Driving through the streets of Atlanta, Ava Wilson threw her head back against the headrest "Whoa, we're half way there!" Grinning she looked over to her best friend Jesse as he sang along with her, his air guitar melding with her air drums. "Whoa, livin' on a prayer!" Jesse's parents, John and Linda Swanson shared a fond look from the front seat as the two teenagers sang their hearts out "Take my hand and we'll make it - I swear...Whoa, livin' on a prayer!" The pair laughed, ending the song with a big flourishing finish on their instruments.
Linda let out a sigh "I can't believe my babies are heading to college."
Ava smiled at the term of endearment, Linda had always treated her like the daughter she never had. Jesse chuckled "You've had eighteen years to prepare for this moment."
John smiled at his son through the rear view mirror "It doesn't matter how much you time you have, it'll never be enough, not when it comes to your children."
Ava leant forward between the front seats and smiled at the elder couple, placing her hand on Linda's arm "We'll be back for thanksgiving and we'll only be two hours away."
Linda patted the girls hand with a soft smile "I can't wait."
Sitting back in her seat, Ava turned to Jesse "It's going to be so weird not sleeping within ten feet of each other." The pair had been next door neighbours their entire lives. Their bedroom windows faced each other, with only a trellis between them, the two had grown up climbing in and out of each others bedrooms.
Jesse chuckled "I know but we're going to have super cool roommates and make friends other than each other." He said determined.
"Just like the movies Bender." Ava teased, using the nickname he earned after the pair had watched The Breakfast Club for the first time and Jesse had went out and bought a red plaid shirt and black, leather fingerless gloves.
"Exactly Cherry," he grinned referring to her dyed hair and movie counterpart, putting his hands behind his head and relaxing back "just like the movies."
The four sat in content silence, for the last twenty minutes of their journey just listening as the radio played before Ava spotted a sign. Gasping she sat up straight, slapping Jesse's arm "We're here! It's Barden Univeristy!"
Jesse leaned across Ava to look out her window, forcing her head back at an awkward angle "It's actually happening." He breathed.
He groaned as Ava pushed his face away "It's not 2-D, you can see from your window too."
Jesse rubbed his nose, sending Ava a mock glare before making a show of turning to look out his own side. As Carry On Wayward Son started to play, Jesse tuned his air guitar much to Ava's amusement. "Carry on my wayward son, for there'll be peace when you are done. Lay your weary head to rest, now don't you cry no more."
Ava watched as he turned to look out his window as the car paused in the traffic at the drop off zone, only to spot a pretty brunette watching him, large headphones draped around her neck as she stood beside a taxi cab. Ava bit her lip to hide her grin at the girls expression as Jesse performed an air guitar solo for her. She couldn't conceal her laughter as John suddenly took off, jolting Jesse back into his seat mid performance.
Jesse groaned as the three in the car laughed "She could've been the one!"
Pulling into a free space, the four exited the car. Jesse opened the trunk as three students dressed in the schools emerald green polo shirts approached. The two boys wheeled empty trollies towards John and Jesse to help them unload as the only female approached Ava.
"Hi there! Welcome to Barden University. What dorm?"
Ava pulled her student information out of her back pocket "Um...Baker Hall."
The girl smiled "Okay. So what you're going to do is you're gonna go down this way, you're gonna take a right and you go through those double doors. The rooms are numbered according to the floor." She told Ava who nodded. She handed over a sheet of paper and a whistle "Your campus map. And your official BU rape whistle. Don't blow unless it's actually happening."
Ava blinked as she looked up at the grinning girl "Uh, thanks." Shaking her head she made her way back to Jesse as he stood with his parents. The two male students chatted off to the side as they waited behind the loaded trollies.
As soon as she reached Jesses side, Linda pulled her into a tearful hug, pulling back she looked at the redhead "Call your parents when you're settled." as Ava nodded, Linda looked between her and her son "Look after each other, be safe and have fun."
Ava smiled at her surrogate parents "Thank you for the ride, my dad couldn't get it off work and my mom had the boys."
John smiled as he pulled her into his own hug while Linda held onto her son "Anytime Ava."
"Thanks mom, dad, see you guys at Thanksgiving." Jesse smiled as the two teenagers watched them climb back into the car.
Linda leaned her head out of the window Bye, I love you!" she called as John drove away.
Jesse turned to his friend, "How about we drop off your stuff first," he started as he looked over his own map "since according to this, your building is closer then we'll head to my dorm so we know where to find each other."
Ava nodded "Then we can set up our stuff and meet up at the Activities Fair this afternoon."
Jesse gave her a high five "We got this!"
With the help of the two Barden students that Ava found out were called Tyler and Matt, they had successfully dropped all of Ava's stuff in her dorm that was still bare, her roommate having not arrived yet. The four had lugged Jesse's stuff across campus and having reached the door to Jesse's room for year, the boys departed from the freshmen.
"Ready?" Ava questioned.
Jesse nodded, putting his key in the door "Ready."
As the door swung open, the two made their way inside only to freeze in their tracks "Kriffing hell." Ava breathed in shock as she took in the sight before her. One half of the room was painted black, the walls and shelves littered with Star Wars memorabilia.
A tall boy turned at her voice, his eyes widened as he looked at her "You like Star Wars?"
Ava raised an eyebrow "Like it? Try love it."
Jesse frowned as the boy continued to stare at Ava like he was a blind man seeing the sun for the first time. He cleared his throat and the boy finally teared his eyes away "There he is. I'm Benji, you must be Jesse." He introduced, shaking Jesse's hand with a polite smile.
"And you must be kidding. Wow!" Jesse retorted, still in shock about the decor.
Benji looked sheepishly at his side of the room "Looking at it now, I can see that it's a bit much. I can take it down."
Jesse was quick to wave his hands "No no way. I mean, it took a second for my eyes to adjust, but I can roll with this." He nodded with a smile.
Benji smiled as he looked between the two "Look just so you know, I'm not a total nerd. I also happen to be super into close-up magic." Ava wondered how it took her this long long to notice he was wearing a magicians cape.
She watched in awe as he pulled a small hamster seemingly out of thin air "Woaw, that's so awesome! How long was that little guy in there?" She asked, stepping forward to scratch the creatures head.
"Several days." Benji told her with a smile.
Ava's eyes widened as she carefully took the hamster from Benji's hands "Let's get you some water." She cooed, making her way to Jesse's bare bed and sitting down with backpack she had carried for her friend and pulling out a bottle of water. Holding the bottle between her legs, she unscrewed the cap with one hand before setting it on her leg. Lifting the bottle, she poured some into the lid before holding it out to the hamster, letting it lap up the water.
"Oh Benji, this is Ava." Jesse introduced as the two boys watched her with a smile.
"Your girlfriend?" Benji asked hesitantly as Ava screwed the cap back onto the bottle.
Ava and Jesse's face contorted into matching looks of disgust "Eww, no, never, no way!" The two gushed in sync making Benji's eyes widen.
Ava smiled as she stood up from the bed "We're best friends, Jesse is practically my brother." She informed him, handing back the hamster "I should go unpack." She said, making her way to the door "Meet you at the Activities Fair Jess." She added as she stopped at the doorway "You should come too Benji." She smiled at the boy "Bye boys." She finished, waving before making her way down the hall.
Shoving her key into her door, Ava hummed as she made her way into her room. She went silent as she noticed her roommate had arrived and was setting up her computer "Oh hi, I'm Ava!" She introduced.
The girl stood up and turned to meet her roommate "Hey, I'm Beca."
Ava's eyes widened "Jesse's girl!"
Beca's eyebrows furrows in confusion "What?"
"Sorry, my friend performed an air guitar solo for you... you were beside a taxi..." Beca nodded in realisation as Ava talked "Oh! Is your dad a taxi driver?"
Beca shook her head "Uh no..." She trailed off awkwardly.
Ava nodded sheepishly, rocking on her heels "Right... Well I guess I should uh, go over there," she hooked her thumb over her shoulder, gesturing to her side of the room "and, uh, unpack... Yeah."
Ava silently scolded herself as she made her way to herself way to go Awkward Ava!
"There!" Ava breathed, stepping back to admire her work.
Beca turned away from her computer, taking in Ava's side of the room "Looks great." And she meant it. Ava haddecorated her bed with a grey and white damask pattern bed spread, various scattered throw pillows ranging in various shades of greys to red. Her walls held a set of canvases showcasing New York and were highlighted by the glow that shone from the little white Chinese lantern fairy lights strung across the wall. Her desk was filled with storage boxes, small ornaments and candles, her red computer chair pushed underneath. All that was left to set up was her laptop.
Ava smiled at a Beca, starting to feel more at ease around her "Thanks, yours looks great too." She admired the desk filled with electronic devices and sound equipment "What's all this for?" She questioned, walking over.
"Oh, music... I want to produce music."
Ava's eyes widened "Seriously? That's so cool!"
"Really?" Beca questioned, eyebrows raised, not used to getting that reaction "I uh, made some remixes if you want to hear them?"
Ava grinned "I'd love to!"
Beca returned the grin and handed her a pair of headphones. The redhead placed them, holding them to her ears as Beca clicked on her computer. Ava nodded her head to the beat of Bust A Move as Beca continued to adjust it "This is so great Beca." Ava shouted, not being able to hear herself over the music.
Beca chuckled, pausing the song as Ava took the headphones off. She went to reply when the door knocked "Hey this is campus police. Hide your wine coolers." The girls watched as a man walked in smiling "Haha...just...it's your old man making a funny."
Be a rolled her blue orbs "Chris Rock everybody."
The man turned to Ava, hand outstretched "Hey, you must be Beca's roommate." Ava took the mans hand with a polite smile and giving it a shake "I'm Dr. David Mitchell, Beca's dad. I teach Comparative Literature here."
"Hi Dr. Mitchell, I'm Ava Wilson... I study Dance and Drama here." She introduced, awkwardly copying the man "Have you ever considered being a Taxi driver?"
Beca snickered at the look on her fathers face as he looked at the awkward girl who silently back away to her side of the room when he didn't answer. Shaking his head, he turned to his daughter "So, when did you get here? How did you get here?"
"Took a cab." Beca answered, lips twitching into a slight smile as her dad shot a suspicious look to the redhead "Didn't wanna inconvenience you and Sheila...How is the stepmonster?"
David smiled "She is fine, thank you for asking. She's actually in Vegas at a conference-"
Beca shook her head, cutting the man off "Oh, No dad I don't actually care. I just wanted to say 'stepmonster'." Ava smiled at her roommates humour as she plugged in her laptop.
David sighed "So, have you guys been out on the quad yet? In the springtime, all the students study on the grass."
"I don't wanna study on the grass, dad." Beca frowned "I need to move to LA and get a job at a record label and start paying my dues."
David rubbed his temple "Here we go again. You know Beca, DJing is not a profession, it's a hobby. Unless you're Rick Dees or someone awesome."
"Beca is awesome." Ava defended. Beca smiled softly to herself whilst David shot the red head a look. Ava winced, holding her hands up "Sorry... none of my business."
Beca shook her head, focusing back on her father "That's not... I... ergh...I wanna produce music. I wanna make music, Dad."
"But you're going to get a college education first. For free, I might add. End of Story."
Ava's phone chirped, alerting her to a text telling her that Jesse and Benji had left "I'm going to the Activities Fair." She announced to the Mitchell duo, standing up.
Beca's eyes widened as she looked to her father "Me too. I'm going to the activities fair with my new friend, Ava Wilson."
"Thanks for sticking up for me by the way." Beca said, glancing to the redhead beside her as the walked outside.
Ava smiled at the brunette "Don't sweat it... You are awesome by the way and I know it's none of my business but don't let your dad stop you following your dreams."
Beca bumped her shoulder with Ava "You know, I was dreading having to share a room with a stranger... But it's not so bad."
Ava rolled her eyes jokingly "Speak for yourself." She teased.
Looking ahead Beca spotted a DJ booth "Oh, I'm going to go look around... see you later?"
Ava nodded "See you later." She waved Beca off before looking around. Smiling, she spotted Jesse and Benji walking across the quad. With a brisk jog, she quickly caught up to them "Hey guys."
Jesse smiled as he looked down at the girl who appeared between him and Benji "Hey, did you get unpacked?"
Ava grinned "Yep, all done." She confirmed before smirking at her friend "You'll never guess who my roommate is?"
Jesse frowned as Benji looked between the two curiously "You're right I won't guess... because we don't know anybody here..."
Ava sighed, rolling her brown eyes "It's the taxi girl!" Jesse's eyes widened "Her name is Beca and she seems pretty cool... I think I might actually make a friend here."
Jesse smiled as he wrapped an arm around the red head as the three resumed walking "That's great Ava... and you can put in a good word for me."
Ava laughed as the group stopped just as a group of frat boys marched by "Taking names, taking numbers. Join our righteous frat. If you ain't pledging Sigma Beta, you ain't worth no crap."
"That's a double negative." Benji called after them.
Jesse shook his head "That's a lot of negatives."
Benji smiled as he focused ahead "Follow me. There's only one group on this campus worth joining. As far as Barden goes, that's what being a man is all about."
Ava shared a smile with Jesse "Ah, the group I've been waiting my whole female life for." She joked as they stepped closer to a group of boys, all lounging around a wall.
The three watched as they burst into song, singing Let It Whip. Ava smiled as she nodded to the rhythm. "The Treblemakers. The rock stars of acappella, the messiahs of Barden. Well, you know, not including athletes, frat guys or actual cool people." Benji informed the pair, awe dripping off every word.
Ava grinned, shaking her head "Organized nerd singing."
"This is great." Jesse smiled.
Benji nodded "Yeah, it makes so much sense." He glanced at Jesse "How's your voice?"
"We both are here to have the fun, so let it whip." Jesse sang.
Benji's eyes widened as Ava grinned "Woah, nice."
"Show off." Ava muttered, giving Jesse a playful shove.
Jesse grinned as he ruffled Ava's hair "Jealous." He teased.
After the Treblemakers performance, Ava watched as the guy, Bumper Allen who Benji had gushed about turn to one of his team mates "When you came in and you were like just strumming the guitar and it was like totally off-key, I wanted to choke you!"
Ava leaned closer to Jesse "He should've tuned it, like you do." She joked making him snicker.
"Bumper." A guy, Benji had informed her was named Donald warned. He was lean and tall. His inky black hair styled. His brown skin matched his brown eyes that were hidden beneath a large pair of black, framed glasses. Ava had noticed that throughout the entire song, he never looked away from his phone but that didn't stop him from beat boxing exceptionally.
Bumper ignored his warning "I wanted to choke you out!"
Benji took a deep breath "Okay, I'm gonna go introduce myself. Everybody be cool, it's just a normal day." Jesse and Ava shared a nervous look as they followed after him as he approach the group of boys "Hi. Hi. Benjamin Applebaum. I saw you guys perform at a Mall of America like three years ago. Totally changed my life. I have not stopped thinking about you since."
Ava winced at his choice of words and the Treblemakers expressions "Thank you?" Bumper muttered, uncomfortable.
Benji grinned "And, Bumper, huge fan. Your arrangement of Lovin' Spoonful's Do You Believe In Magic inspired me to become a certified illusionist." He gushed, producing a red handkerchief in his hands and waving it through the air.
Jesse was wide eyed "Wow."
Bumper grimaced "The smell of your weird is actually affecting my vocal cords so I'm gonna need you to scoot." He wafted his hand away "Skedaddle."
"But why don't we just exchange emails, and then totally hang out right now, together?" Benji smiled.
Bumper shook his head "No. Hard pass." his cheeks flapped as he shook his heady wildly "Hard pass. What a nerd alert." He hollered turning back to the group "Okay guys, now let's match pitch."
Ava narrowed her eyes at Bumper after seeing Benji's dejected expression "Hey!" She called gaining the groups attention.
Benji's eyes widened as he looked to Jesse "What is she doing?"
Jesse shook his head with a sigh "I'm going to go ahead and guess that it's not making friends."
Bumper turned to look at Ava as she approached "Well hello there, did you enjoy the show?" He purred.
Ava scoffed "I did up until you became a complete ass to my friend." She gestured to Benji.
The Treblemakers all shared surprised looks as Bumper raised an eyebrow in disbelief "You, are friends with, him?"
Ava glared "Of course I am, he's great! Who doesn't like magic anyway? You'd be lucky have a friend like him... y- you great big squib!"
Many of the group snickered in amusement as Bumper frowned "D-did you just reference Harry Potter?"
Ava raised her chin high "You got a problem with that?" She asked sternly, taking a threatening step forward.
Donald shared a grin with the rest of the Treblemakers as Bumper stepped back "Nope."
Ava gave the boys one last hard look before spinning on her heels "Muggles." She muttered shaking her head as she approached her two friends.
Jesse was grinning whilst Benji's mouth opened and closed like a fish "I love Angry Ava." Jesse chuckled.
Ava shrugged "Eh it's better than Awkward Ava."
Benji shook his head, breaking himself out of his temporary trance "You didn't have to do that Ava..."
Ava gave him a soft smile "It's what friends do Benji...You are my friend right?"
Benji smiled as he looked down at the redhead "Yeah, yeah I'm your friend."
Ava grinned as she looped each of her arms through one of theirs "Let's go look around boys."
Benji glanced over at his two new friends "Did I go too far?"
Jesse raised an eyebrow "You think?"
"Yeah." Ava answered honestly "But it's their loss."
Benji frowned "Should I have done another trick?"
Jesse and Ava shared a fond smile before Jesse answered "I think your trick was fine. I just think the talking was a little weird."
Ava nodded "Maybe you can try to facebook message him... Although I'm not sure why you would want to."
The three made their way through the quad, looking around at all the students stalls curiously. As they walked by a flyer was thrust out in front of Ava's face, causing the three to halt.
Ava turned to find two pretty girls, a blonde and a ginger looking at her with a smile "Hi, any interest in joining our acapella group?" The blonde questioned hopefully.
Ava's eyes widened "Oh, I don't know if I'd be any good."
Jesse smiled as he leaned around her to look at the two girls "Ava here is a fantastic singer."
The ginger grinned "I'm Chloe, this is Aubrey. There's four groups on campus. The Bellas. That's us. We're the tits." She smiled, gesturing between herself and the blonde. She pointed to a stall across the quad "The BU Harmonics. They sing a lot of Madonna." Ava turned to find a group of students all massaging each others shoulders "The high notes." she followed Chloe's finger to find a group lounging across the grass, completely out of it "They're not particularly motivated. And then there's..." She hesitated gesturing to the Treblemakers and Ava glared at them, even know they couldn't see her "So are you interested?"
Ava bit her lip "So do you guys compete against Bumper and the boys?"
Aubrey raised an eyebrow "Yeah... Is that a problem?"
"No in fact, that's perfect." Ava shook her head "I want to crush him into the dust."
Aubrey and Chloe shared a grin as Jesse smirked, shaking his head "You know we," he gestured to himself and Benji "will hopefully be Treblemakers."
"Your hope, not mine." Ava shrugged before smirking "I guess I'll just have to crush you guys too."
Jesse and Benji shared a smirk of their own "You're on!"
Chloe chuckled "We'll see you guys at auditions. Nice meeting you Ava." She smiled.
The trio waved as they walked away "Did you guys find anything before I found you?" Ava questioned looking between the two.
Jesse smiled "Yeah actually, the schools radio station is looking for interns. I think I'm going to check it out."
Ava grinned "Sounds perfect for you." Turning to Benji, she smiled "What about you Benji, find anything?"
Benji shook his "No, but all I predict all my time will be consumed with Treblemaker practices."
Ava gave him a smile before looking around. Letting out a gasp she ran ahead "They have Quidditch!"