Chapter five

Mary Margaret and Killian stood in silence on the back seat, exchanging confused looks. Emma had been oddly early that morning and for the first time since they could remember, she wasn't smoking inside the car.

She honked impatiently in front of Granny's; through the glass door, they saw Ruby tidying her hair and checking her eyelashes.

The tall brunette came down the front steps and dropped heavily on the passenger seat, scrunching her face immediately.

"What the hell, Swan?" she coughed. "Did you fall inside a flask of cologne?"

Mary Margaret and Killian burst out laughing. They had been holding it back since they got inside; Ruby was the only one who would always confront or mock Emma like that. She had tied her hair and looked like she had actually showered for school.

"Shut up," she grunted, hitting the gas pedal, resolute to ignore them.

She knew her friends were wondering about her wrist, too, but she was not ready to talk about it with them yet. When she entered the parking lot, Emma saw Regina on her usual bench, reading a book.

She would love to be Robin just for a day. She would love to know Regina was there waiting for her.

Emma parked on the same spot she did the day before, noticing that this time Regina actually lifted her eyes from her book and didn't look displeased to see her, even after a backfire from the exhaust.

"You can go ahead," the blonde told her friends. "I'll just hang here a minute."

"I'll wait," Ruby spat.

"It might take longer than a minute," Emma said pointedly.

Ruby huffed, rolling her eyes, and slammed the door violently behind her, not even waiting for the other two.

"She almost got my nose," Killian grunted, pushing the seat back to the front and opening the door again so that they could get out.

Mary patted Emma's shoulder as she dragged her body to follow Killian.

"MM?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think… it is too much?" Emma asked hesitantly, waving around herself to indicate the perfume.

"I think you'll be just fine, Duckling," she grinned with a sleepy voice. "Go get her."

Emma wanted to argue back, but her friend was already out, hooking one arm with Killian's and heading inside the building. How could she possibly know? The blonde shook her head and grabbed her backpack.

Regina was watching her intently behind her book, and she looked surprised when Emma climbed the bench and sat on top of the prop. In silence, the blonde took her cigarette pack and lit one, desperate to look cool and disguise the scent of perfume. She had to admit that she got carried away with that, and she didn't want Regina to notice.

"What you reading?"

Regina looked up at her. The cut on her lip was perfectly covered with a tiny piece of plaster.

"Cujo," she said quietly.

Emma laughed. "No shit," and upon noticing the expression on the brunette's face "Are you serious?"

"Yes?"

"God, the irony-"

Regina smiled for the first time, cringing almost immediately. She used a hand to touch the cut and make sure it wasn't bleeding.

"Are you okay?" Emma asked, throwing her cigarette away and sliding down to sit next to her.

Regina felt her heart flutter again with the sight of that frown of concern. "It just hurt a little. I keep forgetting about it. It's okay."

"Sorry about that," Emma muttered, fumbling with her fingers.

Regina noticed she had long fingers and a beautiful hand despite the chewed fingernails and minor scars. "The movie is coming out soon. Cujo," she added.

"We could go together," Emma said, still looking down at her hands as though suddenly they became very interesting.

"Can we meet at the theater or you'll force me to get inside your car?"

The blonde turned to the side and noticed that Regina was genuinely smiling – a little cautiously because of the wound – but smiling nonetheless.

"I'll have Cujo chasing you all the way, if that's what it takes to get you in," she grinned in return.

"I think one dog chase is enough for a lifetime," Regina said with a chuckle. "I'll get in the car."

"My dad gave it to me," Emma said, staring at the hood. She never spoke about her dad with anyone, not even her mother. "It was brand new in the market. He got it a year before he went to war."

Regina had heard the story of how the legendary Mr. Swan went to Vietnam and left Ingrid widowed at the age of twenty-five and an eight-year-old Emma, who would turn out a rebel because of that, but she never heard Emma's version of losing her father.

"I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. He would never let me smoke inside if he was alive. Or eat apple turnover and leave crumbs all over the carpet."

Regina chuckled.

"I would have liked your dad," she said. "So… Did you like it?"

"Like it?" Emma rolled her eyes. "I loved it! You're lucky to have someone cooking stuff so delicious to you."

"I made it."

Emma blinked. "Fuck. Did you poison it?"

Regina rolled her eyes. "You're not dead, are you?"

The blonde chuckled, feeling silly. "You're a good cook, Mills."

"I'm glad you approve," Regina blushed, turning back to her book.

"You… didn't try it?"

The brunette closed the volume, marking the page with a finger. "My mother won't let me near carbs so often. She said I need to fit in the same wedding dress she did, so…"

"Whoa," Emma shook her head. "She's setting you up to get married already?"

"Since I was twelve," Regina sighed. "I still have four years to lose the extra weight."

"Shut up. You don't need to lose anything, dweeb! Look at you!"

That innocent, moronic point made Regina's lips part open into the most beautiful smile Emma had ever seen in her life.

"Ouch!" Regina winced, touching the plaster again. "Stop doing that!" she swatted Emma's arm playfully. "It will never heal if you keep making me laugh."

Emma felt her skin tingle where Regina's hand had touched her. God, she was such a lovesick puppy… That girl was going to be the end of her…

She was literally saved by the bell when it rang. The blonde slid out of the bench and picked a stash of books that belonged to Regina.

"What are you doing?" the brunette asked her, collecting her purse as well.

"Walking you to class, what you think?"

Regina blushed, and noticed Emma was blushing too. She heard the familiar roar of the Corvette's engine and turned away from the blonde, feeling slightly put out. Robin came towards her with a strut, eyeing Emma suspiciously.

Emma noticed how the brunette tensed immediately.

He stopped next to Regina and passed one arm around her waist, looking at Emma as though challenging her.

"She has me to carry her books, ditz. Hand them over," he looked down at Regina to kiss her and took a step back when he noticed the plaster. "What you got there, babe?"

"Nothing," Regina said in a hurry. "Let's go, Robin-"

"Your books," Emma grunted to her, sounding like a stranger after the friendly conversation they just had. She kept her angry eyes on Regina when she smacked the books violently against Robin's stomach. "You have lipstick on your shirt," she said, turning to him. "Dillhole."

XXX

As Emma stomped away, Regina turned to her boyfriend, trying really hard to ignore the scene that had just unrolled before her eyes. "Why do you have lipstick on your clothes?"

"Cool out, Gina. It was my mother. Don't you see that baby dyke has a thing for you?" he offered a silly smile that made her cringe internally. "Besides, you have something on your lip that wasn't my doing and I am not going totally house over it, am I?"

"I'm not!" Regina sputtered indignantly.

"Yes you are. You need to get off my back with that, you know. I'm a man. We need freedom."

"Well, why don't I grant it right now for you?"

Robin scoffed disdainfully at her. "Grant? You? Who do you think you are to do that, huh? You don't get to decide that… Don't walk away from me when I'm talking to you!" he yelled. "You're gonna regret this! You're gonna regret this! My father will call your mother about it, Virgin Mary! Just you wait!"

For the first time in her life, Regina flipped someone.

If she were not at the verge of tears, she would have laughed at the red, angry face of her now frustrated ex-boyfriend.

XXX

Emma only stuck with Mr. Medina's class because she realized Regina really liked it, but she felt bummed when the brunette didn't show up for the first period.

"Were you expecting someone?" Killian asked her as they walked towards their next class.

"Why?"

"You were craning your neck like someone who has a Wanted poster on a Western movie."

"You're acting stupid," Ruby muttered to her. "She doesn't even like you."

"Why don't we all leave Emma alone and- Ouch!"

Mary Margaret ran into Regina, who was on her way out of the girls' bathroom, and so many books flew in the air that it felt like an explosion had happened in the Library.

"Shoot, I'm so sorry-!"

"I'm sorry, Mary Margaret, I didn't see you-"

"Why are you crying?" Emma asked quietly, noticing the swollen, bloodshot eyes as she kneeled down to collect both Regina's and MM's books while her friends watched in awe. It was typical to see Emma mocking Regina Mills, not helping.

"I'm not crying," Regina said angrily, wiping her eyes. "I'm allergic to delinquents and you're standing too close-"

Emma chose to ignore that.

"What did he do to you?" she asked firmly, handing the books to her.

Regina looked incredulous at Emma. "This is none of your- Swan!"

"Relax," Killian winked at her as Emma stormed off towards the gym. "Whatever it is that she'll do, he deserves it."

"Are you okay?" Mary Margaret asked with a worried voice.

Except for Ruby, Regina had no idea why they were being nice to her like that.

"We need to stop her," she told them. "She's going to be expelled from Storybrooke High if she gets another detention."

"How do you know that?" Ruby finally addressed her.

Regina sighed. "Because my mother will not rest until she does."

XXX

It was easy to find Emma.

She was in front of the janitor's room halfway to the gym, staring at the door like she wanted to punch it. The noise of shoes against the linoleum got her attention, and her eyes went wide when she noticed it was her friends and Regina.

"What are you doing here?"

"C'mon, Swan," Killian tilted his head. "Let's smoke a bud and cool our heads before lunch, eh?"

"Yeah, let's not do anything stupid," MM said with her anxious voice.

Emma frowned at their behavior, gave the small glass window one last look and then took a step towards the group. What she didn't imagine was that their conversation caused a disturbance in the janitor's room's activities.

The door burst open and Robin came out with Zelena. They were half-clothed and looked slightly out of breath.

"Robin?" Regina gasped.

"We broke up just now-"

Zelena covered her bra with her crumpled t-shirt and laughed. "You said she dumped you, muffin. And she does look like Frankenstein-"

"Do not call me muffin," he grunted, and then looked at Regina with a mix of guilty and defiance.

The red-haired scoffed and walked out of the scene with her shoes and discarded clothes on her hands, passing by Regina and looking down contemptuously at her and the others.

"Ta-ta, scum. See you tonight, muffin!"

There was a mortifying silence after she left. Mary Margaret pulled Emma by the arm and the others followed. Regina was staring at Robin as though she could not believe her eyes. They had been together for three years and her mother was already planning their wedding, and now she caught him with another girl.

"You are a liar, Locksley," she hissed with a shaky voice, feeling tears burn the corner of her eyes out of anger and humiliation. "Don't ever, ever speak to me again."

"Gina, the Prom-"

She chuckled unpleasantly, like her mother used to do. Her wounded lip hurt, but she didn't even care. "I broke up with you. Why don't you go by yourself? You are a free man now, you idiot."

Regina spun on her heels, noticing Swan and her band of friends just around the corner, listening to every word. They were so obtuse-

It was Robin's broken voice that changed everything.

"Bimbette."

She turned back to him, indignantly ready to kick his balls when a flash of blonde hair passed by her.

Emma Swan punched him square on the face. Droplets of blood flew in the air as his head spun with the impact. He spat bloodied mess that looked like a tooth and glared at Emma, making a huge effort to disguise the pain, panting heavily.

Emma shook her head with an evil smirk. "Don't even threaten me, or I'll tell the whole school Mary Margaret punched you and you cried like a little girl."

He picked his socks and his converses on the floor, embracing defeat begrudgingly. He sustained eye contact with Emma and then threw one last look at Regina before he headed to the showers.

When he was gone, Emma had no idea what to say. Her friends were starting at her just as if she had lost her mind. Regina's gaze was hard to read; Emma had no idea if that had pleased or offended her.

After a full minute of awkward silence, Mary Margaret took a step forward and glared at Emma.

"I could have made him cry like a little girl, you know."

As everyone burst out laughing, Killian waved his hand – the one with all the fingers. "Why don't we celebrate this with ice cream?"

Emma nodded, and her friends took the gesture as their cue to leave.

"We're waiting in the car, give me the keys," Ruby said with an eye roll when she noticed Emma was not following immediately.

The blonde fished it out of the pocket of her jeans and threw it at her friend with a scoff, then she turned to Regina.

"Wanna come, Mills?"

Regina looked hesitantly at her. She just didn't get the mess that was Emma Swan. It was infuriating.

"I don't think your friends-"

"It's my car, and I'm inviting you."

The brunette arranged her books awkwardly. "I never skipped class."

"Let's make your mother very proud today, then. No school and junk food."

Regina sighed.

"Just so you know, Swan… I am not riding on the backseat with the Fingerless Wonder and Mary Margaret-"

Regina would never know if that loud laugh and the mischievous grin on Emma's face was the sparkle that ignited everything or the warning sign that she was going to fall in love and get really, really hurt for the first and last time.

A/N: Hi there (insert shit-eating grin here). Hope you like it.