The next couple of weeks seem to fly by.
I spend most of my time hanging out with each of the girls, watching them rehearse, and occasionally getting pulled into any scheme that Fat Amy can possibly come up with. I'm usually the one doing the dirty work, but Amy rewards me with junk food and candy, much to Chloe's dismay.
Currently, I'm hiding in a cupboard under the sink with a pillow pressed tightly to my chest.
Amy's most recent plan had started an all-out pillow war. Apparently the other girls, besides Beca, who was MIA, didn't find us putting their soaking wet bras in the freezer, funny.
We were all in our PJs, spread out in the living room when Ashley's shriek echoed around the house.
It was her job to bring in the ice-cream for our 'slumber party'.
The Tasmanian and I had immediately run off to find hiding spots, knowing we only had so long before they connected us to the rock solid undergarments. That brings us to my current situation under the bathroom sink.
This is one of the times that I'm grateful for being short. While I can easily fit in most spaces, Fat Amy was found a couple of minutes ago in the hall closet. Her scream of surprise was cut off by, what I assumed was a pillow to the face.
After that, it had gotten super quiet.
They either gave up, or were still searching.
I just hope that I can wait them out. They'll probably forget about it in the couple of minutes.
Maybe they think Amy acted alone.
A low knock on the cabinet door brings me out of my thoughts. I hold my breath, and pray that it's just a draft or something. The door slowly opens and I'm greeted with the face of Lilly, who has a creepy smile plastered on her face.
Shit.
I had totally forgotten about the sneaky ninja asian.
Just as I'm about to plead for my life, she lets out a high pitch whistle to alert the others to my hiding spot. Immediately, I jump out from under the sink and try to make a run for it, clearly underestimating the other girl.
Her arms wrap around my waist to hold me as we listen to the feet pounding up the stairs.
Stacie and Emily appear in the doorway, the former shooting me a devious smirk, while the latter gives me an apologetic smile.
"I thought we were tight, Em," I give her my best puppy dog eyes.
The clumsy girl shrugs. "Majority rules," then continues, "and you did freeze my bra, too."
As I'm about to reply that Fat Amy had slipped hers in when I wasn't paying attention, Stacie interrupts.
"Alright. Enough chit-chat, let's grab the prisoner."
Lilly pushes me towards the other two, who proceed to grab my struggling arms and legs. They carry me down the stairs and into the living room, where the rest of the group surrounds Amy in a circle, pillows in arm.
Seeing me, they separate and my two captors set me down next to my accomplice. Then, they reform the circle and stand slightly closer to us.
"So, you two thought you'd just freeze our bras," Chloe says slowly, "and we'd just let you get away with it?"
"Uhhhhhh, uuummmmmm," Fat Amy stammers. "It was all Grace's idea!"
Of course the only time the other girl actually uses my name is when she's blaming me for something. While I did come up with the idea to freeze the bras, Amy had decided that it'd be even better if they were soaking wet.
"Yes, I'm sure the kid just decided to prank us without you bribing her to help," Stacie quirks an eyebrow at her. "She doesn't seem like she's cheap."
I beam proudly.
The pride doesn't last though, because the redheaded co-captain gives the girls a nod and they all raise their pillows.
"Not the money maker!" Amy cries, covering her face. "You can hit the squirt's face, she's not as good looking as me!"
Her pleas are ignored when Lilly's pillow smacks her in the face.
The rest of the group follows and I curl into the fetal position to protect my face, laughing while I do so. Most of them seem to enjoy Fat Amy's screaming, so they focus long enough on her to give me time to crawl into the kitchen.
"Going somewhere?" Emily holds her hand behind her back.
"Okay, okay," I put my hands up in surrender. "You win, I'm sorry, you can get a free shot."
Instead of the feeling of a pillow coming into contact with my face, something soft nudges my hands. I glance up to see Emily holding her pillow out to me, a beaming smile on her face.
"Truce?"
"Truce."
She turns and crouches down, but it takes me a minute before I get it and jump onto her back. I push away the fear that the clumsy girl will drop me when we make it into the other room. My war cry gives us away and Lilly looks up just in time to see the pillow before it hits her.
The room goes completely silent, most of them looking shocked, while Lilly seems surprised that I'd managed to land a hit. Well, I made my bed, I might as well lie in it.
"Charge!"
All sides seem to be forgotten at my yell.
Pillows are flying, feathers are everywhere and girls are screaming. This is the most cliche thing that I'd ever done, but it is so much fun.
The clearing of a throat attracts our attention, and we all stop and turn towards Beca, who's obviously trying not to crack a smile.
"You know this sets women back like 30 years, right?"
She then proceeds to hold up a very interesting looking card, saying she found it on the porch. It makes a noise when she opens it and slams it closed, surprised before opening it again. It makes the same noise, which I think is just a person thats singing and trying to hold a note.
Beca reads it and tells the group that they've been invited to some kind of party, and before I can ask if we're about to get murdered, Chloe announces that they're going.
Knowing that I'm not going to be able to get out of it, I head up the stairs with the rest of them to get dressed
There goes an evening in my pajamas.
We're about to murdered.
Is my first thought when I step foot onto the porch of this mansion in the middle of nowhere. I know that I'm the youngest, but apparently, I'm also the smartest, too.
Beca knocks on the door and a slit opens up. She says the password, but ends up having to make a fart noise before the mysterious person behind the door grants us entrance.
The man that greets us looks slightly homeless — and, I should know — with his interesting outfit choice. He greets the Bellas excitedly, when he notices my presence.
"Oh, hello!" the man greets me. "Who do we have here?"
I hide behind Beca, not wanting any more attention from the guy, than necessary.
"Sorry," laughs the girl in front of me. "She's just shy,"
Am not.
He shrugs, "Anyway, come in, come in."
We're led into a beautiful kitchen, but I hang back to walk beside Emily. I know that the tall freshman will volunteer to be my shield, if I ask her too.
"Can you believe it, Grace?" she grabs my arm and bounces. "I'm finally going to get to sing!"
I laugh at her excitement. "You'll be great, Em."
Our attention is drawn back to the rest of the group, when the man yells at Amy for touching his goose.
Wait, what?
Oh, it's an actual goose statue.
It wouldn't surprise me if Fat Amy tried to touch his other goose.
He opens a door that leads to a set of stairs, and when Chloe follows right behind him, I jump forward to take Beca's hand, effectively stopping the rest of the group.
"Are we seriously going into a strangers' basement? Isn't that a no-no in stranger danger 101?"
The older girl just pats my shoulder. "Well, we can't just leave Chloe. Plus, we have Lilly," while the girl in question whispers something about a grenade.
I take a large step away from her.
"Point taken, lets go."
As we walk down the never-ending staircase, I start to hear voices. They get louder the closer we get, and surprisingly the sight that greets us isn't a torture chamber.
This guy has turned his basement into some kind of underground club. Music is playing and there's a whole lot of people here. There's a bar, where a guy is serving drinks and I spot Emily's special friend, Benji, and the rest of the Treblemakers.
I take a seat at the bar, so that I can get something to drink, but before I can say anything, Chloe cuts in.
"She'll have a Shirley Temple."
You'd think I was an alcoholic, not to mention I look like I'm twelve. No one in their right mind would give me anything. I'm pretty sure she just wants an excuse to act like a parent.
I take a sip of the sweet drink and thank the bartender, looking up just in time to see my favorite Wiener Schnitzels approach the Bellas.
Once again, Beca becomes a complete and utter mess at the sight of the blonde leader and ends up complimenting her instead of insulting her. If I didn't know that Beca has a boyfriend, I'd think that her redheaded co-captain was jealous with the glare that she's sending the brunette right now.
Actually, she probably is jealous. For the past couple of weeks, the other Bellas have been dropping subtle hints that the captains haven't been picking up on. That they're in love with each other.
It's actually really funny, because the both of them are completely oblivious to the looks they both send each other when the other isn't looking.
I almost want to believe it, but Beca does have a boyfriend, and Chloe has someone named Tom.
Now, the tall male DSM member is busy inputing whatever nonsense that comes to his mind and Beca is still floundering for words.
Sighing, I hop off of my stool and head over the group.
"Oh, here comes the Bellas' little mascot," I learned her name was Kommissar, after an extensive internet search, grins.
"Hey," I smirk, unaffected by her size. "What's the difference between a German and a shopping cart?"
Kommissar quirks an eyebrow. "Vhat?"
"A shopping cart has a mind of its own!" I exchange high fives with Fat Amy and Stacie, really proud of myself for remembering that one.
It takes her a moment to comprehend my joke, but I know she gets it when the smirk is wiped from her face. She turns to the rest of her group and leaves with a laugh.
"Thank you internet!" I laugh, along with most of the girls.
"Damn, kid." CR pats me on the back. "You've got some balls of steel."
"I'll be here all week," I bow.
Our laughter is interrupted by the not-so-homeless man hitting a gong with a giant stick. He proceeds to say that he brought everyone here for a riff-off, which is a mystery to me. All I can understand, is that the prize is a 42,000 dollar gift card to Dave N' Busters and the Green Bay Packers are here.
I'll definitely be introducing myself to those guys later.
When the a cappella groups form a circle, I leave the Bellas to go and watch from the bar, where I'm not squeezed in between Emily and some random guy I don't know.
I have to say, this whole riff-off thing is pretty interesting. This is the first time I've actually heard all the Bellas sing together, and they're actually pretty good, great even.
The first ones to lose, surprisingly, are the Treblemakers, and I'm pretty sure Emily is to blame. Benji had started off strong, but one look in the clumsy brunette's direction sent him off on some kind of tangent about respect, therefore completely messing up the lyrics to 'Baby Got Back'.
Sadly, the Green Bay Packers go next. I really wanted to see them sing more, but they can't seem to find a song and get knocked out.
The Tone-Hangers are the third to lose. Some guy claiming to be a personal assistant to John Mayer sings a song by someone who didn't date him, and loses it for his group.
That just leaves the Bellas, and…
Das Sound Machine.
Those Wiener Schnitzels.
They go back and forth for a while, and I'm starting to think that the girls can actually win this. Can you imagine all the tokens you can get at Dave N' Busters with 42,000 dollars?
A lot.
Emily jumps in and I'm extremely happy that she gets the chance to sing, when the host or whatever stops her and then continues to ask her if she was singing an original song.
Apparently, yes is the wrong answer, because the crowd immediately starts to boo her. I glare at the lot of them before they all disperse and I see Chloe and Beca walk away with the clumsy girl.
"We don't, hey, we don't want that," I catch the end of whatever conversation had taken place as Chloe glares at the freshman and walks away.
"Becaw!"
Jesse comes our way, wearing a huge smile.
"Hello Emily, Grace," I smile and wave at him.
It's not that I don't like the Treblemaker leader, I just don't get why Beca likes him so much. They're complete opposites. You'd think that'd be cute and all, but I just feel like it won't work forever.
Jesse asks if Beca wants to go meet the Packers and I almost follow the two, before I catch the sad look on Emily's face.
"C'mon Em," I nudge her with my elbow. "I liked your song. You have more talent in your pinkie than that guy has in his body."
"Really?"
"Really," she grins and I lead her to where I see a certain magic loving Treblemaker standing.
"Hey, Benji!" he looks up and his eyes widen. "Brought ya something!"
I push the girl towards him and he catches her before she can trip. I watch them for a moment before skipping off to meet the Green Bay Packers.
Maybe I'll try and swipe that gift card from those German wankers.