Now, you wouldn't usually find Beca Mitchell riding through the suburbs at 12:40am on an old bike that she'd had since she was 12, but she has a very good excuse. Usually by now she would be in bed, probably asleep, or listening to music, maybe on tumblr. Most nights actually she usually does both until she falls asleep, but there is only one exception to this routine of hers, and that would be Chloe Beale.

That's Beca's friend. Well, best friend. Actually, she's probably the best person Beca had come to know in this world. Have you ever seen an excited puppy jumping all over a grumpy cat who pretends to hate it because if it gave any other reaction it would send the puppy into overdrive? That's their friendship. Beca's the cat.

They'd met in the first year of high school, the teacher had paired them in one of those first day bonding activities. They made craft things and played games to get to know each other, and Chloe for some weird reason, Beca thought, found her entertaining. She insisted on spending the whole day with Beca after that, Chloe shared her lunch with her when she saw how boring Beca's sandwich was, and she insisted at the end of the day that Beca had come over to her house. Beca was never really one to make friends, let alone that quickly, but Chloe was so set on showing her the house that afternoon that the short brunette couldn't say no. Beca didn't really mind, she thought it was nice to have someone that persistent in her life.

So they'd walked to her house, her excitedly leading the way, occasionally skipping ahead, until they took a detour, because Chloe's eyes had lit up and it was clear she had something planned.

'How much change do you have?' She'd asked Beca suddenly, so she pulled all of the coins out of her pockets.

Turns out combined, they both had enough for a large raspberry flavoured slushy that they shared, passing back and forth while sat on some swings near her house. Chloe told Beca about how nervous she'd been for her first day of high school, and that she shouldn't have been because it was 'so much fun!' And though Beca didn't admit it, she had fun too, it was fun becoming Chloe Beale's friend that day, even at her house when she was blasting some pop song in her room, trying to get me to dance with her. Actually, that's pretty much all she does now as well. The pop songs might've changed but she hadn't.

Now they were in their final year of high school, and the two of them were inseparable, which was why Beca happened to be on her old bike in the middle of the night. You see, Chloe had texted her about 5 minutes ago. All the message said was:

Emergency! Come over, NOW.

So of course, Beca was on the way. She's the only person Beca would get out of bed for at this hour, especially knowing it was an emergency. Her mind was spinning with possible meanings of emergency, because Beca thought; if it was an actual like, physical emergency, surely the redhead would know to call 911 first and not just text her? It was probably something to do with her parents, who were always fighting with each other, or getting mad at Chloe. Beca is quite protective of Chloe when they get like that, because she doesn't really stand up for herself against them, which Beca hates to see. She thought Chloe deserved better than the way they treated her sometimes. In fairness, they did want the best for Chloe, but a lot of the time that meant their idea of what was best, and not what Chloe wanted at all. Sometimes, it all seemed like fake concern for her, as though she was just a chess piece in their constant battles that would surely lead to divorce one day. But Chloe looked past this, because she still loved her parents, and they still tried to help, sometimes.

Luckily Chloe only lived a few streets away, so Beca was leaving her bike on the neighbours lawn in no time. She did this because she knew the neighbours wouldn't notice nor care, and if she put it on Chloe's front lawn the motion sensor light would have turned on instantly. Beca was assuming this was a kind of emergency that required her to go unnoticed by the parents. She had a routine for this too.

All she had to do was climb over the fence down the side of the house a little, far enough that the sensor wouldn't pick her up, then go to the backyard, where the tree was. They built this half-assed tree house when they were 14, specifically for this sneaking in purpose. Beca calls it half-assed because it only featured a questionable ladder and a poor excuse for a landing. But it was enough for her to be able to sit comfortably and knock on Chloe's window without falling out, and what else does a tree house need to do for you really?

Her shadow was at the curtains immediately, and she pulled them back, face beaming as she slid the window up. Beca awkwardly climbed in, all those times she'd done this, you'd think it'd be effortless for her now but she still comes close to falling every time.

'I see no emergencies…' Beca said as she closed the window.

'Oh, right, I just said that cause I knew if I told you what it actually was you probably wouldn't come over.'

'Chloeee!' She whined because she knew she wouldn't like what ever was coming next.

'I'm sorry! It's still an emergency, I have an English presentation due tomorrow-'

'Ugh.'

'-and I need you to help me do it.'

'Ugghhh.'

'I'm sorry.' She totally wasn't though, because it was quite obvious she was trying not to laugh.

'You had all afternoon to do it though!' Beca jumped onto her bed and kicked her shoes off, and Chloe sat down next to her.

'Actually, I was shopping all afternoon with my mum, so I didn't have time. But… guess what?'

'What?'

'We found a decent car, it's kinda old but it's owned by this grandma who barely used it… anyways, I get it tomorrow!' Chloe could barely contain her excitement. She'd had her licence for a while but she'd struggled to save up for one, or rather convince her parents to let her by a cheap one that wasn't classy enough for them.

'Dude that's great! You have to come pick me up as soon as you get it, okay?'

'Obvs, where else would I go? Okay but seriously, this presentation.'

'Right, what's it on?'

'To Kill A Mockingbird.'

'Oh, I haven't read that.'

'Neither.'

'Chloe!' Chloe just giggled at Beca.

'Idiot.' Beca replied.

So they watched the movie instead. Beca was pretty bored but she put up with it, cause Chloe really needed to get this done. She was constantly taking notes and pausing and rewinding it. Normally when they watched movies she'd get bored and annoy Chloe, but she always managed to ignore her til the end, if it was a movie she liked anyways, sometimes Beca won if Chloe was bored too, or just couldn't be bothered ignoring Beca. Only on rare occasions.

Afterwards they worked on her powerpoint and tried to organise her notes. They bullshitted a lot of it, just googling peoples interpretations and trying to word it in their own way. After an hour or so they came up with something kind of decent, and Chloe practised by presenting to Beca, telling her about all the symbols and metaphors she'd noticed and stuff. She was pretty good, Beca thought, if it wasn't for witnessing her frantic sparknotes researches she would almost believed she hadn't just googled that.

'Not bad.' Beca said when Chloe finished.

'You think that will do?' She looked very stressed as she sat down next to Beca on the bed.

'Dude, definitely. You sound like you actually read the book, and that you genuinely pondered on the meaning of the title for days, not just a few minutes. I feel like I've read the book now. I feel like I can see life in a new way n-' Chloe threw a pillow in Beca's face.

'Alright, shut up I get it, I'll get a solid C. You wanna sleep over?'

Beca considered her options for a moment. Either she climb (and half fall) back down the tree, attempt to sneak back into her home at the very high chance of being caught by her mother or father. Or she could text them and say she was sleeping at Chloe's, at the risk of waking them up and making them mad and which would probably lead to them making Beca come home anyways, or she could just sleep here and deal with the consequences later. Sleeping in Chloe's bed seemed like the best option by far to Beca, because it meant not having to worry about those other things for a while.

'Yeah, sounds good.'

Chloe smiled triumphantly, closing her laptop. They cleared everything off the bed and climbed under the covers of her queen sized bed, because the night was progressively getting cooler, even though autumn was coming to an end now.

Chloe fell asleep with her head on shorter girls shoulder, which made Beca so comfortable that she began to question whether it was weird to enjoy sleeping in the same bed as your friend as much as she did. But that's what friends are for, right? She'd never had many friends but she was sure that's what all close friendships were like. Either way, that's what a close friendship with Chloe was like, and she was totally okay with that.

Beca fell asleep with the thought that her world would be nowhere near as bright without Chloe Beale in it.