"Alright, aca-bitches, can everyone hear me?"
"Yes."
"I can!"
"Heck to the yeah!"
"Unfortunately."
"No, speak up! Louder, girl! I have crappy speakers."
"I can hear you, clear as crystal!"
"I can hear the voices of the dead, whispering in my ears…"
"… Yeeeeeeeaah, ummmm, you're all good on my end too!"
"I can hear you, and everyone else! I think we're all good to go!"
In response to the Covid-19 outbreak, Barden University shut down before the second semester. This left everything to go virtual, including a certain young a cappella group that just didn't know when to quit. But even though they weren't going to be singing anymore, the Barden Bellas still found a way to meet up (virtually) and rehearse. They were naming these meetups: Stay In and Rock Out.
"One of my mom's friends is doing online choir since their church is shut down, so I thought maybe we could try the same thing!" It was Chloe Beale, current leader of the Barden Bellas, who came up with the idea.
"My painfully long list of your stupid ideas just got longer," Beca Mitchell, Chloe's co-leader and girlfriend, deadpanned. Although she was also devoted to the Bellas, and Chloe, because she was juggling a lot of other courses, she hadn't been too thrilled about getting yet another online class.
But Chloe was insistent and had forced (read: spam-texted and called Beca every single day) her to join the online rehearsals. Beca never missed a single meet-up. And although Beca had tried blocking Chloe's number, Chloe only then resorted to asking the other Bellas to spam Beca. Beca could've blocked them all, but she wasn't willing to go that far, so she caved after about 50% of them were on her blocked list. Now, though, because she'd finally resigned herself to the inevitable forced attendance at these rehearsals, all their numbers were unblocked again.
But Beca almost didn't see the point of her presence in these online rehearsals. Yes, she was co-leader, but Chloe had the energy and passion to run the rehearsals alone. Furthermore, Aubrey Posen was back. Even though she'd graduated a couple years ago, because everything was all virtual now, Chloe had been fast to invite her back as an honorary Bella. Aubrey had been even faster to accept, swiftly reclaiming her leadership role despite not having been a Bella for about two years now.
So with Aubrey and Chloe back in the top spot, there were days when Beca wondered why she was needed at the rehearsals at all.
"It's to keep us sane after dealing with these two crazy pitches," Cynthia had DMed her once. "You keep Chloe in line and Stacie gets Aubrey."
"Fair point," Beca had replied, laughing to herself as she typed out an agreement. Ever since then, Beca hadn't missed a single rehearsal.
Fast forward several months later, and the semester was finally over. Finals were submitted and school was out for real this time!
"Woot woot! We! Are! Done!" Fat Amy cheered. Jessica and Ashley cheered back in reply.
"Yeah!" Cynthia shouted her agreement.
"We did it! We survived!" Flo agreed happily.
"Good, I no longer have to pay for my grades using the blood of the innocent," Lilly's remark was a little more than off-color compared to the others, but she was speaking so softly that she went unnoticed.
"So freaking glad to be done with all that online mess!" Stacie cried, clapping in relief.
"Gah, now it's time for a nice, long, summer rest!" Beca also joined in the cheering, but that was where it ended.
"Uhhhh, break? Who said anything about a break?" It was Aubrey. The entire voice call immediately went silent.
"Ummm, but, Aubrey, it's… June. You know? Summer vacation? Like 'What time is it? Summertime!' And all that jazz?" Stacie asked back.
"Oh, no," Aubrey laughed. "No, no, no, nonono! My dear Bellas! Operation: Stay In and Rock Out is still in full swing! Summer can't stop us!"
"Uh oh, here it comes," Cynthia deadpanned and sighed. She, and all the others, could hear that slightly unhinged note in Aubrey's voice…
"You think that just because it's June that this is over?!" Aubrey demanded with a slightly mad laugh.
"And whoomp, there it is," Amy finished with a sigh.
"Ummmm, yeah? That's how summer break usually works, Aubrey," Beca was next to speak, deadpanning. "I know you haven't been to school in a bit, but that's how it goes. At the end of every school year, we all get a few months off to rest! Emphasis on rest!"
"Usually, yes." Now the Bellas could hear a new tightness in Aubrey's voice. A clear sign that she was just seconds away from snapping at Beca. Even though the two were on better terms now than ever before, that wasn't saying much, and Beca's snarky and rebellious side still often caused tension with the uptight and overbearing Aubrey.
"But seeing as how this is not a usual year, I have elected to keep us going even throughout summer!" Aubrey finished.
"Awww, what? No!"
"No!"
"Come on! No!"
"Yeah, heck no! I just got done with all my classwork! I ain't going back just yet!"
"Hey, I wanna enjoy some of the summer first! I want my break!"
"And I was gonna sleep in and pig out! I need the rest!"
"We shouldn't have to be doing this! School was hard enough and we just got done!"
"You don't even go here!"
"You didn't even ask us if we wanted to do this! What ever happened to American democracy?!"
"Yeah, let's put it to a vote! That's only fair!"
There was a round of protests from everyone that wasn't Chloe or Aubrey… Or Lilly.
"I spoke to the man on the moon yesterday, he said he wanted to annihilate humanity."
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"Ooooook, moving on!…"
"Listen up, aca-bitches, since we weren't able to do any real competitions this year, I've signed us up to do some virtual tournaments!" Aubrey quickly took control over the situation after Lilly offered her that unintentional (and slightly disturbing) segue.
"Wait. You what?!" Beca snapped. "Why didn't you consult with me first?" She was addressing both Chloe and Aubrey now.
"Well, we, uhhh, knew you were kinda busy, sooooo we decided to, uhhhh, sort of, uhhhh, make the executive decision without you?" Chloe asked.
"No, you just knew I'd say no, so you conveniently made sure Aubrey was the only one you consulted even though I am the real co-leader!"
"Girl fight!" Cynthia interrupted.
"How much you wanna bet Small Fry beats Carrot Top before Blondie overpowers her?" Fat Amy asked.
"I guess I gotta bet on Aubrey," Stacie joked, since she was dating Aubrey.
"I'm betting on Beca," said Jessica.
"I guess I will too," Flo decided. "You Americans and your stupid betting pools…"
"I'm betting on Chloe and Aubrey," said Ashley.
"You traitor!" Jessica complained.
"Oh, sorry, should I switch my vote?" asked Ashley.
"I feel like my blood is flowing backward…"
"Enough, guys," Beca shot down the betting pool as fast as she could. "No one is fighting and no one is betting, got it?"
"Yes, for once, I agree with Beca," Aubrey said. "Besides, we all know that if this fight really did happen, I'd win easily!"
"Oh you wanna go?" Beca challenged with a scoff.
"Wait, what?" Chloe complained at the same time.
"Is the bet still on?" Cynthia asked.
"Anyways, I'm linking our roster into the text chat now!" Aubrey spoke over the others. They heard a few keyboard clicks and a second later, a list appeared in the chat. It consisted of the names, dates and times of the events Aubrey had signed them all up for.
"Wait, wait, wait a sec…" Stacie was the first to start speaking. "OMG! Are these all Pride events?!" Suddenly, she dissolved into a shrieking fit of delight. The others all gave pained smiles, happy for Stacie, but in pain because of how loud her shrieks were.
"I'm just gonna…" Chloe hit the mute button on Stacie.
"Whew, what a relief," Beca snickered.
"Jeez, you Americanos are so loud!" Flo complained.
"How long you wanna bet before she calms down enough to come back to us?" Amy asked.
"I'm gonna bet-" Cynthia began.
"No more bets!" Beca snapped.
"Ok, jeez girl, no need to get all mad about it," Cynthia muttered.
"Sorry," Beca had the grace to grunt an apology. Cynthia was one of the more level-headed Bellas, so Beca liked her more than most of the others.
About 15 seconds later, Stacie began typing in the text chat, apologizing and politely asking to be unmuted.
"Sorry about that! I just got kinda excited there for a minute," she laughed breathlessly once Beca unmuted her.
"You don't say?" Beca deadpanned, but she was smiling a little.
"Yeah, it's just… I saw some of the concert names and I'm pretty sure they're from-"
"Yes they are!" Aubrey finished proudly. "You see, girls, I've been scouting out virtual Pride stuff for the past few weeks. I also had a feeling you would like these types of performances and competitions over any other type," she added with a smile.
"Oh heck yeah!" Fat Amy agreed enthusiastically. "You know I'm all about men in fishnet stockings!"
"And you know I'm all about the lesbians!" Cynthia chimed in, fist-pumping even though she knew no one could see her.
"Same!" Jessica and Ashley giggled together in delight.
"And let's not forget about our bi babies!" Chloe cheered. "Can I get an amen?!"
"Amen!" shouted Stacie.
"Amen," Beca deadpanned, but behind her expressionless tone, she was smiling. She still wasn't happy that Chloe and Aubrey had made such big decisions without her, but she had to admit that these types of competitions were definitely ones she could get behind…
Almost all the Bellas were some form of queer, and their love of Pride was so strong that it even rivaled their love of singing! Now that was saying something! In fact, it had nearly been tradition for all the Bellas to try to meet up at at least one Pride event every summer. It was something Aubrey remembered doing back in her own freshman year, although the tradition had been around even longer than that.
That first summer, she and almost all the team were able to meet up at a local Pride Fest happening not too far away from her home state. And that tradition had carried on every year since, as Beca could also attest to. Even if not every Bella was able to go to every Pride, they still tried to have enough meetups that everyone could attend at least one Pride event with at least a few other Bellas.
Obviously, this year would be a deviation from that tradition since everything was virtual now. But thanks to Aubrey's dedication, they were still going to be able to celebrate Pride. Furthermore, because it was all virtual, they would all be able to celebrate together! With that in mind, all of the Bellas' spirits lifted, even grumpy Beca.
"So, what are we rehearsing first?" she asked Aubrey and Chloe.
"Actually, we were going to leave that up for you all to decide," Aubrey replied.
"What?" the other Bellas perked up immediately.
"So we're actually getting American democracy up in this chat?! HECK YEAH!"
"Yes!" Chloe promised eagerly. "You saw that we have a lot of upcoming competitions, and since everything else is pretty much shut down, we have plenty of rehearsal time! That being said, we can probably each pick one or two songs that would be fun to sing, and we can learn them all! The first performance isn't until June 5, and it's still only May 27. I fully believe we can learn at least one song by then. And we have plenty of old stuff we can pull out if the new stuff isn't ready yet!"
"Ok, I've already decided, Lady Gaga has to be in our roster!" Stacie cried excitedly. "My sexy, bisexual goddess!"
"Oh heck yeah, girl!" Cynthia agreed. "Let's just list some possible artists to draw from!"
"We also need to rock out to Miley Cyrus and Lesbian Jesus and-" Fat Amy began, typing all of the names into the chat.
"Oh hang on a minute!" Cynthia interrupted. "We gotta get some POC up in this bisnitch!"
"Oh, let me add someone!" Now it was Flo's turn to type hastily as she listed musicians from her home country of Guatemala.
Jessica and Ashley threw in some showtunes while Beca added in some throwback stuff from decades past. Amy added in some Australian artists no one had ever heard of before. Before long, the list was full and ideas were being bounced back and forth.
"These are all excellent ideas and I can't wait to get started!" Chloe cried enthusiastically as she skimmed through the list. They had people from every time and place, it seemed like, and wasn't that fitting considering what Pride was all about?
"It just does my gay heart good to see so many queer artists!" Stacie sighed happily.
"Agreed!" Jessica and Ashley again spoke in perfect unison.
"We are gonna crush this year's Pride!" Amy fist-pumped.
"Yes we are!" Chloe sounded equally proud and pumped.
"I have to admit, I'm actually really excited for this!" Flo agreed, clapping. It would be her first time at an American Pride, after all!
"I freaking love you crazy nerds," Beca laughed.
"Woot woot!" Cynthia shouted.
"Awww, we love you too, Beca!" Chloe giggled, texting a few hearts to Beca. Beca, for once, decided to play along and sent some back at her.
"Good, now that we have all that settled, who's ready to rehearse?" asked Aubrey with a false cheeriness. She fully expected all the girls (especially Beca) to groan in disagreement but, instead, she was actually met with enthusiasm.
"Yes!"
"Ready!"
"Let's start now! Right now!"
"Awwww heck yeah! I'm ready!"
"Sometimes I like to type with my tongue!"
"Let's go baby!"
"Pride! Pride! Pride!"
"Operation: Stay In and Rock Out is go for launch!"
"Alright then, pitches, LET'S DO THIS!"
All around, the other Bellas cheered their assent and, before long, all that cheering melded into a perfect harmony of song and soul as the team began to practice for their Pride performances. They were so ready to stay in and rock out!
AN: I redid this story because I wasn't happy with the original draft I posted yesterday. Sorry about that!