Hi guys! I'm totally new to this, this is my first posted story ever. Write a review if you want, I'm open to suggestions on where to lead the story. Pitch Perfect does not belong to me, nor does this song (Billions of Eyes by Lady Lamb and the Beekeeper, which is italicized throughout.) Thanks!

"The clouds look a lot like wool gone through the wash

I check my phone for the time but I still wear my watch

Yeah, I'm confused about how

I'm supposed to connect to anything now…"

Beca squinted in frustration at the sky out of her bedroom window, where she took a break between midterm essays. The lyrics to one of her favorite undiscovered bands, Lady Lamb and the Beekeeper, drifted through her head. She wishes that studying the clouds would give her answers as studying her textbooks did. Her overly-stressed mind proceeded to wander naturally to things of comfort. Warm laundry, clam chowder, deep blue eyes. Cuddling with puppies, a geometric-patterned dress, lantern lights. Night rides, mixes, gorgeous red hair-

Stop it, you lunatic, she thought, self-correcting. "Keep thinking like that and you'll lose your friends."

It was an internal battle that she was facing, as of lately. She didn't know when it had started but wished she had seen the signs. Perhaps her sanity was still salvageable. It had to be. She didn't spend so much time and energy into changing with positive personal growth at Barden University. When she had first walked onto the campus, casting wary glances over her shoulder every minute or so, refusing to smile at eager orientation leaders and keeping her signature Beats cemented to her head, she was the last person to be labeled a socialite. She despised the type, scoffing at the seemingly endless boy-next-door passerby, diverting her attention from peppy girls who travelled in packs out of necessity.

Her dad, a professor of English Literature at Barden, forced her to attend the university. She used to think it was just another thing to slog through in her cursed life, but since has realized it was a Get Out of Jail Free card. Old Beca displayed outer moodiness but it served the purpose to mask inner insecurities and emotional development issues. She never wanted to go to Barden, in fact, she wrote off attending "an institution of higher learning" altogether in hopes to start her professional music career young.

But attending Barden turned out to be not just a game-changer, but a life-changer. A blessing in disguise, if you will.

She isn't the same old Beca anymore. Sure, she may still sport a sick ear cuff, alternative clothes, and a badass persona to back it all up; but Beca had friends now. Girls. The Barden Bellas. A social life. And as much as she hated it, emotions that she had to address. It was precisely these things that she was currently at odds with.

You are stronger than this, Beca. You can resist, she thought to herself. She decided to axe the essay writing for a little longer and trek to the Crab for second dinner.

Beca didn't care so much about the actual education she was getting. Funny, because people go to school for learning. She knew that the education part was supposed to be the meat of it, but she brushed it aside for the appetizers and dessert of the college experience. You see, Beca realized there was much more to college than the classroom shit. Relationships, friendships, one-night stands, winning, losing, bonding, minor law breaking, singing, and partying. She always was a vegetarian with a sweet tooth anyway.

But it seems that her sweet tooth has gotten her in trouble, and a trip to the dentist couldn't solve it. She contemplated the situation as she walked in the crisp fall air on the way to the Crab cafeteria. In high school, she wasn't one for relationships or opening up at all. Hell, she didn't even have a date to senior prom (not that she wanted to go, but it would have been nice to be asked). She was never doted on by parents or boys, mostly left to her brooding self. She never had anyone taking care of her, expressing affections, not even sweet nothings to hear.

"Some days I can only see into my suitcase

It's got everything I need-"

"Ow! Dude what the fuck?!" Beca exclaimed in a mixture of shock and pain, watching the rest of her grapes and sandwich descend through the air and onto the floor as she stumbled forward from a force behind her. She stared at the food on the floor knowing the five second rule didn't apply when a hundred other student diners were watching.

"Oh Beca I'm so sorry. If you wanted a piece of this sexy meatball sandwich then you should've just asked," said Fat Amy, gesturing over her body. "Besides, little pips like you should eat something other than salad for every meal."

"Amy! I'll have you know that this is my second dinner of the night, and that was the sexy meatball sandwich that I wanted," Beca shot back, gesturing to the actual meatball sandwich on the ground that had seen better days. "Besides, don't you go have Bumper to bang or cardio to skip?"

"Watch yourself Beca, I can eat twig bitches like you and still have room for dessert," she replied, but Beca saw her wink.

"Where are the rest of the girls?"

"We have a table by the window, we'll probably be here for a while longer," she said.

Beca retrieved non-floor food and headed to a table where Stacie, Lilly, Cynthia Rose, Chloe, and Aubrey sat. They greeted her warmly, and some of the stress of midterms and… other… issues almost seemed nonexistent. The girls were always aca-fun, as each member brought their own diversity and personality to the group. For a while, Beca knew she was the piece that didn't fit, but the Bellas were a group that molded to fit its members.

From the get-go, there had been space for her. She just didn't see it. This was largely in part to the gorgeous group matriarch, Chloe Beale. At Beca's last-minute audition of When I'm Gone which turned the uniformity of auditioners' performances of Since You've Been Gone into a shit show, Chloe knew she was special. Well technically, she discovered Beca's talent in a Titanium type of way in the dorm showers, surrounded by mold in between tiles and non-descript stalls in a communal bathroom. But Chloe likes to think that she was partially responsible for her acceptance on account of her pre-cursory unofficial audition. Chloe and Beca had struck a special friendship, with Chloe playing the supportive, comforting character to coax the once-hard spirited Beca out of her shell.

For this Beca was grateful. More than Chloe could ever know. The redhead was the type of person that people write songs for. As if reading her thoughts, Chloe looked up from across the table and met her eyes, smiling softly with glowing eyes.

"It made me forget, made me forget, made me forget

Made me forget everything…"