I got a little ahead of myself and posted this without any word from me. Yeah, I know you are here to read the story not exactly hear from me, but I wanted to say that I'm so thankful for all the follows and favorites I've received as well as the reviews.

They are VERY much appreciated, and honestly without the reviews, I don't think I'd have as much motivation to keep writing. I write because I like to entertain others, feedback lets me know you want me to keep going!

So THANK YOU again to you all, and THANK YOU VERY much for the reviews. 3

Enjoy this next chapter!

Paige made her way over to the locker she had placed her belongings in earlier. She hung her goggles on the inside hook of the locker while grabbing her swim duffle and placing it on the ground. She unzipped it so she could grab her towel and wrapped the towel around her torso, then tucked the end corner under her arm so it would stay in place.

Picking her phone up she sent a quick text to her mom telling her that she still had the rest of her workout to get in so that she'd probably be another hour or so before she'd be ready to be picked up.

She placed her phone back into her bag and took a seat on the bench that was located just in front of her locker. At this point she figured it would make more sense to take her swim cap off while she waited for the coach to dismiss the rest of the team for the night, so she did, and held it in her hands.

She could see through the office door window from where she was sitting that Coach Fulton was in her office on the phone. She then noticed that the rest of the girls on the team were in the process of showering and changing back into their street clothes.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the pool-side locker room door swing open and two other bodies joined the chaos that was taking place in the girl's locker room. Lots of laughter filled the air, gossip was being spread like wildfire, and articles of clothing were being tossed around left and right.

When she allowed her gaze to shift to the open door she then realized that one of the two people who had just walked in was Emily, and the other was the girl that had pulled her away desperately needing to tell her something.

At that moment Emily caught Paige's stare and smiled sweetly in her direction. Paige didn't know what to do so she immediately looked down towards the ground at her feet.

Aw, crap. She just caught me looking at her.

At this point she was praying Emily wouldn't come over and try to talk to her again. She still didn't know what she was going to say to her. She was trying to come up with an excuse, ANY excuse, to tell Emily that would get her out of Emily's proposed deal. She hadn't agreed to it yet, but she had a feeling Emily wouldn't take just plain no for an answer.

Paige glanced back up and noticed Emily was in the office with the coach appearing to be having a quick discussion, because the coach was still holding the phone to her ear while covering the microphone with her other hand. Emily nodded in agreement with whatever it was and turned to exit the office.

Paige looked away to avoid making more eye contact with Emily, then she heard, "Okay ladies, listen up."

She recognized Emily's voice immediately and brought her head up to see where she was talking from. Emily was now standing on top of a bench located towards the doorway that led out to the hall. Paige saw that her hair was now pulled up into a messy bun on top of her head and she had a pair of baggy sweat pants pulled on over her swimsuit.

Paige couldn't help but notice how attractive Emily was without even trying and she hated herself for thinking it.

"Coach Fulton is a bit held up on the phone so she asked me to make the announcements for her as well as read off the locker assignments. I also need to hand out the team contact list and a calendar for the season that includes practices and meet dates. Everyone needs a copy before they leave here today." Emily held up a stack of papers in her hands to show what she was talking about and asked a couple of the girls closest to her to pass them out.

"Coach wanted me to tell you all that the locker assignments were completely random so no putting up a fight if you find yourself not located next to your best friend. She couldn't care less. Alright, so I'll just go down the list."

Emily started listing off the locker assignments which were followed by some words of disappoint and some of excitement by several of the girls on the team. When she finally got to Paige's name, to Paige's surprise, she was assigned to number 24. The locker she randomly threw her belongings into when she was in a rush to get into the pool.

Sweet, looks like I don't have to move my things.

But also to Paige's surprise she heard Emily then say, "And it looks like I have number 25."

That HAS to be a mistake, did I hear her correctly? Does she have the locker right next to me? I mean, she didn't say it very loud, so maybe I misheard her.

"Alright, so make sure you leave today with that contact list and the schedule. Other than that, Coach Fulton said good practice, have a restful day off tomorrow, and show up ready to work hard Monday evening. And oh yeah, everyone, this is Paige McCullers, she couldn't make it to the first half of practice, she is actually a new transfer from Jefferson so make sure you introduce yourselves to her and make her feel welcome to the team."

Oh god, she totally just singled me out.

Everyone's eyes were now on Paige, she couldn't feel anymore embarrassed by this unwanted attention. She automatically felt like she was being judged. And she was pretty sure everyone already knew she was the only sophomore on the team. Her face grew hot and she managed to spit out a "Hey," while throwing in an awkward wave.

Great. That wasn't awkward at all…

Some of the girls said hello in return, some smiled, and a few looked as if they were glaring at her. She looked down and brought her attention to her swim cap that she had scrunched up into a ball in the middle of her right fist. Easing up on her grip and flattening out her hand, she let the cap smooth out a bit, but it didn't look like it would return to its original form that easily.

"Okay, so everyone save travels back to your houses tonight, and see ya Monday after school at four o'clock sharp. If you have any questions come see me or shoot me a phone call, text, email, whatever." Emily finished.

Emily hopped down from the bench she had been standing on and walked back towards the office.

Paige took this opportunity to get out of the locker room as fast as possible and get back to her workout. She quickly stood up from the bench, unwrapped her towel and draped it over her locker door, grabbed her goggles from the hook, and walked with a purpose out of the locker room.

^^^^^Emily's POV

Emily knocked twice on Coach Fulton's door before entering her office and waited for a hand signal that told her she could come in. Coach was still on the phone and from Emily understood it was related to a scheduling conflict with the pool and when the team could use it next week.

She placed the leftover papers, which were returned to her after everyone had grabbed their copies, in the file cabinet on the side of Coach Fulton's desk. She waved a small goodbye to her, and walked back out into the locker room while quietly shutting the door behind her.

She scanned the room with her eyes for any signs of Paige. By this point most everyone had already left for the evening, so it didn't take long to notice that while she didn't actually see Paige, she did however see all of Paige's belongings were still by her locker.

Curious as to why Paige's things were still here, yet there was no sign of Paige herself, she made her way through the locker room to see if she might hear a shower being used or maybe see if Paige was back by the sink area.

No such luck. The next idea that had popped into her head was to go back out to the pool and see if she might find Paige there. Somehow she could see Paige being the type to get an extra practice in or make up for what she missed because she arrived late.

Emily pulled open the door and to her pleasant surprise she saw Paige almost immediately. A smile spread across Emily's face as she watched Paige effortlessly glide through the water. She made it look too easy. To Emily it looked like Paige belonged in the water, almost as if she was born to swim.

Emily couldn't take her eyes off of her. There was something about the way Paige swam that had her completely mesmerized. She felt as if she could watch Paige swim laps for the next several hours and be completely content. She was in awe watching each perfectly formed stroke pull Paige through that liquid barrier.

She watched as Paige's legs kicked without falter and propelled herself to the wall where she executed an almost perfect push off from it. Emily noted this was probably the one thing Paige needed to work on because other than that, she was damn near close to being a perfect swimmer. Even if her turn could be improved, the force with which Paige had coming off the wall was so powerful it made up for the flawed technique.

Wow. I could watch her swim all day.

Emily continued to watch Paige complete another five or so laps before she decided to walk over to where Paige was. She realized at this point that Paige was so engrossed in her workout, that she'd never notice Emily standing by the edge of the wall at the end of Paige's lane.

HHhmmm what should I do. I need to get her attention somehow.

Emily stripped off her sweat pants, threw them into a ball on the tile behind her and let her hair down, only to pull it back up into a neater bun that sat at the back of her head. She was now one lane to the left of Paige. Standing on a starting block, she was in the ready position to dive into the water just as soon as Paige had made her push off from the wall.

Paige was approaching and Emily would dive in any second now. She was trying to time it just right so that the moment Paige's feet left the wall; Emily's would leave the dive block.

Paige rounded downwards into her turn and pushed off the wall, at this exact moment Emily gripped the dive block with her hands and pushed off with her feet while pulling with her hands in one steady motion. She tucked her head between her arms and entered the pool effortlessly.

She would have preferred to have her swim cap on and goggles as well, but this was an impromptu swim. Besides, chlorine didn't bother her eyes after so many years of swimming; she just wanted Paige's attention and she was going to get it.

^^^^^^Paige's POV

Just as Paige had pushed off the wall, starting her tenth lap, she noticed someone dove into the lane next to her. She'd been so lost in her own calming thoughts that she almost didn't notice. Initially, she was going to ignore the intruder that broke her from her concentration, but as she turned her head to her left so see who it was, she was surprised to see it was Emily. Emily was the intruder who was now swimming perfectly in sync with her.

No way, what is she doing? I hope she doesn't think this will be that race she was talking about earlier. I didn't agree to anything.

Just having Emily next to her threw Paige into a bit of a panic. Not a bad panic, a good one, if that was even possible. Emily gave her an adrenaline rush. It was a rush unlike one she had ever experienced before. And it felt good.

Sure, she technically got boosts of adrenaline before any of her races. All the buildup of anticipation beforehand and then, when it was finally her time to shoot off the block, it gave her that extra driving force that she needed along with her well formed technique to win her races.

This rush that she was experiencing was a completely different feeling and Paige couldn't put her finger on it.

Paige shook her Emily thoughts and attempted to shake her feelings, but both were proving to be very difficult for her. She pumped her legs harder, kicked her feet faster and sped up her stroke too. She needed to break away from Emily. Put distance between them. This needed to happen for Paige's own sake.

It seemed to be working. Emily was no longer in Paige's field of vision. Paige was glad her efforts were working.

Maybe she'll get tired of chasing me and leave me to finish my workout.

But, of course, as soon as she thought it, Emily caught up and was now neck-in-neck with Paige again.

Why doesn't she just give up?

Paige had already been swimming for quite some time by that point, and she was just about at the end of her energy reserves. Her body was beginning to feel fatigued and she knew she should stop soon. But she didn't want Emily to gain the upper hand.

Paige continued to push herself; she pulled ahead of Emily by the tiniest bit only to feel a sudden cramp in her right thigh. The pinch she felt threw her off guard and caused her to slow her stroke and allow Emily to pull ahead completely.

Paige let up and came to a halt in the water. She attempted to tread water in place where she stopped, but there was an immense feeling of tightness now in her thigh. She didn't even want to move her leg. But part of the problem was that she couldn't. She grabbed hold of the white pool lane divider to her right. With the pool divider now under her arms she reached up and took her goggles off and then her swim cap. She looked to her left and saw Emily several yards away in the pool.

Paige wasn't sure when Emily had realized Paige stopped swimming, but she was now slowly swimming her way over to where Paige was.

Paige was about a third pool's length into her lane. Not too far from the wall but enough to where Paige needed to work out her thigh muscle before she could make her way out of the pool. She was also in one of the center lanes of the pool so the only thing she could cling to was the divider.

Great, this won't be awkward at all.

This was seriously the last thing Paige needed. She did not want to admit to Emily she had pushed herself too hard and now her leg was all kinds of uncomfortable. She wasn't even sure she could get out of the pool by herself.

Moving both her cap and goggles in her left hand she reached down into the water with her right hand, keeping the divider under her left arm, she massaged her mid-thigh with her knuckles. She winced at the discomfort but knew it would eventually loosen up if she kept at it.

Emily was now making her way under one of the dividers and then one more to be on the opposite side of the one Paige was hanging onto.

"Wow, you are ridiculously fast. I didn't think I'd catch you. Why'd you stop all of a sudden?" Emily asked slightly out of breath but with a sweet and concerned look on her face.

Paige was now looking directly into Emily's eyes.

Those eyes. Oh god. Why are they such a perfect shade of reddish-brown?

"Oh, ha, uh well I figured it'd be a good time to wrap up my workout." At this point Paige had broken her stare with Emily and was looking past Emily at the bleachers.

"In the middle of a lap?" Emily asked.

Paige could hear in Emily's voice that she didn't believe her. Paige made eye contact with Emily, shrugged a bit, cracked a half smile and then looked away again.

Emily moved closer to Paige, closing their distance even more. They were now inches apart in the water, Emily's arm almost touching Paige's, their legs almost making contact too. Paige's breath hitched in her throat. Her flesh grew hot and she swore the butterflies in her stomach had doubled in numbers.

"Are you okay? You look like you're in pain or something."

Paige looked back at Emily. "Huh, what?"

Paige didn't hear Emily because she was too preoccupied trying to get her shit together in front of a very attractive girl, a very attractive girl who was now very much in her personal space.

She didn't know what to say to her and wasn't expecting another encounter with her today. She had figured everyone had gone home, including Emily, and she was left alone to herself. The last person she expected to see was Emily diving into the pool next to her. Paige had hoped it'd be at least a couple days before they met again.

"I asked if you were okay, you seem like you are in a bit of discomfort."

"Oh, umm. Sorry, I just got distracted. I'm fine. All good here." Paige sounded almost too convincing to the point where if it had been someone who knew her well enough they'd be able to call her bluff.

Emily's eyes narrowed a tiny bit, she was still questioning Paige's response.

"I'm going to call bullshit."

"Excuse me?" Paige replied with raised eyebrows and a partially shocked expression glued to her face.

Did she just call me out.? How does SHE even know? She just met me. She doesn't know me.

Her shocked face cracked into a smile and then a look of amusement at Emily's bluntness. And to be honest, Paige thought Emily calling bullshit on Paige's sad attempt at a cover up was totally hot.

"Well first off, I couldn't help but notice you're rubbing your thigh. Did you pull a muscle? Thigh cramp up? I mean, if it's not that you really are in pain because of your leg, then maybe it's just ME…I can leave, if it really pains you that much to see me." Emily stated in a manner that Paige couldn't quite tell if she was making a joke or not.

At those words Paige immediately stopped rubbing her leg. Completely embarrassed that Emily had noticed, she wanted to stop so as to not bring any more attention to her. But she also felt bad that Emily had made a comment about Paige being in pain because of Emily's presence.

Paige really did think Emily was nice and in any other situation, they would probably be good friends. But the problem was that Paige found Emily to be really attractive, charming, kind, sweet, and had one of the best smiles Paige had ever laid eyes on. All things that Paige didn't want to openly admit, because it made her feel extremely guilty inside.

She wasn't supposed to think these things; not about a girl. And definitely not about a girl she had only just met and had known for a few hours.

Paige breathed out an exasperated breath.

Might as well just tell her. I don't seem to be fooling her any. And she thinks I hate her.

Emily was able to tell she was covering something up. Paige wasn't usually that easy to read and of course, Emily, of all people, seemed to already be able to read Paige like a book. This was something that struck her with a bit of curiosity but also unnerved Paige.

"Yeah, I guess I pushed it too hard. My thigh cramped up on me. I wasn't really able to tread water, so now here I am hanging onto the divider. I feel like a stranded baby seal that's surrounded by killer whales and I'm stuck where I am for the moment. Pretty pathetic, huh?" Paige asked.

Emily started to laugh. "Ha, not pathetic at all."

But then she grew serious and had a concentrated look on her face now.

"But I hope I'm not the killer whale in that slightly awful simile you just came up with. Like really? Baby seals and killer whales? That's so sad to picture because there's usually only one outcome with that situation. I seriously hope you don't get eaten. Plus I'm not into the whole cannibalism thing. And I'm not infected with any virus that will turn me into a zombie either. And actually, the same thing happened to me the other day. Can I help?" Emily asked very matter-of-factly.

Emily's response was too perfect. And delivered in such a serious enough tone that it caught Paige off guard. Paige started to chuckle. But then stopped herself from carrying on for too long.

Composing herself she responded with, "Uh, I don't know. I thought I just might stay here for a bit. See if it starts to feel better."

"Look, I know we just met, but I can give a killer massage to your thigh that should loosen it up in no time. After that, all you need to do is take some ibuprofen and maybe ice it tonight. You'll be good to go for practice on Monday."

Did she just offer to massage my leg?! And did she purposely just use the word killer to poke more fun at me?

"I think I'll be fine, really. I just need to wait a little bit." Paige said with a reassuring smile.

"Please? I know it's probably weird considering we've known each other like a few hours, but I'd like to help." Emily was looking at Paige with anxious eyes.

"I just don't want to hold you up. I'm sure you have somewhere to be. I'll be fine, really. But thank you. That's sweet of you."

Resist her Paige, resist her charm. You can't let this happen.

"Well, actually that's the thing; I don't have anywhere to be. I'm here right now and I see that you are in need of some help. As your teammate, I'm asking that you let me help you." That gorgeous smile, Paige already adored, spread across Emily's face, pleading Paige to just let Emily help.

Why is she always so persistent? I wish she would stop smiling at me. I'm about to cave. This is so not how I wanted things to go.

Paige caved. She was not in the right mental state to deflect Emily's charm. Her resistance had been matched and then overcome by all things Emily that Paige had already begun to adore.

Paige looked at Emily with uncertain eyes. And then breathed out an exaggerated "Fiiiine."