Disclaimer: I do not own Pitch Perfect or Since U Been Gone.

Here's the thing, we started out friends.

It was cool but it was all pretend.

Since U Been Gone – Kelly Clarkson

Beca was halfway to auditions before she noticed she didn't know what to perform or even if they were requiring her to sing a specific song. Groaning, she pulled her phone out of her pocket, hoping she had kept Chloe's number after all these years and that Chloe still had the same number.

As she scrolled through her contacts, she was getting closer to the drama stage. Sighing, she stuffed her phone back into her pocket and walked quietly inside. She shook her head and watched others perform 'Since U Been Gone.'

As the nerdy student tried to finish things up, Chloe noticed Beca hanging out in the corner. "Wait, there's one more," she forced out.

Beca, who had turned to leave, turned back and walked out in front of that stage. "I didn't know we had to prepare that song," she mumbled embarrassedly.

"Sing something, then. Hurry up," Chloe urged. "We don't have all day."

Beca shot her a glare. "You were the one who wanted me to audition."

"I don't want you to, but you're a good singer and we obviously need good singers for a cappella, huh?"

Beca regretted even coming. "You know what, never mind. I'm not auditioning."

Chloe's eyes narrowed. "You're already here."

"You can't force me to audition."

"I can."

"But you won't because you don't want me here."

Chloe hesitated but nodded. "Fine, get out of here."

Aubrey, who had been watching the exchange, cut in. "Beca – that's your name, right? – please get started. Your attitude isn't inviting as of now, so start before you say something you regret."

Beca scoffed. "No, I'm fine. You guys don't need me. Good luck, Bellas."

She smiled smugly at Chloe before jumping off of the stage and leaving.

"Hey, hey, Beca!" she heard from behind her.

"Jesse," she acknowledged, annoyed.

"I auditioned, why didn't you? We could've been, like, rivals. Treble versus Bella?"

"As you can see, I'm not exactly wanted," Beca replied drily.

"Come on, Becky, you should've at least sang!" Jesse protested, getting closer to Beca.

"Don't call me that," she bristled.

"Luke calls you that, doesn't he?" Jesse asked curiously, cocking his head, puppy eyes twinkling.

Beca grunted in response, but she noticed how close Jesse was leaning. "I'm going to be your lesbro," he announced, only a few inches away from her face. "We're going to be fast lesiblings."

"You just called yourself gay," Beca replied, biting back her laughter.

"I'm open to all of my options," he announced loudly.

Beca's jaw fell open. "You're bi?"

Jesse nodded, shrugging. "Love is love."

She grinned widely, punching his shoulder playfully. "Just hope you don't fall in love with me, dude. I won't reciprocate your feelings. Ever."

"That's probably because you seem hung up on someone else," Jesse whispered, eyes flickering over to the redhead walking over to them.

"How did you –"

"You just told me," he said smugly, bumping past her as he walked away.

Chloe walked straight up to Beca and pushed her shoulders backward. "What the hell, Beca?"

"Here we go again," she muttered.

"You were here to audition. Not run off after making us look like fools!"

"I was here to audition because of you!" Beca protested.

"You shouldn't have come at all."

"You told me to!"

"And now I'm regretting it."

Beca scoffed. "Yeah, okay. It's not even enough payback for what you did to me."

"We drifted apart and you were weird! What was I supposed to do, hm? Stay friends with someone I couldn't relate to? You're annoying and anti-social. I'm a social butterfly," Chloe snapped.

Beca's eyes softened, shaking her head softly. "I would've been okay with not being seen with you at school, Chlo," she said, reverting to her old nickname for the ginger.

"I really, really loved you – as a friend," she added quickly, though she was sure it was a lie. "You left me to go through the worst things of my life alone. My parents divorced, but you knew that. My mom died a month afterward; she committed suicide and I found her."

Beca's eyes stung and Chloe bit back her own tears. "I saw you everyday, living it up without a single glance toward me. You never asked me how I was doing or said hello in the halls. I was alone because you spread secrets I told you to everyone in the school and no one wanted to come near me. After I kissed you – drunkenly, I might remind you – you told everyone I was gay. I'm proud of it now, but I was so insecure in high school."

"I told everyone you were gay and it was just proof. It's not like it really affected you that much," Chloe replied shortly, her sympathy apparent but she wanted to interject something to make herself feel better.

"You don't understand, Chloe; it did. Everyone became more malicious because they knew, for certain, I was a lesbian. Think about all those names - faggot, flamer, dyke - I got called. In fact, you probably know all of them since you called me them."

Chloe ran a hand through her red waves. "Okay, Beca, I'm - " Chloe took a deep breath, forcing out her next words, "I'm sorry."

Surprised, Beca looked up and straight into Chloe's eyes. "S - sorry? You're apologizing?"

Chloe nodded, rolling her eyes. "I am. And, while it kills me to do so, I'm sorry."

Beca wiped at her tears and put on a smirk. "Say it again," she commanded.

"I'm sorry for messing you up in high school."

While the last one wasn't as genuine as the previous, Beca smiled slightly. "Well, um, thanks for apologizing," she said awkwardly. "I don't really know what to say to that. I guess I really do appreciate you apologizing, but it doesn't change anything that happened in high school."

Chloe nodded. "Can you please try the Bellas, though? Just - I know you don't like me still, but it would mean a lot because we need more singers."

Beca shook her head. "I think it's best if I don't join. Personally, I was never really interested much anyway."

When Chloe said nothing, Beca finally studied her face. Her face had fell, almost as if she had actually wanted Beca in the Bellas. But Beca wasn't looking for emotions; she was looking for changes over the past few years. Her eyes had stayed much of the same, but her eyes held an underlying sadness. Chloe's face, in whole, was still bright and radiant - beautiful, even - but it seemed to sag with stress.

After a long silence, Beca spoke. "Are you- are you okay?" she offered.

Chloe shook her head, a sharp laugh escaping her throat. She gave Beca a shrug, however. "It's just crazy. We used to be best friends and now - now we're finally holding a conversation but it's been so long. I kind of miss it," she admitted.

Beca almost spoke up - we used to be best friends and would have continued had it not been for you - but just nodded. "I always miss it," she declared confidently.

Chloe gave her a weird look before getting up. "I should get going," she said, gesturing back to the building.

Beca opened her mouth but closed it. "Okay."

"Okay."

Chloe didn't move, however. Her suspiration was loud and seemed defeated. "I would like us to meet for coffee...?" Chloe said carefully.

"Hopefully it's not like the other day," Beca said, chuckling.

The statement produced a smile on Chloe's face, taking it as a yes. "Tomorrow, around ten?"

"I have class then. Nine fifteen or so is better."

"Sure. Bye, Becs!" Chloe said, moving away and hoping Beca wouldn't correct her for using her old nickname.

"Bye, Chlo," was all Beca said.

It struck Beca, then, as Chloe walked away, they must have sounded a lot like exes speaking from a third person point of view. The thought made Beca's stomach tighten but she allowed her eyes to trail over Chloe - totally still contemplating how she had changed - from afar.

I'd like to thank kyjori and their review for motivating me to rewrite the ending of this chapter. While it took way too long to put back up, I kept rewriting and rewriting before going farther back in the chapter and starting from there.

So this is really familiar for those of you who had read the older one, but the ending is different. Hopefully, you didn't skip over it and assume it was a repeat. I do hope this was better than the old one, however, since in this one they still managed to apologize and decide to meet up but don't have a defined friendship at all yet.

-PPF