Chapter 16
Aubrey's POV
I shake my head as I watch the Bellas, save for Chloe, walk away from me. We should've won this stupid riff-off, but of course it wasn't going to be fair.
"Let's go." I turn to Chloe, and she nods and follows me to the car.
Chloe has been super quiet all day, sort of keeping to herself. She didn't even talk to me, which is unusual. I know something is wrong, but I also know.I can't push her to tell me.
My suspicions are proven correct; we're barely in the car before she starts crying. She chokes out my name before latching onto my arm and burying her head into my bicep. Slightly shocked, I use my free arm to rub circles into her back. I don't say anything for two reasons- one, I know she needs this, and two, the last time I saw her sob this hard was when we found out her dad was killed.
"I'm s-sorry." Chloe chokes out after a couple minutes, and she pulls away to look at me.
"What's going on, Chlo? If this is about our fight yesterday, I'm sorry-"
"I think I'm falling in love with Beca." She whispers, and I freeze.
It takes me a whole five minutes to think of what to say, and even then, all I can verbalize is a small, "what?"
"I-I had a dream last night." She sniffles. "The riff-off was in it too. I-I kissed Beca and was going to t-turn against you."
I almost snort, and she gives me a surprised look. "Well, it was
just a dream."
"But it obviously means something!" She squeals, and I roll my eyes.
"Chloe, dreams are just figments of your imagination. Or even fears. They have no meaning. They can't, like, predict the future." With that, she falls silent, but this time tears of anger prick at her eyes. Not wanting to get into another argument, I don't say anything.
The car ride home is silent, and once we get there, Chloe locks herself in her room.
"Fuck." I mutter to myself, then freeze when I hear someone walking down the hallway. Seconds later, there's a knock at the door.
I look through the peephole and am surprised to see Walp standing there. My brow furrowed in confusion, I swing the door open. It doesn't clear anything up to see he has a bouquet of flowers.
"Posen." He immediately salutes, and I return the gesture.
In the most formal voice I can muster, I say, "Chloe isn't available right now, sir."
He shakes his head. "How-?"
I can't help myself but to laugh. "Your little crush on her is very obvious, Walp."
"Please, Chicago for tonight is fine." He gives me a small smile. "But I do need to tell you and Chloe both something."
"Oh?"
"It's about your mission. Could you get her?"
I nod. "Have a seat wherever, we'll be right back." I don't wait for a response before knocking on Chloe's door.
"What do you want?" She asks on the other side. There's no malice in her voice, just curiosity.
"Chicago is here, he says he has information for us."
A second later, the door opens. "He's here? Right now?"
"Yeah." She looks just as confused as I feel.
We make our way back to the living room, where Chicago is sitting. He stands when we walk in, and he smiles as he offers the flowers to Chloe.
"Thanks, Chicago." She smiles softly and takes the roses, but I can tell she's doing it to be polite.
"Of course." He sighs. "Now, to why I'm really here." We both sit down, Chloe on the couch next to him and me on the coffee table.
"Whatever it is, it can't be that bad, right?" Chloe looks worried.
"I have reason to believe General Posen is lying to you about the mission."
"So it is about him!" Chloe exclaims, and I sigh. "Beca isn't even guilty, is she?"
Chicago sighs. "No, she definitely killed your father."
"W-what?" We both ask at the same time.
Slowly, he nods. "General Posen and General Beale were trying to take over the White House. Mitchell was trying to save her mom, and Beale raped her. Her best friend saved her, but he killed her. She killed your father for revenge."
"No." All I can do is grab Chloe's hand as tears fill her eyes. "That isn't true, you're making this up."
Walp doesn't even look offended at the accusation. Instead, he pulls out his phone and says, " just listen to this."
"They're going to find out at some point." Zeke's voice flows through the speakers.
"They don't know anything, and they never will. Mitchell killed my best friend, and she's our key to the Vice President."
Zeke lets out a small snort. "No offense sir, but Beale deserved it. He did rape her that night, and killed that girl."
Chloe tensens next to me. I have every right to kick Chicago out, but I can't argue with hard evidence. I can feel my stomach starting to churn, and I know I might puke at any moment.
"I can't listen to any more of that." I stand up and run to the bathroom. I barely make it to the toilet before I throw up.
"Bree?" Chloe asks in a small voice, but she doesn't wait for me to answer her before she kneels down next to me and pulls my hair back. "Are you ok?"
I look over at her incredulously. "Am I ok? Are you?"
She shakes her head. "Not really, but I will be."
After wiping my mouth off with some toilet paper, I pull my best friend in for a hug. "We'll figure this out together, ok?"
"We have to protect Beca." She whispers in response.
"I know we do." I press a kiss into her temple comfortingly. "I know."
"Luke!" I call out to the blonde after exiting Calculus. "We need to talk."
"Oh?"
"In private." I grab his arm and tug him to a deserted corner. Hastily, I tell him everything from last night.
"I'm sorry your father lied to you like that, Aubrey." He says sincerely, a soft smile playing at his features. "That wasn't fair to you or Chloe."
"We have to protect her from him without him finding out."
Luke grins. "We can do that."
"Thank you, Luke." I give him a grateful smile.
"How's Chloe holding up?"
I slowly shake my head. "Not too well."
He nods. "Can't say I blame her." After a minute, he adds, "so I'll let Dr. Mitchell know about everything."
"No." I say, surprising both of us. "Let me tell him, please."
After a moment, he sighs. "Don't fuck this up." With this, he turns and walks away.
After a few deep breaths, I turn the opposite direction and walk right into Dr. Mitchell's classroom. I'm so nervous for this I even forget to knock before entering.
"Miss Posen. Nice to see you here." Dr. Mitchell smiles at me.
"You know who I am, sir?"
He laughs. "I know everyone at this school, Aubrey." He pauses, then adds, "not in a stalkerish way."
I laugh awkwardly. "Didn't think so."
"So what can I help you with?" He asks as he gestures for me to sit down.
So I tell him everything. I tell him about my dad, about Chloe's dad, about the mission, everything. Well, everything except the fact that Mitchell- Beca- likes Chloe. Just in case he doesn't know, I can't come out to him for her.
"Um, wow." He leans back in his chair in shock.
"Yeah."
"Thank you for telling me, Aubrey." He stands up, and I know he's silently asking me to leave.
"Of course." With a small nod, I exit the room. Of course, knowing my luck, I literally run head first into Stacie.
"Hitting on me like that won't work, Bree, but I like the thought." She teases as she helps me back up to my feet.
I playfully glare at her, and she grins cockily. "Oh don't worry, if I were hitting on you, it wouldn't be an accident like that was."
She laughs. "I see. Well, I have to get to advanced biochem, but I'll see you later?"
"Sure."
"Eight o'clock, my place." Leaning forward, she whispers in my ear, "don't be late." With a small graze of her teeth against my ear, she chuckles and walks away, leaving me watching her leave.
"Are we going to tell her?" I jump, and Chloe laughs.
"It's not funny. I'm all worked up today, you know that." I actually glare this time as we walk out of the building, and she gives me a sympathetic smile.
"I know how you feel. I guess both of our fathers are bad people."
As hard as this is on me, I can't imagine how hard it must be for Chloe right now. "I'm sorry, Chlo."
She shrugs, but I can tell she's more upset about it than she's letting on. "At least now I know Beca had a reason to kill him."
"But why would she use a bomb?" I ask, and she shrugs again.
"Maybe that was a lie too." Her voice turns bitter.
I wrap an arm around her and pull her into my side. "We're gonna get through this together."
I take a moment to shake out my nerves before knocking on Stacie's door. I've decided I'm going to talk to her about everything, but we aren't going to tell Beca yet.
"You made it." My jaw drops when Stacie opens the door. She's wearing black leggings and a white sports bra, and her hair is sloppily pulled back in a bun. "Sorry, I just got back from the gym."
"All good." I try to return her smile as I follow her into the dorm. Once again, its just us two.
"You look nervous." She comment, and I nod as I sit on her bed.
"Theres something I should probably tell you." After a deep sigh, I tell her everything I told Dr. Mitchell earlier.
To my disappointment, she doesn't react the same way he did. "So what, you've just been using me? You and Chloe both have, haven't you?"
I shake my head. "No, it's not like that-"
"Oh really, because it sure as hell feels like it."
"Stacie, I liked you before I knew you two were friends."
She blinks on momentary shock, but her hesitation only lasts a second. "I don't believe you. How do I know this isn't some trap? I ought to tell Dr. Mitchell."
"He already knows." At this, she seems to settle down a little.
"You're seriously going to try and help her?"
I nod. "I swear on my mom's grave."
Slowly, she exhales. "Ok. But I can't do this with you right now." She gestures to us.
"I thought we were just having fun." I comment slightly bitterly.
"Things change, Bree." She sighs. "I'm in love with you, but this changes a lot."
Whoah. I take a deep breath to calm my nerves. "I should probably go, then."
She doesn't look at me as she says, "that's probably best."
Silently, I walk over to the door. Right before closing it behind me, I turn and say, "I think I might be falling in love with you too."
The last thing I see before I close the door is her shudder slightly. I try to ignore the tears streaming down my face as I walk away, mentally chastising myself for allowing myself to get this hurt.
"Aubrey wait!" I turn around, and the next thing I know, Stacie's lips are moving against mine with more passion then ever.
But as soon as it started, it stops, and she's gone before I can even think about what just happened.
