Chapter 2
At next day of rehearsals there was a tense atmosphere. Everybody was curious to see whether Beca would pull the dance routine off or not. Aubrey and Chloe were standing before the Bella's and Chloe looked nervous. She and Beca practiced the routine until about 2am, and she would be so pissed if Beca forgets anything that she taught her. And to make it worse, everybody was present - except Beca.
Working and dancing together with Beca was surprisingly not so bad. Chloe was surprised when she noticed that Beca actually had a lot of rhythm - Chloe never saw Beca dance before so she really did not know what to expect. There were, of course, a few awkward occasions where Beca snapped at Chloe for touching her, and Chloe snapped at Beca for constantly calling her "big sister", but overall it went well.
Not to mention, Beca is quite hot when she dances, Chloe thought, she was not ashamed to admit that Beca was hot. I mean, a lot of people on campus think she is. Even Tom said she is. Beca is just oblivious to acknowledge her own beauty and probably would settle for the boring and pretentious Jesse.
The thought of Jesse irritated Chloe, so she looked down to her watch. Again.
"She is super late." Aubrey said with a disapproving expression.
"She is only 15 minutes late." Chloe defended Beca, and Aubrey raised an eyebrow at her co-captain.
"Are you actually defending Beca?" Aubrey asked, looking surprised.
Chloe shrugged. She kept peeking at the door, waiting anxiously for the dj to arrive.
"Wow, last night must have been a bonding experience for the two of you." Aubrey commented, grinning.
"Aubrey, my head hurts. I am so not doing cardio today." Stacy announced, before Chloe could respond to Aubrey's comment. Stacy was wearing a massive pair of sunglasses and she was holding her head.
"Yes, don't count me in for horizontal running, Aubrey. I feel like Matilda waltzed on my forehead." Fat Amy added. She was looking an unhealthy shade of green. Beside her Jessica and Lily were barely awake.
"How much did you guys drink last night?"
"We drank a lot, Aubrey, wow it was such a fun night!" Cynthia Rose responded, chuckling. "Too bad you guys couldn't make it." Cynthia Rose obviously did not have the amount of alcohol the other Bella's had. "We only came to rehearsals today to see whether Beca would know the routine. I hope she does. Or, maybe she decided to ditch the Bella's?"
"She knows the routine, Cynthia. She did not and will not ditch the Bella's." Chloe calmly replied, but she was worried. What if Beca decided to quit? Beca was so determined last night and Chloe never saw her so committed before. She just hoped that Beca would pitch, because the Bella's would be horrible without her.
All of a sudden, Beca was running into the hall. Jesse was jogging a bit behind her.
"What happened?" Chloe immediately thought something bad happened, and she walked worriedly towards Beca.
Beca was out of breath when she stopped, breathing heavily as she looked at the Bella's. "I'm so, so sorry. I had to work extra hours this afternoon at the radio station. Jesse brought me with his car. I owe him, like, so many free beers it's not even funny." Beca gave Jesse a thankful and awkward hug. Jesse smiled at Beca, also still catching his breath.
Chloe raised her eyes at Beca, feeling irritated. So, what, you squirm when I touch you and you hug Jesse out of choice?
Aubrey interrupted Chloe's thoughts.
"Who are you?" Aubrey asked Jesse, rudely.
"I am Jesse. Nice to meet you." He answered full of confidence and with an abundance of friendliness.
"Yes, very nice, and you are a Treble?" Aubrey asked, still with a tad of coldness.
"Yes. A capella rules!" Jesse shouted and pumped a fist in the air. Stacy was the only one who answered his outcry with an angry response, stating that her head would explode if he screams again. All the commotions were clearly proving too much for her hangover.
"Okay." Aubrey replied, awkwardly. "Yes, you are a Treble and that means you are not welcome here. Thank you, I would like you to leave now."
Jesse looked quite taken aback and unsurely opened his mouth to respond to Aubrey, but Beca intervened.
"Come on, Aubrey, he just literally saved me by getting me all the way to rehearsal. He is a good one." Beca said, patting him clumsily on the head like he was some sort of pet. Jesse looked happily at Beca and glanced cautiously towards Aubrey.
"Yeah, I was just so focused to get Beca here on time that I ran all the way with her, and, uh, ultimately, I suppose, ended up in the lionesses den." Jesse weakly joked and Chloe rolled her eyes at his feeble joke. Surprisingly, Aubrey laughed at his remark. When everybody looked at Aubrey in surprise, she regained herself.
"Thank you for transporting Beca. Now we are having a rehearsal, so it is Bella's only." Aubrey and Jesse looked at each other for a while in silence.
"Okay!" Jesse suddenly exclaimed to everybody, breaking eye contact with Aubrey, while clapping his hands together. "I'm leaving." He clapped his hands together again, and awkwardly looked at Beca.
Beca raised an eyebrow him, smirking. Did Aubrey just fluster him?
"Good luck, Beca." Jesse fleetingly looked at Aubrey for the last time and he then practically ran out of the hall. Beca noticed that Aubrey's eyes followed him until he was out of sight.
Interesting, Beca thought while grinning internally. Who would have known Miss Prude here would show interest in Jesse? And that Jesse would be flustered by Aubrey? I can't wait to mock the shit out of him!
"So, Beca!" Aubrey loudly exclaimed, looking a lot happier than a while ago.
"Yes, Aubrey!" Beca responded, imitating Aubrey. Stacy groaned from the noise.
"Would you like to show us what Chloe taught you?"
Beca and Chloe looked at each other. Chloe nodded encouragingly at Beca.
"Sure."
Beca got in position.
Beca began to sing the songs of their set and started to dance the routine. She forgot for a while that all eyes were on her, and actually got lost a bit in the music she so hated. She remembered all the moves and internally beamed when she realised she was doing a great job. When Beca finished the routine and sang the final lyrics of their set, she stopped and blinked at the Bella's. Did I honestly just pull that off?
There was a bit of a stunned silence, but then, suddenly, all the Bella's cheered loudly and screamed cheers of congratulations to Beca. Fat Amy danced a victory dance, and even Stacy got up to join the other Bella's, all dancing now, hangovers long forgotten. Stacy randomly started to sing, I'm A Slave, to Lily, who was turning around on one spot with her arms outstretched.
Chloe beamed proudly at Beca and without any hesitation, pulled Beca in for a hug. She was happily surprised when Beca patted her on the back, accepting her hug. It caused Chloe to pull Beca in much tighter, and Beca felt her heart stop at the contact. Chloe's perfume was intoxicating her, in a good way, and her grip was gentle around Beca's body, yet, possessively firm.
When Chloe abruptly broke the hug, Beca felt a weird urge pull Chloe close again, suddenly craving the contact from the redhead. She decided rather to fold her arms. She wanted to avoid Chloe's piercingly blue eyes that were staring down at her at all costs. Hugging Chloe was wonderful, and that made her feel horribly confused.
I hate Chloe, I can't go around hugging her like that. Beca silently scolded herself.
Aubrey was scribbling on a note pad, and eventually spoke to Beca.
"I'm satisfied, Beca. You actually can dance. Who would have thought?" Aubrey grinned.
"Yeah, well, it's Chloe, she helped me so much and…"
"Now we only need to work on your non-existent facial expressions when you do the routine." Aubrey interrupted and Chloe laughed, and for once Beca did not roll her eyes at them, but smiled shyly. All this attention was making her very uncomfortable.
Chloe melted inside. She is so adorable. And did she just praise me?
"Yeah, who would have thought my dancing would have made so many people so happy?" Beca dryly responded, pointing at Fat Amy now playing an imaginary electrical guitar.
"The celebrations are a bit over the top, yes." Aubrey replied silently, and loudly clapped her hands, which caused everybody to stop what they were doing and they silently began to make their way to their chairs.
"How does she do that?" Beca asked Chloe, and Chloe laughed, and it made Beca feel nervous again. Chloe laughing and smiling at her was refreshing, and it made her even more mind-blowingly beautiful.
Beca gulped, I am only thinking all of this because I am not used to a friendly Chloe.
"I don't know, and she even convinced you and me to work together." Chloe added, and chuckled, and she absentmindedly took Beca's hands in her own, pulling Beca closer to her. Their faces were inches away from each other.
Beca stared into Chloe's blue eyes for a while, her hands tingling at the contact. Her heart was beating in her throat. After what felt like a lifetime, Beca reluctantly removed her hands from Chloe's grip. The Bella's were still making their ways to their chairs and Aubrey was talking to Cynthia Rose about her hairstyle choice, so luckily nobody noticed their intimate interaction.
"Sorry." Chloe nervously apologised, unsure of what caused her to grab Beca closer to her.
"I need to go sit." Beca responded, distractedly. What is happening?
Beca went to take her seat at her usual spot while she felt Chloe's eyes following her. Beca sat down and covered her face in her hands, feeling very confused, trying to organise her thoughts.
Chloe is not my friend or anything else, she will be my stepsister. She is popular, smart and pretty, yes, I might as well admit it, and she is friends with the hypocritical college students – those who pretend they are living the student life, while in reality - they live in massive apartments and drive BMW's. She probably listens to Taylor Swift in her car. My own freaking father invited her to dinner at his house last Sunday and never even bothered to invite me too. He called me, asking me about my philosophy grades, and nonchalantly mentioned that Sheila and he invited Chloe over and that they just finished their stupid organic dinner. Chloe was the daughter he always wanted, and he will never accept me, the alternative dj.
Beca felt sad and depressed, as she lifted an eyebrow to watch Chloe.
The redhead was standing next to Aubrey before the Bella's, listening attentively to whatever Aubrey was barking at them now.
"…at the car wash tomorrow at 10am. We need to raise gas money to get to our performances, so it is important that you dress sexy and that you tell everybody about the car wash. I know this must be a surprise to you all, but I checked all your class schedules and tomorrow will be the only suitable day for all of us to do it. Those who want should dress in swimming attire."
"A bikini?" Stacy asked.
"Yes. Or a one piece. Whatever it is that makes you comfortable." Chloe answered quickly.
"And since we are all not in the correct mind-frame to practice today, we will practice on Saturday for 6 hours in total. I advise you all, Bella's, to bring enough liquids with you. Cardio will be a bitch." Aubrey said, smirking at the thought. "Chloe, do you want to add anything before we leave here today?"
"Yes. I am looking forward to see you guys at the car wash tomorrow!" Chloe shrieked excitedly, "Dress sexy, we need the money." Chloe winked at them, and silently wondered if Beca will make an effort to dress sexy as well. I think she will look very hot in a bikini. Chloe's eyes danced towards Beca's, but she immediately looked away when she saw the brunette looking at her as well.
"Until tomorrow then, Bella's." Aubrey greeted and the Bella's slowly stood and walked out of the hall.
Chloe watched Beca closely as she walked behind the dj towards the exit.
Is it my imagination or is Beca looking sad? And why did she not complain about the car wash? The Beca I know will loudly and immediately refuse to take part in a sexy car wash. Chloe overheard Beca talking to Jessica about some random dance club with cheap alcohol prices. Maybe I am imagining it.
When they all were on campus and said their last goodbyes, Beca's phone rang. Chloe lingered a bit, trying to listen to the conversation. To her disappointment she couldn't hear what Beca said, because the brunette walked away from the Bella's when she answered the call and was now standing a distance away from the rest of them. But it was very obvious that Beca was furious and very annoyed at the caller. After arguing for a while, Beca ended the call, and threw her phone into her bag.
"Stepsister!" Beca screamed loudly at Chloe.
Chloe's heart sank. Here we go again.
"We will be having dinner with the family tomorrow at 7pm. Don't be late." Beca exclaimed. "My father told me to tell you that he can't wait to see you!" Beca rolled her eyes, and walked away.
"Ah, don't worry ginger, she will get used to the whole idea of you two becoming stepsisters." Fat Amy comforted, patting Chloe on the back.
"I don't want to be her stupid stepsister." Chloe mumbled softly as she watched Beca walking in the distance towards the direction of the dorms. Amy nodded a bit too understandingly at the redheads' words. "See you, Amy." Chloe sadly greeted.
This is seriously fucked up sheez. Fat Amy thought, before spotting one of her boyfriend's greeting her, walking to her happily.