Chapter 6

A/N: I have zero musical ability, so a few (all) of Beca's mixes/mashups/music can be found pretty easily on iTunes/YouTube. Here's a long chapter since this update is a bit late. Real life got in the way...what can you do ;-).

Music:

-Wake Me Up/Hey Brother – Anthem Lights

-Save the World/Don't You Worry Child – Pentatonix

Beca opened her locker, swapping her English notebook for the Physics one. She paused, stepping a little closer to the wall of lockers to check her phone. Still no response from Chloe. She smirked, more than willing to patiently play the game, knowing the prize would be worth it. Besides, Beca knew exactly where Chloe was going to be every day at 2:30PM. She hardly had to stalk the redhead when she knew Chloe would be teaching her Biology every weekday afternoon.

Realizing the hallway was starting to empty, she quickly shoved her phone into her back pocket, closed her locker, and headed down the hall to class. She made it just in time, heading to her seat at the back of the room next to Stacie. "Where's Frazier?" she whispered, looking around the room for their teacher.

Stacie shrugged replying, "No clue. Haven't seen him all morning."

After ten minutes, Beca rose out of her seat and headed for the door. "Fuck this. I'm out."

She was only voicing what the rest of the room was thinking, as the entire class immediately followed her out of the door, cheering at the unexpected free period. Stacie quickly caught up to her asking, "Whatcha gonna do?"

Beca responded instantly, "I'm heading over to see Swanson. I haven't been able to show him my new stuff since I've been stuck in detention. Want to join?"

Stacie shook her head. "Nope, not a chance. I'll meet you in History."

Beca nodded and set off for the Arts building. As she crossed the campus, she realized she hadn't told Stacie about what happened yesterday in detention. Deciding she didn't want to have that conversation at school anyways, she made a mental note to see if the girls could hang out this weekend. Beca entered the building, walking down the hallway to the choir room to find the lights off and the door locked. Frowning, she turned around to leave only to see Jesse walking toward her, his messenger bag lightly bumping into his hip with each step.

"Hey, Beca! I was hoping you'd stop by with a new mix or two after school yesterday," he said as he reached her. Jesse unlocked the door and pushed it open, indicating she should walk through first.

"Ah, yeah, sorry about that. I have detention every day this week," Beca said apologetically. "Maybe you can convince Posen to let me off the hook?"

Jesse shook his head. "No way dude. Even I know better than to mess with Ms. Posen...most of the time anyways."

Beca chuckled as they entered the choir room. "You know she's crushing on you right?"

Jesse scoffed and shook his head. "I don't think so, Beca. We're just friends."

"Maybe. But she never came to a single choir concert until you got here. Just sayin'..." she trailed off suggestively, collapsing into one of the seats.

Jesse gave her a long look before shaking his head again and setting his bag down on the desk. Beca's mouth fell open, and before she could stop herself she blurted out, "Oh my God dude, you like her! You like General Posen! How is that even possible?"

Jesse frowned and narrowed his eyes at her. "Ms. Posen, Beca. I was going to ask how you managed to get detention for a week, but maybe the better question is how you stay out of detention at all?"

Beca gave him a guilty smile and apologized. "Sorry Jesse, or should I start calling you Mr. Swanson now?" she finished with a small smirk.

Jesse rolled his eyes and sat down next to her, changing the subject. "Stupid question. Now, are you going to show me what you've been working on all summer? More importantly, are you going to let me use any of your new stuff for the fall concert?"

Beca grinned at him, knowing he was going to pester her about it until she agreed. Jesse had arrived at Barden two years ago and taken over the choir program. His approach was like a breath of fresh air, allowing the students to explore different aspects of the music, participate in song selections, and even come up with new arrangements. Beca had instantly bonded with him over her creative approach to mixing songs together. Jesse was one of her biggest supporters when it came to her music, especially during a time where she wasn't receiving a lot of support at home. Her father, with Sheila's encouragement, was slowly coming around to the idea of Beca moving to LA after graduation, but for a long time Jesse was the only person she could talk to about her dreams.

Not only had she received unconditional support from her teacher, but Jesse had insisted on using Beca's mixes in the choir concerts. He had worn her down eventually, her only condition that the origin of the mixes remained unknown. While Beca was extremely proud of her music, it was also very personal to her, and she wasn't quite ready to share that part of herself with her classmates. It was a side of her almost no one got to see, save for Jesse, her closest friends, and occasionally her dad and Sheila. On more than one occasion Jesse had reminded her that she was going to need to get over that quickly once she got to LA Beca had decided to simply cross that bridge when the time came. She knew he was right, but that moment had been years, and was now still, months away.

"I might let you use some of my new mixes this year, even though I'm not in choir anymore," Beca replied, pulling her laptop out of her backpack.

Jesse frowned at that statement. "About that Beca, are you sure you don't want to sing in the choir? It's your last year and you've improved so much since I've known you."

Beca glanced at him, feeling a little guilty. "Well honestly, Jesse, over the summer Sheila offered to set up a meeting for me with a friend of hers at a small record label. He said my mixes were great, if I just want to DJ forever. If I want to actually produce music, I've got to have something original to send to labels. So for most of the summer, I've been working on writing and producing my own songs, from scratch."

Jesse studied her as he processed her words. "Wait a second. That's what you meant the other day when you said you wanted to work on your music independently!? You've written some original songs? Can I hear them?" His voice grew more excited with each question, shifting forward onto the edge of his chair.

"Maybe. None of them are ready yet. I do have some mashups that might work for the choir though," Beca replied, opening up some files on the screen. She clicked on one, and turned the volume up as it started to play.

Jesse smiled as he heard Beca's smooth tone come through the speakers, recognizing the two songs instantly. "Wake Me Up and Hey Brother, huh," he said, impressed. "This sounds amazing, Beca!"

Beca watched him intently, her face relaxing into a grin as he started singing along. No matter how many times she showed Jesse a new mix, she was always nervous to see whether he liked it or not. It usually didn't take long to find out, as Jesse wore his emotions plainly on his sleeve. It only took him seconds to start singing along to a song he liked, or tapping a foot at the very least. She paused the song and clicked on the second track.

Jesse listened attentively to Beca's second mix, a mashup of Don't You Worry Child and Save the World. He knew how important Beca's music was to her, no reason more obvious than the fact she refused to let him tell the choir where the "awesome mashups" came from. As he listened to her voice coming through the speakers, he marveled in her talent at mixing two different songs perfectly together. She didn't only mash the music together, but the lyrics as well, turning two songs into one cohesive musical masterpiece. About halfway through the track, Beca paused it and shut the lid of her laptop. "So do you think you can work with one of those?" she asked.

Jesse leaned his chair back on two legs and grinned at her. "I'll use both if you'll let me. Those tracks are fantastic, Beca. I'm really impressed."

Beca smiled at him and leaned down to pull a small flash drive out of her backpack. "I copied them to this just in case," she replied, tossing it to him. Glancing up at the clock on the wall, she stood up. "Time for my next class."

Jesse caught the flash drive, then frowned at her words. "Aren't you supposed to be in class right now? Please, please tell me you aren't skipping," he said, praying he wasn't harboring a fugitive.

Beca rolled her eyes at him before answering, "Relax dude, I'm not skipping. Mr. Frazier didn't show up for Physics so we got a free period."

Jesse breathed a sigh of relief. "Good, well get to class then. You obviously don't need any more detention."

She smirked at him and retorted, "I'll be sure to put in a good word for you with General Posen." Laughing as his mouth dropped open, she fled the room before he could respond. Beca made a mental note to keep an eye on the two teachers. Knowing how terrible Jesse was at hiding his emotions, she figured only Posen would still be clueless about his obvious crush on her. As she entered the main building and realized that was her second mental note of the morning, she made a third one to remind herself that her memory sucks and she should write all this shit down.

The sound of the bell prompted Beca to snap her notebook shut and stand up from her chair along with her classmates, not bothering that her teacher was still attempting to yell the homework assignment over the loud rustling. She glanced at Stacie who seemed to be the only one still paying attention, and reached over to poke her shoulder. "Come on, class is over nerd," she said impatiently.

Stacie finished writing in her planner before looking up at her. "You know you'll be begging me to tell you the homework assignment later, right?"

Beca smirked back at her, replying, "And as usual, you'll give it up easy. Not unlike other areas of your life, right Stace?"

Stacie winked at her. "Only for you, Becs."

Beca laughed as they left the classroom and headed for their lockers. She was one of the few people who knew just how smart Stacie was. It was a running joke between them about how many people were going to faint at graduation when they found out the tall brunette was valedictorian of their class. Beca teased her friend about being a nerd, but only because she knew how much effort Stacie actually put into her grades, and that in doing so, she was complimenting and admiring Stacie's hard work. She on the other hand, barely scraped by in her classes, doing just enough to keep a B average and her dad off her ass.

Throwing her books in her locker, Beca headed over to where Stacie and CR were leaning against the wall talking to Benji. They fell into step with her as she approached, all four of them making their way to the cafeteria.

Cynthia Rose spoke up as they reached the stairwell. "Anyone seen Amy?"

Benji replied, "Yeah, she was in choir today. Haven't seen her since. Speaking of choir, Beca you should definitely come back. It's not the same without you."

Stacie swung an arm over Beca's shoulders as the group stepped outside into the warm California sun. "Yeah I'm sure it's all doom and gloom without this bright ray of sunshine," she said sarcastically.

Beca rolled her eyes and slipped her arm around Stacie's waist. "Ouch, dude. If I need better pickup lines, then you need better insults."

Stacie grinned, quickly wrapping both arms around her and lifting her off the ground. "Aw, she's an angry elf! Do you need a hug?"

Beca's high-pitched squeal caused Benji and CR to burst out laughing. She managed to squirm out of Stacie's grasp and return both feet firmly to the ground. Stacie opened her mouth, but froze at Beca's finger pointing an inch from her nose. "Don't even think about it, Conrad," she warned.

Stacie went cross-eyed for a moment, before looking pleadingly at Benji. He grinned and finished the quote for her. "She must be a South Pole elf," he said, as the three of them lost it, doubling over with laughter.

Beca smacked the back of Benji's head, causing him to stumble forward before softly tumbling into the grass, his face bright red as he gasped for air. "I hate all of you," she said, a smile cracking across her face as she watched Benji roll over onto his back.

"Oh yeah, real sinister there, Becs," Stacie retorted. "You forget who you're talking to. We all know what a softie you really are, underneath the eyeliner and all those plaid shirts."

"Only for you, Conrad." Beca threw Stacie's earlier words back at her with a wink.

CR helped Benji back to his feet before commenting, "See, that's why everyone thinks you guys are hooking up. Plus, you two are basically inseparable."

"Hey, if it were up to me, I'd really give them something to talk about," Stacie replied, letting her gaze roam over Beca's body. She stepped closer, wrapping her arms around Beca from behind and rested her chin on the smaller girl's shoulder.

Beca retorted, "You don't need my help to give people something to talk about." She leaned back into Stacie for a moment, before remembering the Elf quotes and elbowed her in the ribs. "That's how we do it at the South Pole," she quipped, as Stacie let her go to rub a hand over her side.

Benji brushed the bits of grass off his clothes as he asked, "Anyone know what's for lunch?"

They started moving again, crossing the walkway towards the cafeteria, which was located in its own building on campus. Beca never checked the weekly menu that was posted on all of the bulletin boards, so every day was a surprise. Upon entering the building, they discovered that today was chicken sandwiches, steamed vegetables, French fries, and chocolate pudding for dessert. She looked up after making her way through the line, finally spotting Amy at a table near the back of the room. It wasn't until Beca was within a few feet of the table that she realized Amy wasn't alone, but was chattering away with a girl she didn't recognize.

Amy paused mid-sentence and looked up as Beca set her tray down on the table. "What up Shawshank?" she greeted, taking a large bite from her sandwich.

Beca smirked at her, before training her eyes on the girl, who shrunk back a little in her chair. "Who's this?" she asked bluntly as she sat down at the table. She glanced back at Amy, whose attention was now solely focused on her sandwich, and clearly had no intention of answering her. Beca looked back at the girl, studying her before directing the question at her. " Who are you?"

The girl swallowed nervously before stuttering out, "Uh...I'm Em...Emily. I'm a freshman. I met..."

Beca interrupted her, "A freshman?" She turned back to Amy and swatted the sandwich down onto her tray, earning her a special glare from the Australian. "Why the fuck is a freshman sitting with us?" Suddenly a hand smacked the back of her head, and she reached up to rub the spot as Stacie sat down next to her.

"Rude, Becs. Look at her, she's completely harmless," Stacie reasoned, giving the girl a quick once-over before popping a French fry into her mouth. CR and Benji arrived, filling up the rest of the table, both giving Emily a curious look before sitting down. "Actually, now she looks completely terrified," Stacie continued. "Did Fat Amy kidnap you or something?"

Amy chose this moment to interject, "No, I rescued her. Like I did when I dove into a river to save a baby koala that was about to drown." She took another bite of her sandwich, holding it away from Beca, oblivious to the skeptical looks being thrown around the table.

Beca rolled her eyes at Amy, as she seriously doubted her friend had ever stepped foot in water over 3-feet deep, before focusing on Emily. The look on the young girl's face screamed panic; like she desperately wished she was invisible, or maybe just anywhere other than at the table surrounded by seniors. "Oh come on, relax. We don't bite. What really happened?" she asked, knowing it would take the entire lunch period to get a straight answer out of Amy.

Stacie snorted at her words, whispering, "I know for a fact that you bite, Mitchell." Beca smacked her friend's arm, waiting expectantly for the freshman to speak.

Emily sat up a little, but kept her eyes glued to the table as she spoke softly. "I met Amy in choir class. Some people were giving me a hard time and she stuck up for me. After that, they left me alone."

Beca raised her eyebrows and exchanged glances with Stacie, as Benji spoke up nervously from beside Emily. "That's terrible. I can't…why were they…when you seem so…nice," he finished shyly, his eyes shifting between Emily and the plate of food in front of him.

Amy finished off her sandwich and answered for the freshman, "Swanson asked her to sing a song she wrote for the…"

Beca interrupted her immediately, her palm right in Amy's face. "Hold up," she said, eyes locked on Emily. "You write songs?" Amy knocked her hand away as Emily hesitated, before nodding slowly. "And you can sing?" Beca asked.

Emily kept nodding, feeling a little more confident as she answered, "Yeah, I get it from my parents, who are both obsessed with music. They went here, and were high school sweethearts."

"And people were making fun of your voice? Or were they making fun of the song? Or both?" Beca continued grilling the freshman, her tone becoming angry.

Stacie looked between the two, and dropped her hand onto Beca's thigh. "Becs, take it down a notch. You're freaking her out."

Emily hesitated again before answering, "Yeah. Well…um…both."

Beca huffed in disgust, turning to Stacie. "You see, this is why I don't tell anyone about my music," she said angrily. "High school is fucking hard enough without having to deal with jealous assholes." She turned back to Emily. "Dude, you should come over to my house sometime. I write and produce my own songs too. I'd love to hear some of your stuff."

The table fell completely silent, as this was news to everyone but Stacie. Beca's eyes widened as she processed what just came out of her mouth. Fuck. So much for keeping her songwriting a secret until after graduation. Still, she refused to backpedal now, and gave Emily a confident smile.

"Wait wait wait," said CR, pointing her finger at Beca. "You drop a bomb like that and then invite some rando freshman be the first person to hear your songs?"

Beca realized her predicament. There was no way she could show her songs to Emily, and not her closest friends. Especially when she had stupidly blurted out her secret to the entire table. Fuck! She hadn't wanted to tell anyone, and one awkward freshman had caused her to lose her mind for two minutes, bringing that plan to a crashing halt. She sighed and asked, "Okay, who wants to come over this weekend and listen to Emily and I sing our original songs?"

Fat Amy fist pumped, exclaiming loudly, "YES! I haven't been to Casa Mitchell in forever!"

Stacie, Benji, and CR all nodded in agreement, but Emily looked like she was going to flee any second. Her face turned bright red as she mumbled, "I…uh…I'll have to ask my mom."

Stacie took pity on the younger girl. "I can give you a ride if you need one. And don't worry, I'm sure your songs are great."

"You guys should have heard the song she sang in choir today. It was pretty awesome," Fat Amy said, looking at Benji for confirmation.

He nodded, blushing as he replied, "Yeah! It was…um…your song was incredible."

Beca waited until Emily finally agreed. "Okay, it's settled then. My place on Saturday." She sat back in her chair, suddenly feeling nervous about sharing her songs for the first time. Sure, others had heard her mixes, but no one has heard any of her original work. 'Suck it up, Mitchell', she thought. If she really wanted to be a music producer, she had to be confident in letting the world hear her songs. Who better to start with than her best friends?

Beca strolled into detention, stopping short in the doorway when she saw Chloe sitting at behind the teacher's desk. "On time today, Beale," she said with a smirk. "I should take a picture or no one will believe it."

Chloe looked up at her from the book she was reading. "That's Ms. Beale," she corrected, crossing her arms over her chest. "And you're late today. Take a seat."

Beca studied her teacher for a moment, before replying, "Sure thing, Miss Beale." She set her backpack on the ground and dropped into a chair, looking back towards the front of the room. "Is that how this is gonna be then? We're not even gonna talk about it?" she asked.

"There's nothing to discuss, Ms. Mitchell," Chloe responded, a little colder than she intended.

Beca nodded, rolling her eyes. "Oh sure. Okay, just sit up there and pretend like you didn't shove your tongue in my mouth yesterday," she said casually, leaning her chair back on two legs.

Chloe snapped her book shut and stood up, her mouth forming a tight line as her eyes flashed dangerously. "We are not having this discussion here. Period," she said firmly. "In fact, I don't think you need to speak at all, considering you're here because you couldn't control your tongue."

Beca's eyes widened at her words, not quite believing they had just come out of her teacher's mouth. The smirk slowly curled across her face as the realization dawned on Chloe. "I have excellent control over my tongue, Miss Beale. Something I believe I displayed yesterday, and would be more than happy to demonstrate again." She dropped her gaze lower, raising it back up to spot the flush rising up Chloe's cheeks before her teacher could spin around and hide it.

Beca waited until Chloe was safely sitting behind her desk before speaking again. "This whole hot and cold act is giving me whiplash. You can't fake what happened between us yesterday. I know you felt it." Her eyes drilled holes into the top of Chloe's head, until her teacher looked up to meet her gaze.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Chloe responded evenly. "And even if I did, I wouldn't discuss it with you now."

Beca scoffed, "Don't play dumb, Beale..."

"Ms. Beale," Chloe corrected automatically, returning her attention to the book in front of her.

"Jesus Christ!" Beca swore, her frustration getting the better of her. "You said we can't talk about it here. Well let's talk about it, not here."

Chloe ignored her, keeping her eyes down as she responded, "No more talking, Beca. Do some homework or something. This conversation is over."

"Seriously?" Beca stared at her, dumbfounded.

After ten minutes or so of silence, she sighed, pulled The Odyssey out of her backpack, and tried to read the assigned chapters. It didn't take long for her to give up, unable to help herself from glancing up at Chloe every so often. She had no idea why the redhead had pulled such a sharp 180 from yesterday, but it was infuriating. She took out her phone and sent Stacie a quick text.

Beca [4:06PM]: Dinner tonight? Need to talk

She slipped her phone back into her pocket and stared at the page of her book, not processing a single word. Tapping her fingers on the table, she chanced another look up at Chloe, this time catching the clear blue eyes trained on her. Beca smirked as the redhead quickly looked down at her book, and she couldn't get over how middle-school the whole situation seemed. As the thought flashed through her mind, she was unable to contain the grin that spread across her face.

Deciding she wasn't getting any reading done today, she stared up at Chloe and wondered how long it would take for the redhead to look her way again. It took less than a minute, before Chloe's eyes met hers, and for a long few seconds, neither looked away. Beca immediately felt the twisting in her stomach; that pull that only seemed to happen when she was looking into Chloe's eyes. Chloe's denial echoed in her mind, wondering if it was possible that a connection this strong could be one-sided. She seriously doubted it, her mind drifting back to the way Chloe had moaned and pulled her hips closer. Suddenly, her phone vibrated in her pocket, and she waited for Chloe to look back at her book before checking the message from Stacie.

Stacie [4:11PM]: Sure. Call me after you escape prison

Beca [4:11PM]: Will do

She pocketed her phone and yawned. Deciding she had served enough time today, Beca shoved the book into her bag and stood up, stretching her arms over her head. She pulled one strap of her backpack over her shoulder, and headed for the door, stopping only when Chloe said her name.

"Beca? Where are you going? Detention's not over."

She turned back to her teacher, eyes narrowed and frown in place. "Oh, now you want to talk? Fine, I'll stay if you talk to me about what happened yesterday," she said, laying down the ultimatum.

"This isn't a negotiation. You have 45 more minutes of detention," Chloe's expression was calm and her tone was firm.

"Or what, Beale?" she scowled. Beca had had enough of Chloe's mixed signals, and desperately wanted to be anywhere but in the same room as the redhead. "Sorry if I don't want to stay here while you go all ice queen on me," Beca continued, her tone dripping with sarcasm. The words escaped her mouth before she could stop them, her only option to stare defiantly at Chloe and wait for the response.

She wasn't prepared for the hurt look that flashed through Chloe's eyes. As soon as it was there, it was gone, only steel remaining in the clear blue gaze that was currently fixed intently on her.

"Sit down, or I'll give you another week of detention," Chloe threatened, though her tone wavered, and Beca could tell her heart wasn't in it.

Beca twisted her lips into a smirk that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Go ahead Beale, give me another week." She took the last few steps to the door, pausing to turn back and meet Chloe's stare. "I dare you."

Beca stormed across the parking lot to her car, throwing her stuff into the back seat and slamming the door. She slid into the driver's seat and shut the door, slamming her hands down on the wheel with a low growl. "Fuck." That was not how she had pictured her next conversation with Chloe going. Perhaps naively, she was hoping they could pick back up where they had left off yesterday. Instead, she had almost gotten frostbite from Chloe's mood swing. Beca had to admit that the icy tint to the redhead's tone and stare was incredibly hot, not to mention the jolt of lust that hit her when Chloe demanded she call her Ms. Beale.

Beca shook her head to clear her thoughts and pulled her phone out of her pocket, calling Stacie. Her best friend answered on the first ring.

"Hey Becs, you're out early," Stacie commented.

"Yeah, I kinda just walked out of detention. Can you meet me at our pizza place in ten?" Beca asked. "I need to talk to you."

Stacie noted the seriousness in Beca's voice. "Yeah, of course. Are you okay?" she asked, her voice laced with concern.

"I'm fine, just confused and frustrated and pissed off," Beca replied, starting her car. "I'll see you soon," she said, hanging up and accelerating out of the parking lot.

A/N: An even bigger than usual thank you to my beta, who continues to put up with my shenanigans :-). Life is about to get busy, so hopefully you'll bear with me through the craziness and keep readin' and reviewin'!