The Ten Things I Hate About Chloe Beale
Chapter One - Beca Mitchell: The Queen of Bad Ideas
Here's the thing about Beca Mitchell: She didn't come to college to make friends. When she heard people describing the optimum college experience, she rolled her eyes and called them stupid under her breath. She had no time for classes and studying, internships and extracurricular activities when there was music to be made. She had a year to get her shit together and to make good enough mixes to make it when she finally got out to LA and this college thing was a painful, but necessary evil to get her father to open up his pocketbook and send her on her way.
All of this was true until her shower was invaded one evening by the perkiest person she had ever met and as her eyes wandered and her voice soared in the warm acoustics of the communal bathroom; she felt her entire world flip upside down. Gone were the days of sleeping until noon, lazing around at the radio station, and ignoring Kimmy Jin as she worked all night on her music. Now, she was singing and dancing with a group of misfits, finding herself sandwiched in small booths at diners between the redhead and her dictator best friend as they argued over music, and laughing until her sides ached as her friend, (who would have thought that would happen?), Fat Amy told strange tales about Tasmania and worked Aubrey into a tizzy.
She was still skipping classes and avoiding studying all together, but somehow she had become friends with these girls and it was ruining her. The music was coming less frequently as her afternoons and evenings were filled with vocal practices, cardio sessions, and bonding time. She found herself actually enjoying 'Karaoke Fridays' and late night movie sessions, which were just an excuse to gossip and pig out on junk food under Aubrey's watchful eye. They went clubbing in Atlanta and took a trip one weekend to the beach in Florida and to her complete and utter shock, she was enjoying every minute of it.
Don't get her wrong, it was still shamefully dorky to rock out to mid-90s pop jams, but for the first time she had actual friends that were girls and while it was strange to her that they all seemed to like her, it wasn't unwelcome. Plus, the upside of all of this time spent with the Bellas was the proximity to a certain redhead that they afforded. Chloe went to everything and practically attached herself to Beca's hip any chance that she got. They were close and it had happened quickly, just like the drunken girl had predicted during hood night, but it was also very welcome to Beca and even though she would roll her eyes and smirk when Chloe would get overly touchy, she secretly enjoyed it.
What she didn't expect though were the other feelings that she was getting from the ginger. The way that they would stare at each other frequently at practices, only looking away when the other noticed, or how Chloe's eyes would practically haunt her dreams at night (Seriously, how could one person's eyes be so annoyingly haunting and blue? Not a normal dark blue like her own, but the kind that told you a whole story just by looking into them and captivated you while breaking your heart at the same time.) The way that she would raise an eyebrow before shoving or tackling Beca over a droll comment that she would make and how she would sneak up behind her just to catch her off guard with a hug. The practices where Chloe would insist that she needed to be hands-on for Beca to understand the choreography and the moments when she would lean into the senior and feel completely safe.
She could easily call Chloe her best friend and these feelings couldn't happen under any circumstances. She had lost too many guy friends when an easy friendship turned uncomfortable over a crush and this wasn't going to happen again. Plus, Chloe didn't even like girls (She had been showering with a guy before she sang with her and she was pretty sure that they weren't just washing their hair) and this was an easy way to ruin the best thing about Barden. So, Beca did the only thing that made sense to her and came up with a list of things that she hated about Chloe Beale. A list to stop herself from falling in love with the one person she couldn't have and to get her constant thoughts of the girl out of her head and onto paper.
Here's another thing about Beca Mitchell: She's the queen of bad ideas. The girl that thinks a shower room is a safe place to belt out "lady jams". Who tosses her rape whistle in the trash as soon as she gets the chance, even though she's pretty sure that Atlanta is a dangerous city and that she has the strength of a child and could never fight someone off. The girl that thinks watching a movie with a guy friend in a darkened room won't lead to awkward near kisses and strained conversations. Someone that thinks that she can just be friends with someone like Chloe and leave it at that.
So, when it came to dealing with her feelings, Beca thought that the best possible solution was to make a list of all of her crush's faults and to leave it (Not on purpose!) in a place where the aforementioned shower-invader could easily find it. All of that wasn't so bad, but she was dealing with a person who had few boundaries and who had flipped through her iPod and raided her closet the very first time that Beca had invited her over. A bad idea was describing it graciously, in actuality it was a completely train wreck and Beca was the girl tied to the tracks as it all went down, unable to move or say anything to save herself from her latest screw-up.
Beca shouldn't have been surprised when Chloe strolled through her door on a Thursday evening (The one night when everything seemed to go wrong), holding a stack of movies in one hand and a pizza in the other. She hadn't been invited and didn't even bother to knock on the door, but that was classically Chloe and Beca even found it somewhat charming as she fumbled with the door and smiled her soul-crushing smile as she announced "Surprise! It's movie night!"
"Seriously? We just had movie night on Sunday and I can't bear to sit through another romantic comedy again. I might have to kill myself and you can blame Katherine Heigl for it." Beca shook her head as Chloe flung the DVDs onto her desk and slid her Mac shut, knowing that there was no way that she would be getting any work done tonight. "Is she in every sappy movie or just the ones that you guys like?"
"She's in pretty much all of them." Chloe shrugged as she placed the pizza onto the bed and motioned for Beca to grab a piece. "So, what were you working on? Can I listen?"
"One day, but not tonight. It's not finished and I don't like to let anyone listen to my stuff until it's perfect. Besides, we have movies to watch now and pizza to eat. What kind did you get anyway? Please tell me that you got a supreme because every movie night I hope that someone will give in and order one, but it's always pepperoni and cheesy garbage. You haven't lived until you've eaten a pizza with everything on it."
"Yes, I got you a supreme", Chloe replied with a roll of her eyes. "I was tired of hearing you complain every time we order in and I'll suffer through the peppers and onions just for you. I forgot drinks though, so I hope you have something in your fridge or it's just going to be water and pizza and that sounds pretty gross."
"Yeah, I have some stuff. Besides, if I didn't, we could just raid Kimmy's fridge and steal some of hers. I'd protect you from her angry Korean wrath because you brought me pizza and now I am eternally in your debt."Beca winked as she stood from her desk, grabbing the pizza off of the bed and wincing when she saw a grease stain on her comforter, but choosing to ignore it as she placed the box on Kimmy's bare desk.
Chloe flung herself backwards across Beca's sofa bed and said "Now you're being dramatic. The only thing you owe me is to get your ass out of your chair and to lay down with me and watch this movie. Aubrey is being a major pain and I need you to distract me before I kill her."
She rubbed at the small stain on the bed, frowning when it didn't wipe away and asked "Have you seen Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion? It's pretty much the best movie ever and I know that I say that about all of them, but I'm for serious about this. You're going to actually like it and it's going to change your mind about movies being stupid. I'm going to be a hero because of this and you're going to thank me when it's done. I aca-guarantee it."
"Don't start that, you'll sound just like Aubrey and I'll have to kick you out. It's nice to see that you're just using me to get away from her for the evening, but I don't blame you and I guess I can give up on this one mix for you." She smirked as she opened up her mini-fridge and asked "Now, what do you want to drink? I have water and Gatorade and Coke."
Chloe had stood up and was loading the DVD into Kimmy's player when she answered "Um…Coke is fine. Why do you have Gatorade? Are Aubrey's workouts wearing you out that much? You must really be out of shape!"
Beca opened up her own can of soda and was about to respond to Chloe's remark, when she tripped over her boots that she had left in the middle of the floor, and fell into her desk, catching herself with her palms but spilling the can in the process. As the dark liquid started to run across the wooden surface of the desk, it inched towards her laptop and DJ equipment and Beca's eyes widened as she gasped "Oh shit! Napkins, I need napkins!"
"Are you okay? Are you hurt? Bleeding?" Chloe rushed across the room, placing a worried hand on Beca's back and staring down at her anxiously.
"I have to get some from the bathroom. Move my laptop before it gets ruined. I'll be back."
Chloe watched as the younger girl bolted from the room and quickly picked Beca's Mac up, placing it on the bed before returning to the desk to clear off the other pricey equipment. As she shoved Beca's DJ stuff towards the corner of her desk, she spotted a small journal that had been hidden under a stack of blank CDs and tossed it onto the bed, frowning as it bounced off of the mattress and landed on the floor.
She left the desk and went to pick up the open journal, holding it in her hands and starting to shut it when her eyes caught a glimpse of her name on the page and she couldn't stop herself from reading what had been written about her. She knew that it was wrong and terribly invasive, but she liked Beca and hoped that maybe she would read a confession of love or attraction in the cramped handwriting that filled the page. She couldn't have been more wrong though and her mouth fell open as she read through the incomplete list on the page.
Beca had slipped back into the room a moment later and froze when she saw Chloe reading her private journal. She crossed the small distance between them and yanked it out of her hands, holding it tightly and frowning at Chloe, who couldn't meet her eye. She ran a hand through her hair, forgetting completely about the mess on her desk, and snapped "What the hell, Chloe?! I know that you're nosy, but that's my journal and everyone, even people without any boundaries like yourself, knows that a journal is off limits. I can't believe that you read my journal! Did you actually open it up and read through it or was it an accident?"
When Chloe looked up at her with teary eyes, Beca knew that something was up, and raised an eyebrow as Chloe hurriedly swiped her hand across her eyes and started to walk towards the door. As she reached down to grab her purse, she looked up at Beca and replied "I'm sorry, it fell open when I tried to save it from your mess. Maybe you can put this on your list too. You can really round it out and use this as reason number ten to hate me."
Beca's mouth fell open at her words and as she looked down at the page held open by her thumb, she paled and knew that she was in trouble now. Somehow, by some twist of fate or curse, it had fallen open to the page that had scrolled across the top in big bold letters: The Ten Things I Hate About Chloe Beale. She wanted desperately to sink through the floor as the realization settled in and she softly murmured "Chlo, it's…it's not what you think. I don't hate you…"
"Sure, you just made that list for fun. It's all just a joke, right?" Chloe shook her head as her lip quivered with emotion and opened up the door. "You do something like that and then act completely comfortable with me all the time. You were going to watch a movie and lay in bed with someone that you hate? That's really messed up Beca, even for you, so I think I'm going to leave. I'll see you tomorrow at practice."
As Chloe left the room quickly, Beca tried to follow after her but was met with the door slamming in her face. She had screwed up big time and once she cleaned up her desk and put everything back, she called and texted Chloe all night but didn't get a response back.
She had chased away the one person that she thought was unmovable and tomorrow would be even worse when Aubrey would undoubtedly know about it and make her life at practice a living hell. She was an idiot and a screw-up and dead once Aubrey got a hold of her.
A/N: If you're reading my other stuff, I'm not taking a break from it and it will get finished. This is just a distraction from the angst-fest and I hope you enjoyed it!