This is kind of my take of the whole Paige and Emily relationship, some of it follows the character development we see in the actual show, but for a good chunk of it, it's an alternate universe. The focus is Paily. I didn't really want to spread the writing out too thin if I included all the Liars, but there will probably be cameos here and there. I will state again that it is a different spin on their relationship, but it made more sense to me to piece their story together like this. Please review, only because if I get enough feedback encouraging me to write more, I will, if it looks like it's not peaking interest, I may scrap it. But seriously, I'd love good or bad, -uh I mean "constructive" ;) criticisms. Please. Thanks, and I hope you enjoy! 3
In a panic, because she was already running thirty minutes late for her first swim practice on the varsity team, Paige rounded the corner of the hallway at such a force that her body slammed directly into the closed door of the girl's locker room. Her halfway zipped-up swim duffle slipped off her shoulder and emptied most of its contents onto the floor.
"Shit, just great, this day could not get any worse." She spit out under her breath.
She crouched to the ground and began to grab and simultaneously stuff her belongings back into her bag. Zipping her bag up completely, this time, she stood up. Outstretching her hand to grasp the door handle she paused before pulling open the door. Taking a few seconds to compose herself, she told herself to breathe and calm down. She actually had a valid reason as to why she was so late. She was also preparing herself for the possibility that someone might have heard the commotion that came from the other side of the door and decided she needed to look like she was clueless as to what it might have been. The last thing she needed was to embarrass herself even more than she already will be in the next five minutes when she had to confront the coach about her tardiness. Gripping the handle harder, to the point where her knuckles turned white, she took one last deep breath and tugged the door open.
A few hours prior...
"Dad, I reminded you that I had my first practice for varsity swim this morning before you left for work."
"Paige, I'm sorry it slipped my mind. And now I'm caught up in a business deal that I can't break away from just so I can drive you to practice. Can you call your Mom, I'm sure she'll have an easier time getting away from work to get you there. Look, I gotta go. Things are heating up I have to step back in before this falls through. Swim like the superstar I know you are. Bye."
Paige's Dad hung up on her before she could get another word in. She looked down at her phone's screen and a few seconds later the backlight faded and it became black. Her reflection stared back at her now. The look of irritation was apparent on her face, no doubt. This wouldn't be the first time her dad got so caught up in work that he threw her to the wayside.
She unlocked her phone and began dialing her mom's work number. It rang four times before her mom finally picked up.
"Hello, this is Elizabeth speaking."
"Hey, mom, dad forgot about my swim practice and now I am in need of a ride to the school, can you leave work early today? Please, please, please. It's my first practice on the varsity team, I'm the only sophomore this year and I can't be late or el—"
"Paige, calm down hun, yes I can drive you just tell me what time."
"I need to be there at four, so come get me at three-thirty?" "Okay, see you then, love you, bye."
Paige's mom hung up. Her parents had a bad habit of hanging up on her before she could conclude her side of the conversation, but she was used to it by now.
Paige managed to get a spot on the varsity swim team. Try-outs had been held during that last week of winter break and the first practice was the last Saturday evening of break before school was back in session the following Monday.
Paige happened to make some of her personal best times during that grueling week of conditioning and swimming. She always seemed to perform her best when it really mattered. A natural love for the sport as well as constant pressure from her dad to be the best gave her motivation to keep up with her intense workouts and desire to win. Besides making top grades in school, swimming seemed to be the only thing that kept her dad remotely interested in her. He was always too wrapped up in his work.
As a new transfer student, she couldn't believe she had been the only sophomore to make the varsity team this year. It had certainly been her goal when tryouts started, but the competition was tough, especially with some of the upperclassmen.
She always seemed to out-swim people her own age, but she had figured girls a year or two older would have more experience and training. As it turned out, she finally found her niche. She was almost an equal with some of these girls in regards to her swimming ability. Granted, she was a few years younger than most of them so that got automatically got her noticed. That, and again, the fact the she was a new face, someone no one knew. But honestly, it was attention she didn't want. Sure, she would do anything for her dad to notice her a little more, but she wasn't yearning for the attention of others around her. She preferred to stay off the radar.
Paige was always avoiding unwanted attention from others. Something that was going to be hard enough as it was already, because now her new situation was that she was a new transfer who made the varsity swim team as a sophomore, and she was also starting her new school enrolled in advanced placement classes that threw her into classes with upperclassman. This automatically got her attention from teachers and students in her classes. To avoid being made fun of or thought of as an overachiever she kept her head down and did what was expected of her, nothing more, nothing less. So far in her past experiences, it proved to work for her. Her dad seemed to be happy with her achievements at school and now that she had made the varsity team, he even had something to brag about to his co-workers.
It had been an hour since Paige had talked to her mom and she was beginning to get antsy when the time crept closer to 3:30 and there was still no sign of her mom. It was now 3:28 and she was already half tempted to just hop on her bike and get herself to practice. But she knew for a fact that she wouldn't make it in time, her new school was about a 45 minute bike ride from her house. She didn't want to risk it.
Just as she was about to call her mom for the fifth time she heard the garage door open. Ah, thank god, finally. She thought to herself. Quickly grabbing her swim duffle, she rushed through the kitchen and managed to knock her hip bone on the corner of the kitchen counter.
"Ooouucchhh. Damn counter, fuck. Ow ow ow." She growled.
That's definitely going to bruise. She thought.
As she made her way out through the laundry room to the garage door she heard her mom turning the door knob.
"Mom, what are you doing, we're going to be late, I called you like a hundred times, let's go."
"Good grief Paige, it's so nice to see you too."
"Mom, I'm sorry but I seriously don't want to be late it's already 3:40, why didn't you pick up your phone?"
"Well, I'm sorry, I forgot to charge my cell last night, and it died just before I hopped in the car."
Paige threw her bag in the back seat and quickly slid into the passenger seat. She was already anxious about practice and her mom running a little late was not helping the situation. If they had left at the original time of 3:30 Paige would have been early by about ten minutes. Now she'd be lucky to get there on time at all. Paige's mom started the car and drove towards the direction of the high school. Paige took the opportunity to plug in her headphones, turn on her iPod, and tune out the world for a bit. She liked to take some time to herself and get lost in her own thoughts. It allowed her to unwind and re-group a bit.
The powers that be though obviously didn't want Paige making it to practice that day, because ten minutes down the road a loud pop startled her from her daydream. She yanked out her right earphone and knew immediately that their car just got a flat.
"Are you kidding me? Mom, this has to be a joke. Please tell me we didn't just get a flat tire."
"If I did that I'd be lying, hun."
Paige took a look at her wrist watch she had exactly ten minutes to get to practice or she'd be late.
"Any chance a tow truck can get here in less than oh, I don't know NOW?"
"Paige relax, I'll talk to the coach myself if I have to, car trouble happens, I'm sure she'll understand. Sit tight. I'm going to call a tow, but you will probably be half an hour late to practice, sorry kiddo."
Paige was beyond irritated. She couldn't believe all the bad luck she was having today. Her mom had accurately estimated just how late Paige was going to be late to practice. By the time the truck came, secured their car to the tow, and dropped Paige and her mom off at the nearest repair place it was already twenty minutes into practice. It didn't take long to actually fix the flat, but by the time they left the shop it was half past four. Paige jumped out of the car before her mom could come to a complete stop. She didn't even think to tell her mom what time she needed to get picked up later, she'd worry about that later. Paige was not about to lose her spot on the team the very first day of practice.
The locker room door screeched open almost as if it was announcing Paige's entrance. To her relief, the locker room was empty. Good, they've probably already started to swim laps, she thought to herself. She quickly found an empty locker numbered 24 and shoved her duffle inside. She slipped her feet out of her running shoes leaving them just under the bench in front of her locker. Stripping off her running pants and hoodie, she quickly threw them onto the floor on top of her shoes in a crumbled ball.
She could care less about being neat right now. Pulling her swim cap over her head, while tucking the remainder of her hair up into it, she started to head for the door that led out to the pool. Just as she had thought, the rest of the team had already started their laps. She approached the coach cautiously, not sure what to expect when she greeted her.
"Hi, coach, I um, I'm sorry I'm so late for practice, I—uh well you see my mom's car got a flat on the way here, it took a bit of time to fix and I'm sorry I'm so late to the first practice."
"Yeah, I know. McCullers, right?"
"Yep, that's me."
"Your mom called a bit ago to let me know you'd be late. Don't worry about it; just don't make it a regular thing. I'd say by now, you're behind about fifteen laps. The rest of the team only really started to swim twenty minutes ago. You missed out on the team introductions as well as my rules and expectation, but I'll just have one of the captains go over everything with you on your own time. Now get going, you're already behind enough as it is. I expect you to stay after to make up for what you missed. Lucky for you most of this practice was a meet-and-greet."
"Right, uh, okay thanks coach and sure thing I'll make up whatever I have to and more. I won't let you down."
Wow, could you have sounded anymore like a suck up. Good lord.
Shaking her head, Paige walked her way down the side of the pool until she found a lane that only had one other girl swimming up and down it. She preferred not to be too crowded, plus it was easier to skirt by just one other body than a few at a time if she needed pass someone up. She waited for the other girl to turn off the wall and start back in the opposite direction before she dove in.
The moment her fingertips touched the water and her hands began to cut through the water she felt like she could finally relax and forget about everything that happened in her day. To Paige's surprise it was harder for her to catch up to the girl that was in her same lane than she was expecting. By now she figured she'd have passed her up and added a few body lengths between them. For once though, it appeared as though Paige had met her match and she was going to accept the challenge.
She kicked her legs faster and pushed her way through the water more determined to pass this girl up. Paige was slowly closing the gap between her and her counterpart. She couldn't believe how much energy this other girl still had this close to the end of practice. Paige had just started her laps; this girl must have already been halfway finished with her workout.
Just as Paige was almost shoulder to shoulder with this girl an exaggerated whistle blow echoed throughout the pool enclosure. This signaled the end of practice. Well, the end of practice for everyone else, Paige still owed at least thirty more laps. But she would complete them on her own time. After practice was over, she would stay behind to get the rest in. The last thing she wanted was to get behind on her workouts and she wanted to prove to coach she was taking her position on the team seriously.
Paige let up on her stroke and came to a steady glide through the water allowing the girl who was sharing her lane to make it to the wall first. Paige floated towards the wall but came to a stand, in the 5 foot deep water, about three feet away from this mystery girl.
Paige started to pull off her goggles, and curiously focused her gaze on the back of this girls head.
What was she all about and who was she? She thought to herself.
The other girl, who was considerably tanner than Paige, yanked off her goggles, keeping them in her left hand and pulled herself out of the pool. She was now tugging on the front of her swim cap. Paige couldn't help but stare and admire how toned her arms were and how never ending her legs seemed to be. The moment this girl pulled off her cap, it released lustrous raven colored hair that settled just below her shoulder blades.
Everything this girl did had Paige hypnotized. Even just the way she ran her right hand through her hair and eventually rested it on her hip.
The other girl suddenly turned her head and looked over her shoulder back at Paige, who was still standing in the pool and had obviously been staring at her. Embarrassed Paige turned a faint shade of pink and looked down at the water as she made her way closer to the wall.
The other girl had turned her whole body towards Paige by now, bent down by the edge of the pool and offered a hand to help Paige out.
"Here let me help you." The other girl said with a soft, welcoming smile on her face.
"Oh uh no thanks, I got it." Paige replied almost immediately, then realizing that she probably came off as being a bit rude to the other girl, she added, "I uh, I'd hate to accidently pull you back into the pool with me, ha. I have a tendency to be a bit clumsy. And often others find themselves victims of my own clumsiness. And it can get ugly." Paige cracked an awkward crooked smile, and then returned to a straight more serious face when she realized she probably looked like a big idiot in front of this girl.
That was a good save, right? Paige wondered to herself.
The other girl softly chuckled at Paige's attempt at a joke, and Paige couldn't tell if she was just being polite or actually thought what she said was funny. The girl had slowly retracted her hand and rested her elbow on her knee. She was now studying Paige with a look of interest.
"Oh wow, yeah I can imagine how that could get quite ugly, but in this case, it wouldn't be the first time I was pulled into a pool and lucky for you, I can be a pretty forgiving person", responded the other girl looking down at Paige, who was still standing in the pool.
Paige nervously smiled back and said "Well, good to know. It's not unlikely you'll become one of my unsuspecting victims one of these days. Just don't say I didn't warn you."
God, shut up Paige, you sound so dumb right now. She thought.
Paige realized she was the only person still in the pool at this point so she grabbed onto the wall of the pool with her right hand and placed her goggles down on the tile by the left side of where the girl was now kneeling. Paige then pulled herself up and sat on the edge of the pool, leaving her feet dipped in the water. For some reason she was really nervous, but having her feet submerged in the water helped ease this feeling. But only just the tiniest bit.
"Warning noted. You're Paige right?" The girl asked.
Paige looked at her a bit puzzled and replied, "Yeah, I'm Paige, how'd you know?"
"Well, you're really the only one the team I don't already know. And I didn't see you earlier during the first part of practice; coach mentioned you'd be late. I just put two and two together."
"Oh, right. Yeah, I'm sure I made a great impression on the rest of the team for my impeccable timing." Paige breathed out sarcastically.
"Ha don't worry about it; I don't think anyone really noticed. By the way, I noticed you're a really fast swimmer. I don't think I've ever had anyone keep up with me out there before." Emily gazed out towards the pool.
"Oh, ha thanks. Yeah I've been swimming ever since I can remember. Sorry, I uh, I don't really remember you from try-outs. But my memory can be spotty at times. What's your name?" Paige asked.
"Oh gosh, duh, I'm sorry I didn't even introduce myself. I'm Emily. Emily Fields. I'm one of the team captains. And actually you wouldn't remember me because I wasn't there."
Paige grew curious as to why a girl who didn't even go to try-outs was filling a captain's position on the team and without thinking she blurted out, "Why?"
"Um well, I had to fly out to California for a funeral. Coach was really understanding about it. I was on varsity swim last year and I do pretty well for myself in the water, I guess I solidified a spot on the team just from last year's season. I'm a senior this year and I guess coach decided to make me one of the captains if you were wondering about that too." Emily winked at Paige.
Paige blushed; she was embarrassed and felt awful about snooping into Emily's personal life. Emily, a girl she had known for less than ten minutes.
"Oh I'm sorry to hear that and I shouldn't have asked you that, it was nosey of me. My curiosity can get the best of me sometimes. Beware of that too." Paige replied.
Emily smiled. "Don't worry about it. It's not something I haven't already had to explain to people. And as one of the captains, I'd love it if you felt like you could ask me or talk to me about anything. That's what I'm here for."
"Oh well, alright, I'll have to keep that in mind, thanks." Paige replied, while bringing her gaze down to look at her feet that were distorted because they were still in the water.
Paige couldn't figure out why there were butterflies in her stomach or why she kept avoiding Emily's gaze. To her, it felt like Emily had the potential to see right through her wall she had so carefully built up. And for once, in such a long time, it seemed like her wall was shaky and on the verge of crumbling down.
Paige didn't like it one bit. She wouldn't allow it after such a long time of telling herself what she felt wasn't possible and that she just had a brief moment of confusion. She was straight. It wasn't that she was attracted to girls; maybe she just looked at them sometimes. But she was sure it was only because she was comparing herself to them, nothing more. All those confusing thoughts and feelings about girls had long ago been put to rest, until today, the day she met Emily Fields.