Author's Note: I do not own Pitch Perfect or its characters.

The song for this chapter is Suga Suga by Baby Bash, I played it on repeat. It just reminds me of Beca for some reason! I have to give a big sorry to my reader—this update has been much later than I planned! I'm writing it at 1:30 at night, so there isn't much editing involved… in other words, don't treat me to harshly if there are some mistakes!

"You got me lifted shifted higher than a ceiling

And ooh wee it's the ultimate feeling

You got me lifted feeling so gifted

Sugar how you get so fly?"

&.&

Beca was sprawled underneath the shade of a tree on the lawn of Barden University. A twig was digging into her back was the only thing stopping her from drifting to sleep. Her headphones drowned out all the noise of the students, and she relaxed to the sounds of Suga Suga by Baby Bash. The song reminded her of her childhood, because she's listened to it all the time in middle school… before her parents had split up. She found herself humming along just because she liked the song, not because the Treblemakers had chosen to sing it for Regionals and Jesse had sang it to her in the shower that morning. Even though she had a rule of no singing when they were both in the shower (one traumatic shower duet was enough for one lifetime) she'd made an exception because Jesse had been so excited when he told her about the group's song choice.

She was still debating what the Bellas would be singing for their performance. Now that Beca was co-leader along with Amy, she now understood why the stress had made Aubrey a crazy aca-terror. Besides song choices, which consumed most of Beca's focus anyway, she had to think about choreography and additional performances around campus, as well as writing up rehearsal plans… it gave her a headache just thinking about it.

Her nose wrinkled as she smelled something other than the fresh air. She opened one eye and looked up into the face of her adorkable boyfriend. He grinned and held out a white paper takeout bag.

Beca sat up and snorted.

"And you're interrupting my peaceful afternoon, why?"

"Because I missed your shining personality and sparkling attitude." Jesse shot back, plopping down beside her on the grass. She took the proffered bag and opened it. He'd gone to their favorite hot-dog stand, even though it was nearly twenty minutes away. There were two hotdogs inside, one smothered in mustard the way Beca liked it, and a dish piled high with chili fries.

The smell assailed her nose, hitting her like a freight train, and suddenly her stomach flipped over. She thrust the entire bag away from her, taking a breath of fresh air.

Jesse looked at her worriedly. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, sorry, I just don't think I feel like chili fried today."

His eyebrows drew together. "But you love chili fries!"

"Well, I guess they just don't love me today," She grimaced, "Please, just take them away. Feed them to Bumper or something, maybe it'll shut him up for a while. He'd probably make a better trash disposal than human being."

Jesse smiled. "That's probably true. You're sure you don't want any of this?"

"No. I will take my hotdog though."

Beca made easy work of hers (she flipped Jesse the bird when he wagged his eyebrows at her suggestively) and she started flipping through her ipod again. Jesse watched her grow more and more frustrated.

"So have you decided on a song for Regionals?"

She groaned. "God, don't even remind me! I have to pick out some potentials by the end of the week, but my mind's just blank! I always have creative ideas, that's supposed to be my thing!"

"You don't have to do everything yourself, Beca. You're only human, let someone else shoulder some of the responsibility too. I know you're the leader now, but that doesn't mean that you're their lord and master. Why don't you have some of the girls think up some?"

"You know what, Jesse? I really love you sometimes." She said, planting a chaste kiss on his lips. She hadn't even noticed, but she'd started acting just like Aubrey—a power mongering dictator. She'd been afraid of letting the Bellas down, or not getting them to Nationals, or just not being a good leader, but she'd forgotten that they were a group. They made decisions together, made mistakes together, and in the end, they won together.

"I guess "sometimes" is better than not at all." Jesse joked, putting an arm around her and kissing her temple.

"You'd better believe it. Don't get too greedy, Swanson, you're lucky to have uncovered my sweet personality underneath my ear spike. Most guys haven't gotten that far. I think I send them running."

"It was easier than you think."

"Why—because I wasn't wearing glasses when you met me?"

"It's because you're an easy girl for me to love, Beca."

&.&

"Alright, nerds, let's see what you've got!" Beca called out to the rest of the girls.

The lineup hadn't changed much since Beca had come to Barden, but they had added a few freshmen to the mix, new blood that would take over when the majority of the Bellas graduated.

Demi Martinez was a petite girl with thick-rimmed glasses and a beanie over her dark hair. She didn't say much, but she had a voice with tone like honey.

Melissa was their best beat-maker, and Stacie had taken her under her wing when the younger girl had announced that her dream was to be a Bachelorette at her audition. The two were a deadly combination when it came to men, because Melissa was just as voracious as Stacie was.

Marley and Megan were twins whose only clothes seemed to come from Hollister, and they were perfect California Clones with beach ready waves and slammin' bodies, even if their high pitch voices made Beca want to kill herself. She put up with them only because they could harmonize perfectly.

Their final addition, and their secret weapon, was an average-looking girl with straight black hair and freckles named Alex. Alex had screamed endlessly as a baby and damaged her vocal chords. When the doctors had operated when she'd gotten older, they'd left her with a slightly huskier voice that could hit notes almost as low as Chloe when she sang. She was the Bellas' savior, because it was thanks to their range, despite being all female, that lead to the victory at the Finals last year.

Melissa raised her hand first and blurted out, "Wannabe by the Spice Girls."

There was silence, and Beca felt that she needed to encourage willingness to speak up, and she said, "Okay, that's a good start. It's a classic. We can work with that."

"How 'bout Beyoncé?" Megan suggested.

Marley agreed with her twin. "Yeah, she's pretty much the hottest female artist ever."

"I'm going to suggest some Nicki Minaj mashing, because you know I can really get funky with that." Fat Amy said.

"Excuse me, but when did the but when did we revert to the boring Bellas? Singing songs that were made famous by women was Aubrey's M.O. I thought we moved past this." Cynthia Rose interrupted.

Beca spoke up, "Cynthia's right- we need to think outside of the box a bit. We'll never beat the Trebles if we can't get creative."

They volleyed ideas back and forth, hitting every artist from The Lumineers to Justin Bieber. They weren't really getting anywhere, however.

Demi, who had been quiet until now, bit her lip and said, "I've been thinking about what Melissa said in the beginning, and I think I have an idea…"

She trailed off, but Beca nodded towards her encouragingly.

"Wannabe may be an old song, but we're known for our layering, right? So why can't we make it new and interesting? It's got sass, and that's exactly what we need."

There were murmurs of agreement. Beca suppressed a smile. She'd admitted to Jesse ages ago that Demi had always been her favorite—she was a sort of lone spirit that reminded Beca of herself.

"Okay, along that line of thinking..." Beca racked her brain for songs that could match up with Wannabe, "How about That's Not My Name by The Ting Tings? It's upbeat, it's catchy…"

"Yeah, I like that one. It had a really good message too, you know." Fat Amy said. Everyone just looked at her, but said nothing.

Stacie began, "I can't even count the number of times that a boy's called me the wrong name in bed—"

Beca interrupted her, "Okay, let's not follow Stacie's example on this subject... Back on topic, has anybody heard of Shiny Toy Guns?..."

&.&

There's a little introduction to some new members of the gang, I hope you like them! Love it? Hate it? Review it.