I wake up to a hand drawing patterns over my stomach. I notice it's still dark outside. "Morning sunshine" Chloe says to me with her infamous smile. "What time is it" I ask her with a raspy voice. "Five twenty-five" I groan. I forgot that we had school today and Chloe needs to change. I get up and check my phone. Three missed calls and one text from Stacie. I stand up and put out my hand to lift her off the ground. "See your still alive, you're too pretty to murder" her cheeks redden at the comment. I pick up and fold the blanket. "So do you want to borrow some of my clothes or do you want me to take you back home" I ask her on the walk back to the car. "I guess your sense of style isn't that bad so I guess i'll borrow some clothing" She says to me with a smile. "Haha" I say back to her as we enter the car.
We drive home in silence, well until Chloe speaks up. "I heard there was a theme park in Georgia" she says to me. I take a quick glance at her. "Yep, down in Cobb County" I say to her. I think shes talking about Six Flags, its the only one that I know of near us. Unless she knows about the one all the way down in Lowndes County. "I was thinking maybe we could go this weekend" she says to me with a nervous smile on her face. "Yeah, totally, Stacie loves roller coasters almost as much as shem loves teasing me. You'll invite Posen right" I say to her. I see her smile fall. "I mean if it's ok if we invite Stacie and Aubrey, it's totally ok if you want to go with only me, I guess it would be a great bonding moment, I think. We could totally just go together, If you want to, i'm not pushing you to do anything" I quickly say to her, all the words just fall out of my mouth so quickly I don't know half of what I said. She smiles at me as we pull up and into my garage. "That would be great" she says to me. I give her a nervous smile. I'm pretty sure my heart stopped for that whole conversation. "Cool, cool, and don't mention anything that happened last night to Stacie, she'll make a big deal about it" I say to her. "Is it not something to make a big deal out of" she says to me with a smile on her face. "It is, I mean that I think that Stacie would get mad if she hears that i've never told her about the spot" I say to her. She nods her head. I look over at the clock and see its 5:51. "Come on Beale we have to get ready for school" I say to her as I open my door.
We walk into my house and see no sign of Stacie or Aubrey, that is until I walk into my room and see them asleep on MY bed. "If you guys are naked I swear to god I will kill both of you" I say to them. Aubrey jumps awake, startled by me. I look at Stacie who is still dead asleep. "Get off the bed if you want to live" I whisper to Aubrey. She jumps off the bed quickly. "Wheres Chloe" she asks me. "I killed her and i'm debating on killing you too" i'm pretty sure she's about to run but sees Chloe walk into the room. She narrows her eyes at me as I smile at her. "Ok guys im going to need you guys to be quiet as I wake Stacie, she's a heavy sleeper so waking her is a tough job" I say as I grab the chair from under my desk set it at the foot up the bed. I get up onto it when Chloe asks me what i'm doing. "You'll see" is all I say to her before jumping off the chair and jump onto Stacie. "GET THE FUCK UP" I yell at her. She nearly punches me in the face. "Get off of me you little midget" she says to me. I roll off the bed and see Chloe and Aubrey dying of laughter in the corner. "Come on Stacie we have places to be, we have things to learn, we have to live life or some shit that smart people say" I say to her. She groans as she rolls of my bed. Thankfully she still wearing her clothes. "You are in desperate need of a shower" I say to her. "Speak for yourself, you reek of wilderness, where did you go last night anyways" she ask me. I quickly look over at Chloe than back at Stacie. "I went to a magical place" I say with a grin. "Ooook, i'll ask you about later then" Stacie says to me as she walks to my closet. By now Stacie has stayed over so many times that she has her own section in my closet. I walk up to her and whisper into her ear "Did you bang Posen" her cheeks turn a bright red. My jaw drops "you did NOT" I say to her, mouth still agape. I totally forget that Aubrey and Chloe are in the room until I turn my head and see confused looks on their faces. "Did you or did you not" I say quietly to her. She shakes her head, "I didn't I just-" I cut her off. "We will talk about this later because right now there are people hear and I have sooo much to say" I whisper into her ear. She nods her head, "you also have so much to tell me so dont think your getting out of that that easy missy" she say to me, loud enough for Aubrey and Chloe to hear. "Hi hello, did you forget that we were here" Aubrey says to us. I turn to her, "sorry we are just used to it being a pair and not a foursome" she looks at me and remember something important, "fuck I almost forgot, Aubrey do you want me to take you home or do you want to borrow some of Stacie's clothing" I say to her. "Why Stacie's" she asks me. I look her with a face that reads 'are you serious'. "Because I totally think that you're going to fit into my clothing" I say to her sarcastically. "Jesus a simple 'because im too short' would have sufficed" Aubrey says with a grin.
Stacie gives Auvrey her clothing and they go off and change somewhere. I look through my closet to see what i'm going to wear today. Chloe stands next to me doing the same. "All you have in here are flannels" she says to me. "Shut up" is all I manage to say to her. I choose the same clothing as I did yesterday only this time with a blue flannel. Chloe somehow finds clothing I haven't seen in a while from the back of my closet. She chooses to put on a pair of white ripped jeans, a grey tank top, a pair of red ankle booties, and a red flannel tied around her waist. "How the fuck did you find those" I say to her slightly amazed. "I don't really know I just found them" she says nonchalantly, though for some reason she's still looking through my closet. Reality hits me when she pulls out my varsity jacket. "Fuck" I say as I run out of the room. I find Stacie in the downstairs restroom, "soccer tryouts are today" I say to her really quickly. She drops her eyeliner and runs to my room with me.
We rummage through my dresser to find a pair of shorts and a work out tank top. I grab an extra backpack and stuff my clothes in along with Stacie's. I put in my soccer boots and Stacie thanks me for letting her borrow an extra pair. I grab a soccer ball from downstairs and strap it to the front. I look at the time and see that I still have time to shower. I go to grab my stuff and see that Chloe still has my Varsity jacket. I got that jacket last year. It's a black jacket that has my last name on the on the back along with my number, 04. On the front there is a BH for Barden High and a couple patches on the sleeves. Chloe is holding my jacket like its her life line. I was going to ask why she still has it but decide not to.
I take a quick shower and head back to my room. I grab a notebook and a pencil along with my soccer backpack. I head downstairs and see everyone sitting on the couch. "Come on people, I don't want to get detention because you lazy asses wont hurry up" I say to them. Everyone gets up and I see Chloe still has my jacket. "I see that you claimed my jacket as yours" I say to Chloe. "Yep, this is mine now" she says to me as I push everyone out of the house. "Posen, you still have my keys and after yesterday I dont want you to drive my car for a long time" I say to her. She tosses them to me. "Oh and your sitting in the back along with Stacie" Stacie groans and Chloe chuckles.
We arrive to school in one piece, and on time this time. "BECAAAWW" I hear Jesse yell from across the parking lot. "What do you want Swanson" I snap at him. "Woah someone woke up on the wrong side of bed this morning" he says to me. We start walking to the school when Stacie catches up to us and links arms with me. "Beca didn't wake up in her bed at all last night, she went off on a journey with Chloe" Stacie says to Jesse. Jesse's eyes light up "Ooo, do spill" he says to me, jumping up and down. "As I told Stacie, I'll talk when we aren't being followed around" I say as I look back and look back at Chloe and Aubrey. Chloe gives me a warm smile. I grin at her before I turn my head back to face Stacie. We make our way into the school when I hear a voice I haven't heard in a while. "Hey shortstack" Amy yells at me from her locker. I turn and see that Cynthia Rose is also with her. "Hey I haven't seen you guys in a while" I say to both of them. "Sorry I went to Australia over the summer to wrestle some alligators" Amy says to me. "Yeah and I had to go do some stuff in Vegas" CR says. "It's been way too long, we definitely need hang out more" Stacie adds to the conversation. That is when I remember that there are more people with us. "Oh by the way this is Aubrey and this is Chloe. Aubrey, Chloe this is Amy and Cynthia Rose, we call her CR" Chloe puts her hand out to shake CR's hand. "Oo, a ginger, Beca's weakness" Amy says to us. I blush a deep red. "We do not talk about that" I say to all of them who are now laughing at the memory. "Oh come on Becs you have to admit, she was kind of hot" Stacie says to me, stil laughing. "She" Aubrey questions us. At this point I have my face in my hands. "When we were sophomores we went to a party and Beca ended up banging this red head chick" CR adds in. "Yeah and now we never let her live that down" Jesse says. "Yet she is so admin to prove that she's not gay, I don't know why because the Hunter has never been one to discriminate" Stacie says to us. "Yeah and CR definitely doesn't give a crap" Amy says and CR nods her head. "What wrong with being gay, i'm bi" we all whip out head around and look at Chloe. "Nothing, I just…I um…you know like oh hey here comes Benji with that chick coming over here" I say quickly pointing in Benji's direction. We all look at Benji. "Look, I found a stray so I wrangled her in" Benji says to us as we look at this girl. She's a brunette and tall, like Stacie's height tall. I put my hand out, "Im Beca, this is Stacie, Amy, Cynthia Rose, Jesse, Aubrey, and last but not least Chloe" I say as point to them. She takes my hand in hers. "Hi, Im Emily" she says with a smile. "So Emily can you sing" Stacie asks her. I should be shocked, but with all our past encounters with anyone, it seems pretty normal. "Um, yeah, I guess, why does it matter" she asks as her eyes dart around looking at everyone of us. "We all have a talent, what's yours" Jesse says to her. "I write music" she says to us. "Great, that completes our group" Stacie says as she claps her hands together. "How does that fit into anything about this" Aubrey asks, her voice coated with confusion. "Long story short we all grew up together and went to the same music school" Stacie says to them. You could tell that Aubrey and Chloe were still confused. "We all went to an arts academy so we all learned how to play different instruments and had vocal lessons" I say to them. They seem to get it a little bit more.
The bell rings for first period, homeroom is only required on the first day of each week.
We all head to our respective classes and get on with the day. It's pretty boring though due to it being the first official day and new subjects are being taught.
I walk into the girls locker room and look for Stacie. I see her standing at one of the lockers so I walk over and place our bag on the bench beside us. "Come on Conrad, don't want to be late on the first day now will we" I say to her as I pull my shirt over my head. "How did you manage to stay fit over the summer" she asks me as she eyes my abs. I wouldn't say that I was muscular but I definitely knew I was fit. "I kept working out on my free time" I say to her.
We continue on changing then head to the field. I look over at the stadium and see that Chloe, Aubrey, Jesse, Amy, and CR are sat there. I look at them questionly. The coach blows his whistle starting tryouts. It's pretty easy, just a lot of passing the ball back and forth. At some point it was getting hot so I took off my shirt. That's one thing I dislike about Georgia, the heat.
Tryouts eventually end and Coach says that he'll have our name posted on his door tomorrow if we made the team and which team we made. "Hey Stace, can you get the bag" I ask her. She nods as she runs to the locker rooms. I go up to the bleachers and high five Jesse. "Do you think I'll make the varsity team" I ask him. "Hell yeah, you were the best one out there, no offence to Stacie though" I laugh it off as I look over to Aubrey and Chloe, their faces look as if they seen a ghost. "Umm, you guys good there" I ask with a laugh. Stacie comes back with our bag, "Beca put your shirt back on, everyone is gawking" I look down at my torso, I forgot that I took my shirt off. I look up and see all my friends looking at me. I suddenly become self conscious and quickly put on my tank top. "Damn shortstack, who knew you had all that muscle in you" Amy says to me. "Can we change the subject please" I say to them. "Are we going to your house after school to finish fixing the bike" Jesse asks me. "Your still not finished finished with that bike, you've been working on it for months" Stacie says to us. "I don't see you trying to fix a motorcycle" I say as I start to walk down the bleachers. I grab the bag off Stacie's shoulder and dig in the front pocket for my keys. I toss them to Aubrey and she looks at me confusingly. "I'm too tired to drive home and I don't know where you guys live" I say to her as I throw the bag in the trunk. I walk to the passenger side door and go ahead and sit in the back. I sit down and close my eyes. I have two peaceful seconds before I feel a hand on my shoulder. I open one eye to look at who disturbed me. I see a Chloe next to me with a smile that could kill. "What's got you so happy Beale" I ask her as I close my eye. "You have so many things to catch me up on" she says to me. "What do you mean exactly" I ask. "You can play soccer, you have an amazing body, you have a freaking motorcycle for christ's sake, you have so much hidden away" she says to me. I open my eyes, only now realizing that her hand is still on me, only now on my bicep. I quickly flinch away out of reflex. I can see the hurt in her eyes. "Yeah, how about we keep it that way" I snap at her. She flinches at my raised voice.
She can't just come into my life and think she could know every aspect of my life. I unbuckle my seat belt and get out of my car. I turn and see that Chloe is in the process of getting out. I look at Stacie and say "I'm going to run home it's only a couple miles away". She looks at me with her eyebrows knitted together. "Why, what happened" she asks me. I look over and see Chloe looking at me. I return my gaze to Stacie, "I need a breather" and with that I set off running. I immediately regret for I don't have my phone and I cant listen to music. I take a detour and decide to head for our lake house instead because it's closer to the school.
