Chapter Text
The sun beamed through a brief gap between the yellow curtains allowing a beam to shine directly into Emma’s eyes as she slowly woke up. After checking her alarm clock, she realised she still had 30 minutes before her 7 am alarm. Staring at the ceiling, she wondered what would happen at school, dreading the day ahead. She was the school's freak because she hadn't spoken since moving there. Robin Locksley, the football team captain, picked on her that first day, deeming her an easy target. Emma had only made two friends that day, Ruby Lucas and Belle French. Meeting them in her English class when the principal brought her in…
Emma walked into the main office to get her timetable from the secretary at her desk and also had to meet with Mr Gold, who would take her to her first class. When she arrived, she quickly got her whiteboard and pen out and started writing ‘Hello, I’m Emma Swan and I’m supposed to see Mr Gold.’ Emma turned the board around and looked up at the secretary whose name she found was Miss Blue. She looked at her with shock, but there was also a glimpse of judgment in her eyes. However, she quickly picked up the phone and said, “Mr Gold Emma Swan is here to see you.” After a second, she put the phone down and nodded for Emma to go through the door. Emma nodded in thanks and made her way to Mr Gold’s office. With each step she took towards Mr Gold’s office, Emma felt nervous butterflies erupt in her belly. She thought she would be used to this by now, having moved a lot, but it was as if she was starting school again for the first time. She knocked on the door and heard a faint come in, so she quickly swiped her sweaty hands against her jeans and opened the door. Emma immediately noticed the old man sitting behind the wooden desk as she walked in. A cane was leaning at the side of the desk beside the man she presumed was Mr Gold. Mr Gold looked like he was in his 50s with grey hair that was gelled back and sat on top of his shoulders. “Ahh Miss Swan, welcome to Storybook High; I will walk you to your first class and introduce you to the rest of your classmates. Do you have questions so far?” He spoke. Emma shook her head no and Mr Gold stood up from behind his desk, grabbed his cane, and gestured for her to follow him.
Mr Gold led Emma through the corridor; Emma took the chance to look around and take in her new surroundings. A faded blue carpet covered the floor, and white walls displayed various posters with slogans like “they gay get over it.” She guesses that her new school was open-minded. They walked past the main doors and rounded the corner to a set of double doors with a sign saying English. Mr Gold stopped at the first door on the left number 101 and knocked on the door before opening it. “Good morning students, I would like to introduce you to our new student, Emma Swan.” With that, he walked out of the room and left Emma standing at the front of the classroom.
Emma could feel everyone’s eyes on her and tried to keep her head down and avoid looking up. The teacher's sudden rising from his chair startled Emma, who was still lost in her thoughts. He walked right towards her with a warm smile on his face, “Welcome Emma, I’m Mr Humpert; why don’t you take the spare seat between Ruby and Belle at the back”. Emma looked up to see where he was pointing and noticed two brunettes he was talking about. One had red highlights in her hair and the other had long hair and she had a book in her hands. She quickly made her way towards the seat, keeping her head down and avoiding making eye contact with anyone. As soon as she sat down, the brunette on her right promptly turned around and said, “Hey I’m Ruby and this is Belle; where did you move from?” Emma suddenly became shy as the realisation that she could not talk to them without writing and she was not so sure how they would feel if she took out her board. They don’t look like the people to judge, but she didn't want to take that chance yet. So she quietly opened her new English book and listened in to Mr Humpert going on about the book Pride and Prejudice. Emma had already read that book multiple times, being in foster homes afforded her a lot of free time to read. She discovered her love for books and often lost herself in reading. Her silence did not bother Ruby and kept trying to talk to her as if they were friends. “I think you should join us at our table for lunch and Belle and I can help show you around the school, isn’t that right Belle?” “Course we will!” She looked up was and wondered what reason Ruby and Bell had that they wanted to hang out with her. No one had ever wanted to hang out with her before. Lily was the only friend she had ever made, and that was a few years ago. Deciding to just take the risk and hope it doesn’t backfire on her, Emma nodded in agreement, hoping that she would not come to regret her answer. After that conversation, Emma zoned back into what Mr Humpert was saying, and it was like that for the rest of the lesson.
Emma stayed in bed, lost in thought, when the alarm started blaring. Turning off the alarm reluctantly, she slowly got out of bed. After stretching until she heard her back crack satisfyingly, she selected a black tank top and red leather jacket, followed by black skinny jeans from her drawers. She quickly dressed, put her hair in a ponytail, and went downstairs. She ran into her foster mum, Mary Margaret, “Oh, good morning, Emma.” Emma looked up at her, nodded, and headed straight to the kitchen to eat breakfast. Mary Margaret followed her into the kitchen, blabbing on about her work with the younger kids in the nursery. Don’t get her wrong; she was listening, but sometimes Mary forgot that she could not respond to her rambles. She had left her board in her room so it’s not like she could write or anything. Having shovelled the rest of her cereal, she ran upstairs, grabbed her bag, and headed for the front door. She remembers the first time that she met Mary Margaret…
It had only been a few months after the car accident that both of her parents had died by a drunk driver who crashed into the front of their car. Emma’s therapist said her silence stemmed from the trauma of witnessing her parents' death in front of her. After they placed her in a group home, she met Lily, the only child who attempted to speak with her. She was only 15 and just starting her second year in high school. She was just in the bedroom which all the girls shared when Miss Frost came in with another woman. Miss Frost oversaw the group home, which was not the worst, but not all that great either, mainly leaving us all to do our own thing. The woman next to her was smaller than her with her short black hair and she seemed quite shy. They came into the room and the strange woman introduced herself as Mary Margaret. Emma was just sitting on her bed with a book on her lap, just looking at Mary Margaret, wondering what she was doing here, and without saying a word looked back at Miss Frost with a look of confusion written on her face. Fortunately, Miss Frost understood what she was silently asking and with a roll of her eyes while sighing, showing just how annoyed she was with Emma, said “Emma, Mary here is looking to see if you want to go back home to stay with her for a while.” As Emma remained silent, Mary’s hopeful look turned into a frown but before she could ask questions, Miss Frost jumped back in and said “Mary, Emma has not spoken a word since she has been here, I would not take her silence to mean anything.” With another sigh, Miss Frost went and got a pen and a piece of paper and handed it to Emma. Emma took another at the pixie-haired woman and thought she looked to be a nice person and with that thought in mind, she quickly scribbled down a yes and showed her answer to both women. Mary was beaming at the thought of having the girl to take home with her as she had always wanted a girl but never got the chance, she had to give up her baby when she was only 18 because her parents would not let her keep her. Miss Frost looked a mixture of annoyed and happy, probably happy because it is one less kid to deal with, but annoyed that she is losing out on the money that she will get. Emma got off her bed, went into the cupboard to take out her bag, and started packing up all her things, which were not a lot.
Once she was all packed, she looked back at Miss Frost and they left the room to head back downstairs and to the front door. Just before the door had opened, Emma felt arms wrap around her from behind and when she turned around, it was Lily with a tear-stained face from crying, “I will miss you, Emma.” With that, she returned the hug and held Lily tighter. This place would have bored Emma without Lily. With a last goodbye, Emma and Mary walked down the driveway to the car that was parked on the side of the road.