The School Play

Chapter 11

The little amount of people always surprised Emma. She'd been going to the park for two weeks now, almost every day after school, and she adored it. There was a beautiful lake in the park, that reached out quite far.

She saw two men fishing with their little daughter, but they were the only people she saw. She herself was sitting in a bench, with a perfect view of the water. The first time she got here, she'd brought bread to feed the ducks - they still had some leftovers - but then she read that feeding ducks bread is bad, so to make it up for them, she'd brought some chopped lettuce the time after that.

Emma had enjoyed that a lot, so she'd make it a habit to stop by the park every day after school. Today, she had brought some lettuce for the ducks and she was studying her lines for the play.

They still hadn't had an official rehearsal, so Emma hadn't spoken to Regina about it anymore, but the script had been handed out. And she knew Regina still disliked her for taking the part, because every time the girl crossed her path, she shot Emma a dirty glare.

Emma didn't care, though. She didn't need Regina's approval. The script was well written and Emma had gotten genuinely excited about the play, so she didn't mind Regina disliking her taking the part. She didn't feel responsible for Regina's feelings.

She repeated the lines that were written on the paper out loud and later tried to say them by heart, as she looked at the water. Tomorrow, she'd have her first real rehearsal with a few of the people that were cast, including Regina, and she was quite looking forward to it.

Emma mumbled some lines out loud to get them inside her head, as she looked around the park. Suddenly, she noticed Ruby. She was sure she hadn't seen the girl in the park before, but she stood underneath an old tree with giant leaves, and she had her arm wrapped around another person, that seemed a lot like a girl, though Emma didn't want to guess someone's gender by just looking at them. Either way, the person seemed to be more than just a friend to Ruby. Emma forgot about her lines and gazed at her friend, who was slowly leaning in to kiss the other person.

When their lips touched, Emma quickly looked away. She felt as though she was invading Ruby's privacy, though she didn't know why her friend hadn't said a word about this new love.

Ruby often talked about crushes and guys that she liked, but she'd never mentioned a girl. Emma figured she'd subtly ask Ruby about it next time they met up. She glanced once more at her friend and when she saw Ruby's smile, she felt herself becoming much happier for her friend as well.

~~~~~

Emma had been observing her friend all day and she really wanted to start a conversation about what she'd seen the previous day, but she didn't quite know how to start it. She didn't want to feel like a spy and she actually hoped Ruby would initiate the talk. But the girl was the same as always.

"Ruby, I want to talk to you.." Emma softly said. They were sitting in the cafeteria, with but a few people near them, but she still wanted to make sure no one heard them. Both Ruby and she had a free period, but the rest of their friends were following classes.

"Oh, you're going to tell her?" Emma hadn't noticed Regina approach them, but the popular girl sat down opposite them, followed by three girls. Emma felt like it were always different girls, except for Ivy, but she couldn't see that girl anywhere near Regina.

"Tell me what?" Ruby asked confused and Emma, too, had no idea what Regina was talking about.

"She saw you kissing a girl in the park yesterday," Regina said and Emma's mouth almost fell open. How in the world did Regina know she wanted to talk about that? How did she even know Emma had seen that? She was certain the girl hadn't been there.