Chapter 8

Alright mortals, I'm back!

So, I know I'm really dragging on getting Aubrey and Beca together, but patience grasshoppers! Good things come to those who wait ... or something like that. You could just send in a bunch of reviews to get my ass in gear ...

So Aubrey and Beca are FINALLY going to room together, and I'll delve into their characters a bit more. Reviews are nice by the way. If you want to see something happen, you need to let me know. I'm not a mind reader ya know!

By the way, this memory is Beca's ... I thought that it was a bit more appropriate, and seeing as most of you liked Beca's POV, I thought, what the hell!

So I own nothing. I don't own the characters, Pitch Perfect, or anything else except for the plot line. So if you want to sue me, fuck you.

So, minor trigger warning for Beca's memory (main italics part). Sheila's a bitch, and its kinda intense, so if this pertains to you, just skip it. You won't miss much, and if you feel like you're missing something, just PM me, and I'll fill you in! :)

"You stupid dyke!" Sheila, Beca's step-mom screamed. "How dare you do this?! You are a disgrace to my family and your father's good name!"

"Fuck you bitch!" 16 year old Beca yelled back. "I don't give a shit about what the fuck you want to say about me. You're a stuck up, self righteous, egotistical whore-"

*SMACK*

Sheila slapped Beca's face, sending her sprawling to the floor.

"Who the fuck do you think you are to talk to me like that?" Sheila yelled angrily over Beca. When Beca didn't move or say anything, she grabbed a fist full of Beca's hair and pulled her upright. "You fucking stupid little lesbian whore. I will not stand by idly as you smear shit over your father's good name. Now I suggest that you either straighten up, and figure your shit out, or get the hell out of our lives."

"Fuck you bitch." Beca choked out. "You think that you're so fucking great, but your just not. Your a-"

Sheila was done hearing Beca's back talk. With a growl, she punched Beca in the face, and then dropped her. As Beca tried to rise, she kicked her in the ribs, effectively knocking her down again. With Beca on the ground, Sheila crouched down next to Beca's face.

"Listen to me you little bitch." Sheila hissed. "Whatever little phase you're in right now, it ends now. You are going to do exactly as I say for now on, or I'm going to make your life hell, do you understand me?"

"Fuck ... you ..." Beca panted, gritting her teeth through the pain. There was no way in hell that she was going to let her step-monster see her cry.

"I'm not a fucking dyke like you!" Shelia sneered. "Although I bet that you'd like to, wouldn't you, you fucking slut, wouldn't you?"

Beca couldn't take it any more. She was done with Sheila's condescending rants. She was done being beaten to the ground, gritting her teeth to hide the pain. She was done hiding the bruises and cuts. She was doen being the victim, and now she was going to strike back.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Beca roared, pushing Sheila away. "DON'T FUCKING TALK TO ME LIKE THAT! YOU HAVE NO GODDAMN RIGHT-"

*SMACK*

Sheila punched Beca right in the face again. That was probably the biggest mistake Sheila would ever make in the entirety of her life.

Beca saw red.

She no longer was aware of what she was doing. It was like she left her own body and was watching herself. She watched herself launch at Sheila. She watched herself knock Sheila over, and then kick her again over, and over, and over again. She watched herself punch Sheila's face until it was a mass of bruises and her knuckles were bruised and bloody. Through the haze, she heard herself shouting 'Don't ever fucking touch me ever again'.

By the time the haze cleared, Sheila was a bloody unrecognizable mess, and Beca was out of breath and sobbing uncontrollably. With trembling hands, Beca grabbed the nearest phone and called 911.

"911, what's your emergency?"

"I beat Shei- my step mom up really bad." Beca sobbed into the phone. "Please send help."

Beca managed to croak out her address before she hung up on the a roar, she flung the phone away, smashing it against a wall.

"FUCK!" Beca screamed.

How the hell did this happen? What was going to happen now? With a sob, Beca sank down onto her knees and cried.

10 minutes later, the paramedics and the police arrived, they found Beca kneeling on the floor silently crying by Sheila. While paramedics immediately went to work on Sheila, Police took Beca out to the front porch and began to question her. However, when questioned, Beca wouldn't or maybe couldn't say anything. After all, what was there to say after something like this?

Eight months later, Beca's trial was over. She was deemed highly aggressive, mentally unstable, and in need of serious professional help. Instead of being sent to jail, she was sent to Barden until it was believed that she could be let back into normal society.

Three years later, Beca still was in Barden and had yet to make any serious progress. Despite the staffs' best efforts, no one was able to get through to her. When someone angered her, the red haze reappeared, and Beca couldn't control herself.

Everyone in Barden but Chloe had given up on Beca, and Chloe was slowly running out of ideas.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

The clock above Aubrey's bed in her room marked each passing second. The small sound sounded like a gunshot to Aubrey though.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. 8:25

In five minutes, Aubrey would go down to breakfast, go to group, go to her private session, and then she would be moving in with Beca. Beca fucking Mitchell. An egotistical royal pain in Aubrey's ass, but the girl who stood up for Aubrey when no one else did.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. 8:27

Seconds passed like hours, time seemed to drag.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. 8:27

Aubrey sighed. Time was moving far too slowly for her liking. It wasn't that she was nervous about moving rooms or anything like that. Posens were adaptable, and the words sentimental value had no meaning. No, she was just anxious about rooming with someone. Of course that someone had to be Beca fucking Mitchell of all people too.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. 8:29

One minute left. One minute left before the life Aubrey made for herself here at Barden would be completely flipped around. One minute until Aubrey would have to share a room with perhaps the one person here that she couldn't stand. One minute left.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. 8:30

Time was up. With a sigh, Aubrey got up off her bed just as the orderly came into her room to bring her to breakfast.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Time's up.

To Aubrey, the morning passed as a blur. She honestly couldn't remember anything up until this point. Everything, going down to breakfast, talking with the nurses, the group; everything was lost in a sort of dream like haze. She vaguely remembered things, but in reality, everything was just blank.

With a sigh, Aubrey realized that whatever haze she was in was lifted now that she stood outside Dr. Beale's office. When Chloe ... Dr. Beale told Aubrey that she was going to room with Beca, Aubrey just resorted to the detached professionalism that she used to have around everyone prior to coming to Barden. She was quite angry and shocked with Chloe at first, but now upon further though, Aubrey realized that she really had no right. Chloe had her best interest in mind, and Aubrey would be damned if she was going to act like a petulant child over something like this. Fuck it; she was raised better than that.

Fuck, she WAS better then that.

How would her father react if he heard about she was acting now? She was a disgrace to the Posen name, and that was simply unacceptable. Not only was her weakness the cause of her father being put in jail, it highlighted her own shortcomings. Now, there was only one course of action left. She HAD to get better and get discharged form this damn place. It was time that she proved herself worthy of being a Posen. She had to make her father proud. She had to.

"Good afternoon Chloe" Aubrey said shyly as she walked in. To be honest, she was actually kind of embarrassed by her previous behavior. Better late then never, right?

"Hey Bree!" Chloe said happily. "You're calling me Chloe. That's good ... I think. That's good, right?"

"Yes ..." Aubrey said slowly. "That's a good thing. I think at least. I want to apologize for my previous actions and demeanor towards you. It was unwarranted and completely disrespectful. Please forgive me."

"Its totes fine!" Chloe beamed. "I get it, change is sometime scary, or nerve wracking, or whatever, and we all handle things differently. If acting a professional and businessy is how you do, that's fine."

"No, its not." Aubrey said. "I would assume that you have my best interests in mind, and I should not question your decisions. You're a leading member of your field of study, and I have no place questioning your decisions."

Chloe chuckled. Aubrey really didn't get it, did she?

"Aubrey, you SHOULD question my decisions. I'm not the 'be all and end all', and only you really know what you need. I swear that I will always have your best interests at heart, but if something doesn't seem right, or you think that there is a better course of action, you need to tell me! Think of me more as a friend rather than a doctor. You and I? We're equals. In order for this to work, you need to realize this."

Aubrey paused a moment to mull this over. Her entire life, there was always a distinct line between the people above her, and the people below her. She'd never really had friends, only 'competition'. But, the more that she thought about it now, the more she realized, she was never able to have friends because her father pitted her against everyone else before she was even able to comprehend what was going on. She was always told to be the best, and the second place was just the first loser. Never once was she anyone's equal, however, that was how things were suppose to be. Everyone had to fight for their place in the world and God be dammed if a Posen was ever below anyone.

"I ..." Aubrey began. "... don't know what to say."

"That's fine." Chloe said. "You don't always have to know what to say, or what to do. It's fine to not know, and just see where you go. Having friends will help you get there and help pick you up when you need to."

"I've never had a friend before." Aubrey said quietly. "I've never been anyone's equal before either ..."

Chloe's heart broke and sang with joy at the same time upon hearing this. She was heartbroken that such a strong, wonderful person like Aubrey never thought that she was equal to anyone, never had a friend before. However, she was ecstatic that Aubrey was finally opening up to her, albeit only a little, but hey! Who's going to argue with progress?

"Well, I'm your friend now, if you want me to." Chloe said determinedly. "I'm probably the same age as you too, so just think of me as you helpful friend who always has a shoulder for you to cry on. Aubrey, I know that opening up to people is probably hard for you, and I don't want to push you into telling me anything that you don't want to, but I need you to know that I am always here for you, and I always will be."

Aubrey could have rolled her eyes at this statement; however, she maintained a face of slight pain and sadness. She had to get out, and to do so, she needed to fool these people into thinking that she was better. This would be too easy. She'd been controlling her emotions, hiding, acting, pretending to be perfect her entire life. Add a few tears here and ...

"Oh shit!" Chloe said, mistaking Aubrey's tears as a bad sign. "I didn't mean to make you cry, I just ... fuck-"

"-Chloe." Aubrey said,. "Remember how I told you that cursing was unprofessional?"

"Wait what?" Chloe asked, completely confused by Aubrey's question.

"Cursing." Aubrey said. "It's unprofessional. Also, those weren't tears of sadness, they were tears of relief."

"Oh ..." Chloe said, still trying to process what Aubrey was saying.

"Chloe, I know that I'm probably one of your more difficult cases. There's no need to try and sugar coat it. I'm fucked up, and I know that. I probably would have given up on me, in fact, I did long ago." Aubrey said, sincerely. "Thank you so much for not giving up on me. Thank you for being my friend. It's going to be difficult for me to talk to you. To be perfectly honest, this is actually really hard for me to say, but I'm ... I'm going to try ... I just." Aubrey's voice faltered slightly. "... I just need you to promise to not give up on me."

Chloe's heart was once again broken and yet filled. Aubrey was finally making serious progress, finally trying, finally fighting. However, she shouldn't have to. Aubrey should never have been forced to her breaking point. She should never have ever been given up on.

"Aubrey, I promise that I won't give up on you. I just need you to promise me in return that you'll never stop fighting."

"Never" Aubrey whispered. "I promise."

It took everything in Chloe to not go over and give Aubrey a hug. It was hard for her. She went into this field to help broken people fix themselves, and for Chloe, seeing someone so broken and abused pained her. Instead, Chloe reached out and grabbed Aubrey's hand. For a moment, Aubrey tensed, and it looked like she was about to bolt.

'Focus Aubrey.' Aubrey thought to herself. 'You have nothing to fear. People fear you, not the other way around. Fucking get over yourself.'

After a moment, Aubrey relaxed, and couldn't help but to smirk as Chloe tried to hide her glee. Aca-dork.

When the session was over, Aubrey found her original apprehension about the move return. After their little heart to heart, they talked about little meaningless things until the hour was up, and it was time for her to move in with Beca Mitchell.

"Don't worry about this!" Chloe said as Aubrey was leaving. "You totes got this."

"I don't know ..." Aubrey said, still uncertain how she would do around Beca. "I'm not sure this will work."

"Don't worry." Chloe repeated. "I think that you're going to be aca-awesome."

Aubrey laughed. During their session, they actually talked a lot about Chloe's past, and Chloe revealed that she was part of an a capella group back in college. Aubrey got quite the kick out of that.

"Sure." Aubrey said. "Aca-dork."

Chloe gasped. "Oh my goodness! Did THE Aubrey Posen just crack a joke?"

"I'm sorry." Aubrey said, her face suddenly ashen. "My father did not believe in humor. He said that it was a waste of time. Because of this, I have not developed much of a sense of humor."

"Oh crap ..." Chloe said hurriedly. "... I didn't mean it like that. I was just-"

"-Chloe." Aubrey said with a smirk. "I'm messing with you."

"Oh ..." Chloe said, unsure of what to say. However, she wasn't going to complain about this new Aubrey. Hell no. Aubrey still didn't talk about what happened to her, or her past much, but actually holding a conversation with the blonde was a great improvement.

"I need to go now Chloe." Aubrey said, looking at the clock. "Don't want to be late moving in with Ms. Mitchell, right?"

"Right you are." Chloe said happily. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Why do you pose that as a question?" Aubrey asked. "You know you will see me tomorrow, unless some serious unforeseen accident occurs, and I am unable to attend this session. However, should that occur, I would imagine that you and I would have greater issues at hand then a missed session, correct?"

"Um... correct?' Chloe said. She might have a PhD in psyche, but a PhD in Aubrey talk, she did not. Like seriously, did the girl ever use a word under 6 letters?

"Good bye Chloe."

"Laters Bree!"

As Aubrey walked up to her new room, she felt all of the anxiety, the fear, the doubt and every other emotion she had been suppressing all morning return to her. Was she really ready to room with someone? Beca Mitchell no less. One of the most feared, violent, and unstable patients in all of Barden. Yeah, this'll go REEEEEEAAAAALLLY well.

"Pull yourself together Posen" Aubrey whispered to herself. Steeling her nerves, she opened the door to her new room and prepared for the worst.

However, upon entry, Aubrey found herself in an empty room.

"Hello?" Aubrey called into the room.

'Stupid!' Aubrey thought to herself. As if calling into an empty room would suddenly make Beca appear. Yeah, TOTALLY logical.

Seeing as no one was in the room, Aubrey took a moment to take in her surroundings. The room was larger then the room she was in previously, however, that was only so that it was able to accommodate the extra furniture. The walls were painted a nice soft yellow color, and there was a window in the middle of the back wall overlooking the pond. On one side of the room, there was an empty bed and a desk with a bunch of rather complex looking sound mixing equipment. On the other side of the room, Aubrey found the box with her few possessions sitting on her bed. On her desk, she found her laptop and a standard issue desk lamp and digital clock.

Looking at the clock, Aubrey saw that it was 2:07. Damn ... She'd already wasted 6 minutes just standing in the middle of a room. With a sigh, Aubrey decided that she might as well start unpacking, seeing as her roommate wasn't present.

By 2:22, Aubrey had finished unpacking her few belongings, rearranging them too many times to count before she finally had a set up that she was content with. Still however, Beca Mitchell was no where to be seen. To be honest, Aubrey couldn't care less as to where Beca was, she just wanted to get introductions over with, and move on with her life, however, Beca not being there made that rather difficult. With nothing left to do, Aubrey just began to pace back and forth around their room.

2:52, still no Beca, and Aubrey was bored. Once again, the equipment on Beca's desk caught Aubrey's eyes, and she had to resist the urge to go over and see exactly what it was. She knew that it was equipment necessary for song mixing and sound manipulation, however Aubrey wasn't exactly sure as to what model, make, etc it was, and to be honest, she was bored and curious. Not exactly a good combination.

'Oh, what the hell!' Aubrey thought to herself. With a quick glance around to make sure that Beca hadn't suddenly appeared into the room, Aubrey walked over to Beca's side.

Aubrey immediately recognized the mixing board on Beca's desk. After all, she HAD been on the marketing team for this particular model. Yeah, Posen Enterprises had business in almost every conceivable field. The particular model that Beca had was actually quite pricey and high end, albeit a little old. The newer models were so much better. Actually-

*SLAM!*

"Get the fuck away from my shit." Beca ordered as she stepped into the room.

"Oh my gosh! I didn't ... I'm sorry." Aubrey said, flustered by Beca's sudden appearance.

"I don't give a fuck." Beca snapped. "Unless you have a death wish, stay the fuck away from my stuff."

Aubrey took a moment to compose herself before answering, to ensure that she said something that she might regret later. It was important to her that she and Beca be on at least civil terms for however long the duration of their stay be.

"I'm very sorry Beca." Aubrey said calmly. "I will respect your boundaries, so long as you can agree to respect mine. I meant no disrespect to you. I was only trying to-"

"-Oh shut the fuck up!" Beca said, cutting Aubrey off. "I don't give a fuck. Just don't touch my fucking stuff, and I won't touch yours. K? K?"

"Wait, for serious? That's all you have to say?" Aubrey asked, but Beca didn't acknowledge that Aubrey had even spoken. Instead, she walked past her, went to her desk and put her headphones on.

"Beca!" Aubrey barked, irked at being ignored. How dare she? Did she not realize what was going on? That there were still a multitude of things to talk about?

Beca made no move or show that she ever heard Aubrey. Just fucking great. If this was how rooming with Beca was going to be, Aubrey wasn't sure as to how long her sanity might hold until Beca drove her absolutely insane. Good thing she was already in an asylum then ...

So yeah guys, how was that? Aubrey's going totally nuts, Beca's a bitch, and Chloe's an aca-dork, but hey, we all knew this already! So people, I ask you one last time to review. I need reviews to motivate me to update. No reviews = weeks in between updates. It's really quite simple.