So since I'm running out of ideas and I need the new part of the season to come out for new material, I decided to do a college AU. Enjoy :)

Emma sighed in relief as she set down the last box. Most other people had parents and siblings to help them, but Emma was all alone. She didn't remember her parents much, only the fact that they had given her up as a baby and she had been passed from foster home to foster home.

All of that time had led her to push people away, and she wasn't a very friendly person. All throughout school, kids had run away whenever she came close. Her poor roommate.

Emma's thoughts were interrupted as the door to the room opened and another girl stepped in. She too was alone, and carrying a huge box that looked way too heavy for someone wearing heels. Because Emma did notice with a start that this girl was wearing heels.

The girl set down the box on her bed with a grunt and smiled sheepishly at Emma. "I probably could have gotten someone stronger to help me with that."

Emma just looked at her for a few moments before turning away and beginning to unpack her boxes.

The girl brushed her hands on her skirt uncomfortably before walking over and standing next to Emma. "Your name's Emma, right? I'm Regina."

"Nice to meet you," Emma said, not looking away from her unpacking. Regina waited several more moments before sighing and going back to her bed and opening her own box.

"You know, we're going to be living together for this whole year," Regina said after several beats of silence. "You might as well get used to me and actually be nice."

"Trust me," Emma said. "You would know if I wasn't being nice."

The next few weeks passed without any interaction between Emma and Regina whatsoever. Emma was majoring in criminology and was always busy with her classes and visiting the closest bar with her fake ID. Regina, on the other hand, was busy with her political science major and helping with theatre productions.

They were opposite people, and it showed whenever anyone saw them together. People could tell that Emma had a dark past, and fled whenever she came near. Regina, however, attracted people wherever she went. Not that she minded. She had the grace and poise befitting of a queen.

And then one day, it was as if Regina snapped. She wanted her roommate to be her friend, not someone who only used their room as a place to get away from the real world or to come home drunk to.

Emma was lying on her bed, flipping lazily through one of her textbooks. She was supposed to be studying for a test tomorrow, but didn't really feel like it.

Regina glanced over and noticed this, and closed her own book with a loud noise. Emma jumped and glared at her, not appreciating it.

"Why do you hate me?" Regina asked. "I haven't done anything to you and yet you act as if I trashed our room before you even got here. Why are you so mean?"

Emma shrugged. "I've been through a lot."

"You think you're the only one who has?" Regina asked. "I don't know what you've been through, but I've been through things too. Don't act like you're the only one who's faced the cruelty of the world, because you're not. So grow up and start acting like a normal human being."

Emma looked at Regina in shock. She had never raised her voice before; even when Emma came home wasted and threw up all over the floor.

Before Emma could say anything, Regina mumbled something about getting a snack and left the room. Even when she was mad, she still managed to close the door lightly.

Emma groaned before getting off of her bed. She supposed that she had been awful to Regina since they had moved in together. Maybe Regina was right. Maybe it was time that she stopped brooding and actually embraced enjoying life.

She ended up finding Regina right outside of the dorm, sitting on a bench and looking out at the courtyard. The campus was a beautiful place, especially when it was fall and all of the leaves were changing and falling to the ground.

Emma sat heavily next to Regina. "You're right. I'm sorry for how I've been treating you. You didn't deserve to be at the end of my attitude, and I shouldn't have been treating you like I have been. I'm a jerk, I know."

Regina shrugged. "I just think that you're misunderstood. You feed off of the reactions that people give to you, which is why I've always tried to be kind no matter what. You're not the only one who's been through hardships. But that was the past."

"Our past shapes our future," Emma argued.

"No, our past shapes who we are," Regina said. "It is up to us to shape our future based on what we learned from the past. I don't know what you learned, but clearly it wasn't good."

Emma chuckled. "Not at all."

"There's a way to deal with that," Regina said. "It's called friends."

"No one wants to be my friend," Emma scoffed. "I've only been here a few weeks and people already avoid me."

"Not everyone," Regina argued. "I want to be your friend. If you'll let me that is."

Emma looked over at her in surprise before smiling. "I think that can be arranged."