A/N: I wouldn't rely on this story being updated daily. It's just I have time right now and I know exactly what I'm going to write. Also, expect the switching POV's to be a thing. It's probably going to stay between Beca's and Chloe+Aubrey's POV. Oh, and one last thing! How'd you guys like Beca's backstory? Do you like the Teen Wolf throw in? Lemme know and enjoy!
I.
When Beca is twenty, she's a freshman at Barden University with the credits of a sophomore.
She's also rooming with an Asian psychopath who looks like she wants to murder Beca in her sleep. Seriously, Beca is convinced that Kimmy Jin has it out for her, which is ridiculous because Beca literally just met her like an hour ago maybe.
For the first time since she got on campus, Beca is glad that Stiles and John aren't here to help her move in. John because he'd just get into a staring contest with Kimmy Jin – the intimidating Sheriff's stare versus the unimpressed Asian. Beca's sad to say that Kimmy Jin would probably win. The girl doesn't blink.
Stiles she's happy isn't here because Kimmy Jin looks like she wants to kill anything that moves. Or speaks. Or breathes. And Stiles just doesn't know how to stop….anything really. Her and her brother would be deader than a door nail in 2.5 seconds flat and not even the Sheriff could've saved them.
But that's not to say that she isn't sad they're not here. Because she is, she definitely is. Beca understands why they're not though. They only have one car with enough room to move all their shit four hours to Atlanta, five to Mongolia and that is Stiles's baby, his Jeep affectionately named Betty. It wouldn't have made sense to drag the Sheriff up to Atlanta only to abandon him there with no way home. So John was out and Beca understood.
And Stiles's move-in date was somehow a week before Beca's.
So her brother came up first with his stuff, and then came back down a week later for her and hers. He couldn't stay long because fall training for lacrosse had already started and he couldn't afford to miss any more than he already had. So Stiles dropped her off, helped unload her stuff, gave her a bone-crushing bear hug, kissed her temple, told her to have a fantastic year, get arrested at least once for drunk and disorderly, call me every Wednesday or I'll kill you then ran back to his Jeep singing "Flinstock is going to muuurder meeeee!"
It's a song he made up freshman year when he first tried out for Mongolia's lacrosse team and is about their head coach, Bobby Flinstock. It has twenty-three verses and some very creative cursing. It's Stiles's favorite song.
She has absolutely no doubt he sang each and every verse at the top of his lungs on the way back to Mongolia. He most definitely car danced the entire way as well.
Beca adores her brother. She really, really does.
She's still not pleased that he left her to unpack by herself and deal with the totally a crazy, Stiles you can see it in her eyes. No, I'm not being melodramatic. Stop laughing, asshole! This is serious shit!
Beca lasted all of ten minutes in her dorm before she shoved her headphones around her neck and fled to the activities fair. She prides herself on her self-preservation instincts. Except not really, she's about as good at staying away from trouble as Stiles is, which is to say not at all. It's probably really sad for a Sheriff's kids.
(John loves them anyway)
II.
The activities fair is more crowded than Beca thought it was going to be.
The brunette had processed that yes, this was a college. A rather large one actually, with near 30,000 students so it made sense that the place was crowded. Beca understood why there were so many people. It's just – Beca wasn't prepared.
She wasn't prepared for this and now she doesn't know how to handle the fact that there are people surrounding her on all sides and they're pushing up right next to her and she can't get out because they're everywhere and –
Beca pauses and takes a deep breath. Then another and another. She's okay. She's fine. She will not have a panic attack in the middle of the fucking quad. There are just a lot of people. She can handle it. All she needs to do is stay near the edges where the crowds are thin enough that they don't trigger her claustrophobia. She doesn't need to get close enough that people can touch her. She's fine. She can do this.
The brunette releases the death grip she has on her cell phone and resists the urge to call Stiles, to ask him to drive back to Barden and hug her until she feels better. She resists and quickly walks over to the fringes of the activities fair, carefully counting out her breathes.
In, two, three, four…out, two, three, four…
Beca has had intense claustrophobia since she was a little girl, a remnant of the closet from hell. She also has a slight fear of the dark for the same reason but she doesn't like to be reminded of it. It makes her feel childish.
The aversion to touching was probably Warren's fault, too. She remembers the first few months after she moved in with Stiles and John. After that hug Stiles gave her the first night, Beca didn't let either of them within two feet of her personal space. She'd glare and tense every time they got close and flinch when they made any sudden movements in her direction. She hated that she did it and hated the look of sadness on the Stilinski men's faces every time it happened.
Over the past five years, she's relaxed immeasurably towards them. When Stiles would come home from Mongolia to visit, Beca would tackle him into a hug, wrapping her legs around his waist and not let go for an hour. When he would leave after the weekend was through, Beca would curl up in John's leather armchair with the Sheriff and fall asleep to the sound of his heartbeat and the feeling of safe.
Beca still hates it when most everyone else touches her. She's decided it's a trust thing. John agrees.
The brunette takes a few more deep breathes until she feels the panic abate back to a manageable level. She's long since accepted that it never goes away, not completely but it fades until she can ignore it and that's good enough.
After she's calm, the brunette walks around the edges of the fair until she has a decent vantage point over a majority of the hustle and bustle. From there she forms her plan of attack, picking and choosing the booths she wants to go to and the fastest ways to get there with the least amount of students in her way.
Her first stop is the Running in Circles club because Stiles won't believe it exists without proof.
("Can I get a picture of you guys booth? It's for my brother." "Does he like being in a circle?" "He certainly doesn't like being straight.")
Her next stop is the Quidditch team because honestly? That shit is awesome. Also, who knew it was a contact sport? Answer: Stiles because that boy thinks he's a wizard and is still convinced Hogwarts lost his acceptance letter. Her brother is going to be so jealous that Barden has a Quidditch team and Mongolia doesn't.
She gets a picture of that booth too, for bragging rights if nothing else.
After that she makes her way over to the Barden DJ's, feeling her excitement grow with each step. This is what she came down to the activities fair for. She wanted to find something that had to do with music and the fact that she actually found a club dedicated to DJing makes suffering through all these people worth it.
Being a DJ is what she wants to do with her life. She had gotten interested in it when she was twelve, when Warren got really bad. She (illegally) downloaded the best programs she could and spent hours learning how to match downbeats and rhythms. When they moved to Beacon Hills and Judy became insufferable, it was how Beca escaped – tinkering with different songs on her old beat-up laptop.
When Beca got her first paycheck from Frank's Diner, she blew half of it on a new pair of over-the-ear headphones. She didn't eat that week but felt no regret. When she showed John her mixes a year after the Stilinskis' took her in, he was so impressed he took her out the next day to buy whatever equipment she needed to keep on mixing.
("This is better than half the stuff on the radio, Beca and you obviously care a great deal about it. So pick whatever you think you need to keep on doing what you love and I'll pay for it. You should always follow your dreams. And don't worry about the money; I'm just helping you out until you can stand up by yourself. If it's that important to you, you can pay me back later but I'd rather you just think of this as an early Christmas present.")
That day was the first time she ever hugged John. He was so shocked that he forgot to hug back for a full minute. Beca was so happy she didn't stop smiling for the rest of the day. Stiles was so jealous that he pouted for a week.
Fully armed with a new mixing table and top-notch software, Beca just kept getting better and better. And she knew it. That's why she feels like she can make a career out of being a DJ. It is her passion and she will do whatever it takes to be great, starting with getting a degree in Music Theory and Business.
Beca knows she has the raw talent. She just needs the education to give her the extra edge, fine-tuning her skills and teaching her the ins and outs of the business side of the entertainment industry. The DJ is a firm believer in self-sufficiency. It won't do to blindly trust some random agent to have her best interests at heart. No, it is better that Beca know – or at least have a general idea – of what she wants her music career to look like so that it will be harder for someone else to fuck it up for her.
There's a large blonde Australian woman standing in front of the booth when Beca finally walks up. She's unsuccessfully trying to hit on the two boys behind the table and Beca just wants her to hurry up and move so she can talk to them about ….Deaf Jews?
The Australian shifted enough so that Beca can see the sign-up sheet proudly inviting people to join the Barden U Deaf Jew Community. The brunette feels an overwhelming wave of disappointment. Beca was really excited about hanging out with people who do what she does, looking forward to trading tips and pointers. But since that isn't going to happen….
Beca turns without a word and walks away from the DJ booth, leaving the two boys at the Australian's mercy. She manages to shake off her feeling of being let down and continues towards her next stop, the internship booth. Most college campuses have radio stations and she's certain that she can land some sort of job at Barden's.
And if eventually she gets high enough in the ranks to play her own songs? Well. Just the thought of having her music play on any radio station is enough to send butterflies stampeding through Beca's stomach. It makes her determined to make it happen. Because if her stuff is good enough for radio it means Beca is good enough. And being good enough is something Beca wants very, very badly.
Sure enough, there's an opening for an intern at WBUJ 'Music for the Independent Mind'. Beca is ecstatic. She quickly jots down her information and thanks the kid manning the booth. The DJ then wanders away in a happy haze, trying to exit the activities fair (she's visited all the booths she wanted to visit) while simultaneously sorting through the new mix ideas that just popped into her head.
She's so deep in thought that she doesn't even notice where she's walking until a flyer is thrust into her face and a cheerfully perky voice breaks her concentration.
"Hi! Do you want to join our acapella group?"