Disclaimer: Once Upon a Time does not belong to me! All characters and references to the show belong to ABC and Channel 5
Once Upon a Time: Schools Out! The Third One-Chapter 2
The Monday after the arrival, the semester started and lectures began once again. After her last one of the morning (Geography) Belle walked out of the lecture hall with Mulan Fa, a fierce Asian girl who was a good friend of hers. As they walked around campus, Belle decided to start up a conversation concerning an event of Mulans past:
"No, I did not!" She protested, and Belle made a disbelieving sound.
"Yes you did!" she said loudly "And practically everyone knew it except for him!"
"Look, you're wrong, O.k?" said Mulan "I have never had a crush on Philip Night"
"Oh, really?" Belle arched an eyebrow "Then what was that fight about with Aurora Light, Freshmen year?" she said silkily, and she watched in delight when Mulans smooth cheeks turned pink.
"Shut-up" she mumbled.
"Because of course-" Belle continued, enjoying this way too much "It would have nothing to do with you having a crush on her boyfriend"
"Go to hell, Belle!" Mulan snapped. Belle only laughed harder, and once she recovered she tried to apologise. But just as she was about to ask for Mulan's forgiveness, she noticed something move in the corner of her eye. They had just reached the outdoor area of the campus and were about to walk past the media building when something blurred and a girl with blonde girl rushed past them.
"What the hell was that?!" Mulan demanded, having almost been knocked off her feet by the runner. Belle squinted at the accused party.
"I...I think that's Gretel Tillman" she said, and then looked at her more closely. Her brow creased "And I think she's crying"
"And I think I know why" Mulan said, her voice suddenly hard, and when Belle looked at her in confusion she saw that Mulan was looking straight ahead of her, her dark eyes focused on something that had just walked out from behind the Media building just as Gretel had done.
Belle followed her gaze, and she had to stifle a gasp.
"Rumplestiltskin..." she breathed. She didn't know why she sounded so surprised, they went to the same college for goodness sake, this was bound to happen eventually!
She just hadn't expected him to seem so...dark.
"Belle..." he did not sound as surprised as she had. If anything, it was like he had been expecting it. As Belle looked at him, well aware that Mulan was still next to her and sending daggers at the boy even she knew had broken her friends heart, she was reminded of the last time they were here together on this campus, when he had told her the unfortunate (for her) fate of Milah's ill gotten cash, and, if memory served, that hadn't been all he'd stolen that day...
"Belle!" Mulan's outraged voice pulled her out of her memory, and it was that what made her realise that she'd been staring at her ex-boyfriend like a complete moron!
Hoping to quickly remedy that, she frantically searched for something smart to say.
"Uh...um..." Oh, brilliant!
She heard Mulan's sound of disbelief while the corner of Rumplestiltskin's lip quirked upwards, trying not to smile. Her eyes narrowed, her injured pride allowing her to form a coherent sentence:
"H-hey, Rumple" Oh God, please kill me now! "What're you doing over here?"
"I had some, ah, business, with Gretel Tillman. We were discussing terms of a payment plan. Turns out the girl is extraordinarily sensitive" he sounded bemused, a smirk teasing his mouth when he caught Mulan glaring at him.
But Belle appeared not to notice "So, uh, how was your holiday?"
Rumplestiltskin shrugged "Oh, the usual" screaming match, he added silently. Not wanting to give away anymore than that, he turned the question onto her "What about you? I see you got a lovely tan" he added, his eyes lingering on her skin in a way that made Belle almost blush. She felt Mulan bristle at her side.
"You sonofa-"
"Thank-you!" Belle quickly cut across her, not wanting a fight to break out between the two "I...went to California. I didn't do much" she said, brushing a lock of brown hair back behind her ear, a move that Rumplestiltskin knew only came to surface when she lied.
Lying. So they'd gotten to that stage now.
"Well" Rumplestiltskin said, lifting a hand to both girls "If you'll excuse me"
Belle didn't know what to do as he walked away, should she call after him? Should she act like the incident hadn't happened? What?!
"Thank God" Mulan breathed in relief, her eyes burning holes into Rumplestiltskin's back before she turned to Belle. She placed a comforting hand on her shoulder "Are you alright?"
"Um..." was she? She honestly didn't know. Seeing him so suddenly, when she was so unprepared...it had thrown her off to say the least.
"I...will be" she eventually answered, and they continued walking, blissfully unaware of the fact that they were being watched.
OUAT
From her side of the cafeteria table, Ella Boyd watched Ruby like a hawk. Keeping her blue eyes fixed on the red-head as she ate her lunch quite calmly, her own food untouched in favour of keeping the vibrant teen's movements within her sights.
Ruby's arm shot forward, and with a yelp Ella jerked her torso away from the table, hissing in pain when her burned back rammed against the hard plastic of her chair.
Ruby laughed, almost choking on her food.
"Ella" she said, raising the juice carton she had been reaching for to her lips "Why can't you just relax?"
Ella stared at her "Are you kidding me?" she said, but no humour came to Ruby's face.
"Look, I'm not gonna poke you!" she sighed "Why can't you believe that?"
"Hm, let me think" said Ella, raising a red finger to her red chin in mock-thought "Maybe because that's all you've been doing? All day? And yesterday? And the day before that?!"
"Oh. That" Ruby said, trying to sound shocked but the wobble in her voice betraying her "Well, you don't need to worry about that anymore, El. I've gotten over it. I mean sure, you are redder than a sun-dried tomato but that stopped being funny, like, an hour ago"
"I hate you" Ella grumbled.
"Hate who?" a whale-like Snow White came to their table, followed closely by Belle. Both had trays laden with food, and when Ella looked up to greet them Ruby took her shot and prodded the blonde hard on the forehead.
"OOOWWW!" Ella screeched loudly, a hand flying to her skin while Ruby roared with laughter "WHY?!"
"I couldn't resist!" Ruby laughed, clapping her hands as she cackled away. Snow White and Belle sat at the table, watching Ella struggle not to leap over the table and strangle the girl.
"It's stuff like this that makes me wonder if they should include maturity-screenings in the college application process" said Belle, shaking her head at Ruby, causing Snow White to laugh and Ruby to childishly poke her tongue out at her.
"You know, Ella, I think I might have some cream for that" said Snow White, gesturing at her skin "It sooths the burn, and it also stops you from peeling-"
"Oh, ew!" Ruby grimaced.
"And, we're done with the pizza" Belle groaned, pushing her plate of food away while Snow White rolled her eyes at them, mumbling something about "Grow Up"
"Hey, Belle" Ella said, and the beauty looked away from her pizza to see the blonde holding something in her hand.
"Yeah?"
"You don't know Jefferson Hatter by any chance, do you?"
Ruby gasped.
"Um, not well" Belle said "I mean, I know of him, and he talked to me before we broke up before Spring Break-"
"He talked to you?!" Ruby cried, and Belle nodded distractedly.
"Yeah"
"What about?!"
"Um..." Belle frowned, struggling to remember "I dunno...he told me that he'd heard about mine and Rumple's break up, and that he was there for me if I ever needed anyone to talk to..." Ella's eyes widened, and held out what turned out to be a rectangular card in her hand.
"He asked me to give you this!" she said. Belle looked down at the card. It was a phone number, and at the bottom right hand corner a tiny black top hat had been drawn.
"That's his cell phone number!" Ruby gasped, her voice filled with disgust.
Snow White mimicked Ruby with her own gasp of alarm "Oh my God! Belle, I know where this is going, and you can't call him!"
"Yeah! Don't you remember what he did to me?!" Ruby cried with an extreme look of horror.
In an effort to calm her down, Belle put a hand over Ruby's"Of course I remember!" and it was not a time to be forgotten. Before Ruby and Peter had noticed each other, she and Jefferson had dated. They had been seeing each other for four months-which was enough time for Ruby to grow absolutely over-the-top crazy about him-when she'd found him in the girls bathroom wrapped around the blonde, bouncy British exchange student. A thousand tears and one well-kicked groin later, and it was announced that the young couple had split.
"Such a dick" was Ella's uncharacteristic comment. Belle held up the card for everyone to see, and then tore it in half.
"I know. That's why I'm not going to call him!"
Besides, she added silently, how could I even consider something like that, when I'm still not over someone else?
OUAT
In a dark corner of the school, Regina handed an envelope of cash to Rumplestiltskin and placed the programme he had just given her into her purse.
"You must be starting to think you're cursed, Regina" said Rumplestiltskin, pulling the envelope open and counting the notes within "How many lap-tops have you had now?"
Six "This is only my second, Gold" she lied. Rumplestiltskin made an amused noise.
"But still...very prone to viruses, aren't they?"
Regina narrowed her eyes at him "Are you saying you had something to do with it?"
"Phhhtt! Dearie, I've got more important things to do than infect your crappy lap-tops" he said with a laugh.
"Like downloading programmes to repair them?" she challenged. His lip twitched, but he didn't answer. Regina cocked her head to the side, a wicked smile spreading across her lips "Or do you now spend all your time working on ways to get Belle to take you back?"
Rumplestiltskin's hand tightened on the envelope, and Regina smirked in satisfaction. He didn't respond to her jibe, but moments later he held the envelope out to her "You've underpaid by twenty dollars"
"Huh!" Regina made the dismissive sound "That's impossible"
"Well, I have to say that's one I haven't heard in a while" Rumplestiltskin chuckled "What's the matter, Dearie? Running low on funds?"
"I paid you in full, Gold" Regina snarled "You've obviously miscounted"
"I don't miscount" Rumplestiltskin shot back, still holding the envelope out to her "Now give me the twenty dollars, or I'm taking back my programme"
"I'm not giving you anything!" Regina stated firmly, not allowing herself to react when the dealers eyes started to grow darker than their usual chocolate brown, a sign that he was no longer willing to play games, and that things would take a dark turn if she didn't do what he wanted. A frustrated groan rattling out of her throat, she snatched the envelope out of his hand "But I guess it wouldn't kill me to take another look"
As she counted the notes slowly, Rumplestiltskin watched the look on Regina's face in amusement as she discovered that he was in fact right. Twenty dollars were missing from the envelope, and it was with great reluctance that she pulled a spare $20 out of her purse, stuffed it into the envelope (almost tearing it with the force) and handed it to the imp.
"There" she said through gritted teeth "Satisfied?"
"Oh yes" Rumplestiltskin nodded, and soon after that he departed.
Letting out a huge breath of air, Regina ran her fingers through her dark hair while she wondered what in Gods name was wrong with her. She made it a point of always being organised, and she was, by no means, a scatterbrain! Especially when it came to deals with Gold. In fact, the only time she had been this forgetful was when-
Stop.
Regina shook herself, forcing the memories that were trying to surface back down to the darkest regions of her mind. No. She wasn't even going to go there. She had been perfectly stable for almost a year now, and just because she was forgetting things did not mean that she was heading back to...that place.
Regina took in another breath, this time to calm herself down. She then smoothed down her hair, brushed down her shirt for no reason, and walked back out towards the campus.
OUAT
Five days passed, and after that the first week back, Snow White and James Nolan found themselves already facing a new battle. James getting kicked off the football team had been bad, telling their parents about the pregnancy had been worse, but this...what they were about to face now...this kicked them both off the leader board.
After standing outside the door for a full ten minuets, James eventually threw his arms out with an exhale of breath "Snow, we can't stand out here all day"
"I...I know" Snow White swallowed, her hands wrapped protectively around her stomach while her mouth went dry. Seeing her discomfort, James put a hand on her shoulder:
"Listen, if you want us to leave, we can. But I really think it would be better if we gave it a shot"
Snow White smiled, despite his reassuring words, her Charming boyfriend sounded just as nervous as she felt, and yet he was still prepared to go through with it, and if that wasn't enough to make her fears fade, then the convenient kick against the inside of her belly definitely was.
"Lets go in" she said, and turning the knob of the door, she and James walked into their first birthing class.
The fact that the room was full of pregnant women-some with partners, some without-was only the second thing that the young couple discovered in the bright room, because almost as soon as they entered they were greeted by a loud, high gasp.
"Oh my goodness!" came a very high, very feminine voice from the center of the room, and before Snow White knew what was happening she was enveloped in a pair of pale, willowy arms "Are you the new ones?"
"Uh, yeah" was Snow White's muffled reply, and the woman who had hugged her pulled back to stare at her with wide green eyes. Now that she wasn't pressed up against her chest she could see that this stranger was at least in her mid-twenties, had long red hair, and a very pretty face with a nose that was just a tiny bit too long. Looking down, she could see that she was wearing a flowery dress that appeared to be home made.
"Oh, I am so glad you and your charming friend came along today!" gushed the woman, and both Snow White and James couldn't help the small smiles that appeared on their faces "I am your birthing instructor, Giselle Andalasia, but please just call me Giselle!" she said eagerly, clasping both of her hands in front of her, she gazed at the teens as though they were rare, priceless gems "I want you both to feel as comfortable with me as you can, goodness knows you two have got more than enough to deal with!" she said, eyeing Snow White's bump significantly, and the younger girl felt something in her spike.
"Excuse me?" she said, both she and James raising an eyebrow, and Giselle immediately looked horrified.
"Oh no! Please don't take that to mean that I judge you, I think that creating the miracle of life at anytime is beautiful! But when someone is unprepared for it..." she sighed sadly, looking down at Snow White's bump again "But, that was why I'm so glad you decided to come!" she said, her perkiness making a startling reappearance as a huge, happy smile lit up her face. Snow White briefly wondered if it was just her hormones that were making her want to punch this woman.
Stepping away from them, Giselle gestured grandly to the circle of men and women, who were staring at them openly.
"Please, make yourselves comfortable. We were just about to introduce ourselves!" she giggled in excitement, and Snow White didn't miss the way James glanced longingly at the now-shut door. Giselle sighed contently "Oh, I just know that by the end of all this we're all going to be such good friends!"
As she was saying this, Snow White and James were looking around at the couples and single mothers that they were going to be taking classes with, and they saw that each of them, each and every one of them, had exactly the same expression on their face:
Judgment.
Oh yeah, Snow White thought as she and James took a seat on the bright carpet next to a woman who looked ready to pop, noting how her nostrils actually pinched when they settled themselves, SUCH good friends!
I honestly don't know how Giselle happened...I was just writing this and then she just...popped out of nowhere and DEMANDED to be in this fic! And she wouldn't go away! And honestly? I kind of like writing her in because I think her over-the-top peppiness is hilarious!
So, what did you think? I know it's short but I hoped you got some good laughs from it nevertheless because, lets face it, we're experiencing WAY too much angst on the show (just because I'm a Brit and the second season has only just started for us doesn't mean I don't know what's going to happen in the show)
One more thing before I take off: Yo, reginamillz, before I forget was there or was there not a deal struck between us? I made a trilogy. I WANT my internet hug!