A multi-colored class schedule lays in front of her.

Damn.

At least it would be good material to start her videos with. She sets up her camera on the tripod then turns it on. She sits down in the chair and for a moment she just stares at the lens.

"I'm Emma Swan, and I'm in shock," she holds her schedule up. "What the hell was I thinking? I must be a masochist!"

"What are you complaining about, Emma?" A soft voice questions and Emma scoffs.

"That's my roommate, Mary. She's happy about nearly everything. She's a literature major, so she has it easy."

Mary frowns at her as she comes to sit down next to her. "I do not have it easy. The Lit major is just as hard as anything else. In fact, one might say that you have it easy. Considering you're a Mass Communications major."

Emma frowns at her. "You are lucky I love you."

"What are you doing anyway?"

"It's for Professor Mills class. As part of our final assignment we need to record videos. Then we have to upload them to YouTube for peer review."

"You're starting already? Classes started yesterday!"

"The syllabus said to get started as soon as possible."

Mary chuckles. "I see."

Emma sticks her tongue out at her. She has a brief image of herself as a screen cap. Or gif.

"I'm here today with some suggestions to help you deal with syllabus shock. Bury yourself in chocolate. Drink lots of coffee, or wine if you're of age. Most importantly, remember that it will all work out. I might forget saying that later, so you'll have to remind me."

There's a loud bang and Emma spots their little kitten climbing on her desk. "Kitty! Get down!" She screeches and the cat jumps down. "Anyway, I'll see you all next time! Ugh, I've got to get a better sign off for these things."

She stands up and turns the camera off. She checks her watch. The video had only been a few minutes long. But it would have to be good enough.

"Phew," she breathes a sigh of relief. "I'm glad that's over."

"How long do you have to do it for?" Mary questions from behind the current book she's reading.

"The entire semester," Emma replies as she collapses down into the bean bag chair in the corner of the small room they share. "This is going to be the fall from hell."

She uploads the video to her computer and begins to edit. It takes way longer then expected. By the time she's put it on YouTube it's nearly one in the morning.

She'd need a lot of coffee.

Her classmates all told her that her first video had been engaging, but it was too dark. So, she'd cleared it with her roommates and set up camp in the living room. She only hoped that no one walked by the window and saw her talking animatedly to her camera. People might begin to think she was a little crazy.

"Hello again! Today I'm going tell you a little bit more about the people who I call my housemates. Because I'm sure they will come up a lot. There's Mary, who you've already met. There's Elsa, she's a biochemistry major, and Ruby. She's an art major. We all get along pretty well. In fact, we don't really go anywhere without each other. And I can't forget Kitty. You heard me mention her at the end of the last video. She's our cat. She's a troublemaker and kind of my enemy. But she can be nice when she wants."

"Emma, what are you doing?" A curious Elsa inquires as she wanders into the living room.

"Say hi, Elsa!" Emma gestures to the camera and Elsa fiddles with her fingernails.

"I'm not so sure I'm comfortable with this."

"It's just for class. I highly doubt more then thirty people will ever see it."

"I have work to do," she abruptly announces, then hurries back towards her bedroom.

"She's great. We've been friends since freshmen year," she checks her watch. "Ruby should be home any minute now…"

"Emma!" Ruby squeals as she appears in the doorway. "Guess what?" She hesitates briefly when she sees the camera.

"An assignment," and she's grateful when Ruby doesn't press for more information. "Everyone this is Ruby."

"Hi!" Ruby chirps.

"Now, what is all the excitement about?"

"A party! Look! Some guy in my Renaissance Art class was handing these out."

She hands Emma a brightly colored green flyer.

10:00
House #301
Free pizza. Dancing.

"I don't know."

"Oh, come on. We never go to things like this. All four of us could go. It would be a blast."

Emma looks at her housemate curiously. "You really want to go, don't you?"

"More then anything."

"Oh, fine."

Ruby giggles as she throws her arms around her neck. "Tell Mary to be ready by eleven. It's not cool to be early."

"I'd better go get ready for this party. See you later."

The party is loud.

There are people everywhere. Making out, drinking, dancing.

Emma feels a little claustrophobic. But Ruby is glowing and that makes it a little easier to bear. Elsa shifts uncomfortably next to her.

"Why did we let her convince us into this?"

Emma nudges her friend playfully. "Because, she's right. We never go to these things. Here," she hands Elsa and Mary a hard cider. (That's all Mary would drink).

"To fun!" They all clink their glasses together and take a long swallow.

They are all out on the dance floor having a good time, when Mary abruptly stops.

"Hey! Are you okay?" Emma inquires.

But Mary's attention is solely on something across the room. Then Emma sees a man who looked like he fell straight out of a fairy-tale. His hand runs through his golden hair as he flashes Mary a smile. Mary's face turns a deep red.

"He's nice," Emma agrees.

"He'll hear you!"

"Not over this roar he won't! Go talk to him!"

"Come with me!"

"No!" But it's too late because Mary is dragging both Elsa and her over. The man is smiling warmly at them.

For a moment they all stand in silence.

"Hey," Emma begins. "I'm Emma, this is Elsa, and this," Emma pushes Mary towards the mystery guy. "Is Mary."

"I'm David."

"It's nice to meet you."

"I'm going to go back and dance for a bit."

"I'm going to stay," Mary states and David smiles brightly.

"Me too," Elsa announces, but neither David or Mary seems to hear her. Emma smiles and wanders back into the crowd.

She's not exactly sure how much time has passed when Mary comes to find her again.

"So, how's it going?" Emma inquires.

"Good, but he wants you to meet someone."

"You just met this guy and you're already trying to set me up?"

"Come on," Mary insists. They cross the crowded room and then she's sees him. His hair is black and ruffled. His eyes are a piercing blue. He's wearing a leather jacket. And he looks miserable.

"Killian Jones, this is my roommate, Emma. You two chat. I'll be back to check on you in a while," Mary says then disappears into the crowd.

"Hello," Killian says.

"It's nice to meet you."

There's an awkward silence and Killian doesn't seem to want to break it. So, she will.

"What do you think of school?"

"It's alright," his reply is curt.

"Do you like it?"

"Sure."

Was this guy really not going to give her anything to work with? "What do you like to do?"

"I like sailing."

"Oh, that's," she hesitates. "Nice."

Just then his phone buzzes. "I have to take this."

The next morning, Mary and Emma sitting in front of the camera. Mary is fiddling with a piece of her hair. She'd been a little hesitant to join in, but Emma had convinced her.

"The party was pretty much a bust. Loud music, people puking, people hitting on me that smelled like the heavens opened and we saw him. . Kind, funny, and good looking. Studies law. And do you know who spent pretty much the entire night with?" Emma nudges Mary playfully.

"Elsa was there too," Mary argues.

"He seemed pretty tuned into you. To be honest, I don't think he knew Elsa was there."

"Poor Elsa!"

Emma casts a playful glance at Mary. "Tell us. Was it true love?"

"He was nice," Mary says.

"Nice? At least admit it that you liked him."

"Yes, I liked him."

"She was making eyes like crazy!" Emma teases.

"Stop it!" Mary exclaims as she nudges her back. "Or I will tell them about the friend you made."

"And we're done."

"No! Come on!"

"I'm not doing this."

"She met a guy."

"His name was Killian. David and Mary wanted me to meet him."

Mary sends her a disapproving scowl. "Do you think that's safe? To use real names I mean?"

"Mary, they won't ever see this videos. So, I tried talking to this guy. But he was as stiff as a board. Do you know what he did? He took a phone call in the middle of the conversation! He stood in the corner pretty much the rest of the party. Later, I was getting some punch and I overheard him telling David that he was talking to the only pretty girl in the room. David argued that the girl he was talking to, referring to me of course, was nice! To which this guy replied, she's okay. Okay!"

"Do you think you might have misunderstood him?"

"No, I didn't. He was a jerk."

"Too bad, he was pretty cute."

"Tall, dark, and douchey," she hisses.

When she checks the comments on YouTube the next morning, most of them say the same thing.

"Killian was probably into you!"

"You were too harsh!"

Emma sighs as she closes her computer. She turns to Mary. "Everyone keeps telling me I was too harsh on Killian."

"You were too harsh," Mary says as she appears around the corner.

"You have to admit that even you didn't really care for him."

"I don't think I saw him talking to another girl the entire time."

"So?"

"He talked to you."

A few days later she's getting her coffee before her last class of the day. She's standing in line when she sees him by the baked goods.

Wearing his trademark leather jacket. His eyes watching her.

"Hi," she greets.

"Hello," he curtly replies.

"The scones are good."

He looks at her curiously. "Really?"

"So, how did you find this place?"

He glances at his watch. "If you'll excuse me," he says nothing more and hurries out. Her jaw drops open and anger floods into her. When she gets home she turns on the camera.

"Having a conversation with this guy is like pulling teeth. At least David and Mary are getting on well. Do you suppose this means that they might try to set us up? God, I can just see it now!"

She slips on the leather jacket she found in her closet. She clears her throat and begins to speak, her voice rough. "Don't you think this eating establishment is sub-par? Don't you think this leather jacket makes me look mysterious?" She hisses as she slips off the coat and sets it on the floor.

"Mary would say that I'm wrong. But, my first impressions of people are usually dead on." She sighs deeply. "God, I really need to find a way to end these things."