"Emily!" Paige called as she caught up with Emily outside the natatorium.

"Hi, Paige." Emily said as she kept walking. She wasn't comfortable talking to Paige even if the latter already apologized for scaring her before by trying to drown her. Paige felt threatened when Emily came back to the swim team so she tried to intimidate Emily by scaring her.

"Are you coming back to the swim team?" Emily asked when Paige continued to walk with her towards the natatorium.

"No. I've already talked to coach though. I can come back next season. I'll be playing field hockey in the meantime. I just wanted to ask if you're free tonight, we could have coffee or something." Paige asked casually.

"That's great! Spencer's the captain of the field hockey team. You can learn a lot from her. She's really good. She's the best in the team." Emily smiled as she thought of Spencer looking really hot in her field hockey uniform. Her reaction to hearing Spencer's name didn't go unnoticed by Paige, plus the fact that the tanned girl didn't seem to hear that Paige just asked her out.

"Spencer Hastings? I don't think she's the type to go out of her way to train new recruits. That girl's a stuck-up snob." Emily stopped walking upon hearing Paige's remark.

"Listen, Paige. If you want to get on my good side, you shouldn't talk about my friends that way. Especially Spencer. She's a really great person. You have no right to talk to her that way because you don't know her at all." Emily said as she glared at Paige.

Paige stopped walking as well and turned to face Emily, surprised at the tanned girl's sudden outburst. The tanned girl was clearly smitten with Spencer. "You like her, don't you?" Paige asked with a smirk as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"It's none of your business." Emily snapped.

"Well, it's too bad she's taken." Paige said.

"Aria and Spencer are just friends." Emily said, assuming that Paige was referring to Aria being Spencer's girlfriend.

"I'm not talking about Aria. I'm talking about Jenna. She and your girl are mixing more than chemicals in chem. class, if you catch my drift." Paige raised her eyebrows suggestively. Emily glared at Paige before walking away. She proceeded inside the natatorium without saying a word.

Emily tried to push Paige's last remark at the back of her mind. The girl can really get in anyone's nerves if she wanted to. She was fuming as she recalled the smirk on Paige's face as she talked about Spencer and Jenna. She'd known that Spencer was helping Jenna in class. But is that all there is to it? Spencer was really sweet and affectionate to her earlier at lunch. Does Spencer act the same way towards Jenna? Emily couldn't help the jealousy building inside her. Jenna was really attractive, hot even. It wouldn't be impossible for Spencer not to notice that. Emily sighed. She had just eliminated Cassie on the list of her competition in winning Spencer's heart and now there's another girl on her list. She really needs to up her game before the list continue to pile up.


"Hey, coach! Can I talk to you for a sec?" Spencer said upon knocking on the slightly-opened door of Coach Thomas's office.

"Sure. What's on your mind?" Coach Thomas gestured for the brunette to come in and sit on one of the chairs next to his desk.

Spencer sat quietly for a while as she tried to gather up the courage to tell her coach that she's quitting the team. She and Melissa had a lengthy discussion about it, which eventually led to the younger Hastings conceding on the matter. Melissa explained that it will be a good move for her, health-wise.

Spencer cleared her throat and met her coach's eyes. "Uhm, I just want to tell you that I'm quitting the team."

"What? Why? You're our best player, Hastings. Why would you want to quit?" Coach Thomas said, clearly surprised at Spencer's news.

"It's just that I have a lot going on and I need to make more time for my other uh, commitments. I'm sorry, coach." Spencer said. She wasn't keen on quitting the team but she didn't have much of a choice.

"Are you sure about this? I could work on the practice schedule so that you can squeeze it in yours." Coach Thomas offered sincerely. Spencer quitting the team will be a great loss for them. She is the best player and the captain of their team, and Spencer was always admired by her teammates for being just and humble. She never acted like a diva, never asked for any kind of special treatment.

Spencer gave him a smile as she shook her head. "You don't have to do that for me. I don't want to interfere with the other players' schedule as well. It wouldn't be fair to them."

Coach Thomas sighed. He knew that once Spencer Hastings made up her mind about something, there's not much you can do to change her mind.

"Alright then. Let's go tell the rest of the team."

The field hockey players were gathered inside the locker room as they prepared for their practice. Coach Thomas cleared his throat as he stepped inside the locker room. The players fell silent as they directed their attention to their coach who now stood in front with his playboard.

"I have a little announcement. I have both good and bad news. First, the good news - I want to welcome the newest addition to our team, Paige McCullers." The girls nodded and smiled at Paige as their coach introduced her to the team.

"What's the bad news, coach?" One of Spencer's teammates asked.

Coach Thomas looked over at where Spencer was standing. The brunette nodded and gave a weak smile as their eyes met. "Spencer Hastings is quitting the team." Coach Thomas said. His announcement created shock as anticipated. The players' jaw almost hit the floor in disbelief. The girls immediately turned their attention to Spencer, throwing questions to the team captain. "What?!" "Why?!" "No way!"

As Spencer held her hand up, the girls automatically hushed. The captain sighed and looked at her teammates. "As much as I've enjoyed being with you guys on and off the field, there are things that I need to attend to, and because of those things I unfortunately have to drop a few extra-curriculars. I want you to know that I enjoyed all of the games, practices and gatherings that we had as a team. All the victories and defeats have both strengthened us as a team, as a family. I need you to know that I will still continue to support you guys even if I'm no longer on the team. Coach Thomas, thank you for giving me the opportunity to play with this incredible team. I've learned a lot from you and from each and every one on the team as well."

The girls engulfed their captain in a big group hug. Paige stood awkwardly on the side. She was fuming internally but remained poker-faced as she let her new team have their moment with Spencer. Leave it to Hastings to steal the attention off me on my first day as a field hockey player. Paige thought. She never liked the smart girl. She was envious of the attention that Spencer got from everyone in school, especially Emily's.

Sara, one of Spencer's teammates approached the captain and handed her a hockey stick. "Will you play with us one last time?" The girl pleaded.

"Yeah!" The players chorused. "Please, Spencer?" Sara asked again.

Spencer grinned at her teammates, overwhelmed by the love and support that they're giving her. "Alright. Game on!" The captain said as she nodded to Sara.


The coach divided the team into two groups for a scrimmage. Spencer and Paige found themselves playing on opposite sides, both playing midfielder. They had only been playing for twenty minutes, but Spencer felt like she had been on the field for two hours. She was panting and she was getting a little dizzy. She immediately regretted playing. She really didn't want to play but she thought that she owed this one last game to her teammates.

Spencer noticed Jenna sitting on the sideline, giving her a little wave. Spencer waved back and smiled. She was a bit thankful that Jenna was waiting for her for she was sure that she won't be fit to drive again after practice. Her vision was a little blurry this morning. She didn't want to risk driving and end up in an accident. Perhaps Jenna wouldn't mind driving both of them home to work on their chem. project later.

Spencer tried her best to keep up with her teammates. She didn't want her last game to be on the losing end, especially since Paige McCullers was playing on the opposite team. The first half was barely over but Spencer already fell twice, both resulting from Paige's aggressiveness. Spencer was tripped twice by Paige, with the latter explaining that she hasn't mastered the stick yet so she's being a little clumsy with it. Spencer knows that their coach wouldn't have picked Paige to be in the team if she was constantly fumbling with the stick. Though she isn't one to back down from a competition and she most definitely didn't buy Paige's excuse, Spencer decided to let the thing go. She was not in the mood to argue and she didn't want to waste her energy on getting back at Paige. She just wanted for the game to be over and done with.

Spencer never liked Paige. Mainly because she tried to drown Emily before just to get ahead in the swim team, and it was apparent that the feeling was mutual. She never missed the glares that Paige has been giving her throughout the game. The third time that Spencer fell was from an illegal body check from Paige. She landed hard on her left shoulder. With the dizziness and fatigue plus the hard hit she took from Paige, Spencer almost lost her consciousness. Her teammates were on her side in a flash. The girls helped Spencer up and sat her on the bench. To her surprise, Jenna was on her side in a whim.

"Guys, I'm okay, really." Spencer finally spoke after trying to catch her breath.

"Hastings, you should get your shoulder checked. Go on to the clinic. You don't have to finish the game. I'll get one of your teammates to take you there." Coach Thomas said after carefully inspecting Spencer's left shoulder.

"I can take her." Jenna offered. Coach Thomas nodded and smiled appreciatively.

"I'll hit the showers real quick okay? Then we can go." Spencer said, giving Jenna a thankful smile.

"Sure. C'mon, I'll walk you." Jenna said as she helped Spencer up.

Jenna opted to wait on the bench near Spencer's locker as the brunette took a shower. She didn't want to leave Spencer alone knowing that the brunette might need her help.

"Do you need help getting dressed?" Jenna asked as Spencer now stood in front of her locker after a few minutes.

"No, thanks. I got it." Spencer said. Her left shoulder hurt like hell, thus giving her a hard time moving her left arm. She was too stubborn though and a little shy to accept Jenna's offer.

As the two were about to leave, Paige walked inside. Paige smirked as she approached Spencer. "You alright Hastings? I can see why you quit the team. You actually did us a favour, you know. We can't afford to have you on the team if you can't keep up with a newbie like me."

"You're just lucky that I'm a little off my game today, McCullers." Spencer shot back.

"Stop making excuses. Just admit that you're not tough enough for this sport, or for any sport for that matter." Paige said, challenging Spencer.

"Let's just go Spencer. You don't have to listen to whatever rubbish this bitch is saying." Jenna said as she took Spencer's gym bag.

"Ooohhhh.. You're girlfriend's feisty!" Paige laughed.

"Shut up McCullers and get out of my way." Spencer said, glaring at Paige.

"Sure thing." Paige said as she stood on her side to allow Spencer to pass. Just before Spencer passed though, Paige suddenly moved forward and purposely bumped Spencer's left shoulder, causing the latter to wince in pain.

"Sorry about th-" Paige's sentence was cut short as Jenna's fist connected on her right jaw.

Spencer's eyes grew wide as she looked at Paige on the ground, clutching her jaw.

"Let's go Spencer." Jenna calmly said as she took Spencer's hand and led them out of the locker room.