse barn I went at to train my riding skills. She was dashing and gentle, a lot of the things you are, Emma. And she made me so happy. It was a pure kind of joy. With no worries. I wanted to spend all my time at her side," she said fondly, eyes lighting up at memories of Daniella before they dimmed as a darker topic approached.
"At the time when I was younger, it wasn't so accepted to be gay. Especially not when you're latina and living in a small minded community. Mary too rode at the barn and I often helped her. She adored me like an older sister because I had rescued her from the path of a horse. And because she followed me everywhere, she saw me making out with Daniella in secret. I saw and swore Mary to secrecy. She agreed." At this Regina took a tense breath, like she was holding back a torrent of emotions. She swallowed and then continued on. "I thought all was well until our family dinner. Mary, who had been a close family friend at the time and who came over for dinners with her father Leopold, told everyone at dinner about how she had caught us making out. She said this because mother had been talking about arranging a date for me with some strapping young boys and Mary had blurted out that there would be no point for it because I liked girls and already had a girlfriend.
"I was so shocked I couldn't even deny it. Leopold, who was a very devout man and very homophobic, got upset and he drove over to the barns, which he happened to own. I raced after him and by the time I got there it was too late. He and Daniella had been arguing and everything happened at once. A storm was raging outside, spooking the horses. One of them got free. Bucking around in terror. And..." at this Regina swallowed harshly clenching her hand hard. Her voice dropped to a raspy whisper.
"Leopold pushed Daniella in front of the kicking horse. I'm sure he didn't mean for anything serious to happen, just maybe for her to get hurt. But the kick snapped her neck and she...she died on the spot."
Silence. Nothing but silence as Emma imagines a stricken Regina seeing her first love die in front of her.
Regina was looking into the distance as if reliving all this. "I blamed Mary for all this. Because she knew how homophobic her father could be and she had blurted the truth out at the table, not once considering what it might do. Naturally he didn't get into trouble. He was too rich for that. And my parents begged him to not kick me out of the riding school, telling him I was naive and had been corrupted by the stable hand but that I was straight. He accepted if only I would get a boyfriend which they found for me and I numbly agreed because I didn't care about anything. But I dropped out of the school anyways because it reminded me of her. Of where she no longer was.
"And Leopold and Mary felt no ounce of regret for what they did," she said. Emma sat down heavily in a chair. She hadn't known all this about her mother. She had thought it had been something stupid like stealing a boy away. But it hadn't been. It had been so much more.
"And I was hurting so bad. I wanted them to pay but I didn't know how. As soon as I was old enough for college I dumped my boyfriend and skipped town. I studied psychology in hopes it would erase this pain inside me. But it never went away and then I heard that she and her husband David now owned a college. And that there was a spot open for a psychology professor. I applied, got the job and decided I'd mess around with her here, just petty things to get my kicks in like keying her car, while I schemed up a way to make her pay. I could be patient. Leopold had died so I could do nothing more for him than desecrate his grave. But Mary...I could still hurt his precious daughter.
"But, it wasn't until you got to my class that I got the idea to seduce you and I thought it would be perfect until it proved not to be."
Regina rubbed the bridge of her nose, looking ten years older. "When you first entered my class, I wanted you out of there. Which was why I was so rude to you, and why I gave you lowered grades so you would hate me and drop the class. But you were stubborn and stayed," she frowned.
"But you bought me a coffee on my first day-" Emma brought up.
"To gauge you. Get a better read. I wanted to see how Mary's spawn measured up. I wasn't impressed," Regina said honestly. "Not at first. So after my attempts to scare you away failed, I tried another tactic, seduction. Your crush on me was obvious from miles away. I hadn't seen a sorrier thing, bar August's obsession and my restraining order on him."
Emma had not known that about him. Also, she was annoyed at being demeaned. Liking someone did not make them pathetic. But Emma listened to what Regina had next to say. What fresh bullshit.
"Your crush gave me an idea. An opening. How much would it hurt Mary if she saw me in bed with her daughter, wrapped around my finger. So that's what I wanted to do. Date you until I could come up with a grand enough way to do the reveal. Except, things didn't go as planned," she admitted wryly. "I fell for you and I found myself delaying wanting to do the reveal until I realized I cared too much to even do that, to break your heart for the sake of revenging myself upon Mary."
"And I truly meant it when I told Mal that I had grown to care for you, and it would hurt you when I broke up with you because I didn't want to continue fake dating you. Even though it had grown to be so much more and so quickly. But I just felt wrong stringing you on when our relationship hadn't been founded in something healthy."
"O-oh, I don't think I heard that part," Emma said, throat dry at the confession. "I only heard you laughing about how it would break my heart. And how it was all to hurt my mother."
Regina shook her head. "I was laughing because I couldn't believe how things had turned out. I had wanted to break your heart. To have your mother find out we were sleeping together in an effort to get back at her. But in the end I couldn't because you somehow managed to win me over."
Emma wanted to believe this. She truly did. But...
"How can I know you're telling me the truth?"
"You can't. And I don't deserve that trust after I manipulated you into a relationship with me. It was wrong. And I regret it. I never should have done this to you. You didn't deserve to be dragged into the issues between your mother and me." Regina said this sincerely, looking pained to bring this all out.
"You need to talk to her," Emma stated, shaking her head. "God, I can't believe you put us through all this just because you can't communicate properly. Because you didn't talk it out with my mother."
Regina heaved out a choked sigh. It looked like she would cry. "I really regret what I did. And I know you won't be able to forgive me. And I'm not asking you too. I was the adult in the situation and I should have done things differently. I was just so blinded and set on my revenge and I'm still set on getting it. But I made the mistake of putting you into it, and you're innocent from all this."
"I really loved you," Emma breathed out, feeling close to tears now. It honestly did look like Regina regretted it. But the trust had been broken. Regina had tried to use Emma. It didn't matter that she loved her now.
It was too late.
The door to the office slammed open and August was there, hair looking wild and cheeks red from the cold.
"I told someone," he announced with maniac excitement, and a second later Mary came storming in, hands balled up in anger. "Regina Mills," she hissed out. "What did you do to my daughter?!"
Regina looked stunned for a second before she recovered. "Hm, it seems the truth came out either way," she announced grandly, spreading her hands as she rose up regally. And then with cruel emphasis, said, "I fucked your daughter, Mary. Many, many times."
Nobody quite managed to stop Mary's swinging fist from colliding with Regina's jawbone.
Emma, Regina, and August sat in a row of chairs outside David's office. Emma couldn't help but feel like a student about to see the principal for detention. Except it was the school president who also happened to be her father. And who was currently arguing about something with Emma's mother, a professor here and also the person who knew about her and Regina's affair.
Regina was holding up a bag of ice to jaw where a bruise would most likely form from how Mary slugged her. Emma had never seen her mother get violent- she wouldn't even kill a fly!- but apparently all bets were off when it came to her daughter's virtue.
For her part, Regina looked entirely detached to the situation, not even trying to eavesdrop like Emma had on the conversation inside. But the doors were thick and mainly sound proof so she could only hear the angry pitch but not the words.
August had no qualms about any trouble he could get into.
"You fucked one of your students. Would you be open to fucking another?" he wagged his brows, directing that towards Regina who looked ahead and stiffly ignored him.
"Hey, I'm talking to you," he said when he noticed she wasn't paying attention to him. "Answer me! You slept with Emma, so you can sleep with me too!" Now he was beginning to sound angry.
"August stop!" Emma hissed out because she was getting annoyed at his behavior.
"I'm not talking to you, but her!" he hissed back. "I don't see why a loser like you gets lucky and I don't!"
Emma's cheeks colored in anger. "Why you-"
"Since I'm already probably going to jail, I've been meaning to do this ever since I met you Mr. Booth," Regina said and then without looking at him, raised a fist and slammed into right into his crotch.
His eyes bulged out and he made a wheezing noise as he doubled over.
Emma gave her professor a wide eyed look.
"Don't look at me like that. You didn't have to teach him," she replied flatly.
The door opened and David strode out, looking like he'd been through a storm. He saw August doubled over. "What's with him?"
"Cramp," Regina answered breezily. "Now, can we get this business over with?"
Emma and Regina strode into the room, like prisoners waiting to hear their sentence.
The door snapped heavily shut behind them and David sat at the desk while Mary glared at them by his side, arms crossed over her chest. Emma had never seen her mother this upset. David looked a bit more composed, tiredness on his face. He rubbed his forehead and sighed deeply before beginning.
"This is a most serious offense, Regina. Even over looking the fact that Emma is our daughter, what the hell were you doing sleeping with a student?" he began.
Emma knew her parents were seriously upset if they were using curse words.
"Well, the fact that Emma is your daughter is what made me do it," Regina began, baring her teeth in opposition.
"Is this about me?" Mary asked, her eyes now looking a touch haunted.
"It was always about you," Regina shot back and Emma began to feel a bit out of place as suddenly all the focus was on Regina and Mary.
"Regina, I'm truly sorry for what happened-" Mary began but Regina angrily cut her off.
"Your apologies are worth nothing to me! A woman is dead because of you. An innocent and wonderful woman! All because you couldn't keep your damned mouth shut!"
"And I regret it each day," Mary said softly, now appealing. "But if you want to hurt me for it, don't do it through my daughter."
Regina let out a bitter laugh as she slumped into her chair. "I couldn't even do it through Emma. I fell in love with her even as I planned my revenge on you. So much for it. I spent all my years hating you, trying to get back at you. Each success I had was in spite of you. It kept me going. But what has all my hatred done? Nothing. I have nothing to show for it because I can't...I can't do anything. My own grand scheme and even that failed," she said, eyes glittering with tears. "I'm so tired of all this." And she looked tired of hating. Of this situation. She just wished she could let it go but her heart wouldn't let her.
"Then let go of your anger. Let it go. I want to make it up to you. Maybe I never can. Probably not, but I want to be there as your friend. I want to help you get through this mess I made. I was young and stupid and I badly wanted to help you when I saw how uncomfortable talk of being with a boy made you. And I didn't think my father would react the way he did. You have no idea how I hated myself for saying all that. How much I hated him for getting away with it and not feeling bad."
"It didn't look like it," Regina said bitterly.
"But I did. On the outside I kept up appearances. But on the inside I hated it all." Mary shook her head, beseeching now. "The idea of what I did has bothered me for years, probably not as much as it has bothered you. I took away a happiness from your life. And while I'm extremely upset you had to come after my daughter to get to me I would still...still like to work something out between us," Mary admitted.
"Ever trying to be the bigger person," Regina said but she wasn't looking at Mary. "I don't quite care for your friendship. I don't want it nor do I need it. I just wanted you to suffer for what you did. I wanted to know you felt pain for what you caused."
"I still do, because Daniella didn't deserve that. But neither did my daughter."
"I care for Emma, Mary. I wasn't supposed to, but I do," Regina assured. Those words made Emma feel warm inside even if she shouldn't at this moment.
"We still haven't determined a punishment for this, Regina. But neither can we go public with it. It would ruin our college's reputation and you have tenure...so it'll be a difficult case to battle especially because Emma is of age of consent and things can get complicated with the law," David included, rubbing a hand on his jaw.
"I understand," Regina nodded her head solemnly.
"And...and what of me?" Emma squeaked out, her stomach in knots.
"You are going to be scolded by us, young lady. But also, the school will need to take disciplinary actions against you too," David said sternly. Emma's stomach sunk like it was filled with lead but she knew it was warranted. Even if Regina had initiated the relationship and manipulated it, Emma had still been an active participant. She hadn't exactly tried to fight back or call out Regina on this.
"You are dismissed," David said. "Mary and I need to talk some more things through."
Regina and Emma both got up and left silently. August was no longer around, thank goodness for that, and so they went outside to get some fresh air.
A/N: I'm curious; what do y'all think of Regina's reasoning for doing this scheme?