Thoughts ran through Beca's mind as she paced around.
Was she too late? Maybe it was meant to be that way.
Well, she never wanted to sing in this dumb acapella group anyway.
Her dad had pressed her to join a club for her first year of college, a bribe in exchange for the career of making music Beca had always dreamed of.
A weight fell off her shoulders as she heard a guy announce that the auditions were over.
She turned to leave, sneaking a look over her shoulder.
But fate was not on her side. She made eye contact with that red-head who had visited her while she was having a shower.
"There's one more!" Beca winced as the girl's peppy voice alerted the guy in charge. She gave Beca a beckoning look that made the brunette reluctantly head to the stage.
"I, um, didn't know we had to prepare that song." Beca apologized, referencing "Since You've Been Gone", the song that had been performed by the singing hopefuls of Barden University, good or not.
An idea popped to her mind. She reached for the yellow plastic cup on the table where the heads of the female-only group were sitting. The blonde wrinkled her nose at Beca, her lips pressed together in a thin line as pens poured to the floor.
Beca eyed the Treblemakers, whispering to one another in their seats at the far back.
Beca sat, crossing her knees, starting her performance with elaborate movements using the cup.
Her voice was more melodic and perfectly pitched than usual, Beca would admit, but she was too busy giving it her all as she sang out, the cup clacking against the polished wood.
"I got my ticket for the long way 'round
Two bottle 'a whiskey for the way
And I sure would like some sweet company
And I'm leaving tomorrow, wha-do-ya say?
When I'm gone
When I'm gone
You're gonna miss me when I'm gone
You're gonna miss me by my hair
You're gonna miss me everywhere, oh
You're gonna miss me when I'm gone."
She looked at her audience, a small smile on her lips as the two young women in the front clapped.
She left, not saying another word as a wave of realization filled her.
She had done it.
0o0o0o0
Time had flown.
It felt like it was yesterday, that she was some outcast college freshman, not wanting to make relationships or do anything.
Now she was singing in front of a huge croud, surrounded by the girls she loved.
She had gotten a deal with the one and only DJ Khaled. Mixed emotions hung in the air. The Bellas were dispanding, but that didn't mean they would forever be apart.
Tears flew down her face as she hugged her long time friends. They were all ready for the next steps of their lives.
Jessica, Ashley, Flo, Emily, Cynthia Rose, Lilly, Aubrey, Chloe, and of course, Fat Amy. Friends she had made on this journey and friends she would have for life.
Beca Mitchell would never forget this experience for the rest of her life.
She loved her friends, her awesome nerd friends, and they would always be...
The Barden Bellas.