Author's note – SO I haven't written in a long time so this could come out a bit rusty to start with, but I couldn't not write a Bechloe fic. Not really sure where I'm going with it yet but I'll go with the flow and we'll see what happens.

At any cost

Prologue

Beca spent most of her time isolated away from others during High School; it was a well-known fact that the young girl despised most people. It was easy to distance herself from them, she found, once she had stereotyped them all into neat groups and slapped labels on them. The Jocks, the Nerds, the Freaks etcetera, but it was those preppy cheerleaders she hated the most, though she didn't hate them for the predictable reasons. Sure she disliked them because they were pretty, shallow and basically lived up to their names as 'bikes' (you know, everyone has a ride), but her main reason for not liking them was the way they exuded happiness, the simple spelling of a word letter by letter was enough to incite such boundless glee, the whole show they put on was just ridiculous.

She had just begun her last year of High School, something she had been looking forward to since she was about 13, not the actual schooling but what would come at the end of it; freedom. Beca craved it. She felt as though she had been trapped in a mad house for most of her life and she was so close to getting out she could almost taste it, this was sure to be the longest 12 months of her life.

Chapter One

Laying in the shade on the oval behind her school, Beca had her eyes closed while one of her favourite mixes poured into her ears. She listened to the intricate layers of all 3 songs cross over delicately; she could feel the sharp grass pressing into her back and the cool breeze softly brushing her hair around her face. She was completely in a world of her own, until reality came rudely crashing back to her, in the form of a soccer ball to the face.

"OW!" Beca cried out in pain and sat up quickly.

Looking around for what had struck her in the face and seeing a ball sitting innocently 4 or 5 feet away from her. She looked up to see a girl jogging over to retrieve the ball, as the girl got closer she rearranged her face from shocked and pained to her usual permanent fixture of a scowl. She watched as the girl got closer, being the judgemental person she is she was unable to help herself as she eyed her up and down. The girl had flame red hair pulled back into a ponytail and wore possibly the skimpiest tank top and shorts Beca had ever seen and was wearing those long socks that hid shin-pads underneath and cleats. Beca couldn't help but admire the redhead's beauty; she was close now, close enough to see stunning blue eyes and perfectly pink lips. Moving lips. Talking lips. Beca momentarily wondered why she couldn't hear what this girl was saying before she remembered the music blaring in her ears; quickly removing them she looked up at the girl awkwardly and cleared her throat before attempting to speak.

"Uh… what?" she muttered.

"I said I'm so sorry, I tried calling out to you but you didn't hear" the girl replied with an apologetic smile, "are you okay?" she made to move closer but Beca held up a hand to halt her movements.

"I'm fine, just take your ball and go." She doesn't know why she added the extra harsh tone to her voice but she also doesn't know why it sends a pang through her chest when it results in a pained expression on the other girl's face.

The girl shuffled awkwardly, not really knowing how to reply, "I really am sorry. I'll just leave you to it then." she apologised again then moved away to collect her ball, before walking back to her team where Beca now noticed had begun a practice not far from where she was laying.

She watches the girl go, she watched as the other girl looks back over her shoulder 3 times before her team mates tell her to hurry up, she watches as she then jogs back over. She doesn't know why, but this girl has peaked her interest, Beca considers herself somewhat of a people watcher (it tends to happen when you don't spend a lot of time around them you end up watching them), normally she picks up the same vibes around this place, fake being the most common, but there was something about this girl that she couldn't put her finger on.

As she lay back down on the grass she sets her headphones back over her ears, deep in thought she is completely unaware of the redhead 100 metres away who can't seem to take her eyes off the brunette girl that she socked in the face with a ball.

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Beca sat at her usual spot in the library, a small alcove right at the back where the shelves blocked any view of her little sanctuary. She came here with the intent to study but like most days ended up working on her mixes on the laptop that rarely left her side.

She had just finished up a mix when she felt a curious sensation creep up her spine, she had the feeling she was being watched. Looking around she saw no one and shrugged it off but mere seconds later the feeling was back, she pulled her earphones down around her neck and paused her music. Scanning the shelves she caught sight of a pair of familiar blue eyes peeking through the gaps between the books, the eyes quickly disappeared as soon as they had been seen. Frowning, the brunette watched as the girl from earlier on the field appeared in her hideaway.

The girl shyly stepped forward, "I'm Chloe, by the way," running a hand awkwardly through her red hair, now out of its restraint and flowing freely around her shoulders "I saw you come in here earlier and I just wanted to apologise again and you know, make sure you didn't get brain damage or anything." The laugh was forced as she tried to make a move into conversation lightly,

Beca didn't fail to notice that the redhead had been watching her but decided to take it easy on the girl since she looked as though she felt pretty guilty, "None that wasn't already present before I took a ball to the face." She gave a half smile to let Chloe know she was only joking, "I'm Beca."

"I know," Chloe responded quickly, realising she is now beginning to sound like a stalker she added "We have History together." Feeling the conversation start to flow, Chloe took the few short steps and sat in the chair across from Beca.

The brunette was startled by the move, there aren't many people in this school who would risk being seen talking to her.

Still a little stunned by the boldness of Chloe's actions it took Beca a moment to respond, "Oh yeah, history. I don't really pay much attention to… anything." She looked around awkwardly, not knowing how to tell the girl in front of her she had never even seen her before today.

"Then you probably don't know about the assignment we have due in two days, why don't we do it as a team? We could meet up and go over it later today if you like?" Chloe looked at Beca with hope in her eyes, biting her lip slightly out of nerves.

Beca was a little taken aback by the forwardness of the other girl, okay maybe a lot taken aback but something stopped her from saying no like she usually did. She didn't know what it was about this girl and she didn't know why but she felt like she had to find out more about her, also she was finding it hard to say no because the way the other girl was looking at her with such hope and the way she was biting her lip made Beca feel things she would never admit to.

"You're right I had no idea we had an assignment, I don't even know what topic we're on right now," Beca closed her laptop and ripped a piece of paper of the notepad she was scribbling ideas for new mixes on and quickly wrote out her mobile number then handing it over to Chloe, "here, that's my number so you can text me later if you want to meet up or hang out or anything." With an awkward smile the brunette gathered her things and left the library, but not before glancing back to see a smiling redhead staring intently at a scrap of paper.

Chloe watched as Beca left the library, feeling as though her chest had inflated ten times its normal size, looking down at the sloppy handwriting she pulled out her own phone to enter the numbers before tucking the paper safely inside her pocket.

Phew, that was tougher than I thought it would be but I pushed through! Hopefully you guys like it please leave feedback so I know if it was shit or not!