Teaching Love

Chapter One

It's the rush of this season that always pumps her veins full of adrenaline and drives her nerves with anxiousness. The season brings the satisfying crispness of new paper, the fresh smell of new wooden pencils, and the annoying squeaks of out of the box sneakers running down the halls. The excitement of this day jolted through her bones as her alarm clock rang.

The day has come, it is the first day of school.

Regina rolled over in her bed and swiftly hit the off switch on her alarm clock. She stretched her arms up and heard a few pops from her cracking joints that went stiff during summer vacation. She allowed herself a few minutes to sink into the gray comforter and enjoy the peaceful quiet of her apartment before she went into work and experienced chaos.

Her job was not for the faint at heart since she worked at a middle school and taught eighth-graders. The students were at the turning point in their lives and were becoming moody and erratic teenagers. While she hated some parts of having to deal with these pre-teens she loved every second of her job. She liked being able to teach the English language and assigning classics for her students to read no matter how much they hated to do so.

She rolled out of bed after a few moments, trying to savor the feeling of her bed just a while longer. The first thing she did was slip her feet into her slippers and started the path to her kitchen. She liked her small apartment and loved to live alone, the quiet was nice to come home to after a long day at work. Pressing the start button on her coffee maker started her morning routine.

After starting her coffee, Regina goes into the bathroom and heads straight into the shower. After showering, brushing her teeth, and doing her makeup she was ready to get dressed. She always dressed casually on the first day to make the children feel comfortable with her. Although, her meaning of casual meant her favorite trousers and a simple blouse. Casual meant flats instead of her usual high heels.

Once she was done with getting ready she grabbed her purse and headed into the kitchen. She placed her purse on the counter. Her coffee mug was waiting for her in the cabinet so she could grab it and fill it up. Once she did that she took a seat on the barstool that was tucked neatly under the island counter. Everything was clean and everything was in order for her day to start.

"Hm," Regina hummed as she sipped her coffee.

It was black, just how she liked her coffee. She started her mornings like this every single day. It was a nice and carefree routine. Without her coffee, without her schedules she would become something like an evil queen and the world doesn't need that.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts and put her empty mug in the dishwasher. She ended up pouring the rest of the pot into her red travel mug like she always did. Grabbing her purse and her keys from off of the hook by the door, she was ready to go.

Regina lived in a little town in Maine called Storybrooke. She didn't live here her whole life but it definitely felt like she did. Before Storybrooke she lived in a city that she trained herself to forget about. This was her home now and she was comfortable here, she wanted to create a life here. She's been here for about five years now and she loves her job at Storybrooke's elementary school.

She pulled into the parking lot and pulled her parking pass out of her purse to place it on the dashboard. She left the car, heard it beep as she locked her doors, and then walked into the door that the teachers were assigned to use. The halls were still quiet and the main lights were off as she walked through the quiet halls.

"Good morning, Ms.Mills. Did you enjoy your summer vacation?"

Regina smiled at the secretary of the main office, Ms.French. The woman was young and was always kind to all of the teachers and faculty. She was hired last year and Regina found herself taking a liking to her.