A/N: Thanks again for all the reviews and faves/follows. This update marks the half-way point in terms of updates, but I'll be back again midweek, unless I get impatient and update before. This part picks where we left them in the past. Thanks for reading!
Paige was right about confronting Alison. Emily's act of heroism ostracized her from Rosewood's first circle, which wasn't how she intended to start life at her new school, but at least Noel Kahn now left her alone. Plus, she finally earned Paige's trust.
And Paige, Emily discovered, was pretty great once she decided you were worth her time. She was smart and funny and, contrary to what Emily had heard and thought she understood at swim camp, didn't take herself too seriously. For Emily, Paige was a change from just about every person she'd met. Being the new kid—an army kid at that—and being kid who stuck out in mostly-white communities, Emily was used to answering the same, tired questions over and over. But Paige didn't seem to care what Emily's father had seen or done or how many schools Emily had been to or what her ethnic background was comprised of. All Paige seemed to care about was how Emily had managed to be such an accomplished swimmer having moved around so much, because Emily was actually quite good in the water, too.
The first time Emily asked Paige to come over to her house was in late October their freshman year of high school. Emily wanted Paige to come over to carve pumpkins and decorate sugar cookies and watch scary movies. Emily loved Halloween. No matter where she lived or how many friends she had or didn't have, Halloween provided the opportunity to be someone other than the new kid or the tall girl or the "exotic beauty" she'd heard herself described by a couple of her friends' moms.
Paige said she had to ask her parents, but the brief look of panic in her eyes when Emily had asked didn't give Emily much hope of anything happening. Sure enough, Paige came back the next day and told Emily that her parents said no. Something about Halloween being a pagan celebration and how Paige's parents had to endorse all the movies she saw. Plus, her parents didn't let her go anywhere unless they'd met and approved of the adult supervision.
Emily was disappointed but not really surprised. Paige's parents had a reputation of being strict. But Emily barely ever saw Paige at school since they shared only one class, and Emily didn't have many other friends thanks to that run in with Alison her first week at school.
Several weeks later Paige surprised Emily with an invitation of her own. Her church was putting on a Christmas performance and Paige asked Emily if she'd wanted to join them. They'd eat dinner at Paige's house first and then attend the show. It wasn't exactly what Emily had in mind, and she was sure her mom wouldn't exactly be comfortable with the arrangement, having sworn off evangelical weirdos when a group protesting abortions exposed her young eight year-old daughter to some horrifically graphic images of aborted fetuses when they lived in Georgia. She didn't want her daughter anywhere near such rigid dogma, which is why she never encouraged religion of any kind except to appease the grandmothers.
Emily knew it was a risky ask. Her mom was pretty relaxed when it came to parenting, but once she made her mind up about something she was impossible to sway.
"Mom," Emily started cautiously one Tuesday night, as her mothered busied herself with a salad for dinner. "You know my friend Paige from school?"
"The girl on your swim team?"
"Yeah," Emily confirmed.
"The girl whose parents wouldn't let her come over for Halloween?"
"Yeah. Anyway," Emily said quickly, shaking her head, not wanting her mom to dwell on that particular detail, "she's invited me for dinner at her house on Saturday night, and I was hoping I could go."
Her mom didn't look up from the carrot she was chopping. "I don't see why not. I was actually starting to worry about you not getting out enough."
"Yeah, making friends has been hard here. I didn't realize how much not living in a military town would change things," she reflected out loud. Emily's parents had never sent their daughter to school on a military base in an effort to broaden her world a bit. Life on base was so insular and they didn't want Emily growing up in an Army bubble. But at least they'd always been in military towns. Her classes usually had at least one kid whose mom or dad was serving or had served in the military. Rosewood was far removed from that reality.
"I think this is a great opportunity, then. Are you going be spending the night?"
"I don't think so. Paige never mentioned anything like that. I think they'll just drop me off after the performance," Emily explained in what she hoped was a causal way.
Her mother stopped chopping. "You didn't mention a performance," she said, turning towards her daughter.
"Oh, well, she invited me to see her church's Christmas play. I guess it's a pretty big deal."
"And you want to go?" her mom asked. "You've never expressed an interest in church stuff before."
"I thought 'Jesus was the reason for the season,' mom," Emily said sarcastically, making her mom's mouth twitch upward. "I want to hang out with Paige," she said earnestly, "so I'll go to this show."
"Well, I guess you're old enough to decide whether or not you want to go to church, so have fun, honey."
"Thanks, mom."
"But if you try to rope me into any of this, you're not allowed to go to church anymore," she said winking at her daughter.
Pam Fields walked Emily to the McCullers' front door. Emily figured it was a parental duty, seeing with whom she was entrusting her only child. She'd told her mom as much as she knew: Paige's dad was a pastor, her mom stayed at home full-time, her parents were really strict and, like Emily, Paige was an only child. But Paige really didn't talk about them much.
The McCullers' house was larger than Emily expected for a three-person, one-income family. On the front door a placard hung that read: "Knock and the door will be opened to you. Matthew 7:7." Emily heard her mom utter an "Oh brother" under her breath as she rang the doorbell. She hoped her mom hadn't noticed the welcome mat on which they stood that read: "As for me and my house, we will serve The Lord. Joshua 24:15."
Paige opened the door a few moments later, looking radiant with her hair pulled back into a ponytail and wearing a blue, white and red Nordic sweater—the kind with the reindeer on them—and a dark pair of jeans. "Hi," she said looking at Emily, smiling resplendently while also bashfully. "You made it." Then, as if noticing another person on porch, she turned to Emily's mom and said, more formally, "Oh, hello, Mrs. Fields. Please come in. It must be freezing out there."
Just as they entered, a woman, who must have Paige's mom, appeared from a door just off the dining room that was just to the left of the entryway. She was a couple of inches shorter than Paige but thin like her daughter. Emily thought she looked glamorous in that way women in old movies always did with their hair perfectly arranged and their makeup tastefully applied, wearing a waist apron covering a dark skirt. Paige had her mother's eyes, she noticed. "Welcome," she said. "You must be Emily. We've heard so much about you."
Paige officially introduced her mother to both Emily and Mrs. Fields, the latter whom had just popped in to meet Paige's parents. And even though Mrs. McCullers invited Pam to "stay for dinner; we have so much food," Emily's mom politely declined and left before Mr. McCullers emerged from somewhere else in the house.
Mr. McCullers was tall, handsome and welcoming. He could even be described as warm, which contradicted everything she'd heard about him over the last few months, even if was a little intense. He asked Emily about her parents, her travels and, of course, her swimming. He had started to ask Emily if her family attended a church, when Paige's mom, interrupted.
"Stop badgering our guest, Nick. She just got here and I'm sure Paige wants to show her around before dinner." Paige looked at her mother gratefully. "There will be plenty of time to ask Emily if she's ever been baptized or if she thinks she'll make the relay team."
Emily panicked the slightest bit at the potential dinner conversation, but when Paige grabbed her had and told her, "Let me show you my room," Emily forgot to be worried.
Paige's bedroom didn't reveal much about its occupant. The walls were mostly bare, except for a poster of a male swimmer mid butterfly with a note about "Character" and a shelf displaying swim trophies and medals. A small, three-shelf bookcase was packed full of books and a framed picture of her family when Paige was quite small and had chubby cheeks and pudgy legs. Emily wasn't even aware she had picked up the picture when Paige interrupted whatever thoughts were running through her head to tell her, "I was two."
"You were adorable," she heard herself say. She was sure she was blushing.
"I was a fat," Paige said laughing. Emily laughed with her.
They had about twenty minutes alone before Mrs. McCullers announced that dinner was ready. Paige looked a bit uncomfortable, and Emily didn't know why. But it was nice being there with her, outside of school where, at least for now, they were sure to avoid the Alisons of Rosewood. Emily even thought to ask, in a quiet voice, where Paige hid the Harry Potter books, which made Paige look at her thoughtfully, cheekily, before walking to the bookcase and pulling a few books laid out so that the spine butted up against other books. "Sometimes hiding in the open raises the least suspicion," she said sagely. "That, and my parents don't linger in my room."
Mrs. McCullers made a lasagna and salad for dinner, but before they ate Mr. McCullers grabbed his wife's hand and then Paige's. Emily furrowed her eyebrows for a second before noticing Paige's hand reaching out for hers and, for the second time that night, rescuing her from any potential awkwardness. Emily's other hand found Mrs. McCullers' while Paige's father said grace. Paige squeezed her hand the slightest bit when he said "Amen." The action caused Emily to look at Paige, who gave her a warm, shy smile, which she returned.
The food was delicious, but dinner was weird. Paige's mom began the conversation by stating, "We're so excited to have you here tonight. Paige never brings any friends home." She said it more unthinkingly than maliciously. Emily didn't think she meant to embarrass her daughter, who, when Emily glanced over, was looking at her plate like it was the most interesting object in the world and her cheeks now matched the colour of the reindeer on her sweater.
Emily didn't know how to respond to that, so she smiled and said simply, "Thanks for having me."
"We hope you enjoy the show tonight," her father interjected. "The cast and crew have been working hard to get it ready. Paige even helped with the sets and costumes."
Emily looked to her friend, who had just taken a sip of water. "You didn't say you'd worked on the show."
Paige just shrugged her shoulders. "It's not really a big deal."
Emily returned her attention to Paige's dad. "I'm really looking forward to it."
Thankfully, the conversation turned towards swimming, and Emily relaxed a little. Mr. McCullers asked her about her favourite events, her personal bests, her goals for the year. When Emily said she didn't put that much thought into it, that she just loved being in the water and loved how she felt after a hard workout or how great it felt to win a race, Mr. McCullers considered what she said and then said, "Well, we have a specific plan for Paige's swimming career. We think she can get a scholarship to a competitive Division One School that may also help launch her to bigger things. Isn't that right, Paige?" he asked, looking at his daughter, who was picking at the food on her plate with her fork.
"Yeah, dad," she said once she looked up at him. She was smiling, but Emily knew her well enough at this point to know it was forced. But when she turned Emily, the smile was genuine. "My dream is to get into Stanford," she said.
The Christmas production itself was actually impressive and included real animals on stage, but the real performance winners were the four year-olds singing Christmas carols to open the show. Afterward, Mr. McCullers, who had disappeared to perform pastoral duties at the beginning and end of the show, found Paige in the reception area, where she and Emily sipped hot chocolates and ate baked goods. There was another man with him. He was tall with graying hair but with a youngish face.
"Oh, hi, Pastor Ted," Paige said.
"Paige, your father said you brought a friend and I wanted to introduce myself," he said before glancing to Emily with a smile.
"Right," the swimmer said. "Emily, this is the youth pastor, Ted."
"It's nice to meet you, Emily," he said. "Nick tells me you're new to Rosewood."
"Yes, sir," she said.
"Great," he said. And then he waved someone over to him from somewhere behind Emily. When Emily turned to follow his gaze, she saw a teenage boy walking over. When he finally arrived, Pastor Ted said: "Emily, this is my son, Ben."
The dark haired boy smiled and extended his hand. "Hi," he said.
Emily looked to Paige, who was rolling her eyes.
"Ben is homeschooled," Pastor Ted explained. "He's in tenth grade. Anyway, I hope we see you again," he said before walking away and saying bye to Paige.
Ben stayed behind to chat with Emily and all but ignored her friend.