A/N: I know it probably not the brightest idea to have two fics at once, but I've been kind of excited about this one. Anywhooo, this is somewhat based on Eminem's life. If you don't know much about his childhood, it's really sad, but it's a beautiful story that is so damn inspirational. Not only is he, in my opinion, one of the greatest rapper to ever live, but a dedicated worker. I don't think I could ever admire anyone as much as I do him. Kind of ironic that this is a gay as fuck fic, but he's often accused of homophobia. Eh, I still love him a shit ton.

Disclaimer: Never did, don't, and never will own anything Pitch Perfect related. Also, I don't own any 8 Mile ideas or anything having to do with Eminem.

Exhausted, she glided across the night. Coming home from a shift that ended at eleven was never an easy task. The fact that Beca Mitchell only had a bike for a source of transportation just made the adventure ten times more dreadful. The wind relaxed shredded tense muscles beneath black jeans and a The Chronic sweatshirt by Dr. Dre. White adidas shoes pedalled vigorously. The bicycle zig zagged through streets until it finally came to a halt at a small, light blue house. Inside, the lights were all on and the shadow of Beca's mother was taking a long sip out of a bottle. Probably a Budweiser. The bicyclist set down the vehicle on the half dead grass in the the side of the yard. Before unlocking the door, she look up into the summer's starry sky. She always had a fascination about the air above her. How far out did it go? Her gaze lingered over to a branch that jutted out of an old, sturdy tree. The branch was more of a home than anywhere at that moment.

"I'm home," Beca whispered, loud enough for her mother to hear, quiet enough not to wake her little sister, Jackie. There was no response. "Ma? You there?" She reached the kitchen to find her mother sobbing into her drink. Budweiser was correct. "Hey, sorry I came late. I was working late and-"

"No," Adria said firm. "You don't get to do that. You can't just come home late and say you were at work. I know kids! They lie and leave you hanging! They just leave you..."

"No Ma, of course not! I'm not dumb."

"Shut up, kid! You don't know what you're saying! You little fucking liar," her mother took a mouth full and spit at her feet.

She sighed. "I'm going to sleep outside tonight, alright?" Beca was often cornered into that type of situation. Adria would get upset, drive her away for a few days, but then would apologize genuinely after. She wasn't sure if her mother was bipolar, depressed, or just a drug addict, but whatever it was, it wasn't a favorable feeling.

Small footsteps clicked down the hall into the kitchen. "Beca, I'm tired, but can't sleep," four year old Jackie wiped her eyes. Adria grimaced at the fact that her little daughter chose her sibling over her mother.

"Hey, Hun. C'mon, let's get you in bed." Beca took her sister by the hand and walked into the bedroom. "Did Ma and I wake you up, sweetie?" The young child nodded. "I'm sorry."

"Becky? Will you sing to me?" Beca exaggeratedly rolled her eyes at her least favorite nickname and the fact that she was being requested to sing. "Please?"

She made her voice very flat and a bit monotonous. "It's past your bed..." Her finger tapped out a beat on the floor next the her sister's bed. "T-I-M-E. She tries to sleep. And tries to dream." She put the blanket loosely around the girl. "And not have to stay up so late, like me. So when I'm blue. And don't know what do. I look at you." Her voice was very quiet like a lullaby by then. Her face very close, she barely whispered, "And say... pbth." Jackie's innocent laughter settled herself into a unconscious state. Beca gave her a light kiss on the forehead and turned the light out. She tiptoed into her room, which was barely even her room. She only slept there when it was below sixty degrees. The rest of her time was spent in the tree.

When her mother first caught her older daughter sneaking out to the edge of the forest to sleep, she flipped out. Seeing as Beca hadn't fallen out before, she was permitted, but sometime after she turned into her teenage years, the trees became more of a sanctuary from the constant boyfriends Adria brought home. Or when she was just having a shitty day, she would stare at the sky.

Her hands grabbed onto familiar branches, feet lifting from the earth's ground. The bark scraped her hands, although they were much more callused than her first time. At first, her hands were raw red from trying to find the right sticks and twigs that were strong enough to hold her weight, which was almost 125 pounds. It wasn't that she was overweight, not at all. For someone who was 5'2", Beca Mitchell was jacked. Year round, her thighs were ripped. Same with her stomach and back. The meat on her arms wasn't so extreme, but compared to every other girl her size, it may have been a scary sight for some. Well, since eighth grade when she got suspended for a month for knocking her teacher out cold for outright embarrassing her when she stuttered a bit during a presentation, everyone thought she was scary. Since she was the captain of the long distance team for indoor and outdoor track, she was well respected, but sometimes not for the reasons she wished she had been.

The tree creaked quietly below her back. The limb was right in the middle of an opening of sky. The purple- dark blue sky was specked with stars. Beca thought of the infinitely possible things that could be out there. In comparison to the universe, she was so tiny (well, she already was compared to most things) and how people could be so self centered or narcissistic. How could anyone's head be so big when it reality, they're so dumb? Self praise had always been her least favorite trait in anyone. She used to not accept compliments on her athletic abilities for those reasons, but once she realized how bitchy that sounded, she always made sure to say a "thanks" and sometimes a "you too" if it were a teammate

The world above her always seemed to relax the tenseness. She discovered her fascination when she first listened to the song Shake Me Down by Cage the Elephant. When running her 1600 meter races, especially outdoors, the song always came to mind. It helped her. She needed the sky. She needed the countless of shades of blue that she'd painted a countless number of times. Darker at the top, lighter at the bottom. Why was the sky blue? She needed to know everything about her love for it. Everything was so complex, but always fit perfectly. Like those five thousand piece puzzles she used to spend hours on with her neighbor.

Jerry, the neighbor, had recently died of lung cancer. He was always sucking in the smoke out of some homemade joints. It never bothered Beca, she loved him. He was the closest she ever got to having a father figure. According to her mother, her father died in a car accident when she was a couple weeks old. Jackie's father was unknown. He must have been just another crash and smash for Adria. Their mother was like that, many more hook ups than relationships. Beca used to get angry at her for bringing a new guy into the house every other night, but lately the woman hadn't had anyone over. Perhaps she had fucked every guy in the bar that no one was left, Beca had thought. Likely.

There was a word that a new family was seriously thinking about buying Jerry's house. Two parents, two boys, and a girl. Beca never heard around what age the kids would be, but she hoped that they might be around Jackie's. It would be a win- win, babysitting money and friends for her little sister that wouldn't judge her for being so weird all the time.

Yeah, at school she was considered to have always been a bit different from the other students. She wasn't nerdy, not a druggie (though she had slipped some when she was younger), definitely not the loud and obnoxious type that think they're so funny, but no one ever laughs at their jokes. Beca was actually very silly, but only a few people saw her that way. Stacie Conrad for example. Stacie had lots of friends and was known to be a good kind of crazy. The taller girl was a senior, Beca a junior, but in the outdoor track locker room, the two could laugh infinitely. It was great, but she had other friends that she was around more, so the only time they ever actually talked was in the locker room maybe and when they were practicing for the 4x800 relay. Stacie's long, slender legs allows her to fly around the track. Beca on the other hand, could sprint her entire turn. The order went Melani Garrison, Jessica Smith, Stacie, then the short brunette at the end. As the leadoff, Melani was insane. Her times had dropped thirty seconds since her first time running the 800m, due to her dedication at dieting all throughout eighth, ninth and tenth grade. Jessica too was easily one of their best mid distance runners. Then the last two in the quad were at the top of the list. Stacie could beat Beca by about a second, but the the 1600m was always the short girl's specialty.

It had begun to drizzle, but Beca stayed put. She let the rain be absorbed by the pores of her skin. The night was a warm one, for Maine anyway. Eighty five degrees, shorts and a sports bra felt the best it could ever be. She let her head rest onto the pillow that was tucked between her head and the branch. Her last glance of the night was on the moon, the stars, and the clouds. During her slumber, droplets continued to pour.

Beca awoke when the sun was almost above her. Remembering that the serious family was going to Jerry's old house, she craned her neck to look at the neighboring building. In the lot an unfamiliar blue car was parked, it had to have been these people's. She scratched her stomach and put her head down again on the pillow, letting the sun burn her pale abdomen. Sighing, she got out. The pillow under her arm felt heavy as she dragged her feet back into the home she was supposed to sleep in.

"Beca! You're gonna kill yourself one day, falling out of that dumbass tree!" her mother greeted.

Though Adria was reminded time and time again, Beca sighed, "You seriously need to stop swearing so much infront of Jackie."

The four year old looked up from the comics section from the newspaper. "Beca. What's that say?" The upcoming junior in highschool turned the paper to look at it.

"Says 'puerile.' It's like saying childish, but like in a bad way." Her sister repeated the word a few times before continuing. The kid was pretty smart. She would be turning five in December and could already read. Before kindergarten, Beca had attempted to show Jackie some skills, but after a while she had her own schoolwork to keep up with. Something was always better than nothing, she guessed. "I'm out to park with the ball. Jesse will probably be there."

Jesse was from the town's private school, Waynflete School. It was supposedly a college preparatory for some school way down in Georgia, which made no sense to Beca. Why would a prep be more than 1,000 miles away?

She met the friendly, brunette boy through a group she played soccer with in the afternoons. The first time he came, she was there. Though she refused at first, he played center midfielder in a 4-4-2 formation with him that day. When he ended up being not half as bad as she thought he would've been, she hi-fived him when he set up a great assist for a striker up front. Since that four years ago, they'd remained playing more than soccer together.

For example, they were in a serious basketball phase at that moment.

Calculating every route. Mindlessly dribbling. Watching each other's hips for the awareness of a juke. Cross over. Fake. Between the legs, into the left hand. Drive. Repeat. "Hey, hairy balls."

"Hey, plastic ass! Thought you'd come around," "hairy balls" greeted. Jesse grinned wide.

"No way! I was planning on eat a three pound burger this morning instead of playing with you," she joked. A three pound burger for either of the was equivalent to giving up on sport which was also the equivalent to suicide.

The boy made a disgusted face. "That's disgusting. Don't say that."

"I know, I know," she put on a sarcastically sweet smile. "You know I do it just to bother you though."

"Play me." He handed her the ball and got in a defensive stance. Watching her movements, trying to predict what she would do next, he swipes a few times. Beca crosses over into a spin and easily rolls off his shoulder.

"Dude, you play me."

They went at it until the warm summer's sun began to drop. Exhausted, the pair walked Beca home side by side. On the way through downtown, Beca spotted a vaguely familiar car parked outside a quaint little coffee shop. She watched the vehicle, but remembered her new neighbor's last two letters of their license plate. An 'F' and a 'K.' Then she was reminded how silly the plate was because it was in Maine's standard form, but it said "0420 FK." She nudged Jesse's elbow and pointed to it. He giggled like a fifth grader. "I wonder if they do it at the same time," he thought out loud.

Beca snorted. "Perv."

Jesse raised his eyebrows. "Yeah? Who was the one to tell me that Stacie has really big boobs and a hella ass?"

"Dude," she scoffed. "No one can deny it. Gay dudes can't even deny it." She mirrored his actions along with a hand on her hip.

"I suppose, but I doubt girls stare at each other's tits."

She stifled a laugh. "Then I'm not a girl. But I wasn't staring, I swear. They were just... in my vision. You know? Like, they were so big-" Jesse made an uncomfortable face. "The hell's with you? Boner?" She laughed loud when he shoved her shoulder with his forearm with embarrassment.

"No, your English is so great that just listening you explain your lesbian dream girl made me nut," his voiced dripping with sarcasm over her English skills.

"That's disgusting! And she is not my 'lesbian dream girl.' She my goddamn friend!"

"Mmh," he hummed. "Fiends don't have friends."

"Whatever, bitch," her eyes rolled. As they approached the little coffee shop, Beca was curious if she could guess who the new neighbors were. Two parents, two boys, and a girl right? "You wanna share an iced coffee? I can pay."

They stepped in and almost immediately there was a suspected family. Two parents, one young man, and a teenage boy. The girl was nowhere to be seen, but an open spot at the end of the boys' booth told that she was most likely in the restroom. The father's shoulders were broad and through his black t-shirt it was pretty obvious he was well active. The mother's body wasn't so visible due to being on the inside, but by the woman's shoulders Beca could see she had a tiny frame. Her bright red hair was nicely combed out into shoulder length waves. The young man looked as though he could have been in his later years of college, brownish-red curls rested on his head perfectly. The teenager could have been fourteen possibly. The same type of hair, but straight was neatly placed. His clothes were casual, cargo shorts and a grey sweatshirt which he must have been dying in.

The cold drink felt nice against the warm night's air, though the shop was air conditioned. Beca and Jesse sat across from each other by a window, the female brunette facing the family. After Jesse took an annoyingly long gulp, he spoke, "So there's this new girl coming to my school this coming year, which is super weird because who transfers on their senior year? Like seriously." Beca tilted her head in her hands, wondering if the girl in the shop's bathroom could be the same person. It was reasonable. "Anyway, she's going to be in most of my classes I was told. I have to be her 'guide' or whatever so if this hoe can't find the bathroom or something." Beca chuckled.

"There's a girl moving into Jerry's old house. Pretty sure that's the family." She nodded her head toward them. "Don't look yet but-" Of course he had to completely turn his entire body in the direction of the nod. "Dude! Are you dumb?!" she yell-whispered.

"Oh. He he, sorry. They seem pretty chill."

Beca's attention was stolen when she saw out of her peripheral vision a figure sit down at the group she'd been watching's table. She glanced, not really listening to what Jesse was saying anymore. "Woah..." She didn't even attempt to take her eyes off the girl. "Don't look yet, Jesse, but... woah."

He obeyed as he took out his phone and opened the camera. Almost dropping the phone, he agreed, "Holy shit. If that's the hoe I'm 'guiding,' I don't mind anymore."

"I wouldn't mind either. Damn." Red hair was up in a bun, sweatshirt draped over shoulders, perfectly form fitting jeans fit, white kicks brighter than the sun. When a smile was worn at some joke her mother must have made, Beca's jaw dropped another half inch before being lifted again and held by her top deck of teeth into a lip bite. "I'm really hoping that's my neighbor."

"Now you stop being dumb! God, you're just like me."

Tearing her eyes away, she took another sip of the iced coffee. "It's probably rubbing onto me."

A/N: Really hoping this is a good start. Thank you lots for reads and whatever elses! :):