Hey everyone, I very much apologize for how much time has gone by since the last time I updated. Thanks for being patient. I hope you like the new chapter. I know people keep waiting for a kiss to happen, I promise, it's coming. Just keep enjoying the ride, I promise it will be worth the wait.

More to come a lot sooner than this one did. :)

Hello to my new followers!

Paige lost track of the time and before she knew it she had less than five minutes to make it all the way to the complete opposite side of the building. It would be nearly impossible with the amount of people that were guaranteed to be in her way.

Quickly removing her partially submerged legs from the pool she hopped up and quickly dried them off with the towel she had been sitting on. She rolled her pants down to normal length and put her socks back on as fast as possible while still managing to stay upright. Jamming her feet into her black Chuck Taylors and running over to where she had placed her bag on the bleachers, she grabbed hold of one of the straps of her bag and threw it awkwardly over her shoulder. She didn't have time to put her towel away so she took it with her.

"Shit, shit, shit. It's going to be a miracle if I get there in time." Paige breathed out as she pushed her way through the double doors leading her away from the pool.

Walking as fast as she could without breaking into an actual jog she clumsily rounded the hallway corner and barely missed bumping into an older man, who she assumed was a teacher.

"Slow down there young lady! I don't need another hip replacement." He shouted as she continued her race against the clock to her next class.

"Sorry, sir." She called back to him instinctually. She wasn't sure she would have even felt bad if she actually bumped into him. She was too scatterbrained.

Taking another sharp turn down the final stretch of hallway, which would eventually lead to her anatomy and physiology class, she had managed to bump into someone who appeared to have been in a rush coming from the opposite direction.

"Ooomff."

"Uuugh."

Emily hit the ground hard. Her backpack had slipped out of her hands and she lay sprawled out on the floor looking up at the ceiling with a newfound weight lying across her body. It didn't take much force to knock her off balance. She had been in the process of putting one of her binders away that she hadn't even bothered to look where she was going. Someone walking much faster than her had slammed right into her.

It happened so fast once Paige had rounded the corner that the next thing she knew, she had fallen forward to the ground on top of the person she collided into.

"I'll be feeling that tomorrow." Emily managed to groan out.

Emily?

Paige pushed her weight up on her hands and looked down. She was lying directly on top of Emily.

Oh my god.

Her face turned a bright shade of pink and she lost any ability to speak the moment she made eye contact with the girl she had managed to pin down in the midst of her fall.

In another place and in a much different situation, this was exactly what Paige had fantasized about. But as soon as the realization hit that she was still awkwardly on top of the girl she couldn't stop thinking about, and was still maintaining eye contact with her, she quickly pushed herself up off the ground and came to a kneeling position at the end of Emily's feet.

As Paige removed herself from Emily, Emily began to prop herself up on her elbows.

"Ha. Hey, Paige. What a coincidence running into you like this. I was just thinking about you."

"Emily I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to. Shit. Are you hurt? Oh geez, did I hurt you? I'm so sorry. I was in such a rush to get to my next class. I shouldn't have been walking so fast."

Emily had managed to sit up completely by now.

"Ha, yeah, I'd uh, I'd say you managed to sweep me right off my feet."

Wow, did I really just say that? Real cheesy Em.

"I'm so sorry. It sounded like you fell hard and your papers are all over the floor again. God, I'm such a klutz."

Paige was so flustered she didn't pick up on Emily's jokes. Emily was glad.

"Ha, don't worry about it. I'd rather it have been you then some football jock that probably would have caused an actual injury of sorts. That would have felt like running into a brick wall, for sure."

Emily shifted forward onto her knees and was now positioned directly in front of Paige. She started to collect her papers in a messy pile and reached for her bag.

Paige was helping to grab some of the few that surrounded her and handed them to Emily.

Emily reached out to grab them and purposely made sure to not make contact with Paige's hand this time.

She noticed Paige's swim towel on the ground at that point.

"Get a few laps in during lunch today? You must be really dedicated."

"Huh?"

How'd she know I was at the pool?

"Your towel, I just assumed."

"Oh. Yeah, no I didn't swim, I just decided to eat by the pool today. Needed to be alone for a bit. I've been a little overwhelmed being back in public school. I forgot how socially stimulating it is. It forces me to be around people and talk to people. People who I don't exactly want to interact with, if I could help it."

Emily stopped shuffling her papers.

"Oh, I see."

Paige noticed a sudden change in Emily's demeanor and realized that what she just said could have been completely misinterpreted as being directed at Emily.

Shit.

Emily gave up on organizing her papers neatly and stuffed them into her bag as quickly as possible.

"So, uh, Paige. Um, sorry for running into you again. I'll have to pay better attention next time I turn a corner."

Emily stood up and Paige followed her lead taking a stand as well.

"Look, I'm sorry for knocking you over and I—"

"I need to get to my next class, you should too, but I'll see you later, okay?" Emily cut Paige off.

Paige folded her arms, it was something she did out of habit when she felt as though she was in an awkward situation or she was unsure. Maybe a nervous habit. She didn't really know. But it gave her a sense of comfort, even if it was just the littlest bit.

"Oh right, yeah. Okay." Paige responded.

Emily gave Paige a small polite smile, adjusted her bag on her shoulder, and continued down the hallway her to class.

Paige watched as Emily continued to walk away, increasing the distance between the two of them.

Awesome Paige, why don't you think before you talk sometimes? I'm such an idiot.

Emily wasn't sure if Paige was dropping a hint about their interactions or not. But a large part of her felt like Paige was and that had hurt her a tiny bit.

Maybe I am trying too hard to force something between us.

She didn't want to read into Paige's words too much, but Paige did seem to be acting a bit distant since the history assignment fiasco that morning. If they hadn't ran right into each other, Emily wasn't so sure Paige would have said anything to her until their next class together, if then.

So, Emily decided to cut Paige off midsentence and left as fast as possible. It was more of a panic response than anything. She didn't want Paige to see her vulnerable. They had classes together and still had to get through a swim season; tension between the two of them wasn't an option.

Paige had thought about following after Emily, to clarify what she meant, but she didn't want to be late to class either and figured she would just catch her in their next class together or at practice.

Letting out a huge sigh, Paige gathered up her belongings and absentmindedly made her way to her next class.

She was thankful she'd have at least 50 minutes to rehearse what she was going to say to Emily the next time they met. She wanted to fix her mistake.

The door screeched as Paige pulled open the locker room door. She realized it'd always be a dead giveaway whenever anyone entered or exited the girl's locker room. She wondered if it would still make that same noise if she opened it up slower. It screamed out like it was in agony. Would it scream just as loud if she opened it up slowly, little by little? Probably not. It's voice would be dwindled down into a hushed whisper. This was probably something she'd experiment with later, maybe when she knew no one would even notice her do such a strange thing. Paige made a mental note and added it to her list of things to do.

Paige noticed that Emily's bag was already sitting on the ground by her swim locker. She must have already dressed down.

While she was somewhat relieved that she had managed to avoid the awkwardness of having to change next to Emily, she had hoped that she would be able to catch Emily before the start of class. Depending on what they were doing today, she might not get a chance to clear the air between them until swim practice.

Emily sat in the bleachers waiting for roll to be taken so she could get on with her workout. She needed to burn off some steam and she was getting antsy. She just wanted to run. Running was second best to swimming when it came to clearing her head.

She reached up to tighten her ponytail and then she noticed out of the corner of her eye, a girl making her way up the bleacher steps and turning into the same aisle Emily was sitting near. It was Paige.

Paige wasn't a fan of bleachers. She always managed to slip or trip as she maneuvered her way up and down them. She was silently chanting over and over in her head don't fall, don't fall, please don't fall. She finally made it safely to her destination and took a seat next to Emily.

"Hey."

"Hi, Paige." Emily greeted Paige, but left her gaze on the shiny gym floor. She figured it must have been refinished over the break.

"Look, Emily, I just wanted to say that-"

"Alright listen up this is athletic conditioning, if you aren't in athletic conditioning then now is the time to figure out where you are meant to be for this class period. I'm going to call roll and then today you are to complete your own workouts. The weight room is open and the upstairs track is available to us for the class period as well. Okay, so I'm just going to go down the list, Rebecca Arnolds?"

"Emily?"

Emily shifted her gaze to Paige.

"What I said earlier. It wasn't at all directed towards you. I hope you know that. I don't feel like I'm forced to talk to you or spend time with you. I should have clarified. And when you walked away all of a sudden I realized that maybe it sounded like I was telling you-"

"Emily Fields?"

"Here."

"—telling you that I was overwhelmed by you or something."

"Paige, it's okay. I didn't really know what you meant. I suppose I might have thought you were hinting about me, but thanks for clarifying."

Paige was tugging nervously at the end of her tee-shirt and started to grip the small amount of material she had in her right fist tightly.

"You see, I don't always think about the things I say before I say them. In fact, I actually scripted out in my head what I was going to say to you the next time I saw you, so I would get it right and well, it still wasn't perfect. But I promise that I'll try harder to think about things, before I let my words slip."

"You shouldn't have to worry about speaking your mind Paige, not to me. I'm probably one of the least judgmental people you'll ever come across. I suppose I should apologize for taking off so soon earlier, I didn't give you a chance to explain yourself. I made an assumption. But in all honesty, if earlier was an example of how careless you get when you let words slip from your mouth, then you have nothing to worry about with me. It'll take a lot more than a confession of being overwhelmed by personal interactions with people to scare me away, even if I thought you meant me. I need to learn to not make assumptions. So I apologize for that. And on a side note, I think you did a fantastic job nailing your lines earlier. I felt raw emotion and it was totally believable."

"Oh my gosh, shut up. That's really embarrassing. See? I shouldn't have told you I planned out exactly what I was going to say to you. "

Paige elbowed Emily lightly in the side.

"Hey, I was just speaking my mind." Emily cracked a smile at Paige.

Paige shook her head.

"Paige McCullers?"

"Here."

"Oh nice one Emily, keep cracking jokes. Really, you should become a comedian. You'd be really successful especially in the comedic art of smartass or sarcasm, whichever term you prefer."

"Woah, there is a very fine line between coming off as smartass and sarcastic. It's very fine, as I stated. But it's definitely there. The terms are not interchangeable."

"I disagree."

"No, see, I think you are sarcastic. I'm willing to admit I'm a smartass. They are different."

"No, I really think they are the same. Smartass and sarcasm tend to come off the same way. The terms are definitely interchangeable. I think sarcasm is just a nicer way of saying smartass. It's the less offensive way of saying smartass."

"Someone can be sarcastic and be a smartass, but if you are a smartass you don't have to be sarcastic."

Paige wrinkled her brow in confusion.

"You just confused the hell out of me and I can't believe we have continued to debate about this for so long. Let's just agree that I'm right and you're wrong."

"I have a better idea."

"Oh yeah?"

"Let's race. Winner is right, loser is wrong."

"Race? What kind of race?"

"I'm going up top to the indoor track. I was going to run today for my workout and you are more than welcome to join me, but I figured we could race because it's obvious both of us are stubborn and won't rest our cases."

"Why do you seem to be obsessed with racing? You must really think you're the fastest person on this planet at everything you do."

"I am."

Emily stood up and started stepping her way down the bleacher seats.

She looked back at Paige and asked "Are we racing, or what?"

"Yeah, yeah. Hold your horses."

Paige carefully made her way down the bleachers following Emily from behind.

Please don't fall, please don't fall, please don't fall.

Paige's feet met the hardwood floor of the gym and she considered this to be a small success for the day. The fact that she didn't fall on her way up or down the bleachers was a victory for her.

Emily continued to walk out of the gym and towards a door that led to a stairwell.

Paige assumed it led up to the track.

I've never been so happy in my life before that I'm an avid runner when I'm not swimming. Emily is in for a rude awakening. I'm right, she's wrong.

"Come on slowpoke."

"Hey, are we racing yet?"

"Obviously not, because I would have won already at the rate you move."

"Smartass" Paige let slip under her breath.

"What was that?" Emily asked.

"A clue that you need to get your hearing aids checked."

"Oooh nice one."

"Now I have a question for you."

"Okay."

"In your opinion, because they are separate, was I being sarcastic or a smartass?" Paige asked.

"A sarcastic smartass."

Paige laughed and shook her head in amusement. She was looking forward to beating Emily at her own game. She ran almost as much as she swam.

Both of the girls climbed the two flights of stairs with ease and found themselves at the door that led to the track.

They reached for the handle simultaneously and Paige stopped her arm from reaching out totally. Emily beat her to the door handle. She turned the handle downward and then pulled the door open towards her.

"You can go first, considering you'll be seeing second place next."

"Keeping digging that hole Emily, soon you won't be able to climb your way out of it and you'll be asking for help from me and I might just refuse, then you'll be shit out of luck."

Paige stepped through the entrance to the track.

Emily couldn't help, but laugh. She was getting great enjoyment out of the fact that she could joke with Paige and Paige was able to hold her own. It kept her on her toes and it made their interactions interesting when they could pick up on each other's humor.

Emily followed, allowing the door to close behind them.

"Alright, one lap, first person to cross this line-"

Emily pointed to the white solid line that the down at their feet.

"- wins and is therefore right."

"How many laps on this track is equal to a mile?" Paige noticed the track was considerably small and one lap was going to be like a walk in the park.

"About ten, if I remember correctly."

"HHmm, okay. So, like you said, first person to cross this line, after just one lap wins?"

"Yes."

"You don't want to state any other rules or anything?"

"Nope, just a simple sprint back to this line."

"Okaaay."

"On the count of three." Emily stated.

"One-" Emily counted.

Paige planted her right foot in front of her and hunched forward a bit. She was ready to sprint her way to her second victory of the day. Emily had already taken her ready stance.

"Two-"

Paige took a deep breath and clenched her fists.

Emily was relaxed.

"Three." Both girls stated together.

And they were off in a full sprint down the straightaway about to take the first turn. Paige noticed that Emily was a pretty good match for her. This wasn't going to be as easy as she had expected. Making their way around the first turn they were already started on the next straightaway. She needed to pick her pace up.

Emily couldn't believe that Paige was keeping up with her. She began to lengthen her stride and pulled slightly ahead of Paige. They were just about to take the last turn.

Paige noticed Emily pull ahead and decided to play dirty.

"Oh ouch, ouch, I think I pulled something." She called out to Emily.

Emily heard Paige call after her and she slowed down to turn around and see what had happened. As soon as she turned her head Paige rushed right past her.

Oh, you've got to be kidding me. This girl.

Emily ran after her, but it was too late. By the time she has closed in on the other girl, Paige had just crossed the white line. She had won the race.

Emily slowed to a jog and then stopped in place leaving her hands on her hips and staring at Paige in shock and awe.

"What? You never specified that it had to be a clean race. I was debating about tripping you or tricking you. I figured tricking you would cause less injury." Paige confessed.

"You totally cheated. So not cool."

Paige smiled sweetly at Emily had said, "I didn't cheat. You said winner was the first person to cross the line. You never said specified at which manner the winner was able to cross the white line. I even made sure I gave you a chance to state any other rules to follow."

Emily shook her head. She was still in disbelief.

"I don't even know what to say right now. You tricked me because you saw I was going to win. I'm not even mad. I didn't think you had that in you. Paige McCullers, you are not the girl I thought you were."

"I don't know if I should say sorry or do a victory dance. I'm really conflicted right now."

"Are you serious?" Emily burst into laughter.

Emily's laughter was contagious and Paige soon found herself laughing as well. Once they both settled and it was silent once more, Emily stated one word in the most serious voice she would manage.

"Run."

"Huh?" Paige asked as confusion spread across her face.

"I said run."

Paige started to take a few steps back realizing that Emily was approaching her with a face that could easily be compared to one that a predator would have when stalking its prey.

"Oh shit. No, Emily please. I'm sorry. It was meant to be a joke. You win. You're right. Please."

Emily darted towards Paige and Paige spun around and took off in a full sprint hoping it would be enough to evade Emily.

Paige giggled and screamed out to Emily, "No, no, no. Please I was just trying to be funny. We can have a re-do! I swear I won't cheat this time."

Emily called back, "Keep running because you won't like what happens when I catch up."

Shit.

Paige ran with everything she had in her. She couldn't keep this pace up for long so she thought of an escape plan. She took the second turn at this point, almost back to where they started and eyed the door that they both came through to get up to the track.

Bingo.

Emily was closing in on Paige, she didn't really have anything in mind for when she actually caught up to the girl, but she figured Paige was thinking a number of possibilities and that was enough for her. Often time's people think of the worst when left to their own imagination.

Paige acted as though she was going to continue down the straightaway, but quickly diverted her path to the door. She had hoped maybe this threw Emily off and gave her a little bit more of a lead.

"Oh nice one Paige." Emily called after her.

A laugh escaped Paige's lips as her hands met the door and pushed it open. She shuffled down the stairs, skipping some of them by two's. She was really pushing her luck.

She heard the door open a second time and she felt panicked as she continued to make her way down the stairs. The last few steps were in sight. But she must have misjudged her footing because she skipped one too many steps and at the speed she was hurrying down them, her knees buckled and she fell to the ground. Paige threw her hands out to catch her fall and ended up rolling over onto her back and was overcome with laughter.

"Paige?" Emily called out.

"Ahahahaha-yeaaah-haha." Paige was still rolling around on the ground, she was on her side and now hugging her stomach still working through bursts of laughter.

Emily appeared at the top of the flight of stairs that Paige was now laying at the bottom of.

"Oh crap. Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Emily asked.

Paige was still giggling.

Emily ran down the stairs and kneeled in front of Paige. She placed one hand on the ground in front of Paige and the other on Paige's hip and asked a second time, "Paige? Are you okay?"

Paige continued to laugh and when she managed to compose herself, she turned her head and looked up at Emily.

"Yeah. I'm alright. I knew I was testing my luck running down those stairs so fast. I misjudged the distance to the ground when I took my last step, my legs gave in. I'm alright. Karma's a bitch."

Relieved that Paige wasn't hurt, and amused that Paige was still throwing out jokes; Emily let out a small laugh and proceeded to take a seat next to Paige. Her one hand was still resting on Paige's hip.

Emily grew serious, "I thought you were hurt; don't scare me like that again. Coach has high hopes for you this season; I have high hopes for you this season. I would have felt horrible if you got seriously hurt."

Noticing that Emily seemed genuinely concerned Paige started to sit up and grabbed hold of the hand Emily had placed on her hip and squeezed it lightly.

"Hey, Emily. It's okay, I'm fine. I might have a few more bruises added to the few I got earlier from running you down in the hallway, but I'm good. It's not your fault. I'm a klutz remember?"

Emily looked at Paige with concerned eyes and then directed her attention to their hands. Paige still had hold of her hand. She liked how their hands looked together. It felt right.

Paige followed Emily's gaze and slowly retracted her hand from Emily's.

"We should probably get back to our workout." Paige said.

Emily sighed.

She would have been content to sit with Paige like that forever.

"Yeah, you're probably right." Emily agreed while bringing her eyes back up to meet Paige's warm brown eyes.

There was something so telling about Paige's eyes. Emily couldn't quite pinpoint it. It was like Paige's eyes said one thing but the rest of her said something completely different. Her body language and even her words conflicted with her eyes. What was Paige hiding?

Paige stood up and offered both of her hands to Emily to help her up. Emily looked at Paige's hands and accepted the offer by placing both her hands in Paige's and pulling herself up to a standing position.

When she stood she was standing face to face with Paige and found herself admiring Paige's lips once again.

The two were still holding hands.

"Emily?" Paige asked as she found her eyes locked onto Emily's lips.

"Yeah?"

"I-" Suddenly the upstairs stairwell door was thrown open. The voices of two boys were heard arguing about the scores of a basketball game as they came stomping down the first set of stairs.

Both girls, with flushed faces, broke apart. Emily started for the stairs and Paige went towards the door leading out to the hallway.

Paige rushed down the hallway and into the weight room. She needed a distraction. She went for the stationary bike.

I almost kissed her. What the hell Paige? You can't just kiss a girl you barely know. A girl who also appears to have a boyfriend. Don't ruin the only friendship you have right now.

Emily made her way slowly back up the stairs out to the track. She was still processing what almost happened.

Run, I just need to run. I almost kissed her. That would have been bad. I don't want to scare her away.

Emily took off into a sprint, when her muscles began to ache and her lungs felt like they would burst, she settled into a comfortable pace and continued to circle her way around the track.

Paige started to pedal faster. Her legs started to burn and she was starting to break a sweat. She wished that the bike was actually taking her somewhere. Somewhere far away. As time went on, she was finding it harder and harder to maintain self control around Emily. She didn't like how out of control of her own words and actions were becoming with just the very presence of Emily.

Emily wasn't sure what lap she was on, she had lost count a while ago. She took a look at the clock and realized that class had been over for five minutes already. She was so focused on her own thoughts that she didn't even recall hearing the bell to signal the end of the last period of the day.

I just need to act like nothing happened. Because it didn't. But would anything have happened, if those guys never interrupted the moment? What was Paige going to tell me?