Heya, sorry for the long wait, I'm the slowest writer in the world. I had like 3 ramen and starbucks fueled sessions of brainstorming before I actually started writing : P. This is one of my favorite chapters so far, and the title's from Ed Sheeran's Photograph. I own nothing except for my ideas. Italics are either flashbacks, dreams, or thoughts. Don't hesitate to leave a review; turning on my phone and seeing a new review is one of the best feelings ever. Hope you guys like this one - IntenseFanGirl

Chapter 10: Loving Can Hurt

Beca POV

Dark figures surrounded me, their faces obscured in the shadows cast by the woods. The moon casted a weak pale glow, doing nothing to cut through the smothering night. I shouldn't have taken the shortcut through the woods. I couldn't tell who was who, but their eyes undeniably glinted with malice. They quickly closed in around me, eliminating any chance of escape. One of them ripped my beanie from my head, my ears were flattened against my head, but they undeniably saw.

"So it is true, you are a fucking freak." For a split second I thought it was Jesse speaking, until I looked up and made eye contact with Colin, his face twisted in a grimace of disgust. Aubrey clung to his side, her soft brown eyes wide and dazed. My heart shattered as she refused to make eye contact with me, even as one of Colin's goons kneed me in the stomach, knocking the air out of my lungs and making me retch. Stars burst in my vision as the edges of my vision began to blur. I stumbled and fell to the floor, curling into a ball as the people I had considered my friends began to kick at any exposed parts of my body. A rib must have cracked but at that moment, I had gone numb. All the moments we had spent together laughing and messing around crumbling around me. My now ex-girlfriend, my best friend, and all those I had trusted, all gone due to something I have no way of changing. I was by myself for the first time, and the feeling was gut wrenching. Never had I been so alone in my life, and my mind and body shut down. Even as their attacks only increased in ferocity, my body became numb, no longer feeling or thinking. The pain in my ribs diminished into a dull throb. That was until someone roughly pulled my arms behind my back and shoved me to the ground, a knee pressing hard into the small of my back to still my struggles. A coarse hand pushed down my neck while someone else held my right ear straight up. Something was terribly wrong, and my stomach was writhing, my brain screamed that I was in danger. Instincts kicked in, and I thrashed about wildly, successfully dislodging the hand on my neck, but the knee on my back refused to budge. Colin leaned into my ear, "Fucking bitch, you can't escape from us." he growled. Pressing the whole weight of his left arm onto my neck, he beckoned for one of his friends to once again, hold my right ear straight up. "Wake up." A voice, different this time. This one sounded feminine, and a bit fuzzy and muted. A glint of steel immediately distracted me, and I could feel the razor sharp blade cut into the thin flesh of my ear. I screamed in pain and thrashed about, my head slamming into something hard as light burst into my vision.

Chloe POV (a few minutes earlier)

Light trickled through the shutters, and I squeezed my eyes shut. Please don't make me wake up, I don't wanna. I groaned internally before shifting around. The sunlight refused to stop burning into my eyelids and I sighed. You win this time you giant mass of incandescent gas. I smirked at my middle school memories and slowly sat up, stretching in the process. My bones creaked and popped in protest, jeez, what did I do last night? Memories slowly crept back, and I felt a fire creep under my skin, the heat steadily spreading across my cheeks. A groan came from beside me and I yelped in surprise, springing off the bed. My heart pounded before I remembered that Beca was sleeping next to me, Jesus I am such a ditz. The light splayed over her body, bathing her in a golden glow. My eyes trailed over her naked body before I realized what I was doing. I quickly looked away, you aren't some horny teenage boy Beale, get your act together. Think about something else, think about something else. Beca's closet was basically ransacked by Aubrey, but I rooted through the piles of clothing anyway. Most of her clothes were either too small or dark for my style (although Beca completely pulls it off), but I finally found an oversized (on her) navy blue hoodie, and some sweatpants. Another groan fell from Beca's mouth and I quickly made my way over to her. Her face was twisted in what looked like pain, and she growled before thrashing around as if struggling. Her face and neck were flushed, and I could feel the warmth emanating from her body. Leaning over her, I delicately placed the back of my hand on her forehead, hissing in surprise at the heat.

"Beca," I whispered, her ears twitched, but she didn't show any other signs of hearing me.

"Wake up," I said, louder this time. Suddenly a scream ripped out of her mouth and she crashed into me, her hands gripping onto my upper arms with a steel grip. I shrieked in surprise and fell backward, her weight crashing down on me as we both tumbled over. I absorbed most of the impact of our fall, the force of our fall knocked the breath out of me. Her midnight blue eyes looked wild and unfocused, like prey running from a predator, until they looked into mine and slowly began to soften.

"Oh shit Chlo, I'm so sorry." She released her hold and feeling began to come back in my arms. Beca blushed all of a sudden and rolled off, lying beside me on the floor. What? Oh. My own face began to burn as I realized that the Beca Mitchell had basically just jumped me while naked. It wasn't that much of a deal for me, but I could tell from the way she was avoiding eye contact that she had to be burning from embarrassment. I slipped my hand into hers and smiled,

"Care to explain why you tackled me?" Beca retracted her hand from mine and I knew I must have said the wrong thing. She turned away from me and sat up.

"I had a bad dream, that's all." Beca's voice sounded rough and I took it as confirmation that she wanted the subject to be dropped. I sat up as well and wrapped my arms around her. Her shoulders stiffened for a second before she slowly began to relax in my hold. "You don't have to tell me unless you want to, I'll always be here." I murmured into her ears as I rested my head on top of hers. I looked up at the clock hanging above Beca's desk, one of those cartoony black cat clocks. Its eyes flicked back and forth along with the tail and I smiled in amusement before noticing the time.

"Beca, is it Saturday by any chance?" I mumbled into her ears.

"Hmm? Yeah, it's Saturday. Why?" I leaped up, feeling my tail puffing up with anxiety.

"Put on some clothes, Aubrey is totes going to kill us." I wailed, running around and grabbing a pair of gloves, jeans, and a black t-shirt, chucking them at Beca as she dug around for a clean set of underwear. The second she managed to slip them on I dragged her outside, hastily setting the door back in place. We raced through the halls, bursting out the door at the lobby before being blasted by the cold.

"Fuck, I am not ready for this kind of weather." Beca huffed, white clouds puffing out with each of her breaths. Her eyes lit up and she puffed out another cloud.

"I'm a motherfucking dragon!" She flashed a toothy grin at me and ran around, blowing out long trails of frosty air. I raced after her, ice crunching under each step. I suppose she got over her nightmare, or at least the snow's distracted her.

"Hey, we're going to be late unless you stop-" Beca suddenly slipped and let out a high-pitched squeal of terror, windmilling her arms in a struggle to regain balance. I leaped forward and caught her just before she could topple over, nearly slipping along with her.

"Jeez Becs, you have to be more careful." I frowned in concern and wrapped my tail around her hips, bringing her up. Beca bit her lip and smirked before chucking a previously unseen snowball at me. She sprinted off towards the auditorium, cackling like an utter maniac while I quickly cobbled together my own snowball and raced after her. Just before she could open the doors and slip in, I managed to land a snowball right between her shoulders. An unseen patch of wet snow sent me flying towards her, and I rapidly put a hand up to stop myself from slamming Beca into the wall. My hand ended up slamming into the wall to the side of her head and I slid to a stop, my face inches from hers.

"I'm so sorry, are you okay?" I leaned over Beca, our bodies so close together I could feel her breaths brush against my skin. Beca's lips curved into a small, mischievous smile and she suddenly shifted her weight, spinning our bodies around so she was now the one holding me against the wall. Her lips lightly pressed onto mine and I blinked in surprise before leaning deeper into the kiss. I gripped her hips and roughly brought them closer to mine before Beca cupped the back of my neck in her hands, using my shoulders as support while she stood slightly on the balls of her feet. I gently nipped at her bottom lip before gently sucking the swollen piece of skin. Beca moaned into my mouth, and my heart fluttered. It was easily the sexiest sound I've ever heard, and I wanted to hear it again and again. Quickly taking advantage of her slightly parted lips I pressed harder into the kiss, our tongues wrestling for dominance. Her hands were roaming down my back and the heat of her touch made me forget the icy touch of snow.

"Whoa damn, get a room you guys." Beca broke away and pushed herself off the wall, her face paling before a blush burned across her skin. I propped myself up properly on the wall.

"You couldn't wait five more minutes?" I huffed in annoyance. Stacie smirked and winked,

"I was just going to the ladies' room. How was I supposed to know you two would be getting it on right outside?" I could feel the heat spread across my skin and I turned away towards Beca.

"By the way, you guys are like 20 minutes late and Aubrey is probably going to kill you both." Stacie started to walk off towards the restroom before Beca grabbed her arm.

"There is no way in hell we're going to survive unless you come with us." She hissed, her eyes flashing with fear. Beca curled her tail around mine, her ears twitching. I slipped my hands in hers and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Stacie sighed in annoyance,

"Fine, but if she kills you I get first dibs on your blood." Her mouth widening in a grin as her canines elongated. Beca's hand clamped down hard on mine and she pressed closer into my side.

"Please tell me she's kidding Chlo."

"Of course she is, right?" I sent Stacie one of my rare death glares which only appeared to make her widen her smile even more.

"Mhm, believe what you want sweetie." Stacie slowly ran her tongue over her fangs eyeing Beca for a moment before promptly spinning around to open the doors, holding the open for us. I shot another warning look at Stacie, receiving a smirk and a wink in return. The second we got through the doors Aubrey was waiting for us, her hands on her hips and her green eyes piercing into our very souls. Probably not, but it sure felt like it. I opened my mouth to explain that we had accidentally woken up late, but before I could say anything Stacie was already next to Aubrey, whispering into her ear while smiling. From what I could catch, Stacie said something along the lines of "They were making out like a couple of horny teens just let them go." and I was close to killing someone myself, even if it would be me against an insanely powerful vampire. Beca shifted around awkwardly, playing with my fingers and generally trying her best to ignore Aubrey's intense glare. I smiled at how innocent and child-like she looked, like a child caught stealing from the cookie jar. Aubrey wrinkled her nose at Stacie's rather graphic description and waved her off.

"You know what? I don't need to know, let's just continue with our practice." Stacie smiled reassuringly at Beca and I. Can't say she didn't save us, so I suppose we do owe her.

The rest of the practice went on as per usual. Aubrey forced us to work on cardio until we were all about seconds away from death. However, at the very end of the practice I broke away from Beca and stood by Aubrey.

"So, as you guys probably know, winter break is coming up after this week," A few hoots and hollers from Fat Amy and Cynthia.

"- and Aubrey and I think that going on a group trip to Japan would be a nice way to bond and relax a bit," I smiled as all the Bellas began to hoot and celebrate, even Lilly had a very small smile.

"Only Bellas are invited, so if I see any of you attempting to smuggle in a Treble, I will personally rip out your throat," Aubrey growled the last part, her eyes flashing before returning to normal as she beamed at all the Bellas. The Bellas slowly drifted out of the auditorium, chattering and laughing amongst themselves.

"Hey Chlo, I'm gonna go back to my dorm and change, I'm freezing. Also, I should really get someone to fix the door." Beca rolled her eyes and playfully glared at the back of Aubrey's head. I smiled and curled my tail around Beca's before letting go.

"She'll probably pay for it don't worry. I'm planning on going to the gym, care to join me after you change?" Beca wrinkled her nose and shook her head.

"Ew, only you would still exercise after a workout like that." She scoffed.

"Takes a lot of work to keep my body looking like this." I winked and ran my hands over my body, smirking as Beca's eyes followed my hands before she realized what she was doing and blushed, turning away from me.

"Goddamit Chlo, can you at least try to keep it PG?" I laughed at lightly punched her shoulder, before breaking off onto the path towards the gym.

It was a long, silent walk. Ice crunched under my boots, but most of the world seemed muted. The birds were basically all gone, trees stripped bare of any rustling leaves, and nobody seemed to be out and about. By the time I reached the gym about 15 or 20 minutes had passed, although I did constantly stop to twirl around and marvel at the beauty of snow, so maybe 30 to 40 minutes might be more accurate. Either way, the gym was basically empty. Only two or three other people were bothering to exercise, and no music boomed from the speakers. I didn't feel in the mood for any weight lifting or anything like that, so I pushed through the doors into the indoor basketball courts. There was a lone girl standing nearby one of the benches on the sidelines, so I walked towards her, looking to strike up a conversation. Her back was facing me, but as I neared her I realized that she looked very familiar. As she swept her chocolate-brown hair up in a ponytail, I noticed the name 'Mitchell' etched onto the back of her basketball team. I crept ever closer to her I noticed her ears swiveling and twitching, although earplugs were snugly placed inside of them. It must be Beca, there's no other black coloured Neko with Mitchell in their name around here. Making a decision in my mind I wrapped my arms around her, squeezing her tight. She yelped and elbowed me in the gut, slamming the air out of my chest. I wildly flung my arms forward, desperately trying to catch and hold onto something before falling. My fingers caught onto her shirt sleeve and gripped tightly as we both fell. Her body twisted around while falling we fell, and when I opened my eyes they were met with unfamiliar sapphire eyes.

"Who are you?"

Who could it be? Leave a review below or PM me, I'm curious to see what you guys think.