Sometimes, Chloe Beale likes to sit still and just watch the world go by. She goes outside and, without fail, always ends up sitting on the same park bench. Sometimes with a book and tea, sometimes with hot chocolate and mittens. Sometimes with Cat Stevens crooning in her hears, sometimes Dallas Green and sometimes even Leonard Cohen.
People like to think that because she's happy and likes to dance, she only listens to top 40 hits. She never bothers to correct them, but limiting her to only one genre would be akin to taking alcohol away from an alcoholic. So she sits. And quietly listens to The XX and Jamie Cullum and The Police, taking it all in.
But not today. Today is the first day of her senior year here at Barden. After being a good friend, like she always is, for a few hours, Chloe managed to sneak away from the much-too-small apartment she'll be sharing with Aubrey for the next school year. The narrow space was filled with noise from Aubrey's rushed unpacking and mile-a-minute rambling and Chloe felt as if she'd suffocate if she stayed just a minute more in the stifling room.
She put on her shoes, an old pair of canvas sneakers, to go with her moving day attire, jeans and an old V-neck. Knowing she was moving in with Aubrey, she came prepared. She was her best friend, but Chloe was the first one to admit that the blonde could be a bit of a slave-driver. Even if it meant making Chloe move the couch an inch to the right for the fourth time because it still wasn't perfectly aligned with the rug. Had Chloe been anyone else, she'd have suggested moving the rug instead but she was nothing if not herself. So she rolled up her short sleeves and pushed the heavy couch. Again.
Anyway, here she was, on her way to her bench. Well, it wasn't really her bench per say. But she liked to think of it as hers. After all, she'd started coming here to collect her thoughts when she was only a wide-eyed freshman. She still came here to calm herself and she was still as enthusiastic about everything as ever. Maybe things hadn't changed that much in four years.
But oh – they had! Aubrey and Chloe were now the captains of the Bellas. Responsible for leading their team to victory! Team now composed of only two members - them. Cue a classic Aubrey freak out. She'd already had to help her control her breathing a few times since they'd gotten there this morning, early. Very early. At Aubrey's insistence.
Maybe it's because her eyes had actually started to close on their own accord. Maybe it's because she was looking everywhere except where she was going. There could be a thousand different reasons, but on the first day of Chloe's senior year at Barden, at around three in the afternoon, she literally runs into Beca Mitchell. And into the coffee Beca was holding in front of her…