Beca was in the middle of her very first Bella's rehearsal and was just realising how tough it was. It felt more like boot camp than anything else. Normally, she wouldn't be doing this sort of thing but somehow an attractive redhead had convinced her otherwise. Her mind drifted to the blue eyes that belonged to the redhead, but her focus was soon drawn back to the present day when the Bella captain shouted, "Beca! You're still not getting the arm movement right!" Beca mumbled an apology and trained her eyes on the Australian blonde in front of her who was showing her the exact moves. She tried to copy everything the other girl was doing, but to no avail. Aubrey, the captain, sighed with exasperation and looked on pitifully at the lost cause. "It's no good just being able to sing and play with cups if you can't keep up with real choreography," she said.
Just as Beca was about to give up and walk out another voice spoke up, "It's okay Aubrey, I'll help her." She looked up and saw the captivating redhead walking towards her. Chloe seemed to have an effect on her that was both comforting and discerning at the same time. Beca shifted her gaze to the floor feeling embarrassed that she wasn't getting the steps. "Just watch me and copy exactly what I do," Chloe said, and hopelessly Beca raised her arms and mimicked the motions she saw before her. "Almost," Chloe said with a gleaming smile that was a lot more encouraging than Aubrey's degrading remarks. "Just tilt your wrist that way," she continued, trying to show Beca the angle she was holding her wrist at.
Timidly Beca attempted to mirror the angle, but soon dropped her arms down to her side when she still wasn't getting it. Nevertheless Chloe was incredibly patient and tried to approach it with a different technique. She moved behind Beca and held her loosely by the wrists before raising her arms up in the starting position. She tilted Beca's wrists to the correct angle and then slowly guided her arms in a rectangular shape. "That's it, you're getting it," she whispered and Beca felt butterflies in her stomach at the feel of Chloe's breath against her neck. "Once again," Chloe said and began to repeat the motion. She tightened her grip on Beca's wrists and took a step closer so her stomach was pressing against Beca's back.
As if the contact had burned her Beca jumped forwards out of Chloe's grasp and said, "I've got it now, thanks." Slightly alarmed at the sudden movement Chloe raised her eyebrows, but soon returned to her cheerful demeanour and smiled proudly at Beca. "That's great, let me know if you need any more help," she said and wandered back to the front of the group. Aubrey clapped her hands to gather everyone's attention and announced, "Okay ladies, you get a quick five minute break to grab some water to rehydrate before we start on cardio!" A choir of groans resonated through the hall as everyone sauntered over to the chairs and grabbed a drink from their bags.
Beca sat down and briefly shut her eyes to appreciate the blissful feeling of her weight leaving her feet. After a few seconds she opened her eyes again and reached in her bag to pull out a bottle of water and a small pink notepad. Chloe glanced over to see the small brunette take a sip of her drink and then discreetly scribble something down in her notebook before slipping it back in her bag. It was over in a matter of seconds but intrigued Chloe nevertheless. She was about to go and sit next to Beca to spark up a conversation, but before she could move her feet Aubrey called everyone back over to warm up for an hour of cardio.
After running up and down the length of the hall ten times, attempting twenty sit ups, doing a countless number of star jumps and working on their hamstrings with some yoga balls, the Bella's were finally dismissed. Chloe tried to catch Beca before she left, but she barely blinked and the brunette was inches away from the door. Something about Beca intrigued Chloe; whether it was her style, her voice or something else entirely, Chloe didn't know. All she knew was that she wanted to get to know the girl more.
Meanwhile Beca had just left the hall and was walking at a fast pace when a preppy voice called her name. She spun round and saw Fat Amy walking towards her. "How'd you find the first session peewee?" she asked in her rich Australian accent. Beca had to smirk at the nickname referring to her height and replied, "Tough, you?" Fat Amy shrugged in a nondescript manner, but couldn't maintain her modesty for long. "Personally, I think I crushed it. Although the cardio was highly unnecessary – I think that Aubrey chick has a personal vendetta out for anyone above size 0." Beca smirked again, and found herself to be enjoying the company of her fellow Bella as they walked towards the grassy area on campus.
"I'm going to work out here for a bit, so I'll see you later," Beca said and waved goodbye to Amy as she found a patch of grass to place herself on. She took her laptop out of her bag, plugged in her headphones and opened the mix she was working on. She expertly moved the controls around; altering the sounds and blending the two songs together and found herself becoming peacefully wrapped up in her work. Time flew and just as she saved the finished product to her memory stick, she felt a light tap on her shoulder. Beca looked up and took off her headphones when she was greeted by the sight of Chloe Beale. Making herself comfortable Chloe sat down on the grass next to Beca and said happily, "What you up to?"
"Err… I'm making a mix," Beca replied hesitantly. Chloe gestured towards the headphones sitting on Beca's neck and said, "May I?" Normally Beca didn't let anyone listen to her mixes, but she found herself complying and handing the headphones over to the bold girl next to her. After a few seconds Chloe was nodding her head in time with the music and said, "This is awesome!" Beca smiled modestly and waited for the song to finish. Eventually Chloe removed the speakers from her ears and started complimenting Beca on details of the songs. They found themselves slipping into easy conversation, and as time went on Chloe asked, "If you don't have any plans tonight, do you fancy meeting up?"
Beca considered the offer, wondering whether it was a good idea or not. Eventually she smiled and said, "Y-yeah, that would be good."
"Great! Where do you want to go? Have you had chance to explore many places yet?"
"Not really. I went to a pretty cool pub the other day, we could go there?" Beca suggested, and then kicked herself for suggesting such a stupid idea. Of course Chloe would hate the idea of going to a pub – she was a beautiful college girl who probably hoped to go to a club or something more sophisticated. "I mean if… if… if that's a bad idea then…" she stumbled over her words. Chloe noticed the small stutter spill out of Beca's mouth and couldn't help but admire how adorable she was. "The pub sounds great. Your dorm is in Baker Hall, right?" she said. Beca nodded, not wanting to embarrass herself by talking again. "Cool, I'll pick you up at 7?" They agreed to meet then, and Beca gave Chloe her dorm number before heading back to her room to get ready.
It was almost 7 by the time Beca decided on an outfit. It wasn't anything special – just jeans with a nice top and jacket, but she wanted to make a good impression on Chloe. She knew it wasn't a date and they were just meeting up as friends, but she still couldn't ignore that there was something about the excitable redhead that made her feel different. There was a knock at the door, and after one final check in the mirror Beca opened the door. "Hi," she said and felt her lips turn up into a smile at the sight of Chloe. She quickly grabbed her beg, shut the door, and then led the way to the pub.
Conversation came so easily to them, but Chloe couldn't help but notice that when they broached the topic of personal life Beca turned into a fact sheet. She listed facts about her school and her town, but nothing about her opinion or personal experiences of it. Not making too big of a deal out of it, Chloe accepted that this was the first time they were properly talking and maybe Beca was just a very private person. The barman came over to their table and placed two more drinks in front of them, and gently knocked Beca's bag as his hand retreated. It tipped to one side and her purse, mascara and a small tin fell out. Without thinking Chloe gestured towards the tin and asked, "What's that?"
Beca went bright red and changed from someone who was laughing and having a good time to a shy, stuttering girl. "I err… it's n-nothing. Just mints," she explained. From her reaction Chloe could tell that it wasn't mints, but didn't want to pursue it. She struck up a new conversation, wanting to see Beca laugh again and pretend that nothing had happened. She found Beca's laugh infectious and sat there admiring each one of her features as she spoke. Anxious to move on as well, Beca spoke more smoothly as she asked, "So what's your course like?"
"I think it's great. But I suppose the course is only good if you're really interested in English and literature."
"See, no offense but sometimes I struggle to see how you can take a degree in English. It's your own language; anyone who speaks it can comment on how great a poem is."
Chloe laughed and said, "It's a bit more complex than that."
"Go on then, comment on a poem in a 'complex' way," Beca said teasingly, taking a sip from her drink. Chloe cleared her throat and said, "Okay, take Sonnet VI by Pablo Neruda for example. It can be described as a recollection of a tragically happy memory." Beca raised her eyebrow at the incredibly simple explanation, but lowered it again when Chloe continued, "The oxymoron of it being tragically happy is expressed and emphasised mainly by the juxtaposition of two perspectives in the last line of the octet and the first line of the sestet. This contrast is also highlighted in the layout of the two stanzas: whereas the octet follows the conventional layout of a poem, the sestet includes a heavy use of enjambment which gives that particular stanza a style similar to a conversation, making the recollection of the memory a lot more personal and accessible to empathy."
Beca sat there with her mouth wide open and a confused expression on her face. "I did not understand a single word of that," she said in defeat. Chloe smirked proudly, and then asked Beca about her course. They stayed in the pub until it closed and then went outside to get a cab back to campus. On the journey back Chloe said, "I was wondering… would you consider this a date?" Beca's heart leapt, but she remained silent trying to figure out what the right answer was. Chloe then continued, "Because I would, but if you wouldn't then that's okay. But if by any chance you'd consider this a date, I'd really like to maybe do it again?" She bit her lip anxiously, and breathed out a sigh of relief when Beca replied, "I'd love to go on another date with you."
The taxi pulled up to Barden University and the two girls stepped out. Chloe paid the driver, and then turned back to Beca. "I had an awesome time tonight," she said, and Beca grinned. "So did I," she replied, and everything seemed to be going well. At least it was until they reached Beca's dorm and were sitting on her bed. Chloe wanted to walk Beca home and then had been invited in to borrow a coat before heading back to her own apartment. They were sitting on the mattress when Chloe saw one of Beca's bracelets slip, revealing a ring of bruises around her wrist. Beca followed Chloe's gaze and hurriedly pushed the bracelets back down when she realised what the redhead was staring at. "What happened to your wrist?" Chloe asked softly, but Beca bit down on her tongue making sure she kept her silence.
In an attempt to comfort her, Chloe reached out and gently placed her hand on the top of Beca's leg. Similarly to earlier in rehearsal, Beca jumped back as if Chloe's hand was made of fire. She flinched and tensed up, praying to be somewhere else. Sensitively Chloe said, "Well I'll let you get some rest. But if you need me for anything, I'm just a phone call away." Beca smiled gratefully, muttered an apology and said something about just being tired, and then said goodbye to Chloe at the door. She walked to her wardrobe, pulled out a vest top and pyjama trousers to change into and climbed into bed, hoping she hadn't screwed things up already.
Chloe reached her apartment and wasn't surprised to see her best friend and flatmate still sitting up watching TV. "Hey how was it?" the blonde asked cheerily.
"It was amazing. She's so interesting, and funny, and we just connect so easily. And we're going on another date sometime," Chloe explained, and Aubrey squealed excitedly for her friend. She studied Chloe's face, sensed that something was up and so asked what was wrong. Chloe sighed and said, "She's so great, but I'm worried about her. First I noticed a tin fall out of her bag that she was obviously hiding something in, and I keep imagining the worst like maybe it had drugs in or something." Concern flashed over Aubrey's face, but Chloe continued, "That's not important right now though – everyone experiments in college. But what really worried me were these bruises that I saw on her wrist that seriously look like someone's abusing her. Then, I tried to comfort her and put my hand on her leg and she jumped back, just like she flinched when I touched her at rehearsal. It's like she's scared of physical contact."
"Chloe… what are you saying?" Aubrey asked worriedly.
"I don't know… It's just the bruises point to abuse, and then if you combine that with her jumpiness when someone touches her I can only think of one thing. Aubrey, I think maybe she was raped?"