A/N: I've really got nothing for the notes today – enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own PP or PP2

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The next week, Beca arrived for their study session a few minutes past seven, but the room was dark and locked. With her brows furrowed, worried a little bit because Stacie wasn't there yet, she went back downstairs and stopped at the desk. She smiled at the librarian, she thought her name was Olivia, and asked for the key to room 312. The lady grabbed the key for her, "Is it just you tonight?"

Beca shrugged, "She didn't call or anything, so I assume she's just running late."

Olivia handed her the key, "Well, you two look good together and I haven't seen Stacie this happy, well since she started coming to the library."

Beca started, "We're not…," but the smile on the librarian's face stopped her, "We're not 'official' yet, so…"

Olivia laughed, "Oh don't worry, your secret's safe with me."

Beca internally shrugged as she took the key and gave the librarian her best smile. When she got back up to the room, she put her bag down in its normal spot but didn't sit. She was still pacing the room nervously when Stacie showed up five minutes later.

When Stacie knocked on the door, Beca quickly walked over and opened it. She was trying hard not to seem worried, but she rushed out, "Where have you been? It's like 7:15."

Stacie smirked, "Worried I'd stand you up for our date?"

Beca looked sheepish, "Ummm, no, but you've never been late before. I thought maybe you had gotten mugged or killed or something. You do have your rape whistle, right?"

Stacie walked up next to her and wrapped her arm around her shoulders, "You are so cute when you worry about me. But I'm fine, my instructor was in late grading and I stayed to pick up my assignment when she finished with it."

Beca looked at her quizzically while internally she breathed a sigh of relief, "Your Shrek assignment?"

Stacie chuckled, "Yes, the Shrek assignment, silly," then seemed to vibrate internally as she pulled out the paper and dropped it onto the table in front of Beca.

Beca looked down at the big red 98/100 on the paper, then she looked at Stacie who was bouncing up and down, a big grin on her face. She squealed (quietly of course, this was a library), "Oh my God Stacie, that's awesome!" as she pulled the taller girl into a hug. Stacie melted into the hug, enjoying the feel of this girl who had become someone that meant so much to her.

Beca pulled back just a little, holding Stacie out at arm length, "Stacie, you're like really smart, aren't you. I mean I knew you were smart when we met, and then when I found you here I pretty much knew you were smarter than I initially thought, but you are like really smart aren't you?"

Stacie thought Beca was so cute when she rambled like that and for once, she thought she wanted to be honest with someone instead of sidestepping the issue. She pointed to a chair and then sat in the one next to it, pulling it out from the table so she could sit facing Beca. Beca sat down, waiting for Stacie to start at her own pace.

Stacie looked down at her hands, then up at Beca. She seemed to study Beca, looking into her eyes, almost as if she were judging her to see if she was worthy of this information. In reality, Stacie was just trying to give herself a pep talk, telling herself that Beca wouldn't be like the others and make fun of her. Finally, she gave herself a little shake and started, "Well to answer your question: yes, I am really smart. And before you can ask your next question, my IQ was tested at 146 which technically places me in the genius category." As she finished, Stacie was looking down at her hands, almost like she was embarrassed.

Beca grabbed Stacie's hands excitedly, "Oh my God Stacie, that's so awesome. Why didn't you tell me before? Why are you trying to hide how smart you are? Do you know how awesome you are?"

Stacie looked up at Beca in surprise, then she was even more surprised when she broke out in tears. Beca looked confused just before she pulled the taller girl in for a hug, rubbing her back as she spoke soothingly to her, "Shhhh, it's ok Stace. Everything's going to be alright. Tell me what I said that made you cry and I'll take it back, I promise."

Stacie pulled back suddenly, looking somewhat hurt, "Don't you dare take any of that back, Beca Mitchell."

Beca looked even more confused, "I thought…well you were crying…I'm usually saying the wrong thing, I just figured I did it again."

Stacie shook her head, wiping the tears off of her cheeks, "You're rambling again, Mitchell."

Beca smirked, "Yah, but you think I'm cute when I ramble."

Stacie chuckled, "I said you were cute when you worry, not when you ramble."

Beca squeezed her hand, "So ok, what were the waterworks all about?"

Stacie grimaced as she squeezed Beca's hand back, "I'll tell you the whole story, but please let me finish and I think you'll get all of your answers." Beca just nodded, worried that speaking may scare the other brunette into stopping.

Stacie sighed, "Alright, this goes all the way back to middle school." Stacie pulled her hands from Beca's, waving them up and down her body, "I didn't always have all this." She smirked as she tried her best to imitate Chloe. Beca chuckled at that. Stacie took Beca's hands back in hers as she continued, "I was a small, awkward girl with ratty pigtails, which was fine in elementary school, but when middle school came around and the other girls started to develop and I didn't…well, let's just say that middle school boys can be mean. To make matters worse, I was the class nerd. I was good at everything I did. I scored the highest on every exam and the teacher's loved me, which meant the other students hated me, of course."

Stacie pulled her hands from Beca's, standing up and moving to the window that looked out over campus, "When I finally did start to develop, I grew up but not out." She turned to see Beca looking at her with her brows furrowed. She gave the smaller girl a small smile, "I grew eight inches over the summer between 7th grade and 8th grade, but I didn't fill out. So I had the body of a little girl that was five feet nine inches tall. My coordination didn't grow with my body, so I was this awkward, lanky nerd. To make matters even worse….braces." She saw Beca make a face and Stacie chuckled at it, "Exactly."

Stacie sighed as she came back to sit down again, "So, let's just say my social life was even worse in the 8th grade and my freshman year of high school. But it wasn't all bad, I found music in middle school and I had some great science teachers that encouraged my interest. But it was lonely, I was too smart to fit in with the other girls in choir and too awkward for boys to pay attention to me. I even intimidated the other 'smart kids'."

Beca looked like she was going to say something, so Stacie put her finger to Beca's lips, "Shhh, let me finish, it feels good to finally talk about this to someone." Beca just nodded as Stacie looked up at the ceiling, seeming to think for a few seconds, "Then I started to fill out. It happened slowly, unlike my vertical growth spurt. But by my junior year, I looked pretty much like this. Well you can imagine that I started to get some attention from the boys," she smirked at Beca, "and some of the girls. Well, I thought I was in heaven. People were finally starting to pay attention to me. But it was still high school. I had girls asking me to sit with them during study hall. I had boys asking me to go out with them. It seemed like everyone wanted to be my friend."

Stacie's expression turned sour, "I went on a few dates and then one of the starters from the basketball team asked me out. He asked me out. So we went out and I thought we had fun. So he asked me out again, and again. After a few dates, we started going steady. I thought I had died, I was going steady with a gorgeous guy. After a couple of months he started to pressure me a little about having sex with him, but I figured that was normal. All the girls I sat with talked about having sex, so everyone must be doing it, right? So, I finally gave in and had sex with Roger. It hurt and he didn't even stop to see if I was alright. The next day he pretty much ignored me, same with the next day. When I finally confronted him about it he laughed at me. He actually laughed at me. He said he just wanted to be the first one to sleep with me. Then he gave me some advice, 'You'll never keep a guy if you keep talking about all of that nerdy stuff on dates.' I ran home and cried myself to sleep that night." She reached up and wiped the lone tear that trailed down her cheek away.

Beca leaned forward and took Stacie's hands in hers, running her thumb over the back of her hand. Stacie gave her a strained smile, "About a week later, I was in the bathroom when I heard some girls come in. I heard my name as they walked in, so I pulled my feet up off the floor. I don't know why I did it, but I did. I listened to them making fun of me and talking about how Roger said I was a dead fish in bed. One of the girls told them all to hush, it wasn't nice and besides if I ever found out I might stop doing all of their homework for them. They all got a good laugh about that. I sat there shaking until they left. I waited about five more minutes before I had stopped shaking enough to actually leave the bathroom."

Stacie chuckled to herself, "At least I got those bitches back. Over the next week, whenever they would ask for help on their homework I would give them wrong answers." Beca couldn't suppress her laugh, to which Stacie smiled, "I wish I had longer than a week, but then the grades started coming in and they knew something was up because there was no way Stacie Conrad would get that many wrong. When one of them confronted me about it I just laughed and told them that they should check the bathroom stalls before they talked shit about someone."

Stacie looked down at the girls' linked hands, it was almost as if she were ashamed to keep talking. She nodded to herself and kept going, speaking quietly with her head still down so Beca had to lean forward to hear her, "And that's when 'the Hunter' was born. I decided that if that's all guys wanted was sex and that getting attached to people was going to hurt you in the long run that I wouldn't do it. I would be just like a high school boy, just after sex on my terms, no commitments. I had the looks to get who or what I wanted and I learned to use those looks. And that catches you up to when I got to Barden."

Beca pulled the taller girl into a hug, "Can I talk now?" Stacie nodded against her shoulder. Beca sighed, "First, I'm so sorry Stace, nobody should have to go through that. But why don't you let the Bellas see how smart you are?"

Stacie sighed against her shoulder, not letting go of smaller girl, "Shit, I forgot that part of the story. Well, with my body developing I started to get more solos and I even got the lead part in the school musical. Well that just seemed to make the other girls even more mad at me so I asked them why they were so mad at me. One of them just looked at me and screamed at me, 'We don't want you here. You are good at everything else why can't you let us have this?' I just left the room. I didn't give up singing, but after that I just kept to myself in choir, just like everywhere else."

Beca felt the tears falling down her cheeks, she couldn't stop them. There's no way this special girl should have had to go through all of that. But that didn't fully answer her question, "But why didn't you trust the Bellas?"

Stacie sighed, "I've just been burned so many times that I didn't want to lose this. I love the Bellas and I don't think I could handle it if I lost them. So it was just easier to be the Stacie that the Bellas know than risk letting them see all of me."

Beca squeezed the other girl even harder, "Well I think you're perfect just the way you are. Just perfect."

Stacie cried into Beca's shoulders, not realizing how much she wanted to hear those words from the smaller girl.