Author's 1st Note: Can I first just say how proud I am of myself for writing this entire chapter on my phone app? Like, seriously. This whole chapter was written during car rides, breaks from work and some restaurant dining.

Also, I'm very happy I was able to get it done before another month went by! Yay!

Oh, and also, also, I wanna give a quick shout out to acawiedersehen on Tumblr for drawing me some AWESOME fan art for this story! I just posted her work on my blog, so if you'd like to check it out, my URL is: not-so-average-fangirl

Now without further ado, (I say that a lot), here is chapter 26! Enjoy!

The following morning was similar to how the rest had begun. Beca awoke to the sound of her alarm and quickly packed her bags before heading to her school. She found Chloe already waiting for her on the field and greeted her girlfriend with a tender morning kiss.

"Good morning, babe," Beca grinned, slipping her hands around the redhead's waist and pulling her closer.

"Ooh," Chloe purred, draping her arms over Beca's shoulders and snaking a hand behind her neck to tangle her fingers into her hair, "Calling me babe so early in the morning?" Chloe hummed and brought their faces even closer, "You must have missed me."

Beca's eyes fell to her girlfriend's lips and she smiled, "I did." She closed the remaining space left between them and kissed her again, taking her time to show Chloe just how much she missed her. Beca easily slid her tongue inside and quietly moaned when Chloe languidly massaged her back.

Beca tightened her grip around her girlfriends hips as the kiss deepened, their mouths moving with more force and purpose. But before Beca could get out another appreciative moan, Chloe unexpectedly separated herself.

"Wait, Beca," Chloe breathed, taking a step back and moving her hands out from her brown locks.

Beca blinked at her curiously, "What's wrong?" she asked.

Chloe looked over her shoulders and Beca's face fell when she instantly recognized the look on her face.

Chloe was afraid someone would catch them.

The redhead took a few more moments to scan around the premises, then finally turned back around to face a slightly disappointed Beca.

"Sorry," Chloe said, "Wouldn't want another 'Jesse' incident to happen again." And despite her innocent tone, Beca internally cringed at the way she emphasized the situation. She knew Chloe was only trying to protect them, and she knew Chloe wasn't trying to purposely hurt her in anyway. But hearing those words said out loud almost made Beca feel like maybe she was some kind of embarrassment.

And perhaps those were just her still lingering insecurities coming out, but even so, she could still feel them affecting her, wether she wanted them to or not.

"Yeah..." Beca drawled. She could feel the back of her neck heating up, so she brought a hand up to rub against it, hoping it would help ease the burn, "About that…" she continued, "I've actually, kind of been wanting to talk to you about–"

"Shit!" Chloe suddenly exclaimed, startling the brunette as she quickly took out her phone, "Damnit," she huffed.

Beca looked at her confused and found herself asking for a second time, "What's wrong?"

Chloe sighed and shook her head, her eyes still focused on the phone screen, "Nothing. It's nothing. I just remembered I have to make sure to get to my first period earlier today because I needed help with the assignment we're working on in class."

Beca just watched as Chloe groaned to herself and sagged her shoulders. She put her phone back into her pocket and looked at Beca, "Sorry," she said, "I didn't mean to interrupt you. What were you saying?"

Beca hesitated for a moment, debating wether or not she wanted to get things off her chest now, or later. She knew Chloe had to get to her class early and she didn't want to be the reason her girlfriend was late. So, without really having much an option, Beca chose to just save it for some other time.

Beca shook her head and half-shrugged, "It can wait. Let's just get our workout in so you can get going."

Chloe smiled brightly, "Aw, okay," and placed a kiss on Beca's cheek, "Thanks, Becs."

Beca's smile was tight and coercive, but she followed her girlfriend to the end of the track and forced herself to ignore the way her chest was tightening with repression. Instead, Beca kept her focus on the amusing stories Chloe wanted to share about the fun things she and Aubrey had gotten to do the day before.

She talked about how she had missed her best friend and how great it was to have gotten the chance to mend things with her. But Chloe wasn't aware of how distracted Beca actually was as they ran. The track star couldn't get her mind off of her desire to have a serious talk with Chloe and hope to find out that, she too, was ready to come out with their relationship.

They cut their routine short in favor of getting Chloe to her class on time, and despite Beca never once complaining about it, Chloe knew that Beca was sacrificing some pretty important practice time. Especially since her first track meet was only a few days away.

Chloe took out her phone and checked the screen. She calculated an estimate of how long it would take her to get ready and determined that she would still have enough time to make it even if they stayed on the field for another ten minutes. So with the new discovering, Chloe sparked an idea.

They came to a stop and the redhead turned to smile at Beca, "Wanna race?"

Beca quirked a brow at the question, "Seriously?" and a natural smirk curved at the corner of her mouth, "You wanna race me?"

Chloe confidently nodded, "Yeah," and took a step closer, "One lap around the track." She took another step, her challenging grin only growing wider, "Whatdaya say?"

Beca wasn't sure where this daring side of Chloe was coming from, but she had to admit, she kind of liked it. She grinned back at her girlfriend's challenge, and figured some friendly competition would be fun.

"Yeah, okay." Beca smiled, "Bring it on."

They lined themselves up with the lanes on the track and Beca bent down to take her stance before looking over at Chloe.

"Ready to lose, Beale?"

Chloe flipped her red ponytail to one side to face her girlfriend and smirked as she slowly took her position.

"I'm ready to kick your butt, Mitchell."

Beca scoffed a laugh, "In your dreams, babe." Chloe just hummed and turned her head back to face the track.

"Whenever you're ready," she sang, and Beca focused her eyes on the track as well before counting them off.

"On your mark..." Chloe lowered herself a bit more and anchored her feet into the ground.

"Get set..."

Beca inhaled a breath before finally letting them, "Go!"

They took off in an instant and Beca was quick to take the lead. She had always been a sprinter, that was her specialty. She was never a fan of long distance races and found that short meter sprints gave her a much more affective "adrenaline rush," so to speak.

She happily maintained her position, using all of her energy to bolt around the turns. As Beca approached the second to last turn, she smiled as the finish line grew closer and closer. She wasn't sure how far behind Chloe was and without turning her head to find out, she shouted,

"Get ready to lose, Beale!" Beca came up to the last turn and started to feel the tightness that usually appeared in her chest whenever she reached this part of a race. She never knew why, but her body always felt like it was giving out on her and faltering whenever she reached that last turn. It seemed to be her weakness and downfall when running against Luke, but this was Chloe she was running with now, and Beca was confident her weakness wasn't going to matter.

That is until she suddenly heard,

"Hey, Becs!"

Beca snapped her head around to find Chloe mere inches away from her and victoriously grinning like a sly fox. And before Beca even had the chance to blink, Chloe had sped up her pace and passed her, finishing their little race just a few seconds before her.

Beca was left in a state of shock, panting with wide eyes, and completely dazed by the events that had just taken place.

Did she just… lose?

After catching her breath, Chloe stood up straight and proudly planted her hands on her hips, "You were saying?"

Beca was still speechless and could only stare at her for a few more moments, unsure if what had happened was even real. And it wasn't that Beca didn't believe that Chloe was a good enough runner to beat her, because, she was. But Beca had just been so confident that she was going to win, that the disappointment of losing again– in the exact same way she's been constantly losing to Luke– was a little staggering. Beca had always won her races at her old school. Why was this place so different?

The dumbfounded brunette continued to gawk at the ginger, until finally blinking herself back to reality, "How did you do that?" She asked.

Chloe chuckled, "What do you mean?"

"How did you beat me last minute like that?" Beca's originally frozen stature suddenly became animated, and she started using her limbs to express herself as she continued, "I keep losing to Luke the same exact way–" Her hands instinctively moved to run through the top of her hair, forgetting it was tied up in a ponytail and causing some strands to come lose, "and I don't understand why!"

Beca hadn't notice her voice was elevating with every word, getting caught up in the stressful bet she had made with the English boy, until Chloe was then staring at her with concern.

"Becs, it was just a silly race." She placed her hands on her shoulders and caressed her, easing the brunette from her agitated state. "Why are you getting so worked up?"

Beca dropped her head with a sigh, "I didn't get to tell you what I did yesterday."

Chloe continued to caress her, "What'd you do yesterday?"

Beca shook her head, mostly to herself since she still couldn't believe she had been so impulsive, then looked up to meet Chloe's gaze.

"I made a bet with Luke yesterday that I could beat him in the four hundred meter dash on Friday."

Chloe blinked. That was it?

"Oh," she said, moving a hand to rub her back, "Well, what's wrong with that?"

Beca sighed again and untied her ponytail to run her fingers through her hair.

"I bet him fifty bucks and I just know I'm gonna–" Beca hesitated, focusing on the feel of Chloe's hand rubbing small, soothing circles on her back. She felt like she wanted to cry, but she really didn't want Chloe to see that. She blinked back her tears and shrugged hopelessly, "I'm gonna lose."

"Oh, babe..." Chloe pulled the smaller girl closer to her, holding her tightly for a moment before letting her go to look into her steel blue eyes, "Why would you say that? You can beat him."

Beca shook her head, "No I can't," and then she scoffed a sarcastic laugh, "I couldn't even beat you just now."

Chloe gasped and let go of her girlfriend, "Hey."

Beca snickered, "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that."

And then Chloe's features softened again, "I know," and her hand instinctively reached for the brunette again, this time settling for rubbing her thumb against her arm. "Becs..." She tilted her girlfriend's chin to face her, "Why are you so sure you're going to lose?" She gently combed the fingers of her free hand through the top of her brown hair, "Don't you know how amazing you are?"

Beca made a face, "Chlo..." and she shrugged the redhead's hands off of her, "You're suppose to say that. You're my girlfriend."

Chloe gasped dramatically, hoping a playful tone would help elevate Beca's lowered mood, "Hey, for your information I'm telling you the truth." She promptly poked a finger at Beca's shoulder, "Don't discredit my words."

Beca snickered. She could see right through her girlfriend's attempts at mitigating her defeated state, and honestly, she appreciated it. It was nice knowing she had someone who genuinely cared about her and how she saw herself. It was nice having someone look out for her and remind her of things she seemed to have forgotten. It was nice having a girlfriend.

It was nice having Chloe Beale as her girlfriend.

Beca released a sigh through her nose. Her heart was believing the sincerity that was staring back at her in Chloe's sparkling blue eyes, but Beca's scarred self-conscious still existed within her and wanted her to believe that she was nothing but a loser. Thankfully Beca's heart reached out just a little further than her insecurities for once, and her lips slowly curved into a soft smile.

"Thanks, Chlo. And I'm sorry for how I acted, I wasn't trying to discredit you. It's just–" She sighed again, "I don't know how to beat him."

Chloe looked at her afflicted girlfriend, who's sad eyes were focused on her foot kicking around a small pebble, and wanted to do whatever she could to possibly help her feel better.

"Maybe I can help."

Beca didn't look up, "How?"

And Chloe knew she had to get going, but Beca needed her and she was definitely more important than any classroom assignment. Chloe brought a hand up to hold onto her chin and hummed as she thought back to all of their morning workouts and what she had seen of Beca during their practices. After analyzing her memories, Chloe realized she had recognized a pattern in Beca's methods and she gasped a smile when she finally figured out a potential solution.

"I think I know what your problem is!"

Beca's eyes widened in surprise at the sudden exclamation, and although she was eager to hear about the possible discovery, she still quirked a brow at her choice of words.

"My problem?"

"Listen, just hear me out," Chloe started, sounding excited as ever, "You said you start feeling like your body wants to give out on you by the time you get to the last turn, right?" Beca nodded in response, "Okay, well I think I've noticed what your flaw is." She started using her hands as she explained her theory, and if the topic wasn't as important to Beca as it actually was, she would have giggled with amusement.

"So far– from what I've noticed," Chloe continued, "every time you race, you start it with everything you've got and you sprint at your fastest speed."

Beca furrowed her brow a bit, confused, and shrugged, "Well yeah. That's how I did it at my old school. I started as fast as I could and no one was able to catch up with me."

"Exactly! Don't you see, Beca?" Chloe grabbed onto her shoulders, not forcefully, but enough to keep her focus on her, "You use up all of the energy you have from the get go, so by the time you make it to the last turn, your body is exhausted and can't use any energy that could be left." Beca was still a little befuddled, but she wanted to hear Chloe out until she was completely finished.

"The reason why your technique worked at your old school was probably because everyone else thought the same way, that starting faster meant ending faster. But, that's not the best approach." Chloe was on to something, and Beca could feel herself getting eager to hear her conclusion, "Luke must know the same thing I do. If you start off with everything you've got, then you won't have anything left by the time you reach the finish line. But…" she grinned, subconsciously moving closer to her girlfriend out of elation, "if you start off fast, while still holding back some of your energy, you'll be able to get to the last turn and still have enough in you to bolt down to the finish line and win the race!"

And it was kind of funny, really, how Beca had never thought about, or ever really noticed this about herself. But Chloe had a point. Her explanation was enlightening and the science behind it was sound. Beca processed what this could mean for her and how this new approach could earn her a victory against Luke. And the second Beca realized this, her body ignited with a warmth that she couldn't quite comprehend.

She was excited and happy, and suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to kiss the beautiful redhead standing before her.

So she did.

Without warning, Beca's hands surged forward and pulled Chloe in by her face until their lips heedlessly crashed into each other. It didn't take long for them to fall into a familiar rhythm, however, and eventually Beca lowered her hands to snake them around Chloe's waist and picked her up, off the ground.

Chloe's surprised yelp was muffled by Beca's lips and they both giggled and laughed as Beca playfully spun them around. After a few rotations, Beca gradually lowered the cheerleader back down and kissed her one last time before separating herself with a wide smile.

"Thank you."

Chloe slipped her hands over Beca's and pressed her forehead onto hers, "Anytime, my love."

Beca felt her stomach flip at those words. She had a feeling Chloe would always have this affect on her, and honestly, Beca couldn't have cared less. They stayed in their sweet little moment for about minute, until Beca unexpectedly broke it by snapping her head upright.

"Shit!" she blurted, "You gotta get to class!" Beca grabbed ahold of Chloe's hand and ran to the school building, pulling the laughing redhead behind her.

Despite being physically led by Beca, Chloe managed to stop them before they made it inside. "Beca, it's fine." She lowered her hands to lace her fingers with the brunette's and she smiled at her, "I just want make sure you believe me when I say that you're like–" she tucked a loose strand of brown hair behind Beca's ear, "super, crazy talented." Her hand continued it's path and circled back around to caress just under her chin, "Okay?"

Beca was still unsure of how she got to be so lucky to be with someone like Chloe Beale, but she simply smiled back anyway and nodded, "Okay."

And Beca truly did believe her, but she also wished that her lingering insecurities would stop putting negative thoughts into her head. Her relationship with Chloe had been nothing but positively beneficial for her self-confidence, and Beca hoped that eventually those insecurities would disappear entirely.

Chloe looked up at one of the school clocks hanging on a nearby wall and chuckled, "Okay, now we have to rush."

Together they ran down the hall and somewhere along the way they began a fun game of cat and mouse. Chloe happily took the lead as the "mouse" as they entered the locker room and Beca embraced being the "cat" as she willingly chased after her. Chloe squealed when they darted around a corner and Beca reached for her but failed to get a grip on her. Chloe maneuvered through the aisles of lockers, aiming to get to the shower stalls before Beca, but the brunette was smart. When Chloe wasn't looking, Beca had managed to cut through a different row, and Chloe shrieked when she unexpectedly appeared in front of her. Beca wrapped her arms around the ginger's waist and picked her back up, this time holding her close in a tight embrace.

"Gotcha!" Beca laughed, struggling to keep the squirming redhead in her grasp.

Chloe was laughing too, and couldn't believe Beca had got her, "You cheated!" The sounds of their fun echoed through the empty room and eventually Beca put her girlfriend down with a huff.

"Did not."

Chloe started untying her ponytail and together they walked towards the shower stalls, "You so did."

Beca snickered, "Whatever you say."

Chloe reached one of the stalls first and stepped inside to turn it on. When she pivoted back around, Beca was already removing her shirt. Chloe intuitively tilted her head to side as the tip of her tongue curved to touch the top row of her teeth, and her eyes felt no restraint as they candidly followed every flex of Beca's abdominal muscles. It wasn't until the brunette had completely tugged her shirt off and glanced at her, that Chloe realized what she had been doing.

"Can I help you?" Beca was already grinning, but her smirk only widened when she noticed a light shade of red appearing on Chloe's cheeks. It felt good knowing she also had some kind of enticing affect on her girlfriend.

Chloe laughed sheepishly and looked to the ground, always intrigued by the fact that Beca could get her so flustered. Especially considering the fact that Chloe had always been such a confident person who rarely ever felt nervous around anyone.

"Sorry," Chloe said, but her perplexed state didn't last long, and she looked back up, sporting a familiar, almost rapacious smirk, "but you're kind of irresistible to look at."

And now it was Beca's turn to feel her cheeks involuntarily burning, but she wasn't going to let Chloe gain the upper hand, so she let her eyes fall and gradually raked them back up Chloe's figure until they reconnected with her sapphire orbs.

"Look who's talking," she quipped.

Chloe narrowed her eyes with a hum, "Smooth," and she nodded, moderately, "Very smooth."

Beca matched her convivial sarcasm, "I know, right?" and Chloe just rolled her eyes, failing to hold back the smile that was emerging on her lips.

Once their little game had ended itself, Chloe followed Beca's lead and removed her shirt. She continued to undress herself and somehow managed to stop herself from drooling over Beca's athletic form. Chloe tied her hair back up, this time in a messy bun, and opened the shower curtain to step inside. She moved to closed the curtain behind her, but quickly stopped when she almost hit Beca with it.

"Woah!" The brunette yelped, jerking backwards and dodging the curtain before it could touch her.

"Oh," Chloe said, suddenly, and oddly, sounding uncomfortable, "Uh, sorry, Becs."

Beca chuckled, "It's okay," and she proceeded to enter the stall.

"Wait."

The track star stopped immediately and looked at Chloe's face, furrowing her brow at the concerned expression staring back at her.

"What is it?"

"Um..." Chloe nervously bit down on her bottom lip. She didn't want to say it. She didn't want to have to say it. But the truth of the matter was, after what had happened with Aubrey the last time, showering with Beca had unfortunately become a risk. "Would it be okay if we maybe... didn't, shower together?"

Her question was unexpected and Beca could feel her chest tightening with worry, "Oh, uh–" She didn't want jump to conclusions, but she already had a strong feeling of how this conversation was going to end. "Can I ask why?"

Chloe hated what she was doing. This was not what she wanted, but, she had to be honest, "Well, it's just that–" She took in a breath and released a low sigh, "Aubrey almost caught us last time, and I just think that maybe it'd be safer if we just didn't shower together." She tried her best to make it sound light, "Ya know?"

Beca struggled to not express her sadness, and despite her best efforts, Chloe could still recognize a hint of it glistening in her dark eyes.

Chloe reached for her girlfriend, "I'm sorry, Becs," but Beca only took a step back.

"N-No, it's cool." She took another step, avoiding Chloe's gaze as she felt herself rapidly losing control of her disappointed emotions. "I get it."

Chloe felt horrible. She knew Beca was bothered by the rejection and it killed her to feel like she didn't really have much of a choice. This was the agreement they originally settled on, wasn't it? Sneaking around in order to be affectionate with one another, and sometimes doing things they didn't want to in order to make sure no one found out about them. Keeping their relationship a secret was challenging and complicated, but… that's what they both wanted... right?

Chloe felt sick to her stomach as Beca continued to step away. She really didn't want her to go, but, what choice did she have?

Beca was still avoiding any eye contact and breathed a very short chuckle that Chloe knew was a cover up.

"I guess I'll just–" Beca finally looked at her, her eyes missing their usual spark and she gestured to the stall next to hers, "I'll shower over here and uh, I guess I'll just… see you when we get out." Another fake chuckle and Beca was out of Chloe's sight before she could get another word in.

Chloe naturally wanted to say "fuck it" and apologize for her stupid words, and go after Beca. But she also knew that what she had just done had hurt Beca, and she felt that right then and there was probably not the best time to try to fix things and make it up to her. Chloe hope that Beca wouldn't still be upset with her by the time Cooking class came around, but she honestly couldn't be too sure.

Beca, on the other hand, reluctantly entered a separate stall and showered in silence. She could literally feel the thick and awkward tension filling the air between them, and she couldn't help but feel frustrated about it all.

Beca knew that she didn't want their relationship to be a secret anymore. She knew that she wanted to spend every single day with Chloe if she could, and tell people that, "Yeah, she's my girlfriend."

But she couldn't. And that wasn't fair.

Chloe's recent forbiddances were slowly starting to get to Beca, the hurt of each one stacking on top of the other and gradually becoming more and more unbearable. And Beca knew that Chloe loved her just as much as she did. She had to. Their moments together were too beautiful to be created by two people who just simply 'liked each other a lot.' No, what they had was different. It was special. It felt like there was a ripple in the universe every time they were together. They would do absolutely anything for each other.

Well… that is, except tell the world about it.

But they loved each other. They did. They truly, truly did, with everything they had.

But maybe… maybe that love wasn't enough anymore.

Author's 2nd Note: ...don't hate me.