Author's Note: Hey everyone! I just wanted to let you all know that this chapter is based on episodes 15 and 16 of season one. I thought it would be a cool idea to show what was going through Paige's mind during these scenes. Please let me know what you think!

I was in the locker room getting ready to leave after swim practice when I saw Emily walking towards her locker. Her hair was completely soaked and she had just changed into her simple gray v-neck and blue jeans. Even with her hair all wet and unbrushed, it still looked good. Remember Paige, she's your enemy, not your friend. She might be gorgeous on the outside, but it's just a disguise; a distraction. She wants to be number one, and don't let her have it. Don't let her win. Don't be a loser. It was easier for me to think of her as an obstacle in my way, since winning is everything to me. I never let obstacles get in my my way. Ever. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and let all negative thoughts of Emily Fields wash over me. I looked at her one more time and groaned. Emily Fields...what a bitch. I grabbed my bag and started to head out, when I had an idea.

If I'm going to win, I need to have all of the advantages I can get. What better way to get her off her game than to get inside her head? I tried to think of how I could get her to lose focus. So, I began to think what would make me lose focus, and it hit me.

A smirk formed on my face and I began to walk towards her. It was go time. I stopped at her locker and tapped her shoulder. She looked up at me with a smile, and then quickly frowned when she realized that it was me.

"Great job today at practice" I said with a fake smile. She looked at me a little confused. I guess she was trying to figure out whether or not I was being sincere. She should know better by now.

"Uh, thanks." She said hesitantly, and then continued grabbing her stuff from her locker to put into her bag.

"Although, I would be a bit more careful if I were you. Wondering eyes can make people feel a little...uncomfortable, if you know what I mean." My smirk formed again.

She looked up at me with fire in her eyes. At this point, she knew exactly what my intentions were.

"And what is that supposed to mean Paige?"

"It means we all know what team you really play for. I've seen you checking out some of the girls on this team, and apparently I'm not the only one. Some of the girls have said that they've noticed and they're starting to feel uncomfortable around you."

She looked at me with a focused face, not letting a single crack show. This girl was tough.

"Well, Paige, if they feel so uncomfortable around me then why hasn't anyone else said anything to me?"

She had a point. All of the other girls had always been so nice to her. Maybe I should have thought this through a little more. I look around and responded as quickly as I could.

"I don't know. Maybe they were afraid of talking to you alone and ending up in a spontaneous lip-lock." She looked at me and I could tell that she wasn't buying any of this. I had to crack her. I had to bring her down. So I continued. "Honestly, I don't even know why they let you in this locker room. It's not fair to us normal girls. It's like having a boy in here watching us change. I feel violated every time I have to get naked around you. They really should have three separate locker rooms. One for boys, one for girls, and one labeled 'freaks' for people like you."

I saw the fire in her eyes burning brighter now. Finally, I had gotten to her. We stared at each other for a little bit longer as I waited for her response. I thought she was going to blow up, but instead, she relaxed. The fire in her eyes was gone and suddenly my face went from confident to confused. She laughed under her breath as she turned to zip up her bag. Then she threw it over her shoulder as she started to walk away. Was this it? Was she done? How could she write me off that fast? I was about to say something else, but then she turned and looked into my eyes with a smile on her face.

"Paige, I don't know what I've ever done to you to make you hate me so much. In fact, I know I've never done anything to you. The only thing I've done is beat you in practices. So, maybe that's what this is all about? Maybe you're angry with me because I've been swimming a little bit better than you? If that's the case, then you know what Paige? You need to suck it up." The smile vanished from her face. "If you want to beat me, work harder." She slammed her locker door, looked at me one more time, and then walked out of the locker room.

I stared at the door for a few seconds replaying what had just happened in my head. Did she really just say that she's a better swimmer than me? Did she really just tell me to 'suck it up' as if I were a baby crying because I didn't get my way? Oh hell no. Nobody talks to me like that unless they have a death wish. Emily Fields, you have no idea what you've just gotten yourself into.

The next day I had gotten a message to meet Coach Fulton in the locker room after school. I heard the bell ring and gathered my things to see what Coach wanted. As I was walking towards the locker room, I couldn't decide whether to be nervous or not. She had been blunt and had given no indication as to whether this was about something good or bad. It couldn't be anything bad though, right? I was the best swimmer on the team.

I pushed open the door and entered the locker room. I saw Coach Fulton standing there and she immediately looked up at me.

"You wanted to see me coach?" I said with a smile. I walked further into the room and saw Emily standing there. She looked at me a little confused, and my smile dropped. What was she doing here? I knew right then and there that this wasn't about something good. It couldn't be if Emily was there.

"Have a seat girls."

We looked at each other, and then slowly sat down, making sure that there was at least three feet of space between us. I had no idea what this what this was about, and it looked like she didn't know either. Coach sat down on the bench across from us and clasped her hands. She just looked at us as if she weren't sure exactly what to say. Finally, she spoke.

"It has come to my attention that there has been an incident involving a homophobic comment."

My heart started racing and my eyes widened. That bitch. She squealed. She fucking squealed. She calls me a baby, and then rats me out to coach? I'm going to kill her.

Coach Fulton continued to speak. "Now, we have a zero tolerance policy..." I was waiting for her to give me detention, or worse, cut me from the team, when Emily cut her off.

"Coach Fulton, I don't know what you heard, but whatever happened between us is over now."

Coach looked at me and studied my face. She must have seen the panic in my eyes. Then she turned to Emily.

"Emily, if something happened then we need to discuss it."

Emily looked at me for a second, and then turned back to Coach. "Really coach, it's fine. Nothing happened. It was all just a big misunderstanding."

The coach looked at both of us and I slightly nodded. That was all I could do. I felt like I was having a heart attack. She looked at us some more, and then sighed and finally said,

"Alright. Well in that case, you can go Paige."

I darted out of there as fast as I could. I can't believe she did that. What was her plan? Was she trying to get my spot? If she wanted me off the team, then she would have told Coach right then and there what had happened. So why did she save me? What was her angle? Maybe she was just trying to scare me. Yeah, that must be it. She was trying to get inside my head just like I did to her earlier. Well, there's no way she's getting away with it. I'm the anchor of this team, and there's no way she's taking that away from me. Not now, not ever.

I tried to think about anything else during my walk home. I wasn't going to let her get to me. I wasn't going to let her win. I was the best swimmer on this team, and I had to stay focused if I wanted to keep it that way.

After dinner, I went upstairs to do my homework, like I usually do. I opened my laptop and went onto the school's homepage to check the lineup for the meet this week. Coach usually puts it up a few days before the meet, so it should be up by now. Of course, I already knew that I was anchor, but I was curious to see the rest of the lineup. I clicked on the link, and my heart stopped.

"No...there's no way."

I was no longer the anchor. Emily was. This couldn't be right. There must have been a mistake. She couldn't have replaced me with Emily Fields. Emily fucking Fields! I slammed my laptop shut and ran over to grab a pillow. I buried my face into it and screamed at the top of my lungs. This isn't happening. This can't be happening. I won't let it happen. Emily was going to get what she deserved.

I went to school early the next morning so that I could go to the pool before class. I knew Emily would be there swimming. She must have seen the lineup. She was probably the one who asked for it. I walked into the pool area and saw her swimming in one of the lanes, just as I had expected. She started to swim towards me, so I crouched along the edge waiting for her to approach. She still hadn't seen me yet. I was so angry, I couldn't stand it. I hated this girl so much. I truly hated her. She grabbed the wall to come up for air. Just has she had gotten her head above the water, I grabbed her head with one hand and pushed her back down into the water as hard as I could. I saw her struggling to come back up for air, so I let her come up for a quick second before dunking her back down. I held her under the water for a few more seconds before I let her go. She came up gasping for air as she ripped her goggles off and looked at me.

"What the hell!" She looked confused, angry, and frightened all at the same.

"I know what you're doing. I saw the lineup. Coached replaced me as the relay anchor with you." Even just saying that made me want to punch her in the face.

"Then go and talk to coach!"

"What, like you did? I may be lots of things Emily, but at least I'm not a tattletale. I would never rat out a teammate because my feelings were hurt. I take care of things myself." As I said that, I looked into her eyes to make sure she understood that messing with me was a big mistake. Then I got up and walked away. I was still angry, but she had a point. Talking to Coach was the only way to get my spot back.

I headed towards her office and knocked on her door.

"Come in!"

I opened the door and saw her typing on her computer. The typing stopped as she looked up at me.

"Ah, Paige. I've been expecting you. Please, have a seat."

I sat down and looked at her trying to decide what to say. I knew that if I said what I really wanted to, then I would get kicked off of the team for sure. Thankfully, she spoke first.

"I assume you've seen the lineup."

"Yes Coach, I have. I don't think it's fair that you replaced me last minute with Emily. The meet is tomorrow."

"Yes Paige, I am well aware that the meet is tomorrow, but this school has a zero tolerance for bullying. I happen to think that letting you go unpunished would be truly unfair."

"But Emily said there was nothing to talk about. I didn't do anything wrong."

She looked at me for a few seconds, almost as if she was disappointed. Then the spoke again.

"I'll tell you what, how about later today at the end of practice you and Emily can have a swim off. Whoever wins gets to anchor tomorrow. Sound fair?"

That was good enough for me. I could beat Emily, easy. She's probably still trying to compose herself from what happened earlier anyways. She doesn't stand a chance.

"Yes Coach. That sounds fair to me. Thank you."

Practice was the same as it always was, but a little bit more intense with the swim meet being tomorrow. Everyone was really focused, which is the type of environment we need if we're going to win. After about two hours, practice was coming to an end. I was in the process of getting out of the pool to take a quick breather, when all of a sudden I heard the whistle blow.

"Alright Sharks, listen up. As we all know, tomorrow is our swim meet. Everyone did really well today, and I'm really proud of you girls. Now, we all know that Paige has been number one on this team for the past few months, but I think that with Emily being back and kicking butt, it's no secret that Paige is no longer our best swimmer."

Was she trying to piss me off?

"Now, both of these girls are fantastic swimmers, but only one can anchor tomorrow. What better way to find out who that will be other than a good old fashioned swim off?"

I heard everyone start to cheer and clap, and then the coach continued,

"So, Paige, Emily...let's see what you got girls."

We headed out towards the starting blocks. I avoided looking at Emily so that I could get my head in the game.

"Alright girls. Step up, take your marks."

We adjusted our goggles and stepped up to take our positions. I looked at nothing but my lane. I couldn't get distracted. I had to stay completely focused and keep my tunnel vision. I had to win.

"Ready, set..."

Whistle blows

I jumped in the water and swam as fast as I could. There was no way in hell I'd let Emily beat me. I could hear my teammates yelling, but I couldn't understand what they were saying. It was probably better that way anyways. I had to stay focused on swimming. I got to the wall and turned around. I heard Emily turn just a second before me. I had to swim faster. We were getting closer to the yelling and I knew that it was almost over. I saw that Emily was just a few inches ahead of me, and I began to feel the anger inside of me. She can't win. Not at something as important as this. I had to win. I felt the desire and the need wash over me and I pushed even harder. I saw the wall getting closer and closer. I reached my hand out to touch the wall, and the cheering got even louder. Does that mean I won? Everyone got louder the second I touched the wall. I must have won. We both got out of the pool and waited to hear the results. Patience wasn't exactly my thing.

Only thirty seconds had passed, but it felt more like thirty years. The suspense was killing me. I couldn't take it anymore. I almost blurted out hurry up already! when the coach finally said,

"Alright girls. It looks like we have a tie."

I physically felt my heart sink in my chest. A tie? A freaking tie? Everyone thinks a tie is better than losing, but it's not. A tie still isn't winning. I stood there dumbfounded while everyone started heading towards the locker room. No. It can't be a tie. There must be a winner.

Once I had the ability to move again, I quickly walked up to the coach trying to calm myself down, but who was I kidding. I was pissed. "Coach!" My voice came out a little louder than I had intended. I saw her jump and turn around with a confused look on her face.

"Is something wrong Paige?"

Yes something is wrong. I clearly won that damn race and you have the audacity to call it a fucking tie.

"Yes...I mean, no. Nothing is wrong. I mean, I just...wanted to know if you're sure that it was a tie. I mean, was there anyone else keeping watch? Was anyone else keeping time?"

She gave me a stern look for a few seconds and began to speak. "Paige, it was a tie. You and Emily tied."

My face dropped and I heard someone begin to chime in. Emily.

"So, what happens now?" I turned around and saw her standing behind me. She obviously had been listening to our conversation.

"We'll have another swim off tomorrow morning. We're done for today." Then the coach turned and walked away. I was so angry. I needed to win, and I needed to win now. I needed to know that I was the anchor for tomorrow's meet. How was I supposed to sleep tonight knowing that Emily's name was still on that list unchanged? I had to get out of here. I had to go home before I completely lost it in a public place. I began to walk away when Emily began to say something.

"So, I guess we'll figure this out tomorrow then."

I turned around and looked at her. I couldn't believe she dared to even speak to me. Especially after what she knew I was capable of. I was too angry and annoyed to have a long conversation with her. So, I just simply said, "you figure it out. I need to win."

I didn't even bother to wait for a response. I just turned around and headed straight for the locker room. I quickly changed into my clothes without saying a word to anyone else, and ran all the way home. Running always made me feel better.

As soon as I got home, I went straight up to me room and got in my bed. I pulled the covers over my face and began to cry. I didn't want to talk to anyone. I didn't want to see anyone. I just wanted to be alone for the rest of the night. Once again, Emily Fields has ruined my life.