I am so sorry for how long it's been since I have updated. School really kicked my ass this week and it felt like I had no time to write. But, I promise I'll be able to update faster now.
Paige continued to tap her foot as she impatiently waited for Emily. She could see the four girls standing in front of the car still arguing. Paige knew that the other three girls didn't believe whatever Emily was telling them. Spencer seemed to be the most agitated, her mouth was moving fast and she was flailing her arms around. After they had walked out of the pool everyone was surprisingly quiet, including Spencer. But as soon as Emily told Paige to wait in her car all hell broke loose. They all began telling Emily that it was a bad idea but she refused to listen. So, before Paige could even defend herself Emily gave her the keys and told her to get in the car. Not being able to deny Emily of anything she got in the car without protest.
It had been nearly ten minutes and Paige was starting to drown in her own thoughts. What the hell was going on? Paige knew that whoever had Hanna's phone was apparently more sinister than she had originally thought. When she had mentioned that the phone wasn't in her locker anymore Emily seemed to tense up. Paige still couldn't understand what the unknown person was gonna do with someone else's phone. Then, Spencer had accused her of killing Alison because she had a grudge against her. She would be the first to admit that she had hated the girl but not enough to kill her. At the time when Alison was torturing her Paige was trying not to kill herself, not Alison. Obviously, the four girls knew more about the murder of their best friend then they let on.
Paige jumped suddenly when the car door was slammed shut next to her. She looked over to see that Emily had finally gotten in to the driver's seat. As Paige glanced around trying to locate the other girls, Emily started the car. When she couldn't find them she turned her head back towards Emily who seemed pissed.
"Um Em, aren't the others coming, too?" Paige asked while Emily continued to violently turn the keys in the ignition. They had backed up and were pulling out of the parking lot when Emily finally answered.
"They're going to meet up with us later on. They don't really trust you right now and I don't want them around while I'm trying to explain things." Emily said, the agitation creeping into her voice. She knew that her friends were only trying to look out for her but she really believed that Paige isn't A. There is no way Paige would've been able to send that text Emily had received while leaving the pool. Emily felt a shiver run down her spin as she remembered the text. Did that mean that A had just used the phone being taken as a detraction from something else? Or was A just trying to mess with her head again? Emily glanced over to Paige who was staring out the window with an unreadable expression on her face. It took forever to convince her friends to let her talk to Paige alone. They eventually agreed when she told them she would call them as soon as she explained everything. She knew that Paige had to find out about A so she wasn't put in anymore danger than she already was. Emily figured it would be best to just talk to Paige alone so she wouldn't be as freaked out. She didn't think it would go as smooth if Spencer was there trying to play the bad cop act. When Emily finally reached her house she quickly pulled into the driveway and turned towards Paige.
"Come on, my mom isn't home yet." Emily whispered, trying not to startle Paige who seemed to be lost in thought. Paige heard Emily's voice and looked over to see the girl looking at her with concerned eyes. After staring at each other for a few seconds they both got out of the car and made their way into the house. Paige glanced around as Emily locked the door behind them. She smiled when she noticed the many pictures of Emily hanging on the wall. There were ones from when she was just a baby all the way up to the present. When she finally drew her eyes away from the pictures she noticed Emily was heading towards the couch. Paige followed behind her and began to feel her anxiety building. She was alone with Emily, something she never thought would ever happen. But, under the circumstances she couldn't really feel any accomplishment. Something was really wrong and she was beginning to feel powerless. Never in a million years had she ever thought she would be accused of murdering someone.
"What the hell is going on, Em?" Paige blurted out before she could stop herself. Emily had taken a seat on the couch while Paige had sat across from her on the love seat. Emily sighed trying to figure out how to explain what was going on.
"Do you remember when Maya was in that wheelchair?" Emily whispered, trying to keep her composure. Paige didn't answer and just nodded her head. "Well, we told everyone that she just tripped down the steps but she was actually pushed." When Emily finished her statement Paige was staring at her with disbelieving eyes.
"Who pushed her?" Paige asked quickly when she finally snapped out of her shock. Emily looked down to the ground, avoiding Paige's heated gaze.
"The same person that wrote you that note. Maya left town because she was scared for her safety. Whoever A is, they're dangerous and you have to be careful." Emily answered, lowering her voice the more she spoke. Paige seemed to be deep in thought, a million questions still running through her head.
"Ok, so Spencer thought I was A because I had Hanna's phone in my locker. I get that, but why did she accuse me of murdering Alison? Does A have something to do with Alison's death?" Paige asked, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle in her head together.
"Well, we think whoever A is had something to do with Alison's death. Hanna remembered something that Mona had told her after we heard her phone going off in your locker. Mona mentioned that you and Alison weren't very friendly towards each other when she was still alive. Spencer sort of just jumped to conclusions." Emily stated, still angry with Spencer for accusing Paige of murder like that. Paige seemed to lower her head at the mention of her past with Alison. When Emily realized Paige wasn't gonna speak up she raised her eyebrows. "What happened between you and Alison?" The question seemed to get Paige's attention and she sharply looked up.
"Me and Alison just didn't really get along, we fought a lot. She started to call me 'pigskin' instead of my name and I just got sick of it. So, I tried to stand up to her but it didn't really work out. It just made things worse." Paige whispered, trying to keep the hurt from her voice. She figured that she had to tell Emily something or she would just seem suspicious.
"Why 'pigskin'?" Emily asked as Paige froze in her seat. She thought back to the day in the locker room after soccer practice. The cuts on her thigh hadn't healed all the way and were still noticeable. Of course Alison had seen them and came up with the nickname.
"I don't really know. She just came up with it one day I guess." Paige said, even though she could hear the hesitation creeping into her voice. Why was it so hard for her to lie to Emily? The girl across from her raised her eyebrows slightly and sighed.
"I can tell your lying, Paige. Alison had to have a reason she was calling you that, she always had a reason. It's usually bad to keep secrets if A is around. Whatever it is, you can tell me." Emily stated, trying to get Paige to tell her more. Paige stared back at Emily debating if she should tell her or not. She figured Emily finding out about this was better than her finding out about the letter. Paige sighed and looked back down at her shoes before answering Emily.
"After soccer practice one day Alison noticed that there was cuts on my thigh. She gave me the nickname soon after." Paige whispered, as she looked at everything but Emily. She hoped that Emily would just leave it at that but of course she didn't.
"How'd they get there, Paige?" Emily quickly asked, already fearing the answer she was going to receive. Paige felt the tears start to well up in her eyes but refused to let herself cry in front of Emily.
"I did it the night before and they didn't really heal fast enough." Paige rushed out as Emily gasped across from her. Before Emily could say anything Paige continued, fearing her reaction. "I don't do it anymore, I promise." Paige whispered, still refusing to make any eye contact. Emily sat in shock and stared at the girl sitting across from her. How could Paige even think about doing something like that to herself? She sat deep in thought for a few more seconds until she finally snapped out of it.
"You did it more than once?" Emily shakily asked, feeling her throat start to close up. Paige looked back up when she heard the state of Emily's voice and was surprised at the concern that was shown on her face.
"Yeah, that was the first time I did it, though. I realized after that I had to do it on my stomach because anywhere else was just to noticeable. I didn't..." Paige was suddenly caught off guard when Emily stood up and seemed angry. Paige just stared up at her, waiting for her to say something.
"Nobody on our swim team ever noticed and we've all been swimming together for so long! How could everyone just be so oblivious that you were hurting yourself like that? How could I have been so oblivious!?" Emily yelled, her voice rising as she began to pace back and forth in frustration. Paige didn't say anything and just watched on in confusion as Emily paced in front of her. She knew that some of her team mates had noticed the scars on her stomach but they never spoke up about it. Paige figured it was better that they didn't ask questions about it anyway.
"Em, it's ok, I'm fine now. When Alison was still around she tortured me and I eventually just couldn't handle it anymore. But, now when I look back and think about it she made me a stronger person." Paige said, trying to calm the frantic girl down. Emily stopped pacing and stood in front of her. When Paige looked up she was surprised to see Emily was trying to hold back tears, but was failing.
"No, it's not ok, Paige. You obviously had nobody to turn to if you had to resort to cutting yourself. Everybody was wrong about you." Emily said, finally letting the tears fall that she was trying so hard to hold in. She couldn't believe that Paige had to go through something like that. Emily knew how cruel Alison had been to the people she disliked. Paige put her head in her hands as the tension in the room was becoming to great. She felt like she was always fucking things up. Now, Emily was upset because of her stupid actions. The room was silent and Paige figured that Emily had finally calmed down. When she glanced back up she was surprised to see Emily staring at her with an unreadable expression. Before she could say anything Emily launched herself into Paige's arms. She wrapped her arms around Paige's neck and felt her stiffen. After a few seconds Emily felt arms around her waist as Paige relaxed into her. They stayed like that until Emily pulled back and looked into Paige's eyes.
"Promise me that you won't do that to yourself again." Emily whispered, trying to keep her voice sounding strong. Paige looked away and stared at her arms around Emily's waist. Emily was holding her and it was really hard to get her thoughts in order. She knew that the only reason she was being held was because Emily felt sorry for her. But, she just couldn't bring herself to pull away.
"I promise." Paige whispered after a few seconds of silence. Emily hesitantly leaned in and lightly kissed Paige on her cheek. Paige felt her face begin to heat up as Emily separated from her and stood up.
"I'm gonna text the others and tell them to come over." Emily stated while trying to wipe the tears that were beginning to dry off her face. She felt in her back pocket for her phone and pulled it out. After texting the other three girls she sat back down next to Paige who was avoiding eye contact. Paige didn't even notice her and was lost in her own thoughts. Emily knew that she had cut herself and didn't think she was a freak like everyone else did. The girl was so kind and didn't deserve whatever this A person was doing to her. A had pushed Maya down a flight of steps which left her with a broken leg. Paige knew that Emily probably blamed herself that it happened. Someone like Emily didn't deserve bad things like this to happen to her, none of them did, even Spencer. By the way they were acting towards her when they thought she was A, Paige could tell they were terrified. Whoever this person was obviously had no problem injuring someone and that scared Paige a little. Would she be the next to get injured, just like Maya had? Or would something bad happen to Emily? Paige shook her head trying to clear her mind of all the bad thoughts. She would do anything she could to protect Emily even if it meant getting herself hurt. She wasn't gonna go down with out a fight. Paige was brought out of her thoughts when the door bell rang, signaling the arrival of the others.