A/N: Here is another chapter! Sorry it wasn't as soon as I thought, but I thought I give you a chapter for the week! Thanks for all the encouraging reviews and suggestions! I love hearing from you! It gives me more motivation to keep writing this story! Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Emma and Ella

Chapter 5: Running and Tardies

"Emma! Emma!" Ella called from her locker on the other side of the hall. She shut it and ran over to Emma.

"No running, Miss Ella." Mr. Jones said as he was walking down the hall, monitoring students as they came in for the morning.

"Sorry." Ella responded as she slowed to walk. "Emma, are you okay?"

"What?" Emma asked in a daze for what she just said to her Dad and how he kissed her forehead. She was wondering if this home was really going to be her home for good. It was a weird feeling to have considering she hadn't had many good foster homes.

"Mom told me you got lost in the woods and then that you hurt your wrist!" Ella said looking very worried about her best friend (and sister).

"Yeah, but I'm fine." Emma said with a smile.

"My mom was freaking out when she heard that your Dad couldn't find you. She then started to freak out on me, thinking that I knew where you were." Ella said as she shook her head.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize that everyone would worry about me." Emma said as she bit her lip to stop from smiling. It was a bit funny that Ella almost got in trouble.

"It isn't funny. She almost grounded me because she thought I was lying to her." Ella said half-serious, half-kidding.

Emma chuckled.

*****OUAT*****

The bell rang surprising both of the girls who had lost track of time. They had decided to go to the bathroom before heading to their first class with Ella's mom. They hadn't realized that it was getting close to when school would start until the bell rang.

"Oh no. My mom is going to kill us for being late." Ella said as she grabbed her books from the counter.

"I didn't realize it was already that time!" Emma said as she grabbed her books too and they started out of the bathroom.

They both ran down the hall to get to the room.

"Ella. Emma." Mr. Jones said sternly from behind them.

Ella and Emma stopped suddenly and looked behind them.

"No running in the halls." Mr. Jones said sternly as he looked at the girls, then looked at Ella. "That's the second time I have told you, Ella, to not run."

"I know, but we were late…" Ella whined.

"That's no excuse. If I see you running again, I will have to give you a consequence." Mr. Jones interrupted her.

Ella blushed in embarrassment for getting in trouble. The consequence would be after school detention and her mom would then ground her. She didn't want that especially for something as dumb as running in the hall.

"Get to class, both of you." Mr. Jones said firmly.

Emma and Ella quickly turned around and walked to Ms. Blanchard's room.

"You're late." Mary Margaret said as her daughter and Emma came into her room.

"Sorry." Emma and Ella both said at the same time.

"Sit down and start the bellwork." Mary Margaret said in a softer voice. She still had to mark both girls tardy since they were late to class. If they got three tardies, they'd end up getting after-school detention. Since this was both of their first tardies, as far as she knew, they would just get a warning.

*****OUAT*****

Emma sneezed and Mary Margaret grabbed a few tissues to take to her. "Are you feeling okay, sweetie?" Snow asked in concern as she felt her forehead.

Emma pulled away a little with a blush at her teacher, and possibly, father's girlfriend, checking her temperature in class. It was just embarrassing. "I'm fine." Emma said as he took the tissues. "It's probably just a cold."

"Okay. If you need anything, you can come to me." Mary Margaret said, not worrying about the embarrassed look on Emma's face.

"I will. Thanks." Emma said, but then grimaced. "You aren't keeping David updated are you?" Emma asked.

Mary Margaret just smiled and walked away.

Emma rolled her eyes.

"You can't stop her when she is worried about you. Believe me, I know." Ella said, but there was a knot in her stomach that kept growing and growing as she saw Emma get closer and closer to both her mom and David. She was close to her mom, but not David. At least not the way it seemed that Emma was warming up to her mom. Emma got to spend more time with her mom than she got to spend with their dad, David.

"Earth to Ella." Emma said with a chuckle as she tried to get Ella's attention. Ella turned to her quickly.

"What?" Ella said, a bit out of it.

"Geez, you were out of it. I asked if you got all your homework done." Emma said with a smile.

"Yeah. Mom never lets me get out of doing it." Ella said.

"I didn't get it done. In fact, I didn't get anything done." Emma said with a frown. She was suddenly regretting going to school when she could have had an out today.

"If you don't tell my mom, I'll let you copy mine." Ella said quietly, and unsure, but she felt bad for her friend.

"You would do that?" Emma asked stunned.

"Yeah, you're my best friend." Ella said with a smile. "Here. Math and Social Studies."

"Thanks."

"That's enough talking, girls. Get to work." Snow said firmly from her desk and Ella and Emma looked at each other with sheepish grins.

*****OUAT*****

After lunch, 6th period

"Not again!" Ella said as he ran from her locker to her next class. Emma had went ahead of her.

"Miss Ella, what did I say about running?" Mr. Jones said.

Ella skidded to a stop with a panicked look. "Uh…not to run."

"And?" Mr. Jones prompted.

"That you would go easy on me because I don't normally get in trouble." Ella said hopeful.

Mr. Jones raised his eyebrows. "No, I said that you would get a consequence. I'll see you at detention after-school."

Ella frowned. She has had detention before, but not many times and whenever she did, she got in trouble with her mom for getting in trouble at school.

"Get to class." Mr. Jones said and Ella frowned as she headed to class, walking this time.

Ella grimaced this was the second time in one day that she was going to be late to class, at least it wasn't her mom's class this time. It was, however, math class and he didn't like students coming in late.

She snuck in the back, hoping he wouldn't notice she was late.

"You're late, Miss Blanchard." Mr. Mac said with a stern look.

"Sorry." Ella responded as she slid into her seat that was next to Emma.

"Sorry isn't going to erase the tardy on your attendance record." Mr. Mac said unimpressed.

Ella glanced at Emma with a sheepish look and she just gave her a reassuring smile.

"I got detention from Mr. Jones for running in the hall again." Ella whispered to Emma.

Emma grimaced. "Oh that sucks."

"Yeah and its Friday so I have to start my weekend with detention." Ella whined.

"Sorry." Emma said with a frown.

"It's alright. Mom won't be happy with me though." Ella whined.

"Miss Blanchard, do I need to go ahead and call your mother or are you going to start working?" Mr. Mac said with a stern look.

Ella shook her head no as she blushed in embarrassment. She then looked over at Emma with a frown. She wasn't having a good day and it would just get worse the way things were going.

*****OUAT*****

Last period….

Emma was feeling terrible as she walked in to Ms. Blanchard's class. Her wrist was hurting, her head was hurting, and she couldn't stop sneezing and coughing.

Mary Margaret saw Emma walk in and knew that the girl was not feeling good. She shot David a text to let him know that it looked like his daughter had come down with a cold.

"Emma, are you feeling okay?" Mary Margaret asked as she came over to Emma.

"Yeah, yeah." Emma said before coughing again.

"Well, just another 45 minutes and you will be going home." Mary Margaret said with sympathetic look.

Emma nodded and Mary Margaret headed up to her desk.

The bell rang and Emma looked around to see that Ella wasn't in the room yet. She grimaced. That meant Ella would be getting another detention for her being late three times.

Ella came in a minute later.

"Ella. You're late again." Snow said with stern look.

"I'm sorry, I just lost track of time." Ella started to explain.

"That's not a good enough excuse, Ella." Snow said with a disappointed look. "Sit down and get started."

Ella frowned, but did what she was told.

*****OUAT*****

30 minutes later…

An aid from the office came and gave Mary Margaret the detention slips and notes from the office for her class. She always had a couple for her class. She started to look through them and when she saw Ella had two detention slips, she frowned. One for being tardy three times and the other for running in the hall. She sighed. "Ella, Peter, Thomas, and Sandy. Please come here."

Ella bit her lip, she knew what it was about, her detentions. She got up and went to her mom's desk.

She was handing out the detention slips to the other students and saved hers for last.

Ella bit her lip as Mary Margaret gave her the two detentions with a disappointed look. "We will talk about these later." She said quietly so only her daughter would hear her.

Ella nodded before heading back to her seat.

10 minutes later the bell rang and all the kids started to pack up their things to leave.

"Emma." Mary Margaret said as she made her way over to Emma and Ella. "Your dad is running a little late so he wants you to stay in my room till he gets here. Why don't you go pack up and then come back in?"

Ella was quickly packing her things so that she could go to her locker and avoid her mom.

"And Ella, you can go pack up and come back in here before going to your detention. We need to talk." Mary Margaret said sternly.

"But Mom…" Ella whined.

Mary Margaret just gave her daughter a stern look and Ella stopped arguing.

Emma and Ella went out to their lockers to get their things ready.

"I'm sorry you are in trouble." Emma said with a sympathetic look. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm in trouble too. I'm grounded for over two weeks and have tutoring with your mom on Tuesdays and Thursdays."

"Well I know I'll be grounded for a little while for getting two detentions, but it sucks because its for something as dumb as running in the hall and then being late." Ella said with a sigh.

"I know." Emma said sympathetically. "I only came today to see you. I knew I was going to be stuck at home all weekend so I asked to come to school. Isn't that sad?"

"Yes, it is, but I totally understand. I'm actually looking forward to Monday just for some freedom." Ella said with a sigh.

"We better get back to your mom's classroom." Emma said.

"Yeah, I have to report to detention in 10 minutes." Ella said with a frown as she shut her locker.

They walked back to Mary Margaret's room and walked in. She was talking to another teacher so they both sat down in their normal seats.

When the teacher left a few minutes later, Mary Margaret turned her attention to them. "How are you feeling, Emma?"

Emma smiled. "I'm fine."

Mary Margaret smiled sympathetically before turning to Ella. "Ella, come here."

Ella slowly got up and walked up to her Mom. "How did you manage to get two detentions in one day?"

"I didn't mean to." Ella whined.

"That's not a good excuse, young lady, and you know it. You know how to be on time and you know not to run in the halls." Mary Margaret said as David came into the room.

"I know, but…." Ella started to argue, but was cut off.

"And Mr. Mac and Mrs. Stevenson said you didn't turn your homework in which I know you did."

"I lost them, that's why I was late to Mr. Mac's class I was trying to find them." Ella fibbed a little.

"How do you lose them when they were in your folder?"

Ella froze. She wasn't going to squeal on Emma and get her in trouble. "I don't know." She whined instead. That's when she heard her familiar voice behind them. She glanced to see that David had come and she blushed realizing he had probably heard most of their conversation. Now she was mad her mom for scolding her while he was in the room.

"You don't know?" Mary Margaret asked with raised eyebrows.

"Yeah, I don't know! Now can I go before I am late?!" Ella yelled sarcastically, she was angry at her mom.

David looked over at the pair with concern. He had never seen Ella act so disrespectful to her mom.

"Ella, you do not speak to me that way." Mary Margaret scolded her sternly.

Ella rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"We WILL me talking about this later. Now, go on to detention and come back here straight after." Mary Margaret said in quiet, yet stern voice.

"Whatever." Ella said dismissively as she turned to leave, but then saw David watching her with a disapproving look.

David didn't know where it came from, but he found himself cutting Ella off. "Your mother doesn't deserve to be talked to that way. Why don't you apologize?" He found himself saying in a firm voice.

Ella really got mad then. He had no right to tell her what to do! "NO!" Ella yelled before running out of the room.

"I am so sorry. She normally doesn't act this way." Mary Margaret said in a shocked voice.

"That's alright." David said with a sympathetic smile. "I probably shouldn't have interfered."

"Oh that's alright. It was kind of nice to have someone else to back me up. Parenting alone can be lonely." Mary Margaret said.

"I know what you mean." David said as he looked back at Emma who was looking sadly at the door where her friend just ran. "Thanks for looking out for Emma today. It was nice hearing how she was doing throughout the day."

"Oh your welcome. I didn't mind helping." Mary Margaret said with kind smile.

"Hey we haven't had a dinner in a while would you and Ella like to join us for dinner sometime this weekend at our place?" David asked hopefully.

"Well, I would love to, but I'm going to ground Ella and her getting to see Emma would be against the grounding rules." Mary Margaret said, but David could see she was conflicted.

"I know, Emma is grounded too, but that doesn't mean we are grounded." David said with a smirk.

"I know, but…" Mary Margaret said as she bit her lip.

"No buts, please." David pleaded with a charming smile.

"Okay, how about Saturday?" Mary Margaret said with a smile.

"That sounds great!" David responded. "Maybe we can make the girls do the dishes as a punishment while we watch some TV."

"That sounds like a good idea." Mary Margaret said with a chuckle.

David smiled. "See you then."

David and Emma left the room and headed down the hall, but as they were on their way out they saw Ella leaving the building.

As they got outside, David saw Ella sitting on the curb. He handed Emma the keys. "Go get in the truck. I'll be there in a minute."

"Dad…" Emma said, not thinking once again. She just didn't think he should interfere with Ella and possibly get her in more trouble.

"Now, Emma." David said firmly.

Emma did what she was told and took the keys and got in the truck.

David walked over to where Ella who was sitting on the curb and sat down next to her. "What are you doing, Ella?" David asked softly.

Ella rolled her eyes. Why did he even care about her? She was already embarrassed that she was scolded in front of him and that he reprimanded her for the way she talked to her mother. That's not what she wanted from him. "Nothing."

"Shouldn't you be in detention right now?" David asked quietly. He was actually surprised by Ella's behavior and attitude. She usually was a lot more respectful.

"I'm already late." Ella responded quietly, feeling both guilty and embarrassed.

"Don't you think you should go anyway?" David asked gently.

"I don't want to." Ella said with a pout as she crossed her arms. She was already late and she decided she wasn't going to go when she ran out of her mom's room.

"I don't think it is an option." David said with a sympathetic, but firm look.

"Well I'm not going." Ella said stubbornly.

"Ella." David said firmly.

"I don't have to listen to you." Ella responded with attitude.

"No, you don't, but I also can't leave you here alone." David said softly. "You either need to go back inside with me or else I am calling your mother."

Ella heard the serious tone in his voice and knew that he would do that if she didn't go in, but she couldn't just go in. She then had another idea.

"If you do, I'll just run away." Ella replied with attitude.

David raised his eyebrows. "You know that I am the sheriff now, right?"

"Yeah." Ella said a bit nervous, but she also didn't know what he was trying to say.

"Then you should know that I will stop you because your mother would end up calling me to find you and it would just be easier to stop you now rather than find you later." David said with a smirk.

"Fine. I'll go in." Ella whined before standing up.

David stood up too, but as he did Ella tried to make a run for it. He quickly grabbed her arm though and turned her to him. "I told you." David said with a disappointed look. "Come on, let's go."

Ella looked up at him in confusion as he still hadn't let go of her arm. "What? I'm not going anywhere!" Ella argued.

"Yes, you are. You are going to detention and I am going to walk you there." David said before he pulled her along, but not roughly.

"No! I'm not going!" Ella replied as she started to pull away from David.

"Either that or I am taking you to your mother." David said just as firmly and didn't loosen his grip on her arm.

"Fine, I'll go to detention, but I can go on my own." Ella said.

"I don't trust you to get there on your own." David said with a frown.

Ella frowned as they got to the door and David opened it. He still hadn't let go of her arm. He probably figured she would run again.

David walked Ella all the way to where Mr. Jones was holding detention. When they got right outside of the door, David stopped and looked down at Ella. "No more running away, okay?"

Ella nodded reluctantly. "Are you going to tell my mom about this?" Ella asked nervously.

"I can't keep something like this from her." David said sympathetically.

Ella looked down with a frown.

"I'm sorry kiddo, but its part of the parent code." David said with a smile, at his little joke.

Ella rolled her eyes.

"Go on in and be a good girl." David said as he let got of Ella's arm.

Ella blushed a little at him telling her to be good, but went into detention.

"You're late, Miss Ella." David heard a man saying before the door closed. David chuckled softly before heading back outside to where Emma was waiting for him in the truck.

Hope you liked the interactions between Mary Margaret and Emma as well as David and Ella. :) Loved to hear your thoughts, please review!