A month had passed, and Emma was waking up in her shared room with her foster sister. Mondays never got easier, especially ones that kick started the first school week of a new semester. The last semester of high school.
A piercing sound blared from the other side of the room for the fourth time that morning. "Do you mind? Turn your alarm off. If I hear it scream one more time I am going to throw a pillow at your face."
"Calm down, I'll turn it off. I was just snoozing it." The Hispanic girl with ebony hair snapped.
Lily was another foster kid, she was three years younger than Emma and they lived in a house with two younger foster sisters who were the biological daughters of their foster mother, Ms. Tremaine. Today marked Emma's fifth month with her new foster family. Lily had been in the house longer than Emma, but only by a year. Most of the time she tried more than anything to get Emma into trouble. Whether it was telling the foster mother that Emma skipped class, or that she didn't do her homework it still always pushed Emma further away from her foster family. While the home was better than most, it came with demanding chores. Regardless, Emma was leaving in just a few months, and so she was determined to make it work. Once she was finished with school she could do anything she wanted.
"We're going to be late for school." Lily said with hints of dread in her voice. She was already dressed and ready for her first day.
"Don't worry, I won't take long." Emma jumped out of her bed, grabbed her skinny jeans and a sweater, and threw them on.
"Just two seconds, I've gotta brush my teeth and then we can go." Emma rushed out of the room holding up two fingers that could have been mistaken for a peace sign.
Emma dashed into the bathroom. Her hair was fortunately the kind of hair that looked it's best when messy.
"K, let's go Lily." Emma motioned for the shorter brunette girl to follow.
The pair headed out the door and walked to school together.
"I hate this walk. It's too long in the winter." Lily complained.
"It's okay, we're almost there. Let's meet at the tree in front of the school after school's over." Emma directed.
The younger girl rolled her eyes at her older foster sister. Being told what to do only made Lily annoyed and she responded, "I've got it Emma. This isn't like the first time we've been to school together. Don't treat me like I'm a kid."
It were moments like this that she was reminded that Lily was just a brat. Instead of walking with Lily into the school she brushed past her. Emma was tired of trying to be a role model, or big sister to the other girl. Lily was a hormonal wreck and that paired with being a foster kid didn't mix well.
Shoving her coat into her tall locker, she grabbed her schedule and looked at the different classroom numbers. Of course her classes were at opposite ends of the school and away from her locker. This kind of thing always happened to her.
First period was AP English. Second period was AP Economics, lunch, third period was AP Calculus, and then forth, AP World History. It was a full load of classes that she was advised to take. According to the school guidance counselor, they would look amazing to colleges.
Emma had no idea if she even wanted to go to college. In her mind, all that mattered was getting away from her foster family. Whether that was through college, or not, she didn't know. So Emma did what she was told and took the upper level courses, as boring as they were going to be, it was for the best.
The day dragged on by and wasn't eventful. It was all syllabus, except for Calculus, where Mr. Albert gave a quiz on the first day of class. He wanted to see where everyone was in comparison to pre-calculus, it sucked. For jumping to different schools, Emma was top of her class. Her most loathed subject though, was history. The teachers here always liked to quiz them on dates and names of the locations of historical events and that wasn't one of Emma's strongest areas of studies. Give her a math problem and an equation and she could easily solve the problem flawlessly. Imaginary numbers, no problem. Holes in graphs, no big deal, but when Marie Antoinette was killed, iffy, maybe 1690?
Math as much as Emma loved it, was also boring. It came easy to her and she barely paid attention. So like years past, math class was where her mind escaped. She would daydream about her real parents, what they did for a living and what they looked like. Sometimes she would dream about where they were from and imagine what that would be like. It was her escapism.
Unlike previous semesters, it wasn't her family history she got lost thinking about, no. Instead, she dreamed of the woman she shared Christmas Eve with. Emma tried to remember every detail. The way her lips curled when she smiled, or how soft her skin was when the tips of her fingers traced every curve. All she really wanted was to remain in that moment for the rest of her life. It was breathtaking.
Sometimes late at night when she was alone at the bar hanging out with Ruby she'd think back to Regina. Emma knew where she lived and thought about surprising her. Seeing what it would be like to be with someone scared Emma though. She knew these last few months were crucial to not mess up and her fear was that she would. Nothing in her life ever went as she wanted, or deserved. Ignoring her feelings, she decided to never go to the mysterious woman's home. She instead cherished the memories she had of that night.
The bells rang pulling Emma back to reality. She noticed all of her classmates leaving the room. Grabbing her book bag, she quickly made her way to her next class upstairs where she navigated her way through the sea of freshman. You could always distinguish the lower and upperclassmen. Freshman were always so eager and happy to be in high school. They really felt cool.
Walking into a full class, Emma realized the only desk left was the one front and center. It was known as the teacher's pet desk. The students who sat there always rose their hands and answered every question.
That was not Emma Swan.
She may be an A student, but she liked maintaining her A average by sitting in the far back corner in the depths of the classroom.
She opened her textbook to page 214 as indicated on the board and began scanning the page. Just like her calculus class, whoever this teacher was, it was clear they were doing more than just syllabus stuff for the first day. In comparison to her last class, Emma wouldn't be able to daydream about the woman who consumed her dreams. World History wasn't something that came easy to Emma. Math has less to do with memorization as history does. Sitting back, Emma tried focus her mind, and started to read the boring paragraphs.
A woman dressed in a royal blue, snug fit, dress began writing on the board her name in cursive, Ms. Mills. The teacher was petite and wore heels that made her legs look like they went on for days. Emma was certainly captivated by the woman and carefully watched all of her movements. She watched as the teacher put the chalk down, brushed her hands off, and turned to address the class.
Emma's breath caught in the back of her throat. Her head felt a sudden rush of dizziness. It was like a fog horn went off in her head causing her ears to ring. Sudden dread washed over her face as Emma realized who her teacher was, her one night stand.
Under her breath, she raspily whispered, Regina, before she stood up from her desk, wobbling at the knees.
The teacher stood still with a shocked expression painted on her face as she watched a familiar face flee from the room.
There was no way this was happening. Heart pounding, chest heaving, skin sweating, it was clear Emma was having a panic attack.
She stormed into the nurse's office, holding her head, "I think I'm going to faint." She cringed as she leaned against the door trying to remain upright.
The school nurse, Mr. Whale, turned from his computer to see Emma hunched over. Standing quickly, the nurse sat the distressed student down, and checked her breathing.
"What's your name?" The nurse asked first.
"Emma, Emma Swan." She managed to say.
"Okay Emma, can you tell me what's wrong?" Mr. Whale pulled his stool closer to the blonde whose face had long turned the palest form of white.
"I don't really know what happened." Emma began saying. Her hands were shaking and her nerves were long shot. She knew she was lying. She knew exactly what happened.
"My heart is racing in my chest, my head feels like a fishbowl, and my knees feel weak." Tears escaped her eyes as she tried to hold herself together. Her emotions were uncontrollable. She hated that. She felt helpless and just wanted everything to stop.
"I think you are having a mild anxiety attack. Has this happened before?" The blonde man asked.
"Nope." Emma looked away, trying to hide her lie. The shock of seeing Regina again triggered her anxiety. While it hadn't happened in a long time, it wasn't exactly the first time either.
"The first day of school can be stressful. Why don't you lay down and rest. Who is your teacher? I need to call and let them know you aren't returning to class today."
"Ms. Mills." Emma said with a sour taste in her mouth. Not because she wasn't happy to see her, but because the woman she dreamed about was now her teacher. She no longer was the mysterious woman who she spent Christmas Eve in the sheets with. The person who she saw as her only gift on Christmas was now something she could never have. It was the world's way of torturing her. She rather Regina never exist in her life again and allow the cherished memory of her to live in her mind forever. Having her as a teacher ruined how special that memory was to Emma. It changed everything.
"Alright, go ahead and sit back and relax. I do need to contact your parents as well."
"I think I'll be okay Mr. Whale." Emma said. "Besides, I don't have parents. I have a foster mother." Emma stated.
"Regardless, if you are feeling better, I need to contact your foster mother. It's the school policy."
"Can you at least wait till after school? I don't want to be here and have to overhear the conversation." Emma asked, hopeful the nurse would agree. Her foster mother made it clear that she never wanted to be bothered by Emma and that included teachers, school nurses, or friends.
"Sure. Now why don't you lay down. I will let you know when you need to go get you things from Ms. Mills' classroom."
Emma internally cursed herself. She completely forgot about her things that were obviously left behind when she ran out. Now an even more awkward situation could potentially arise.
A painful thirty minutes passed. Each tick of the clock drove Emma's nerves to the edge. How was she going to explain herself to the other woman? his wasn't helping her relax. In fact, it was the exact opposite. How could she relax in a moment like this? She might as well be Mary, Queen of Scots waiting to lose her head.
That thought alone made Emma's neck throb with a mysterious sympathy pain. Reaching her hands to her neck she cringed to think that actually used to be a thing, being beheaded.
Whatever was about to happen, she knew it wasn't going to be good. What would Regina do when she saw her again? Would she be mad that she left her that night? It was a huge possibility. Would she be angry that Emma was still in school? Probably the most likely scenario. So many different thoughts raged like hurricane waters through Emma's mind. She could feel her entire body reacting and all she wanted was to disappear into the white walls of the school nurse's office. Her face practically matched them already.
The clock ticked closer and closer to three and Emma nervously bit at her nails. She knew she would have to face her fear of seeing Regina again.
When the arms of the clock hit three, Emma took no time in making her way to collect her things. She was slightly hopeful that her World History teacher had bus duty and wouldn't be in her room.
Emma poked her head in and there was no one to be found. She hastily walked to where she last sat, grabbed her book off her desk, the handouts, and her backpack and made her way to the the exit of the room, only to be confronted by none other than Regina.
"Emma?" Regina asked in a surprised tone.
Emma brushed passed the woman making her way to the front of the high school to meet her foster sister, Lily. Her heart was racing as she tried to reason in her mind how she was going to handle everything. Never in a million years did Emma think that this would happen. It was uncomfortable to say the least and shocking that the woman remembered her too. Emma thought she was forgettable. For all her life she was. Now was not the time for things to change.
By the time the pair got home, Emma's foster mother, , was waiting at the kitchen table.
"Emma, I heard there was an incident at school today. The school nurse contacted me, as well as your teacher, who was very concerned. She said you missed the entire period and are already behind. She wants you to stay after class tomorrow for tutoring. Do you realize how bad this makes me look? If you mess up again, who knows if they'll take you away and you'll be shipped off to another house. Do you want that, Emma? " Ms. Tremaine said with clear distaste in her mouth. Her words felt like venom being rubbed in already sore wounds.
"I can't afford to lose another foster child. I could care less where you are during the day with that friend of yours so long as your chores are done and I'm not bothered by school nurses and teachers."
"It won't happen again. I'm considering changing out of the class anyways. I promise I won't cause any more trouble for you." Emma reasoned.
"You have chores that you should have already started. I expect them done in the next hour. I swear nothing around here gets done as well since Ella left." The cold woman complained.
"I understand." Emma said. "After my chores, I was going to go to the bar to see Ruby, if that's okay?"
"I don't care." Ms. Tremaine stood and exited the kitchen. Emma knew the older woman didn't care. In fact, Emma could have left the house to see Ruby without permission. The lady wouldn't have noticed she was gone. She was the epitome of a wallflower in this house. Emma could be dead in the streets for a week and wouldn't notice. All she would notice was the chores not being done. She was just a chunk of change in the woman's pocket, nothing more, nothing less.
"Ruby, you'll never believe my day!" Emma frantically shouted to her friend as she snagged a seat at the bar.
"No shit, I have a story for you too that you'll never believe. I have to go first!" Ruby begged.
"No, I swear you'll never believe my story. It's insane." Emma argued.
"No, no, no. I think your eyes will bug out of your head when I tell you what happened." Ruby insisted.
"Rubes. Shut up and listen to me because seriously I wish I was legal enough to drink several cold beers." Emma tried.
"Okay then let me guess, it involved Regina?" Ruby asked.
"How did you know?" Emma shockingly asked.
"Well, she stopped by about an hour ago and asked if I'd seen you today and when you'll be here. She sat at the bar for about thirty minutes and then left. She tipped really well." Ruby enthusiastically commented.
"SHIT." Emma yelped. "Rubes, she's my World History teacher, I'm so fucked." Emma slumped her head down on the bar and covered her face. "Like, legit, I have no idea how to handle this." Emma complained.
"What happened when she saw you in class?" Ruby questioned.
"Well I don't really know since I ran out when I saw her face. I jumped right out of my seat and next thing I knew I was in the school nurse's office. At the end of the day, I went to retrieve my backpack, and she wasn't in the classroom, so I grabbed my bag and on the way out she was at the door. She said my name, Ruby, and I didn't know how to respond. I ran, I just ran and I didn't look back. When I got home my foster mom told me that my teacher called and was concerned because I missed the lesson today and should stay after school tomorrow to catch up on what I missed."
"Well shit, I wish I was you. Hot, steamy romance." Ruby winked.
"NO RUBY! You can't be serious. I don't even know what to say to her." Emma dramatically threw her hands in the air.
"Emma, just relax. Go to class tomorrow and stay after school as she requested and see what she wants. It can't hurt. Besides, when she was in here earlier, it really seemed like she wanted to make sure you were okay. She was visibly upset and wanted to wait around to see you."
"I'm so conflicted. Every cell in my body was attracted to that woman last month. All I wanted on Christmas Eve was to be with her, and it happened. Ever since that night I have dreamed about her. Missed her even. Now she's here in the flesh and I keep cowardly running from her. I don't know how to handle this. She's my teacher and I'm her student."
"Yes, but Emma, you're nineteen. You met her before she was a teacher and neither of you knew."
"I don't know, she probably doesn't even want to be with me. Remember, it was just a one night stand."
"You were the one that woke up at five in the morning and walked out on her. Don't jump to conclusions, you never know what would have happened had you stayed long enough to talk to her, or exchange numbers."
Ruby set a glass of cider on the counter. "Drink up and I'll take you home after my shift ends. Don't overthink this just yet."
That night Emma sat at the bar nursing a non-alcoholic beverage. She didn't want to face the teacher again. She knew it wouldn't end well. The only solution she could figure out was to change classes. She could use an easy class in her schedule. It was already packed full of AP courses and her GPA was already the best in her grade.
Emma finally felt comfortable. Changing her schedule was the only option. Her nerves finally felt some sort of ease and the gears in her head stopped overworking to analyze the situation. After tomorrow, everything will be fixed and everything would revert back to normal as if nothing happened.
Except, that wasn't the case.