Emma and Ruby were sitting on the couch in the student council room, waiting for Graham and Regina to finish doing whatever they were doing that day. It had become pretty much a daily routine in the two weeks since their movie date – well, whatever it was. She and Ruby would end up in that room after they were done with whatever they had after school; for Emma that meant GSA meetings twice a week, and Ruby ran track as well.

Every now and again Mary Margaret would show up too, but she was usually too busy with tutoring, soccer or James.

Emma leaned back into the couch, waiting impatiently for something to happen, and stared up into the ceiling as a way to keep herself from staring at Regina. She had been trying really hard not to make this friendship awkward, and after the initial weirdness between them at the movies, they'd had a much better friendship. But Emma's feelings were still frustratingly present. She'd tried to make them go away, but the more she got to know Regina, the more she wanted to be with her.

"Did you hear Fiona and Katie broke up?" Ruby's voice brought Emma back to reality.

"Really?" Emma asked, shocked. "You mean for real this time, not like those two-day breaks they have…"

"No, it's for real. I heard Katie's even seeing someone else," Ruby added. "It seems like our lesbian golden couple is finished for good."

"Woah. I really thought they would be together forever. You know, go to college together, get married, have a couple of kids, the whole deal."

"We all did, I think," Ruby agreed, "but I guess they're just like the rest of us after all."

Emma turned to Graham and Regina. "Are you two gonna be done soon? I'm getting hungry, and I want pizza."

"Of course you do," Graham said with a laugh. "You always want pizza."

"And we are still waiting for Jessica Pearson," Regina pointed out, "who was supposed to be here almost half an hour ago. She has never been this late..."

"Yeah, about that," Ruby said, and Regina turned to her. "I think you'll have to wait a while if you're expecting her to show up." Ruby wore a bit too much of a smirk for Emma's taste. It usually meant Ruby knew something, and Emma hated when Ruby knew stuff she didn't.

"Why?" Regina asked wearily.

"It seems our little miss perfect was caught stealing the answers to the History quiz. Looks like her 4.0 GPA wasn't achieved by good old fashioned study after all. If my information is correct - which, let's face it, it usually is - Simpson expelled her, and she isn't coming back."

"You seem far too happy about that," Graham said.

"Ruby has hated her since she 'stole her boyfriend'," Emma explained, rolling her eyes. "Despite that fact that they had barely kissed. And she didn't even really like him."

"Oh, shut up, Emma."

"What?" Emma asked innocently. "Come on, you know it's true."

"Fine, whatever, it's totally true. Why were you waiting on her anyway?" Ruby directed the last part at Regina.

"She was supposed to be the leader of the Snow Ball committee, and that committee was only the three of us. Apparently party planning isn't what most people at Storybrooke High consider fun," Regina answered, somewhat sarcastically.

"But the Snow Ball isn't for months," Emma exclaimed. "Why are you thinking about that already? What about the Halloween Bash?"

"Because, Miss Swan-Blanchard," Regina began, in that tone that Emma loved, slightly playful but still somewhat annoyed, the kind of tone only Regina was able to pull off. "We need to plan it, fund it, choose a theme, a band, decorations have to be made... It takes time to pull off a dance successfully. And it takes people. Something this school doesn't seem to grasp. Sure, they love to go to dances, but planning it? No. We've had the Halloween Bash worked out since the semester began, especially since it is next Friday. Besides, Halloween Bashes are so much easier. We have a theme, and the Rumbling Dingoes are playing, and—"

"Emma and I can help," Ruby interrupted. "I mean, with the Snow Ball. We're here practically all the time anyway. I know it's only for seniors and juniors and that we're only sophomores, but come on…"

"Knowing you, Ruby, you'll be dating a senior or a junior by Christmas," Emma teased. "I mean, you said you were over dating younger boys, right?"

"You can be so mean sometimes," Ruby faked cried and stuck out her tongue at Emma.

"But Ruby has a point." Emma looked at Regina, and despite hanging out with her practically every day for the past two weeks, she still felt those damn butterflies in her stomach. "We're here. We're always here. Besides, party committee will look great on my transcript." Emma added that last part with such sarcasm; it made both Regina and Graham laugh.

"Are you sure about this, Emma?" Graham asked. "Regina isn't kidding; it's a lot of work. Especially if no one else turns up. I thought Regina would strangle me last year when we were planning the junior prom…"

"He is exaggerating," Regina interjected, but Emma could see Graham shaking his head in the background, causing Emma to laugh.

"Well, it has to be better than just sitting on the couch, and having Ruby braid my hair," Emma teased again.

"Oh, come on, Em. I braided your hair once," Ruby said. "And you looked really pretty afterwards."

"I'm always pretty," Emma said with a grin. "I am a natural beauty."

And at that Ruby burst out in laughter, and before long the other three joined in. When the laughter died down Emma said, "So what do we need to do, your majesty?"

"Majesty?" Regina asked. "Last I checked this school isn't a monarchy."

"It fits you," Emma just said and smiled at Regina. "You always seem so regal."

Wait, was she flirting with Regina? No, Emma, she told herself, quit it. Flirting is not good. Flirting is bad, flirting is complicated. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Maybe if she continued telling herself that, she would eventually stop.

She sincerely doubted it, though. Flirting was such a big part of who Emma was; she never really meant anything by it. She just flirted, but somehow with Regina it was different. It had always been different with Regina, and Emma had the feeling that it probably always was going to be different with Regina.

"Please don't say that to my mother..." was all Regina said, before adding, "First we need money. For the Snow Ball, I mean."

"Can we sell raffle tickets at the Halloween Bash? Get some local businesses to sponsor us with some prizes?" Ruby suggested. "I'm sure Granny would be willing to donate, like, a week's worth of pancakes or something."

"If I didn't already get those things practically for free because I have the bestest best friend ever, I would die for that prize," Emma said. "What do you guys think? Good idea?"

"Yes, it's a start. And especially if you two could get the sponsors," Regina added with a smirk. "I mean, I have so much work to do here."

"Fine. We'll go begging for you," Emma answered. "I'm going to get us the most awesome prizes you've ever seen."

"You have an unhealthy competitive streak there, Em," Graham said.

"There's nothing unhealthy about wanting to win, Graham," Emma said, "How else can I be better than everyone else?" She added that last part with a fake obnoxiousness and a smile.

"You never fail to surprise me, Emma," Regina said with a smile. "I always thought you were such a mellow and well-rounded person." The last part was added with a friendly amount of snark that had become very common in their conversations. It was never mean, only teasing. And Emma kind of liked it. It added something familiar to their conversations, something that in many ways was just theirs.

"I'll make sure she behaves, Regina. I promise," Ruby said. "We'll start tomorrow after school. There isn't a GSA meeting tomorrow, right? And I have a rest day from track, too."

Emma realized that it was more of a statement than a question, "Sure, Red. We'll go sponsor hunting tomorrow."

"Great," Regina said. "We also held a Secret Santa thing last year that was reasonably successful, which if we start in early December and take perhaps a fee of $5 to get a Secret Santa, and to have one, we'll have some extra cash. There's also a small amount that I got Simpson to contribute to when we went over the Budget two weeks ago."

"Can't we also do a Battle of The Bands kind of thing?" Ruby suggested. "I know we have at least three or four local bands that I am sure would sign up. We could charge for the event and then the winning Band would get to perform at the Ball. It would solve two problems."

"It's a good idea, but someone would have to organize it and find a place and stuff..." Graham said. "Though I'm sure Simpson would let us use the Gym, he is usually pretty lenient with that stuff. And the AV club has all the equipment we need."

"I suppose I could just tell Killian to organize it. He is usually quite good with band things. He just doesn't care about balls and dances, or else I am sure he would be on this committee as well," Regina added.

"And he will say yes?" Emma asked, because she had never witnessed Karl "Killian" Jones do anything to do with student council ever.

Karl "Killian" Jones, uber-cool senior, was the lead singer of Rumbling Dingoes, and always had this attitude of being better than everything that went on at school, despite being super smart, and getting mostly A's. He was however very into the music scene, and had the reputation of throwing the most kickass concert and band nights.

"You will learn that your sister isn't the only person at this school that people have problem saying no to," Regina said, and Emma got the feeling that the reasons why Regina usually got her will had little to do with her puppy eyes.

"For some reason, I don't doubt that at all," Emma said, and Regina just smirked, before adding, "Well then, that is sorted."

"Does that mean we can go get pizza now?" Emma asked, hopeful. "I really want pizza."

"Sure, Emma. We can go and have pizza," Regina said. "We can pick up this on Thursday. We have nothing else planned for Thursday, right, Graham?"

"No, but there is the heads of the clubs meeting on Friday…"

"Crap, I had totally forgotten that. I need to talk to Mrs. Montgomery tomorrow to finish the report," Emma said hastily, "but I totally have it under control."

"Sure you do, Em," Ruby said, and patted her on the back. "Sure you do."

Graham looked down at his watch, "Damn, I can't go get pizza with you. I have to get home, I promised Sasha I would help put together the crib."

"Aren't you such a great baby brother?" Emma said in a faux baby voice.

"Actually, I am," Graham said, and smirked at Emma. "Better than you are anyway".

"Only because I'm not a boy," Emma teased. "But I guess we'll just see you tomorrow?"

"Oh, before I forget. You guys are coming to my birthday party on Saturday, right?" He gestured to Emma and Ruby.

"Me?" Ruby asked, surprised, "Why?"

"Because you are cool, Ruby," Graham said. "So, you in?"

"My first senior party? Yes, yes, yes. I'll totally convince Granny into letting me go." Ruby was all smiles. "I have been waiting for this moment my whole life."

"How about you, Em?" Graham asked. "Your sister is coming."

"Then I am in. Dad would never let me go alone, but for some reason he trusts her," Emma joked. "No, but seriously. I would love to come. Are you going, Regina?"

"Yes, my parents aren't home this weekend."

"I promise to behave better than last time…" Emma said, and smiled sheepishly to both Regina and Graham.

"What happened last time?" Ruby asked, confused. "You told me nothing happened."

"Nothing happened. I just acted… silly." Emma said quickly and with a look that said drop it.

"If you say so…"

"Come on, let's get that pizza," Emma said, effectively ending the conversation as she took Ruby and Regina's hands and dragged them out. "Bye, Graham."

A/N: I AM SO SORRY THIS IS SO LATE AFTER I PROMISED YOU GUYS THAT I WOULD UPDATE IF YOU GAVE ME LOVE, and you did. So much and it made me so happy. These last couple of weeks have been really rough on me, my grandmother died and I had a bunch of school stuff to do and all I really wanted to do was nothing. But I promise that things are better now, I am feeling better, hopefully I will get some more of this done soon. I am thinking about 6-7 more chapters in this story, and then the sequel. Also I know very many of you wanted to see more of the movie date, and I promise you that I have a plan and you will get what you signed on for but this will be a slow built.