A/N: Check me out, updating the same story twice in the span of a week. If I'm not careful you're all going to come over here and make sure I haven't been replaced by an alien or something. Thanks to everyone who reviewed and alerted and whatnot.
This chapter goes out to rockyourworld for being so enthusiastic about the first chapter. Also, special thanks to Esdiferente for a little help with something.
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Emily
She wanders the still mostly empty hallways, looking for somewhere to hide. She knows that all too soon the hallways will be swamped with other students and she wants to make sure she's out of sight by the time that happens. She just wants somewhere quiet to read her book, really. Just a little time to herself. She's managed to shake her sister who wanted a ride from the wanker boyfriend she'd already managed to pick up in the month since they've moved there.
She got a ride from her dad on the way from work instead, even though it means she's now here quite early.
Success, a windowless door. She tries to the handle and smiles when it gives beneath her hand.
The smell of chlorine hits her like a sack of bricks, but she steps inside anyway, taking in the bright blue of the tiles of the pool and locating the set of bleachers off to one side. She makes her way over to them, plops her bag down, taking a seat beside it, and she pulls out her book. She's been dying to get back to it since last night when Katie had marched over to her bed, yanked her little torch out of her hand, turned it off, and placed it across the room saying, "It's fucking time for bed, Ems. We need our beauty sleep. First day at a new college tomorrow, remember? I need my sleep to make a good impression."
She'd held her tongue on the thought that it would take more than a good night's sleep for Katie to make a good impression. It wasn't worth it to fight her, even if it'd been an especially tense moment in her book. Besides, Katie had already been mad at her because she'd dyed her hair without telling her, far too late for Katie to do anything about it. (Katie always wanted to push for the 'twin' impact at a new school.) It's her own little rebellion.
She opens the book and finds her place on the page, letting her brain immerse herself back in the story, images of Egypt flooding through her as she read on. Her fingers grip tightly at the pages as in her mind she sees the chase through the streets of Cairo unfold before her.
It's her favourite series of murder mysteries, and she's read them from the beginning, admiring the strong female protagonist who never takes shit from anyone, including her husband, despite living in a time when women were considered less than men. She wishes that she could be more like Amelia Peabody, rather than the mousy girl she actually is, always hiding in her sister's shadow, new bright red hair or not.
She gets lost in the story, everything else pushed from her mind as the words paint pictures in her head. She's no longer Emily Fitch sitting by the pool of her new college in Bristol. She's the observer watching Ramses fight for his life in a back alley in Cairo, in a whirlwind of knives and punches.
She's startled, then, when a splash reaches her ears, and she realises that it's not from the story at all. She hadn't heard anyone come in.
She looks up to find someone already halfway across the pool. A girl. A girl with gorgeous long blonde hair and perfectly toned arms that are carving through the water as her muscular legs kick. Her movements look calm, but her speed is impressive, and the whole spectacle is simply breathtaking.
She can see her strong shoulder blades moving as her arms come around to scoop more water out of her path. She's simply gliding through the water.
She can't take her eyes away as the girl in the royal blue swimsuit moves effortlessly back and forth across the length of the pool.
It's not until the girl flips onto her back and continues doing the backstroke without missing a beat that she gets to see her face. Her view is interrupted off and on by the girls powerful arms move past before driving back into the water and the splash of water, but she barely notices as she takes in the girl's gorgeous features.
Her eyes trace the girl's face over and over before she disappears under the water to turn, and Emily can barely breathe. She's never seen anyone so stunningly beautiful in all her life. It's not until she re-emerges, water cascading off of her front as she continues the backstroke, that Emily's eyes dip lower.
She stops breathing as her eyes find where the girl's swimsuit meets the swell of her chest, and – Fuck!
It's not like she hasn't known she's gay for a while, but it's all been small crushes on celebrities. This is the first time that anyone's ever had this type of an effect on her.
She watches with rapt attention as the girl continues swimming back and forth, changing her strokes here and there. Her book lies forgotten in her lap as her mouth hangs open at the sheer beauty in front of her. It's not just that the girl is stunning (which she is), but it's the way she moves through the water as well. She seems completely at peace as she propels herself forward. Despite her speed there's an elegant grace to every movement. Emily has no doubt that she knows exactly where each part of her body is in the water at all times.
It's not until the girl stops swimming and leans against the wall of the pool that Emily feels like she might be intruding. She wants to clear her throat or something to alert the girl to her presence, but she feels a bit uncomfortable now that she's been watching her for a while. Instead she sits frozen in place, eyes glued to the back of the girl's head, until she suddenly dunks her head under the water and pushes off the pool and –
Holy fuck. Emily's heart skips a beat as she watches the girl's powerful shoulder muscles in her back tense as she propels herself out of the water. The muscles in her back all move in perfect harmony as water cascades off of her long blonde hair and down her body. Emily has never seen a more gorgeous sight than the one before her now, even as the girl's feet slap across the now wet tiles by the pool to where her towel's waiting for her.
Her eyes graze down the girl's muscular back to her perfect bum, and she unconsciously bites her lower lip. She's so mesmerised with the sight before her that she doesn't even realise that the girl is turning towards her until it's too late.
Blue eyes bore into her as shock is written across the girl's face, and Emily wants desperately to disappear or to look away, but she simply can't because this girl has the most stunning eyes she's ever seen.
The girl's face hardens and her eyebrows furrow. "Who the fuck are you?"
Emily can't help noting that her voice is silky and enticing despite the harsh words.
"Hello?" the girl adds when Emily doesn't respond right away. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"
Emily blushes deeply and glances down at the book in her lap, remembering what had brought her here to begin with. "I'm, uh, I was j-just..." Emily takes a deep breath and tries again. "I was just reading."
"It seems a little more like stalking," the girl retorts.
Emily wishes she has a comeback, but she was just shamelessly perving on the girl so she doesn't really have one. "I wasn't," she mutters, holding up her book as proof to her claim.
The girl smirks. "Aren't you supposed to actually look at a book when you read it?"
Emily glances at the book again and thinks of Amelia Peabody. She wouldn't back down. She'd stand up for herself. "I was reading, but then you came in and started swimming. I was here first." She cringes as the argument sounds childish even to her.
"You were here first?" the girl asks in disbelief, wrapping her towel around her chest and tucking in the top corner.
Emily nods defiantly, trying to convince herself that she needs to stop finding this girl so fucking attractive when she's not exactly being friendly.
"I swim here every morning. I've never seen you here before."
Okay, so her argument's even weaker now. Emily deflates slightly. "I was still just reading."
The girl eyes her up and down and Emily feels a little as if she's being sized up, and then the girl shrugs. "Whatever. I've gotta go."
Emily watches, mouth open in surprise, as the girl gathers the rest of her belongings and leaves out the door near her. Locker rooms, Emily guesses.
She sits there motionless for a minute, half of her wanting to run after the girl and convince her she hadn't been just creepily watching her (even if she kind of had been), and the other half of her just thankful that the awkward encounter is over.
As she finally puts her book away and stands up (school's starting soon enough), she can't shake how fucking beautiful the girl had been. She can only hope that she gets to see her again. She resolves to make a better impression this time.
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Thanks for reading. Hope you all enjoyed it. I know Naomi wasn't necessarily the warmest person to Emily, but, what can I say? She likes her routine.
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