The ride to Barden was long and irritating. The cabbie sat in the front with a headset on, constantly arguing with someone in a thick Middle Eastern accent. He smelled horrendous, as though he had not showered for days, and his driving was erratic and all-over the place, nearly hitting a number of pedestrians during the drive. Upon pick-up, he had not even offered to assist in picking up the luggage, to immersed into the phone call he was having with no distinguishable way of knowing what he was saying.
Beca sighed, knowing that this could have been easily avoided had she just contacted her father and let him know that she would be heading to campus that day, but she would have rather died than ask for help from the man forcing her to go to school against her will. Her dream was to still make it to LA and produce music, but her father had insisted upon getting a real education first, believing wholeheartedly that although she may have been talented, (even though he had never shown interest in her mixes nor given any actual support), she needed a fallback in the likelihood that she wouldn't make it. So Beca eventually agreed, mostly due to her mother's advice that she may as well get a free education if it was offered, and maybe make some memorable experiences along the way.
Beca's mother Christina was probably the greatest person in Beca's life, and had been there throughout many of the biggest changes in her life. When Beca had begun her initial push in the direction of music, it was Christina who bought her a laptop and software to make mixes on. She would listen to them and even helped come up with ideas whenever she could, and was her biggest fan, (only because she never shared them with anyone). When Beca finally realized that she was a lesbian, it was her mother who accepted her with open arms and a reassuring smile, and let her know that no matter who she was she would always be there for her. She was a shoulder to cry on during a breakup, and someone to laugh with on the best of days, and Beca would miss seeing her everyday in their quaint hometown in Connecticut.
Beca's father John on the other hand was not someone who she could rely on however, and their relationship was constantly rocky and full of issues. After walking out on her and her mother when Beca was 10, he moved to Barden to get away and found a new wife soon after. Although he did leave relatively quickly and without much reason outside of the regular fights her parents consistently had, he still attempted to keep in contact with her every once in a while, but Beca never truly felt a connection with him after the divorce. He was a more serious person than her mother, although Beca did have memories as a child of fun times filled with laughs and excitement. Nonetheless, he was probably the reason for her cynical attitude. She didn't feel as though she could let him in however, (she rarely let anyone in these days), and he wasn't even aware that she was gay, something she wasn't even too adamant about admitting to others for fear of rejection. Not to mention that she hated the step-monster he had married, who seemed to detest everything about his past life with her and her mother as though they were just a mistake and something to be ignored. Which leads us to why she had to continue to sit in the taxi with the unbearable driver on the way to a college she was sure that she would fail out of eventually because she didn't even care. So she turned her music up in her headphones and sat in silence, gazing out the window as the highway passed along them.
She woke up several hours later from the nap she had dozed off into, and realized that they had finally made it into Georgia. Thankfully, she had taken a multitude of trains southward until she got to South Carolina, so the trip was only a few hours which was fine with Beca, she hated long car rides. After grabbing her bags and paying the man, (who still hadn't taken off of his damn headset, jackass), she began to head towards campus, only to be stopped by an overly peppy blonde who was helping people move in.
"Hi, welcome to Barden! What dorm are you in?" she all but yelled at the brunette, who felt uncomfortable with the cheery attitude of the girl.
"Uhh, Baker," Beca replied although with little confidence behind it. She was never that great in social situations, no matter how small or meaningless, so her answer almost came out like a question. The blonde beamed anyways, probably used to confused college students asking for help.
"Alright, so you are gonna wanna go straight ahead and…" Beca began to ignore her, not really caring about any of this information outside of the direction she would take, and she could probably find it on her own anyways. As she began to aimlessly look around in an attempt to ignore whatever the blonde was saying, (something about student-activities that night to get everyone to come together), she caught sight of a boy riding backseat in a small sedan, singing Boston with an intense amount of enthusiasm. He immediately noticed her and began singing it too her, as though attempting to serenade her with his voice, before his parents floored it forward. At least he didn't have a horrible voice, she thought to herself. She shook her head and turned back to the blonde, who seemed to be about finished with her spiel.
"So this is your official Barden rape whistle, for emergencies," she finished as she placed the whistle in Beca's hands before looking for anyone else she could assist. Beca sighed as she placed it in her mouth and walked in the direction of her dorm, hoping that her roommate Kimmy Jin wouldn't be so bad.
Kimmy Jin was pretty bad. Scratch that, Kimmy Jin was a bitch. When Beca came into her room, she saw her at her desk, setting up some strange art on the wall. Beca tried to introduce herself, receiving a cold glare followed by a view of the back of Kimmy Jin's head. Beca sighed for the nth time that day, as she began to unpack her various items, starting with her DJ equipment, which would claim the entirety of her desk. Just as she finished plugging in all the hardware, she heard a knock at the door.
"Campus police, hide your wine coolers," came the call from the outside, followed by the door swinging open and her father walking in, a smile adorning his features. Beca looked up at him for a brief moment, before returning to setting up her equipment, hoping her father would just leave. Not getting the message, he turned to Beca's roommate and introduced himself. "Hello, I'm Beca's father Dr. Mitchell, I teach here in the English Lit department." Kimmy Jin didn't even look up or acknowledge him, as she continued to trim the leaves on the tiny tree on her desk.
After one last awkward smile, he turned back to Beca, who had taken a seat at her chair, and asked, "When did you get here? You could have asked me or Sheila to pick you up."
"I figured you two would be too busy so I came on my own. How is the step-monster anyways?"
"Oh she's doing well, we-"
"Dad, I don't actually care how she is doing, I just wanted an excuse to say 'step-monster'," Beca cut him off with a smile.
"Don't talk about your stepmother that way Beca, she's trying to get along with you, but you keep pushing her away."
"I think you have us mixed up," Beca mumbled, not loud enough for anyone but herself to hear. She really did hate the woman, who constantly treated Beca like crap anytime she had seen her, and would act as though she had no relation to her father, who she barely even talked to anyways. At this point, the tension in the room was like that of a standoff, waiting for someone to make the next move in whatever direction this pointless conversation was going. Thankfully, everyone's favorite person Kimmy Jin broke the awkwardness by proclaiming that she was leaving for the activities fair.
"Me too," Beca quickly added as she got up and moved towards the door. "I'm gonna also go to the activities fair with my good friend Kimmy Jin." And with that, she booked it out, blocking out any last words her father may have been trying to say. Of course, Kimmy Jin was not waiting for her even though she had loudly proclaimed she would go with her, so Beca slipped her headphones on and headed for the stairwell to the first floor exit.
As she made her way towards the stairs, Beca had a chance to really look over what her dorm looked like. The hallway was long, but currently extremely crowded with people, parents, and items to be placed in the newly vacated rooms. Several times she saw items that made her do a double take, including a giant stuffed bear with a small slit cut out in its crotch, (fucking gross), and a box labeled personal, although several dildos were peeking out of it, (do these people not have standards?!). As she continued her walk onwards, she took note of the bathroom's location for future reference and to remind herself that it would probably be best to shower at night to avoid any awkward confrontations she may have with some of the strange students in her hall. She caught a glimpse of the boy from earlier and sped up as to not have to deal with his advances that he was likely to make, and thankfully, she went unnoticed by him.
Several moments later she had finally descended the stairs to the exit of her dorm and made her way to the center of campus, heading for the activities fair. Hopefully she could find something to take her mind off of being here and maybe make a few acquaintances, (she wasn't gonna be here long enough to think about making actual friends, it was easier that way). Meandering through the endless booths, she noted one that looked interesting enough, so she walked her way towards the Barden DJs group in hopes of finding other music lovers. She was sadly let down when she found out that DJ meant deaf Jews, something of which she had no interest or ability to even join. Funnily enough, she met a blonde girl with a thick Australian accent at the booth who, although made some slightly offensive remarks, made Beca laugh and led her to believe that if she was going to stay in this hellhole, this girl would have been a good friend. Too bad.
Continuing on, Beca navigated through the crowds until she came to a booth for the school radio station, which was offering internships for the semester, and she immediately put her name down under the one other name on the sheet, Jesse Swanson. Hopefully it would be a cute girl, although Beca doubted her luck in that regard. No hot girl would even think about joining something as uninteresting as a radio station.
She was about to leave when out of the corner of her eye she spotted a flow of beautiful red hair. She turned around and almost couldn't prevent herself from drooling when she saw the most beautiful woman she had ever laid eyes on. Her hair fell almost effortlessly and curled down perfectly. Her shimmering blue eyes instantly drew Beca in and were the type of glow akin to the sunrise over the ocean, something that almost reminded Beca of home when she would travel to the beach in the early hours of the morning to watch the sunrise in the summer. Her lightly tanned complexion only helped to complement her features, and her curvaceous body was something to die for. Beca couldn't help herself as she walked in her direction, although she was mostly doing this to gain a better perspective of the girl close up because she was to shy to approach her and come off creepy, plus she figured a beauty like her would have no interest in a girl like herself.
As she drew nearer, the redhead noticed her and immediately pointed her out to the girl next to her, someone Beca hadn't even noticed standing there. She was also extremely attractive, with flowing blonde hair and a nicely toned physique. Her green eyes were striking in their own regard, like emeralds in the light. Her creamy skin only added to her beauty, and made her look that much more attractive, and Beca could barely contain herself from attacking these two on the spot, although she had never even made it past second base in her life. She mentally chastised herself for having these thoughts, and immediately put up her protective walls as an attempt to prevent herself from being hurt if they were just pointing her out in mockery. But the redhead called her over, so she gave herself a little pep talk and readied her sarcasm to prepare her for the worst.
"Hi, would you like to join our a cappella group," the redhead asked, in the cheeriest voice Beca had ever heard. It was almost like hearing a Disney princess, except rather than her voice causing animals to appear, it made the butterflies in Beca's stomach grow that much more restless.
"Oh right, that's a thing now," Beca responded, trying to not sound to uninterested, but singing in an a cappella group was definitely not on her list of things she wanted to do for her brief stay.
"Oh yeah totes. There's us, the Bellas, we're the tits. Then there's the BU Harmonics, they sing a lot of Madonna. The High Notes, who mostly just get high, and lastly the Trebles, we don't like them." Whoever she didn't like, Beca didn't like, but the usage of the words tits almost caused Beca to stare at the sets in front of her, but she held her composure so she wouldn't make a fool of herself. Speaking of getting high though, maybe she should approach that group and try to get her hands on some weed. It helped calm her nerves when she was stressed and even assisted a little when she designed her mixes. She picked up the habit in high school and figured it was better than doing hard drugs like some people she knew, and she wasn't that big on drinking anyways, so weed was a fine outlook. Her mother didn't seem to care either, as long as she kept her grades up, and even smoked a little with her from time to time.
"Wow, that's cool I guess," Beca replied sarcastically. She didn't want to get the hot girl's hopes up that she would join their little group.
"Excuse me," the blonde finally cut in, "synchronized lady dancing and singing to Mariah Carrey songs is cool you bitch." Her words came out pretty venomously, more out of frustration that someone was mocking her enjoyment, something Beca did understand. On top of that, her domineering tone was quite attractive, that she was so protective over something that she loved, just like Beca would be over her mixes and music.
"Sorry, what Aubrey meant to say is that we compete in national tournaments against other groups all over the country," the redhead stated, more or less to prevent her friend form spewing obscenities at Beca for criticizing a cappella anymore.
"On purpose?" Beca questioned.
Before the blonde could respond, the redhead replied, "yes, and we really want to win the championship this year. Won't you help make are dreams come true?" This was followed by a puppy dogface that could make even the vilest hearts melt, and Beca nearly cracked on the spot. She had to get out of there quick before she agreed to something.
"Sorry, I don't sing," was all she replied before she quickly ran off to get away from the two. It was a lie, and she knew it, but she had never sang in front of anyone besides her mother, who always wanted her to join the choir from her high school. She thought she had the most amazing voice, but Beca just never had the drive to do it. Hopefully she wouldn't run into these two again, but oh was she wrong.