ᴘᴇʀꜱᴇᴘʜᴏɴᴇ | once upon a time [ EDITING ]

- ᴇᴍᴍᴀ'ꜱ ᴅɪꜱᴀᴘᴘᴇᴀʀᴀɴᴄᴇ.

— ᴇᴍᴍᴀ'ꜱ ᴅɪꜱᴀᴘᴘᴇᴀʀᴀɴᴄᴇ.

"Aren't you exaggarating a little bit," the slouchy blonde boy asks. Presley slams her locker shut and throws a fiery glare at the boy. "She's gone for over a week and you think I'm overreacting, Felix?" He shrugs lazily with a roll of his eyes, confirming that is exactly what he thought.

Presley has known Felix ever since she started living with Emma and going to the local high school. He had failed the year and had to redo it, putting him in the same year as her. They instantly connected over their displeasure of being at school and their shared insults for the math teacher. Never has she seen the blonde boy concerned or worried about anything. He had always been rather laid back, carefree and reckless. No matter how much trouble he attracted. And boy, he was almost always in trouble, often dragging Presley along in his problems.

"Yeah?" Presley narrows her eyes. Her lips pressed into a thin, rosy line. "She promised to be back the next day. It's been a week. She would have called," she proclaims while barely keeping her composure. "Why are you worrying? Life is better without adults anyway," Felix responds. He takes a hit from his cigarette. Smoking was forbidden in the school building, but no matter how much he was reprimanded, he would continue on his habit. He sticks out his hand and offers her a puff too. The blonde rolls her eyes, but takes the cigarette between her fingers and takes a hit. "Imagine the amount of parties you can hold in the apartment without her knowing," Felix says, suggestively smiling.

Presley's sullen mood suddenly brightens up. Felix was right. Once Emma met the group of people she hangs around with, parties were usually strictly forbidden unless there were certain circumstances. But now.. with her gone..

No, she promised Emma. No parties.

"I promised Emma I wouldn't have parties," Presley responds. Felix not only rolls his eyes, but rolls his head as well. His neck length blonde hair moves as if he was doing a hairflip. "You are no fun, Pres." He takes his cigarette back and breathes out another puff of smoke. "Wanna head to the hangout?" The blonde girl raises a singular eyebrow at him. "You know we still have three more hours to go, right?" Felix pushes himself away from the locker. He starts to chuckle aloud, drawing out some attention from others in the hallway. However, they saw who it was and quickly look away. "So, what? Don't tell me you actually care about your grades now."

Presley sighs. She crosses her arms and let her shoulder rest against the now closed locker. "You know me. But Emma won't be happy if I miss too much school. Remember last time?" "As if house arrest could keep you from doing what you want to do." Felix pulls his cigarette from his mouth and throws it on the hallway's floor. With his boot he puts the cigarette out, leaving a dark stain to accompany the many others by her locker. "Now, are you coming with me or not?"

The blonde bites her lip hesitantly. The temptation was seriously there, but.. Emma trusted her. She didn't want for her to come back soon and be disappointed for how she acted when she was a few days away. "I'll step by after school. See you later?"

Felix smirks at her. "Sure, Presley."

°

Presley was enjoying the solitude of the lonesome apartment late that night with an opened bag of chips laying on her lap and some horror movie on the screen in front of her. It was quite boring with predictable jumpscares, but enjoyable enough to get through the quiet evening. She scrolls through some posts on her phone. However, that quickly bored her too and she throws her phone away somewhere on the couch.

The blonde stands up and shuffles barefoot over the apartment's wooden flooring towards the house phone. She picks the device up and goes to missing calls. None of them were recent and none of them had Emma's phone number. 

Emma had been away for long periods of time before due to her work as a bail bondsperson, but she would always call at least twice a week. Now.. there was radio silence. And every day that goes by without hearing from her makes Presley's anxiety grow larger. To her there was only one conclusion left. 

Something must have happened there in Storybrooke.

... And Presley was done.

She marches over to her phone and starts to search up this town she never heard of. Minutes pass of her typing in every search option she could think of, but nothing showed up no matter which app she used. As if Storybrooke didn't even exist at all. Presley was confused and about to give up hope. Perhaps that kid Henry gave them a fake address. Who knows? Storybrooke seemed like a faux name anyways.. 

But then something unexpected catches her eye. A website on the bottom of her search results. It looked like an official website of the town. If even that doesn't give me an answer on where it is, I am giving up, Presley tells herself. Her thumb presses on the link. It brings her to a beige and gold website with a few pictures of local buildings. On the bottom of the page was an address. Storybrooke was in Maine, four hours or so away from Boston. If she drives there now, she could be there somewhere around five a.m. or so.

Presley suddenly feels energized. She could get a couple hours of sleep, pack a bag of her stuff and get a car to rent somewhere to go find her. At least then she would be assured that Emma was alright, and yell at her for making her worry about her.

She turns off the television, changes clothes, brushes her teeth and crawls into bed. Presley had never driven that far or long before and she would need all her strengths to not crash into a tree somewhere. Like before..

°

The rental car was a wreck, but it served its job of driving. The airconditioning was damaged, so Presley had pulled down the windows to have at least some fresh air. The car smelled too, so there was another plus side to open windows. Otherwise, she might have suffocated behind the steering wheel. 

Presley had clicked a phone holder to the now useless airco so she could call hands free. " I will seriously strangle Emma if she is just staying over there and living la vida loca." Felix' chuckle rings through the car, just loud enough to be heard over the booming car speakers. "Do that. Hey, will you be back by the evening? It will be busy in the hangout." Presley glances down at her wristwatch and hums softly while thinking. "I guess so. Count me in. Seriously, I'm in desperate need for some good stuff."

Felix laughs again. "I can fix that. See you later then, Pres. And try not to get too mangled in the inevitable car accident you'll be having." Presley throws him the middle finger though he couldn't see that. "Fuck you, Felix. Next time you're too drunk or high to drive, don't call me." "Please, as if you're not just as drunk or high when you sit behind the wheel," the boy huffs. Presley had no response to that. She just said goodbye and cut the phonecall off to focus again on the road. 

The girl uses her knees to keep the steering wheel under control while her hands grab her package of cigarettes and a lighter. It was a miracle that she managed to stay in her own lane and lit the cigarette safely. Though having no other traffic around her surely helped her case. It was only two hours more of lonely, clear roads with nothing to watch except trees. Exciting..

How Presley managed to get to Storybrooke with her poor driving skills was a serious wonder, even to herself. She notices the town sign early, which was followed by a speed limitation sign. She halts in front of the sign and check her phone. According to the town's website this must be it. Presley raises an unimpressed eyebrow at the sight and throws her phone back on the passengers seat.

"Let's just make this quick," she sighs to herself as she brings the car to drive again.