Beca had never been one to be up early, and certainly not a morning person. When, at five, a rooster started chanting madly, Beca growled and hissed, burying her head under her pillow. She managed to fall back asleep, only to feel somebody poking her bare leg an hour later. She grunted something that resembled "go away or I'll kick your ass" but the poking didn't stop, instead she heard a chuckle. Opening one eye and peeking out of her hiding place, Beca saw Chloe's amused smirk, still poking her naked leg (thank you pajama pants that worked their way up almost to her crotch during the night, leaving her half naked and in a mess of clothes and sheets) with her head cocked to the side.
"Whadayawant" she mumbled with a pout, hiding her head back under her pillow.
"I'll guess you didn't say good morning Chloe, how nice of you to have let me sleep half an hour more than everybody else and to come back to get me right before breakfast is serve so I don't starve until noon today." She said with another chuckle.
That girl was impossibly too sweet for Beca to be mad at her, but she tried anyways and answered with a half grunted good morning. Her words slowly sank in though, and she realized that meant she had to get up and ready to go eat with breakfast with what she feared would be a cafeteria full of girls chatting and chirping about how exciting today would be. She had lifted her head and dropped it back in her pillow, weeping in discouragement.
"Come on now, I'm starving and your stomach's been growling like a mad dog for the past half hour and it's driving me crazy." Chloe said nonchalantly, which earned her a glare from Beca.
"You've been here for the pas half hour?" she asked, stunned.
"Yeah, now get up, it's time for breakfast." She answered, like it was nothing, like it wasn't the most awkward situation ever; she had watched her sleep for the past half hour and she was supposed to be okay with that?
A sudden fear sparked in her mind and she quickly sat to look in her bed, feeling a wave of relief flood through her when she saw her laptop was still at her feet, exactly where she had left it yesterday.
"Did you really thought I would've touched your stuff while you were sleeping?" Chloe asked, her eyebrows high on her forehead.
"Uh..No, not at all." She lied, before suddenly realizing she had no bra on and Chloe's gaze was subtly looking her over.
Beca grabbed her sheets and hid under them instantly, her face red in seconds. Chloe grinned madly then turned around and told her she'd wait for her outside. Beca face palmed and fell back in her bed, feeling utterly stupid. Way to go, Mitchell, now she'll really take you for a spaz. Beca climbed out of her bed and changed her pajamas to a pair of shorts, already feeling the heat coming from outside, and a tank top. With a bra, of course.
"Okay, I'm ready to face my first breakfast in this hell." She said, jumping off the dorm step with a sigh.
"It's not hell, if you just gave it a chance, you'd see it's not that bad and you can actually have fun here." Chloe gave her a small shove on the shoulder before taking her hand and racing to a big wooden cabin. "Come on, we're late now!"
Beca was so out of breath by the time they reached the cafeteria she almost fainted when they sat down.
"Do….not….ever…do…that…..again." she coughed out, her nostrils flaring and her breath wheezing.
Her order was met by yet another light laughter as Chloe quickly stopped panting and turned to eat what was on the plate in front of her. Beca swung her legs under the table and tried to hide her disappointed face. She didn't like toasts and yet, she didn't see anything else but two slightly burnt slices of bread on her plate with fruits and cups of different things to spread; peanut butter, nutella, jam, butter. Muffling a whine, she took the peanut butter cup and opened it. The smell immediately made her scrunch her nose as memories came flooding back. Chloe noticed and, with her mouth half full with fruits, she asked what was wrong.
"Nothing.. I just have.. uh.. bad memories with peanut butter." She eluded, planting her butter knife in it with a grimace.
"What kind of bad memories?" Chloe asked, having gulped loudly her big bite.
"Not the kind that concerns you." She replied coldly, focusing on putting as little as possible, just to cover all of the bread slice.
"No need to be rude, miss Mystery." She said, going back to her breakfast with a last smile.
Beca felt bad now, but she wasn't about to apologize, convincing herself it was all Chloe's fault; hadn't she asked questions, Beca wouldn't have been harsh. She knew the girl was simply trying to be friendly, but the brunette was determined to make this summer the worst possible, just to prove her mother she'd been right about not wanting to go. I have a feeling that's going to prove difficult with that girl as a teammate, Beca thought with a mental eye roll.
She ate her toasts in silence while anybody who passed by Chloe stopped to say hi and chat a little bit, always trying to interact with her as well. They were faced with a muted wall or a glare if they became too insistent. Every one of them left giving Chloe a look that said "I'm sorry you have to be with her for the whole summer" and Beca was, too.
"Don't worry about them, I'll introduce you to my friends, you'll see they're much more fun." She promised as they exited the cafeteria (arms linked, obviously.)
Chloe patiently explained to Beca what they were supposed to do today. Apparently, this camp had ever activity Beca despised, and even more. She also learned that during the summer, she'd have to participate in all of them, at least one time. And worse: at the end of the summer, they were having a big costumed party and they were going to make their costumes throughout summer, starting today. That was their first activity : costume making. They were expected in ten minutes at the arts tent. Chloe told her about her previous choices, the ones she should avoid, the ones she could consider, and she even suggested ― at that, Beca couldn't restrain the snort which earned her a slap on the forearm ― that they made matching costumes.
"I'm sorry, but I can't even put a thread in a needle, how do you expect me to sew and invent a whole costume?" she asked, her nerves growing more and more itchy as they approached the tent.
"I'll show you how, you'll see, it's really easy!" she assured her, reaffirming her hold on Beca's arm as she felt the girl try to slip away.
Beca rolled her eyes once again, but Chloe didn't say anything and they entered the tent with arms still entwined together.
"You know, I won't run away even if you let go of my arm, Chloe." She pointed out, feeling everybody's eyes on them.
"I know, I like to hang on to people, that's all. Does it bother you?" she asked, suddenly looking worried and already unlinking their arms.
"Uh.. no, I guess not." She answered, feeling ping of distress at the idea of Chloe letting go of her.
Truth is, she had been taken aback at first, but now, she was quite liking to have somebody to sit with her so she didn't have to go through this alone, even if that meant she'd have to make an effort and participate just so Chloe wouldn't be too persistent. At least, she wasn't the only one who was new here, and it seemed like every other girl was slightly more happy than her to be. She sighed, feeling like an outsider, once again. Chloe's hand softly squeezed her knee when she did and it made her jump almost a feet away from her.
"What are you doing?" she hissed between her teeth, only to meet confused electric blue eyes.
"Nothing, I heard you sigh and wanted to give you a reassuring squeeze. What did you think?" she asked, smirking when Beca blushed.
"I don't know."
She looked away, but didn't come as close as she was before, which Chloe noted but didn't comment. After the first activity, they had thirty minutes before their second one, which was archery. Beca's coordination was legendary for being completely inexistent, and she complained to Chloe about not wanting to shoot somebody by accident, but the redhead simply waved her complaints away.
"Don't worry, the targets are big enough! It would be a miracle if you missed them!"
They walked around for a moment, Chloe indicating her the main places she needed to remember, and she was in the middle of a sentence when a shriek pierced the morning air and a tall and blond and tanned mass charged towards them. Beca had just enough time to take her arm back before a girl tackle-hugged Chloe.
"Aubrey!" she sang with obvious happiness. "Oh my god! I thought you were getting here next week!" she added once the girl had let go of the redhead.
"Yeah, me too, but my mom convinced my dad to let me get here on time like everybody else!" she said half singing, holding both Chloe's hands in hers.
"That's awesome! I've missed you so much!" she pulled the blonde in another fierce hug that made Beca wince; they were too cute to be acceptable.
"I've missed you too, Chloe! I'm so sad we're not in the same dorm this year!" she pouted and Beca rolled her eyes, turning away: she thought the blonde couldn't get more adorable and then she did this thing with her lips which sent the brunette's mind into overdrive.
Decidedly, there were too many pretty girls in here, she would go crazy. And they all looked so straight it hurt her heart. She was slowly walking away when she heard Chloe call her name, jogging to her and grabbing her hand to bring her back.
"Aubrey, this is Beca. She's my partner this summer, and she's new here." She stated, beaming like Beca was the most incredible thing that could've been, which made her blush slightly.
"Hi Beca! I hope you'll take good care of Chloe this summer since I can't, and I'll have my eye on you!" she added with a half scowl, smiling so hard it made Beca wince.
"Uh.. hi Aubrey. I..uh, I'll try." She replied, slipping a look at Chloe, who's eyes lit up.
"Oh! Right! Archery! Okay, I'll see you around, Bree!" she piped up, still holding Beca's hand before turning on her heels to guide her to the archer's corner.