you make my dreams – hall & oats
Chapter 1
"It's just through there, sugar baby."
Beca giggled, watching as her childhood best friend cycled over with a little Labrador in his bicycle basket. "That is a really stupid nickname, you know?"
Mr Snuffles winked "What, and Mr Snuffles isn't? I'll have you know I was christened Theodore Bear."
"Theodore Bear!" Beca threw her head back this time, letting out a loud cackle and looking up at the Simpsons-style fluffy white mounds in the sky. "You're an idiot, Mr Bear."
"And you, my child, are going to be late for school."
"Huh? Late for school?"
"Beca."
"Wait, I just need to- "
"Wake up, Beca."
"But- "
"Beca!"
Suddenly squinting at the bright light beaming over her face, Beca sat up, face scrunched and hand immediately reaching up to shield her eyes. Once she'd gotten a hold of her bearings, her vision adjusted to find her father's stern teacher glare staring back at her. Beca groaned, throwing her head back onto her pillow and shutting her eyes, cheeks flushed in embarrassment as she remembered her dream.
She better not have been sleep talking again.
"Beca, get up. I'm not going to tell you again." Ben clenched his jaw.
Beca groaned louder, pulling her duvet over her head. "Go away."
"Rebecca!" Ben snapped, making Beca flinch and whine. "It's already seven o'clock. In case you haven't noticed, summer is over and-"
"Wait, seven o'clock!?" She jumped up, knocking her Walkman over onto the hardwood floor. She winced, quickly picking it up and stumbling out of bed. "Dad, why didn't you wake me earlier?"
"Excuse me, young lady, you didn't set your alarm clock. Again. We wouldn't have this problem if you would just do as I say-"
"Don't have a cow." Beca glared. "Fuck me, I'm gonna be late."
"Language, Beca. We're leaving in twenty minutes."
"What do you mean we…" Beca whined. As if her morning could getany worse. "I have a car now."
"Our agreement was that you can only drive to school when you're organised enough. This is not organisation." Ben stated pointedly, huffing out a small chuckle as he watches Beca take a moment to pick out an outfit before rushing past him to get to her bathroom.
Instead of replying, Beca merely rolled her eyes as she grabbed her towel. This was going to be so embarrassing – sophomore year and she'll be the only kid having her dad still driving her to school. This was not how this morning was supposed to go. She can't even stop off for coffee now. Looking in the mirror, Beca sent her silent prayer of thanks to the man upstairs for her natural hair. It could just about pass this morning – curly enough to look good. It was no perm, but it would do. She brushed her teeth at lightning speed so that she had enough time to do her eyeliner, doing her best to make it just bold enough to pass as bold but not enough to get in trouble for it. She wasn't looking to get as many detentions as last year, especially not on the first day of school. Taking a moment to glare at her reflection, Beca groaned at the thought of having to go back to school. This summer had been great, all she really did was learn a bunch of songs and practise her music (yes, practising included adding to her vast collection of vinyls, productivity at its finest). She did not want to go back to being stuck inside a classroom, using up all her energy glaring at the jocks and avoiding participation in gym class. She could be doing so much more with her time; it was aggravating as hell to have to come home every day and spend her evening doing homework instead of working on her music or at least watching TV. But whatever. This year would be different. Less classes meant less homework, right? It wouldn't be as ridiculous as freshman year was. She was interrupted from her moping by her dad's voice.
"Beca? Cereal or toast!?"
"Car!" she yelled back.
"What?"
"Car!"
"What do you mean 'car'!?"
"I mean I'm eating in the car!"
"Cereal it is!"
Beca growled, leaving her makeup strewn on the counter and rushing to get changed. Her dad was so annoying. Well, he wasn't that bad most of the time, but when he was acting like her personal alarm clock and planner? He was annoying. Sickening, even. If she spilt milk over her shirt she would not hesitate to turn the car around and skip school for today.
In between her dad's ever so careful driving and trying not to spill her cereal on her denim jacket or her jeans, making it to school and having ten minutes to spare before class was a miracle. Beca rushed to the school office and got her locker combination and timetable for the year. She was just on her way to stuff her belongings away when she bumped into a familiar face.
"Beca!" Stacie gasped, rushing up to her best friend with a wide grin.
Beca allowed herself a lopsided grin as she opens her arms wide. "Stace." Stacie was her best friend; they'd known each other since the womband she was the only person Beca ever allowed a hug from. They'd only seen each other last week but embraced as if it had been years.
"Bec. Guess what."
"You're finally pregnant!" Beca said genuinely, not being able to keep a straight face as she laughed at the insulted look Stacie gave her.
"Fuck you, Mitchell." Stacie scoffed. "You're way off."
"What is it?"
"I'm gonna try out for Barden cheer!" Stacie exclaimed excitedly, clapping her hands.
Beca nearly dropped her guitar in shock. "You what?"
"Barden cheer. As in, cheerleading."
"Yeah, I know what-what cheerleading is, Stacie," Beca mumbled, blinking in confusion up at her. "I just-I just don't understand why you would want to skip around in a tiny little skirt and shake your pompoms and throw your legs up in the air and scream whenever a guy jogs a little. It's-it's like cheering on a fish for swimming."
The shorter brunette sighed as she watched Stacie's face drop at her discouragement. She didn't mean to lay it all on her like that. Beca softened her tone. "I just don't want you being labelled as a dumb cheerleader guys can fuck whenever they want."
"That's sweet, Bec, but I don't think that's gonna be a problem." Stacie half-shrugged.
Beca chuckled. It was true, everyone knew Stacie was headed for Harvard or Yale. "Yeah, I guess. I never pegged you for someone who would wanna be a cheerleader. But I'll come sit and watch try-outs. Just don't fuck up and embarrass us."
Stacie grinned, happy that she was getting the Mitchell stamp of approval. "I don't think that'll be a problem either. I'm a better dancer and gymnast than half the girls already on the squad. And the best people left last year. They definitely need me more than I need them."
"You don't need them at all, dude." Beca told her. "It's still only sophomore year and you've got enough extra-curriculars to skip college and go straight to a PhD."
"Yeah, it's just for fun. What're you thinking of doing this year for extras?"
Beca shrugged, turning to open her locker and stuff her guitar inside just as the bell rang. "Band, I guess."
"Bec, you should do glee club."
"You say this every year and every year I say bite me." Beca rolled her eyes. "The day you see me snapping my fingers in glee club with Aubrey fucking Posen will be the day I burn my vinyls."
"Just normal choir, then! Bec you're amazing. Please…" Stacie pouted.
"No!" Beca glared at her seriously. "Drop it, Stace. Let's just go to homeroom."
It was Stacie's turn to roll her eyes as she pushed Beca's locker shut and threw an arm around her shoulder to lead her to their new homeroom, knowing full well Beca wouldn't bother check her timetable to see where they'll be. Having not checked any of her teachers yet, Beca's eyebrows rose and she smirked in silent appreciation as she laid eyes upon their homeroom teacher for this year.
"Keep it in your pants, Mitchell." Stacie muttered to her, snickering quietly at the girl's obviousness.
It wasn't a secret that Beca liked girls. Well, it wasn't a secret to Stacie – Beca wasn't about to tell the whole school. Beca just turned and grinned at her best friend. "This'll be a fun year."
Stacie merely chuckled and scoffed, pushing her friend further into the room. Their teacher was fairly young, probably in her mid-twenties, and wore a tightfitting green turtleneck, high-waisted black slacks with heeled boots. She was new for sure, with long curly dark hair, a chocolate complexion and bright eyes. In other words, she was gorgeous, and her being new meant that Beca would be able to get away with a lot more than she got away with last year. As Beca and Stacie chose a random pair of seats, Beca cast her eyes up at the blackboard. The teacher's name was Miss Berry. Once the room was full, Miss Berry walked round her desk an cleared her throat.
"Hey everyone, my name is Miss Berry, I've just moved here from California and one interesting fact about me is that I love pizza. That pretty much covers it, right?"
Th class had the decency to chuckle at her fairly lame joke. Beca smirked. She was introducing herself as if she was a transfer student.
"Let's do the roll call then we can have a quick chat before first period." Miss Berry chuckled. "Rebecca Mitchell?"
The class sniggered. Instead of rolling her eyes as she usually would, Beca just smiled politely at their teacher. "Beca's fine."
"Beca, okay, let me try that one more time." Miss Berry chuckled, scribbling down the amendment to her piece of paper. She cleared her throat. "Beca Mitchell?"
"Here, Miss."
Apart from having a cool teacher, the rest of homeroom was pretty boring, just admin about what to expect from the first week of school and a very clear attempt from Miss Berry to appear more like a friend than a teacher to them. She wanted her class to know that if they ever need to, they can talk to her and she won't rat them out or gossip about their business unless it was essential to tell the school counsellor. In all honesty, she was pretty nice and apart from Stacie, Beca didn't really trust any other kid enough to talk to them. If there was anything, speaking to Miss Berry didn't sound like a terrible idea. Miss Berry gave them ten minutes before the end of homeroom to talk amongst themselves as she walked around and tried to learn a little more about the kids. When she got to Beca, she sat at the edge of her desk.
"Sorry about the name thing earlier. Your last homeroom teacher didn't brief me on the nickname."
"Not surprising, he hated my guts." Beca rolled her eyes.
"I'm told that your best subjects are Music and English. That's pretty cool, Beca,"
Smiling at the teacher, Beca nodded. "Yeah."
"I'm an English teacher."
"So's my dad."
"Is that why you're good at it?" Miss Berry smirked.
"Pretty much." Beca shrugged, forcing out a little chuckle.
Miss Berry laughed. "Well, if you like reading I could recommend you a few books that haven't been father approved before."
"Sure," Beca grinned. "Thanks."
"On one condition. You do your best to get to school on time more often this year." Miss Berry looked pointedly at her.
Stacie snorted, and Beca leant over and flicked her arm. "Shut up, Stace." Beca turned back to their teacher and nodded. "I'll try my best, Miss."
"Great. See you later,"
Waiting until after Miss Berry walked past, Beca rolled her eyes drastically at her best friend. Stacie chose to ignore her, instead changing the subject to the latest music video premiered on MTV last week. The time flew by and even Stacie couldn't help but groan as the bell sounded for the next period. First class of the year was always a bore-fest. On her way out, Beca was stopped by their teacher.
"I'm sorry to have to bring this up Beca." Miss Berry said, her tone entirely different from the light jokey way she was speaking earlier.
Beca looked questionably at her, but her chest already had that awful sinking feeling she got whenever she knew she was about to be pitied.
"I just-you know earlier when I said you could talk to me about stuff if you want. Don't forget that, okay? The principal and counsellor told me about your mother. I know speaking to the same pushy adults about your personal life isn't great, so I'm another alternative if you ever do want to talk, okay? You don't even have to talk we can just…we can just sit and listen to music or sit in silence. Anything works for me." Miss Berry was clearly nervous as she wrung her hands together, smiling warmly.
For the first time, the pity wasn't evident. It was there, sure, but it wasn't overwhelming. It wasn't exactly a reminder she welcomed right before class, but Beca was more grateful for the intrusion this time than annoyed. Her mother's death was only just over a year ago, the summer before freshman year. Beca did her absolute best to hide the grief from everyone, she only ever really let Stacie witness it, so she wasn't about to sit and sob to her teacher. It was difficult, though, so Miss Berry's offer was pretty sweet.
"Thanks, Miss." Beca managed a small smile. "I'm not about to schedule weekly therapy sessions, but thanks."
Her joke made Miss Berry chuckle and clearly less stiff. "I don't expect you to, Beca. Sorry to have to bring this up right before class."
"Don't worry about it, Miss B. See you later." Beca smiled, waving goodbye.
She walked out to find Stacie waiting for her.
"Hey, what was that about?" Stacie asked, peering back inside the room to see Mis Berry taking a deep breath.
Beca shrugged her off. "Just my mom."
"Got it. Ready for class?"
"What do we have first?"
"Math."
"Bite me!" Beca groaned, making her best friend laugh.
"Let's go, shorty."
The first day back wasn't as bad as Beca thought it would be, to be honest. She only had half her classes because of an assembly after lunch – which also meant she missed gym, so that was definitely a bonus. Everybody was definitely still in holiday mode, so she wasn't really approached by anyone. It wasn't long before she was standing on the outskirts of the track and field, talking to Stacie before her cheer try-out.
"Remember sweetheart, you're the money-maker here. Book one gig and it starts up your college fund. Book three and you don't even need to go to college." Beca told her, the classic mischievous Mitchell glint appearing in her eye as it always did whenever she was fucking around.
"Shut up, Beca," Stacie chuckled.
"My little girl's gonna be the star of the cheer squad!" Beca cried loudly and proudly, throwing her arms up into the air and attracting attention from the other girls standing around them.
Stacie laughed and shoved her away. "Stop being a stage mom and sit on the bleachers."
"Bring in the big bucks, baby." Beca called behind her as she started to walk off.
An unfamiliar giggle made her pause in her tracks. That definitely wasn't Stacie. Beca slowly pivoted until she was face to face with the brightest, bluest eyes she had ever seem. She blinked, dumbfounded, for a moment, staring at the eyes.
"You're really funny."
Have mercy, Beca thought. The voice was melodic and soft, like heaven. Beca blinked again until she could focus on the girl rather than just her eyes. Beca's eyes flickered to her hair, noticing it was a lovely shade of red and cascaded in gentle waves, cupping her lightly freckled face and rosy cheeks. Beca bit her lip briefly, forcing herself not to stare for much longer lest she scare the redhead off.
"Thanks." Beca said breathily. "You're-um-you're really pre-"
"Chloe!"
The redhead whipped round in response to her name being called, and Beca looked too to find it was Posen who had screamed it. Beca inwardly groaned. Of course this girl – Chloe – was friends with Posen. Of course.
"Gotta go!" Chloe said brightly, running off to the stern-faced blonde standing on the track.
On second thought, thank fuck for Aubrey Posen. Beca had only just realised what she was about to say. Calling a girl pretty when she hadn't even met her was crazy. Maybe she should've worked harder at interacting with more than two people this past summer. Beca shook her head slightly to snap herself out of her stupor. With a small sigh, Beca started climbing up the bleachers to watch the try-outs. Yes, Chloe was pretty. But she needed to get a grip.