Heyyyy all you people! I wanted to thank each of you who reviewed (RJRMovieFan, bibi.k, ThatNutCracker, and Lasleonas007), I really appreciate all your feedback and encouragement. I've started updating once a week instead of sporadically like I usually do.
Disclaimer: I don't own Pitch Perfect
"Up and at 'em, Bellas!"
Aubrey's voice followed by a high-pitched whistle is what brings me back to consciousness.
A warm weight under my cheek and across my waist draws my attention to the realization that sometime during the night, I had shifted position to lay my head on Emily's abdomen. The warmth across my stomach, is her long, slender arm. Both points of contact feel as if I'm on fire and my eyes travel up her arm, to her neck and then up to her face, where I meet her doe brown eyes.
Shit.
"Hi," she smiles softly and stretches, the other girls starting to move around us.
I'm a little disappointed at the loss of contact, but hopefully my blush will die down a bit. "Hey,"
The shrill whistle sounds again, and it scares me so much that I jump, losing all contact with the clumsy girl and smacking my forehead right into Fat Amy's.
"Owww," I whine, rubbing at the now sore spot.
"Buck up, squirt," the blonde girl says, seemingly unaffected,."I'm the numbah one kangaroo fighter in Tasmania. I've taken as many kicks to the head as years you've been alive."
Maybe too many kicks to the head.
Everyone stumbles out of the tent to stand in front of Aubrey, who looks way too put together for 6 am.
"Alright, girls," she claps her hands together. "Today, we will be doing several different team building activities to help you find your sound again."
I raise my hand.
"Yes, Grace?"
"Um, do I have to participate in these activities?" the rest of the girls roll their eyes at my question.
Aubrey tilts her head to the side. "Of course you do. You're an essential part of the group spirit, kind of like a mascot," she quirks an eyebrow when I huff in annoyance. "Will that be a problem?"
"No sir!"
"Good, now does anyone besides slightly shorter Mini-Beca have any questions?" Aubrey asks.
I'm kinda flattered that Aubrey compared me to Beca, but I'm also pretty sure that she said it just to get a rise out of the DJ.
Amy raises her hand, but CR nudges her in the ribs, and she quickly pulls it back down.
Who knows what that question would have caused.
"Let's go!"
I'm gonna shove that whistle right down her throat.
The Bellas are not very good at team building activities, I come to learn.
So far, we've had to balance on a log and arrange ourselves height wise, with me unsurprisingly on the end with Beca and Flo. Then, we had to pull each other up onto a log that was at least six feet in the air. I had slipped, but luckily Stacie had been there to catch me, still giving me a warning look that had to do with last nights events. After that, the group had to lift each member through a web of ropes, where Lilly had gotten stuck and Amy had proclaimed her asian Jesus.
I'm not sure why no one found this as hilarious as I did.
"I can't!" I cry, currently standing on a platform more than fifty feet above the lake. "Can I please just go back down?"
Just looking over the edge at the water makes me physically ill.
"Everyone has to do it," Aubrey calls up. "The only way down is to jump."
I gulp and Beca and Chloe move to stand on both sides of me.
"What's wrong, Grace?" Chloe's bright blue eyes are filled with concern. "Are you afraid of heights?"
"No," I mumble unconvincingly, peering over the edge once more, where Emily, who's seated on the end of the giant blow up I'm supposed to land on, waves up at me.
"You sure, dude?" Beca asks me.
"Yes," I sigh, looking at the wooden boards on the platform, "I'm scared of heights."
"It's okay!" Chloe chirps happily. "It's completely safe. Bree wouldn't let us do anything that was dangerous."
I'm not too sure about that.
"Yeah, kid," Beca adds. "We'll be right behind you!"
For some reason, the newly established support system really makes the fear die down a little bit.
"I guess so," I gulp, stepping closer to the edge and peering over once more.
"You can do it, Grace!" Emily calls up, cupping her hands over her mouth. "I believe in you!"
'Okay, Grace,' I think to myself. 'Do this to impress Emily,'
Before I can change my mind, I take a couple steps back, rock on my heels twice, sprint forward, and launch myself over the edge. I clamp my eyes shut as I scream the entire way down. If anyone ever asks though, I'll say that I jumped like a champ.
My descent is stopped when my body makes contact with the blow up landing pad, the fabric surrounding me on all sides as my body sinks into it. Emily shrieks as she is simultaneously launched in the air, and into the water with a splash.
Before I have time to think, I hear a familiar scream and Beca's voice.
"Grace, look out!"
A blonde haired blur appears that the top of the platform and shoots over the edge.
"For Sparta!" Fat Amy yells, as she starts to plummet.
Oh no.
I scramble over the float as fast as I can before I become a Grace pancake. I make it about a third of the way, before I'm thrown into the air when Amy hits the other side. For a moment, I feel like I'm flying, before I start to fall, limbs flailing in every direction. The water is cold when I crash through it, and Emily swims over to me since I'm too shocked to move.
"Great job!" she grins, grabbing my hand with both of hers.
Normally, I'd have already been as red as a tomato, but the mix of adrenaline and shock seems to have affected my brain, so all that comes out is a bunch of nonsensical sounds.
"Let's go, silly," the girl starts to drag me across the lake towards the dock.
When we get to the wooden strip Aubrey is standing on, she holds her hand out to me, and Emily pushes me up so that I can reach it. Then, she follows me out of the water.
I flop down onto the surface, warmed from the sun, and watch as the rest of the girls take their turns doing the plunge. Emily sits down next to me and places her hand on the small of my back, rubbing small circles into my back.
My muscles immediately tense, and I look over to see a soft smile on her face.
"I love this," she says, watching as Beca is launched into the air by Chloe looking not-at-all thrilled. "This is everything I've ever dreamed it would be."
"You dreamed of belonging in a group of girls who are various degrees of strange?"
She slaps me on the shoulder with her free hand. "No, I dreamed of finding a second family like my mom said I would. I also found a best friend."
"Who?" my eyebrows furrow as I try to think of someone she'd talk about a lot.
Benji.
"You, you dummy," Emily bops me on the nose. "I'm talking about you."
My stomach clenches and is filled with butterflies at the same time at her words. I'm elated that the stunning, kind-hearted freshman thinks so highly of me, but at the same time, I'm scared that friends is all we'll ever be, but I'll still take it.
"That's all I've ever wanted, too," I admit honestly, meeting her wide eyes. "A family and a best friend, that is. I didn't think I'd ever have one."
Emily's smile spreads into a grin that should split her face in half, and wraps her arms around me, planting a kiss on my cheek.
"Well, now you do, and I'm sure the rest of the girls feel the same way."
I bring my hand to my cheek, where it burns at the point where her lips made contact, too shocked to speak.
Anything I could have said is interrupted by that damn whistle and Aubrey's voice.
"Next up is the zipline!"
Nooooooo.
Not more heights…
I had finally been excused from the activities when they started to focus on singing, and that is, coincidentally, the exact moment things started to go downhill for the group.
More specifically, for Beca and Chloe.
The girls are singing a mashup, when the two co-captains start bickering again.
"Don't you think we've all noticed how checked out you've been?" Chloe shrieks, gesturing wildly with her arms.
"Are you kidding me?" Beca shouts back, clenching her fists.
They go at it for a little while longer, when Fat Amy has to get a word in, "Just tell her, Beca." Then, she compares the two of them to a blowjob.
"Tell me what?" Chloe's face is almost as red as her hair.
Amy pretends to have said something else, but Chloe and everybody else clearly heard what she said, so Beca tells everyone about her internship. Since, I've already known about it, I'm the only one besides Amy who isn't surprised. Chloe talks about how it's not wrong to obsess over the Bellas and Beca starts to crack.
"Because you're too scared to leave! Sack up, dude!"
"You've been lying to us all year and now you're gonna flake?" Chloe asks, taking a step forward. "What about Grace? You've been skimping out on your responsibilities to go to your internship."
"Whoah, hey," I put my hands in the air. "I thought that her internship was pretty cool."
"You thought?" her blue eyes burn holes in my face. "Did you know about it?"
"Well, I-"
"It doesn't matter! I can't believe this!" Chloe exclaims, pulling on her hair. "You two kept this from me."
Beca draws her attention with the idea that she's giving up and flaking out. I can't believe that this is actually happening.
Actually, I can.
I was happy for too long a time. Something was bound to go wrong, and here it is. The two people who volunteered to be my temporary guardians, are going to stop being friends and dump my ass on my social workers front step.
Beca's scream drowns out my thoughts, and I look up to see her tangled in a bear trap fifteen feet off the ground.
At least there's something to joke about.
Everyone starts to freak out and its kind of hilarious. Beca is basically crying about how she is going to die and starts apologizing to everyone.
C'mon, Beca, you'd only break a leg or something. You aren't gonna die.
"And Grace, I'm sorry I haven't spent enough time with you! Maybe we could do something when we get back like—ahh!"
She falls onto Fat Amy, who is trying to catch her, but ends up as a landing cushion. Lilly is hanging upside down with a knife in her mouth. I'm definitely locking my door when we get back, not that I'm shocked she possesses a weapon. I once saw a blowtorch when I walked by her open door.
Beca seems to have recovered, and her and Chloe both seem to have calmed down. They're no longer glaring at each other. Actually their—well, Chloe—is hugging Beca tightly.
"Okay, Bellas," Aubrey brings us back together. "Go get changed, and let's meet at the campfire in twenty!"
She marches off in one direction and the group heads towards our tent. Emily walks beside me, to my pleasure, holding my hand.
"Well, today was fun!" she laughs like the past half an hour never occurred.
"Fun is not the word I'd use," I place my free hand on my chin. "Psychotic, nightmare, or crazy is more like it."
"Oh, be quiet!" Emily giggles, skipping ahead of me.
"Hurry up!" I call after her. "I want to get there before Amy eats all the s'mores!"
And there's chapter 10! I hope you all enjoyed it! I was wondering if instead of a sequel, which would be hard, anybody would want a series of one-shots based throughout PP2 and the summer after before they all leave. I also will take suggestions for another PP pic after I'm finished with this. Please leave a review to let me know what you think!