Regina saw Emma once that weekend.

She had been leaving Gold's office when Emma popped off the side of the building where she had clearly been waiting.

Regina kept walking, quickly, as Emma lengthened her stride to keep up.

"Regina—"

"Go away, Swan."

"I need to explain. To apologize."

"What part of 'go away' was too difficult for you? I don't want to talk to you."

"I thought you might say that. But I'm not giving up, okay?"

Emma had just stood there as Regina walked away, each step harder to commit to as she felt Emma's eyes watching her until they couldn't anymore.

She didn't know what to make of it. Mostly she was surprised Emma wasn't just planning on trailing her, forcing herself into her life in an effort to fix things. Emma always tried to fix things like that, as if she could will them into being. That was what Regina had been afraid of all Friday, when she couldn't deal with even the idea of Emma nearby. But now, with a little time away…maybe Emma was giving up seeking her out because it wasn't important to her. They weren't really friends. Just the most and least popular girls in school. It was just a bet.

But then on Sunday—

She had been coming out of church, still resentful of it all, but at least Daddy had sensed it and come along, forgoing his usual services, when she heard her name.

"Regina!"

She turned to catch a glimpse of Kathryn calling after her and reined in her desire to just walk away. She stood her ground. At least now she could be spared interaction with any of the Blanchards. How much could Kathryn hurt her?

"Thank you, for not walking away," Kathryn started in her impossibly direct manner once she made it to Regina's side, "You could've—you probably should've. Anyway. I don't deserve your time, I know. But. These are for you."

She handed Regina two envelopes.

Regina looked them over. Both had her name on the front, in different but recognizable handwriting. She furrowed her brow in confusion.

"The first is from Emma," Kathryn clarified, "The second is from me. I know you could just tear them up, but I hope you read them, Regina."

Then she smiled and walked off the way she had come, leaving Regina standing dazed on the steps until her father had only knocked her out of her consideration by wrapping an arm around her.

And then today—

She had found another letter in her orchestra locker, in Emma's scrawl. And Tink had tracked her down before gym to hand her two more—again one from Emma, and one from Tink herself. She gave the same pleas to read them that Kathryn had, plus a frantic apology. Regina dismissed her offhandedly, but those letters now sat unharmed at the bottom of her gym locker. And the first two sat in her desk at home.

She hadn't read them, not yet.

She didn't want any reason to forgive Emma, whether these letters held one or not, but she also didn't want to relive any of these feelings. She felt she had finally got a handle on herself knowing that she would have to make an appearance at school. And now with Whale looming at the end of the week, all because of this idiotic bet that had made a fool of her—she couldn't think about it at all without raging. And raging meant that she would be distracted from her exams. So she couldn't. But it weighed on her all the same.

She tried to make herself even smaller in the back of her class than usual, certain that talk of Emma's bet would be the only gossip on anyone's mind. She was so unwilling to hear anything that she managed to tune out most of that morning's announcements as well, Mary Margaret's betrayal fresh on her mind in the wake of Emma's. Though every once in a while, she would catch David Nolan glancing at her. As if he were trying to check in on her? It was utter nonsense.

The group was beginning to get restless, their tailbones numb from sitting on the floor.

"…next week," Mary Margaret faded our from her extensive reporting, mostly involving the week of testing, since her usual announcements would be cut short in the days that followed. But then, she began anew, ramped up from something or another.

"And, now, what you've been waiting for!" She proclaimed with barely contained enthusiasm. "The final voting for Prom King and Queen will be happening this week Thursday and Friday in the cafeteria both before and after school for everyone who will be in testing. The nominees may now officially begin campaigning. Here are your final candidates! For King—David Nolan and Fredrick Holt."

Mary Margaret may have just been able to hold back her excitement for her boyfriend, but his friends in class certainly didn't. They let out a big whoop at David's name, clapping him on the back as he smilingly accepted their support. Apparently, Mary Margaret had anticipated some sort of reaction, because her next words weren't distorted by any remaining cheering.

"And for Queen—Emma Swan—"

Good, Regina thought contemptuously, she could still make herself queen after all this.

"—And Regina Mills."

What?

Was this some kind of joke? She kept listening but Mary Margaret was just going into her sign-off. She had said her name. Happily. And while a great deal of people around her were shocked and now staring, David slid his way over to her, offering a smile and a high-five. And when she managed to return it weakly after a moment of gaping and scoffing at the idea of high-fiving him at all, his friends erupted in the same kind of cheers for her. And some of those shocked stares turned into smiles. Mary Margaret had said her name. She was a finalist for Prom Queen.

Emma could still win her fucking bet.

The realization crashed over her, making her feel all the more idiotic for having any sort of glimpse of happiness in the first place. It wasn't about her. It was about whatever Emma had done to make her palatable to the student body. It was all some kind of joke.

As much as she wanted to storm out, say "fuck it all," and find a last minute way to graduate early, it would be letting them win. She would not protest and let everyone see how she felt she was just as undeserving as they thought she was. She would not be the nerd they all laughed about Emma taking under her wing. Soon enough, everyone who didn't already would know that Emma had been behind her rise. And soon enough, they would realize she no longer had anything to do with Emma, and they would leave her alone. But for now, she sat a little straighter and put on the smile she used at church, in Gold's office, for her mother's associates, and looked around at her peers.

They wanted a queen? She'd give them a queen.

"All right, everybody up," Coach grumbled with the end of announcements. "We're getting some running in before I lose most of you to testing. That includes you, future majesties."

Regina allowed David to help her onto her feet.

Even if she would've rather been hitting him.

The rest of her morning classes passed without particular incident, mind-numbing as they were since she wouldn't have them the rest of the week. She would, luckily, be skipping English to have a full lunch period before her afternoon exam, and she didn't have it the rest of the week. It was perfect. Then the next week when they all came back, she'd have to find some new way to avoid Emma, but at least she'd have this buffer. It would barely even be a few weeks before school was over all together. She could survive. She always had.

She still had to make it to her locker though, so she altered her path slightly to hopefully avoid the classroom all together.

Then, as she walked down the main hall (the one she usually avoided), the strangest thing happened. Someone waved. That hadn't happened—unless she was with Emma—not since she could remember. Then another. And a "Congrats, Regina!" People had been staring all morning, but she assumed it was because of either their inability to believe or because of her being some sort of social experiment. But these people seemed—happy—for her.

She turned the corner distracted and caught a glimpse of a swoosh of blonde hair she would recognize just about anywhere. It startled her enough to pay better attention, to walk away from wherever Emma was. She tracked her out of the corner of her eye, just as dismayed by Emma once again not following after her, just looking longingly.

When she was out of sight, she shook her head to clear her mind, determined to only focus on her exam for the next however many hours. But, opening her locker to gather her things, a fresh note with her name on it fell out.

Why couldn't Emma just leave her alone?

She went to pick it up and grasped the top, set on ripping this one to pieces.

But as she twisted her hands, fingernails imprinting into the paper, she found she couldn't.

She threw it onto her shelf. She would deal with it later.

She had a test to take.

Emma already knew Regina would be gone for testing for the week and likely avoiding her on top of that, but Emma still hadn't even caught a glimpse of her all week outside of that moment before English in the hall and once across the room in their English exam, and it was driving her batty. She felt lost without Regina, and it took all she had, plus the thought that they could spare her some unnecessary college classes, to focus on the few exams she did have. But every waking moment that wasn't taken up by school or activities was dedicated to writing. Endless letters, her only outlet.

After the weekend, she felt she had run out of words to say what she needed, repetition only seeming to dilute her sincerity, but she found a way to keep going, writing down every thought that she would've told Regina all about had she the chance. Her own one-sided conversations recorded and placed in another envelope with Regina's name on the front, just waiting to be delivered.

She left them in lockers and classrooms, wherever she could think of to reach Regina unimpeded. She had determined to stay away from Regina's places, as desperately as she wanted to seek her out, because she didn't want her to feel like she took them from her. Even though she knew Regina was likely avoiding them anyway, thinking Emma capable of lulling her into some false sense of security. But still, she wouldn't disturb them, as much as she wanted to leave notes there as well. Which left her resorting to messengers, who were now participating as well.

Using Kathryn had began as a necessity to make sure a letter could get to Regina on the weekend, but when the future lawyer pried what it was for out of Emma and responded so enthusiastically to the idea, Emma felt it couldn't hurt. A lot of people owed Regina apologies, and she was going to make sure Regina got them, one way or another.

Not to say it was working.

She got reports back from some of her emissaries: that Regina accepted them, but coldly; that she had taken the idea of ice queen to heart once again. No longer were there even hits of her nerdy passion, her deep emotion. There was absolutely no indication that Regina read them, not a single word, but Emma wouldn't stop. Not until something happened. Whether that would be Regina blowing up at her or responding more favorably was still uncertain.

Everything was rather uncertain.

News had gotten back to her quickly about Whale, and while she wanted to beat him senseless for it, Regina had accepted, and Emma wasn't going to mess up something else in her life, no matter how out of character it seemed.

She could be so happy for Regina if she were asked by someone decent, just not the sleaziest guy in school. She could be. She thought she could be. The more she considered Regina going with Whale, the more she wondered if her dislike of the situation wasn't only about him, but about not getting to accompany Regina herself. It was silly. Of course she wanted Regina to have a real date. She just missed her friend. Desperately.

And she was going dateless on principal. Even though August had called to ask. And that cute, quiet guy Graham had asked about her. Sure they both would've made for cool dates, but that didn't matter. They weren't whom she wanted to go with.

"Hey, Ems."

Ruby was making her way across the field from her jumper's exercises to where Emma was sitting, watching the cheer team in their usual spot.

"Hey, Ruby," she greeted. Once Emma had gotten over herself, Ruby had been very forgiving considering her friend's behavior. Besides, she had had a part in it, too, and she was none too pleased at Whale right along with Emma. She liked Regina's spark, and to see it hidden once again only reminded her of how much they had missed with her to begin with.

"Tink flying yet?" Ruby asked as she collapsed next to Emma, sprawling her legs.

"I didn't see her. It looks like they're wrapping up."

"Damn." She shook her head then smiled one of her slyer smiles. "Did you hear about the cheer at lunch?"

Emma scoffed, thinking of the chatter she'd overheard all afternoon. "How could I not? I can't believe you guys did that."

"What? We wanted to campaign for Regina, but it's not like we could put signs up when you don't have any, and we weren't allowed to campaign for you."

Emma tensed, the wound not anywhere close to healed. "Ruby—"

"I know, Emma. I do." Ruby softened, backing off. "But she deserves to win. Maybe she can finally get some credit for being secretly awesome. 'Sides," she added, "in no universe do you count as queen material."

"Oh, thanks, Rubes."

"Who should you vote for?"

Before Ruby could protest that she was only kidding, Tink's voice rang out from the other side of the field as she began a series of easy cartwheels.

"Give me an R! Give me an E! Give me a G! Give me an I! Give me an N! Give me an A!"

Ruby answered all her demands, shouting letters enthusiastically as Tink made her way towards them, repeating their lunchtime cheer for Emma's edification.

"What does that spell?" Tink did a whole little arm routine as Ruby got up to join her. "Regina! Regina means queen!"

Tink and Ruby stood in their final pose, smiling brightly in the face of Emma's reaction.

She shook her head. Her friends were pretty great. "The stories really didn't do it justice, guys."

Ruby and Tink sat contentedly in Emma's reluctant acceptance, knowing that it was still a sore spot for her but both wanting Regina to win for their own reasons. Besides, she had to appreciate their acting like goofs on Regina's behalf.

"Thank you! Ruby and I thought it appropriate. We definitely should've done it sooner though."

"Yeah. I made the rounds earlier in the week, but I'm pretty sure most people thought I was kidding," Ruby conferred with Tink.

"Kathryn said the same thing! Though I think at least Regina might be warming up to her a little? She said she talked to her before one of their exams—"

"Guys, can we not?" Emma scuffed her feet against the grass, arms around her knees. She just wanted the whole thing over with. She wanted Regina to win, but she didn't want it to be about the bet. Really she wanted to go back and change everything, but that wasn't exactly an option.

She didn't miss the look Ruby and Tink exchanged over her, but thankfully they changed course. Though not to a much more comfortable subject.

"Have you changed your mind about going with anyone, Emma?" Tink asked not so innocently. "I'm sure we could find you someone, still!"

"No thanks, Tink," Emma managed. "I'm good. I mean, I'll see you guys there anyway. I was thinking I'd help keep you from having to spend that much one-on-one time with Hook. That can't be good for anyone."

Tink blushed through her scowl, knowing the teasing was in good spirits. Killian had only just gotten his act together to ask her, and it wasn't like he was treating her any differently in the face of their new situation.

"Ha ha. What about you Ruby? Are you going to help keep Emma entertained in spite of your date?"

"Well," Ruby drawled, "I did have a question for Emma, actually."

Emma raised her brows, not knowing what to expect.

Ruby turned to face her entirely, grabbing her hand.

"Will you be my date to prom, Emma Swan?"

"Ha—wait, what?"

"You're not going with Billy?" Tink cut in as Ruby smiled at Emma's bewilderment.

"Nope," Ruby answered. "I'm only going to go for the court announcements, and I didn't want him to think, I don't know, that I was leaving because of him or something."

"Why are you leaving early?" Tink questioned, still not knowing why Ruby would just want to go with a friend.

Emma however, was catching up, and had a theory of her own.

"You don't happen to have plans later that night, would you, Ruby?"

"I might," Ruby admitted slyly. "I'm a very popular girl."

Emma smirked. Tink was starting to puzzle something out, but she didn't quite know what to say yet.

"So what do you say, Ems? Let the coolest girl at school escort you to the dance?"

"But Ruby, then I would be going alone!" Emma teased dramatically as Ruby rolled her eyes. "Actually, though, Rubes," Emma changed her tone, genuinely grateful for her friend's support. "I would like that a lot. Thanks."

"No problem, Ems. You're doing me a favor."

"Sure," Emma granted, if unbelieving. "Still want to get ready together?"

"Definitely," Ruby agreed. "It'll be easier if I can get Archie to take a picture instead of having Granny parade me around the diner. Or keep me from appearing in public at all."

"All depends on which dress you ended up getting," Tink sassed.

"You'll see soon enough!" Ruby teased, rising from the ground to make her exit. "Tomorrow night, we dress up, we dance, we watch Regina get crowned, and then we work on stage two of helping Emma fix things with her."

"We do?" Emma asked.

"We most certainly do!" Tink exclaimed, joining Ruby. "Operation Emma Save the Queen isn't over yet!"