Paige hummed softly to herself as she finished shoving her clothes into the locker in front of her. Usually she would have folded them meticulously but she was in a hurry to get into the pool that day, leading her to be less than careful. The relative silence in the locker room was suddenly broken by a clanging sound, like someone shutting a locker door, and Paige startled in surprise. It was early, far too early for anybody else to be at school. Since she'd made coming in to do laps in the school pool early in the morning a habit Paige had yet to encounter anybody else doing the same thing.
"Hello?" Paige called tentatively, her hand moving to grip her locker door. She waited for a response but she was met with silence. Exhaling slowly she turned back to her locker, intending to close it before she headed to the pool.
As soon as she turned around however there was a loud scurry of footsteps behind her and the skid of sneakers across the floor. Paige was about to swing around when she was shoved towards her locker door. The corner of the door scraped across her chest and neck before it was slammed shut due to the force of Paige's body being shoved forward.
Paige cried out in pain as her forehead slammed against the locker door and she instinctively tried to free herself from her assailant's grip. Her arm was quickly grabbed and twisted behind her back however and Paige felt her knees buckle at the pain that shot through her shoulder. A large hand gripped the back of her neck, keeping her face pressed to the cold locker door.
"Ah, ah, ah." A male voice sounded when Paige tried again to free herself. "This will be easier if you stay still."
Paige continued to struggle despite the warning and her arm was given an especially vicious tug, causing her to cry out in pain.
"What did I just say?!"
Paige shuddered as whoever was behind her growled into her ear. Wary of her shoulder being dislocated she stilled, breathing heavily against her locker.
"What the hell do you want?" she managed to speak, turning her face so that her cheek was pressed against the cold steal instead of her throbbing forehead.
"It's not what I want, it's what she wants."
"She?" Paige asked, her heart beating rapidly against her chest. "Who is she?"
"Me." A flash of blonde stepped into Paige's line of sight. She smirked when realization crossed Paige's face. "I want anchor. And with Fields out of the picture, you're the only person standing in my way."
"Emily is hardly out of the picture." Paige snapped defensively. "She could beat you in the pool with her hands tied behind her back. Be realistic Amy, you don't have a chance against her."
Amy nostrils flared with anger and she looked to whoever was holding Paige, making a turning motion with her finger. Paige suddenly found herself being pulled away from the locker and turned around only to be slammed against it again. She gritted her teeth, determined not show how much the action hurt.
"I will have that anchor position." Amy swore, stepping into Paige's personal space. "With you out of the way there's nothing your idiot girlfriend can do about it. Face it McCullers, her swimming days are over."
Paige scowled angrily but with her arms pinned by the tall male she assumed was Amy's boyfriend there was very little she could.
Amy smirked smugly and lifted a hand to press her finger against Paige's bruised forehead, causing her to cringe in pain. "You might want to see the nurse about that." She stepped back and nodded to her boyfriend who quickly let go of Paige.
"Come on." Amy said, turning her back on Paige. "We've wasted enough time with her."
"Nothing personal." The guy shrugged before following his girlfriend.
Paige winced as she watched them go, her hand moving to her shoulder. The action caused a sting of pain and she looked down to see the locker had scraped an angry red line from her chest, extending up towards her neck. She couldn't tell how high it went but it was obviously as high as her jaw.
"Great." Paige muttered, turning back to her locker. "That's just great."
XXX
"Paige!"
Paige froze in place, grimacing at the sound of her name being called. Up until that point she'd been fortunate enough not to bump into Emily and Spencer but eating lunch in the cafeteria made that impossible. She cursed herself for stopping. If she'd just continued to walk she could have pretended that she hadn't heard Emily call out to her. Painstakingly holding her tray in one hand she made sure that her hair was in her face, covering the bruise on her forehead before she turned around and walked slowly towards Emily and Spencer, making sure to cover the scrape extending from the top of her shirt to her neck with her hand. Her posture was odd and the effort of keeping her arm up hurt her strained shoulder but it was better than leaving the mark on display. She took a seat next to next to Emily and opposite Spencer, trying not to make her discomfort obvious.
Emily saw right through her façade. "What's wrong?"
"I pulled a muscle while I was swimming this morning." Paige answered, her gaze fixed intently on her tray. "It's nothing."
"Are you sure?" Emily asked, sliding her hand up Paige's back to her shoulder.
Paige winced at the contact and instinctively pulled away.
"I thought it was your other shoulder that hurt?" Spencer said, sharing a concerned look with Emily.
Paige chuckled nervously. "Uh…no, I'm just…my arm is like this because it puts less strain on my shoulder, that's all."
"If that's all it is, why haven't you looked at us since you got here?" Spencer asked expectantly.
"Where are Aria and Hanna?" Paige tried in vain to change the conversation topic. "Don't they usually sit with you?"
"Paige."
Paige was surprised when Spencer leaned across the table and used a hand under her chin to lightly push her head up. As a rule they usually avoided too much contact when they were at school, or even in public at all. Spencer's brow furrowed in confusion before she reached out to lightly brush Paige's hair away from her face.
"Spencer…" Paige protested, pulling away from Spencer's touch. It was too late however as her hair had already been pushed back enough to reveal the dark bruise on her forehead. Paige watched as Spencer inhaled sharply at the sight of the injury and dropped back into her seat.
"How did you do that?" Spencer asked, her gaze fixed intently on Paige's forehead.
"I hit my head on my locker, it's nothing."
"Let me see." Emily said, unable to see what Spencer was referring to because she was sitting on the wrong side of Paige.
"It's nothing Em, really." Paige said, though she didn't pull away when Emily's hand moved to her cheek to turn her head towards her. Instead she angled her body towards Emily momentarily lowering her arm.
"What the hell is that?"
"Shit." Paige cursed at Spencer's loud exclamation and reached up to cover her shoulder again only for Emily to grab her hand before she had the chance to cover the scrape stretching up towards her neck.
"Paige, what is that?" Emily asked, her worried eyes trained on Paige's neck. "Don't give an excuse, I want the truth."
"Did someone do that to you?" Spencer pressed, once again leaning across the table, this time to trail her fingers across the heated red line.
"Just some girl on the swim team and her boyfriend," Paige answered nonchalantly, "She thought it would be a good idea to threaten me. She really wants the anchor position so she had her boyfriend shove me against my locker so she could threaten me without having to deal with me fighting back."
"They did this to you?" Spencer asked angrily, her eyes flitting up to Paige.
"Who was it? Amy?" Emily added, her own anger matching Spencer's as she subtly tugged Paige's shirt down to see how far down the scrape went. "She's always trying for anchor."
"Yeah but it's fine. She…"
"Amy who?" Spencer interrupted, her eyes flitting momentarily to Emily.
"Amy Robbins." Emily answered, too distracted by Paige's injuries to pay much attention to what Spencer was saying.
Spencer stood up swiftly from her seat and cast a quick glance around the cafeteria.
"Spence?" Paige spoke in confusion as she looked up at Spencer. "What are you doing?"
Spencer didn't answer, instead stepping away from the table and storming towards the door.
"Uh-oh." Emily muttered, quickly standing up. "I know that look."
"You know that look?" Paige echoed, quickly following Emily as she headed after Spencer. "What does that look mean?"
"Nothing good." Emily said, slipping her hand into Paige's and picking up her pace.
Paige winced slightly as her arm was tugged on but she didn't protest the movement. They quickly caught up with Spencer and Emily grabbed her arm to stop her in her tracks.
"Spencer, what are you doing?"
"If she's not in the dining room she'll be in the bathroom." Spencer said logically as she yanked her arm free from Emily's grasp. Without another word she continued the few feet to the bathroom, shoving the door open. As she'd expected Amy was standing there with two other girls.
"Get out." Spencer demanded, her gaze fixated upon the blonde.
Obviously sensing Spencer's anger the two girls moved quickly towards the exit while Amy merely smirked expectantly at Spencer.
"What can I do…?"
Amy trailed off as Spencer stepped forward and seized her by the collar, shoving her back against the wall. Her breath left her lungs in a whoosh and she stared at Spencer in shock.
"Spencer!" Emily and Paige exclaimed in unison upon entering the bathroom.
"What are you, her bodyguard?" Amy wheezed, gripping Spencer's wrist.
Spencer gritted her teeth together. "You're lucky I'm not doing worse."
"Why do you even care? It's not like you're her girlfriend or anything." Amy said, her eyes flicking to Emily who took an angry step forward. Paige tightened her grip on Emily's hand, tugging her back.
"If you touch her again, I will destroy you." Spencer spoke in an angry whisper. "You know the reputation my friends and I have; do you think I'm joking?"
Amy shook her head, actually looking a bit afraid of Spencer. "Fine, I won't touch her."
Spencer let go of the blonde and stepped back. "Paige is off limits. Do you understand?"
Amy nodded quickly before she moved towards the door, wisely staying out of Emily's way.
Spencer took a moment to calm down before she turned around to find Emily and Paige staring at her. "What?"
Paige released Emily's hand and took a couple of steps forward. "You just threatened somebody for me."
"You're my girlfriend, of course I did." Spencer said as if doing anything else was unthinkable. "She's lucky I didn't punch her…wait, why do you seem so surprised?"
Paige shook her head in disbelief and closed the distance between herself and Spencer. Cupping Spencer's face in her hands despite the pain it caused her shoulders Paige kissed her fiercely. Spencer's eyes widened in surprise but she quickly returned the kiss, her hands moving to Paige's hips to draw her closer to her body.
"You're so…getting laid…tonight." Paige muttered between rapid kisses.
"I agree." Emily piped up just as Spencer's hands slipped under Paige's shirt. "But I have to remind you that we're in a public bathroom and anyone could walk in."
Paige pulled back breathlessly. "Oh right." She gave Spencer another swift kiss before pulling back. "Until later."
Spencer grinned at the promise lacing Paige's words. "Later."
THE END.