Disclaimer: I own nothing! The characters belong to I. Marlene King and Sara Shephard!
August 13th, 2011.
The campus was huge. It was everything she had dreamed it would be but, still, huge. She moved onto campus early, a perk of being an official member of the Stanford University swim team (she couldn't get over saying it so she took every opportunity), which gave her time on campus to navigate and figure out just where the hell her classes were. The academic complex of the University was empty, the only other people on campus being fellow athletes. Paige lived in a single room and she had yet to reach out to anybody living on her floor, which left her to explore the campus alone. She had a map in her hand and a furrow in her brow. The map, which she supposed was meant to be helpful, only served to confuse her more. She spotted a bench next to the science building (where, conveniently, none of her classes were) and sat down, making an attempt to calm her nerves.
She was out of her depth. She was officially a small fish in a really, really big pond. It was actually more like a lake. Or an ocean. No matter what body of water she used to describe the school, she was still a small fish. One that had been thrown out of the water and was flopping around desperately in an attempt to breathe.
She wished her parents had stayed. They dropped her off two days ago and said goodbye quickly, as if they had somewhere else, somewhere better, to be. Her father clapped her on the shoulder, gave her a tight smile, and told her to "Swim well. Keep your times down and focus, Paige." And then got back in the car. No hug, no kiss, nothing that would have identified him as any more than a coach or even a vaguely friendly stranger. Her mother had been a bit warmer, at least wrapping her delicate arms around Paige's shoulders and kissing her temple. Her smile too was tight, clipped, and put together. That was how everything was with the McCullers parents. Tight, clipped, and put together. They were…picturesque if Paige had to put a word to it. Every picture hanging in the McCullers household looked the exact same. Her parents, with one hand on each of her shoulders, her siblings sitting on either side of her, just a smidge below. It was subtle but it was a way of enforcing the strange familial hierarchy that the McCullers family had. Paige at the top, her younger brother at the bottom, her older sister in the middle. Paige was, undoubtedly, her parent's most prized possession. It wasn't because she was the best behaved or the most stellar student. No. It was because of her athleticism. Her swimming prowess had propelled her to the top rung of McCullers family ladder.
It seems fucked that a family even has a hierarchy like that but it was all Paige had ever known.
It was, in truth, one of the reasons Paige was so eager to get as far away from her hometown in Pennsylvania as she could. Stanford was the furthest away she could get without moving out of the country. Now she only ever had to be home for holidays and vacations and that was so freeing.
But for all of their faults, they were at least familiar faces. If they had stayed a few extra days, Paige would have had a safety blanket. A cushion. A reason why she hadn't gone out of her way to introduce herself to anybody on her floor. Her floor was strictly athletes, from all different sports, but Paige hadn't really met anybody yet. Her first official swim team practice wasn't until later in the week and Paige was saving all of her energy for that. Bonding with her teammates was more important. At least that's what Paige told herself.
Paige laid out the Stanford map on her thighs, her finger dragging a path from the bench where she currently was, back to her dormitory. It was on the other side of campus, at least a ten minute walk, but the day was nice and Paige never minded walking. She would have preferred to bike the distance but her parents hadn't the room to bring her bike on top of everything else they jam packed into their car.
Paige stood from the bench, folding her arms underneath her, attempting to make herself just as small as she seemed to feel. This was everything she had ever wanted. She had been dreaming of this place since she was old enough to dream.
And it was prettier and more picturesque than she ever could have imagined but something felt off. There was a nagging feeling in her stomach, preventing her from fully enjoying this. This was meant to be a new start. An opportunity to leave everything that happened to her in Pennsylvania behind. Meet new people, branch out, be her true self (if she could ever figure out exactly who that was). But every time she allowed herself to think about that, her stomach fell down to her toes and all she felt was a feeling she could only describe as dread.
Paige had let her mind wander, unable to stop her thoughts from racing, and hadn't been paying attention to where she was walking. She let her feet move on autopilot, taking her wherever they may. Her eyes were trained on the ground, a habit from high school she found particularly difficult to break. She watched her feet move across the paved sidewalk beginning to count her steps, another habit from high school.
God, how could she expect herself to be a different, better, person, when all she seemed to do was fall back into old habits?
Paige's walk led her almost to the opposite side of campus, landing her directly in front of a lake. The shore was shrouded by trees whose leaves were being shaken by the wind. Below the tree line, there was a large rock lodged right against the shore, extended out just a touch into the water. The small waves that crashed ashore hit the rock sharply, ricocheting right off of it. Paige was instantly captivated by the the natural way of the water. She moved toward the rock, sitting on the edge of the rock, kicking off her flip flops. She let her toes dangle into the water, shocked by how cold the water was against her toes. She slowly submerged the rest of her feet in the water.
With her feet submerged in the water, she finally felt comfortable. At home. She smiled to herself, knowing that no matter where she was, as long as there was water she would be fine.
She let the thoughts of her parents, her anxiety about school and socializing fading away as she let herself enjoy the feeling of water on her toes.
The sun was beginning to peek through the leaves of the tree and Paige turned her head up toward it, allowing the brightness to touch every inch of her face. The sun was beaming down on her, not a single cloud in the sky. She felt a real, genuine smile sneak its way across her mouth. Paige grinned up toward the sky, deciding in that moment, she was ready for this, despite the drop in her stomach when she thought so.
Paige McCullers was living her dream.
And she was ready to show Stanford what she was made of.
The building looked exactly like it did in the brochure. Her dorm, structurally, was one of the oldest on campus and there were vines climbing up the sides, giving it a rustic feel that made her heart skip a beat. She stared up at it, feeling the nervousness and terror begin to set in. "It's….so big." Was all she could think of to say, every other word dying on her lips. She looked at her mother out of the corner of her eye. Mrs. Fields had come to stand next to her while Emily was marveling at the sheer size of the place. Her mom smiled up at her, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder and squeezing.
"You'll be fine, Em. Better than fine. You'll be great." Her mother reassured with another comforting smile before heading back to the car to grab a box. She was late in moving in. She was supposed to arrive two days prior but she had gotten caught up in saying goodbye to her friends and her (now ex) girlfriend. It was difficult to leave them behind and say goodbye, knowing that they wouldn't be a short bike ride or walk away from her. Luckily, Hanna was attending school in Los Angeles, so she was within driving distance but it still wasn't the same as having her friend only an arm's length away.
Saying goodbye to Maya had been much more difficult. Emily loved her, with her whole heart, but Maya had been less than supportive of Emily's choice to attend school across the country. They fought and fought about it, Maya berating Emily for wanting to travel cross-country without her. Emily retorting by saying that Stanford had offered her a full ride and she'd be a fool to turn it down. It was how they spent the whole summer, arguing back and forth, each fight leaving Emily more and more exhausted than the last. Emily had been ready to try long distance and make it work with Maya, the love she felt for the girl and the memories of just how happy and free she felt at the start of their relationship kept her holding on. But the fighting was too much, for both of them. Emily knew, deep down, that when she went to Stanford, their fighting wasn't going to stop. If anything it would get worse. So Emily broke it off. It was one of the hardest things that Emily ever had to do and her heart ached in her chest just thinking about it.
She spent most of the ride out to Stanford staring out the window, listening to the playlist Maya had made for her early in their relationship, trying to keep the ache at bay. Her parents tried to pull her out of the funk, reminding her all of the exciting things she would get to do once she finally arrived. Eventually their excitement for her became contagious and she could feel a smile grow on her face, the excitement of finally, finally being there taking over before long.
Emily had been dreaming about Stanford for as long as she could remember. She worked her butt off all four years of high school to get the scouts here to notice her and for a while during senior year, she wasn't sure it had paid off. She got offer letters from Florida State, Pittsburgh, Danby, and UCLA, offering her various degrees of tuition coverage and then she finally got the envelope from Stanford. It was large, yellow and very official. She opened it and found not only that they wanted her, but they wanted her badly enough to offer her a full ride. She'd been riding that high ever since. The news was so big around Rosewood that she had gotten press coverage at her signing. Everybody in Rosewood knew now that Emily Fields was bigger than the small Pennsylvania town, and that felt really good.
She had been preparing for move in all summer long. Her boxes had been packed at the beginning of August, her anxiousness to arrive taking over. She'd had Spencer help her organize so her boxes were meticulously labeled down to the letter.
And now she was here.
It was exhilarating and nerve-wracking and all other anxious feelings bundled into one big knot in her stomach. One that she was eager to undo.
This was a brand new start. Her clean slate. She could do anything she wanted with it.
Nobody here knew her. Nobody here knew the Emily Fields from Rosewood, who only ever seemed to shine in the pool. She could become someone, anyone, else here and nobody would even know. And Emily was sure the whole town of Rosewood could fit into Stanford's campus, which certainly didn't hurt.
Emily was startled from her thoughts when her Mom rested a hand on her shoulder. Emily turned, eyes wide. Her Mom was staring at her with a quirked eyebrow. "You going to give me a hand? Dad and I can't do this all by ourselves you know." Emily laughed.
"Yeah, sorry. Here, give me that one. It's heavy." She reached underneath and grabbed the box from her Mother's grip before she had a chance to argue. Her Mom's mouth was hanging half open, her eyes lit up with amusement. Emily felt a pang in her heart, realizing that the cost of her new start here was her family. She was used to only seeing her father sporadically, his position in the Army forcing him out of Pennsylvania and sometimes out of the United States. But Emily and her Mom always had each other. They were each other's crutches. Countless times, Emily had stroked her mother's hair while the woman cried into her lap. They were exceptionally close, closer than most, and it struck Emily just how much she was going to miss her Mother.
She would miss her father too, but Emily felt like she always missing him. He was away from her more than he was with her and she was used to the ache in her heart and the part of her that felt missing. Missing him would be nothing new to her but missing her Mom, leaving her Mom alone to deal with missing her was an extremely difficult thought to stomach.
Emily was scared; and she could readily admit that. This was a huge change and Emily didn't like change, of any size. She was a girl who liked to follow a routine and moving across the country was one of the biggest changes she would ever experience. She knew that, and she thought she had prepared for it, but being here, with all of her things, finally cemented the fact that she was now living in California. This was home now, and she had to get used to the fact that home no longer included her family.
From behind her, Emily heard her parents gently teasing each other, her father attempting to take a box from her mom, just as Emily had done, her mother arguing with him, laughing.
She loved those two, and she vowed not to let the distance rip their relationships apart.
Together the three of them managed to get all of Emily's boxes out of the car and into her dorm room. She lived on the fifth floor of her building and it took a fair amount of maneuvering to get all of her things up to her room. She lived at the end of her hall, furthest away from the elevator, but the room itself had a killer view of the campus and the lake. Emily and her parents moved the bed so it was resting right next to the big bay window, giving her a clear view of everything right down below her. The more settled she got into her room, the more the knot in her stomach seemed to unravel. She already loved it here and she was going to thrive. There was no doubt about that.
But before she knew it, her room was unpacked and there was no longer a reason for her parents to be there. The sun was beginning to set on the day. She was exhausted, the time change taking its toll on her. She was standing in the middle of her room, her parents lingering by the door.
Her mom spoke first. "Well. That's everything." She stated reluctantly. Emily nodded her head in response. She could already feel that knot her in stomach returning. Her father took a step toward her, opening his arms. Emily rushed into them immediately. She tucked her head underneath his chin, breathing in his scent for one last time. He kissed the top of her head, moving his hands and placing them on her cheeks. He grinned at her.
"I'm so proud of you, baby girl." He whispered to her. Emily gave him a watery smile in response, unable to form words or stop the tears from trickling out of her eyes. He reached across her cheek and wiped the tears out from her eyes. "Hey, no tears." She nodded, the tears still falling from her eyes. He laughed, pulling her back in close to him. He kissed the top of her head one more time before moving backward and letting her mom take her turn. Emily couldn't even muster half a smile before the tears started trickling down her cheeks. Her mother wrapped her arms tightly around her, stroking her hair. She whispered lowly into her ear,
"Oh baby, we are so, so, so proud of you, you know that right? You're everything we've ever dreamed of and more. We couldn't be prouder that you're our daughter." Emily blinked twice, pushing as many tears out of her eyes as she possibly could. That meant more to her than she could ever articulate, her mind immediately flashing back to a year ago when she first came out to her family and things were nothing like this. She felt an overwhelming sense of relief when she realized just how far they had come in a year.
"I love you, Mom." She whispered back before pulling away. Her parents stood together in front of her, both beaming at her in clear pride and she could feel in the air just how proud they were of her. It was an amazing feeling. She felt like she could float. Emily gave both of her parents one more kiss on the cheek, another goodbye and ushered them out of the door, watching them disappear behind the corner before she shut the door. She slowly walked over to her bed and looked out of the window, watching the sunset over the lake. The view took her breath away. God, she was so lucky to be here. To be living her dream.
Emily watched the sunset, the orange light quickly blending into black. Emily was fast asleep before the last of the orange finally left the sky.
August 15th, 2011.
Swimming was something Paige was always certain about. It was something she was certain she was good at, something that was always there for her. The water, even on the worst of days, never failed to make her feel better. The smell of chlorine had long since begun to smell like home to her.
She scoped out the Stanford natatorium her second day on campus, her eagerness to see the space that would become her new home overtaking her. She had been there alone. She stood with her feet just over the edge of deck. She was eager to jump in. Swimming was everything to Paige – her entire life. She had been swimming competitively since she was six years old. All Paige had ever known was swimming. And she was damn good at it. She wouldn't have been here without a scholarship if she wasn't. Paige never had any time to do anything else. Her high school social life was non-existent. She went straight from home, to school, to the pool, home, sometimes to another pool, and then bed. That was it. Her father made it that way. He wanted Paige to focus on swimming and nothing else.
She didn't resent him for it. He did it for her own good. She knew that. Mostly.
The pool, at least, made sense to Paige. Pools, while they had some very minor differences, were essentially the same everywhere. They all had the same chlorinated water, the same width of lanes, and the same distance to the bottom. The pool was consistency.
She didn't want to go in, not yet, but it was enough to just be by the water. It did wonders to calm her down. Paige knew, without a doubt, swimming was what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. She had to go pro. There was nothing else out there for her. Swimming was all she was good at.
Stanford was just her starting point. The first leg of the race. Get through her four years swimming for Stanford, healthy, and hopefully at the top of the rankings, and then pursue a professional swimming career. Winning gold at the Olympics was the big dream but she knew she had to take baby steps first. Stanford was just the beginning of the road.
Her first official swim team practice was the Monday after Paige moved in. She didn't sleep well the night before, the sounds of both her floor mates eagerly getting to know each other and her the anxious ball in her stomach prevented her eyes from closing for any more than an hour at a time. But Paige was used to running on little sleep. She'd been having trouble sleeping for years. A good, restful night's sleep for her was about five solid, uninterrupted hours. She always considered herself lucky if she got that.
She was one of the first girls at the pool. Practice started at 7am, Paige was there by 6:15. She threw all of her things in a locker close to the middle of the row, grabbed her necessities and made her way out to the deck. The only other person on deck was a lifeguard who looked like they came from work straight from the grave. Paige walked over. "Is it alright if I go in?" She asked, sizing up the hunched over guy who had sunglasses on inside. He just gave her a wave and a mumbled, "sure". Hungover. He must be hungover. Paige realized, a feeling of discomfort settling in her stomach. Part of her wanted to lecture him, tell him that it was completely unsafe for him to be guarding while hungover, that multiple human lives were in his hands. The other, more dominant part, reminded her that this was none of her business. The chances of her, or anyone else on the team, drowning were slim to none and it didn't really matter if he was hungover. She simply gave him a curt nod and walked over to the diving blocks. She dipped her cap in the water and filled it before pulling it over her head. She adjusted her goggles against her eyes, hopping up on the diving block. She leaned forward, her feet automatically finding the correct position. One foot forward, toes curled over the edge of the block, the other a few inches back, flat against the block. She stretched her arms up behind her, her hands grasping each other behind her back. They came down, grasping the edge of the block on either side of her front foot. She pulled back, releasing her hands and pushed off of the block.
She hit the water in one smooth line. With minimal splashing, she happily noted to herself. Within moments, Paige lost herself in the water. Her feet were doing most of the work, her strokes long and light. She loved this. Swimming without pressure. She didn't have to worry about her times or beating the girl in the next lane. Not right now.
She lost track of time in the water. She was completely lost in her head. She hadn't noticed that people had started to fill in until she started to hear voices outside of the pool. Paige climbed out, seeing a few other girls in Stanford University bathing suits gathering on the benches. Paige pulled her cap off, sticking it and her goggles under her bathing suit strap. Her towel, she realized, was nowhere in sight. After looking around the perimeter of the pool multiple times, Paige realized she must have left it in her bag. With her head down, she walked back into the locker room. She wasn't actively trying to avoid making eye contact with her other teammates. She just felt…intimidated. They were all good swimmers. That's why they were here. Paige knew she was good too. She wouldn't be here if she wasn't. But something about the years of experience they had on her caused her to want to keep her head down. At least for now.
Paige turned the corner of the row of lockers her things were in. Immediately she noticed two girls standing right next to her locker, smiling and giggling together. Paige felt her heartbeat quicken. That laugh. She could recognize it anywhere. Paige tried to open the locker and get her towel as quickly as she possibly could, as silently as she could. Please don't turn around, please don't turn around, please don't turn around. Paige thought to herself. Unfortunately, the locker made much more noise than she had anticipated. The girl with long brown hair standing closest to Paige turned around. Paige noted the look of shock in her eyes. Paige attempted to smile, though it came out more like a grimace. "Fields." She said sharply. The girl stood there, her mouth opening and closing a few times before she forced out a,
"McCullers." Paige looked the girl up and down once before she slammed the locker door shut and turned away.
Emily Fields. Best swimmer at Rosewood High and her biggest rival. Emily and Paige had been swimming against each other for three years. Between them, they split almost equal amounts of wins and losses. Emily had been Paige's best motivation. It always felt better to win against Emily.
But there had always been something else about Emily Fields. Something that made Paige's heart race and her stomach drop into her toes. Something Paige refused to put a name to. Something she buried deep down inside of her.
She was flustered now. Her cheeks were beet red and her heart still refused to stop beating a million times per minute. How could one person have such a profound effect on her? And a person like Emily Fields at that. The only thing Emily should be able to bring out in Paige was her competitiveness. And it wasn't as if Paige didn't know Emily would be here. Emily's full ride to Stanford had been big news. Big enough to get a spread in every local newspaper. It was big enough news to make Paige ache with jealousy. She had gotten a scholarship too. While it wasn't quite a full ride it was almost there. But no one gave a shit about almost. That was something Paige quickly realized.
Her mind was still buzzing when she returned to the deck. She found an open space near the edge of the bench. She sat down quickly. The coach was getting ready to start speaking and Paige needed to clear her head. She had to get her mind off of Emily Fields.
It was only once the coach started talking that she realized she still didn't have her towel.
Emily woke the morning of her first practice two hours early. Her thoughts had been racing a mile a minute and she couldn't will herself to fall back to sleep.
Emily was a nervous wreck and she had no problem admitting it. She was the new kid. She had never been the new kid. She went to school with the same people her entire life. From kindergarten to senior year. She'd been friends with the same people, hated the same people, and grown up with the same people. She had never felt out of her element. She had always been comfortable. The only time she ever pushed herself was in the pool. But even then, she only pushed herself so far. She never put herself out of her comfort zone. People say that college is the place to do that, to test your limits and find out what you're truly capable of. Emily could only hope that was true.
She left for the pool at 6:30. She had walked to the natatorium the previous day, just so she knew the way. She didn't want to get lost and end up late for her first practice. She knew exactly where she was going and had even picked out her locker so there were no surprises waiting for her. The locker room was bustling with fellow swimmers that Emily exchanged friendly smiles with. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar she reminded herself. She didn't have anyone here yet and she was eager to change that.
Emily located the locker she had chosen herself. It was in the middle of the row. She'd chosen that locker on purpose, hoping that she would be surrounded and have an excuse to talk to the people next to her. There was one girl standing in front of the locker to the right of hers. Emily dropped her bag on the bench and moved her fingers to the combination lock she had put on her locker the previous night. The girl next to her looked up and shot Emily a smile, which she graciously returned. The girl turned toward her, her eyebrows already raised.
"I was wondering who put the lock on the empty locker. Guess I have my answer." Emily blushed, looking down at the lock that was currently resting in her hand.
"I didn't want anyone to take it." She mumbled, a little bit embarrassed. The girl beside her laughed.
"Prepared. I like it. I'm Reagan." She stuck her hand out for Emily to shake.
"I'm Emily. Nice to meet you." Emily shook her hand quickly. She dropped Reagan's hand and opened the locker, tossing her bag into it.
"You a freshman?" Emily looked up. She nodded her head while unzipping her sweater.
"Yeah." Emily grabbed her hair and began pulling it back into a long ponytail.
"Knew I didn't recognize your face. You enjoying yourself so far?" Emily nodded, shrugging her sweater off.
"I haven't done much. Just walked around campus and tried to figure out where all of my classes are but everything's so big and spread out, I just ended up getting lost. Twice." Emily responded, letting out a little laugh at herself. Reagan laughed as well though her next words came out sympathetically.
"I did the same thing. I got lost about eight times on my first day of classes. I even ended up in the wrong lecture. It was horrifying. There's nothing like expecting to hear a biology lecture in English and getting an advanced level German lecture instead." Reagan joked. Emily snorted, laughing loudly.
"That's horrible! I would have been so embarrassed. Did you stay?" Emily asked, turning her complete attention to Reagan.
"Oh yeah. I was sitting in the front row and the professor totally would have noticed me leaving. I did learn how to say about six swear words in German that day though so it wasn't a complete bust." Reagan replied, smiling brightly at Emily. Reagan was tall. Taller than Emily and that was a feat considering Emily was 5'11". The girl had to be at least 6'2" and had the build of a basketball player rather than a swimmer, but Emily supposed the extra height gave her an advantage in the water. She looked older than Emily. She had to be at least a junior. Emily lowered her eyes, realizing she had been staring at Reagan, sizing her up. Reagan hadn't seemed to notice. She brought her attention back to Reagan's previous comment, laughing lightly but Reagan looked like she had been distracted. Her attention had been diverted to something behind Emily. Emily heard the opening of a locker behind her and turned around, her eyes finding a very familiar face behind her. Emily's eyes widened in clear surprise.
"Fields." Was the only word uttered from the brunette by the locker. Emily blinked a few times, wondering if this was some kind of insomnia induced mirage. When she realized the girl was in fact there, and standing right in front of her no less, she attempted to collect herself.
"McCullers." Emily choked out, still in some kind of shock. The girl gave Emily a curt nod before turning on her heel and scurrying out to the pool. Emily stared at her retreating back, unable to believe her luck. Of all people in the world to end up at Stanford with, she had be with Paige McCullers. Emily finally turned back to Reagan, her head now in a completely different place.
"You know her?" Reagan asked interestedly. Emily nodded.
"Sort of. We swam against each other in high school." She replied, her mind still on Paige.
"Intense. You know she was coming here?" Emily shook her head.
"No." Emily was truly taken aback by Paige's appearance here at Stanford. She thought she would be rid of the pestering competitor once she left Rosewood. This was supposed to be her fresh start. How could she have that when she had a constant reminder of everything high school swimming next to her in the pool? She had to shake Paige McCullers off. She was pulled from her thoughts when Reagan spoke again.
"C'mon. Let's get out there. Coach is going to start her welcome speech soon and she makes you swim extra laps if you miss it." Emily nodded absent mindedly, her thoughts still on Paige.
The pair made their way out to the deck, Reagan explaining some things about how the Stanford team was run. Some of it was official stuff that Emily already knew, like there was practice every day, sometimes twice a day and they practiced through winter break most of the time, only getting a week off for Christmas and New Year's. Others were things more socially targeted. Reagan told Emily about the weekly get-togethers at one of their older teammates apartments with movies, beer, and really bad karaoke and the annual Christmas party the coach threw every year to make up for the fact that they were spending most of their break away from their families. She told Emily about the team bonding camping trip that was coming up at the end of September. With every word Reagan said, Emily felt more and more excited about the idea that she would actually be a part of this. At Rosewood, she and her teammates were never close. It was typically Emily vs. the rest of the team. They were, and she hated to say this, jealous. She was easily the best swimmer on the Rosewood team. Nobody even came close to touching her times. This resulted in her being isolated from them and focusing entirely on herself when she was at practice, which proved to beneficial in the long run. She had no competition on her own team. Her only true competition came in the form of Paige McCullers, who swam for Oakwood. Emily was always motivated to beat Paige, though they only swam against each other a few times a year. Now she was surrounded by swimmers who were just as good, if not better, than Emily was. Girls who knew the value of hard work and determination. Girls who still cared about each other even if they were competition. The thought was exciting. And if half of the girls were as nice to her as Reagan was, Emily knew she would find her niche in their little family before long.
Reagan stopped to high five or fist bump some of the girls sitting on the bench and made sure Emily got introduced to them all properly. They all seemed nice, giving her a bright smile and a hello when Reagan introduced her. She could only hope things stayed that way.
The pair of them found a spot near the edge of the bench. Paige was sitting on the opposite side of Reagan, her eyes trained down on her feet. Her arms were folded and her hands were hugging her sides. She was hunched over with hair falling directly in front of her face. She was trying to make herself look small. Emily was about to open her mouth to say something when the coach appeared in front of them and began her speech. Emily snapped her mouth closed and turned her attention the coach, attempting to put all thoughts of Paige McCullers out of her head.
The coach's speech didn't take too much time. It was short, quick, and to the point, which Emily appreciated because she was eager to get into the water. The coach pointed to the line of whiteboards on the wall underneath the lane numbers and instructed them to find the lane with their name on it. She told them that she took their best time from last season and put them in lanes according to their own records and nothing else. Emily walked over to the wall and began searching for her name on the lists. She finally found it. In lane 4. With Paige. Of course. The pair of them fell in the middle of the time spectrum. Fast, but not fast enough to swim with the best on the team. Emily understood that. They were new after all. She felt honored to be put this high at all, considering the coach had never actually seen her swim. Paige on the other hand, looked like she had been smacked in the face when she saw her name on the lane 4 list. Emily glanced at her out of the corner of her eye just in time to catch her face fall. Emily watched Paige deflate, as if someone popped her like a balloon. Emily didn't understand how Paige could be disappointed. They were freshman! Most of the other freshman, from what Emily could tell, were in the higher numbered lanes. They should consider themselves lucky to be in this low of a lane. Paige caught Emily's eye and Emily looked away, turning around to line up behind the girl already sitting on the block. Emily's eyes scanned the deck looking for Reagan. She was over in lane 2 and she gave Emily a supportive smile and a small wave. Emily smiled back before she turned her attention to the coach, who had blown her whistle to get their attention.
"Alright ladies. Give me 4 100's freestyle. Flip turns are mandatory and no stopping. You have a 30 second rest between each 100 and no more. No time limit on these, since it's only the first day, but no slacking off! Each time the girl behind you touches your feet or passes you, you get an extra 100 tacked onto your cool down. First swimmer on the block!" The coach blew her whistle again and the girls climbed onto their blocks. Emily turned her head behind her, only to find that Paige was standing directly behind her. Great, Emily thought to herself. She was sure that Paige was going to give her hard time and try to pass her at every available opportunity. Paige caught Emily looking and gave her a smirk. There we go, Emily thought, that's the Paige I know. Paige gestured to the block, which was recently vacated.
"You're up, Highness." Paige stated, never taking her eyes off of Emily. Emily narrowed her eyes, glaring at her with as much contempt as she could muster. She snapped her head around and stepped onto the block, just barely getting into position before the coach blew the whistle.
Emily flew through the water, her arms moving quickly and her feet moving even faster. She wouldn't let Paige catch her. Oh no. She wouldn't give her the satisfaction.
By the time Emily had finished her first 100, she was completely out of breath. Paige was about eight strokes behind her but that wasn't enough. She wanted to be noticeably ahead. So Emily didn't even wait for the full 30 seconds before she pushed off of the wall again.
Emily finished all 4 of her 100s quickly. Paige finished about ten full strokes behind Emily, who was out of the water and standing behind the block when Paige finally touched the wall. Emily smiled to herself. Paige came out of the water looking downright murderous, her glare at Emily stronger and fiercer than before the set started. As Paige was walking past, she bumped Emily purposely on the shoulder. Hard. Emily ground her teeth, making a solid attempt to keep her anger at bay. There was no way she would going to scream at Paige right at the beginning of their first practice. So Emily stood there with her hands on her hips, waiting for the coach to provide instruction for the next set. The entire time Emily felt the heat of Paige's eyes glaring into her back.
The rest of the practice continued in much of the same fashion. Emily swimming her hardest, keeping her spot as second in line, and Paige glaring at her and throwing the occasional barb her way. Emily did her best to just ignore her, her teeth taking the brunt of the abuse. She was going to have to start wearing her night guard again if this kept up.
Finally, two hours and ten minutes later, the practice finished and the girls were released into the locker room. Emily grabbed her towel from the bench and wrapped it around her torso. She pulled off her cap and hair tie, letting her hair fall freely down her back. She ran a hand through it and attempted to get the knots out before it dried. Reagan came up next to her, grabbing her own towel, and grinning at Emily. "Tough first practice, huh?" Emily shrugged.
"Wasn't too bad. A little tiring but nothing I can't handle." Emily replied with a grin of her own. Reagan laughed, clapping Emily's shoulder, which caused her to wince. Reagan raised an eyebrow.
"Injury already?" She asked as the pair of them started to head into the locker room. Emily shook her head.
"No. Just McCullers. She shoved me pretty hard after our first set. It's a little tender but nothing an ice pack and some HGTV won't cure." She replied, rolling her shoulder. Reagan wrinkled her nose.
"She's getting physical with you and it's only the first practice? What is wrong with her?" Reagan exclaimed, opening her locker and retrieving her own brush from it.
"Nothing! She's just really competitive. Always has been. It's nothing I'm not used to." Emily replied. She opened her own locker and pulled her bag from it, tossing her cap and goggles into the open side pocket.
"You two are teammates now. She's got to get that through her head." Reagan reminded Emily, who just shrugged her shoulders, going into the bathrooms to brush her hair. When she returned, Paige had finally entered the locker room and was gathering up her things to change. Emily kept her eyes down and avoided any unnecessary contact. The pair of them changed with their backs to each other, Emily maintaining a conversation with Reagan, who kept shooting daggers with her eyes at Paige over Emily's shoulder. Reagan finished changing before Emily and was about to leave before she turned around. "Oh! Em, I almost forgot. Some of the girls and I are going to a party tonight. The boys team is borrowing the Kappa Sigma house for the night since none of them are around yet. You should come." Emily grinned, her mood immediately picking up.
"Definitely. What time?" Emily asked, continuing to put her things into her bag.
"The party starts at 10. We're going to help them set up since they're pretty useless and will probably be drunk before the party even starts so we're going to head over at 9:30. What building do you live in? I can swing by and pick you up." Reagan offered. Emily told her what dorm she was in and put her phone number in Reagan's phone in case of any change in plans. "Awesome. See you tonight!" Reagan waved goodbye and left Emily and Paige alone in the locker room. The space between them immediately became tense. The silence was awkward and palpable. Paige looked up at Emily who was trying to shove her towel into her already full bag.
"You can call off your watchdog next time. As much as she tries, she can't actually kill me with her glare." Paige remarked bitterly. Emily sighed. She turned around to face Paige, suddenly extremely angry.
"Listen. We don't have to be friends. I think it's pretty clear we're never going to be friends. But we do have to try and be civil to each other. We're teammates now. Bumping into me and trying to intimidate me isn't going to work anymore." Emily burst out. Emily was already sick of this. Paige had always treated her like crap. Even during the one year they swam together at Rosewood. Emily's hands were braced on her hips. She felt anger flow through her veins, her eyes alight with fire. Paige at least had the decency to look shocked.
"Sure. Whatever." Paige mumbled. Emily continued to stare at her, daring her to look away first. She did, which surprised Emily. She had never knew Paige McCullers to back down first. Or to back down at all. Emily faltered. She didn't expect this to be so easy.
"I-really? I mean, good. Truce then?" Emily recovered, sticking her hand out for Paige to shake. Paige looked at it as if it were infected before grabbing it lightly and letting it go almost as quickly.
"Fine. Truce." Paige turned around again, digging through her bag. Emily still didn't feel right. She had won this battle, and she had won it easily. It left her feeling uneasy and is if the conversation was still unfinished. Before she could change her mind, Emily said,
"You should come to that party tonight. The one Reagan just invited me to. I think most of the team is going to be there. It could be fun." Paige looked up, her eyebrows raised.
"I thought you said we're not going to be friends." Paige reminded Emily, who just shrugged.
"We're not. That wasn't a friendly invitation. Just a, we're teammates who are going to share friends invitation. It's kind of like an experiment. To see if we can be in the same space without attacking each other." Emily rambled. Paige just stared at her blankly. Finally, she shrugged, pulling her bag up onto her shoulder.
"Maybe." She replied shortly before turning and walking out of the locker room, leaving Emily staring at her retreating back.
She was starting to realize that Paige McCullers, and her damn mood swings, was never going to make any sense to her.
Paige hurriedly left the locker room, wanting to be as far away from Emily as fast as possible. Practice had been absolute torture for her. It was easy, Paige realized, to fall back into old habits without even realizing it. Paige had spent the majority of her high school swim meets antagonizing and, if she was being honest, bullying Emily. It was harder than Paige realized to shake that. She didn't want to be the same girl she was in high school. That was the whole reason she came here. To be far away from home and be somewhere where she could make a fresh start. Emily made that impossible.
Paige had regretted bumping into Emily's shoulder as soon as it happened. Her competitiveness and her anger about Emily beating her had gotten the better of her. It was something she knew she had to work on. But falling back into that headspace was easy and she continued on that same familiar path the entire practice.
She was surprised when Emily spoke to her in the locker room. She was taken aback because Emily never retaliated. Not in high school. Paige never expected Emily to finally bark back. And when she did, when Paige saw that fire light up in her eyes, her stomach dropped to her toes and her heart raced. Seeing Emily angry and heated just did something to Paige. She was too busy trying to calm her racing heart to come up with a witty retort and part of her wondered what it would be like not to hate Emily. Not to try and get a rise out of her at every opportunity. So she agreed. Emily had been surprised and frankly Paige had been too. But what Emily said had been true. They were teammates now. They weren't competitors, at least not in a direct sense, and while they were here their teammates were their family. Paige wasn't about to fuck up her only chance at making friends because of some petty rivalry with an old high school competitor.
That didn't stop her from teasing Emily though. Paige wanted to to go that party. In fact, Paige had already been invited. One of the girls she had started talking to during practice had mentioned it and invited Paige but she wasn't about to tell Emily that. Let her think she was the reason Paige was coming. It would help their newly minted truce.
Paige's mind was filled a thousand different thoughts, all of them swarming her head at an alarming rate. But there was one thought at the forefront of her brain.
What the hell was she going to wear?
A/N: Whew! Long chapter there (: And Paige and Emily finally meet! Next chapter will be in the future again and probably won't be as long (though I didn't anticipate this chapter ending up being 8000+ words so you never know!) I do start working on Monday and I work 11 hour days, 5 days a week so I can't really give an estimate as to when the next chapter will be up but hopefully within the week! A few more housekeeping notes. I believe I mentioned that this story will be alternating between past and present/future and I'd like to clarify some things with that. The order won't necessarily be every other chapter because one part of their story is considerably longer than the other. One part tells the story of their college romance, their build up, and their fall apart, which spans the full four years they're in college together. The second part is the story of how they find each other again, which spans only about two months. While all of it is going to be slow burn and hopefully well paced, there's a chance there will be more back-to-back chapters of their college story only because it spans more time (: I hope that made sense! If not, just let me know and I'll try and clarify some more! As always, reviews would be lovely! I'd love to know what you all are thinking. And I do have a muse/inspiration tag on my tumblr (which is fifteendivision) for this story in case you'd like to see potentially where I'm taking this. I also post updates about how the writing process is coming along so follow at your own leisure!