A/N: I'm so sorry for the slight delay and for going a little short this chapter… I recently got a new job which is great for me but not for my writing time. I'm still going to try my best for once a week updates, because y'all are great and I don't want to disappoint.

The haze that carried Regina through the first half of Monday was mostly a pleasant one.

Saturday evening with Emma had been followed by Cora taking Sunday to run errands in Augusta. Which left Regina a full day of relaxation. She watched TV, ignored her violin, and even spoke to her father for an hour over the phone. He swore he would be back home soon, work be damned, and they could spend a weekend together.

When she got up for school that morning, some of her hesitance returned; there could be something waiting for her that she hadn't anticipated, someone ready to comment, all sorts of possible reactions—but nothing happened. There was no negative response to her having spent time with Emma.

In fact, nothing changed at all.

Emma apparently hadn't told anyone. Or, entirely less likely, they hadn't cared. Still, Regina found herself wondering what their interaction would be like in class. Would Emma acknowledge her? Keep her post-class visit to her side of the room? Or would she ignore her, having thought better of being seen with the nerd, having lied about liking their time together.

Regina didn't particularly know what she wanted to happen, but the more she allowed herself to daydream, the more she thought she might like a chance to make new plans with the blonde.

She got into class early, her AP Euro just down the hall, and took her usual seat. Reaching down into her bag to get her response out, she didn't notice who was filling the seat beside her much earlier than usual.

Popping back up she found herself face-to-face with the subject of most of that day's thoughts.

"Hey," Emma greeted, arranging her book and notebook on her desktop.

"What are you doing?" Regina spat, flustered.

"Nice to see you again, too, Regina."

Emma was calmly arranging her pens now, but Regina just didn't understand. At this point in the year, it was practically unheard of to take a different seat.

"Why aren't you sitting where you normally do?"

"'Cause Schmidt is a mouth-breather and I'd rather sit next to you anyway."

The more casual Emma was, the more mystified Regina became.

"But—"

Part of Emma found Regina's reaction to the situation entirely amusing, but part of her worried about what it meant that Regina wasn't used to anyone wanting to sit next to her. And Emma really did. It wasn't part of the bet—she didn't really have any friends in the class either. Regina was interesting, and smart, and if for any reason they split off into discussion groups, Emma definitely wanted to work with her. But the way Regina was reacting, she wouldn't be any kind of productive. Emma had to get her out of her frazzled state before she spent the whole class distracted.

"Regina," Emma interrupted, "May I sit next to you this English class and potentially in future English classes?"

"Of course," Regina responded matter-of-factly, knowing Emma didn't actually need her permission. "You're allowed to sit wherever you want."

"Okay, great. Now let's start things again," Emma replied. "Hey, Regina! How was the rest of your weekend?"

Regina was a smart girl, but no matter how capable her brain was, she was still having trouble handling this sequence of events, and she had no idea why it was so bothersome. But Emma just kept waiting there, smiling, for her response.

So, she tried.

"It was," she began, physically trying to shake herself out of it, "It was very nice, thank you."

"Good." Emma's smile grew with Regina's response. This would be normal conversation for them in no time. "Glad to hear it. What'd you write your reflection on?"

"…The superficiality of society."

"Me too! I don't know how you could do it on anything else when Wilde just breaks into first person in the middle of his novel."

"And does it to approve of insincerity."

"Right? What's with this guy?"

Ms. Sanders came in just steps ahead of the bell, but she still had time to notice the change in seating, and as Regina and Emma looked up at the sound of their teacher entering, they realized that their classmates all had as well. Regina didn't know what to feel at the attention, but Emma couldn't have been happier.

"Alright, let's get started. Who wants to lead off with something from their reflection?"

Class went well.

Emma sat by Regina the entire time, and it was fine. Once Ms. Sanders had to remind them to direct their responses to the rest of the class as well, but it went fine. They discussed Wilde and the text and no one commented on the newly formed alliance, not that they would, since it wasn't their business anyway. 45 minutes passed, and the bell rang, and everything was still the same as it always was.

"Hey, do you want to sit with us at lunch?"

Okay, that wasn't the same as it always was. That was very much new. Too new. Regina spent her minimal free time alone. In the company of books or music, and certainly not in the loud, oppressive cafeteria where there were too many pitfalls and bad memories to be avoided.

Emma wanted to have lunch with her? Their night out together had gone well, but had it gone that well? Was this some sort of extended trick? Emma wanted to spend the part of the day that was most concerned with the popularity hierarchy with her. Emma wanted Regina to sit at a table of her friends and hold her own. Her friends, Tina, Killian, Ruby—Mary Margaret—

"I—I can't, thank you, excuse me."

Regina rushed out of the room into the bustling halls.

"Regina?"

Emma didn't know why she had even bothered calling out, considering the girl was long gone by the time she had recovered from her polite but abrupt refusal.

Emma imagined if Regina actually did have something to do during the usually free period, she probably would've just said so, as opposed to running out.

Emma had demanded too much on her small gains. It was too much too soon. But still, she couldn't help but feel oddly disappointed. She had wanted to have lunch with Regina.

Maybe later in the week.

Emma made it down to the cafeteria vaguely recovered and easily found her friends at their already full table.

"Hey, guys."

"Swan! How was your weekend?" Killian greeted.

From anyone else, Emma might have accepted it for the friendly interest it was masquerading as, but Killan's eagerness and suggestively raised eyebrow revealed the game right away.

"Aw, Mary Margaret, really?" Emma groaned.

"I didn't!" Mary Margaret looked aghast, and Ruby cut in almost instantly.

"I told him, Emma."

Ruby was decidedly unrepentant even as Emma glared.

"What? He wanted to know if you made any progress!"

Emma hadn't said a word to anyone on Friday when Regina accepted, or even Saturday at her track meet because she hadn't wanted to jinx it, but that morning, when Ruby and Mary Margaret stopped by her locker as usual, she couldn't help sharing her success. She should've known that it wouldn't stay between them for long, but Emma would've sworn that MM would've spilled first.

"Alright fine," she addressed the table, "Yes, I hung out with Regina, and no, I am not telling you all about it."

Killian groaned, but David and Tink leaned in in their interest.

"Was it that bad?" Tink asked gently.

"Was she really weird?" David added.

"No!"

This was quickly devolving to a place she didn't want it to go, but Emma was still hesitant to share. It didn't feel right, especially when she kept flashing back to Regina's not-such-a-joke joke.

"No, it was great, okay? But you don't need a play-by-play to know that the bet is going fine, thank you."

Her friends seemed appeased by the statement, especially with the return of her commanding decisiveness, though Killian was still a little grumbly.

"She's pretty cool actually," Emma spilled as she recalled their time together. "I asked her to have lunch with us today, but it was kind of sudden."

Despite having been unusually removed during the previous discussion, Mary Margaret piped up right away at that news.

"She wouldn't come?"

"Nah, but I'm sure she will eventually."

"Did she say why?"

Once again, Emma was thrown by Mary Margaret's bizarre reactions to anything that had to do with Regina. She was attempting to just show general interest, but MM had always been the easiest to read, and Emma could practically feel the nerves radiating off of her. She really would have to get to the bottom of this thing, whatever it was.

"No, MM. Were you expecting her to say something?"

Mary Margaret remained silent, and despite most of her focus remaining on her, Emma noticed that David had grown somewhat uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation, even if the others seemed interested.

Luckily for MM, Emma's interrogation was cut short when Tink perked up significantly in her seat, leaning in towards Emma and barely resisting an urge to point.

"Emma, look! Did she change her mind?"

Emma did look as Tink unsuccessfully tried to keep the rest of the table from staring.

She spotted Regina, moving through the crowds away from the vending machines, much like she had been last Monday when Ruby spotted her. But this time, Emma managed to catch her eye, and waived excitedly, hoping without reason that Regina had actually changed her mind.

That died when Regina left without any prominent response, faster than she had come.

"Ugh," Emma moaned, trying not to be embarrassed by the people who had witnessed that pretty drastic dismissal. "I think I just took two steps back. I wonder if she'll ignore me in the halls again."

Surprisingly enough, though, Ruby and Tink did not look superior in Emma's supposed setback. In fact, their focus was elsewhere, like everyone else at the table, catching Regina smirk at Emma's dropping her head on the table before disappearing into the hall.

"Oh no, Swan," Killian declared, "She's definitely not ignoring you. I think you've got a chance at winning this after all."

"What?" Emma looked up, still unawares. "Really?"

Taking in her friends' expressions, she realized she had sounded a little desperate. She instantly sat up straighter.

"I mean, of course I am going to win this."

Ruby chuckled at Emma's put-on swagger. "Sure you are, Ems."

"I have to go open up the ticket table," Mary Margaret announced, more like her usual self after witnessing Emma's effect on Regina. "Who would like to help?"

Faced with her friends' silence, Mary Margaret put her hands on her hips and changed the question. "Who would find it in his best interest to help?"

At that, David gave a reluctant sigh, shrugging his shoulders and standing.

"Thank you, David." Mary Margaret granted her boyfriend a smile while eying her friends. "In appreciation of your assistance, you may get everyone's attention however you wish, once I get the cash box."

"Hey!" Ruby protested. "I thought you were going to let me wolf whistle!"

"I did ask if anyone wanted to help."

Mary Margaret smiled a knowing smile and made her exit, David jogging a few steps to catch up and walk beside her—after mischievously smirking at Ruby.

"You should've been more specific!" Ruby called after them. Turning back to her remaining tablemates, she pouted. "Damn, she got so much tougher being president this year."

Emma chuckled and nodded in agreement—it had been something to see the sometimes somewhat meek girl build a force of her own. That's not to say Mary Margaret didn't have a not-so-secret temper that had to do in part with her father spoiling her rotten, but the sweetness usually did an excellent job of covering it.

"It's a good thing, Ruby," Tink agreed. "For both of you," she added slyly.

Ruby was prevented from fighting back in indignation when David's own sharp whistle cut through the noise of the crowd.

"Hello, everyone!" Mary Margaret projected over the quieting room. "As you might remember, or have seen on the posters, tickets for our Once Upon A Time Senior Prom went on sale this morning! They will be available all this week in the cafeteria before school and right now, during lunch. You can also still sign up to help and submit your nominations for King and Queen! The first round of voting will start next Wednesday, but we'll only accept nominations 'til this Wednesday so don't wait too long! Come on up!"

At the end of Mary Margaret's announcement, some people did make their way over to the table. Emma was among them.

"Emma, would you like to buy a ticket to prom?" Mary Margaret asked, already expecting the answer.

"Why, yes, I would, Mary Margaret, thank you."

Emma handed over her money and took a blank slip of paper from next to the nominations box, pulling out a pen as MM got her a ticket.

In big block letters, she wrote out two words, folded the slip and dropped it into the box, walking away from MM with a smile.

Regina Mills was now officially a nominee for Prom Queen.