Chapter 1

Beca's POV

I've never really been one to buy into the whole "love at first sight" and "happily ever afters" thing. Not until I met her.

It all started on my first day of college. My dad was pestering me about some stupid stuff I didn't care about, so I went to the activities fair. I was also pretty angry at him, with his talking about "DJing not being a career" shit. As I was walking around, I saw a DJ booth. I went to sign up, noting the "deaf Jews" sign. One of them said something that I didn't really understand, so I blew it off.

"That's not a real word, but keep trying!" I looked to my side to see another girl next to me; blond, Australian accent, blue eyes.

"Are there a lot of Jews where you come from?" I asked as I put the clip board down.

"No, but I did 'Fiddler on the Roof' in high school with a bunch of Armenians. It was very Jewish," She replied.

"Oh." I said, then decided to just walk away. I walked down aways, just thinking to myself when a voice caught me off guard.

"Hi, would you like to be part of our a cappella group?" A ginger pushed a flyer at me, and my heart skipped a beat. What the heck?

"Oh, this is like a thing now" I added on a layer of sarcasm, covering up my nerves. What is happening to me?

"Oh, totes! We sing in national competitions! And it's all from our mouths!" The ginger responded, which made my mind spiral out of control. Cut it out!

"Yikes" I said. "It's pretty lame" I added.

"Singing to a Mariah Carey chart topper is not lame, you bitch!" The blonde next to her said, which made me laugh a little.

"What Aubrey means to say is, we compete all over the place. It's our dream to get back to Lincoln Center this year. Help us turn our dreams into a reality?" The ginger had this hopeful look in her eyes, and I almost gave in.

"Sorry, I don't even sing. But it was nice to meet you guys," I said, slowly turned around, and walked away. I realized I'd never see the ginger again, but it didn't stop me.

Now, twelve years later, everything's different. The group the ginger- Chloe Beale, as I found out- begged me to join is the Barden Bellas- in the shower, actually. And I did join. We won three national championships and the world championship. Aubrey's dad got us a tour of the world for a USO trip, and DJ Khaled decided to sign me. It's insane, really, but my dream of music really came true.

I'm sitting in the booth, and both of my legs are shaking. I know Theo sees it, but everyone has been pretty good about ignoring my problem. I get up and cross the room to the door, ready to make a beeline for my room, but Theo stops me.

"Beca, you can't leave. We're not even finished!" He looks at me, and I can see the judging in his eyes.

"Theo, let me out, " I say, trying to push him out of the way.

"No."

"LET ME OUT, GODDAMMIT!" I scream in his face, and he moves away, giving me a startled look. I quickly open the door and run to my room, locking the door behind me. I go over to my mirror and pull it off the wall, revealing a tiny hole. I grab the joint I stashed in it and light it up, taking a long drag of it and leaning against the wall.

"Beca, let me in!" Theo pounds on the door, but I shake my head.

"I don't want to talk to you. Go away." I say, taking another drag.

"We need to ta- are you smoking again?" He asks, and I freeze.

"No. I'm not, but someone else was, " I quickly lie. He can't know what I'm doing… I grab some crack from under the desk and sniff it, since the marijuana isn't calming my nerves like I had hoped it would. The burn is welcomed, and it makes me sniff even more, just for the sensation.

"Liar. Beca, you're going to ruin your whole career! Remember what…" his voice trails off, becoming background noise. My knees buckle as a wave of dizziness hits me like none other. "Beca?"

"I'm ok… I… " I try to tell him I'm fine, but I can't form words. My stomach churns, and I lean forward, throwing up everything in my system all at once.

"Beca, I'm coming in!" I hear a loud bang, and something touches my back. I try to lean away from it, but I end up falling forward instead. "Beca… hear my… stay with…" the voice fades in and out, and I close my eyes, breathing in deeply. "Beca!"