I can see that you lovelies don't give a guy a break ;) So, here is the third chapter, as you all demanded it. Hopefully there will be plenty of updates in the future because I have a very good idea of where I would like this story to end up, but it's coming up with everything in between that's difficult. But being me, I tend to be a people pleaser, and therefore I will continue; also writing can be a very good stress reliever too. So, enjoy!
"Alright ladies, listen up. Our next swim meet will be against the Lady Warriors from Tippy Valley; they are our toughest competition and you know it. This week will be dedicated to perfection; the last time we were up against them they drowned us in perfection. Perfection will be the only thing that will satisfy me this week. But lucky for us, we have been blessed with a new member of the team, a Lady Wildcat; I hope you all make Miss Paige McCullers feel welcome and appreciated."
The entire Sharks swim team glanced over at Paige and Emily who were standing near the back of the group. Paige's face grew beet red as she half smiled and dipped her head down. Emily knew Paige hated being the center of attention, she would have to remind coach of that after practice.
"Ok, girls. This practice we will be doing warm ups and then we will have ourselves a few races later on to see who needs to work on what the rest of the week. First will be my freestyle girls, and I would like it if you, Paige, would join them along with my butterfly girls later on, as I see those seem to be your strong suits. Now, lets hit the pool, ladies."
The team of Sharks led the way out into the natatorium while Paige and Emily brought up the rear.
"Are you excited to be swimming for the Sharks? Or do you prefer your old team? Emily asked.
Paige thought for a second, then shrugged her shoulders. She couldn't really say for sure because this was her first practice, but she hoped that she would like it better here considering this is where she will be for the next year and a half.
"You'll like it here; all the girls are really nice, and coach Fulton is amazing . She can help you with anything you're having trouble with, whether it be your form, your take-off, anything."
Paige gave an appreciative smile and continued walking towards the pool. As they entered the natatorium, coach called for everyone to swim a few warm up laps and then the freestyle girls would have a little race.
"I usually swim at the very end of the pool, would you like to swim with me?" Emily questioned, hoping not to sound too desperate to be with her; although she pretty much knew she had blown her cover way before practice even started.
Paige smiled and nodded, continuing her way towards the very far edge of the pool with Emily. When they reached it, they both simultaneously jumped in and began a decent pace. They swam perfectly in sync with each other for six laps; coach had just then called for the all the non-freestyle swimmers to jump out and do some stretches while the others prepared for the race.
Paige and Emily, along with five other girls, brought themselves to the ready position as coach Fulton blew the whistle.
Emily hurled off the platform with tremendous force; and so did Paige. They both swam in sync, forgetting the world around them. Gracefully, both girls somersaulted simultaneously. Pushing off, both girls were still swimming side by side, floating through the water with ease. As they reached the halfway point, Emily slowly started to get a lead on Paige, but not for long, as Paige's adrenaline started pushing her harder, faster; as they reached the edge, Emily brought in a burst of new found energy and took the lead by a half second.
Both girls sprang up out of the pool and were met by a very happy looking coach.
"Congratulations, Emily! You just beat your own personal record by ¾ of a second, and with Paige a half second behind, beat your old record by a ¼! If you perform this well in the competition, we will have those Valley girls runnin' for the hills. Great job, both of you; you better perform this well later on; remember, perfection is the only thing that will please me this week, and you are off to a very good start." the coach beamed.
"Oh, my gosh Paige! That was amazing! I've never had someone push me that hard before, and it looks like this is starting out to be a very good set up for us, don't you agree?" Emily asked.
Paige nodded, grinning from ear to ear, her smile had never been brighter; Emily could tell that she was just as excited as she was.
"Next I want my best backstrokers to jump in and do the same thing." coach shouted. Neither Emily nor Paige were very good at the backstroke so they sat this round out.
When it came time to do the butterfly, Paige and Emily were both in the ready position and flew off the platforms at the sound of the coach's whistle. They both pushed with all their might despite having just raced a few minutes ago. After the initial flip, Paige had started to pull ahead; and Emily couldn't catch up in time when Paige hit the wall first, almost an entire second in front of Emily!
The entire team was in an uproar as coach Fulton was practically jumping for joy as Paige had just set a new school record by just under 1 ½ seconds. Paige was dumbfounded, and smiling so bright, if Emily had been anywhere but the water, she would have fallen to her knees. After the shock wore off, Paige was grabbed and pulled out of the water and greeted by the entire swim team.
Alycia, the most outspoken of the group, rushed up and gave Paige a big bear hug which was a little too personal for Paige, but for the time being she just decided to ignore and just go with it.
"Oh my god!" Alycia shouted, "You are like the best thing to happen to this team besides Emily!"
"Alright, Alycia, I don't think Paige is one for your hugs at the present moment." Emily interjected, a little annoyed that she wasn't the one to be able to fully congratulate her first. But she was right, Paige was beginning to be a little too uncomfortable and started to pull herself out of the hug; she walked away, half hugging herself at the slight discomfort she felt by human contact. Her smile had disappeared and Emily felt heartbroken that such a big feat in Paige's life had just been ruined by Alycia.
Coach Fulton was suddenly realizing that Paige was a little too uneasy and decided to end practice a few minutes early in order to talk to her and make sure she wasn't too traumatized by the situation. She knew Paige would have to be dealt with in a different fashion than the other girls; she just didn't want the new record holder to fold under all the unnecessary pressure given by her teammates.
"Ok girls, go to the lockers and shower or change or whatever, and meet me back here in about fifteen minutes."
The girls all headed towards the locker room except Paige, who was stopped by coach Fulton.
"Hey, I noticed you seemed a little uncomfortable back there; is everything alright?" asked coach Fulton.
Paige nodded slightly, still hugging herself; she didn't want to be hugged anymore than she wanted to be singled out for being uncomfortable about it.
"Alright, well, if you need anything, or need to talk to anybody about something, I'm always here for you girls. They all know that and I want to make sure you know that as well. Also, I would like to keep seeing those record breaking times like I saw today, great job by the way; I'm really proud of you and I'm sure everyone else is as well, especially Alycia." coach added.
Paige gave a slight grin, smiling at coach's added humor; she was very happy to have a coach like that, unlike her previous one. Already she was beginning to feel like this place was much better than her old school; she actually smiled here.
"Ok, well, I've pretty much said all I've had to say for now, but if you need to talk but don't feel comfortable coming to me, then I'm sure Emily would be a great help to you. She tends to be one everyone can talk to. Well, on your way then, I'm going to have a little chat with the rest of the team but I want you and Emily to be in the locker rooms for it, ok?"
Paige gave an understanding nod and walked towards the locker room to take a well needed shower.
Emily wandered into the locker room curious as to what the coach was talking to Paige about. She figured she noticed her very blatant discomfort for the situation and was telling her that she will take care of it.
Emily proceeded towards her locker when she noticed Paige's bookbag slightly opened, revealing a sketchbook that looked quite welcoming. She chastised herself for thinking about rummaging through Paige's belongings and continued to change out of her swimsuit.
A few moments later, Emily was fully dressed and Paige had still not arrived back from the pool. She looked at her bookbag and stared at it for a while. Disregarding all her common sense, she quickly grabbed the sketchbook out of the bag and looked through it.
There was an array of intricate drawings consisting of mostly different perspectives of horses, girls with horses, different settings like a park with kids running around, a small town square, a beach sunset, and a multitude of classrooms, drawn from the perspective of the back of the room; one room in particular looked quite familiar, it was Mrs. Troyer's math class, and she could see a few of her peers drawn in the room, one of which looked a lot like Spencer. There were many more pages left to see but she heard a door open and she swiftly put the drawings back in their original place.
Paige came around the corner, still in her swimsuit and proceeded to change in front of her. Emily tore
her eyes away with all her internal strength she could muster. She couldn't risk the potential awkwardness, both for her own sake, and Paige's.
Emily waited until everyone had left in order to speak to the coach alone. Coach Fulton was rustling papers when Emily entered her office.
"Hey, Coach." Emily said, "What'd you think about Paige's time?"
"I don't think I could be any happier with the way she seems to have adjusted to our team, but I'm concerned with how the other teammates will treat her. Not in a negative way, but it seems as though Paige isn't one for much social stimulation and that's basically what I pointed out to them before they left. To make sure they don't make her uncomfortable like that again. I'm pretty sure you already knew that so I felt no need to lecture you about it as well."
"Yeah, I understand. She hasn't said a word to me all day and we spent two full periods together not including swim practice. Do you know if she has some sort of condition or anything? You know, that makes her like that?" Emily inquired.
"Hmm, I'm pretty sure that if she does, it's a mental thing, not an actual physical ailment per say." coach said. "But anyways, hopefully she will open up eventually, for now though, we just need to focus on those swim times, and beating those Valley girls."
"Same here." Emily agreed, "Well, anyways, I'll see you tomorrow. G'nite."
"Night Em, drive safe." coach warned.
Emily stepped out into the whistling winter wind and prodded through the snow to reach her soon-to-be warm Toyota. Before she hopped in, a familiar figure caught her attention. It was Paige, she was sitting on a bench near the front doors, shivering, phone in hand, looking completely helpless and alone. Emily couldn't help but feel bad for the poor girl, she didn't even have any gloves on. She walked swiftly but carefully over to her, but Paige hadn't noticed her and stood up and walked towards the road. Emily caught up with her.
"Paige," she said, "hey, are you okay? Do you have a ride home?
Paige turned around at the sound of her soft voice. She didn't want Emily to see her vulnerable like this; she cursed her dad who had promised to pick her up after practice but he didn't show up and didn't answer his phone. She assumed he forgot and had already left for his business trip to Scranton, where her mother was as well.
Paige paused for a minute, looking into Emily's caring and concerned eyes. She was defeated. She nodded, implying she had no ride and was forced to walk home in the cold weather.
"Come, I'm taking you home." Emily stated rather than asked. She wasn't going to let Paige freeze out here.
Paige hesitated but then reluctantly followed her to her car, stuffing her backpack into the back seat and climbing into the passenger seat.
Emily hopped in the driver's seat and immediately started the car to warm them up.
"Where do you live?" Emily asked.
Paige took out her schedule which conveniently had her address on it and showed it to Emily.
"That's not too far from where I live, I know exactly where it is." Emily stated
Emily then proceeded to drive towards their destination.
The car ride was silent. Emily had attempted to make conversation but to no avail. Emily pulled up to Paige's driveway which was fairly long and had a white picket fence along both sides. As she approached her house, she noticed a decent sized stable in the back.
"I wonder if she owns horses? It would make sense." Emily thought.
As she continued, Emily saw a large, white house with a fenced in backyard.
"Dogs? Young kids maybe?" Emily thought; she wanted to know more about Paige and where she lived as well. Along with how her and her parents got along; considering she was left in the cold she assumed probably not very well. She wondered if she had any younger or older siblings as well.
Emily pulled up to the house; Paige grabbed her bookbag from the back seat and opened the door. Just as she was about to shut it; she stopped herself. Emily wasn't sure what was going on in her mind, but her question was answered when Paige looked at her.
"Thanks."
And that was all she said.