A/N: Thanks once again to reviewers and followers and favouriters, you make my day guys.
She hadn't seen Tom again before school started, the boy having wandered off to meet up with the football team. She wasn't hurt, or so she kept telling herself, she was more confused. She didn't know if he was being purposely dismissive or just ignorant of his own inattentiveness. To be honest, neither option made her feel better, but at least one of them she could get over. For now she would just shake it off as boys being boys and maybe talk to him about it when they next see each other at lunch. For now she had school to focus on.
Biology, her worst subject. And it's first period. Damn.
She had never failed biology, in fact she usually gets A's and B's, it just doesn't come as easily to her as her other subjects do. Biology had always taken a lot of effort, but she thought she should be doing at least one of the sciences and Biology was way less maths than Chemistry or Physics. It was made worse by the fact that neither Aubrey nor Stacie are taking the class with her. Aubrey had dropped the sciences in order to steer her classes towards a law degree. Early preparation is key, Chlo, Aubrey's strict voice resounding in her head. She couldn't help but smirk because that line was just so typically Bree. Stacie on the other hand, being the genius she is, is taking almost all AP classes for senior year, including Biology.
So she was by herself.
Except not quite, because when that thought filtered through her head, the seat next to her was pulled out and a body plopped itself down. Well of course it had to be her, miss short, brunette and beautiful. Looking around, she could see that the other girl didn't have much of a choice. The final bell had just rang and the entire class was full up, leaving the spot beside her as the only available one.
She hadn't noticed last time, but as the stranger pulled her stuff out of her black, well-loved messenger bag, Chloe could see that she had the nicest, stormy blue eyes she had ever encountered. They were amazing, a perfect swirl of blue and grey that seemed so unique to her. While hers were a reflection of the brightest summer sky, this girl's was an echo of the deepest ocean. They were dark and mysterious, like even her genes had decided that this girl was supposed to look rebellious as fuck since birth.
"You stare a lot, you know."
The girl had finally spoken and she sounded nothing like Chloe had expected. While Chloe had expected nothing but derision, or anger, or maybe even condescension, her voice held nothing of the sort. If anything she would say the girl sounded amused, which Chloe found strange. Then again, this girl had just called her out for staring at her without actually looking up from the desk so she guessed that strange was going to be the tune of the day.
"I'm sorry." Chloe was actually really proud of that, even though she wasn't sure why she was apologising. She was more just thankful that she had managed to form words properly this time, and reply within a reasonable amount of time. "It's just that, you're really good looking."
Really good looking.
Really good looking?
Okay, she was no longer proud of herself. In fact she would rather have been left floundering again with her mouth open than to have spewed out that group of words. 'You're really good looking', when has she ever even said that sequence of words before? Dammit, what was up with this girl?
"Really good looking?" The hint of amusement had returned full-force, coupled with a slight laugh. One eyebrow had once again risen, the effortlessness of the action leading Chloe to believe it was a familiar gesture for the girl. It was almost as if she didn't even know she was doing it anymore.
"Y… Yeah." Chloe stuttered out in return, brain still being on holiday. "Yeah, you know, just like, ridiculously good… looking." She trailed off at the end because oh my god, she was going to go jump off of something.
The girl actually laughed out loud at that one. "Wow, thanks Zoolander, you're not too bad yourself. I put a lot of effort into my appearance, clearly. Well, that's when I'm not teaching at my centre for kids who can't read good, and want to do other stuff good too."
She was joking, the girl was joking with her. The dark girl with scary ear spikes and plaid was making a joke. About what was probably the goofiest comedy she could think of. This was not right at all.
Goth girls don't make jokes.
Popular, friendly, personable Chloe Beale does not struggle with talking to a person. Any person. No matter how hot they were.
Wait, what?
She's still looking at her, and she needed to talk back lest she convince this girl that Barden High was full of weirdos. "I'm Chloe Beale."
"Beca Mitchell." She replied with a little wave before the teacher finally shushed the class to begin the lesson.
They didn't talk through the class though it was barely even more than an introduction to the course. Chloe had spent most of it psyching herself up to talk to Beca again, maybe find out her schedule and see if they had anymore classes together. It seemed to her that the bell had just rung when the brunette essentially bolted from the class, giving her no time to give her practiced speech.
It was really good too.
At least in comparison to the dribble she had been displaying to the girl since they met. As she walked to English she asked herself why she even cared what the girl thought of her. Maybe because it was the first person to make her make a complete fool out of herself, man, woman or otherwise. She had never, ever had to put this much effort into just talking to someone. The girl, Beca, made her nervous. She had no idea why but she made Chloe nervous, unsure of herself. She had always thought that her popularity was a side effect of her people skills. She was nice to people but it's not like she wanted everyone to like her. To praise her. That just came along with who she was.
But there was just this overwhelming sense of want with Beca. She wanted her to like her, she wanted her to pay attention to her. She hadn't felt this way before, not with Aubrey, not with Stacie, Mark, Nathan, and certainly not Tom. She had never wanted to get to know someone more, to just know what they were thinking. It was hard for Chloe, because all of this usually came so easy.
Beca was an enigma.
At least she had a name now, no longer having to refer to her as that mysterious chick with the ear spikes. Oh, Aubrey was just going to love her. From her scuffed up Chucks to her black nail polish, she was everything Aubrey feared. Despite Aubrey being her best friend, she was interested to see how they would get along. Well, clearly they wouldn't, but she felt like Beca's sarcastic teasing and smirking would probably push every single one of the blonde's buttons. And she felt that Aubrey's strict lifestyle and generally abrasive nature would give Beca so much bait. It would be a fascinating study really.
If she could have a proper conversation with her first for Christ's sake.
Which would not be happening in her next class so it seemed. The girl from her thoughts was sitting at one of the desks, but she was already surrounded by two brunettes. She knew they were good guys, both of them were a part of the school's AV club and had managed three solid years of keeping their noses clean. Not popular, but people knew who they were. Benji was a little dweebier than Jesse, but they were both kind of goofy and quite friendly. She had actually always considered Jesse to be the nerdier, male version of herself.
She didn't have long to look as she found a seat away from the gang of brunettes and focussed her attention to the front of the class.
Just like in Biology, Beca had left within seconds, Chloe having no chance to talk to her. She would be lying if she said she wasn't disappointed. Her disappointment grew when she saw that Beca wasn't in her next two classes. Still, that meant it was lunch time and she could be easily distracted by Tom and her best friends.
They were all sitting at their usual table when she strolled in, her own lunch set out between Tom and Aubrey. Stacie was sitting next to the blonde and they were idly chatting away while Tom was laughing with the football guys sitting with them. Donald and Unicycle she really didn't mind, but she really could do without Bumper. From the moment she met him she knew she was not going to like him. He started by introducing himself as Bumper and saying that it was 'nice to make the acquaintance of the fabulous fresh meat booty on campus'. Turns out that was him being tame.
"Chloe!" Tom was the first one to see her. After this morning, she was pleasantly surprised when he stood up to give her a quick hug before pulling her seat out for her. This was the Tom she knew, and it proved to her that his earlier behaviour was nothing more than the excitement of the first school day. "We saved you a seat. How were your classes?"
"They were good," Chloe replied, taking a bite out of her apple. "Except I have Mr. Morgan so it's going to be a struggle to stay awake in History now."
He laughed at her pain before telling her about his day, leaving her to just eat and listen. She could feel Aubrey's and Stacie's eyes boring into the side of her head, so when Tom had finished and turned back to the guys, she turned her attention to her own best friends.
"So?" Chloe questioned, reading the looks on her friends' faces and knowing they were busting to get her opinion on something. "Are you going to tell me or am I going to have to guess?"
"Well, there's this new girl." Stacie spoke up first, much to Aubrey's annoyance. "And I think she's hot, like, my first girl of the year hot. Aubrey, on the other hand, with her usually sunny disposition said that the girl was nothing but a hobbit with too much eyeliner and ear monstrosities and that I could do better. What do you think?"
Chloe was frozen. She had no idea why but the thought of her friends already knowing or meeting Beca had never crossed her mind. Which was stupid really, because a transfer student was bound to attract quite a bit of attention. Of course they'd noticed her, and of course Stacie had put Beca on her hit list. Stacie had never really defined her sexuality and no one really asked her to. Stacie was never one to do relationships, aiming more for casual sex with anyone she deemed good enough, man, woman or otherwise. It was never a problem because everyone she hooked up with was aware of Stacie's reputation, never expecting more from her after their moment of passion. Thinking of it now Beca would be Stacie's type, sexy and mysterious with a little bit of attitude.
Perfect.
It made Chloe feel uneasy and she had no idea why. It's not like she's cared who Stacie slept with before. It's not like she's jealous or something. She's just… Okay she has no idea what she was, but it didn't matter right now. She would just shrug it off as the excitement of a new student and go on with her original plan to befriend the girl. First by getting her friends on board.
"Oh you mean Beca?" Chloe tried to stay nonchalant but the excitement was evident in her voice.
"Wait you know her?" Stacie's excitement rivalling her own. "And her name is Beca? Damn that's hot."
"Yeah I sit next to her in Biology and she's in my English class."
"Well, what's she like?" Stacie asked with a grin, happy to have someone on the inside.
"I didn't really get a chance to talk to her, honestly." Chloe sighed remembering both her faux pas and Beca's impression of Usain Bolt at the end of her classes.
Stacie gasped at that knowledge. "You? Miss Chloe Elizabeth Beale didn't 'get the chance to talk to her?' What happened, you're usually all over it when it comes to people? And you sat next to her for an entire period, you're telling me that in that time you didn't talk to her? Find out anything about her at all? Are you sick?"
"Alright calm down there, Hunter." Chloe laughed a little at Stacie's dramatics. "I spoke to her for all of two seconds and in that time I learnt nothing that could possibly help you bang her. You'll have to do this one by yourself. That is, unless you've lost your touch?"
Stacie looked offended at that assumption. The conversation naturally drifted away from Beca, but Chloe's mind did not. Thinking about it, Chloe scanned the hall to see the brunette had settled herself in with Jesse and Benji, which wasn't overly surprising considering she could hear them talking throughout the English lesson. She knew the girl had clicked with the boys and knew that she would fit in well with the group of oddballs. She knew for a fact that the other girl at the table was Emily, Benji's girlfriend, and the sweetest person she had probably ever meet. She remembers hearing the teen actually genuinely use the phrase 'oh my stars'. She was pretty sure Emily and Benji were made for each other.
During her 'quick' scan of their table, her eyes accidently locked onto blue. Having gotten some experience at this point, she smiled politely at Beca, thankful when she got a smile back. It meant she hadn't convinced Beca that she was a complete weirdo. She was surprised when the brunette dramatically turned around to look behind herself, she actually laughed out loud when she turned back sporting an impressive attempt at 'blue steel'.
The others on the table looked to her in question at the outburst but she just shook them off. Beca had sent a smirk her way when she laughed before returning to the conversation on her own table which seem to be centred around the cuteness factor of Furbies vs their obvious creepiness.
What a weird fucking day.
A/N: Regular second authors note, please don't forget to review and tell me what you think, I do enjoy hearing from you. Also, I shall repeat that I know basically nothing about the American schooling system so this is based mostly off my own which is New Zealand. I have a feeling they are completely different but we'll see I guess.
Also, if you're wondering, I did just get back from seeing Zoolander 2 and it was everything I had dreamed it would be and more.
