Stacie jerked awake; startled into consciousness by the offensive blaring of a phone – or the world's most annoying music box – which she really hoped was some kind of alarm.

"Ugh." Her bed partner muttered, and then the noise immediately, gloriously, stopped. There was a low groan, before the girl shifted in the bed, followed by the telltale sounds and movements of someone getting out of bed and preparing for the day. Stacie considered pretending to stay asleep – the girl wasn't waking her up and kicking her out of bed yet, and the bed was ridiculously comfortable for a college dorm room, definitely far more comfortable than Stacie's – but then her own phone started blaring the sound for her alarm, and she groaned.

There was a low chuckle, and an almost amused tone when the other girl noted, "early start?"

"You have no idea." Stacie grumbled, looking around for the clothes they had unceremoniously discarded the night previous.

Another chuckle. "I might."

Considering the girl's alarm went off earlier than Stacie's, Stacie had to concede that maybe she did. Stacie spared the girl a glance, and instantly regretted it, noting, "Do you always look this hot first thing in the morning?"

The girl laughed – and yes, that smile could burn like a thousand suns – and returned, "It's unfair that you're actually hotter in broad daylight."

Stacie pulled her dress on and into a semblance of decency, before coming up to the girl, who was tying her shoelaces for her running shoes, and presenting her back. "Zip me up?"

A girl obviously accustomed to the rules of one night stands, she obediently zipped up the dress, making no move that could be even remotely construed as flirtatious or starting a morning-after round, and simply announced, "you're good."

"Thanks." Stacie finished picked up the clutch she'd had with her the previous evening, and after checking that it still had her basics – mascara, lipstick, cellphone, cash and ID – turned back to the girl. "I'm gonna leave now."

The girl nodded. "Have a nice day."

Stacie paused, momentarily thrown off track, because that was a really weird way to end a one night stand, but then, hot amazing sex aside, she didn't really know this girl. And she didn't really do repeat performances, so she merely nodded. "Yeah."

And rushed out, because she had Bellas rehearsals.


The Barden Bellas were one of four a cappella groups in the Barden University campus, and oddly, for being the oldest group on campus, they just barely beat out the BU Harmonics for second place in the hierarchy, behind the multi-awarded Treblemakers and… the High Notes weren't really in any way competitive, so there you go.

Stacie had never been much for discipline, or schedules, or anything regimen-oriented, having gotten by in high school on her natural intellect, and an uncanny ability to work the system to her advantage, not to mention the fact that if and when she settled down to concentrate on something, her projects almost always got perfect scores as a result. The Barden Bellas usually only had rehearsals in the afternoon, save for Saturday morning, when their rehearsals were practically at the crack of dawn and involved a hell of a lot of cardio. Their captain said it was tradition, and Stacie believed her, but she also believed that the girls who came before just said it was tradition when it was really to punish anyone who even dared to go to a party on Friday night.

Their captain was a senior named Chloe, who was all sunshine and rainbows and silver linings, but often made side remarks about being left alone and having to fend for herself and building things up she hadn't been to blame for letting fall apart… which was alarming and strange, but since the rest of them were new, and most of them were freshmen, nobody had really dared to question Chloe's statements.

But a few weeks into rehearsals, when Chloe went off on another tangent about how everything would be easier if she wasn't the only non-freshman in the group – pointedly ignoring Denise's token protest of "hey!" – Chloe finally admitted that her best friend, who had been the only other Bella besides her who hadn't been graduating the previous year, was supposed to be doing leadership and captaincy duties with her, but a series of unfortunate events – starting from projectile vomiting in a nervous reflex at the ICCAs – had led to her departure, subsequently leaving Chloe high and dry.

At least their members were decent, and Chloe could just provide the leadership and guidance, having gone through the competition season and done the ICCA rounds before; one of the freshmen, Jessica, had been captain of her a cappella group in high school so she was good with break downs, and another freshman, Ashley, had a good ear for pitch and sound. One of the other freshmen, a sulky brat of a girl named Beca, was some kind of DJ, and for all her protests that she was only in the Bellas to appease her dad on his insistence that she join a club, she actually seemed pretty eager to do everything and anything Chloe asked, and her mixes were actually pretty good.

So they weren't exactly suffering from the absence of Chloe's best friend, whose name she had declared banned from the walls of the Bellas' house and rehearsal space – "until she stops using her ass as a hat", Chloe added – and it wasn't like the girls knew what would have been the difference if she were around.

Chloe is determined to bring the Barden Bellas back from their rut, and if she can win that damn ICCA trophy and prove to everyone – including her former captain, who it seemed had no love lost for either Chloe or her best friend – that she would bring the Bellas to victory.

And the Bellas love Chloe, so they all do their part.

But competition, especially one that requires traveling to competition sites, require funding, and other than a girl who called herself Fat Amy and Stacie, nobody else was quite so willing to remove their clothes and put on a bikini to partake in a car wash. Singing telegrams was a suggestion, but Regionals was in January, and nobody really dedicated songs to people unless it was Valentine's Day.

They needed ideas, and fast.


"Throw a party."

Stacie furrowed her brow, and glanced beside her at the blonde, who shrugged. "A party?"

"You said you needed to do some fundraising, right? Throw a party – not on campus, because that won't make it special – and make it big enough and special enough that people will pay money to be part of it." She added. "Make an event out of it. Auctions always work, because of the bidding part, or you can hook up with the Fashion and Design Arts department for clothes to auction off."

"And that's allowed?"

"You'll need permission from the dean to declare it an official fundraiser, but yes."

Stacie regarded the blonde thoughtfully.

It had been a random encounter: unlike last time, they had not been at the same campus party; instead Stacie had been heading home from the riff-offs, only making a small detour to a sorority party that reportedly had the best alcohol on campus, and had come across the blonde, who had been in line for a body shot, and Stacie had volunteered.

Also unlike last time, they both weren't nearly drunk enough to write this off as just sexual chemistry.

"Why do you need to know so much about fundraising?" Stacie asked.

There was a pause, before she answered, "I'm a business major. That's kind of what I do."


Chloe loves the idea, and so do all the other Bellas. They all love a good party, and Beca plays it cool by saying it'll be a good place for her to sample her music, the mixes she liked to do in her free time. Amy and Cynthia-Rose are always down for a good party, and everybody is utilized for preparing for the event.

They agree on auctioning off the Bellas themselves, offering three hours of their individual time to hang out with people, with the very specific provision that it has to be in public, in daylight, and subject to the agreement of the girl who had been "won".


To celebrate the success of advanced ticket sales, Stacie hunts down her new favorite blonde, and this time finds her back in her dorm room, where they waste no time with pleasantries or the like. Stacie was going to need more than the girl's major and dorm building and room number if they were going to keep hooking up, but their third time hooking up seemed to be the worst moment to admit that she didn't know – or had forgotten – the girl's name.

When they were done, the girl needed to finish her homework, and was remarkably laidback in kicking Stacie out. "I'm going to need you to go."

"Yeah, sure, okay." Stacie nodded, and proceeded to get dressed. When she was done, she told her, "You know, we have a lot of fun when we do this."

The girl smiled, putting on a shirt. "That sounds a lot like an invitation for more."

"Are you saying no?"

"I'm saying I thought you don't like going for seconds."

"This is our third." Stacie mused.

The girl shrugged, before quipping, "But who's counting?"

"And I said that before you demonstrated your 'two to start' trick." Stacie pointed out.

The girl laughed, and, blushing, acknowledged the compliment.

And the fact that someone could blush about being good in bed had Stacie wanting more. She was ready to amp her game up to a full on charm attack when the girl reached for the drawer on the desk they stood beside, en route to the door, and extracted a calling card.

"You just have those lying around?"

"Business majors have cards made during our junior year."

"You're a junior?"

"Senior."

Stacie smiled sultrily. "I've always liked them older."

The girl smirked. "I don't blame you."

Stacie tucked the card into her bra, and stepped back. "I'm really gonna go now."

"Have fun." Pause, and then, the smirk growing slightly, "don't strain yourself more than you already have."

Stacie rolled her eyes, and without another glance back, left the room. Once she was well out of the dorm building and in the solitude of her own room, she extracted the card, and glanced at the name. Aubrey Posen.


"Aubrey!" Stacie greeted enthusiastically, a few days later, and dropped onto the empty chair opposite the blonde in the makeshift al fresco seating of the snack bar/café on the ground floor of the Business and Economics building. Her smile notched a few levels more brightly when Aubrey smiled back at her. "Just the girl I was looking for."

"Oh?"

Stacie nodded. "I actually can't stay, I have a class, but I just wanted to, you know, I forgot, the other day, being too wrapped up in the—"

"Orgasms?"

"Celebrating," Stacie said pointedly, giving Aubrey a playful glare and a nudge to the shin, "and I forgot to give you something."

Aubrey arched an eyebrow in curiosity.

Stacie dug into her bag, and extracted a ticket. "Cover's like ten bucks, but if you want to take part in the auction, it's twenty-five for a ticket. And since it was your idea, you get a discount."

Aubrey laughed. "So you're charging me for a party you're inviting me to?"

"It's for a good cause."

"Keeping to my monthly budget is a good cause."

"I promise to save a dance with you."

Aubrey scoffed. "Tempting."

"Two."

"Three."

"Deal."

"What's my discount?"

"Five bucks?"

Aubrey rolled her eyes.

"Come on, if you bid on me and win, I'll even make like a ten-dollar hooker and try to say it like I mean it."

Aubrey rolled her eyes, and extracted the money from her pocketbook, before handing it to Stacie. "This better be the world's best alcohol-free party, or I'm going to ask for my money back."

Stacie stalled, blinking blankly at her.

"It's an official event, right? School sanctioned?" Aubrey reminded. "If anyone in the room is underage to be drinking, you'll be held liable. If you charge for the party, and anything happens to any of the people who had been inside, you'll be held liable." Aubrey expounded. "It counts as the sale and distribution of alcohol, and you'll need either a license of a really good lawyer to do that."

Stacie stared at her for a beat longer, and then stood up abruptly. She shoved the ticket into Aubrey's hands. "Here. I have to go talk to Chloe."

Aubrey waved at Stacie's retreating back. "Bye!"

And then it took Aubrey all of ten seconds later to have her own moment of discovery, and quickly looked down at the print on the ticket Stacie had handed her, her breath catching when she made the visual confirmation and read that the party was being hosted by the Barden Bellas. "Oh, no no no." She glanced in the direction Stacie had disappeared to, and then buried her face in her hands.

"Oh no."