Here we go... Next chapter!
Again, thanks to sugarlandaddict23 for cleaning this up for me. You're the bomb!
Disclaimer: I dont own Pitch Perfect or it's characters.
Beca woke up to Kimmy-Jin's obnoxious laughter as she spoke Korean on the phone, which she took as a clear indication that her day was going to utterly suck because as far as she knew, Kimmy-Jin was a robot that had no feelings at all. Checking her phone and finding out her first Bellas rehearsal would be right in between her last class and her evening shift at the coffee shop simply confirmed it.
She had gone through her classes with relative ease, until she lost track of time during lunch and thereby was late to her last class, which meant she got held back to discuss a project, which then caused her to be late to rehearsal. In all honestly, she was barely 3 minutes late, but it was enough for Aubrey to add a tally mark besides her name, because why not?
"You're late."
"I won't even bother telling you why," she shrugged, holding back the smirk she knew would form on her face after Aubrey huffed angrily. She felt her phone buzz in her pocket and quickly took a peek at the photo Bailey had sent. Ryland was in a bouncer, wearing a black onesie and her hair in a Mohawk. The caption read "Good Luck Mama!" and she didn't bother hiding the smile before quickly typing an answer and tossing the device in her bag. She looked up to find Aubrey glaring at her and could only imagine who she thought was texting her. Beca rolled her eyes.
"Alright Bellas, listen up!"
Beca got the vibe that Aubrey was a dictator from Hood Night but it was simply confirmed today. A dictator, with a tendency to projectile vomit when stressed, none the less. After having dismissed two girls from the group in less than twenty-four hours (and glaring pointedly at Beca most of the practice, hoping she would give her an excuse to kick her out) she announced they would be doing a show at a frat party, before making them run, harmonize and walk in heels for two solid hours until she finally dismissed the group. Not that Beca minded much, since Chloe had been quite focused on teaching her the choreography and she could admit to herself that receiving Chloe's sole attention was not terribly bad.
"Beca, a word."
Of course, why she thought the blonde would leave her off the hook today was beyond her.
"You'll have to take those ear monstrosities out for the show."
"You don't really like me do you?" Stupid question Beca, she clearly doesn't.
"I don't like your attitude."
"You don't even know me."
"I know you have a toner, for Jesse!"
"A what?"
"A toner, a musical boner. I saw you leave Hood Night together," Hook, line and sinker! Aubrey was completely sure she was seeing Jesse and boy wasn't she going to have fun with this.
"Okay, that's not a thing and you're not the boss of me so…"
"You took an oath!"
"That oath cost you two girls today! You need me more than I need you!"
Beca spun on her heels, because she was going to be extremely late to the coffee shop if she didn't sprint for her dorm to change in the next three minutes.
"I can see your toner through those jeans!"
"Yep, that's my dick!" She called over her shoulder as she grabbed her bag and headed towards the exit.
She could still hear Aubrey whispering to Chloe, and honestly? She doesn't even know how the redhead stands her.
She quickly made it to her dorm, changed and then ran out to her car, breathing a sigh of relief when she made it on time for her shift. Mrs. Poole was a nice woman and since most of her staff was full of Barden students, she knew they would sometimes be late, but that didn't mean Beca would risk getting fired. Mrs. Poole had already been nice enough to reduce her shifts while paying her the same amount of money after finding out about Ryland. She wouldn't push it.
Beca: Aubrey thinks we're dating or something. You better sleep with one of Benji's swords next to you.
Jesse: Beca! It's not funny! She's scary!
Beca: Scary? Try watching her attempt to control Fat Amy. Now that's scary.
Jesse: Going to the shop?
Beca: Already here… Planning to annoy me?
Jesse: Don't I always?
She rolled her eyes while pocketing her phone. Jesse was an idiot for sure.
/
The next Bellas rehearsal was as painfully boring as the last one. Aubrey had started out fine, seeing as they had all been on time, but soon went back in dictator mode when she started suggesting ideas to spice up the set list, going as far as snapping at Chloe for missing a note she could see the redhead was struggling with. So by the time they were dismissed, she was reconsidering ever joining the group at all.
"Listen up, we're far from ready for SBT's party, so we're doubling up! I want you here Saturday and Sunday, nine a.m. sharp!"
She should simply resign herself to the fact that the universe wanted to keep her away from Ryland, and that Aubrey would likely kill her in her sleep, but weekend rehearsals were something she was not going to do.
"Sorry Aubrey, but I can't do rehearsals over the weekends."
"I have your schedules, every single one of you is free, and you are coming."
She let out a breath, preparing herself for the upcoming wrath, "I'm not. There's a reason I don't even have shifts at the station on weekends, I can't be here on those days."
"It's okay Beca; I'll catch you up on Monday before class," Chloe offered, wincing when Aubrey spun to face her.
"No Chloe, it's not! She keeps sabotaging rehearsals and now refuses to attend them?"
"Okay, I signed up to do this because Red over there is very convincing and because my father basically forced me to join a group on campus. It might be a foreign concept to you Aubrey, but everyone here has a life that definitely doesn't revolve around you or the Bellas! And I'm sure as hell not disrupting my life for it, so either you agree to let Chloe catch me up on Monday or I'm gone and you find yourself someone new. Simple as that."
Beca turned around and grabbed her bag before storming out of the rehearsal room, knowing Aubrey wouldn´t really kick her out, since no one wanted to join the Bellas and her pride wouldn't let her call either of the dismissed girls. Sadly, as she left the rehearsal, she somehow managed to run into her dad because, why the hell not?
"Beca, hey! I went to your dorm last week but you weren't there," He asked, trying to give her a hug but she shrugged him off.
"I went back home to see Ryland."
He frowned for a moment "Right. I forgot… Did you join any club yet?"
"The Bellas. I just left rehearsals, now if you'd excuse me, there's a paper I need to catch up on before my shift at the station," she turned around to leave, but her dad called after her.
"Freddie wants to see you. You should stop by one weekend," she tried to keep the smile at bay at the mention of her youngest sibling. He was sweet, despite his parents.
"I'll see if I can make time during the week."
"Sheila kinda has his week planned for him. She doesn't like disrupting it."
Beca rolled her eyes, because of course Sheila wasn't letting the poor kid live his own life. Pathetic.
"That's too bad then. I've got to get going, I'll see you later."
She moved past him and quickly made it to her dorm, changing and managing to finish her paper before heading for the radio station, where Jesse was already waiting for her with a cup of coffee and donuts.
"You are the best," she spat out before chugging down half of the coffee.
"Uh oh, you're moody. What happened?"
"I tried to suggest new songs to Aubrey and she flipped," she shrugged and Jesse snorted.
"And you are surprised because…?"
"I wasn't done. Then she decided there would be Bellas rehearsals over the weekend. Needless to say, she didn't took it well when I said I wasn't doing them."
"And you're still a Bella?" Jesse asked, fake disbelief painted on his face.
"Hey! She needs my voice; she kicked two girls out after Hood Night. And Chloe said she'd catch me up on Monday."
"And I'm sure you're terribly sad about that," he laughed when she glared at him "Hey, I just call it like I see it."
"I hate you."
"I know; thanks for reminding me," he shrugged. "Listen, there's a party at the Treble house on Thursday and they're looking for a DJ, wanna do it? They are paying some good money."
"You losers have money to spare?" she asked, taking a smaller gulp of coffee this time, "I have a shift at the coffee shop in the morning and then I'll be here after the Bellas rehearsals."
"Party starts at like, ten. Annnnnd…. Wait for it… Luke won't be at the station on Thursday! Boomer is taking over and I talked him into letting us out early. Benji already said he'd come help us stack everything as fast as we can. C'mon Beca!"
She pondered the idea for a moment before finally agreeing. "Fine. But if I get kicked out of the Bellas for fraternizing, you better doubled up on the shifts you take for me here."
"Deal!"
/
When Thursday came around, Beca found herself doing absolutely nothing. She had finished her shift at the coffee shop, gone to class and then Bellas rehearsal (that was thankfully run by Chloe because Aubrey had some sort of family issue that required her to be out of town for the rest of the week) and when she got to the radio station, Boomer kindly informed her that Jesse and Benji had showed up two hours earlier than they should've and had stacked everything, so they were free for the night, and having already done her Treble-party mash ups, she had nothing left to do.
She had Skyped Bailey, and even managed to have a one-sided convo with Ryland before she dozed off, and now she was staring at the gaming console on Kimmy-Jin's side of the room wondering if it was worth having her hands cut off for touching it. She was bored.
Beca decided to take a nap instead, because heaven knew she was exhausted, and got up just in time to have some dinner and get ready for the party. She put on a dark grey blouse with lace patterns in it, a black plaid skirt, with knee high black socks and her trusty combat boots. Her hair was pushed back in some sort of a faux-hawk, slightly tousled and her makeup was dark and smoky. She looked good, and she was considering using the same look for the Bellas show next week, if only to spite Aubrey for a few minutes.
She put on a leather jacket and grabbed her DJ'ing bag before walking out of her dorm. The Treble house wasn't that far off campus, but it was far enough that she wouldn't even try to get there, with her fancy mixing equipment, by just walking.
"Beca? What… Where the hell do you think you're going dressed like that?" Seriously? Her dad again? The Universe hates her, she's sure of that.
"Hi dad, how are you?" she replied sarcastically as she unlocked her car and placed her bag in the back seat "I'm off to a college party. I'm socializing, like you wanted me to."
"How do you have time for this but not your brother? Or me?"
"You had no time for me when you left us and moved three thousand miles away from Seattle," she spat, getting annoyed. He had the decency to look ashamed for a moment, "And you said so yourself, Sheila will not appreciate me turning up at your place during the week. Besides, it's a gig, and Jesse will be there as my watch dog so don't worry, you won't be getting another grandchild anytime soon."
"Beca…"
"Goodnight dad!" she stated as she got in the car, shut the door and drove away before he could say anything else.
By the time she arrived at the Treble house, it was packed and she wanted to roll her eyes at the awful music coming out of it, although maybe it was just Bumper singing loudly into a microphone that made her cringe.
"Becaw! You made it! Bumper is making our eardrums bleed," Jesse stated, opening her door and helping her out before grabbing her bag from the back seat, a routine they perfected over the last four years. Jesse was sort of her bodyguard/tech guy whenever she had a gig.
"Let's remix this business."
He led her to the makeshift DJ booth, and she smiled when she realized Jesse had set up almost all the equipment to Beca's standards; and all she had to do was add the few gadgets she brought along with her laptop. She hoped that doing a good job at the party would land her a few more gigs at DJ'ing off-campus. Exposure was always a good thing, especially in Atlanta with so many producers and artists hanging around.
She started her set, and ordered Jesse to hide any microphone Bumper could get his hands on while she worked. She would be on from eleven p.m. to one a.m. and then Donald was supposed to take over. It would give her plenty of time to sleep and then prepare to have her family over for the weekend.
She was almost thirty minutes into her set when arms wrapped around her from behind, and she almost elbowed the person until she caught a whiff of coconut and vanilla mixed with spiked punch. Chloe, of course. Chloe and her lack of boundaries.
"I didn't know you could mix! This is so cool! And you are soo good!" the redhead slurred in her ear, and Beca turned to see her glazed eyes and bright smile right on her face.
"Thanks! Um… Why are you here? Aubrey will have a fit if she sees you."
"Aubrey is not here. So we all decided to have fun!" Chloe waved her hands and Beca turned to see the rest of the Bellas hanging out in a corner, clearly a bit past the tipsy mark. "Plus, the oath said we couldn't get treble-boned, nothing about coming to their parties."
"Right, so…" she turned around to queue a few more songs before dragging Chloe towards the rest of the girls. Chloe had basically grinded against her the entire way to the girls, and she knew her cheeks were red as she spoke to some of them for a moment before she had to go back to the booth, ignoring the strange feeling in her stomach when she remembered the way Chloe wrapped herself around her.
Once her turn was up, she let Jesse pack up her stuff as she made her way back to the Bellas, rolling her eyes as Amy and Lilly downed three shots in a row.
"Hey, I'm leaving! Make good choices!" She frowned when she saw how drunk Chloe and Stacie were, it was almost comical, but she knew they would regret it in the morning. Good thing they didn't have Bellas rehearsal that day.
"Hey Jesse? Could you see that the Bellas make it to the dorms safely?" she asked as she sat in her car, Jesse closing the door for her.
"Will do, Becs! See ya later," he gave her a small wad of cash, before saluting and turning towards the party.
Maybe, Barden wouldn't be so bad.
AN: So... a bit of progress with Beca and Chloe... We'll get there i promise... Who saw the Riff Off clip from PP3? I loved it and Beca being extra smooth cutting in Aubrey... i see you Becs!
Anyways, here an update, let me know what you thought! -OHP
