Summer Breeze

When the bell from Stroybrooke High rang announcing the beginning of summer vacation, no employees or teachers dared to stay in the hallways. A bunch of cheery teenagers tired of studying left their classrooms in a rush and ran towards what they call freedom before their next school year.

Emma Swan was the last one to leave her classroom right beside her best friend Graham. Ruby, also one of her best friends, had been one of the first to leave, and for the rest of her classmates, she only heard the exchanged goodbyes while she was putting away her school supplies, and didn't even see when they left. It was always like that. Emma was not in a rush to leave school right away. She didn't like to study, but apart from all those exams and homework, she thinks school is kind of cool.

Emma was about to walk through the door when she stops to look at her desk checking if she forgot anything, and like usual, she hadn't, but Ruby did. The supposedly rebellious girl with dark hair and red locks always forgot something, and when Emma didn't remember to stop and look back, whatever it was there it would stay there until the next day. But that was the last day of school and whoever finds her friend's notebook probably would throw it away, not that Ruby cares, of course. Still, anyhow Emma stopped in her tracks, rolled and eyes, and took a deep breath, thinking if she should or not take her friend's notebook.

"You can go. I'll catch up later." She said to Graham before heading to the desk beside hers and putting away the notebook inside her bag.

Emma is a blonde girl with a hair that is sometimes straight, sometimes curly and piercing light green eyes, who had repeated her first year of high school. Something she never even regretted, because it gave her friends, something she didn't have before. For some Emma was weird, for others Emma was fun, and sometimes, when 'dressed like a girl' like some would put in, she got to the top of the list of the prettiest girls in school. But of course, this isn't everything and she doesn't care about those stupid lists made by immature jerks, it's what she thinks.

Swan is the daughter of Storybrooke 's Sheriff, David Swan Nolan. Her relationship with her father is good, and it got a lot better when her brother Neal was born as a consequence of an accident and her mother's coma. Mary Margaret was a kindergarten teacher before the accident, and after five months in a coma, she left, shaking heavily the structure of the Swans when leaving behind her nine-year-old daughter, her husband, and a baby.

Emma doesn't like to talk about her with people, besides some very specific ones, but loves and misses Mary all the time. Misses the small and big details, the happy moments, and the fights that in that time were cause by the girl's behavior or when she'd say she never would be a teacher.

Mary would get mad with her daughter's choice, but if she was to choose a career between her parents, it would be her father's for sure! And she has that thought until the present day, she doesn't get along with kids enough to be able to teach them something. The only child and has an affinity for is her eight-year-old brother, Neal, and she doesn't want any other.

The blonde was running to get to Graham where they usually keep their bicycles and realized her friend quicken the pace as she was getting close. She knew what he was doing, and when he turned back to check if it was Emma who was behind him, she knew, she was certain, Graham smirked at her and started running in her forefront, she tried running faster so she won't get left behind and thanked fate for helping her when Graham had difficulty in getting his bicycle out of the bike rack.

"That was a low blow!" Emma complained breathless, taking her bicycle out of the rack, much more easily than her friend previously did.

"You're still gonna lose!" Graham threw back, getting on top of his bicycle and pedaling throughout the street. Emma didn't hesitate, she too mounted her bicycle and soon reached him.

"There's only one thing, Graham," Emma said when they were side by side. " I never lose!" She

completes convinced and excited, increasing the strength on her feet and leaving her friend behind.

Luckily for them, Storybrooke wasn't a town that big, so in ten minutes they were crossing Dale Street N 68 and Emma had won the race.

A few seconds later, Emma slowed down and let Graham come closer. Every day the two friends would race to the boy's house, who lived in the corner of the street Emma herself lived, and that was something they loved to do. Something they used to do way before gaining their bikes and when the studied in a closer school, that way they could run to their houses and both had enough energy for that.

Emma and Graham met on the first day of school right after the boy moved to the small town on the shore, over ten years ago. The second Emma saw him, shy at the gate, she asked if he would like to go to school with her, and she also asked if they could become best friends. After the "yes", they repeated that every day for the past 11 years.

He was one of the main reasons Emma didn't regret repeating her school year because after so long, they finally could study in the same class and spend more time together since she was one older.

Besides Graham, the third element of their inseparable trio was the rebellious brunette who forget everything, Ruby. Emma considered her a sister just like she considered Graham a brother, and they always knew each other, but the difference between their classes, in both senses of the word, always kept them apart a little bit.

The Luccas, Ruby 's parents — her father, above all, — didn't 't see the Swan 's with the same pleasant eyes as he saw Ariel Swisher, another rich girl from the neighborhood who lived across their house. And because of financial interests, they didn't let their daughter be too close to the blonde and their friend. However, her mother was the polar opposite and helped Emma with open arms when her mother passed away.

Emma, Graham, Ruby, and Ariel were a quartet before the redhead moved into the big city, and even though they didn't spend all of their time together, they were a team. They never missed Emma's soccer game, or Ruby's drama club play, something that Emma too loved, but never dared to try and participate in it.

The blonde's favorites hobbies were the most varied and opposites, like skating and dancing ballet, or playing soccer and writing poems — poems who would never be read by another living soul as long and she's alive and forbidding it — but her greatest passions would always be skating and surfing, although she doesn't practice one of the two.

Emma greets Graham 's mom who was at the door while her friend entered the house and carries on her race to Ruby 's house. The brunette lived in Storybrooke's upper-class neighborhood, and consequently, in the most remote part of the town. It was a beautiful area, with wide streets surrounded by immaculately green trees and manicured gardens that made the mansions even more attractive as you passed them. Emma loved to imagine their insides and picture herself living in one of them in the future, especially when Ruby invited her to spend the afternoon there or throw wild parties all night when her parents were out of town. The blonde wasn't a party kind of girl and didn't drink like those people, but would love to have in her own home the pool table that was such a success in the parties, or at least the couch she sits on when waiting for Ruby to finish their afternoon snacks before sitting by the table for Emma to copy the day's difficult homework.

Emma's reverie dissipated when she turned to Mifflin Street without looking sideways and was almost run over by a black Mercedes coming in the opposite direction from her, turning to Mifflin Street as well. She hit the brakes sharply as the car dodged her body and she stopped her bike trying to recover from the shock.

She was trying to control her breathing but failed to do so when the passenger window began to descend slowly revealing a woman with brown hair and dark glasses, which prevented Emma from seeing her face. The blonde was terrified, thinking she was about to receive a lecture from the woman when she saw the driver leaning over, looking at her with concern.

"Are you alright?" He asks, trying to look Emma up and down, searching for any scratch or bruise, and the blonde nods still confused and a little scared, but the man's kindness soothes her fears.

"Are you alright, darling?" He turns back and asks the person on the backseat, and Emma looks at the rear window but can't see more than a figure. After he received an answer, inaudible to Emma, the man looks back at her and takes a deep breath.

"You should be more careful." He remarks. Or you should drive more slowly in a small town, Emma thinks but ends up just nodding again. The woman glares impatiently at the driver and he looks back briefly at the blonde before closing the window and starting the car again.

Emma crosses the street and slowly continues on her way, watching the scene that was unfolding across the street from Ruby's house. The Mercedes that had almost run over her a few seconds ago stopped behind a moving truck that was being unloaded at Ariel's old house. Mifflin Street, 108.

Emma's timing was perfect. As soon as she hit her brakes in front of the number 109, Mrs. Luccas comes out the front door with a huge smile on her face. That smile could easily be directed at Emma, but the woman just tells Ruby that Emma's there and walks right past her, heading towards the new neighbors, indicating that the smile wasn't in fact because of her.

While she waited for Ruby to show up, Emma watched everything across the street. The man and the woman left the car, the man waited for Ruby's mom to come closer while the woman guided the people unloading the truck, and finally, Emma looked again at whoever was in the rear seats, but the dark film in the windows didn't let her see anything.

"I heard they have a daughter our age." Ruby says, scaring her friend who was completely distracted with all the movement.

"Jesus, Ruby!" Emma scolds, reaching for her heart.

"Do you think she's as cool as Ariel?" She asks, causing Emma to pause and reflect on her friend's words.

"I don't know... But you probably have to be her friend." Emma teases her friend by emphasizing the word "have”. Ruby rolls her eyes, takes a deep breath and nods.

"My father already made me aware of that." She speaks with disgust. Emma smiles briefly, finding it a little funny, but deep down she feels sorry for her friend.

"Speaking of him..." Emma starts taking the backpack off her back and picks Ruby's notebook. "Take this before he gets home early from work and sees me here." She completes, delivering the object to her friend, and going back to ride her bike.

“Won't you wait and see what she looks like?” Ruby asked curiously and Emma hesitated for a moment. She wanted to stay, but she had already watched the family for a long time and this could make them think she was a complete weirdo or create an uncomfortable situation.

“I don't want to stay to stare at your new rich neighbors,” Emma replies and realizes that her friend is hardly paid attention. She follows Ruby's gaze and sees Mrs. Lucas talking animatedly with the man. At one point the woman pointed at Ruby and he looked at where the girls were, Ruby waved at the two of them and they started talking again, he pointed at the car and Ruby's mother's expression seemed to be understanding.

"Are you going there?" Emma asked.

"I don't think so. They're coming for dinner tonight anyway." She replies with a shrug "I think he and my dad are going to work together, or worked, something like that" She completes nonchalantly and Emma nods. The girls were silent as Ruby's mother came home and passed them.

"Well, I better be going." Emma tried after a while in silence.

"Don't, wait." Ruby said quickly and took her friend's arm. " Looks like she's getting out, look" She added signaling to the car and Emma looked. The passenger door was open and the woman she had seen before, now without her sunglasses, seemed to be trying to convince the girl to get out of the car.

The man opened the driver's door and got in, seconds later the girl got out and the woman closed the door, allowing the man to start the car and leave. Emma and Ruby's gaze accompanied the car, curious about where it might be going, but he just parked it in the garage and left the car.

The girls' gaze went back to where the woman and the girl were and they finally noticed her. The girl was dressed in a black feminine suit, the skirt was not so long and her hair, even though it was short, was tied in a perfect ponytail. In her hands, she carried a medium round aquarium and her gaze was fixed on the floor.

Emma watched the girl curiously, saw her subtly look around, and noticed the woman signaling to someone inside the house. A maid promptly appeared and offered to take the aquarium from the girl, who reluctantly handed it over. She seemed immobile and unhappy to be there. Not long after the man came back, the woman went inside with the maid and the father seemed to try to cheer the girl up. Ruby started to wave when he pointed at them, but the girl didn't even look.

"Well..." Emma started uncertainly when she realized that things were not looking so good across the street. "Good luck with your dinner." She commented mockingly.

"What's wrong with her?" Ruby asked curiously, clearly judging her in advance.

"I don't know, but I wouldn't be happy to move at her age. Imagine the friends she left behind."

"Yeah, it could be that."

"Look, now I really need to go. I need to eat and sleep before someone gets home and interrupts my peace." Emma said settling on the bike and preparing to pedal.

"Call me when you get home." Ruby asked.

"Fine!" Emma replied, forcing her feet to move and pedaling away from her friend. "And don't forget your notebook at school, I'm getting tired of always bringing it to you!" She screamed away laughed, Ruby accompanied her in laughter and answered.

"You'll never get tired of me, Emma!" She screamed back jokingly, knowing that her friend would never leave any object of someone she knows lost around. Ruby went inside giving up on watching the new neighbors and Emma looked back one last time. She saw the man hug the girl sideways and they walked together into the house.

Emma looked ahead again before another Mercedes decided to make an appearance and continued on her way, pedaling fast. She really wanted to go home to enjoy the little time she still had on her own, but in fact, the only thing she could do was think about the new girl in town. Emma believed that her mood could be due to the moving, moving in was never cool, and she also wondered why she looked so sad, why she had interested her so much, and also wanted to think about what she could do to cheer her up.