A/N Alrighty then. Chapter two should be it but I might make it long enough for three chapters. If you are interested in any other short stories like this give me an idea and I got you . Also, some of the references in the dialogue might not have happened explicitly in the show but could have happened.
Ali only talked for fifteen minutes but no one was really paying attention. All are eyes were still on me as I dripped on the stage floor. I don't do sticky which meant this was a special kind of hell. As soon as she was finished, the teacher went to say some final words but I excused myself. I gave a little wave behind her back and walked off the back stage. My shoes were tracking everything so I slipped them off and left them in the hallway. Around the corner, I could hear the doors opening and everyone exiting. They would all go out the front entrance so luckily no one would run into me. I knew exactly where I was going, the natatorium. I had an extra pair of clothes in my locker and they had a shower. No matter who I was going to have to answer to for that stunt, I needed to get this stuff off me first. Now I'll just have to see who's going to be more pissed Mona or the principal.
I walked down the hallway as quickly as possible because I was still dripping. I thought I heard something behind me but it might have just been the squishing of my clothes. I finally got to the natatorium and slid into the locker room. Before I could get the first layer of clothing off, the door behind me opened.
"What the hell was that?" Mona was definitely going to be the madder of the two.
"I couldn't see the clock in the back and I forgot my watch is slow. I thought I still had time." Convincing enough. She eyed me suspiciously.
"Pull another stunt like that McCullers and a little corn syrup will be the least of your problems."
"Is that a threat?" I crossed my arms and stood tall.
"I don't do threats. I make guarantees." She walked out slamming the door behind her. Great, another person to add to the long list of people who hate me. I peeled my shirt off and was thankful that it protected some of my skin from getting stained red. My bra was ruined, though. I started unzipping my pants when another door opened. This one was more towards the back of the room so they couldn't see me, yet. I was bent over so I couldn't see their faces, but the five pairs of stylish shoes that were across the room gave me a pretty big hint of what I would be facing next.
"Where is she?" Spencer was turning her head around. Unlike Emily and I, she wasnt familiar with the layout of this room. They went in the wrong direction and stationed themselves in front of the shower room. Hanna went in but shook her head to say I wasn't in there.
"Spencer we can talk to her tomorrow." Hanna was adamant.
"No, I want to get to the bottom of this now. I am tired of this bullshit. She needs to get over the fact that Emily broke up with her. Making Ali's life hell isn't going to change that." This made me want to jump out from where I was and punch her in the face. I was standing in a bra and jeans, sticky, because of that girl. Before I could make a move, another voice came to my defense.
"Spencer is it really that hard to talk to some without accusing them. Stop assuming you know everything without a single piece of evidence." Spencer and I were both too dumbfounded to speak. I looked at Emily with a new found appreciation. She not only stood up with me but she took Spencer down a peg.
"For your information, I have proof." She pulled out a slip of paper from her purse and held it up to Emily. I faintly recognized the writing on the page as my own. Emily unfolded it and I could see the writing on the top of the paper. It was my notes from the meeting with Team Mona. I must have dropped it when Spencer and I collided earlier. This didn't change the fact that I joined Mona to stop her but it made me look guilty as hell. Emily's face slowly turned into disappointment as she read it. I knew she knew my hand writing because it's not the first time that has gotten me in trouble.
"I don't care what this says." Everyone looked shocked.
"Emily it is there, right on the page. Mona has some new super team for making our lives hell again, and she is a part of it. How can you not care?"
"There has to be a reason. Paige never does anything without a reason." She stood there with her arms crossed.
"Emily she almost killed you when she held your head under water, what was the reason behind that?" Emily uncrossed her arms and through them in the air in defeat.
"She has a point." Hanna added. Aria also nodded.
"That's your go to for reasons why I shouldn't trust Paige, something that happened two years ago? What about the time Toby joined the A team and almost got us in a car wreck, or when Caleb sold you out to Jenna and left you for Ravenswood without a reason, or how about the fact that Ezra has seen us get tortured this whole time and has done nothing...for the sake of a true crime story." She put the last part in finger quotes.
"Compared to that, a little extra water in my lungs is nothing. Anyways, you all are forgetting everything else Paige has done for us. Remember that swimmer who kept on talking about you and Mr. Fitz?" Aria nodded.
"Who took care of that for you?" I made that girl swim laps until she couldn't speak let alone talk about stuff she knew nothing about.
"Paige did."
"Hanna did you know that Paige drove to Ravenswood to talk to Caleb? She cancelled our weekend plans and drove up there and let him have it for leaving you." Hanna started to say something but stopped. I told Emily not to tell her that. We were supposed to have a weekend to ourselves but I cancelled because I thought Caleb was being an ass. I didn't want to tell her where I was going but she finally forced it out of me.
"And Spencer as smart as you are how could you make the same mistake twice. The last time this happened you made me doubt her and she almost got killed. And then she turned around and saved your life. Do you think Wilden would have stopped choking you?" She didn't wait for a response.
"All of you seem to have selective memories when it comes to anybody but Paige." The whole time they were arguing, Ali was standing silently in the back. For a person who was always the queen B, she was oddly quiet. This didn't go unnoticed by Emily though.
"Ali you're quiet, what do you think about Paige? Or should I call her pigskin?" Emily had never used Ali's nickname for me. It stung worse coming from her mouth.
"That's not fair." Spencer defended her.
"Why not…because she was young and popular? What makes her crime so unforgivable?" No one responded. Allison had her head down, twiddling her thumbs together.
"This paper doesn't mean anything. Unless, Paige says to my face that she joined Team Mona, I won't believe it." I took that as my cue to come out. I didn't really care that I was only in a bra.
"I joined Team Mona." Emily jerked around in my direction. Before the satisfied look could become permanent on Spencer's face, I rephrased my statement.
"I joined Team Mona to protect all of you." Emily's face didn't seem to say that she totally trusted me. I ignored everyone else in the room and looked straight at her.
"That paper is mine. Everyone in the group was tormented by Ali so they all agreed to work together to get back at her. Mona recruited me after you broke up with me. Not for one second did I ever agree with what she was doing. But I knew nothing good could come from Mona keeping more secrets. Out of all the people in the group, I knew Mona would trust me the most."
"And why's that." Spencer interrupted.
"Because Ali has caused me more grief than the average person." I continued my defense. "They made their first plan to just humiliate her in front of the whole school. My plan was to put an extra nail in the latch so it wouldn't fall even when the timer went off but Mona was already suspicious of me so she kept me close. I knew the only way to foil the plan was to take the hit myself. I laughed it off so everyone thought it was a swimming prank."
"Why should we believe you? How do we know you just timed it wrong?"
"She told me not to move." It was the first time she had spoken the whole time.
"When we were on the stage, she told me not to move and to trust her. Spenc, I think she is telling the truth." Spencer still didn't want to let it go.
"Why, though. If this group is about getting back at Allison, why would you try to stop their plans?" All on eyes were on me. I honestly didn't have a great answer because it was illogical. Not many people try to save their persecutor. My intentions were actually selfish, though. I was protecting Ali to protect Emily. She doesn't need any more problems in her life.
"I did it for Emily. All I have ever wanted is for her to be happy. I don't care who that's with. You all and Allison make her smile like I have never seen. She doesn't need any more trouble in her life. Stopping Mona is my way of insuring that nothing bad ever happens again, even if that means something like this happening." I looked at each girl. They all had a different range of emotion. Spencer still looked suspicious but content. Aria and Hanna were doe eyed like love sick puppies. Allison looked guilty, which didn't surprise me. Emily just looked sad. The exact opposite of what I ever wanted to accomplish.
"Satisfied?" I placated.
"For now." Spencer responded. She turned and walked out the door, followed by Aria. Hanna didn't seem to want to leave the three of us alone together so she slowly made her way behind the others. For a few moments, we all stood there in silence, Emily with her head down, looking at the floor and Ali and I having a staring contest. Ali approached me slowly. She stood before me and raked her eyes of me. I suddenly became self-conscious of my exposed skin.
"I wish I was half the person you are. You should hate me…you SHOULD be throwing this stuff at me."
"Right now, at this moment, I am still angry with you. I have harbored so much loathing for you for the past three years that it tears me a part. But no matter how much I hate you, I love her more...But she chose you. So, don't wish to be half the person I am, actually try to be a better person. She deserves the best of everything, even if that's you." She didn't say anything in response but walked towards the door.
"Emily, are you coming?" Emily still had her eyes glued to the floor with her hands in her pockets. I picked her chin up, much like I had done earlier, and smiled. "I'm sorry I couldn't make you happier." A tear fell down her cheek, dripping on to my hand. I turned to go back to my locker and I heard her footsteps walk away. I took a deep breath but it came out as a stutter. What had I done? I leaned my head against the locker, scrunching my eyes clothes. She stood up for me and then she walked away. That door that I thought might still be open, slowly felt like it was closing, waiting for someone to come behind and lock it completely.
I stripped my soaked jeans off and stood just in my underwear in bra. I searched through my bag for the body wash and grabbed my towel. I would process all of this later. If someone asked me to reiterate a single thing I just said in that conversation, I probably couldn't. Hopefully everyone can forget this ever even happened. I turned on the water and immediately started to melt away the stickiness from my body. Even the red stain on my clothes got fainter. I turned towards the wall and ran my head under the shower head. The cascade of water felt better than anything I think have experienced. The hair on the back of my neck raised up all of a sudden. I turned around, wiping the water out of my eyes. I hadn't turned the light on in the shower because I was the only one there, so all I could see was a feint outline.
"Did you mean it?" It was Emily. She took a step further into the room.
"I mean everything I say." I continued to scrub the soap through my hair, pretending her presence wasn't making my mind go insane.
"I don't want you to mean it. I want you to listen." This felt oddly familiar.
"What you did, hurt me Because I have learned not trusting people is always easier."
"Em I'm…" She held up her hand.
"Stop. You shouldn't have to apologize. You haven't done anything wrong. You always do everything right and I just push you away. When you said…" She could barely finish her sentence. "When you said you didn't make me happy, I wanted to hit you. No one, in my entire life has made me as happy as you have. I'm just so afraid, Paige." She walked towards me, slightly getting in the water, and placed a stray piece of hair behind my ear.
"What are you afraid of?"
"Us." It was a little more than a whisper. "Every time I get serious with somebody something happens. I can't risk that with you. What I feel for you sometimes is so overwhelming that I have to take a second just to let myself feel it. Even now, when you walk into a room I get this knot in my stomach. And the fact that you're mine, that when I see you running in the park or at the brew, I know no one else gets to hold your hand or kiss you, that makes me feel like I can't breathe. I am so happy with you it scares me. I'm being selfish because I don't think I would ever be able to lose you. To have you to myself, and then just watch you slip away. I would rather let you go, and see you move on, than be together knowing that I am the reason something bad will happen. But I don't want you to ever think you didn't make me happy." Tears were forming in both of our eyes.. She moved in closer, grabbing both sides of my arms. The water was now spraying both of us equally but neither of us cared. I was lost in her eyes until they closed. Automatically, mine did the same. Her hand traced up my arm, coming behind my neck and pulling me down closer. Our lips met and it felt like the first time. It was slow and tentative, neither of us going deeper because we would lose control. Her hand tightened against my neck and I held onto her waist. We parted, heads together, water rushing over us. In this moment, words weren't needed. I tightened my hold on her hips bringing them closer to where there was no space between us.
"Paige, I don't choose you second….I choose you forever." I leaned in kissed her chastely.
"Whatever happened to letting go?" She moved her mouth to my ear and whispered, "it's overrated." She pulled me down to her again. The timidness before was completely gone. My back hit the shower wall as she deepened the kiss. I moved my hand higher, getting lost in her now drenched hair. I flipped us so her back was at the wall and she pulled away to catch her breath.
"Yeah, I'm definitely never letting go." We both smiled and crashed into each other again.
