"Becs, I know you're not busy. Be ready in thirty minutes."

"How do you know I'm not out at a party right now?"

"You don't have any friends to go party with."

"Ouch, Dad."

"Well, none that I know of. That's why we're going to dinner. I want you to tell us all about how college is going so far."

"Us?"

"Shelia and I."

"Oh," Beca replied quietly. She hated her step-mom, she was rude, but her father kept trying to get them to be friends. Beca resented the woman and blamed her for her parents' divorce.

"She's trying, Beca. It wouldn't kill you to try too."

"We'll see," Beca said and hung up. She threw on a pair of dirty jeans and a tank top. She lied down on her bed listening to music.

A half hour later, Beca was greeted with a frown from her father. "It's a black tie kind of place. Get dressed. You have five minutes."

"I don't have anything black tie," Beca protested.

"I don't care. Borrow something from Kimmy Jin," Mr. Mitchell walked out and shut the door behind him. Beca growled and went to her closet. She did have something that could pass as black tie, but it was her Bellas uniform. She hadn't worn it yet. "Hurry, Becs. We have a reservation," her father said through the door. Beca quickly got dressed and tied her scarf around her neck. If she was going to wear this thing, why not go all out? It might embarrass Shelia, given the fact the outfit looked ridiculous.

The car ride wasn't very fun either. There were long awkward silences, and Beca was sick of looking out the window. She started scrolling through her contacts on her phone and stopped at Chloe's name. Chloe had given her the number after practice one day, but she hadn't texted her yet. Beca sighed nervously and started typing. Hey

The reply came quickly. Hey. Who's this?

Beca got red in the face, she forgot Chloe didn't have her number. Beca Mitchell

Beca! What's up?

Nothing much, just going out to eat with my dad and step-monster

Where at?

Some steak place not too far from campus. It's black tie. I'm being forced to wear my bellas uniform

omg really?

yep. We're here. bye

see you soon~

what?

There was no reply. Beca just laughed awkwardly and got out of the car. "What are you going to order, Beca?" Shelia asked.

"I don't know; we're not inside yet," Beca snapped back.

"I'd like a sirloin steak, medium rare, with a Coke please," Beca ordered to the waiter. He nodded and left.

"What are The Bellas exactly? Are they a group of flight attendants in training?" Shelia asked, being serious. Beca shot her a weird look and said no.

"Becs, who were you texting in the car?" Mr. Mitchell was trying to get Beca to open up a bit. His daughter lived twenty minutes away now, but he barely heard from her.

"Kimmy Jin," she lied.

"Really?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. He had experienced the Korean's coldness firsthand.

"Yeah. I was reminding her it's her turn to vacuum."

"That's cute, sharing chores," Shelia said, trying to get into the conversation. Beca shot her another weird look. The waiter returned with everyone's drinks and Beca watched him walk back into the kitchen. She saw a flash of red in the corner of her eye, but when she turned to look, it was gone. A few seconds later, Beca felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Beca!" She turned and looked up, finding Chloe's warm smile. She was wearing a simple blue dress. Beca grinned and said hi.

"This is my dad. He teaches at Barden. And this is my step-mother, Shelia."

"Hello again, Mr. Mitchell."

"Hi Chloe. School been going well?"

"As always," she beamed. She grabbed Beca's bicep and pulled a little bit, indicating she wanted the freshman to get up. "I need to talk to you about some Bella stuff. Come join me." Beca didn't even to look to her dad for an okay, she got up and followed the senior to a booth far from her family.

"What do you need to talk to me about?" she asked, sliding into the booth.

"Nothing," Chloe smiled.

"Thank you so much. Seriously. It was so awkward," Beca laughed, relaxing her posture.

"Oh, no problem. I figured when you called your step-mom a step-monster, you needed someone to save you." Beca grinned at her friend. "The uniform fits you well."

Beca blushed a tiny bit, "Yeah, well, it's not comfortable. Are these really what we have to wear to every gig?"

Chloe chuckled. "They suck, but they're tradition. If I could convince Aubrey to ditch them, I would."

Beca set her elbows on the table. "Why can't you? You're co-captain, aren't you?"

"Yeah, but I don't get to do much." Chloe looked a little sad. "Aubrey and I are best friends, but she's so controlling. I kind of just let her do her thing."

Beca leaned in a little further, acting like she was sharing a secret nobody else was allowed to know. "Why don't we overrule her and let you take charge?"

"Beca Mitchell, are you trying to start a revolution?"

Beca threw her hands up, "You said it, not me!" Chloe laughed as the waiter arrived to her table for the first time. It was the same guy who waited on Beca.

"You want me to bring your meal here, Miss?"

"Yes please. Sorry about all that."

"It's no problem, Miss. And what would you like today?" he asked, now looking at Chloe. She ordered a salad and a Mountain Dew.

"They have Mountain Dew here?" Beca asked once the waiter left.

"They have Pepsi and Coke products here. It's on the menu."

"Damn." Beca twirled the straw in her drink around, pushing the ice side to side as she waited for her meal. She untied her scarf and set it on the table. "These things are itchy."

The waiter was back much sooner than Beca had expected with their food. Beca quickly started in on her steak. She chewed her first bite a few times before swallowing. "They said their steak was the best around. They lie."

Chloe laughed, almost choking on her salad. "We can go somewhere else."

"Nah, this is better than what I normally get."

Towards the end of their meal, Chloe spoke up, "There is one thing that somewhat pertains to the Bellas."

"Oh yeah?" Beca wiped her mouth with her napkin and focused all her attention on the redhead.

"This is really hard to say," the girl said with a loud sigh. "I...I have nodes." Beca's jaw dropped. She knew what nodes were, as most people who knew anything about music did, and she didn't expect that to be coming out the redhead's mouth.

"I'm so sorry Chloe. When did you find out?"

Chloe's hands flew up to her face to shield the tears. "A week ago," she choked out through light sobs.

"Does Aubrey know?"

"No. You're the first person I've told." Chloe lost it at this point. Her hands were dripping with tears and all Beca could hear was her loud sobs and shallow breaths. She didn't know what to do. She wasn't good with people, much less bawling ones. But, Chloe wasn't just a person; she was Beca's friend. Beca got up and slid into the other side of the booth where Chloe was sitting. She awkwardly put her arms around Chloe. As soon as the senior felt Beca's hand on her back, she moved closer, allowing herself to be swept up in Beca's arms.

Beca sat there awkwardly for a minute looking around. Everyone around looked over at her then looked back to their respective parties. Nobody seemed to care. Beca looked back at the mess in her arms. "Shh. Everything will be okay. Just don't push yourself, and you'll be okay."

"They sit on your windpipe and crush your dreams!" the redhead sobbed. Beca began to pet Chloe's hair in attempt to calm her down.

"Don't let them." Chloe looked up at Beca with red eyes. Her make-up was smeared all over her face, yet Beca couldn't think of a time when anyone looked as beautiful as she did in that exact moment. Two pair sat there for what felt like an eternity with their eyes locked, but, in reality, it was mere seconds. The waiter interrupted them. "Are you ready for the bill?" Beca looked up at the man and pointed across the room to her father.

"Give it to him. He owes me."

"Would you like any boxes?"

Beca let go of Chloe and shook her head. Chloe did the same. Beca moved back to her side and grabbed her purse. "We should go before my dad realizes I gave him our bill."

Chloe chuckled and nodded, pulling out her car keys.

"Have you started preparing for the riff-off?" Chloe asked during the drive back to campus.

"What the Hell is a riff-off?"

"It's like a battle of the voices kind of thing. A category is picked and then the four a capella groups cut each other off with different songs. Like, if the song someone's singing has the word 'love' in it, you can cut the person off by singing a song starting with the word 'love' at that point. It's kind of hard to explain without demonstrating. You'll get it once we start."

"When is it?"

"Next weekend."

"Do I have to go?"

"Everyone goes. It's at the old pool. It has fantastic acoustics." Beca sighed. "Don't be a poop. It'll be fun!"

"We'll see."

"Thanks again for rescuing me," Beca said with a smile as the car pulled up the her dorm building.

Chloe smiled, "Yeah, it was fun. If you ever need rescuing again, feel free to text me."

"Will do. Oh, and I won't tell anyone about your injury."

"Thanks Beca. Have a good night," she said with tears stinging her eyes once again.

"Night," Beca shut the door and walked inside. She plopped down on her desk chair once she got to her room and opened up an empty file to begin a new mix. She titled it "Titanium 2.0."