All in Benji's POV.

Chapter 2- Pledge

Trudging through the rain back to the dorms, I was tormented by constant cold splatters of rain smacking me in the face. 'They're telling you to get out while you can, Benji.' I told myself, but then shook off my ridiculousness. Some of the ice cold drops trickled far enough into my hair to nestle onto my raw scalp, sending shivers down my spine.

It's times like this when I wish I had an invisibility force shield. It would also let me slip away undetected from the mess that was about to unfold.

Approaching the glass door to the dorms, I braced myself for what was to come. Screaming? Hitting? Scoffing? ... Crying? God forbid, she'd cry; I have no idea what to do with a crying girl.

I swiped into the building, and made my way up to the third floor. As I rounded the corner to the main hallway, I caught the glimpse of someone entering Beca's room and the door shutting behind them.

'This is my chance.' I thought to myself, relieved. 'She's too busy to talk right now. I'll just come back later.' I nodded to no one.

Just then I heard a giddy scream come from behind the door... It sounded like a happy scream. Curious, I inched closer and closer, until my ear stood a respectable foot away from the door. Through the walls, I faintly heard an overjoyed conversation taking place.

"...Beca, I'm just so happy to see you."

"Okay, well tell me what happened! Why are you back?"

"My senior capstone advisor died!" I heard a gasp. "The credit wasn't approved before graduation, and they're making me take the class over..."

"Oh my god, that's terrible."

"Well, I was so sad at first, I almost cried, but then I realized I'd get to spend another semester with the Bellas!" Ecstatic squealing followed.

"Well, just in time! The Homecoming Dance is this Friday! You can be my date! I'm not talking to Jesse right now. He had the nerve to steal our setlist and look at it..."

"Oh my god, that asshole..."

"Yeah, so you can go with me."

"well... I would Bec, but I know you and Jesse are going to end up making up, and I'm going to end up alone by myself with a bunch of underclassmen... And it's already weird that I'm a fifth year, and I don't know any of these new kids... I just don't think I'd fit in..."

"No! That's not true! Okay, well, what if I find you someone? Then would you go?"

"I mean, I guess, bu-"

And with that, the door clicked and flew open, and I found myself face-to-face with an annoyed Kimmy Jin. I strained a nervous smile, but Kimmy remained straight faced. "Beca, your weird magic friend is stalking you." She deadpanned.

"Benji?" Beca turned from her spot to stare questioningly at me. Kimmy pushed me aside as she made her way through the door. Catching my balance, I looked up to notice Beca and another girl looking down at me: Chloe.

"Oh, hey Chloe." I fidgeted.

She raised her eyebrows at me in response.

"Uhh... so Benji." Beca said finally, breaking the silence. "What... can I help you with?"

"Oh," I held my arm embarassed at being caught. That sure wasn't going to make my job any easier. "Well, I came to you to talk about that whole setlist fiasco..."

"Oh my god," She cut me off, "What a coward... Jesse sent you to apologize for him, didn't he." She planted her knuckles firmly on her sides.

"Umm..." My eyes darted around the room nervously, and accidentally shared eye contact with Chloe, before darting back to the other side of the room. "N-No, not at all. As his fellow AcaBrother, it's my duty to moderate peace so that we can all go back to Aca Harmony, that's all." I gulped. "And to be honest, as an impartial bystander, I think the Bellas should still do the duet, regardless of a silly, little incident like that."

Beca turned to Chloe. "Chloe, can we catch up later? Sorry." Chloe nodded and slipped by me with plenty of room to spare, but I still jumped out of the way anyway. "Ok Benji." Beca turned back to me. "So you're telling me that after you guys are clearly trying to sabotage us and steal our setlist, that we should help you guys out, and still do the collab?" She looked at me unimpressed. "I know Jesse is just doing it so he can ass-kiss O'Neal and get more funding." Beca crossed her arms and extended her neck waiting for a response.

"No, he's not trying to sabotage you! He just wanted to take a look at it, I promise. You guys are just SO good at mashing up songs, he probably wanted to get a feel for how good our competition really is. And, I mean, you guys are... AWESOME." I smiled widely. "I literally kiss the ground you walk on."

Beca looked at me skeptically... almost smirking if I was reading her social cues correctly. And after what seemed like an eternity of silence, she finally spoke, "Okay, here's the deal... Mr. Applebaum." She planted her knuckle on her hip once more, as if she was ready to take control. I swallowed. "You don't have a date to the dance, right?"

"I mean, not exactly, but I'm quite fine wi-"

"Good, you take my friend to the Homecoming Dance, and I'll say the Treble Maker's debt is repaid." She smiled triumphantly.

My mouth stuttered, not able to formulate coherent words. Another favor? This seemed to be some sick Jabba-esque game lately. "B-B-But I don't understand, this was yours and Jesse's debacle... why am I being dragged into this?" I begged. All I wanted was a nice night at a dance, maybe some punch, sing some show tunes, and then come back home, unharmed. This was too much.

"Because, Benji," Beca smiled, almost evily might I add, "You guys are AcaBrothers. And it's your duty to moderate peace so that we can all go back to Aca Harmony." She scoffed. I knew I shouldn't have pulled out the rulebook.

"Okay, I'll do it." I mumbled, defeated once again.

"And you have to wear a nice matching suit, and buy her a nice corsage, and pick her up at her dorm room too!" Beca smiled. She seemed to be having a lot of fun with this.

"Okay I will." I sighed. "But who is it?"

"Chloe."

I nearly choked.