A/N: This chapter kind of opens up the other elements this book is going to have to offer. I'm super excited that this book isn't going to be JUST a student/teacher book, there is going to be a murder mystery, and a lot of suspense tangled into the plot of this book and I really hope its enough to keep everyone interested! 

Blaire

Finally, it was Saturday. The longest week I'd ever lived through was finally over with, I swung my legs over the side of my bed and stood up, stretching before leaving the room and walking down stairs to the oddly quiet kitchen. This kitchen had not been this quiet since I moved in a couple weeks ago. Emma was at the table reading the back of a box of cereal.
"No five star breakfast?" I asked.
"Nope. Mom and dad are in bed still." Emma shrugged.
"They're still sleeping? Its 9:30." I said.
"I didn't say they were sleeping." Emma said without missing a beat before shoving a spoonful of coco puffs in her mouth.
I scrunched up my face.
"Gross."
"Yup. Fend for yourself today." Emma smirked.

It was like music to my ears. No awkward breakfast table conversations. I practically skipped into the kitchen to pick my poison, which happened to be fruity pebbles, I filled a cereal bowl and grabbed a spoon and went back towards the stairs.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going to my room, I'm going to eat cereal and watch Gargoyles and live my best fucking life today." I said.
Emma spit cereal out to avoid choking as she laughed.
"Okay then. You do that." She said.
"I'm Gonna." I said and took my happy self back up the stairs.

I hadn't moved from the spot I'd settled into during breakfast, except to take a quick shower, for at least two hours. I heard something clink against my window. I raised my eyebrow and looked over at the window and waited and sure enough a few seconds later something else hit the window. I groaned and got up from the spot I hadn't moved from in two hours and walked to the window. I looked down at Will standing in the yard. I opened the window and climbed out and sat on the flat part of the roof.
"Whatcha doing there Will?" I asked.
"Trying to get your attention." Will said and smirked.
"You know there's a front door." I said.
"I know, but I didn't think your police officer uncle would be too into the idea of me showing up."
"I'm sure he'd prefer it if you went to the door, instead of throwing pebbles at the window." I chuckled. "How did you even know this was my window?" I asked.
"Emma's is on the other side..I figured this one was yours." Will shrugged.
"And..how did you know which window is Emma's?" I said, raising both of my eyebrows.
"Are you just going to ask questions all day Nolan, or are you going to come down and hang out with me?"
"I don't know. It would be cutting into my plans of doing fuck all for the rest of the day." I said.
"Come on Nolan, I want to show you something." Will said and sighed.
"Fine." I whined. "Give me a sec." I climbed back into the window and shut the curtain to get dressed. When I went back to the window David was outside talking to Will. I climbed back out the window. David followed Wills gaze up to the roof.
"Blaire! Get off the roof before you fall!"
I shrugged and climbed down to the slanted part of the room and slid a little ways to the edge before jumping the rest of the way down and brushing myself off. David blinked at me.
"What? You said to get off the roof." I said.
"I meant back through the window." David sighed. "I don't know how I feel about you being able to jump down from the roof so easily."
"Think of the positives. If the house was on fire and the only way out was through my window, the drop down is not so bad." I shrugged.
"Girls got a brain." Will shrugged. David narrowed his eyes at Will.
"What are you even doing in my front yard Scarlet?"
"Ah, I came to collect Blaire for a bit." Will replied. David looked at me.
"Yeah, so..I'm just gonna go for a little while." I said.
"Okay, thats fine. I'll call to check in." David nodded. "Be careful."
"Will do." I said. "See you later." I added and Will and I walked away from the house.

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"You dragged me away from my TV..for this?" I asked. Will had taken me to his side of town, and now I was staring up at a building that appeared to be being rebuilt. I looked up at the sign swinging in the slight breeze. It read O'Malleys.
"Come on love." Will said and opened the door for me. I gave him a skeptical look before I stepped inside. The inside smelled of fresh paint and there was construction equipment all around, there was a few booths set up and a couple arcade games. In the corner.
"What is this place?" I asked.
"Well, it was a nightclub, It burned to the ground about 16 years ago, at least according to my old man. It was this huge deal back then. One of the owners Niece was trapped in the building when it went up in flames. They say it was arson but no one ever found out who did it."
"It's a small town, it's highly unlikely they don't know who did it." I said.
"Some say it's a cover up." Will shrugged.
"So..what is it now?" I asked.
"O'Malley is turning the place into a pizza place and arcade. Says it might bring some light back to this side of town." Will said. "But this.. Is what I wanted to show you." Will said and lead me over behind the bar that was being built. He pointed at a picture on the wall. In the picture was a ginger headed man with a friendly smile, A younger woman, with matching hair, in the middle, and to the left...my dad?
"Looks like your uncle and O'Malley used to be in business together."
"That's not my uncle..thats my dad. They're Identical twins." I said and pointed to the tattoo on my father's forearm. "I know this is my dad because of this tattoo."
"Will, I didn't expect you here today." A voice from behind us said. Will and I turned around, the ginger haired man who's hair was now streaked with silver here and there stood in the entrance to the building.
"You come here every day?" I asked.
"I'm helping with the construction." Will said and we walked around the bar.
"Who's your friend?" the man asked and smiled at me.
"This is Blaire." Will said. The man extended his hand to me.
"Thomas O'Malley." He smiled. I put my hand in his, and shook it.
"Blaire Nolan."
"Nolan?" Thomas asked.
"I see you know my Dad." I said and nodded towards the picture behind the bar.
Thomas' eyes brightened.
"Oh you're James' Blaire! I haven't seen you since you were born! James and Jack packed up and moved shortly after you arrived." This man was the only other person I'd heard call my mother Jack besides my dad. Her name was Jaquelin but my dad often just called her Jack so this man must have been very close with both of my parents.
"You two sit, I may as well use you two to test out a few things I want to put on the menu, and test to make sure the kitchen is running smoothly."

Thomas guided Will and I to a booth and we sat down.
"Sit tight I'll be right back." Thomas said and disappeared into the kitchen.
"I didn't realize you were actually from these parts." Will said.
"Honestly..neither did I really. My dad never told me." I said.

Thomas came back shortly with a tray. He set a couple drinks on the table, and a platter of different appetizer-like foods.
"I figure if I'm catering to your age group, might as well have your opinions on the food." He chuckled. "I'm thinking of a few of these and of course pizza."
I picked up a cheese and bacon covered french fry and plopped it into my mouth.
"Cheat code: Put cheese and bacon on everything and teenagers will flood the place." I smirked.
Thomas chuckled.
"You are definitely Jimmy's kid."
"You must have been close with him and my mom." I said. "You're the only person I've seen besides my mom call him Jimmy and your the only person besides him I've seen call my mom Jack."
"We were thick as thieves." Thomas smiled. "I'm going to have to give your old man hell for not telling me he was back."
I frowned and looked down at my drink.
"It's actually just me. I'm staying with my uncle David.."
Thomas frowned and pulled up a chair and flipped it around sitting with his arms over the back of it.
"What happened there...nothing too terrible I hope."
I sighed and glanced up at Will, No one except for Emma, David and Mary-Margaret knew what was going on but I trusted Will not to say anything, and this man very clearly knew my parents well enough to deserve to know what was going on.
"My mom went missing and they think my dad had something to do with it. So he was arrested, and I was sent here. I have no answers about my mother, and very little contact with my dad."
"Bloody hell.." Will mumbled.
"Please.. Don't say anything about it. No one besides my cousin, my aunt and uncle know."
"My lips are sealed, love." Will said.

"Sounds like a rough deal. I'm sorry sweetheart." Thomas sighed. "James ran around with some bad crowds here, but to suspect he had anything to do with your mother's disappearance? I can't believe it."
"I can't either." I shrugged. "But we appear to be the only two. I think my uncle even thinks he had something to do with it. Then again.. I keep learning more and more about my dad the longer I'm here. He never mentioned we lived here. He never mentioned you.. Or my uncle or anything. I just don't understand." I sighed.
"Some people around here, still think he had something to do with my niece's murder.. But I refuse to believe it." Thomas said. "Someone burned this building to the ground with my niece in it, but it wasn't James." Thomas said and shook his head. "He and Katy were too close."
"I'm really sorry about your niece." I said.
"Its why I'm rebuilding this place, This side of town has been treated like the shadow of Storybrooke for so long, Katy wanted to turn this place into something for Storybrooke's youth ages ago, but the club was doing so well James and I couldn't part with it, I got tired of looking at the ashes so I finally decided to rebuild, in her honor to keep kids like Scarlet over here off the streets and out of trouble."
"I think its great." I said and smiled.
"Well lookie there Thomas you got the girl to smile." Will said. "That is no easy task."
"Can it Scarlet." I sighed.
Thomas chuckled.
"That would be your mother speaking through you. You look just like her, you know. Except your eyes, those are all your dads."
"I know." I nodded.

Will and I ate and chatted with Thomas for a while. I couldn't help but wonder why my dad or my mom never told me about Storybrooke, or their lives here. As Will and I were getting ready to leave, Thomas stopped me.
"If you ever need anything at all, come find me. I mean it." He said sincerely.
"I will...Thank you." I gave him another small smile.
"I know you're probably going to want to go looking for things to fill in the blanks your parents never did..just be careful kid your old man had quite a few enemies around these parts. Don't go digging a hole you can't get out of." He warned.
I gave him a nod and swallowed thickly before walking outside with Will.
What the hell did you do Dad?

"I'm sorry if bringing you here stirred up some things." Will said.
"No.. it's okay." I shrugged. I paused and looked back up at the O'Malleys sign thinking.
"I'm not sure I like that look in your eyes Nolan."
"What look?" I asked.
"The look like you're about to try and solve a sixteen year old cold case."
"I have to prove my dad didn't do this, if I can help prove this.. Maybe things back home will lighten up."
"Blaire these are two different cases in two different states. They're in no way connected." Will said.
"O'Malley said my dad had enemies. What if they tried to frame him for arson here, and maybe when that didn't work, they found out where we were located, and abducted my mom and tried to make it look like he had something to do with it." I said. 

"That..is quite a big stretch, love. It was sixteen years ago, I'm sure whatever enemies he had, could care less now..and if your Dad had enemies around here, then you need to stay as far away from whatever shit he got into as possible. From the outside this town looks like a small quiet peaceful town, but there is a lot of darkness and secrets here."
"I Know. And I'm going to figure them out." I said and started walking.
"Listen here Nancy Drew, you're going to end up in a mess and I'm not about to let you get caught up in this alone."
"Oh so you're helping." I grinned. "Good."
"Wait I never sai-"
"I have to go back to the house and look into some things, maybe you can snoop around here?"
"This is exactly what O'Malley told you not to do Blaire." Will sighed.
"Yeah I'm not really good at being told what to do." I shrugged. "I mean I am more than willing to do this on my own."
"Bloody hell.." Will sighed. "Fine. I will see if I can find anything over here, but you don't come snooping around here on your own."
"Sure." I nodded. "Gimmie your phone."
Will fished his phone out of his pocket and handed it to me. I opened his contacts and added my number.
"Not how I imagined getting your number, But I'll take it." Will chuckled.
I rolled my eyes.
"I gotta go. I'll see you at school Monday." I said and gave him back his phone.
"See ya Nolan." Will smiled.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

When I got back to the house, David was in the living room watching the TV.
"Did you have a good time?" He asked.
"Yeah.. it was interesting." I shrugged. "You home alone?" I asked.
"Yeah, Mary-Margaret and Emma are busy with something school related. I didn't want you to come back to an empty house so I stayed." David smiled.
"You didn't have to...you could have gone. I woulda been fine." I muttered.
"Probably so, its just not how I am though." David said.
"Emma and Mary-Margaret are eating with the rest of the group..so its just me and you for dinner. What sounds good?"
"This town have a good chinese takeout place?" I asked. "I could probably do some damage to some sweet and sour chicken."
David chuckled. "Mulan's it is. Emma and Mary-Margaret won't be back till late. Anything you wanna do?"
I shrugged awkwardly. I was still caught between wanting to know David because he was the closest person to my Dad I could have right now and not wanting to get too close in case things back home changed and I had to move, and never see these people again.
"We'll think of something." He smiled. "Grab a coat, It looks like it might rain."

----------------------------------------------------------

I stayed in the car while David went in to get our food. I watched rain drops sliding down the passenger seat window, when something else caught my eye. Mr. Jones was across the street, at Granny's in his car and he was on the phone and just by his facial expressions and the way he seemed to be yelling it was not a pleasant conversation. Why did this man always happen to be in the same area as me? I watched him toss the phone into his passengers seat and hit the steering wheel before he picked the phone back up and got out of the car. He looked up and his eyes landed straight on mine. My breath hitched in my throat and I quickly turned my head and tried to sink down in the seat.
I glanced back out the window and he was still standing there with his eyes locked onto Davids cop car.
Fuck fuck fuck. He always caught me staring at him. I gave him a quick wave and he pulled out his phone and started typing on it and then looked back up at me. My phone pinged and I looked down at the email notification from [email protected]

I half expected to see you sitting in the back of one of those, not the front. Good for you Nolan.

K. Jones

What an actual prick. I shot him a glare before typing back.

Glad you think so low of your students. I'm a good girl, I promise.

<3 B. Nolan

Before I even realized I signed with a heart, I hit send. I looked up at Mr. Jones Who's eyebrows about flew off his forehead upon reading my email. I laughed.
"Whats so funny?" David asked, successfully startling me in the process. I let out a screech and my phone hit the ceiling of his car before landing back in my lap.
"Sorry about that." He chuckled. "I didn't mean to startle you."
"It's fine." I mumbled. He handed me the bag of take out and I put it on the floor board at my feet.

My phone pinged again and I looked down.

I'll believe it when I see it.

Your uncle is coming by the way. 😂

K. Jones. (Hearts are a little inappropriate don't you think?)

Attached to the email was a picture he snapped of me mid scream. I grumbled and sent him back a couple of middle finger emojis

Hows that for inappropriate?

B. Nolan.

I looked in the side mirror as David pulled away at Mr. Jones smirking down at his phone, apparently, as long as I saved my sarcasm and sass for emails, he was okay with it. But heaven help me if I dared to do it in the classroom.

David and I took the food back home and set it out on the coffee table. I scrolled through the tv guide to see if anything was on.
"You like slasher films?" I asked noticing A Nightmare on Elm Street marathon was on.
"Once you work a couple murder cases slasher films kind of don't sit well, but if you want to put it on, its fine with me." David shrugged.
"Well I highly doubt you've had any cases where people were murdered in their dreams and then actually in real life, so I think this one is safe." I smirked and put it on.
"Fair point." David chuckled and sat down.

David and I actually spent more time chatting about cases he was likely not supposed to tell me about than watching the movie. I didn't want to ask him about O'Malley's just yet because I wasn't sure how he would react to me digging around, especially when everyone else seemed to be warning me not to, but it was kind of interesting to learn about some true crime cases around Storybrooke.
"I guess this town isn't as perfect and peaceful as it looks." I said.
"They rarely ever are." David shrugged and reached into the togo bag and tossed me a fortune cookie. I opened mine and split the cookie open and started eating it.
"You don't read the fortune?" David asked.
"Nah. Not really. They're kind of lame." I said and took a sip of my rootbeer while David read his outloud.
"Help, I'm stuck inside a cookie."
I started laughing so hard that root beer came out of my nose, which made David laugh in turn.
"Yeah I guess they are kind of lame." He said. "What does yours say?" He asked.
I picked mine up off the table and groaned and rolled my eyes.
"The love of your life is right in front of your eyes." I said.
"Freddy Krueger? Sure I can see it. The wedding would be interesting." David chuckled. I snorted and shook my head. My phone vibrated in my pocket. I fished it out and looked a the screen. It was my facebook messenger.
You have a message request from Killian Jones.