Paige McCullers was in her element.

Literally. She'd always felt more at home in the water than on land. And as she sliced through the water, everything else fell away – school stress, her strained relationship with her father, even the roar of the crowd.

She executed a perfect flip turn. Only two more lengths to go. Paige could feel her muscles straining – this was the last event of the meet, and she was already exhausted. But she always managed to tap into some inner reserve, some magical burst of energy that her body held in check just for moments like these.

And as her fingertips touched the last wall, as she lifted her head above the water and smoothed her hair back, before she even heard the cheers from the home crowd, she knew – it was enough.

Then her teammates were helping her out of the pool: Emily, Monroe, Fox, the other members of the 4x100 meter relay. Coach Indra was there too, and she clapped Paige on the back proudly. And her teammates were hugging her, and cheering, and they low-fived the rival team, and through it all Paige's eyes were scanning the crowd, seeking out a certain green gaze.

She did see her father, and Nick nodded at her in acknowledgement before heading out. Good, thought Paige. That means I did well enough that he doesn't need to give me real-time feedback.

Then finally, her eyes met Lexa's. And Lexa smiled her secret smile, and Paige's brain started working again as she came back to the moment. Most of the spectators were filing out, and the swimmers were heading for the locker room, except for the small group around her.

"Nice one, co-captain!" Emily was saying with a smile. "I think we may have just broken our own record!"

Paige grinned back at her. "Couldn't have done it without you guys."

"Well, yeah, it's a relay," said Emily, elbowing her in the ribs. Then a pair of arms snuck around Emily's waist and she spun around into Clarke Griffin's arms. "You were great out there, babe," said Clarke, pulling Emily into a tight hug and planting a quick kiss on her mouth. "Careful, I'll get you all wet!" Emily said, and Clarke leaned in to whisper something in her ear that made Emily blush.

Paige could guess what it was, and Clarke's smirk confirmed it. "Hey, Paige!" Clarke said then, catching sight of her over Emily's shoulder. "You were awesome!"

"Yeah," said Clarke's friend Octavia, who was just joining them. "She's like the me of swimming!" She fist-bumped Paige.

"Or are you the me of field hockey?" Paige retorted. Octavia shrugged, then turned to Emily and Clarke. "And will you two quit it with the PDA? You're on a swim deck. It's literally the least sexy place you could be. Try to keep it in your pants."

"She's not wearing any pants," said Clarke, pointing at Emily. Emily blushed again, then said, "I'm going to hit the showers. Are you guys all coming by The Brew later?"

"I'm hanging out with Caleb," said Octavia (in a way that said 'I dare you to give me crap about this.' No one did).

"Safety Committee," said Paige. She started looking around for Lexa again but didn't see her anywhere. Clarke said, "I'll tag along with you – you guys are voting today on whether it's weird to let the principal's daughter on the committee, right?"

"Oh yeah," Paige said. "I'll shower quick and meet you there."

Emily sighed. "Guess I'll just be making coffee for strangers tonight then…" Clarke pulled her in for another kiss and said, "Well, you're supporting the local economy and I'm trying to keep our school safe. So we'll just take one for the team tonight and maybe my mom and I can swing by after the meeting?" Emily smiled and said, "When you put it that way, maybe I'll survive one boring night." Clarke squeezed her hand and headed out to wait for Paige. Octavia nodded at them and followed her.

Paige and Emily headed into the locker room. "Where's Lexa?" Emily asked casually. "I thought I saw her earlier."

"She was here," Paige said. "But I think she snuck out when it ended."

"How…public are you guys?" Emily asked. "I was going to say 'how serious' but that seemed a little too nosy."

Paige thought about it. "You know…I'm not really sure," she said. "We haven't, like, really defined it, you know?" Emily nodded, and Paige thought about what a good listener she'd always been. "I'm sure you'll figure it out in its own time," she said encouragingly.

"Thanks," said Paige. Emily smiled at her, and they got ready amid the clamor of their teammates, some of whom were still hanging around the locker room.

As she showered and changed, Paige kept thinking back to that small conversation. Something was bothering her about it, and she couldn't quite figure out what it was, and she knew she'd obsess over it until she figured it out so she just went with it.

Okay, McCullers, she thought. You know better than to compare your relationship to any others, past or present.

But her thoughts kept going back to how Clarke had greeted Emily so enthusiastically on the pool deck, and how Lexa had slipped out unnoticed without saying anything to her. And, okay, Paige wasn't a huge PDA person, but she and Emily had sometimes been affectionate in public. Emily was more likely to initiate it, but Paige had sometimes kissed her, or slipped a hand into hers as they walked…

Focus, McCullers! she told herself. Why are you thinking about Emily?

Paige felt genuine fondness for Emily. She was still the sweetest girl Paige had ever met, and she'd played such a huge role in Paige's own evolution. Just like Maya had helped Emily to see and accept the truth about herself, Emily had turned around and done the same for Paige.

And maybe, she thought, that's what she should be doing now for Lexa.

Paige walked out into the hall then, and there she was.

"There you are!" blurted Paige.

"Yes, here I am," Lexa said calmly. "I thought we could walk to the meeting together."

They fell into step together. Lexa said, "You swim…fast." Paige laughed out loud. "Wait – was that your first swim meet?" she said.

"Did my lack of vocabulary make it obvious?" said Lexa, with one of her tiny smiles. "There wasn't a pool near me growing up, and the lake wasn't always safe, so I never really got into it." She paused. "That's partly why I enjoy those early mornings, when I'm walking around the campus and you're swimming and there's no one else in the pool. It's…a new experience for me."

They were silent for a while, something Paige always found easy to do around Lexa. She was actually a little surprised that Lexa had revealed even that much about her past – she usually steered the conversation away from herself.

When they got to the meeting room, Clarke was waiting outside. Her eyes flicked to Lexa for an instant, and then she smiled brightly at both of them and said "Hey! Ready to vote on my future?"

The other six members of the committee were already sitting down around the table. They all said hi, and several of them congratulated Paige on the swim meet. Then Principal Griffin spoke. "Lexa, would you like to call the meeting to order?"

Lexa nodded and began the meeting. They read through the agenda and discussed follow-up items from the last meeting, and then it was time for the vote.

"The motion on the table is for the committee to vote on whether Clarke Griffin should fill the empty seat as student representative formerly of Arkadia Academy," Lexa said. "Principal Griffin will be abstaining from the vote because…well, because she's her mother." There was light laughter.

When it was Paige's turn, she didn't hesitate to raise her voice and say "Aye." She could see that Clarke was already a natural leader among their classmates, and Paige appreciated how levelheaded she was.

The vote was unanimous, 7-0 in favor of Clarke joining the committee.

"Congratulations, Clarke," Lexa said.

"Thanks!" said Clarke. "I just realized that it was probably super awkward of me to sit here while that was happening. Good thing it went how it did, I guess."

Paige was surprised when Lexa actually chuckled at that. To say she wasn't much of a laugher would be an understatement.

Now that they had their ninth member, the group started discussing the day's agenda items.

"Next up is the topic of safety patrols," Lexa said. "Paige has a proposal."

Paige started outlining her plan, which involved additional lighting between the soccer field and the bus stop and a couple of new patrol routes in areas that weren't covered.

Then Clarke raised her hand. "Yes, Clarke?" Paige said.

"Um…I don't really know how these meetings work, and I get that I'm super new, but I have a question." Paige shrugged, and Clarke looked briefly at Lexa, who nodded. "Questions are fine," Abby said.

Clarke said, "I think the lights are a great idea – that part of campus is really dim, and I know a lot of the kids from Polis take the bus after it's dark."

"Thanks," said Paige, and she started to continue – but Clarke spoke again.

"My question is, are we sure that we need more patrols? New routes would mean we'd have to get more people, right? And it seems like the fights and attacks have stopped, or at least there's a normal amount of little scuffles, and…" She trailed off. "I don't know, it just seems like maybe we should be cutting the patrols back and sending a message that we trust our fellow students to be responsible."

Everyone around the table was quiet for a minute as they considered it.

Then Paige said, "Well, I think the members of this committee would all agree that the patrols have been effective–"

"Clarke is a member of this committee," Ashley Marin, Hanna's mom and the parent representative, said quietly.

Paige looked at Lexa. "Lexa. You were the one who got attacked on the soccer field. We basically started this whole thing because of you. I know you don't want that to happen to someone else!"

She couldn't believe how calm Lexa looked. Didn't she see that Paige just wanted to keep her safe? To keep all of them safe? Surely Lexa, of all people, would agree with her.

Lexa said, "I agree with you about the additional lighting. But I think there's wisdom in Clarke's idea to put more responsibility on the shoulders of the student body – not to patrol each other, but to be good citizens because it's the right thing to do."

Paige looked at Abby, feeling a bit desperate. "Principal Griffin? Are you really going to consider this? I just don't think that it's time to throw out the patrols yet."

"Paige," Abby said. "I don't think anyone's proposing that. But I do think there have been some good points raised–"

"Well, maybe a mother and daughter shouldn't be on the same committee!" Paige blurted out.

Clarke's eyes flashed. "Well, maybe two people who are dating shouldn't be on the committee either!"

Abby looked around. "Wait – are you and Lexa–" She stopped, as Lexa looked profoundly uncomfortable, Clarke looked mortified, and Paige looked like she was about to kick over a garbage can. "I didn't realize," Abby said more quietly.

Lexa took a deep breath and said, "I move that we adjourn for the day." Everyone nodded. They could reconvene when tensions weren't running so high.

Paige stormed out, ignoring Abby's worried look and Clarke's stammered apology. She burst into the hallway, not sure where she was headed.

God, McCullers, what's your problem? she thought. That kind of came out of nowhere.

Paige ended up on the pool deck and sat down heavily in the stands. She wasn't surprised to find herself there – this was her safe place, always had been.

Then she felt both relieved and mildly embarrassed when she heard graceful footsteps and a voice saying "Paige?"

"Hey," she said, looking up to see Lexa, her brows knitted slightly in concern. "Sorry about…back there."

"Paige…are you all right?" Lexa said.

Somehow that only irritated Paige more. She was fine, couldn't people see that? "I'm fine," she said.

Lexa walked over and sat down beside her. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't know, Lexa," Paige said, frustration bubbling up inside her again. "Do you want to talk about it? About the fact that you totally should have had my back in there, because I'm the one trying to keep people safe? About the fact that Principal Griffin has been on this committee with us for weeks now and she had no idea we were dating – or whatever we even are? Does none of that seem weird to you?"

Lexa was quiet for a moment, no surprise there. Then she took Paige's hand and looked at her. Paige met her eyes, a little reluctantly. "I'm not going to make a big speech," Lexa said. Paige smiled a little at that.

Lexa sighed. "I don't do relationships well. I like to keep my feelings private, and I also don't think my feelings for you should affect decisions I make on the committee."

Paige stiffened a little and mumbled, "I'm not sure staying on the committee is the best idea for me."

"Stay," Lexa said. "We're doing good work. You're doing good work. You always make sure safety is the top priority, and we need you."

Paige looked down at her feet. "I'll think about it," she said. She still felt like a lot of things were unresolved, but didn't think pushing Lexa on it tonight was the right call.

Lexa stood, still holding on to Paige's hand. Paige stood too. "We need to be more of a team," said Lexa. "The three of us." Paige scoffed a little, and Lexa tightened her grip. "You and Clarke are both trying to do what's right," she said. "I'll think of a project that the three of us can work together on."

"Okay," said Paige. She gave Lexa a rueful half-smirk and released her hand, turning to go.

She was surprised when Lexa caught her hand again, pulling Paige into her arms. "If you're mad at me, does that mean we can't do this?" she teased, raising an eyebrow.

Paige shook her head and let Lexa pull her in. Things weren't quite right, but she couldn't fix them yet.

She was out of her element.

Next chapter: Octavia! (This one was kind of a downer, sorry – Octavia is always fun thoJ)