"Hey, wanna study with me later?"
Chloe had asked with bright, hopeful eyes and a sweet smile. How was Beca supposed to resist the redhead?
Exactly. She wasn't.
Especially not when Chloe Beale – deputy head cheerleader, funny, talented, gorgeous (every guys crush) – was asking Beca. Beca "boring, introverted, headphones-too-big-for-her-head" Mitchell. What were the chances of this ever happening again?
That's how Beca found herself sitting in the dingy back corner of the library, far enough from the librarian so she couldn't be heard, with her biology notes, and her (ugh) English books in a neat pile, on her laptop with her headphones blaring music, inattentive to her surroundings.
And that's also why she didn't notice the bouncing redhead putting her own books and folders onto the desk, and whispering her name multiple times. She also didn't notice Chloe's head peeking out from the top of her laptop as the redhead peered own at the screen in curiosity. Her bright blue eyes displayed utter confusion as she looked at the multiple wavelengths bouncing on the screen, and the millions of little clicky buttons around the app. She walked over to Beca's right side, watching over her shoulder as the brunette tapped out a light beat on her laptop as her hands flittered across the keys, her eyes darting across the screen. She lifted the girl's headphone and whispered into her ear.
"What is this stuff?"
Beca let out a loud yelp and jumped up, hitting her knee on the desk. She threw her headphones off and whipped round to find the culprit, seeing Chloe with a hand over her mouth to muffle her surprised giggles.
"Don't…don't do that!" She gasped, trying to slow her heart rate back down to normal.
"Sorry," Chloe giggled. "That was priceless. You were so into your laptop. You didn't notice me for like five minutes,"
"Oh, sorry, I-"
"It's fine. What were you doing anyways?"
"Uh, mixing. Like, mixing songs together. It's nothing really." Beca revealed, watching as the redhead sat back down across from her.
"You're like a DJ? That's so cool! Can I listen?"
"Not until it's done," Beca shrugged, because truly the answer was no, she didn't let anyone listen to her mixes, but she found herself not wanted to say no to Chloe. "Anyway…let's try get this English assignment done. As much as I don't want to. If I don't turn in one more assignment, apparently I'm getting a detention. One more detention and I'm getting suspended," She rolled her eyes.
"It's just a comprehension, it won't take long," Chloe shrugged, opening her book and taking out a pen, ready to start writing.
Easy for her to say, Beca thought as she followed the other girl's lead. She read the first question.
In this extract Pip is embarrassed by Joe's attempt at being a gentleman. Explore the snobbiness in Pip's character within this extract, in comparison to how Pip feels by the end of the extract. (20 marks).
Beca huffed. Just reading through the question had been too exhausting.
Twenty minutes later Chloe put her pen down, stretching out her hand and reading through the two-page analysis she'd just written. She smiled, content with her work, and looked up at Beca. The petite brunette looked stressed, to put it lightly. She had a big frown on her face and her right hand held a bright highlighter, whilst her left clutched a pen. Chloe looked at her page and saw she'd only written the introduction and half of the first paragraph, in big scrawny letters. The redhead cocked her head; she knew she was quite good at English, better than most, but she would've thought that Beca could have written at least a page by now.
"Do you need help?" Chloe broke their silence softly, watching as the short girl took a shaky breath and dropped the highlighter, moving her hand to run through her hair.
"Yes."
Chloe moved her chair so she was sitting next to Beca. "What don't you get?"
"I don't get any of it." Beca's glare was cold, but not directed at Chloe.
"Okay. Sometime reading out loud helps. Then we can annotate it,"
Beca bit her lip, before sighing and pulling the book closer to her. Chloe was here, trying to help her, there was no point in refusing to be helped.
"The whole chapter?"
"Yes. Or wherever Pip starts his thoughts about Joe,"
Beca took a deep breath. "Let me con-confess ex-exactly with wh…what feeeelings I looked for-ward to Joe's com-coming. Not with plea-pleasure, though I w-was bound to him by so many ties, n-no; w-w-with con-cons…"
"Considerable,"
"Considerrable dis-dist…"
"Disturbance," Chloe said softly.
"Some mort-mort…morrtifff-"
"Mortification,"
"and a keen sense of…fuck."
"Incongruity." Chloe smiled. Fuck didn't exactly sound like incongruity.
"This is hopeless." Beca huffed, dropping her head onto the desk.
"Beca…are you dyslexic, by any chance?" Chloe asked slowly. She didn't want to offend the girl, but she also felt the need to understand why it was Beca couldn't read the longer words very well.
Beca stiffened. She didn't know what to do. Chloe had been so nice to her so far, but what if it had all been an act? She couldn't chance it. She decided to follow her instincts.
Her instincts told her to run.
—
Apparently, running can only get you so far. She had to face Chloe the next day, in English. The girl sat diagonal to her and Beca could feel the bright blue orbs burning into her skull as she kept her head down, hoping beyond hope that their teacher wasn't going to pick her to read her homework out.
"Hmm…who doesn't usually talk much….Beca."
Fuck.
Beca opened her book with shaky hands.
"Dick-Dickens shows Pip's snob-snobin…ness in this ex-extract th-through Pip's thoughts. Pip see-seems to…uh…" she could barely read her own writing. "reg…regret feeling this way ab-about Joe when he is writ…ing this-"
"Alright. Moving on." Their teacher cut her off with a bored sigh.
Beca bit her lip and closed her book, hearing snickers from the rest of her class. She was sure Chloe was probably snickering too at her weak attempt to read aloud the crap she'd written. Beca wanted nothing more than the ability to write and read perfectly. But all she was getting was paper balls being thrown at her, which somehow, their teacher never noticed, and various notes passed to her, somehow lowering her self-esteem even more. She wanted to cry. She felt humiliated.
"Hey, B-B-Beca," Jace smirked from behind her. "I'd call you a dunce, but I don't suppose you're smart enough to know what a dunce is, so I'm going to settle for dipstick."
Beca clenched her jaw and stood up, ignoring the teacher gasping at her to sit down, and sped out of the classroom. The lump that had been forming in her throat was now too big to ignore.
"Chloe, why don't you read us your essay."
"Yes, sir," Chloe said politely. Her blood was boiling. She'd read her essay, alright. "Pip's snobbiness is presented largely through his arrogance at the fact that not everybody can be as smart, or gentlemanly, as himself. Pip's thoughts reflect those of a bully's, and he may as well call Joe a dunce or something equally as rude, just because Joe is different to himself. This is mean, unkind, and unnecessary, and yet, not uncommon. I personally don't understand how Pip could be so rude about Joe, especially as he knows Joe and knows how sweet he really is, and knows how much Joe is trying his best. Even if he didn't know Joe, Pip would have no right to think of and speak of Joe in this way. As for Joe, it is obvious to him how Pip feels and it doesn't exactly make Joe feel very good about himself, and I find it unfortunate that Joe feels the need to leave. As for who instigated the snobby nature in Pip's character, I think that was Miss Havisham, as Pip's teacher. Both Pip and Joe would be better off if it weren't for Miss Havisham teaching Pip to disregard and be rude to Joe just because he is currently below him in literary status." Chloe didn't look down at her page once, shocking her teacher and the rest of the class. She was pissed, and this was the only way she could defend Beca properly. She stood up. "Now, if you excuse me, I'm going to find the Joe of this class, considering I seem to be the only one who cares about her."