Something Worth Living For

Chapter 9

Beca sighed heavily as she looked at herself in the mirror. She was wearing maroon skinny jeans, a black tank top and she was considering putting on some flannel shirt on top of that.

"What do you think, Zorka?" Beca asked as she looked at her cat, who was lying on her bed, watching her lazily while her tail moved.

Beca grabbed the flannel shirt she was thinking about and held it in front of her, screwing up her face in thought.

"I know, Zorka, this just Stacie and I'm not trying to impress her I mean I don't even like her!" Beca said. "Okay, it's decided, I won't wear the flannel. Thanks Zorka."

Beca threw the flannel on the bed and grabbed a leather jacket instead. She put on her combat boots, grabbed her phone and purse and headed downstairs. Stacie had texted her to say she was heading to her house to pick her up.

Jill was sitting in her office, with some paperwork and a cup of tea in her hand. When she smelled her daughter's strong perfume, she looked up and frowned.

"Beca?" Jill asked. She stood up and got out, seeing her daughter putting on her jacket. "Going out?"

"Yeah I kind of have a date." Beca said, sounding unsure.

"Oh, nice! With who?" Jill asked.

"Oh this girl from school." Beca said. "She's nice and all but I don't see her as girlfriend material."

"So why are you going on a date with her?" Jill asked.

"She kind of cornered me in the locker room, I was in my underwear, I had to say yes so she'd leave." Beca explained.

"Oh I see." Jill said and held back a giggle. "Well maybe you can enjoy it."

"I will but I don't see it going any further." Beca said.

"So you're gonna be coming home tonight?" Jill asked.

"Mom!" Beca said and Jill laughed.

"Come on, Beca." Jill said. "I know you don't want anything other than a date with this girl—,"

"— No I don't even want a date with Stacie, she's my friend." Beca said.

"Okay, okay, but come on, have something to drink, have fun!" Jill said. "As friends!"

"I'm 16, I'm not allowed to drink, remember? And we'll see if she's okay with it." Beca said. Her phone buzzed and she picked it up to see she had a message from Stacie, saying she was there.

"Have fun." Jill smiled.

"Thanks." Beca said, grabbing her purse and leaving.

oO0Oo

Stacie wasn't a bad girl, she wasn't an ugly girl either. She was confident, smart and funny, she made super fun jokes and she was absolutely beautiful.

But Beca wasn't interested in her like that. She tried to make it clear but by the looks of it, it wasn't working.

Stacie paid for the dinner and offered to take Beca home, which was appreciated by the smaller brunette.

When Stacie stopped the car in front of the house and turned to Beca with a smile.

"Um thanks for this Stacie." Beca said awkwardly as she unfastened her seatbelt.

"You're welcome." Stacie said and Beca could tell by her smile that she had other intentions.

"Umm bye." Beca said, opening the door.

Stacie followed her to her door and grabbed her arm, turning her around and Beca looked like a deer in headlights.

"Wait, I didn't get to kiss you yet." Stacie said.

"Stacie, I—,"

Beca was cut off by Stacie's lips on hers. She squealed in surprise and held her hands up, eyes wide open in a slight shock. She pushed the taller brunette away lightly.

Stacie looked confused at that and Beca was blushing furiously and wouldn't meet her eye.

"Sorry I just– I mean I'm not—,"

"— Oh my God! Oh I get it, you're not– shit I'm an idiot." Stacie said, running her fingers through her hair.

"I'm sorry." Beca said.

"No I'm sorry! I thought you were just playing hard to get!" Stacie said. "I'm sorry, Beca."

"I'm sorry too." Beca said.

"You didn't do anything wrong." Stacie said. "Who are you interested in?"

"Nobody actually." Beca said. "I just—"

"— I understand." Stacie said. "I'm sorry about this, Beca."

"I'm sorry too." Beca said.

"I cornered you." Stacie said and sighed, stepping back. "I should go."

"Okay. I hope we can still be friends." Beca said.

"Beca, this is not a break up, of course we can still be friends!" Stacie said. "So I'll see you Monday."

"Yeah." Beca said and relaxed, managing to smile at the tall brunette.

"That's such a shame though, because your lips are so soft—,"

"— Goodnight Stacie." Beca said, rolling her eyes as Stacie laughed.

"Goodnight." Stacie said and went back to her car.

Beca got in and didn't see any sign of her mom, at least on the first floor, so she closed and locked the door and made her way upstairs. She was going to her floor when Jill came out of her room, still wearing clothes and her glasses, with a cup of tea in hand.

"Hey kid." Jill said.

"Hey." Beca said, on the third step.

"How was your date?" Jill smirked.

"She kissed me and it was awkward." Beca said.

"Really?" Jill didn't lose her smirk.

"Shut up." Beca rolled her eyes. "I told her I wasn't interested and she was cool with it. We're staying friends."

"That's good." Jill said.

"Yeah, so I'm going to bed." Beca said. "Goodnight mom."

"Goodnight. Oh, tomorrow is that exhibit you wanted to go to, isn't it?" Jill asked.

"Yeah, can you go with me?" Beca asked. "It starts at 2."

"Oh honey, I can't, I have this paperwork I have to finish." Jill said with an apologetic look.

"That's okay, I'll ask Hallie." Beca shrugged and went upstairs.

Jill sighed, feeling sorry for her daughter. Well, at least she had a friend and her first appointment with a therapist was on Wednesday the following week so Jill hoped things would get better for the small brunette.

oO0Oo

Beca and Hallie walked together, talking in a low volume as they appreciated the sculptures and paintings the new young artist was exposing. Beca loved seeing paintings and sculptures, she loved appreciating art, especially modern art.

Hallie loved History so she loved looking at paintings. She was quite a painter herself, or so Beca told her. Hallie didn't think she had that talent, but everytime her oldest sister told her the opposite, she'd smile and it'd make her happy, so she never stopped painting.

"Look at this one! It looks like the guy spilled some random paints by accident but it turned out great!" Beca said.

"You're right." Hallie said with a chuckle.

Beca smiled at her younger sister as they moved to the next painting. Beca frowned in confusion and her and Hallie tilted their faces to the side.

"This looks like an intestine." Beca said.

Hallie covered her mouth to stop the loud laughter that would follow.

"You know what a human intestine looks like?!" Hallie asked.

"I never said 'human'." Beca smirked before looking back down at Hallie.

"That's even sicker, Beca." Hallie said, but she was giggling.

They walked around a little more, commenting about the amusing paintings and weird sculptures there. Hallie would always have to cover her mouth in order not to laugh too loudly at every joke or comment Beca made.

"This looks like a heart." Hallie said as they stopped behind two women to admire the painting.

"It does. But it looks like.. it looks like it's bleeding." Beca said with a frown.

Hallie tilted her head and stood on her toes to be able to see.

"Hey, look at this one!" Beca said, pulling Hallie's arm lightly to see the painting next to it.

"It's beautiful!" Hallie said.

The painting clearly showed a woman, a redhead, she had her eyes closed, her hair was literally everywhere, as if she was laying on a pillow, and it looked like she was floating.

"She's beautiful." Hallie said.

"She is. Her red hair probably means she's wild, but she looks like an angel in this painting.." Beca said, reflecting.

"Maybe it was a woman the guy fell in love with and she broke his heart." Hallie said.

"Yeah." Beca said. "You know, this painting got me thinking.. I have never met a truly beautiful redheaded person. Man or woman."

Hallie giggled.

"That can't be true." she said.

Beca shrugged.

"It is. Do you know any beautiful gingers?" Beca asked. "Or have you seen one?"

Hallie thought about it as she looked around and they walked to the next painting.

"Her!" she said, trying to keep her voice low, pointing at a redhead woman standing next to a blonde woman, their backs were to Beca and Hallie.

"I think.." Beca said, waiting for the woman to turn so she could see her face. "I think those are my teachers."

"Really?" Hallie asked as the two women walked side by side, talking and giggling.

"Yeah." Beca said and wasn't fast enough to turn her head when Chloe caught her staring. The redhead only offered her a small smile and a nod and Beca awkwardly waved in return.

"She seems nice." Hallie said. "Not like the b word you described."

Beca chuckled.

"I still can't believe you don't curse." Beca said. "And yeah, we're not fighting anymore."

"That's good." Hallie said.

"Yeah, so she's being nice to me." Beca said.

"That's good!" Hallie said. "Can we go get something to eat? I'm getting hungry."

"Sure!" Beca said and they moved to the exit, but stopped when they bumped into Chloe and Aubrey.

Beca just waved awkwardly.

"Hello." she said.

"Hello Miss Mitchell, it's surprising to see you here." Aubrey said.

Beca just offered her a sheepish smile.

"Yeah, I'm here with my sister, Hallie." Beca said.

"It's nice to meet you, Hallie." Aubrey said.

Hallie just smiled.

"I'll see you two tomorrow, then." Beca said.

"See you." Chloe said. "It was nice seeing you, Miss Mitchell."

Beca offered her an awkward small smile and left with Hallie to go get something to eat.

"They're nice." Hallie said.

"Yeah." Beca shrugged. "Where do you wanna go? I'm thinking Chipotle and then home."

"Sounds good." Hallie agreed.

"Good." Beca smiled and they headed to her car.

oO0Oo

Beca had just returned home after taking Chloe home on Thursday. She had been feeling more confident over the last few weeks. She had talked to the principal and the whispering and name calling had stopped. Of course, the messages still hadn't stopped but they were certainly less frequent, which calmed Beca down.

Beca had spoken to Jesse, from the group, and asked him if it would be okay if the group met weekly instead of monthly because she was in need of support that moment and Jesse promptly agreed.

So Beca sat there in the circle, feeling a lot better as she heard people telling their stories or sharing more about themselves. She laughed and giggled along with them.

".. I never had the courage to ask someone out and.. last week I finally did and I'm going out with her on Friday, so.. that's great!" Emily said.

"That's great, Emily!" Benji said.

"I hope it goes great." Beca said and Emily smiled in thanks.

"Umm I would actually like to share something.." Beca said, sitting closer to the edge of her chair. "A few weeks ago I started getting.. threatening texts from a private number and.. well they still haven't stopped. I was even beat up by three huge guys from the basketball team and.. that made me really scared to even walk through these halls and that's why I asked Jesse if we could meet weekly. Now I'm even more scared because.. I actually haven't told her but last week the person started threatening Miss Beale too.. and I don't know what to do.."

Beca wiped some tears and felt two different arms around her shoulders, coming from opposite sides. One, she noticed, was Emily's and the other one was Stacie's.

"Beca, we're sorry to hear that, you can count on us for anything and we'll be here for whatever you need." Jesse said.

"Thanks." Beca said.

"It's gonna be okay, Beca." Stacie said.

"It is." Jesse agreed.

Beca wiped the last few tears and nodded, looking down at her hands before taking a deep breath.

"And that is also valid for all you." Jesse said.

Everyone nodded and Beca stopped crying, smiling at Stacie and Emily in appreciation before the two smiled and sat back down.

oO0Oo

Beca was unusually quiet on Thursday and Chloe found that very weird, but didn't say anything in case it was just something about the day or in case Beca didn't want to talk abou it.

Chloe was explaining something Beca had asked about and she could see the girl was just staring at the book as Chloe talked but wasn't really paying attention. She stopped talking and sighed.

"Beca, are you listening to me?" she asked.

"Yeah, yeah I am, I'm just thinking." Beca said and scratched the back of her neck. "You were saying about recessive genes and stuff and I was just thinking about.. your hair."

Beca hissed at how awkward that sounded but before she could fix it, Chloe was giggling.

"My hair?" she asked.

"You know, in the Middle Ages, redheads were.. accused of witchcraft and in Ancient Egypt or the Roman Empire the redheads were the most expensive slaves.. and that's.. I don't know, it's weird." Beca said.

"Well I'm glad I'm not your History teacher, there are probably some mistakes there." Chloe said, giggling while Beca giggled awkwardly, blushing in embarrassment. "But yeah, redheads were — still are — so rare that seeing them was weird so in case of the Middle Ages, people in the Church thought, because their hair was red, that they were something from the Devil."

"That's mean." Beca said.

"Yeah. I mean, redheads still get their fare share of teasing comments nowadays. I know I did when I was a kid." Chloe said. "And some researches show that probably by 2060 or something, redheads will be extinct."

"Whoa." Beca said. "I didn't know that."

"Yeah." Chloe said.

Beca tilted her head to the other side, thinking.

"Have you ever thought about dyeing your hair?" she asked.

Chloe found the question weird, but she screwed up her face in thought, thinking about her answer.

"Yeah I have but then I remember my hair color is so rare and beautiful that I shouldn't do that." Chloe said.

Beca giggled.

"Yeah, if I had your hair color I wouldn't dye my hair either." she said.

Chloe just offered her a smile and looked back down at the book.

"So—,"

"— Teaching isn't really what you want to do.. is it?" Beca asked.

Chloe looked up at her with a slight frown, surprised by the question. The teenager was looking back at her with a blank stare, waiting for the answer.

"No, not really. I want this scholarship to Hawaii to study marine biology." Chloe said. "Research about endangered species, how we can help them and stuff like that."

"Sounds very noble." Beca said. "I bet it's hard to get."

"Yeah. It's super hard, I've tried twice already." Chloe said. "I'm trying again in September next year."

"You'll get it." Beca said. "I think you're a really good teacher."

Chloe found herself smiling at the compliment. It wasn't that she didn't get compliments very often, it was hearing a compliment from the student that used to hate her, that made her day. Possibly her week.

"Thanks, Beca." Chloe said, genuinely happy and Beca smiled.

"You're welcome." Beca said.

"So you're very good at Biology, do you want to do something in the field when you graduate?" Chloe asked, genuinely interested.

"Um no, actually, I wanna be a music producer, but my second option is being a geneticist." Beca said.

"They're both super cool." Chloe said.

"Yeah." Beca said.

"So unfortunately, our time is up." Chloe said and closed her book.

"That's a shame." Beca said with a sigh.

"Yeah." Chloe said. "I'm not staying for dinner today so I guess I need you to take me home."

Beca frowned as she stood up.

"Sounds like this was a date, except without any sex." Beca said with a chuckle but immediately regretted. She turned beet red and her eyes widened quickly before she shut them hard. "Sorry. That was bad."

Chloe laughed and grabbed her bag.

"It's okay, I'm just glad you're feeling less tense around me. You couldn't relax in our first class." Chloe said.

Beca took a deep breath but still didn't stop blushing.

"Let's just go before I say anything even more stupid." She grabbed her car keys and left.

Beca stopped in front of Chloe's apartment building and took a deep breath.

"Sorry again about the joke, I was.. my jokes aren't usually that bad." she said.

"It's okay, don't worry." Chloe said. "Thanks for the ride, I'll see you at school."

"Yeah." Beca said and Chloe left.

Beca hit her forehead on the steering wheel after Chloe left and groaned.

"Why the fuck did I say that! Ugh, stupid mouth that has no filter!" Beca said before driving off, once she made sure Chloe was inside the building.


Hmmmm what do you think? What's gonna happen next?