Blaire

For whatever reason, that picture of David holding me as a baby, had been on my mind since I woke up and I just felt...different. I couldn't explain it. As I walked down the stairs, I could hear shuffling in the kitchen. The house was otherwise quiet. I slowly poked my head into the kitchen to see David standing over the stove starting breakfast. He must have sensed he was being watched and turned his head to look at me.
"You're up early, I didn't expect to see you this morning after being up so late." He smiled.
"Yeah..." Was all I could manage to say. I glanced down at the badge resting on his hip along with the gun in the holster. "Working today?" I asked quietly. He nodded.
"Mmhm." He said. "What are your plans for the day?"
"Nothing yet." I said and shrugged.
"I'm sure you'll find something. There's plenty to do around here." David said. "I know Mary-Margaret and Emma are going shopping later for school stuff and groceries. maybe you could go with them." David suggested.
I nodded.

I stood there for a couple minutes, not really sure what to do or say. I wasn't good at small talk, or apologies, which I even though I apologized last night for exploding on him...I still felt like I owed the man something. Last night, after seeing that picture, and learning that my dad might have been involved in some questionable things here before taking me and my mom and ditching town, I felt like maybe I didn't know my Dad as much as I thought and it was a scary feeling for me because my Dad was always my best friend. Although David and my Dad were polar opposites, I felt like perhaps if I spent a little more time with David, I'd know the person my Dad was.

"You want to help and start the eggs?" David asked, breaking my train of thought.
"Um...sure." I said and walked further into the kitchen to the eggs, and the glass bowl sitting on the counter.
"Just scrambled eggs today, nothing fancy unless you like your eggs a certain way." David said.
"Mostly just in cake." I mumbled. I didn't think he heard me but he laughed and it was alarming. My Dad's Vocal tone was slightly different from Davids. Where as David was more soft spoken, my dad had a more gruff tone to his voice but their laugh, like their faces was identical and for a split second, it was a sunday morning back home at the table passing the comics from the paper back and forth across the table while inhaling half a box of fruity pebbles listening to my dad read the comics out loud in funny voices and then laughing, because I'd laugh so hard milk would come out my nose.

I felt a sting in my eyes, as tears threatened to fall. I shook them back and cleared my throat.
"You alright?" David asked.
"Yeah.." I said and nodded and looked down at the eggs and the empty bowl. "So...scrambled." I said.
David glanced at me. "Just break about 8 of those eggs into the bowl and take the fork, and scramble them up." He instructed. His tone wasn't condescending, or annoyed, like I half expected for some reason. He didn't question, the fact that a 17 year old had no clue how to scramble an egg, he just went with it and that was comforting.
"Okay." I nodded and opened the eggs and started doing as he said.

It was quiet between the two of us but a lot was being said without either of us speaking, or so it felt to me. There seemed to be a silent understanding.
"Okay, so just pour those eggs into this pan." David instructed. I picked up the bowl and slowly poured them into the pan, and he started stirring them right off the bat.
"The trick is, you want to cook them slowly on a low heat. Keeps them fluffy, and keeps them from over cooking." He said.
"Okay." I nodded and he passed the spatula to me so I could keep working on them.
"I take it you're not a big breakfast person." He smiled.
I shrugged.
"More so I have poor time management skills in the morning during school, and I tried to stay quiet in the mornings during summer break because my mom worked overnight as a nurse so she'd sleep in the day. Usually by the time I'd get up my dad was on his way out for his day job breakfast is kind of a to go thing in my house."
"I can understand that. It gets a little chaotic in the mornings here during the school year. Once you see your Aunt throw a toasted pop tart at Emma as she's barely making it out the door on time you'll see her in a whole new light." David smirked. I couldn't stop the snort laugh before it came out, or the smile that followed.

"Smells good." Emma yawned as she walked into the kitchen.
"It will be done in a couple minutes, can you set the table?" David asked Emma. Emma nodded and went to work setting the table, and getting what she could ready. It wasn't long before Mary-Margaret had joined us too.

I helped David carry the finished food to the table and we sat down to eat. This still felt strange to me, to sit down and eat together. It just wasn't something that happened in my house a lot. Neither was all of this communication. These people liked to talk to each other, they liked to talk about their plans, and their days meanwhile at my house, occasionally we'd leave I love you notes, on the fridge with the alphabet magnets my parents never bothered to throw out even though I'd clearly grown out of them. It was all a culture shock, and I knew that there were going to be a lot of bumps...I glanced up as Emma pulled a piece of egg shell out of her mouth...and chunks. I thought and shrunk down in my chair a little.

"So..I didn't really get to tell you yesterday, because you stormed past me and shut your door in my face...but I'm really sorry for what I said yesterday Blaire. It was uncalled for." Emma said.
"It's fine." I said. "Sorry for slamming the door in your face." I added.
"I totally don't blame you. I was kind of a jerk." Emma sighed. She was, I wasn't going to tell her she wasn't and I didn't know what else to say so I just nodded.

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I was getting ready to go shopping with Emma and Mary-Margaret for back to school supplies.
"Blaire?" Emma called at the door.
"It's unlocked." I called from my vanity and went back to my eyeliner. Emma opened the door and walked in.
"I have your school supplies list." She said and walked over and set it down on the vanity. "You'll have to get with my mom on your clothes sizes."
"I have plenty of clothes for school." I said.
"Oh... about that, we wear uniforms." Emma said.
I actually thought I would vomit right then and there.
"I Know. Gross right?" She said and stuck out her tongue. "Mom will have to order your uniform from the school."
"Wonderful." I sighed. "What does it look like?"
"White button up, a sweater vest, Navy blue plaid skirt, a tie, and black flats." Emma said. "It's not terrible, but everyone wearing the same thing sucks." She shrugged.
"It sounds atrocious." I said and finished my make up.
"You can tweak it a little, and most of the teachers won't notice. There are a couple though who take a dress code violation as a personal insult though." Emma rolled her eyes. I'd definitely be tweaking it. I was not going to spend my senior year looking like a nun.

Armed with our supplies lists, Emma and I took a shopping cart to go towards the back to school section, while Mary-Margaret took one and went to go in the opposite direction to shop for groceries.
"Any requests?" She asked Emma and I.
Emma shook her head.
"You know what I like." She shrugged. Mary-Margaret turned to me.
"Anything you want?" She asked.
I shook my head and felt myself gripping the shopping cart until my knuckles were white. Anxiety was a bitch.
"I'm not picky." I said.
"Okay, well if you think of something, Just call." She smiled. "We'll meet up here when we're done."
"Got it." Emma said. "Come on Blaire." She said and pulled on the cart, pulling me along with it.

"You are not going to survive here if you don't learn to speak." Emma chuckled.
"I've never been a talkative person Emma, Don't expect that to change." I shrugged as we walked down one aisle after another, Emma was grabbing two of everything and I noticed that one of every item she'd grab was either black or purple, at least she'd picked up on my color scheme.
There wasn't much different when it came to our supply lists. She had a few extra things that mine didn't have, but she already had her schedule set. I did not. I stopped to look at the sketchbooks. I'd made the mistake of leaving mine in Oregon, and I deeply regretted that. I picked one up and put it in the cart along with a pencil set.
"Thinking about taking Art?" Emma asked. I shrugged.
"Maybe." I replied.
"Cool." Emma nodded. "To the calculators." She said and pushed the cart along.

We stopped at the graphing calculators, and Emma looked at the list. "We both need this one." She said and picked up a nearly 200 dollar calculator and my soul left my body as she put two of them in the cart.
"Is this for school use or home use?" I asked.
"Homework, the school has some for during school but we can't take them home." She shrugged.
"Why..don't we just share one?" I asked.
"Because, I take my homework with me when I go to away games to cheer, you'd be left without one. It's fine. We can't do the math homework without them. Trust me." She said. "My mom knows we both need one. Did you not have to have one last year at your school?"
"I did, but when I saw the price, I borrowed one from school." I said and did air quotes on the word borrowed.
"Yeah well, we live with a cop who frowns on borrowing." Emma chuckled. "It's fine. Just calm down."
"Fine.." I sighed. "What's next?" I asked.
"I think we're actually done." Emma said reading back over the list. "Yeah we're done. Let's go find my mom, We gotta leave soon so I can get ready for work. If you want a job, I can get you a job." She said. "You'd be with Ruby and I. We only work during summer, and some weekends When Granny is really busy."
I shook my head.
"The diner thing is not really my scene. I'll find something else." I said.
"Okay, sure." Emma said. "There's plenty of places around here." She smiled and started pushing the cart to the grocery side of the store.

We met up with Mary-Margaret, who was still shopping.
"That was fast." She said looking at our cart.
"Well Mom, its senior year, we don't need a bunch of things like crayons and glue anymore." Emma smirked.
"Don't remind me." Mary-Margaret frowned.
"Are we almost done?" Emma asked.
"Yes, just need to get a few things for the end of summer bbq."
"Its not until next week." Emma chuckled.
"Just to be prepared."
"End of summer Bbq?" I asked.
"Oh! Yeah, we do it every year right before school starts again." Emma said. "It's fun. Half the school shows up so it will be a good time for you to meet everyone."
Oh Goodie.

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Next week

"Okay, lets see it!" My best friend from Oregon, Kass said through the skype call we were currently having.
"No." I groaned. I had just gotten my school uniform in and I absolutely hated it.
"Come on B. I wanna see!" Kass whined.
"Fine.." I sighed and stood up revealing the full uniform. I was trying to get used to wearing it, so I'd left it on for a bit after trying it on.
"That doesn't look that bad!" Kass said. "Its cute!"
"I look like a Britney Spears circa 98 reject Kass." I mumbled and sat down.
"You do not...so how is it over there?" Kass asked.
"Its not home." I shrugged. "I Miss you."
"Miss you too." Kass sighed.
"Have you heard anything about the case? No one is telling me anything and my dad hasn't called like he said." I frowned. Kass' Dad was a cop, and in the beginning her Dad was very open with me about the case, until he wasn't allowed to be anymore.
"My dad won't tell me anything." Kass frowned. "Sorry B. I do know they're still searching for your mom but thats it."
"Well.. Thanks anyways." I sighed.
"It will be okay Blaire." Kass said.
"So everyone says but nothing about this feels like it's ever going to be okay. I hate not knowing."
"I know. It sucks. I'm really sorry." She said and then sniffed around. "Oh God.. Dad is cooking something and its burning...again." She sighed. "I have to go."
I chuckled and shook my head.
"Pizza night at Casa de Cole?" I said.
"More than likely. Talk to you later B."
"See ya around Kass. Tell your Dad I said Hi."
"Will do." She smirked and disconnected the call. I stood up and shut my laptop before getting out of this uniform and hanging it back in the closet until I would be forced to wear it every day.

"Blaire! Pizza is here!" Emma shouted from downstairs.
Apparently it was Pizza night at Casa de Nolan too, and I was not complaining. Today marked exactly 4 weeks since my mother had been missing and I needed something greasy and bad for me. I threw on a pair of sweatpants, and my favorite faded Gargoyles tee and went down stairs and into the kitchen where the pizza was on the counter. I grabbed a plate, and a couple slices and joined everyone else at the table.
"Did your uniform fit okay?" Mary-Margaret asked.
"Yeah it's fine." I nodded and took a bite out of my pizza, thinking that if my mouth was full they wouldn't ask me questions. It worked, they went on to talk about the BBQ they were planning for tomorrow.
"Did you invite everyone Em?" David asked.
"Yes they're all coming. No one misses it." Emma grinned.
"Good." David smiled. I swallowed the food in my mouth and something strange possessed me.
"Can I invite Will?" I asked suddenly, not even sure where that idea came from.
Emma looked like she'd rather choke and die than have Will show up tomorrow. There was a weird silence in the room now.
"Sure, I don't think that would be a problem. There's plenty of food." Mary-Margaret spoke up and smiled at me. David and Emma didn't seem to be sure about the idea but David at least nodded and gave me a smile.
"I'm glad you've already made a friend." He said.
"Not..really. Just...I figured if half the school was invited, Will should be too." I shrugged. "He probably won't even want to come." I added.
"Hopefully." Emma muttered under her breath but she was sitting right next to me so I heard it. Emma and I got along okay for the most part, but I hated this side of her. I wasn't a ray of sunshine, but I damn sure was not going to exclude someone based on what side of town they lived in.

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The next day, I walked down town and towards the alleyway where Will was usually hanging out.
"Will?" I called. "I know you are lurking around here somewhere." I added. I heard a thud, and the gravel crunch behind me and I turned around to see Will. I looked around wondering where the hell he'd come from before I saw an awning above the back door to the Rabbit Hole.
"Were you up there? What are you a fucking cat?" I asked.
"No fleas here love." Will smirked. I rolled my eyes.
"What were you even doing up there?" I asked.
"People watching." Will shrugged. "It's fun."
"If you say so." I said.

"What brings you to my corner of town?" Will asked. "Oh! I know." He said and dug in his pocket and fished out my dads lighter and tossed it to me. I caught it, and ran my thumb over the boxing glove decal on the front of it and then held it tightly mentally sighing in relief to have it back. I couldn't believe he held onto it long enough to give it back.
"Thanks." I said and put the lighter in my pocket. "But that's not why I'm here." I added.
"Oh?" Will asked and sauntered forward.
"Cool it tiger." I said flatly. "I came to invite you to the Nolan's Summer BBQ thingamajig tonight." I said.
Will nodded.
"I see. Pity is not your color love." He said.
"It's not pity, love." I snorted. "You're the only person in this town that I've met so far that's remotely tolerable and It's more me begging you not to make me have to put up with Emma and the pom pom squad, alone."
"Sorry Blaire, that's not my thing." Will shrugged. "Thanks for the thought tho." He said. I sighed heavily.
"Fine, I get it. I wouldn't be there if I wasn't expected to be there anyways." I shrugged.
"You could just come over to my place." Will shrugged. "Avoid that mess all together."
"I can't. I don't want to have to explain my disappearance to them and they will ask." I said. "I better go. See you later." I said.
"See you later." Will said and climbed back up onto his perch to people watch.

On my way back to the house, I stopped at the gas station to get a pack of cigarettes, if I was going to have to deal with a backyard full of people, I was going to need a boatload of nicotine later to avoid a panic attack. I just hoped my tricks from Oregon worked here.

I stood in line waiting, and as I was waiting the bell on the door rang. I looked towards the door and raised my eyebrow. I quickly looked away as the man made eye contact with me. He walked up behind me standing in line.
"Headphones." His accented voice whispered.
"Cranky motorcycle man." I muttered.
"Oh. Owch." He chuckled.
I stepped up to the counter.
"Marlbro menthol 100s please." I said. The clerk looked at me skeptically.
"ID?" He asked.
"Sure." I nodded and grabbed my wallet from my back pocket and looked through it. I sighed. "Shit.. I left it at home. I've been in such a hurry today..Can I just give you my birthdate? Its been a really bad day." I said working up some fake tears "Its just my cat-" The clerk sighed and rang up the cigarettes obviously not wanting to hear me cry about a cat I didn't have. I handed over the money and thanked him before taking my cigarettes and leaving.
I leaned against the front of the building to smoke before going to the house.

"So what's the story with the cat?" Cranky motorcycle man asked as he exited the building.
"There is no cat." I said and blew smoke away from him.
"I figured, as I saw your ID in the front part of your wallet." He winked.
You have no business giving me that look sir.
"I'm busted." I shrugged.
"Thats a bad habit you know." He said getting on his motorcycle. I glanced at the pack of cigarettes he had outlined in the pocket of his tight fitting black jeans.
"Oh, the hypocrisy is strong with this one." I said.
"I was talking about the lying. That's just bad form lass." he said and the man actually tsked at me.
I narrowed my eyes at him.
"What no finger? That was quite classy of you last time." He smirked. I held the cigarette between my lips and gave him both fingers this time before walking off. He may have looked like a priceless work of art, but he was getting under my skin.

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I'd mostly kept to myself during the BBQ. I'd met a few of my new teachers, and Emma had introduced me to quite a few students. Some of them were tolerable, Ruby and Regina didn't seem too bad, Kathryn was damn near insufferable as were a few of the other mean girl types.
"Oh my God.. what is he doing here?" I heard someone whisper and then I heard Emma groan.
"My cousin invited him." She muttered. "Just ignore him."
I looked up at the gate to the backyard at Will standing there. I grinned and stood up and walked over to him.
"You came."
"Well love, I kept thinking of your adorable sad puppy eyes as you walked away and I felt a little bad." WIll smirked.
I scoffed.
"I don't do puppy eyes asshole, shut up and eat a hot dog." I said and led him to the table with the food.
"Why, Blaire Nolan I do think that was the nicest thing you've said to me." He chuckled. "Be careful one might think we're friends." He said.
"I don't care what these people think." I shrugged. "Call it whatever you want." I looked up at him and he was just grinning at me.
"What?" I asked.
"Nothing.. This might actually be the year I don't skip every day is all." he shrugged.

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First Day Of School

As far as first days of school went, this one didn't seem too horrible, the morning was as David promised, Chaos and it was the only thing that felt somewhat normal since I'd been here. The first couple of classes went okay. I'd managed to avoid having to introduce myself which was good. Half way through the day, I had to get these damn flats off. They were killing my feet. Luckily I'd brought my converse with me.

After lunch though, everyone seemed to be getting restless and my nerves were a mess as I sat down in the only empty seat in 5th period, which happened to be History. The teacher wasn't in here right now so of course students were laughing, and talking loudly and my brain felt like it was being scrambled. I dug my headphones out of my bag and turned my music on trying to block it all out before I began to panic. I had severe sensory overload issues, so I took my headphones everywhere for this reason. I felt like I couldn't breathe, so I took the sweater vest off, and loosened the ridiculous tie around my neck and just tried to calm down.

I didn't even realize I'd completely zoned out until something nudged my desk. I looked up.
You've gotta be fucking kidding me..
Angry motorcycle man was standing in front of my desk, Gone was the leather jacket, and Helmet hair. Now he wore a crisp Navy blue shirt, A silver tie, and a black and gray waistcoat. The tight fitting jeans were still a thing though. I pushed my headphones off my ears and he held his hand out.
"Really?" I asked. He just kept his hand out. I sighed and took my headphones off completely and put them in his hand.
"Thank you." He said. "Now that I finally have your attention, As you are a new face in my class this year, Let me introduce myself. I'm Mr. Jones I teach History here at Storybrooke high.  I'm sure you've already met my brother, He teaches your Algebra class. He runs his classroom quite differently than I do, as you'll see I don't expect you to know my rules right away, but when I'm teaching, I'd like to have everyone's attention."
Don't worry, you've got it.
"I don't allow cellphone use in my class or headphones and when I am speaking, you are not. Is that clear?"
I swallowed thickly and nodded.
"Good. Now, care to introduce yourself?" He asked.
You would.. You great bag of dicks.
"I'm Blaire Nolan... Emma's cousin. I'm from Oregon and that's about it." I said. I felt my knuckles going white around my pencil.
"Excellent. Welcome to Storybrooke Blaire Nolan from Oregon." He smirked.
I hate you, I hate you, I HATE YOU

Mr. Jones began to walk away when he noticed my shoes. I felt like tightening this tie and ending it all at this point.
"Miss Nolan, you are aware that Storybrooke has a very strict dress code, correct?" He asked. "Along with your shoes being wrong, you appear to be missing part of your uniform. He glanced at the sweater vest I had crumbled on the floor beside my backpack. "You may be my first victim to be sent to the office today and on the first day of school." He said and he tsked at me again.

I took a deep breath and batted my eyelashes at him.
"But Mr. Jones, surely a teacher of your obvious credentials would not deprive a student like me of your lessons simply because I'm not following the ridiculous standards this school has set as far as what I can wear." I said with as much mock sweetness and sass I had in me. I glanced at Emma who was shaking her head wildly at me with her eyes widened and honestly that just fueled me even more. I turned back to Mr. Jones. His blue eyes were burning holes into mine. The muscle in his jaw twitched a couple times. Clearly he was not used to someone challenging his authority in his own territory. His lips curved into a smirk.
"See me after class Nolan." He said before turning on his heels and walking back to the front of the class.

It was mostly just a summary of what the lesson plans for the semester were. Back in Oregon, the history teacher was also the football coach and to avoid his team from failing, he just wrote answers to the homework and tests on the board and played movies all year. Mr. Jones seemed to take a much more hands on approach to teaching, and from the way it sounded, he basically had a zero bullshit tolerance policy. He took History more seriously than the people who lived through the shit he was teaching.
Once the bell rang, I gathered my things and waited as the other students were leaving.
"Yeah good luck." Emma said.
"Why?" I asked.
"You just signed your death certificate for the rest of the year. He's going to make your life hell Enjoy that." Emma sighed.
"Get to Class Miss Nolan." Mr. Jones barked. We both looked at him for a second. He sighed. "Wonderful I have two of you this year. I mean you Emma. Tick tock." He said and waved his hand in dismissal at her before turning to me. He sat down at his desk and gestured me forward with a come hither motion.
Someone gave this man too much Goddamn power.
I walked to the desk and sighed.
"What?" I asked. He slid my headphones across the desk at me.
"I told you these would get you in trouble lass." He said. I picked them up and put them in my bag.

"I don't know how they did things in Oregon, but I assure you it's not going to work in my classroom." He started and then began to lecture me. My eyes scanned his desk as I zoned out of what he was saying when I found a picture of him, and a woman. A wedding photo. I then looked down at the wedding ring on his finger, and then back to the photo. This woman... I'd seen her before. My first night in town, at the diner. She was the horrible woman in the bathroom who was meeting up with some other guy who wasn't her husband. I'd almost forgotten about our encounter.
"Miss Nolan!" Mr. Jones barked. I blinked and looked at him.
"Welcome back from Neverland Miss Nolan. Honestly, you'll need to work on paying attention if you want to survive in my classroom. You may go. Come to class dressed appropriately tomorrow." He said and dismissed me.
"Maybe." I shrugged and walked away from his desk. I glanced over my shoulder at him as I was leaving the classroom. 
Oh Mr. Jones...I know something you don't know..