Teaching Love

Chapter Three

The bed was warm and the blankets wrapped around her like a soft cloud. Regina rolled over in her bed and smiled as she buried her head deep into the covers. She had just woken up from a lovely dream that included a certain blue-eyed coworker of hers that included a lot of kissing. His lips felt like a dream and she was cursing the birds from chirping so loudly. She could've been deep in sleep if it wasn't for those-

"Chirping?' Regina questioned out loud as she popped her head up. Her curtains were doing a poor job of blocking out the beaming sun.

It was eight fifteen. It was eight fucking fifteen.

"Oh, shit!" She exclaimed as she hopped out of bed.

She was late for work! At this time the children were filing into class and she wasn't there. She's the teacher and she's not even in the classroom right now! Regina rushed out of bed and jumped over her fluffy slippers, she didn't have time for them this morning. She was thanking every spiritual being in the universe for persuading her to shower last night.

"Oh, I look terrible," she sighed when she saw her reflection in the mirror. "I look like Ms.Swan, my goodness."

Her eyes were puffy from the night before as she spent her evening crying over romance movies. Her cries of loneliness were echoing in her mind as her eyes moved from her reflection. She went through her morning routine in the usual twenty minutes it took her. Yes, she was late but she wasn't rushing perfection.

It was the start of the winter months now and it was getting colder. Regina loved the fall and winter seasons because it gave her reasons to bundle up. Her outfit today was casual with dark blue jeans, a white sweater, her favorite over the knee boots, and a red scarf. Damn, I look cute today she thought as she looked at herself in the mirror. She took another glance at the clock and sighed.

Nine o'clock.

"Time is moving too fast. Why did I oversleep?" She whined as she threw on her winter coat and grabbed her purse.

She sadly ran past the coffee maker and out towards her car. It beeped with a small chirp and she started the engine in no time. It was freezing out and the grass looked crunchy and frozen. She turned on the heat and was waiting for her car to heat up. After a few minutes, she was going to shift into drive before her phone rang. Her phone was deep in her purse and she had to dig around for a few moments. Who was even calling her this early in the morning?

"Hello?" She asked without looking at the caller ID.

"Hey, Regina. I'm glad we can talk," a man's voice said on the other line.

Her blood ran cold when she heard his voice, it's been so long. "I-I can't talk to you right now. I don't want to talk to you."

"You know you owe me this."

Owe him?

She hung up the phone and threw it back into her purse. She had to get to work before she lost her mind and tears started to form. She took a deep breath, gripped the steering wheel, and shifted into drive.

The classroom was quiet when Regina creaked the door open. She looked over at her students and saw them quietly working on the assignment they were given. Her heart couldn't help but swell with pride at how well behaved they were in her absence.

"Nice of you to join us this morning, Ms.Mills. It's nine thirty and you're just a tad late," Robin said as he looked up at the brunette.

"Shut it, Locksley," she whispered as she sat at her desk.

She shrugged off her winter coat and dropped it over the back of her chair. She took out her lesson plan for the day and sighed when she realized this would put her behind. She had everything planned to the second for the school year and now she was behind. Cutting into Robin's teaching time wouldn't be fair so she would have to suck it up and replan everything.