"I'm telling you, I know what I saw." Beca and Stacie were getting ready for their first day of classes in their dorm room. Stacie had tried on three outfits and none of them were going to work for her. Beca knew this was because Stacie was thinking about the possibility of meeting her soulmate, even if Stacie wouldn't say it. They were in a new area surrounded by new people, which meant the possibility of running into her soulmate was that much greater. Otherwise, Stacie was the most confident and boisterous person Beca knew. She hardly ever second-guessed an outfit.

"And I'm telling you, no two tattoos are alike. Their entirely unique images. Never in history - and trust me I googled it - has there been tattoos of soulmates that were the same as another soulmate pair." Stacie told her as she threw another shirt on the ground. The mess on the floor made Beca wonder what the point of hanging them all up yesterday was.

"Well there's always a first for something," Beca replied, trying to hide the tinge of disappointment lingering on her vocal cords. "I'm telling you, their soulmates. They had the exact same tattoo and their dating so… case solved, Chloe isn't my soulmate."

Stacie was silent for a while after that, trying on her last outfit which Beca could've sworn looked very similar to the first outfit she'd tried on a half hour ago. At this rate, they were going to be late for their individual 9am classes. Not that Beca cared. Besides the fact that her dad could look up her attendance. Beca rolled her eyes at the thought. It was something he would do. Stacie looked in the mirror and put a pair of earrings in. Beca took the time to notice the differences in their styles. Beca wore colors that blended into the corners of the world - blacks, dark blues, forest greens. Stacie wore something like the opposite. She was a bright person that stood in the center of the room. As she looked, Stacie caught her eye through the mirror. "You know what has happened in history?" She asked and Beca shook her head, no. "Soulmate Throuples." Stacie looked back down at her outfit - almost as if she was afraid to say the words.

Beca burst into laughter and shook her head. "You have got to be kidding me." She was still smiling when she saw that Stacie wasn't laughing. "Oh come on. I don't want a soulmate at all. What kind of fate would fuck me over with two?" The serious expression Stacie responded with made Beca's joy falter only a bit.

Stacie responded in a small voice, turning to meet her gaze without the middleman of her mirror. "Maybe it's the person who doesn't want a soulmate that needs two." Beca's jaw dropped at the very notion that Stacie could possibly think that Perky Red and Stuck up Blonde - Aubrey and Chloe - could both be her soulmates. When Beca didn't respond, Stacie grabbed her backpack and went for the door. "Either way, I'm still going to the Bellas audition this afternoon. You should too. I mean, the girl burst into your shower to convince you - I'd say that's a pretty compelling reason to."

Beca shook her head, grabbing her side pack to follow Stacie out the door. "I really don't think it's a good idea, Conrad. I'm not even a singer."

"Don't act like you don't record yourself in your mixes," Stacie told her. "You're a good singer and I'm sure your composition puts you over the top. Plus you've got a recommendation from one of the co-captains, right? You're basically a shoe-in and I don't see you joining any other clubs to fill that part of you and your dad's agreement." Stacie shrugged. "You don't have a lot of options, Beca. Plus I'll be there." Stacie playfully elbowed Beca's shoulder and Beca sighed. The other brunette was right, there weren't all too many options for her.

Not long after, Stacie and her split up in the quad, and Beca was off to Music Composition I. It took her a minute to find the wing her classes were primarily in. Barden was a big university, dabbling in too many majors and mastering none if Beca had anything to say about it. Nevertheless, it was smooth sailing after that. And Beca thanked her lucky stars that she found the information useful enough to distract herself from the previous day (and night). She delved into the classes and figured that if she had to be there for a year, she might as well make use of it for her life in Los Angeles. Before she knew it she was done for the day with plenty of time to stop by the campus radio station to fill out an application. The extra money would help her out after she got settled in Los Angeles. It'd give her time to find a job. Luke seemed like a nice enough boss and had her start right away. Another guy in her classes worked there two - Jesse - and he wasn't too annoying. Six came faster than Beca expected and she was off work with just enough time to make it to the Bellas audition. Not that she wanted to. She'd just go and see if she could catch Stacie's audition. Before she knew it she was in the auditorium. She'd more than missed Stacie's audition so she was looking around the auditorium to see if she could find her. She looked in the halls and around the backstage area. No luck.

"Wait! There's one more!" Beca froze when she saw that Chloe's eyes were on her - the only person on the stage right side of the auditorium. Beca stared at her for a split second and she couldn't breathe all over again - just like the shower. Chloe's eyes were glowing at her - excited to see her. She didn't have the heart to tell Chloe that she was just looking for Stacie.

Regretting every step, she walked with tense shoulders out to where Chloe and Aubrey sat together, clipboards and pens in hand. They seemed to watch her every move - Aubrey with a piercing gaze as if she was trying to figure out a puzzle and Chloe with her eyes like bioluminescence. "Um… I didn't know we had to prepare that song." Beca told them as she closed the distance of the stage between her and them. She gripped her long grey sleeves closer to the palm of her hand to hide her wrist.

"Oh, that's okay!" Chloe smiled. "Sing anything you want."

Beca scrunched her nose at the excitement in the redhead's voice. Then she bent over on her knees and awkwardly asked for the cup full of pens in front of her. Chloe quickly let her have it and Beca poured out the pens onto their desk. Aubrey watched her with a rapt - and confused - attention. Beca put the cup into a simple rhythm and sang to its beat. "I got my ticket for the long way round." The attention of both girls, eyes so transfixed on her, made Beca blush. She had to think hard to recognize one lyric after the next. It didn't get any comfortable when the two girls changed their expressions from confused to impressed. She tried to keep the focus on the cup - on the song. She looked up again when the song was over and Chloe gave her that bright and reassuring smile again, while Aubrey stared at her with curious disbelief.

The auditorium adjourned after that and the auditions were over. Beca found Stacie in the crowd of exiting college students. She had hoped that Stacie didn't see her performance, but of course, she had. "That was amazing, Beca. There's no chance in hell you're not getting in now so… Congratulations?" The congrats came in a bit of a sarcastic tone, surely acknowledging that Beca didn't exactly want to be in the Bellas at all. Or hang out with those two girls constantly. Beca rolled her eyes at her and they walked back to their dorm.

Beca was looking forward to getting to sleep early that night - having had none the night before. Unfortunately for her, that didn't happen. Instead, she went to sleep for only two hours before she was awoken by the sound of a distressed Stacie in the bed across from her. No sooner than opening her eyes did she feel someone pulling her out of bed by her arm. Beca pulled away from them and they responded with a black hood over her face. Then, Beca's response quickly turned to panic. She thrashed against them and ripped their arms away. Straight away, she went for the hood on her head. She was stopped by a gentle tone of voice and two hands on her wrists. "Easy Beca, It's initiation night."

Chloe.

Beca pulled her arm further into her sleeve. "I didn't think this was a sorority, Red," Beca mumbled, a smirk on her face. She slipped her hands into her sleeves against the friction of Chloe's grip.

"You sound so sure it's not a cult." Chloe joked and Beca could hear the faint sound of her giggling. The sound made Beca smile.

"You'd do better in a cult than a sorority, Mitchell." Aubrey's voice added from across the room.

"You know me for a whole 48 hours and you know that?" Beca snarked back and each of the three laughed.

"It's pretty obvious," Stacie told her as the four of them shuffled toward the door, each of the co-captains leading a recruit. The two co-captains laughed again.

Beca shuffled uncomfortably under Chloe's hands leading her forward. "You okay, Becs?" Chloe whispered too low for anyone else to hear.

Beca swallowed. She tried to relax, but none of this made her comfortable. She didn't like being so out of control. She was painfully aware that her wrist was in Chloe's hand. Her tattoo was only separated from it by her sleeve. "Becs, huh? The a is just too much for you huh? The s easier?" She joked about the nickname to fill the air left by Chloe's question. Chloe only giggled in return.

Not long after their walk ended and the initiation began. A group of girls Beca vaguely remembered from the auditorium. Then came a long speech from Aubrey and a juice Beca hesitated to drink at all. Chloe reassured her it was only juice and not the blood of former Bella's or something weirder. With a wink. Then the girls were released into an outdoor Amphitheatre, where other a cappella groups joined them for an initiation party. It was everything Beca expected from a college party - besides the a cappella groups. There was booze, booze, drunk college kids, and more booze. The last thing Beca remembered was the taste of jiggle juice and Stacie at some point holding her up on her feet. Then, it was morning.