"Hanna, could you be any slower? We are already late, you don't have to 'touch up' anything. You look just fine!"

"Just one more minute, Em! I'm almost done," she replied.

Emily knew they would arrive late on their first day back from Christmas break; she wasn't quite sure exactly why she had offered Hanna a ride to school that day, knowing this was going to be the turnout. Emily was just anxious to start swimming again, mostly because she hadn't been able to for the past two weeks and also there had been a rumor spreading that a new girl was going to be transferring over from Whitko High, a rivalry school. Whitko has a fantastic swim program and as it turns out, the rumored girl was not only on their swim team, but one of the best swimmers they ever had.

"Could this be the one to finally challenge her and even possibly beat her?" Emily thought, "would she take her position as team captain? Will she make herself work even harder than she ever had before? Even possibly beat her own personal record?"

Her thoughts were interrupted by one of Hanna's many untimely outbursts, "Let's go already, you were the one complaining that we were going to be late!"

Emily pushed aside her thoughts for the time being and accompanied Hanna outside in the bitter Pennsylvania winter which, at that time, had been unusually colder than all the others. They sat in the already warm car, thankful that Emily had decided to start it fifteen minutes earlier.

As Emily drove off, Hanna unexpectedly brought up the new girl, "So Em, are you excited that there will be a new girl on the swim team? You think she's any good?"

Emily couldn't help but chuckle on the inside, of course she was excited that someone would be joining the swim team. "Well, for starters, it's just a rumor," Emily stated, "and secondly, if there is going to be a new girl, I would be ecstatic that we would receive a new member of the Sharks, especially if she's a Whitko Wildcat; those girls can really swim."

The two girls arrived at school just six minutes before the bell rang; they both had the same first period, Government, which neither of them really cared for at all, especially Hanna.

"If we're tardy I won't be a happy Emily today." she stated. Hanna just chuckled a little and replied, "Don't worry, it's right next to our lockers anyway which is close to the front doors; we'll make it."

Emily gave her a doubtful look but continued to trudge through the newly formed snow on the ground. She knew they wouldn't be late, but she still wanted to give Hanna a hard time about it, just because she could. Later, they arrived in Government about forty-five seconds before the bell rang; Emily took her seat in the back of the class while giving Hanna, who was taking her seat near the front of the class, a glaring 'I know we're not late but I'm still not happy about this' look. Hanna then proceeded to give her an 'I'm sorry but I know you will forgive me anyway so I don't really care' look in response.

All four girls, Emily, Hanna, Spencer and Aria have the first lunch after third period, and they all wandered towards their usual table to sit down and finish their meals.

"Hey, have any of you met the new girl?" Spencer asked.

"No, have you?" replied Emily.

"Yeah, I have, she's in my calculus class, but she's only a Junior, I believe; like maybe just turned sixteen; but she looks like she should be in college. She's like 5'10" or something and looks much older than she is she is probably super smart as well, considering she's in AP calculus as a Junior."

This sparked Emily's interest, "So the rumors are true," she thought, "I wonder if she's also on the swim team as well."

"She's really weird though, like awkward." Spencer added, "She literally says nothing and just nods her head 'yes' or 'no' at anything you ask her. It's almost like she's mute or something. Plus, since we had a test today, she had nothing to do so she just sat in the back of the class and observed us while drawing I think. I'm pretty sure she was drawing the class or something; whatever it was, she seemed pretty focused on whatever she was doing."

Spencer describing her sparked even more of Emily's interest; she was different; much like herself. Well, maybe not quite like that, but different nonetheless.

"What's her name?" Emily questioned.

"Paige I think. Paige...M something, but don't quote me on that, I was too busy acing my test on derivatives to pay much attention."

"What's she look like?" Hanna chimed in, asking the same question that was already gyrating around in Emily's mind.

"She has medium length, dark auburn hair up in a ponytail, fairly pale skin, dark brown eyes, and a really nice smile; she's tall, like I said, she's wearing a forest green t-shirt with a horse on it that said, "Whoever said money can't buy happiness, never owned a horse." She's also wearing blue jeans, and white, gray and black New Balance sneakers." Spencer answered.

"Ok, so you can remember like exactly what she was wearing, down to the color and brand of her shoes, but don't know what her full name is? Am I missing something here?" Aria teased.

"Oh, whatever," Spencer remarked, "it's just that certain things stand out to me more than others and you know how bad I am with names."

Emily chuckled at their exchanges; she hoped Paige's personality was as attractive as Spencer made her look.

After lunch was over, the four girls headed their separate ways; Aria to English, which was her favorite class, of course, Hanna to Physics, which, she hated the most, Spencer to AP French, and Emily to AP Chemistry. Emily had hoped to see the new girl sometime during the day; she knew what to look for at least, thanks to Spencer. She smiled at the thought of Spencer describing Paige, wondering why she paid so much attention to every detail about her.

She quickly withdrew her thoughts as she casually strolled into class; she was suddenly aware of an unfamiliar figure sitting in the seat right next to her own. She was awestruck at the sight of her new lab partner. Her new lab partner, the one who had already taken a liking to the lab set in front of her, curiously looking it up and down, as if wondering how science works. Mr. Dyck had apparently made them lab partners due to the fact that before, she was the only one without a partner.

"God she's even prettier than Spencer said she was" she thought, and it didn't take long to realize why Spencer knew exactly what she was wearing, for every part of her stood out like a fire burning in the night. Her hair, her smile, her eyes, her everything.

As Emily sat down, she couldn't take her eyes off Paige; she was caught in her magnetic field and had absolutely no way of escaping any time soon. The bell rang; Emily was taking her book out of her bag, eyes still glued to the girl just inches away from her, as Paige noticed Emily sitting down, she glanced over only to be met by Emily's warm, brown eyes that mirrored her own. They sat there, in silence, for a little longer than they probably should have, just staring at each other. They curved their lips simultaneously, both welcoming each other's presence with their own unique, warm smile. Mr. Dyck then began the lesson as both girls looked forward, but Emily never fully paid attention to what the teacher was saying; instead, she stole glances at an ever-so-focused Paige, who was copying all of the notes on the board into her college-ruled notebook and seemed not the slightest bit interested in the tan-skinned girl sitting next to her.

After the lesson was over, while Mr. Dyck was handing out the homework assignment, Emily took the opportunity to talk to Paige, who was just finishing her notes.

"Hi," Emily said as Paige was just closing her notebook. Paige looked over, smiled her sweet smile, and gave her a 'Hi' nod back, then proceeded to slip her notebook away and zip her backpack.

"Wow, Spencer was right," Emily thought, "she really isn't one for many words."

"Are you enjoying your first day here at Rosewood so far?" Emily inquired. Paige nodded, smiling. Emily was determined now to get her to say something, she wanted to hear her voice; she wanted to know how it sounded, if it was just as beautiful to hear as Paige was to look at.

"What class do you have next?" Emily prodded. Paige reached into her back pocket, pulling out a folded piece of paper. Opening it, she pointed to her 5th period class on her schedule, which was Athletic Conditioning; Emily had that same class next as well.

"Me too." replied Emily, with excitement in her voice that was a little too obvious not to notice. Paige simply smiled, folded her schedule, and slipped it back into her pocket

"Oh, that smile could melt iron." Emily thought

Just then, the bell rang, signaling the end of 4th period.

"Walk with me?" Emily asked, "I mean since we have the same class next, I can show you where it is."

Paige gave her a 'thank you' smile and grabbed her backpack, flinging it over her shoulder. Emily noticed Paige's large bicep moving under her light skin as she lifted the weight on her right shoulder. Emily was a sucker for strong women, both mentally and physically. So far Paige is one for two; halfway there.

Emily made a mental note that if Paige was also a swimmer, it would be very distracting to have someone like that swimming right next to her; especially in class as well. She could already feel her GPA dropping every moment she spent with Paige. "This is going to be a long semester." she thought.