"Aubrey, please...calm your tits."

"What? These tits? Are fucking yoga, Beca," the blonde brushed her bangs away from her reddened face. Beca knew when the news hit Aubrey, the shit would hit the fan. "Know why? Because I knew this would happen. Was I wrong?"

Before Beca could answer, Aubrey put up her hand. "Nope. I'm not wrong. I knew they were douche nozzles."

Beca nodded her head, she pretty much agreed the Trebles were a merry band of assholes at this point. "Yeah, they definitely study some manual for assholes. It's just I wish I could have seen it coming."

Aubrey felt vindicated in her original assertion, no Treble should be allowed to date a Bella. "This has happened before, ya know! Uh huh. The mass dumping of 1998."

"Okay, wait…what?" Beca gave Chloe a look on the other side of her Skype box and the redhead looked just as confused. "Why would you remember that?"

"So we won't make the same mistakes as our fore sisters. This is straight from the Treble handbook of sabotage. This is why the ban was reinstated in 1998."

"Was that the one when the girl went down on the-"

"No! The Bellas captain dated a Treble for three years, okay…three whole years, which is like…engagement serious, right… and on the night of the Ring Dance...he dumped her!" Aubrey's arms flailed dramatically. "…for her roommate. These are the sick freaks we're dealing with."

"This is basically a soap opera," Beca had thought the ban was all in Aubrey's head. She hadn't realized how seriously fucked up and dramatic a capella could be. "Except with a group of dorks."

"...and that, ladies, is why we never date Trebles," Aubrey huffed, causing Beca to roll her eyes, knowing the blonde could see her through the webcam.

Chloe was a little more sympathetic; she was more concerned with how Fat Amy and Lily were doing. "Are they okay?"

"I've never seen Amy like this, you know. She's always so confident, self-assured. But now she's just moping around. It took me all day to get her to go to class. Lily's the one I'm worried about, though. Donald might wake up one day with her hovering over him with a cleaver," Beca ran her hands through her hair and blew out a breath. "I just...I knew Bumper was up to something."

"Of course he was. He's a Treble. They can't be trusted. Any of them. They are all evil," Aubrey stated.

"That's not true," Chloe said optimistically. She was always trying to see the positive. "Jesse and Benji are good guys."

"Jesse. I forgot about him," Aubrey said, taking a deep breath and focusing a hard stare on Beca. "Right. So...Beca, you broke up with him right?"

"Uh, what?" She didn't think she heard Aubrey correctly.

Chloe looked shocked. Even she thought Aubrey had gone too far. "Oh my god, Aubrey. Beca don't listen to her."

"Seriously, we're not even having this discussion," Beca straightened her back and looked defiantly at Aubrey.

Unfortunately, Aubrey was on such a tear, Beca's resistance had to be broken. "You have to, he's one of them, and look at what he did! This is war Beca!"

"One of them? War? What is this? Game of Thrones?"

Aubrey's anger vein in her forehead was now prominent. "He lied to you. He knew what they were going to do. He hurt your friends. I'm so serious. It's him or us, Beca."

There it was. Aubrey had thrown down the gauntlet...again. Beca's entire first year at Barden, she had chosen the Bellas, she had refused to acknowledge her feelings. She simply decided to ignore her feelings for Jesse. She pushed him so far away, she even she was surprised at the distance. But now, despite the past week's events, she's confronted with that choice once again. The train ride back was torture. She'd rather had been on the worst days of her period than deal with the crap that was piled on her relationship. She was fuming, rightfully furious with him, and he knew it.

He was in fucking trouble.

Their last night in New York was supposed to be magical, and it was until the phone call. The rest of the night was him knocking on the bathroom door, asking for her to come out and talk to him. She was able to ignore him until she saw the light switch off under the base of the door. Even then she waited a full hour (she almost fell asleep against the toilet) before slipping out of the bathroom and on her side of the bed, where she laid so close the edge she thought she might fall off. She could hear him breathing, he was awake and he wanted to say something, but he knew better. He knew it was best to remain silent, and to definitely not reach over and touch her.

Now they just sat in an awkward silence in the club car, Beca watching the scenery whiz by them. He followed her there, even though she has perfected the silent treatment he was getting and was hoping it would make him keep his distance. Who was she kidding? This was Jesse she was talking about. Jesse ordered coffee, and was looking at his cell phone and back at her every five minutes, as if his creepy stare off would prompt her to speak. When he wasn't looking, Beca's cold eyes traced the stubble on his defined chin, because despite her anger and the utter betrayal he had shown, he looked kind of hot.

She took note of how delicately he held his coffee cup with both strong hands, the strong hands that held her all week. Hands that roamed her body. Whatever. Those hands were attached to a lying liar who lies as far as she was concerned. Her hard brow lifted to see he was just staring into the cup now, unable to look at her face of disappointment.

Suddenly, he spoke up, "Alright, here it is, because I can't take the silence anymore. I know I messed up. And for that, Bec, I am so sorry. I didn't think it was going to be like this, and I should have told you, I should have warned Amy...I..."

His mouth is opened and he stalls a minute, searching for words before he finally looked up at her, the rims of his eyes red. "Look at me, I never cried in front of a girl."

Her eyes only went colder at his lie (he cried watching Forrest Gump before, so, that was a weak ploy for her sympathy and he knew it) so he recanted.

"Okay, except I did cry that time in front of my mom and my sister's entire girl scout troop when I was eight. But this is real emotion. You know what? Screw it, let's be honest. I don't want to lose you. Not over Bumper. Not over the Trebles. I never meant to hurt you, or any of your friends. That was never my intention. I just thought that maybe, I don't know...I was only focused on you. I didn't think they would do it. I guessed wrong. I thought Bumper really liked Amy, at least, it seemed that way. And yeah, okay, I'm sorry I kept the secret, and yeah... I'm sorry I made you angry, but I'm not sorry I got you to myself for a whole week and I'm not sorry I didn't break up with you."

Beca seemed unamused. "Is that an apology? Is that what that was?"

"Yes. Maybe, sorta," he shrugged.

Jesse's declaration did touch Beca in the spot where her cold dark heart was still beating. She'd admit she loved hearing him spill his heart out like that. But regardless, he had done something wrong. In a way she felt betrayed. And for that, he must be punished.

"Well your little theory that Bumper was using her...to do something like this," Beca hissed. "Tell me that's not ridiculous."

"It is. I told him so. He wouldn't listen. He said the Trebles before us did it. Tradition or whatever."

"New tradition, whenever I see him, I kick his face in."

Jesse recoiled at her tone. "Um…that was…scary."

"Good."

"You got a little crazy on your face there," he lifted a finger and swiped at her chin. She dodged him but playfully knocked away his hand.

"Watch it," she said, still stone faced, but the mood was becoming lighter. She was still white hot angry, but she couldn't stay mad at Jesse long. "I'm still mad at you, by the way."

"I know. I deserve it. But honestly, I think Bumper's already hurt himself," Jesse shook his head when Beca let out a bitter chuckle, "No, I honestly don't think he's as hateful as we all think. I know you hate him, rightfully too, but hear me out. I think Bumper really does like her. But his inner nature is this insecure asshole and the only thing he feels good at is leading the Trebles."

"So? He doesn't have a conscience? He loves a capella so much he decides to hurt Amy, Lily, and Reagan, just to win?"

"Well...yeah. That's totally it. Sounds mega stupid in normal human terms but for someone like Bumper...he's never really had a girlfriend no matter how much he lied that he has, and I think Amy was the closest to it, and he just, maybe he freaked out and decided to pull this stunt."

"You're right, it does sound stupid. What are we, twelve?"

"No, I knew the moment I heard it, how stupid it was. Brendan and Reagan weren't all that serious, he's rarely serious about anything. As for Donald, he liked Lily just fine, but I do think Donald was sort of ready to move on, he wasn't into long distance relationships."

"Well…then break up with her like a man. You call her, you send her a fucking email, hell, tweet it. One hundred and forty characters. Something like- Let's Breakup. Hashtag I hate you, Hashtag I'm a tool. But you don't invite her to Myrtle Beach and lock her out of the house."

Jesse looked back at his coffee cup. "Hashtag- Someone's angry."

"Do you really want to mock me right now?" Beca frowned.

Jesse waved his hands in the air. "You're right. I know. I agree. That's what a real man would do. I just...wanted to let you know why I didn't think they would go through with it. Bumper likes Amy. He really likes her."

"He has an interesting way of showing it," Beca sighed. "The assturd."

Jesse looked honestly at her. "I'm just saying Bumper is the villain here, but maybe he's not the evil villain."

Beca rested her chin on her palm. "He's the Penguin from Batman Returns."

"I don't ever want to presume what's in Bumper's jacked up psyche. I just…I've seen him at his most douchiest, and I've seen this guy whose actually looking for a friend. And us…you and me...we've worked so hard this past year, I don't care about the Trebles, I will walk away if I need to. I just don't want you to think I wanted any of this to happen."

She took in his tired appearance, the hint of stumble because neither of them got much sleep, their last night mixed with the clubbing, the sex, and then the arguing. He was wearing a dark hoodie and white tee, and part of her wanted to rip it off of him and shame the small table in the club car. The other part was genuinely hurt, but mostly, for her friends. She didn't doubt Jesse loved her, especially after that week. She loved him too, and even stewing in her anger, she wanted to be with him. It's stupid, and ridiculous, and too way fucking girly to be honest. Anyone else, and she would have banished them from her presence.

He was sitting there on that train, behind declarations of love and apologies, chipping away at her anger wall. She wanted to hate him for that, but she couldn't. Her mind and heart didn't work in sync anymore. Beneath the façade of a hardened emotional shell, she could honestly say she's kind of sad they ended their week on this bad note. Here he was, telling her he'd gladly walk away from the friends he made with the Trebles, from singing his favorite pop songs, from performing on stage to cheering crowds…for her. Who the fuck wouldn't melt at that?

Jesse's got a little game. He's definitely good with the emotional Jedi Mind Trick he just did there. But like he said, no matter how angry she was, she was not willing throw them away just yet. So, Aubrey can shut her face.

"Yeah so...no, I'm not breaking up with Jesse," she said quietly, causing Aubrey to gasp.

"What?! Beca-"

"I'm not going to break up with him," Beca replied, more pointedly.

"Do you hear what you are saying? He was in this-"

"Let's move on-"

"We're not finished talking about this Beca. I'm not off of this Jesse situation."

Beca crossed her arms. "You'd be smart to get off of my boyfriend and get your own."

Both Chloe and Aubrey looked at Beca in shock. Chloe's face tried to mask her amusement.

"Shut it Aubrey," Chloe flashed Beca a teasing smile. "She loves him. She's not going to break up with him because you said so. It's just like the Trebles are doing. We'd be no better."

"Thank you," Beca offered to Chloe, ignoring the miffed Aubrey on her screen. "We're not talking about this again. Ever. Okay?"

"Whatever," Aubrey rolled her eyes.

With that Beca sought to get them back on track. "Now this is where I really need you guys to help. How do I make the girls forget this and just go straight for the jugular? Revenge is a dish best served cold...or some shit like that, right?"

"Hey Amy, ya going to practice?" Stacie asked, looking at Beca as they were leaving the room to go to practice. Before Stacie came to walk her over, Beca had already tried to get Amy to get up for twenty minutes. Finally, she just gave up.

"No, I'm going to sit this one out. Mental Health Day, ya know? Gonna just sit here, in my jammies, and watch..." she looked at the television screen she'd been ignoring for the last hour. "This infomercial on this chicken rotisserie. Yep, always wanted one of those. Nice juicy chickens."

Stacie sat on Amy's bed and looked her. "You need to get up and go with us to practice. You need to leave the room. It's been a week."

"I go to class. Can't a girl get a little me time?"

Beca cleared her throat and shut the door, seeing as they weren't leaving anytime soon. Time for an intervention. "You've been wearing the same pajama pants for three days. And you're talking about roasting chickens."

"I have no one to impress," Amy shrugged.

Stacie looked genuinely concerned. " Is this about what happened at the beach? Wanna talk about it?"

When they got back to Barden, Amy tried to blow it off like nothing was wrong but she knew better. She stopped being so talkative, and so out there. She wasn't her usual self.

"No Stacie, I don't want to talk about it," Amy mumbled. "You were there. You know the story. Girl likes guy, guy lies about liking girl, girl and boy talk every day, go out, she drops all her other prospects, even rubs his acne medicine on his back for him…guy invites her to the beach, then unceremoniously dumps her and all her shit outside on the porch in the middle of the night. It's a classic love story, like Romeo and Juliet."

"What he did to you...I hate him for you," Beca replied.

Stacie nodded. "Me too. I told you I'd punch him in the face for you. I know a guy who knows a guy who can take him out if you want….if you know what I'm saying?"

"You know a guy who knows a guy?" Beca tried to make sense in Stacie's words. "We're not the mafia."

"Here's the thing. I don't hate him. I kinda still like him a little bit. Maybe even love him," she looked at her fellow Bellas' surprised expressions. "What am I talking about? No, I don't love him. Ain't nobody got time for that."

"You love him?" Beca asked.

"No. Uh uh. I don't know...maybe," Fat Amy offered her a small smile. "But again, I also love red velvet cake. So, the question is, what is love?"

"I'm so sorry, Amy," Stacie reached out and held her friend's hand for support. "He doesn't deserve you. He is an unlovable sloth who will get a burning STD and pay for his crimes. Now put on a bra and some real pants and let's go to practice."

Amy opened her mouth to blow it off with another humorous comment but stopped and looked honestly at her friends. "Maybe, he was ashamed of me. Maybe I wasn't pretty enough? Maybe he found someone else."

Beca was shocked to see Amy with any insecure feelings. But relationships bring that out in you, it's certainly brought it out in her and Jesse.

She shook her head and gave her roommate a smile. "What are you talking about? He just lost out on the sexiest bitch on this campus."

Amy smiled. "Yeah, he kind of did. This is a lot of sexy."

"-Too much." Stacie agreed.

"Women pay for these boobs, ya know?"

"-I would," Beca agreed. "Totally."

"Too big for me but I know guys who would play with them for days," Stacie offered.

Amy was quiet for a moment and looked sheepishly at her friend. "He lost out, Bumper did. He's just an asshole. A stupid short asshole, whose afraid of spiders and puppets."

"I know a spider guy too, if you want to do that to him." Stacie assured.

"No thanks, whatever..." Amy perked up a bit. "Fine, I'll go to practice. Someone has to show Stacie how to stay in step anyway."

"Hey!"

"Yeah, yeah. But seriously, do I have to put a bra on?"

"Yes!" Both girls squeaked.

They were getting back to normal. Beca was studying for her upcoming finals, having pushed her grades up to a respectable place this semester. Things were looking up, but her girls were still in a rut. Lily had completely shut down, no longer speaking, just staring and making everyone afraid of what was going on in her head. Beca was working hard to create a set for them to win, with Chloe and Aubrey's assistance. She was going to win back the dignity that was taken from them, one way or the other.

Oddly enough, she'd yet to see the troll who started all of this. Jesse said he hadn't seen Bumper at the house at all, thinking maybe he was laying low.

"Let's play a game." Beca said and Jesse looked up from studying.

"Kinky. Clothes on or off?"

She ignored his stupid question and tapped her pen against her bag. "Let's call it 'If I wanted to find Bumper, and make him cry like a girl, where would he be?'"

"I told you, he's in hiding," Jesse sighed. "Brendan actually told me Bumper's taking this mass dumping kind of hard. They all are. Brendan texted Reagan but she sent back 'You're an asshole' with a picture of an asshole and everything."

"Ouch."

"Yeah. But Osama Bin Bumper is hiding in a cave somewhere."

"He should be afraid."

"Side bar, while you're threatening Bumper just now, you're hot when you get all homicidal," Beca piffed as Jesse continued. "But Bumper's just down in the dumps, everyone is saying. Proving my theory, he likes Fat Amy."

"That troll doesn't have human feelings. Your theory is flawed."

Before Jesse could answer, Beca heard the voice of the douche king behind her. "You guys are talking about me?"

She turned slowly in her chair, seeing a pathetic looking Bumper standing behind her. His face almost looked childlike and hurt. Beca however, didn't give too much of a shit. She felt an intense need to punch something, Bumper's face number one on her list.

Her face hardened. "You must have a death wish."

Jesse could sense this would escalate quickly so he warned, "Maybe we should go outside and-"

"Before you attack me, can I say something?" Bumper ignored Jesse, and asked Beca as he approached slowly.

"There's not much I want to hear from you."

"I know. I'm just...look-"

"No, you look. How could you? How dare you?! What the fuck was going through your small ass mind when you thought that brilliant plan up?"

"Whoa! I..it wasn't-" he tried talking but Beca was too ready to lay in to him.

"No forget your excuses, you piece of shit. You hurt Amy. She cared about you, and like the limp dick I knew you were, you preyed on that!"

With Beca's voice raising, Jesse started to get nervous as eyes fell on them. "Hey guys, maybe we should take this outside and-"

But when Beca was in a rage, she didn't care if she had an audience. "You did that for a competition? How pathetic of you! And guess what, you'll still get smoked."

Beca was yelling now and Jesse looked around to see most of the library staring at them.

Bumper just stood there, taking it all in, even though he weakly tried to explain. "Bro, help me-"

Jesse looked perplexed. "What do you want me to do? I'm not going to stop her if she hurts you man!"

Beca, despite her size was very intimidating. "I should punch your face in, but I don't want to give you the pleasure of pressing charges."

Bumper grimaced and stepped away. "Why are you so violent? Like, why do you always want to hurt my face?"

"You know why."

"Why do you hate my face so much?" Bumper shrugged.

"Because it's attached to the rest of you, which I also hate." Beca was getting irritated.

"That's mean. You really know how to hurt a guy."

"What you're doing now is why I want to rip your face off. You deflect, but it doesn't deflect from the fact you're a horrible person. You better stay away from her," Beca grabbed her bag and threw a glance at Jesse before returning the cold stare back at Bumper. "I look forward to making you eat shit at Finals. Jesse, I'll talk to you later."

"But wait-" Bumper tried to talk but Beca stormed at past him, shoulder bumping him and leaving him in the aftermath of her rage.

Bumper rubbed his shoulder and looked over at Jesse, who was gingerly packing up his stuff since his study session was now ruined. "She's always so angry. Just...really angry. Your little girlfriend is a scary little thing. I was worried about the little Asian one killing me, but I'm definitely more afraid of Beca."

Jesse rolled his eyes. "Dude, you should be. I'm surprised blood wasn't shed."

Bumper sighed and Jesse took in his tired appearance. "I just...I was trying to talk to her."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"You really thought you were going to talk to Beca? She hates you. Always have. You just sealed the deal."

"Okay, so what we did was fucked up. I knew that the moment we locked the door on them, but it was too late to stop it. I was trying to, I don't know...apologize?"

"Bullshit. I'm sorry but that's bullshit, Bumper. We all told you it was stupid to begin with."

Jesse watched Bumper shift his feet. "It was...for the competition. I want...wanted...to win."

"Is that all that matters to you? Winning the ICCAs?"

"Well yeah, right?! We deserve to win."

Jesse put his bag on his shoulder. "That's sad, man. You lost out on a good girl and now you're about to suffer the wrath of the Bellas all because of a singing contest?"

"A contest?! That's why you lost. I was the reigning champion of the ICCAs until last year when you guys lost!"

"Memory serves but you left us! To go sing backup on a record for fucking John Mayer, who let's be honest, no one takes seriously anymore. You have no loyalty, Bumper. That is the problem. You have to make friends, you don't just get them."

"Who the fuck are you to tell me I don't have any friends?" Bumper frowned. "I have friends. I have Brendan-"

"Not your friend, he's scared of you."

"Donald."

"Was your friend but he's annoyed with you.."

"Is not. How would you know?"

"He texted me and told me, I am annoyed with Bumper." Jesse showed him on his phone.

"Huh," Bumper bit his lip. "Um dweeb boy...what's his name? Benji-"

"That right there, is why he hates your fucking guts," Jess shrugged.

Bumper was getting upset. "Whatever, Jesse. Which, is a girl's name by the way. Not everyone was born all talented and shit, like you, or all popular like Donald, or built like a house like Uni. All I had was this, and I wanted to win."

"Hey asswads, this is a library!" Someone shouted.

Other shouts followed. "Yeah, shut the fuck up!"

Jesse ignored the cat calls and looked squarely at Bumper. "I'll be your friend, Bumper. I'll be the only friend you've got right now and tell you the truth. You don't need another singing trophy."

"Oh and you're going to tell me what I need?" Bumper clucked sarcastically.

"Yeah, I am. What you need, is a self esteem."

Bumper was taken aback. "Uh, I'm Bumper. I'm confident as fuck, dude."

"You're not. And the sooner you learn that, the sooner you can fix things with Amy, before it's too late. If it's not already."

Bumper thought for a moment. Then suddenly, his face lit up. "I could sing to her."

"Ew, no. Apologize. Take her out. Buy her something sparkly. Whatever you do, you're going to have to do it on your hands and knees."

"No, shutup I'm thinking, " Bumper paused. "Yeah, I'll sing to her. Like Beca did to you at the Finals."

"You weren't even there," Jesse shook his head as he followed a scheming Bumper out of the library. "Dude, stop."

Bumper was slowly scrolling through his playlist. "Chicks dig that right? I mean, I thought it was gay when Donald showed me the video, but I can do it. How about Half on a Baby by R. Kelly?"

Jesse shook his head emphatically.

Bumper scrolled again. "Hmmm...Biggie's One More Chance? Sex on Fire by Kings of Leon?"

"This will end badly for you," Jesse tried to reason with him.

"Whatevs. Yeah, I'll sing to Amy, win her back, and do a couple of hip thrusts to the judges, and win this shit. You'll see."

"We're going to lose," Jesse sighed. "We're going to lose bad."

***Will Bumper try to fix things? Will Beca hit him in the face? The Finals are coming! ((giggle))

For realz, grad school is alot of work. I mean, the projects are no joke. I am so sorry it seemed like I abandoned the story. I totally didn't. I swear I will finish this. We might be like, 80 years old by then but better late than never.**