EMILY'S P.O.V
The beginning of my day seemed to drag on slowly as I eagerly counted down the hours till I could go and speak to Paige. First period History, then Chemisty and now English. I stared at the clock situated at the front of the room, watching as the minutes painfully passed by. Mr Fitz seemed to notice something was up as I noticed him stare at me and clear his throat. My eyes whipped across the room to make eye contact with him as he began to speak, "Are you okay Emily? You seem dazed, have you heard anything I've said?" he asked me.
My mind quickly sifted through the little information that had made it's way into my brain during this lesson and I began rambling a response that was hardly relevant to what he was talking about but hoping that it would make sense, "Sorry... Yes, I was, You were talking about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and how the values presented in the novel reflect values from the Victorian era that have been changed today." I answered him.
I looked around the class to see every student staring back at me, Spencer nodded at me, obviously relatively pleased with my response, Hanna looked half-surprised at my answer and half-ready to go vomit from her hangover and Aria just stared lovingly at Mr Fitz, waiting for his response. I was glad Ali didn't have this class with us because I was definitely not ready to hear her constant nagging about what I was thinking about and more specifically who I was thinking about.
"Not exactly what we were discussing today Miss Fields, but good enough." Ezra replied, and continued his lesson, turning back to the blackboard.
I sighed in relief and felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, it was Hanna:
H: What was that?! I never see the golden Emily Fields not paying attention, feels good for me not to be the dumbest one anymore!
I laughed at her text and turned to poke my tongue out and mouthed 'in your dreams Han.'
She smiled back at me and flicked her hair, it was good to see glimpses of the old Hanna like this, I'd missed it.
The bell then interrupted my thoughts, and I rose quickly from my chair, packing my books up as I moved. I waited for Aria, Hanna and Spencer at the door and we all walked the halls together, on our way to the cafeteria for lunch.
When we arrived, we noticed Ali sitting at our usual table waving us over. We looked at each other hesitantly as we made our way over to the table. As much as we had once loved Ali, she no longer controlled us like she used to and honestly, her return to Rosewood had put more strain on us than ever before.
Just before we reached the table Hanna spoke up, "I'm sorry guys, but I can't be around her, I'm going over to Caleb's. Just looking at her makes me annoyed, I don't think I can make it through this sober, I'll see you later."
Aria grabbed Hanna's wrist, "oh come on Han, you can't ditch us every lunch just because she's here!" she spoke desperately.
"Watch me." Hanna muttered back as she wriggled out of Aria's grip and walked out of the cafeteria.
We sighed as we sat down with Ali, me sitting right next to her.
"Hey guys!" Ali spoke up enthusiastically, "Where did Han go?"
We looked at each other across the table, unsure of what to say until Spencer answered, "Uhh.. she wasn't feeling well and decided to go home."
Aria and I nodded in agreement with Spencer, thankful once again for her quick thinking. The last thing we needed was another fight or divide within our group, sometimes it was better to just ignore things in hope that they go away, rather than starting World War III.
"Oh okay, well how was English then? I just had World Science with a class of freshmen, it's so humiliating!" Ali said with her puppy dog eyes. Little did she know that it didn't work on us anymore, we weren't the same girls we were 2 years ago and it seemed like Ali was still the only one that didn't realise that.
"English was great!" Aria piped up, clearly still in a good mood from seeing Ezra. Honestly I'm surprised that no one else at school has realised their back together again, they made it extremely obvious, or so it seemed to me at least.
Spencer almost choked on her salad in laughter at Aria's comment, "Oh please Ar, it was sooo clear you two were only thinking about each other and nothing to do with Jekyll and Hyde. Although, a rather good spontaneous answer to his question Em." Spencer smirked.
"Oh yeah, what was that Em?! You're never off your game but today you seemed somewhere else." Aria jumped in too.
I could feel Ali's eyes burning into the side of my head as I was determined to keep my eyes focused on Spencer and Aria across from me rather than Ali's displeased gaze.
"Oh it was nothing, was just caught up thinking about someone I guess." I answered them truthfully, still avoiding Ali.
Although I couldn't avoid her much longer as Ali decided to speak up, "Ohh, thinking about me Em were you?" She winked at me as she spoke and rested her hand on my leg.
I cringed at the feel of her touching me. No longer did it feel special, or like a privilege to experience a hint of her affection, it just felt wrong and uncomfortable. And while I always feared I would never get over Ali, I think my heart just told me that I had. Suddenly it was as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders and I was finally ready to move on with Paige completely.
"Um no actually, someone else" I told Ali as I slid her hand off my leg.
Spencer winked proudly at me across the table and nudged Aria with a look that said 'she'll tell you later', while Ali just looked completely horrified and confused.
I then pulled out my phone to see the time, lunch was ending in 5 minutes. I looked back up to my friends and spoke, "Well I better get going, I'm ditching last period. Can you cover for me in Spanish, Ar?"
"Yeah of course Em, we'll see you later then." Aria replied.
"For sure, bye guys!" I smiled as I began to walk away.
I then heard Spencer call out, "Wait Em, take my keys, seeing as we both came in my car today, you take it. I'll just get a ride home with Aria."
She tossed her keys at me and catching them I called back gratefully, "Thanks Spence!"
I stopped off at my locker on my way to the car park and grabbed some books for my homework tonight. I then walked to Paiges locker, still remembering the combination and grabbed her a few books she would need to catch up her school work. As I was closing the door I noticed a picture of Paige and I at a swim meet last year, the same one I had in my room. I smiled brightly at the memory and closed her door, strolling out of school, even more excited at the prospect of seeing Paige.
I walked out of school and climbed into Spencer's car and drove to 'the Grille'. Inside I ordered the spaghetti bolognese with garlic bread, Paige's favorite, to go. As I waited for my order, I walked to the florist across the street and purchased white roses, also Paige's favorite. After placing the flowers in the car and collecting my order, I headed to Paige's house.
I drove there on autopilot and before I knew it I was parked right outside her house. Suddenly feeling nervous, I placed my head in my hands and attempted to relax my frazzled mind. Taking a deep breath I looked at myself in the mirror, fixing my hair and reapplying some mascara and lip balm. Satisfied at my appearance, I grabbed the food and flowers, climbing out of the car and straightening out my top.
I walked hesitantly towards the door and took one final breath before ringing the doorbell. As I waited, I silently prayed that neither of Paige's parents would be home, especially her dad who even on a good day could still sometimes scare me. My thoughts were then interrupted by footsteps down her staircase and the door opening.
As it swung open, I was faced with the most beautiful girl in the whole world on the other side of the door, Paige McCullers.
"Em.. Emily." Paige spoke, clearly startled and confused at my surprise arrival at her house.
I stared for a few moments just looking at her, even in a grey tracksuit, she looked beautiful.
"Hi" I spoke shyly. "I brought some spaghetti bolognaise and garlic bread. I was thinking maybe we could have lunch if you were up to it?" I asked nervously, hoping she would say yes.
"Oh and these are for you." I quickly added, handing her the roses.
Paige smiled softly, taking the flowers and nodding " Thank you and yes I would love that, please come in."
As I stepped in the front door, she closes it behind me and we turn to face each other.
I begin to speak again, "Paige I don't know how much longer I can hold this in, so I'm just going to say it..."
A/N: Ohh.. what do you think Emily will say? this is my attempt at a cliffhanger, next chapter will be the big Paily scene!
The upcoming chapters will have more Paily, some Ali and Emily interaction (for all you Emison shippers that may be reading), more scenes with Spemily (they are my favorite friendship!) and also of course Aria and Hanna. Please let me know who or what you would like to see more of in this story! I have got a plan for the next few chapters but would love to hear your input :) Reviews inspire me to update sooner!
Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed, will hopefully update tomorrow!