Disclaimer: Still don't own it
Sorry for the late update but I have a new job now that takes up a lot more of my time than before. Updates from now on might be a bit more sporadic but I plan to try and update each week as planned. All I ask is for a bit of patience and a thanks to Paraddicted for the pre-read!
To say that Paige was startled was an understatement.
As she stared up at Mona from inside the pool, who was smiling sweetly at her, the teen truly did not know what to say.
After a minute of silence, the swimmer regained her composure and decided to finish the lap that she was in the middle of. Paige knew that Mona probably needed to talk to her about something, which she had a feeling on what, but did not care since her routine was more important to her at the moment. Moving away from the shorter teen, she headed to the far side of the pool; doing deep strokes with increasing speed. The water felt cool against her skin and did a good job of negating the sweat that would have poured from her if she was doing some other physical sport at the school. Though she had been tempted to take a break right when Mona had appeared, Paige did not want to give her the satisfaction. It had been a hard week and she was in no mood to feel intimidated.
It had been a tough year before the school year had started; ever since she had concluded her summer therapy. For the beginning part of her high school life, Paige had been forcibly intimidated by Alison DiLaurentis; bullied to the point that it was causing physical as well as mental hardship. Trying to put all that behind her, the young woman had put everything she had into swimming; focusing on nothing else. True her grades were slightly above average and could get her into a good college; it was her talent in the sport which drove her every day. There had been a time that Paige would have considered getting into a relationship with another person; but that had been destroyed by Alison and her manipulations. It was then that the teen learned that her crush just wasn't meant to be; no matter the promises of others.
During the summer, Paige at come out to her parents about her sexual orientation and preference for the female sex; with her summer therapy giving her the courage to do so. There had been some shock at first but she had loving and supportive parents so it wasn't a real issue; despite his nature, Nick McCullers was a great father. She then came out on the first day of highschool, which wasn't really much of a surprise and a big deal to other people. It had the unexpected effect of providing her with some protection from Alison though; who was reluctant to cross that line in her bullying. The blonde had confronted her though and warned her to stay away from Emily; which Paige was only happy to comply. As much as Paige would always have feelings for the dark-skinned teen, she knew that as long as Alison was around she was off limits.
When she was finally done with her lap, Paige slid out of the pool and grabbed the towel that was laying there on the side.
"What do you want Mona?" Paige asked, a little more hostile than she intended as she dried herself off. She doubted that the shorter teen here to simply chat and probably wanted something; like the last time they chatted.
"Well that isn't very nice; I am just here to chat," Mona stated, somewhat offended by the swimmer's tone. If Paige wasn't so essential to her plans for Emily, the shorter teen would be tempted to simply walk away.
"I know what you want and the answer is still no; I won't be a part of whatever you and Spencer are up to," said the swimmer dryly as she went over to one of the benches where her bag lay. She had a few bottles of water in it as well as her clothes; slightly paranoid about leaving them in the locker room given her history with the school.
"I don't know what you are talking about," lied Mona while mentally kicking herself. She shouldn't have been surprised that Paige had suspected on what had been going on behind the scenes.
"You know exactly what I am talking about and like I told you last year, I am not interested," stated Paige in a defiant tone as she sipped some water and sat down to rest. Even as if she had been tempted, the teen wanted no part in Mona's revenge plot.
When Mona first started putting together her little A-Team along with Lucas, she had gone to Paige as a possible third member in order to make a trinity. The shorter teen had viewed Paige as one who suffered just as much as they did under Alison's constant abuse; sympathizing with her as well as the swimmer's crush on Emily. Even at her darkest though, Paige had refused the offer and wanted no part of the A Game; feeling that it would only lead to disaster. She felt that stopping to the blonde's level would not help anyone in the long run and that eventually, Alison would be brought to justice the right way. She also didn't want to hurt Emily since there had been a chance that it might happen down the road; especially since Mona could lose it at any point. While Paige knew that Mona was not a horrible person and had been pushed into this because she was sick, the swimmer would not feed into her psychosis.
She also stayed silent though; both out of fear and a desire to not get involved. While she would never come to Alison's defense, she did pay attention to make sure that Mona and Lucas wouldn't harm Emily. That never happened fortunately and Paige never had to narc; thus never having to risk getting involved. She also didn't have to risk angering Mona since having to look over her shoulder would hamper her swimming career. When she heard that the shorter teen had spent the summer at Radley, Paige had been hopeful that maybe she would have gotten better and put away the desire for revenge. When all the things started happening though, the swimmer suspected that Mona was up to her old tricks again; this time with Spencer at her side. She wasn't sure though since Alison had many enemies and Mona as well as Spencer never appeared to be doing anything wrong; though she did still suspect.
"I am not here to recruit you Paige; I am all better now," declared the shorter teen with another sweet smile. She was putting everything she could into the lie she was spinning since getting Paige on board with her plan was absolutely essential; even if Paige didn't realize it.
"Really?" Paige asked, her tone indicating that she didn't believe the teen. She was rather proud of herself that she managed to keep the sarcasm out of her voice given that Paige in no way believed that Mona was indeed better now.
"Yes Paige; I am better now and like I said, I am not here to recruit for some quest of revenge. I am just here to talk," reassured the shorter teen as she kept her tone as polite as possible. Inside, Mona was angry that she was being treated this way by someone who should be at her side.
"I am not blind Mona; I can see what is going on behind the scenes and it is obvious that there is some sort of war going on between you and Alison. While I can't ever support what Alison has done to Spencer, you are not making the situation any better by including her in all of this," stated the swimmer as she faced the pool and put her back to Mona.
"I did not include Spencer in anything and our friendship is real. We, contrary to popular opinion, have not done a single thing to Alison since school started. All we have tried to do is stay out of things so we can simply get out of this town; it's Alison that is behind all the drama as well as Jenna Marshall," lied Mona in an effort to convince the teen. Part of her strategy to win Paige over was to convince her that she and Spencer were not involved in anything nefarious; contrary to popular rumor.
"What's Jenna got to do with this?" inquired the swimmer, momentarily confused. She knew that the blind teen was back but didn't understand why that was relevant to the present drama.
"Jenna and Alison hate each other and have been fighting one another for some time; because it was Alison who blinded in the first place. Now they are at war because your former girlfriend Shauna decided to defect to Jenna's side; providing the blind girl with all sorts of juicy secrets," answered Mona, using that relevant information to hook the swimmer in. She knew what Paige would likely ask next and was prepared to deliver the coming bombshell with great enthusiasm since it would tip the swimmer in her corner.
"Shauna is connected to Alison?" Paige asked, both startled and slightly irked by the information. While they had indeed dated for a brief time during the early part of the school year when she was still in the closet, the teen didn't know that the ex was connected to Alison.
When she and Shauna first started dating, it had been more out of a desire to be with someone for the swimmer. Paige knew that she was nearly using the teen as a cheap substitute for Emily; even going as far as to pretend that Shauna was her when they were together. It had been extremely hard to do though given that they were nothing alike; Shauna was like a firecracker and took Paige to places that Emily would never have. It was through Shauna that Paige did things that were definitely not appropriate for her age; causing her parents to put an ankle bracelet on their daughter if they knew. It was by luck and skill that Paige was finally able to shrug off the dark-skinned teen before real damage could have been caused.
"Shauna is an old friend of Alison's; didn't she tell you?" inquired Mona in a tone that she seemed perplexed when she was really smiling underneath. She wasn't surprised that Paige didn't know since the shorter knew the real reason why Shauna went out with the swimmer in the first place.
"No she didn't," Paige answered and there was a mix of hurt and anger in her voice. While it was true that her thing with Shauna was nothing more than a fling, she never expected a betrayal like that.
"Well I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news then; but I am here to talk to you about something else though," stated the teen as she sat down and watched as Paige was suddenly distracted by the news. Her little revelation seemed to throw the swimmer off guard; especially in regards to the fact that it seemed that Shauna was using Paige on Alison's behalf.
"What do you want to talk about then; I have laps to finish in order to practice for next week's meet," stated Paige, sounding slightly defeated. It seemed that no matter how hard she tried to stay away from the blonde, Alison could still get to her in some way.
"I want to talk about Emily," Mona detailed, causing Paige to look started and confused once again. The name of her crush coming up always seemed to catch the swimmer off guard no matter what the subject was about.
Paige had to admit that she was concerned about the teen as of late; no matter how much she tried to ignore it. She knew that Emily had broken up with Ben as of late and that she was also distracted by something in her life; as evidenced by lower performance when the swim team met for practice. At one time, the teen had been up for the position of team captain; which she had been sure to win with Paige as the only rival. Now, it was getting closer to being decided that Paige would now get the top spot; due to her continued hard work. While the swimmer had been overjoyed to know that she was first on the team and could easily get a scholarship because of it, she would have liked to have seen Emily get it as well. Even with her crush on her, Paige knew that Emily was a good swimmer and deserved to get into a good school because of it. She also felt that Alison was holding her back from fulfilling that dream.
"There is nothing to talk about; Emily is with Alison and there is nothing more to say about that," stated the teen as she sat down on the edge of the pool in order to get back into the water for more laps. She wanted to practice for another hour before heading home for the usual dinner with her parents.
"Spencer and I think Emily is in trouble because of Alison; we also think she could use your help," Mona stated with fake concern, gleefully smiling inwards on seeing the reaction coming from the other teen. She now had Paige's full attention and could now carry out the first part of her new plan.
"There is nothing I can do for Emily and you know it; Alison would tear me apart if I go anywhere near her and Emily is just too devoted," Paige said to the teen as she simply dismissed the idea of helping her crush. As much as she would love to help the dark-skinned teen if she was in trouble, the swimmer knew it was impossible.
"Emily is being caught in a war that will destroy her if she doesn't get out of it. Contrary to what you think, I and Spencer are not behind what is going on behind the scenes but are still being harassed. The same goes for Emily since it is obvious that Jenna is behind everything and will probably be collateral damage at some point. I know you have feeling for Emily and I fully believe you couldn't live with yourself if something happened to her while you had a chance to help her," pressed the shorter teen in a tone that indicated urgency; knowing that would hit home in some way.
"Like I said, there is nothing that I can do. I go near Emily Fields and Alison will sick everything she has on me," counted Paige, pressing her fears on Mona. Truthfully, she would love to help Emily in any way she could but also knew that it was impossible at this point in time.
"If you approach her outside of school, of course Alison would and that is to be expected. But you could approach her for something school related and such. You do share one or two classes with her and she is on your team; thus you could present yourself as someone who could help her with any academic issues," pointed out Mona as she outlined a rough version of her plan for Paige and Emily.
It was the general reason why she picked to do Emily while leaving Spencer with the other girls; though they might have to share Hanna. Back when she had first tried to form the A-Team last school year, the plan was to recruit Paige and then use her to lure Emily away from Paige. Mona knew from her many observations that the tomboy was into the dark-skinned teen and wanted to use that crush as her weapon; especially since she sympathized with Paige for what Alison did to her. The teen had rejected her though and that had thrown all of Mona's plans into slight disarray; though a small part of her did understand. That was why she never got revenge on the swimmer for rejecting her and left Paige alone. Mona now had the chance to initiate the original plan though with a few tweaks; even creating a loving relationship out of it.
"And why would you want me to do this for you? If you are so adamant about your innocence and desire to stay out of it, why are you getting involved?" inquired the tomboy suspiciously and looked at Mona with intensity. While the plan that Mona proposed sounded appealing, Paige felt that there was more to it than met the eye.
"Because Spencer is my friend and she is concerned about her former friends; they are victims of Alison's manipulations and we want to save them before it's too late. You've seen Hanna after all and even you have to admit that it is a tragedy on what is happening to her," Mona pointed out to Paige in a tone that indicated urgency. With Alison distracted by so many things, having Paige act as some sort of gruella assault could play in their favor.
"And you didn't coerce this in any way?" Paige asked, still somewhat not convinced of Mona's benign intensions. Everything the short teen seemed to resonate with her but her gut was telling her that there was something off.
"No; all we want to do is save Spencer's former friends from Alison's and Jenna's war. Just think about it okay," Mona said and started walking away. All that could be heard in the pool was the tap of her shoes as she headed towards the exit and checked her phone for any messages.
Mona had planted the seed within Paige and knew full well that something would soon sprout given the situation. To stress the point more clearly, the shorter teen planned a little operation against Emily in order to drive the point further. It would be nothing truly serious or life threatening but just a little push to scare Emily; thus showing Paige how bad the situation was and that she needed to do something about it. Mona would even frame Jenna for the incident and had the perfect idea how; baiting the blind teen into thinking that Emily had something useful in her possession that had been given to her by Alison. It would take some quick doing, but she could put things in motion by this time next week.
Then Paige would have no choice but to act.
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