Regina
Regina scraped crusted cheese off the plate from her breakfast and dropped the red ceramic disc into the soapy water. Her mother was always breathing down her neck to keep the house in order. Her eyes lingered on the picture frame on the windowsill above the sink.
Her mother Cora, the mayor, was smiling with her arms around a little Zelena. Her father was sitting on the ground with baby Regina in his lap. Her mother insisted this picture was the only memory she had tangible of her father. Her mother had told her he had passed away when she was little from a boating accident, but the story never sat right in her heart. She could never remember having a boat when she was little. Regina assumed her mother was just trying to protect her from the truth so she never pushed.
Zelena was out with her friends, and Regina was left to clean the kitchen, vacuum the living room, and take out the trash as usual. Lately she had felt as if her mother had been punishing her more than "teaching her responsibility" as she insisted. Regina's mother was grooming her to take over as mayor of Storybrooke when she became old enough and with leading a town comes responsibilities she didn't want. She couldn't speak, how was she suppose to become mayor and lead the town when majority of them don't know sign language to know what she's saying? There weren't a lot of interpreters in Storybrooke. Her current mode of communication to the public was via powerpoint presentation on her mother's accord, which felt incredibly embarrassing.
Regina pulled the trash bag to the can at the end of the road by the white fence. She tossed it in as a yellow car drove by. She hadn't seen it before and they don't get a lot of newcomers. Regina grabbed her keys and hopped in her mom's red ford focus she dubbed "Queenie" and drove down to the diner. They were bound to end up there sometime.
"Regina! Did you hear?" Ruby shouted before Regina was fully through the door. She was balancing a tray of waters in her hand. Ruby was Regina's best friend, one of the few in Storybrooke close to her age.
"Hear what?" Regina signed back.
"There's some visitors to town. Granny checked them in last night. She said they were our age, the name's on the paperwork said August and Emma."
"Probably passing through," Regina replied with a shrug. She didn't want Ruby to know that was the reason she was at the diner that morning. Especially when she should be at home doing what her mother asked.
"You're no fun," Ruby huffed. "I, for one, am going to introduce myself as soon as they come in. Let's be honest, where else are they going to go to eat?"
"True." Regina took a seat at the bar and ordered a coffee. Regina knew as long as she got back home in time to finish her chores, she could waste a little bit of the day looking for the visitors. As predicted, not long after she finished her cup of coffee that two strangers walked through the door.
"I'll take a hot chocolate - can you add cinnamon on top?" The blonde ordered. She looked incredibly familiar to Regina, but she couldn't place where she had seen her before. The man beside her ordered a coffee, and gestured her to a booth, but when as she turned she made eye contact with Regina, and dropped the ceramic mug.
The ceramic shattered all across the floor, spreading hot chocolate and whipped cream in various directions. Regina, startled, jumped to her feet to help pick up the pieces.
"I am so sorry," the young blonde said quickly, grabbing the cloth that Ruby had thrown onto the counter for them to use. "I am such a klutz."
"It happens," Regina signed. The blond stared at her. Regina sighed, she didn't expect her to know sign language.
"She said, it happens," Ruby called across the counter, twisting a strand of brunette curl in her fingers. "That's Regina, she's mute, so she uses sign language, and I'm Ruby."
"Sign language?" The blonde gave a puzzled look. Regina furrowed her brow in annoyance.
"You know, to communicate? ASL, American Sign Language? Do you live under a rock?" Ruby rolled her eyes and Regina shot her a warning look.
"Right," the blonde laughed a bit nervously. "I'm Emma, I'm sorry for… all this."
Regina studied her face. It was driving her crazy that she couldn't place where she had seen her before but she knew she had never seen her around town because Regina knew everyone, her mother was the mayor. She doesn't know Emma.
"What brings you to town?" Ruby interrupted Regina's thoughts. Regina waited for her answer, curiously.
"Our parents are at a campground outside of town and they sent us in for supplies. They're very into the rustic style of living, but we aren't so much," the boy spoke up. "I'm August."
Once the hot chocolate was cleaned up, Emma and August sat at their booth as Ruby brought her a new drink. Regina occasionally stole glances, trying to get a read on the two. She prided herself in being able to read people well, but something about the two just didn't sit right with her. She was determined to figure out why.