Operation: Barden Infiltration

"That's a wonderful idea Becs! Why the change of heart?" My dad asked excitedly, but with a curious lift of his eyebrow.

"Like you said, I can't just sit on my ass all day. So I figured I'd start preparing for my future or whatever." I couldn't tell him the real reason, obviously. It was just too crazy, and would have me in a straitjacket or something.

"Alright then. The next semester starts in a couple months, and we'll get…"

"No!" my sudden exclamation obviously caught my dad by surprise, if the comical way his eyebrows hit his hairline was any indication. "I mean, umm… I'd just like to get started sooner rather than later." I followed this up with a completely uncharacteristic, at least for me, puppy dog expression.

My father just stared at me for a moment or two, still with those ridiculously raised brows. At last, his expression softened and I knew I'd won. "Alright Beca. If it's that important to you, I'll see what I can do. No promises."

"Thank you!" and I grabbed him in a hug. Again, I caught him by surprise, but it didn't take him long to return the gesture.

"You're welcome. I told you, I'm here for you no matter what."

It took a week or so, but my father managed to pull some, according to him at least, significant strings to get me enrolled in the university where he teaches comparative literature about a month after the semester had started. I had a lot of catching up to do, but there was a lot at stake. I'd make it work.

"You ready for this?" my dad asked me as he pulled up just outside Baker Hall. I pulled my headphones from down around my ears and looked around campus. It was relatively early on a Sunday morning, so there weren't many people walking around. It looked peaceful.

"As I'll ever be." I looked at him and said with a little less enthusiasm than he was apparently hoping for. I decided to take a little bit of pity on him, and gave him my most genuinely thankful smile. "Thanks for this dad. Seriously."

His face lit back up. Man, he was easy to please. "You're welcome Becs. Need help moving in, or are you too cool to have your old man hanging around?"

"Dude, please, spare me the embarrassment of showing up with a freaking professor on my first day!"

Dad just burst out laughing. "Fair enough. How about we grab lunch this week after you've settled in?"

"Sure, I can do that. See ya!" I got out of the car and grabbed my stuff. With a final wave goodbye, I walked to my new dorm room.

The hallways were a bit more crowded than campus, but I was still able to climb the two flights of stairs and find my room number with relative ease and knocked on the door. It was opened seconds later by an exceptionally gorgeous, and tall, brunette with a smile on her face.

"Umm…hey, I'm Beca," I said nervously. She squealed. Literally squealed and pulled me into the room.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so excited! I was so bummed when I got here and didn't have a roommate! And look at you, you're so cute! We're going to have so much fun this year," she ended her adorable little rant with a huge smile and clapped her hands together. I'm not ashamed to admit that I was a little terrified.

"Okay then. I don't really know what to say to all that, but it's nice to meet you?"

"Stacie."

"Stacie. Nice to meet you."

"Same here! So, what are you studying?"

"I'm going to be a music major. You?"

"Music? Do you sing? Oh my gosh, you totally have to try out for the Bellas with me! They are an all-girl acappella group here on campus. Wanna come?"

That got my attention. Chloe would be there. I decided to play it cool.

"Yes!" Dammit. So much for playing it cool. Let's try that again. "I mean, yes. Uh, yeah when?"

"Yay! Right now! Let's go!"

And that was how I found myself standing outside the auditorium waiting to see Chloe. And I guess to audition for an acapella group. Whatever, it could be fun.

"Beca Mitchell," I raised my hand when I heard Tommy say my name, "You're up next."

"Thanks," but he had already turned away.

Stacie turned to me and took my hands misunderstanding my nervousness to be about the fact I was going to sing in front of a crowd. "Breathe. You're going to be just fine."

I smiled at her and gave her a quick nod before walking out to the stage with my heart beating double time in my throat. Hook a stethoscope up to some speakers and you'd be getting some badass dubstep right about now. And that was before I saw her.

Five months. Five months of her being dead. Five months of thinking that I was crazy. Five months of a hell on earth so painful I ended my own life. Five months that no longer mattered when I saw her sitting there with that fucking killer smile on her face that always made me weak in the knees. Now it was making me weak for a different reason. Because there was none of the warmth and love in that smile that I had grown so accustomed to. In its place was a smile reserved for a stranger. And it was directed at me.

"Umm… I didn't know we had to prepare that song," were my first words to her. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

"That's okay, just sing whatever you want," were her first words to me. Off to a great start there Mitchell. Classic.

Then I had a brilliant idea. I remembered that stupid cup song her and I used to sing together, and decided to roll with it. The whole time, I didn't take my eyes off of her. When I was done, her smile had gotten bigger, and a small measure of the usual warmth was there. It broke my heart a little as I walked away. From the first glimpse of those impossibly blue eyes I had begun to doubt. This wasn't my Chloe. Yes, this was Chloe Marie Beale. Yes, they were essentially the same person. But they really weren't. Were they? This was something that I had thought very little about until now, choosing instead to focus on the fact that Chloe was alive. But now, the depression I'd sunk into since that terrible graduation night had begun to seep back in.

"Beca, oh my freaking god that was amazing!" Stacie grabbed me as soon as I walked off stage and pulled me abruptly from my thoughts. Her enthusiasm was infectious though.

"Thanks Stace, you up next?"

"Yep, wish me luck!" And she marched on stage with an exaggerated sexy strut. Not that I was looking. No way man.

"Good luck!" I decided to wait around for her to finish her audition.

"You were so good!"

I turned to look at the guy who had walked up while I wasn't paying much attention. Average height, cute in a boy band kind of way, with short brown hair. He was smiling widely at me.

"Uh, thanks," I said and immediately turned back to watch Stacie.

"I'm Jesse. I haven't seen you around before."

"Beca. I just got here today," I said without turning.

"Well, we should totally hang out sometime. You're one of those aca-girls, and I'm one of those aca-boys, and we're gonna have aca-children. It's inevitable."

I turned to look at him, and I'm sure the look on my face was comical. Because despite the fact that I was actually angered by his presumptuous and inappropriate statement, I couldn't quite remove the slack jawed surprise that came with it.

"Dude, I don't even know you! Back off and let me watch my friend audition please."

I ignored his somewhat adorable kicked-puppy face, and turned back to catch the end of Stacie's performance. Which, despite the over-the-top sexual energy she put into it, was actually quite good.

"Sorry, I, uh, I'll just… see you later Beca." Without waiting for a response Jesse walked off with his head bowed and shoulders slumped. I wasn't sorry to see him go.

Stacie came bouncing off stage and gave me a sexy smirk. I mean a regular smirk. Totally not sexy. Just a normal, run of the mill, smirk.

"So, what did you think?"

"Honestly, you're a damn good singer. The aggressive sexuality though detracts from the performance a bit," I grinned back at her.

She appeared a little taken aback. I was kinda worried I actually offended her. Then, that sexy (not sexy dammit!) smirk was back.

"I can't help it. He's a hunter," and she gestured to her junk. Seriously?

"You call it a dude?"

She rolled her eyes and shrugged as she linked her arms with mine and guided us back to our dorm.

A/N I'm not going to beg you guys for reviews and favorites or anything like that. But I will say that if you want to make suggestions, ask for clarifications (or suggest fixes), or anything else of the sort feel free to leave a review or message me. Until next time, we out!