Emily's POV

The next hour was agonizing while I waited for Hanna to return home. I hadn't moved from my spot on her bed when I heard the bedroom door open. I tentatively raised my eyes to hers, terrified of what I might see.

In her eyes I could see all the pain I caused her, but I could see the love she still had for me. As she walked to the bed, she finally spoke.

"Hi…" She said quietly.

"I'm so sorry Hanna…please tell me how to fix this." I begged.

"You won't be seeing her anymore." She said as if it was a fact more than a demand.

"What?" I began to protest before realizing it would hurt her more, "…okay…if that's what you want. I won't see her anymore."

"Lets just go to bed Em. It's been a long night." She said as she began shedding her jeans and top.

She crawled into bed only wearing only her underwear. She laid on her back, staring at the ceiling. She stretched her arm across the bed, motioning for me to lie down on her shoulder. As I laid down, I curled into her, holding her body tightly to mine.

I could tell she wasn't sleeping even though she pretended to be. Her unspoken anxiety scared me, but I knew I didn't have a right to know what was going on in her head right now. I had put those doubts there and I needed to let her sort through them.

An hour or so later she had finally fallen asleep, but I was still awake. I kept replaying the events of the evening, trying to figure out why I let her kiss me and why I didn't just tell Hanna that I didn't kiss her back. It wouldn't have been the whole truth, but it wouldn't have hurt her.

Breaking my rambling thoughts I heard my laptop chirp from across the room. Figuring I wasn't sleeping anyway, I got up to check it. I usually didn't get emails in the middle of the night unless they were from A, so my heart instantly began racing.

When I opened my inbox, I was surprised to see that it wasn't from an anonymous email used by A, it was from Maya. I felt guilty clicking 'Read' knowing Hanna wanted me to keep my distance, but I couldn't help myself.

Emily,

I'm sorry about tonight. I should have never kissed you and I know that. You're with Hanna now and I know she would do anything to protect that.

I am writing to say goodbye. I'm going to be leaving town for a while. Maybe even go out to San Francisco like we had always talked about doing.

I won't be seeing you anymore and I won't contact you again. Take care of yourself.

- Maya

P.S. Don't tell my parents. I'll call them when it's safe to talk.

As I read her goodbye I could feel my heart aching in my chest. I re-read the message several times but no matter how many times I read it, it didn't make sense. Why would she leave town? What does she mean 'when it's safe'? Did someone threaten her? Did she think she was in danger?

Then it occurred to me. I looked over at Hanna sleeping alone in the bed and remembered her words when she got in late last night. She didn't request or even order me not to see Maya. She stated that I would no longer see her.

But how would she have even talked to Maya? My cell phone! Hanna grabbed mine my accident…

I quietly walked back towards the bed and unplugged my phone from the charger. Looking through the messages from tonight I saw that Maya texted me an apology earlier and it looks like I had responded and requested to meet her. Only I didn't text her, Hanna did, pretending to be me.

Anger and feelings of betrayal began coursing through my body. Hanna had threatened Maya! Obviously so much so that Maya was scared and leaving town.

I couldn't picture Hanna doing that. Sure she was blunt and to the point, but never menacing. But then again, Maya was trying to come between us. That hurt Hanna and infuriated her, but enough to scare someone out of town? It just didn't make sense…

I didn't sleep the rest of the night, nor did I return to bed. I couldn't sleep next to and be comforted in her arms knowing Maya was scared and running.

When it was finally light enough outside I grabbed my swimming stuff and headed to school, leaving only a note on the nightstand that I would see her at school.

I wasn't technically allowed to swim at practice yet, but practice wasn't for another hour, so this swim was just for me.

I felt weak and light headed after about a half hour of swimming. I was so out of shape now. I wasn't even racing or pushing myself that hard, but I could feel all of my muscles burning as I swam my final lap.

When I pulled myself up and out of the pool I heard the familiar sound of flip flops on the wet tile floor and knew I was caught.

I looked up, bracing myself for coach to yell at me, but was surprised to find Paige standing there watching me.

Paige's POV

"Hey Em…are you okay? You look a little pale…" I spoke as handed her a towel.

"Yeah…it's just out of shape. I'm technically not cleared to swim yet, so can you forget you saw me here?" she asked, hopeful that I would keep her secret.

"Sure. Just be careful not to push yourself too much." I responded with genuine concern, as she pulled her swim cap off and towel dried her suit.

Emily and I were finally on good terms again. U had been so mean and cruel towards her last year, but I eventually revealed why. I was struggling with my own sexuality and took it out on her. Fair or not, it's what happened and somehow she forgave me for it.

Beyond my wildest expectations we even sort of dated for a few weeks, but I wasn't ready to come out and she refused to go back in the closet, so she ended things. At first things were awkward with us, but now we just had this unspoken connection and we almost friends.

I have been taking big steps to becoming more comfortable with myself and am even planning to tell my parents. I was planning to ask Emily for advice on how to come out soon, but based on the look on her face, I think she may need to talk more right now than I do.

"Hey Em…I'm here for you. You know if you need to talk about anything…" I softly yelled after her as she was almost in the locker room.

She stopped and slowly turned towards me. When she finally faced me, I could see tears beginning to form in her eyes. Without thinking I glided towards her and wrapped her in a tight hug. She was surprised by my actions and our closeness, but I felt her relax into the hug, knowing that it was only a sign of friendship.

After a few moments she pulled away and finally spoke. "Paige, I really screwed up with Hanna…and then I think she did something terrible…"

"Here, sit and tell me what happened." I said as I guided her towards one of the pool benches.

For the next ten minutes she told me everything that was on her mind. She told me about Maya returning and wanting to be friends. Their kiss and how she didn't know if she kissed her back. And then she told me how she thought Hanna threatened her and now Maya was gone.

"…I mean I can't even imagine Hanna threatening her…I have to be reading too much into things, right?" She asked, hoping I would calm her mind.

I took a large sigh, knowing I had to tell Emily something I figured she didn't know and wouldn't want to hear.

"Um…well Hanna can be very protective of you. She would do anything if she thought she needed to keep you safe." I said, hoping it would be enough, but the confused look on Emily's face made it clear I needed to explain.

"Do you remember that meet last year, when things were pretty bad between us, and coach pitted us against each other for the anchor spot?" I asked, knowing she would. When she nodded, I continued. "I was horrible to you back then. The bullying and the near drowning incident…" I stopped, reflecting on how bad things really were.

"We're past that now, Paige. What does this have to do with Hanna?" She asked, wanting to get back to the point.

"Well that night that I rode my bike to your house in the rain to apologize. I didn't end up swimming the next day because I told the coach that I had fallen off my bike…that wasn't exactly the whole truth. When I left your house, I ran into Hanna. She shoved me off my bike. I fell into the street and got pretty banged up. She stared down at me as the rain was beating down around us. Just as she was about to leave she looked back at me and told me that if I ever hurt you again that she'd make my life a living hell." I confessed to Emily quietly, never having told anyone what really happened that night.

I looked at Emily, waiting for a reaction, but she just sat there silently without any expression. It was as if she was a statue of herself, unable to move.

We sat in uncomfortable silence for a few more minutes until we could hear some of the swimmers start to file into the locker room. Knowing she had to leave soon or risk the coach catching her, she stood from the bench and headed into the locker room. She stopped only once to look back at me. Her look was pained but also grateful that I had confided in her.

I wasn't sure what Emily was going to do with that information, but I knew she need to know.

I don't think Hanna would ever actually harm Maya, and she didn't even really hurt me. Sure I had cuts and bruises from the fall, but I had physically harmed Emily, so it was only fair. I didn't know at the time Hanna's true feelings for Hanna, but now that I did, I understood her actions from that night.

Even before I knew, I just chalked it an overly protective friend. Chuckling quietly to myself I knew that I was thankful it was Hanna and not Spencer…that girl kind of scares me.