A/N: I would like to thank you for all of the wonderful reviews! I really appreciate it!

Fist off, I would like to address a few reviews that I have read about the art projects and how odd they might be. Yeah, I hadn't really thought about that at first. But after a couple pointed it out, I realized that it was weird that she would do do that and it would raise suspicion from the art teacher. SOOO, I have addressed this problem in one of the upcoming chapters (I believe it'll be the next one) so it doesn't seem so creepy-like. As for the portrait and the whole "that's a teacher" from her art teacher, eh, I'm using the excuse that Ms. Boyd doesn't exactly know who Ms. Mills is. She's new after all and it's not uncommon.

On that note, here's another chapter for you! I do hope you enjoy and please, tell me what you think!

The upcoming weekend was agonizing. For the first time in years, Emma Swan just wanted to get back to school. That goddamn brunette teacher was in her thoughts for the majority of the weekend and she couldn't wait to see that woman's smiling face in person instead of just staring at her cell phone for hours on end.

David had caught her staring at the small screen for an hour straight as they were sitting down to watch one of their favorite television programs on Friday night. Of course, Emma figured he would confront her once again about texting and staring at that screen for too long, and that she usually left that damn device in her bedroom during this time. She feared for a few minutes as he loomed over her, the cell screen now black. Oh god, she hoped he wouldn't take her phone. Because, fuck, she had Ms. Mills' picture on there. And there was no way to exit away from it. It was inevitable.

Belle would be laughing her ass off right now, she was sure, because Emma couldn't last more than five minutes after returning home to change her background screen. Sure, it was creepy and a bit stalkerish, but she just couldn't help it. That woman was so dazzling and perfect, and it just made her phone so priceless. Anyways, it was only for the weekend so she didn't have to keep entering her pictures to try to find just this one.

And now David had her phone in his hand, but not once pressing the button to wake it up. Emma was silently screaming profanity in her head, hoping to whatever higher being that he won't try to snoop through her phone. Because as soon as he would turn it on, he would see the screen. And the screen was nothing but the smiling face of her creative writing teacher with those large, brown eyes, and those perfect, plump red lips. He would either ask who the hell that was or know immediately if he had become acquainted with her. This was a smaller town, after all. Mostly everyone knew each other. Mostly. So there would still be a slim chance he didn't know who that was, but goddamn, he would probably still wonder why the hell his teenage daughter had a picture of a middle-aged woman as her background.

He'd probably have a brain aneurysm over the fact and collapse on the floor in a twitching mess. Let's just hope he never dared to snoop through the device.

But he didn't. He just held it in his hand and gave her a stern look- or at least tried to. He never really mastered that yet.

"Emma, what have I told you about spending too much time on your phone? You could go blind from looking at this thing." he threatened, shaking Emma's phone in the air.

The blonde just watched his hand, glued to the black smartphone in it. "Sorry…" she mumbled. "Graham was texting and I haven't heard from him in a while. He'll be coming down in a couple months as soon as he buys that car."

And that wasn't entirely a lie. Because, yeah, she had been texting Graham, but that was an hour ago, and yes, he would be coming down in a couple of months. And then, as if to support her explanation, the phone buzzed.

"See?"

"Well," he sighed and gave in, handing the phone back to his daughter. "Just don't stay on it for too long. Mary Margaret will be back soon with dinner and you know how she doesn't like technology at the table."

"I know." Emma sighed, swiping her finger over the screen to check the message.

"I'm going to the bathroom." He announced, leaning down to press a kiss to the top of her head.

And that just made Emma look at him, her nose scrunched in distaste. "Thanks for the knowledge…"

David chuckled and waltzed towards the only other door in the apartment, leaving Emma alone to her phone once again. She finally took the time to see the message that Graham had sent her and nearly lost her shit.

Fucking Belle.

This was going to be a long, long weekend.

"So, I talked to Belle. She seemed to have this little idea that you have the hots for the English teacher? ;)"

By the time that Monday had finally rolled around, Emma could cry. She was dressed and groomed in record time that morning. Mary Margaret was surprised when she saw Emma climbing down the stairs a whole twenty minutes before she usually would.

"Emma! You're up early." The brunette smiled and set her mug down. "Would you like me to make you breakfast?"

"You don't have to," Emma shrugged, not missing the sad look in her foster-mother's eyes. She slumped her shoulders and took her seat at the counter. "Okay."

"Great! Does pancakes sound good?" she didn't give the blonde enough time to answer before she grabbed a frying pan from its spot and a box of pancake mix. "What's got you up so early?"

Emma watched the short-haired brunette bounce around the kitchen happily and it just made her heart expand in her chest. She never had a foster parent that wanted to cook breakfast for her, and so adamantly as well. Part of Emma felt that she didn't give enough appreciation to Mary Margaret. She felt she needed to show her more, though, to show how much she really did appreciate all of what the brunette did for her.

"No reason, really. I was gonna go pick up lunch from Ruby again." Emma smiled when her mother looked over to her.

Then she asked, "Don't you usually go later, though?"

"Yeah. I guess I…" Emma shrugged. She didn't want to tell the woman that she was just so excited to get the day started just to see Ms. Mills again. "I wanted breakfast, today. I know I haven't really been the best daughter, but I appreciate what you do for me." she said, and it was true, she genuinely meant those words.

The smile that it earned melted Emma's heart. She was glad she could make someone feel happy like that, and it was worth it for all that said person had done to make she, herself, happy. "Don't say that! You are a good daughter. You're just a teenager and I know they tend to forget to thank their parents."

"Yeah," she chuckled and licked her lips as the freshly made plate of pancakes had gotten sat in front of her. "Thanks, Mary Margaret." And with that, she shoved a forkful of the food into her mouth.

"You're welcome, Emma!" Mary Margaret smiled widely and moved forward to kiss her forehead. "I got to get to the school early to help a few students with their science projects." The brunette woman explained as she donned her coat and grabbed the purse hanging on the hook next to it.

Emma watched her and nodded, smiling slightly. "Oh, okay. Have a good day at work."

"I will, thank you. Enjoy your breakfast and had a good day at school. Love you!" She shouted, rushing out the door she managed to open.

"Love you, too!" Emma called out after her, and god, did it feel awkward. She never really said those words to someone else, especially not without feeling something for them. But it was so different and sort of natural with the Nolans. They were genuinely loving and caring towards her and she couldn't help but to develope feelings for her new parents. She was lucky, she concluded.

With a warm and fuzzy feeling, Emma quickly finished up her breakfast and departed from the loft as well. It had cooled down incredibly outside, leaving a gentle nip in the morning air. Emma hugged herself, pressing the hoodie's warm material closer against herself. At least it wasn't sweltering anymore, which had sucked trying to walk to school while swimming in sweat.

After coming to the agreement with Ms. Mills about eating lunch from then on in her room during fifth period, she had told Ruby to make her lunches everyday without a call beforehand. The brunette had asked if she would be crazy enough to have grilled cheese everyday, because, yeah, that could get tiring and too much would make her sick of the meal. So the waitress now had decided she would surprise Emma with a different lunch everyday.

Emma had pestered her friend into telling her what she planned on making, but Ruby was reluctant to tell and said it would be a surprise. She also took it upon herself to leave more notes at the bottom of the bag, or so she said she would do that. And, fuck, what the hell was she doing?

The blonde stopped by the diner, not at all surprised to see that Ruby wasn't outside yet. Pulling out her phone from the kangaroo pocket, she checked the time, then quickly scrolled through to message her friend.

Here.

There was an immediate response, resulting in an eyeroll from Emma.

Someone excited to see her girlfriend this morning?

Despite her little breakdown at Granny's on Thursday, her two friends had still taken the liberty to tease her about the crush she had. She eventually grew on the teasing and merely rolled her eyes every time they deemed it necessary to taunt and tease.
And, fuck, when they discovered that her background was now that picture, she could have sworn that Belle was going to hyperventilate. That reaction caused Emma to quickly return the background of her phone to its former black swan with a scowl on her face. Damn her friends.

"Here," the blonde jumped from her thoughts upon seeing Ruby in front of her with a brown paper bag extended in her hand. "Don't peek until lunch, 'kay? It's a surprise."

Then she winked and god only knows what she had planned.

"I won't." The blonde rolled her eyes. "Thanks again, Rubes, I appreciate it."

"Of course! You know I'd do anything for you, Em." Ruby gave her a wolfish grin before wrapping her lanky arms around Emma, pulling away seconds later. "Have a good day and don't get caught." she winked once again before turning to head back into the diner.

Emma just rolled her eyes as she stuffed the lunch bag into her backpack, then turned to lightly jog off towards the school.

"God, Emma, what is that smell?" Killian wrinkled his nose when Emma had opened her backpack for the first time in first period. She snorted and shrugged in response, pulling the notebook out that they needed for the questions on the board.

"Lunch," she simply stated, inhaling the scent that permeated from the bag. It was spicy and made her tastebuds water. What the hell did Ruby make?

That only made him quirk a brow. "Lunch? Are you eating peppers or something?"

"I don't know. Ruby made it." Emma shooed away the prodding finger. "She told me not to look at it."

"Why not?" He pouted. "And since when did Ruby make you lunch?"

She growled. "Stop being so goddamn nosey and let me do the assignment. I hate homework."

"Fine. But remember that our gym classes are merging together today for those fitness test things." Emma just wanted to wipe that smug look off his face with a dirty gym sock. Of course he would be so happy that, that would happen so he could bug her for another hour. If three hours in the same room with him weren't enough.

She looked up and narrowed her eyes. "Make it a habit to stay away from me."

"No promises," he bit.

"Emma! Killian! No talking during work time." Mr. Booth's voice shouted from across the room where he sat at his desk.
The blonde shot the boy next to her a glare before hastily answering the questions. She normally tended to get any assignments done in class unless the teachers had made it a habit to hand it out five or less minutes before the bell. She absolutely hated those types of teachers and appreciated ones like Mr. Booth who would give them class work time, even if it were just ten minutes.

After first period had ended, Emma had headed off to Algebra, of course with Killian trailing behind her. Why he had to take the same classes as the blonde, she never knew. It was annoying sometimes, but she did enjoy having someone to talk to during class, even if he were just a pig half the time.

Usually in Mr. Spencer's class she got an hour away from him, which she would normally not mind, but she had to sit next to one of the more genial girls who ended up talking non-stop to her friend that sat next to her. And, god, did she wish Killian was next to her instead. At least she'd get some peace. Thank whatever higher being that they had a test today. She won't be going deaf in her right ear.

After taking the test in second period and spending the last ten minutes trying to find a way to muffle the shrill voice next to her, Emma nearly sprint to gym class. And, boy, by the time she was in the gym with the other students and Killian, she wanted it to be fourth period.
It felt odd, but she already missed hearing Ms. Mills' deep voice. It was nice. It was the only one that she never tuned out. Fuck, she had it in deep and it had only been about two months that she had knowledge of that flawless woman's existence.

"Where are you at?" A male voice spoke beside Emma, causing her to slightly jump and glare at the disturbance.
"The fuck, dude?"

"Jim called your name like thrice now." Killian smirked, prodding Emma's shoulder. "You're making this gaga face at the wall and we started to get scared."

"Shut up." Was all Emma said before marching off to where her gym teacher stood.

Forty minutes later, Emma was on her way to paradise. She walked through the halls with a smile on her face, not giving a single fuck if someone were to notice. Nothing could ruin her elated mood because she was less than two minutes away from seeing her favorite teacher and her stomach was doing little, pleasant flips.

And, oh boy, she was there before she knew it. When she looked around, she noticed that very few people were in the classroom. She wondered how many people decided to finally drop. But upon further inspection of the clock, she discovered it to be way before the time she would normally come in here. How the hell did she make it to the class so fast?

Emma shrugged that away and took her seat at the back of the classroom. Ms. Mills wasn't there. Where was she? Her coat was there. And so was the little paper cup she usually had on the corner of her desk.

Good, she's here today.

One minute before the bell and the teacher still wasn't here. Where the hell was she? Now Emma's eyes were glued to the door, her stomach jumping every time the door opened, only to fall when it was just another one of her classmates. And, fuck, she was going to get sick if her stomach kept moving like one of those rides at an amusement park.

The bell then rang and, still, Ms. Mills was not to be found. Emma frowned and slumped in her seat, quietly watching the door as the other students took advantage of the lack of their superior and talked.

Then the door opened and in came… fuck.

Oh fuck.

In stepped the principle, Mr. Gold.

And, fuck, what the hell happened to Ms. Mills? Her things were here. But she wasn't. And the principal was here.

Oh God, something bad happened.

Mr. Gold limped over to the podium, a slight smirk on his face as the students immediately quieted upon his presence. He cleared his throat and widened his smile. She waited for the inevitable, but her frazzled nerves were wasted for nothing as he replied away her fears.

"Ms. Mills will not be here for this period. She is currently in a meeting. But do not fear," his voice just sounded so devious and she wondered why they let such a crocodile of a man become the principal of the school. He was all kinds of evil and Emma felt all kinds of bad juju when she was around him.

"I am going to take her place for the hour. She has a study guide for you, so I do suggest you take out a writing utensil. Shall we get started?"

Then it hit her, as the man passed out a paper for today's notes, that Ms. Mills might not make it to lunch.
Damn.

But the meeting really shouldn't last that long. She could always stay in here despite her absence and wait until she did show up.

That worked.

She would do that, Emma thought as she filled in the space below each question. The blonde allowed her thoughts to veer away from her teacher so she could quickly complete the study guide. Hopefully that would take her to the end of the period. She didn't like sitting too long in a room with Mr. Gold in it. That man just creeped her the hell out.

And it did take the entire period, finishing up all twenty questions. Why the hell Ms. Mills found it funny to force her students to answer such questions with full sentences was beyond her. And there were so many, too.

Emma looked up from her spot to the clock, one minute before the bell rang. Her eyes skated around the room to find that everyone else was either still working on the sheet or packed up and ready to go. Then her eyes landed on Mr. Gold sitting in Ms. Mills' desk, one of her pens between his fingers as he tapped it against the hard surface.
She shuddered and shoved the study guide into her backpack which, upon opening it, allowed the aroma of her lunch hit her, causing her stomach growl. Oh, was she hungry and that smelled so good. She was seconds away from finding out what the hell Ruby had packed for her after the bell had finally rung.

Emma stayed in her spot like she usually did as every other student filed out of the room so they could attend lunch. She reached down as the last student left to pull out the paper bag when she noticed that Mr. Gold was still there. And he was standing beside her with a quirked eyebrow.

"Isn't it time to go, Ms. Nolan?" He asked, arms crossing over his chest.

"I have to ask Ms. Mills a question." Emma easily lied, her large, green eyes on the principal's face.

Mr. Gold nodded with a sound that barely acknowledged what she said. Then, "She'll be a while. I recommend that you ask her in class tomorrow." And he continued to stare at her until she got up, sighing in defeat, and trudged to the door. There was no sense in arguing with this man.

"Have a good day, Ms. Nolan." he called out as he followed behind her.

Emma had stopped in the middle of the English hallway, her eyes on the man as he limped towards the opposite direction, no doubt to his office. He locked the door so the blonde was forced to sit outside, her back against the door.

Goddamn that man. Now she had to get a sore ass from this hard ground as she waited.

And waited.

It felt like it had been hours, when in reality, it had really only been about twenty minutes. Ms. Mills had finally shown up, her pumps clicking on the ground as she walked towards the classroom. Then she stopped in front of Emma, and oh god, those legs were so long and deliciously tan.

Don't stare. Don't stare. Don't stare.

She kept repeating in her mind, trying to pry her eyes away from the skin that hadn't been covered by that skirt of hers. Green doe eyes met surprised brown, and she smiled so sheepishly she must have looked like a damned schoolgirl.

Oh, wait.

"You waited for me?" Ms. Mills finally asked, her voice slightly scratchy.

Emma nodded and hoisted herself from the ground so she could move out of the way. "Yeah. Mr. Gold told me to leave and he locked the door."

Once the door was open, she followed the brunette inside, her backpack slung over one shoulder. She instinctively went to her usual desk and moved the chair to sit next to Ms. Mills' as soon as she sat. Then she took her own seat, finally removing the paper bag from her pack.

"You didn't tell him, did you?" There was a hint of worry in that sexy voice of hers and that made Emma's heart drop.

"No, of course not." she shook her head. "I figured you wouldn't want me to, so I just said I needed to ask you a question."

"Thank you." Relief flooded over the teacher's visage. "I don't think he'd really allow us to eat lunch together. He would probably suspect something far more inappropriate and we can't have that."

"I understand." Emma nodded, and she did. If Mr. Gold really did suspect something that was far more mature than a simple lunch, Ms. Mills could ultimately lose her job. It was risky as it was just eating lunch with her in the classroom, but the brunette never seemed to mind. Emma knew that she enjoyed her company and she certainly hoped that this would continue.

"Good." Ms. Mills smiled and it made Emma's heart flutter. "Did you bring lunch?"

"Yeah! Ruby made something different. I don't even know what it is…" she stated, opening the bag with a dubious smile.

"It smells divine." Regina commented, inhaling deeply, and oh god that just made her chest strain against the tight jacket that she wore.

Emma took all her might to peel her eyes away from the bits of exposed cleavage and brought out a white, styrofoam container. Then followed another. The blonde quickly opened the top one to reveal…

"Lasagna?" Emma breathed incredulously. "What the hell, Rubes?"

Ms. Mills chuckled. "Well, she certainly outdone herself this time."

Emma scowled slightly at the container before peering into the bag, her eyes immediately finding the infamous note.

Your girlfriend loves lasagna. Give her the labeled one. Trust me. ;)

Moving the top takeout box to take a look at the bottom one, she hoped to find whatever the label was. And there it was, no doubt, a big heart on the top of it.

"Fuck you, Ruby." She thoughtlessly crumbled the bag up and tossed it into the garbage bin next to the teacher's desk. The actions caused Ms. Mills' brows to raise.

"Sorry," she sheepishly said, pushing the labelled container over to Ms. Mills who, yet again, raised her brows.

"She said to give you this one. I don't know…"

And then she opened it. There was another piece of lasagna in there, and it looked exactly the same as Emma's. What the hell, Ruby?

Then a fork was taken to the square as Ms. Mills began to dig in. The slight groan of surprise that slipped from her lips was panty-wetting. Oh, god, that did funny things to Emma.

"What is it?" she quickly asked, trying to ignore the blush that would no doubt be noticeable to the English teacher.

Regina grinned and showed her the lasagna square. "It has pepper flakes in it. That's just how I like it. She must have remembered."

"Did she now?" Emma grit as she stabbed her own piece a little too violently. She wished she had knew that Ms. Mills liked lasagna. She wished she knew she liked spicy things. That damn salad never told her anything. Stupid salads.

Then she spoke, and all bad thoughts about mauling Ruby dissipated, "How was your day, Emma?"

"It was quite boring. And annoying. Killian was being his usual perverted self again during gym." she muttered, and yeah, he was. He kept asking Emma how it was being in a locker room with all of those girls getting undressed around her. Emma said it was hard, and she hadn't really meant to, which had made Killian laugh unexpectedly and drag the attention of every classmate to the two. Oh, god, that was so embarrassing. At least she didn't have to come out to him anymore, and hopefully, he would stop trailing around like a puppy after her. That was if he actually took her seriously. The way that he laughed and just brushed it off didn't really tell Emma much.

"Killian Jones?" Ms. Mills asked softly, her head tilted.

Emma nodded, but then froze. Oh yeah. Killian was the one that had touched her ass, or so he said. And her world just came crashing down around her.

"I'm sorry for what he did to you." she blurted.

That earned an eyebrow raise.

"He told me he touched your butt or something and you sent him to detention."

"Oh." Then she was laughing. "He never did that, but he tells everyone he did. He actually touched a boat, but he was mocking the word from that Disney film. I do suppose it would be like him to go around gloating that he touched 'the' butt."

"Oh." Fuck. Emma had totally misinterpreted what he had said. But then he just readily agreed that he had sexually harassed her. "Goddamn him. That stupid liar. He shouldn't be staring at your ass. No one should be."

And that happened.

Those words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. Because that was the second half of the little argument she had with him. He virtually said he had stared at her ass and that just angered Emma to no end.

"I…" And Ms. Mills was left speechless, because she didn't know how to respond to that.

"Sorry. I-I mean… He was saying that and… I think he misinterpreted what I had said previously and… Jesus. Shut me up." Emma slunk her head onto the desk. "I need music."

"M-Music?" Ms. Mills had finally been able to sputter, even though she wanted to ask more questions about the previous topic. Clearly Emma was too embarrassed to further that and she nodded.

"Mind if I play some while we eat?" she asked politely, pulling her phone out and setting it on the desk. Ms. Mills shook her head, in which Emma immediately woke her phone up to go to the music player. Boy, was she glad that she had changed her background back to the swan or she would be so fucked right now.

"Do you like Marilyn Manson?" Emma asked, scrolling through the media list, she had paused on a title.

"I don't believe I know who that is." The teacher shook her head as the blonde pressed play on the song.

"You shall soon know, Ms. Mills." Emma smirked and leaned back in her chair, consuming the cold lasagna.

Rock Is Dead played through the otherwise quiet room now, the volume rather low. And Ms. Mills just stared at the cellular device.

"Do you not like it?"

"Oh, no. I've just… It's nice." she finally said, a tight smile on her lips. "I need it after that meeting."

"What was that about, anyways? If you don't mind my asking..." The blonde asked curiously, hoping that it wouldn't be considered too snoopy. "I mean, it was random to have during a class period."

"Oh. That. Well, they were discussing how my classes are, since I have an entire dropped creative writing class. They decided to transfer Mr. Booth's original planning period's class over to me, which would be the class before yours. Also, they're trying to get me to be 'less intimidating.'"

"Less intimidating?" Emma snorted. "You're not intimidating at all."

That caused Ms. Mills to blink. "You don't think so?"

"No, of course not! They're just scared that they won't pass your class because of the rumors. I mean, I've got an A in this class, so I don't know what they're worried about." she shrugged. "Mr. Booth has some pretty smart students, usually."

She smiled. It was a soft, tentative one, but she smiled.

"I'll just have to ease up a bit on my grading scale, I suppose…" Ms. Mills sighed. "I've been doing this for over ten years and just now they decide to change my methods. It'll be difficult."

Emma smiled. "You'll do great. I'll give you free advertising if you want. Tell 'em that you're a pretty cool teacher, but everyone else's 'bad' grades were getting in the way."

"You'd do that?"

"Mhm!" Emma nodded. "I wish I could have you as a teacher next semester, too. I mean, this sucks… only one semester. Your's is the only class that I don't fall asleep in."

"How flattering." Regina smiled and chuckled. "I am certainly glad that you think so."

The blonde shrugged and grinned in return. "And you're the only one that I find inviting enough to eat lunch with. I don't know why everyone finds you so intimidating. Look at Mr. Spencer. Now he's intimidating."

"Now, that's my colleague." The brunette chuckled anyways.

"Sorry," Emma laughed as well. She had to learn to use a filter around Ms. Mills. She kept forgetting that she was talking to her teacher and not just some friend. It was so weird, but she also suspected that Regina had felt the same while talking to her. Sometimes it was just so easy to open up to a person.

With a soft and content sigh, she leaned back against her chair once again. Then the inevitable came. The bell rang.

"Shit- aki mushrooms." Emma popped out of her seat, quickly gathering the trash, only to be stopped by an olive hand.
"I'll get it. You go. I know how far your government class is." Then she flashed this reassuring smile that had Emma quickly shove her phone into her pocket and grab her bag so she could leave.

"Thanks." she mewled, speed-walking towards the door.

"Have a good day, Emma, and thank you for lunch." She heard a husky voice call out after her. All the blonde could do was reply with "mhm" which had left her unsure whether or not the teacher had heard it.

Emma reached the government classroom just in time to hear the announcement about a test. And, fuck, she didn't know that they had a test. She had forgotten over the weekend and her impatience to see Ms. Mills again. That means she'd just have to wing it and probably get a low grade. Dammit, perhaps she should start paying attention in class.

It wasn't until art class, about an hour later, that Belle spoke to Emma. Or, should she say, ask her that question.

"How was the lasagna?"

"You knew?" Emma narrowed her eyes at the brunette next to her, a scowl on her face. Because, of course she would know. It seems that she'd been hanging out with Ruby more often than not anymore.

The usually quiet girl nodded in response to the question, her eyes focused on a the papers in front of her.

"So, how was it?" she repeated.

"Good-"

"Did Ms. Mills like her special slice?" And there was a knowing twinkle in her eyes.

Fuck.

"Why did you two do that?"

"What?"

"The special piece and the heart and shit?"

"Because we know you nearly choked the last time you tried the spicy kind and every time Ms. Mills comes into the diner, she orders that." Belle shrugged as if it were simple.

"But why the heart?"

She didn't answer that question and Emma just knew why. Goddamn them two.

"I thought I told you to not play matchmaker?"

"We aren't. It was just a label."

"It was a heart."

"So? Did she say anything?"

"No. But that does-"

"Then you're fine. Leave it alone."
"You two are so fucking annoying." Emma rolled her eyes, but allowed a playful smile on her lips.

"We know." Belle chuckled. "Did she like it?"

"Yeah. You know what she did?"

"What?"

Just thinking about that noise that Ms. Mills had made upon tasting the lasagna caused her to blush. She would never forget it. She suddenly chickened out and shook her head, deciding not to tell Belle of it. "Nothing. Never mind..."

"Oh, come on!"

"Just… never mind. Leave it alone."

"My God, Em, you're blushing!"
"Shhhh!" Emma shrunk against her chair and poked at the paper with an ebony pencil.

"Sorry." But she really wasn't.

"Whatever." Emma rolled her eyes, staring at the paper in front of her. "I thought we were drawing faces. What the fuck is this shit?" She pointed to the paper between her and Belle that had a picture of a boy sitting in a chair on it.

"We're doing scaling and proportions. It's supposed to help with the project." Belle shrugged and held up a piece of paper. "Hadn't you been paying attention?"
"Well, yes… No?"
"Thought so." Belle chuckled. "Now, shut up. We need to get this done. You're already behind."

"Yeah, yeah…" Emma sighed grudgingly and began to do the assignment.