Pretty Little Liars: The Beginning {Episodes 1-10} (REVISED)

46. Emily 🏊‍♀️

Emily walked across the cold stone floor of the girls' locker room that neighboured the swimming pool. She had just finished swimming a few extra laps to clear her head of all things Maya. Her face just wouldn't stop showing up in Emily's head, not to mention the almost-kiss in front of her house that first day she walked Maya home. It made it extremely difficult to focus on anything.

She opened her locker and bent down to grab her sports bag, itching to change out of her swimsuit and into her dry clothes. She set her bag down on the bench that separated the rows of lockers, brushing her wet hair out of her face as she did so. The big door on the other side of the locker room slammed shut, signalling that someone had just come inside. Emily assumed one of the other girls had come inside; there had still been a few left on the pool deck when she'd left.

A locker thudded, and something fell off a shelf closer to her. "Hello?" Emily called, the same tingling feeling from the woods prickling her skin. "Hello? Anybody here? Hello?"

Emily clutched her towel to her chest and started to walk around to the other side of the lockers, determined to find the person who had come in. Ben was standing there, and Emily screamed, jumping about a million feet in the air. She had thought for a second that...well, that it was someone far less friendly. "Oh, God!" she gasped.

"Damn, you're jumpy," Ben teased, smirking.

"How did you get in here?" Emily asked, still trying to slow her heart rate. She hadn't expected a guy to be in here, let alone her boyfriend, who she thought had left already.

"Walked," he said with a shrug.

"Yeah, well, if somebody catches you—"

"I'll take my chances," Ben interrupted. His eyes were racing over Emily's body ravenously, staring at the way her swimsuit clung to her body. Emily started to pull on her pants, despite the fact that she was still dripping everywhere. "Besides, we need some alone time."

"I need to get dressed," Emily argued as Ben grabbed her shoulders and pushed her against the lockers.

"Why bother?" he asked, slipping the straps off Emily's shoulders.

Emily pushed the straps back in place almost immediately. "I can't do this now. My mom's expecting me," she said.

Ben shook his head angrily. Emily had never seen him like this, not even when he'd gotten drunk at the last few parties they'd been to. He was never this aggressive about anything sexual, at least not since they had been together. She knew he was getting impatient, but she just couldn't do it.

"What's up, Em? Last week, you were all over me in my car. This week, I'm some marching band geek with Funyun breath," Ben said. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Emily said. "I've just got a lot on my mind, okay?"

Emily tried to leave, but Ben held her in place. She was starting to feel kind of scared. Ben had never acted like this. "Alright," he said. "Maybe you need to relax."

Ben bent down to kiss her, but she turned her head. "Ben, I can't do this right now."

"What?" Ben asked, chuckling and trying again.

"Seriously, stop it," Emily cried. She tried, unsuccessfully, to push Ben off of her. "Hey, you're acting strange." She tried to push him off again, but he wouldn't budge. He just kept kissing and touching, closing the gap between them with every second. "Ben, get off of me! Get off!"

Something came barrelling at them from the side, knocking Ben off his feet and sending him into the other wall of lockers. Ben threw a punch at his attacker, hitting him hard across the face. "Stop it!" Emily gasped. She got a glimpse at the attacker and couldn't believe her eyes. Toby Cavanaugh punched Ben across the face, busting his lip and sending blood on the walls. Ben grabbed him and started to knee him in the stomach. "That's enough! Guys, stop!"

Toby had finally pinned Ben to the wall, and he tried relentlessly to escape. "Is this creep a friend of yours?" Ben spat. "Is he the reason you're acting like this?"

Emily rolled her eyes. "Ben, get over yourself, okay?"

"Get over myself?"

"It's done," Emily said. "We're over."

Emily glanced over her shoulder as she grabbed her sports bag and hurried out of the locker room. Toby was watching her, still holding Ben against the wall. She was surprised he was still able to hold him back. Emily turned the corner and rushed down the hall. She couldn't believe what had just happened. Creepy Toby had just saved her. Creepy Toby who took the fall for the Jenna Thing. Creepy Toby who had spied on them that night. But why?