The School Play

Chapter 1

Emma looked at the many faces gazing at her. She'd told herself many times not to fumble with her hands or shirt or do anything else that showed that she was insecure, but it felt like she'd lost control over her hands.

The classroom was brightly lit, with much newer furniture than she'd had at her old school. That surprised her, she hadn't thought that a town as lame as Storybrooke would have a modern school, but apparently she'd been too quick to judge.

She looked at the faces of the children in her new class and took her time examining them one by one. If she'd ever been quick to generalize people, this would top that. She was mentally putting everyone in boxes.

That's the closeted gay, that's the popular one, that's the girl that's popular because she's "friends" with the popular girl, that's the boy who's most definitely praised by every straight, bi or pan girl that crosses his path, she thought to herself.

Her mother had always told her to take her time getting to know people and to not judge too quickly, but her entire life Emma had done the exact opposite. Sometimes it was just easier to live while using stereotypes. Stereotypes were there for a reason after all.

"My name's Emma Swan. I'm seventeen years old," Emma said, knowing she'd been quiet for way too long. Part of her enjoyed that she had the ability to make everyone wait for her, and she planned on using this power for as long as she could.

Sadly, she didn't have much to share with her new class, because she really wasn't that interesting.

"Is there anything else you'd like to share about yourself? Just for the class to get an indication of you."

Emma looked at her new teacher. The woman was short and had her brown hair tied into a tight bun. She had a sweet face and seemed genuinely interested in her. Emma had met Mrs. French one time before and the woman had kindly explained a lot of things about the school to her.

"Uhm.. I don't think so," Emma said and smiled nervously. She hated that she was nervous. She had no reason to be nervous, yet she couldn't help it, as she stood in front of more than twenty children, who were at the most judgemental age of their lives.

"Is there anything you like to do in your free time?"

Emma really wanted to answer this question, but she just couldn't think of anything that she liked to do in her free time. After this moment, of course lots of activities would come to her, but right now her mind stayed blank and didn't help her at all.

"I like to..." Emma balled her fists to prevent herself from fumbling with her hands, "look..." She heard a few snickers coming from whom she'd labeled the popular girl and her friends. "At.... Trees."

Emma wanted to slap herself. Yeah, she did like to look at things. People, TV-shows, interesting news articles, but she didn't like to look at trees. She couldn't believe she'd embarrassed herself like that in front of the entire class, but she kept her posture straight and wanted to look as confident as possible.

"That is.. great," Mrs. French said, but the brief pause before "great" showed Emma how much she'd screwed up. "You can take place next to Ruby Lucas or Ivy Belfrey," she added quickly with an uncomfortable smile.

Emma reciprocated a nervous smile as her eyes shifted between Ruby and Ivy, the two girls Mrs. French had pointed at. Emma truly didn't care next to whom she was seated and she hated that she was the one that had to choose.

"Don't bother sitting next to Lucas. She smells bad." It came from the popular girl and Emma thanked her, because now her decision was quickly made. This popular girl was seated behind Ivy and looked defiantly at Emma, with a hint of a smirk upon her lips. Emma didn't even know her, but biased as she was, she already did not like her attitude.