Beca slammed her car door shut and slung her rucksack over her shoulder. She couldn't help the grin that was wiped over her face. Yeah she was tired. Staying awake texting Chloe until around 4am hadn't exactly been the best idea but she certainly didn't regret it.

As the brunette made her way between the cars in the school car park she let out a happy sigh. She couldn't wait to see Chloe again. Not that she'd be able to see her today like they had been while they weren't in school. No, Beca had started to get used to the idea of only seeing Chloe while passing her along the school corridor. And after yesterday's run-in with Drake in the 'secret bathrooms' in the science block, Beca wasn't sure if she and Chloe could meet in there any more..

Beca licked her lips thoughtfully as she remembered what had happened in that bathroom before they'd been interrupted yesterday lunchtime. She and Chloe had made out heavily in the cubical. One thing had led to another. And before she'd known what was happening she'd come undone around Chloe's fingers. Fuck her girlfriend was hot. Girlfriend. Beca still couldn't stop grinning as she made her way through the doors into Barden High, drifting amongst the gaggle of other students, completely under anyone's radar as usual.

She rounded the corner and approached her locker, unlocking it and pulling the door open. Beca filtered through the class books that she'd chucked in there the day before, pulled out her Math book while letting out a sigh. God she hated Math first thing on a Friday morning. She couldn't imagine anything worse being on her agenda.

Unfortunately, Beca didn't need to imagine it. Because as the brunette closed her locker door she heard someone clear their throat behind her. Beca turned and her eyes immediately fell upon Drake, or more specifically the ginormous bruise that was currently surrounding his jaw. The part of his jaw that Beca had punched yesterday.

"You got a little something on your face there Drake.." Beca snarked at the jock. He might have been in the year above her. He might have been a foot taller than her. He might have been twice the width of her, his muscular body towering over the petite brunette. But Beca wasn't afraid of him. Because that bastard had assaulted the girl she loved. And Beca was fucking fuming.

Drake didn't seem to take Beca's comment well, and the senior stood up straighter, "You piece of-" the boy started and Beca saw him bring a fist back. The girl's mind immediately flickered to the 'training' her older brother had given her a couple of years ago. When Darren had insisted that she learn self-defence before he went off to college because he wouldn't be around school to stick up for her. And Beca ducked to her right just as Drake's fist began flying towards her face. "-SHIT!" the jock yelled, finishing his sentence in an aggressive tone, his fist colliding with the metal door of Beca's locker.

Beca stepped to the side, her fight-or-flight instinct ringing in her head. She glanced at her locker door that now had a very obvious fist-sized dent in it and felt relieved it hadn't been her face. But she wasn't given much time to recover, and she watched as Drake turned to face her.

In the midst of the young man yelling at Beca and his fist hitting her locker door, a crowd of students had gathered around them, all whispering and muttering between them. But Beca didn't pay any attention to them. She was too busy focusing on how quickly her heart had begun beating. Too busy flinging her rucksack to the side to be able to adjust her body position, ready to defend herself if necessary.

"I know." Drake said in a bitter voice, beginning to pace a little in front of the teenage girl, like a caged animal, "I know about you and Chloe.."

Beca took several deep breaths, swallowing loudly. If she wasn't feeling so hepped up on the adrenaline pumping around her body at the moment then she would've been concerned, wondering how the hell Drake had found out. He wasn't smart enough to work it out on his own that was for sure.

"I know that you and her have been screwing each other behind my back!" Drake yelled angrily. Beca glared at him, her chest rising and falling, her hands balling into fists by her sides while she squared up to him. "You've been screwing my girl-"

"-she's not your anything!" Beca interrupted him sharply. There appeared to be a brief hush that washed over the students watching the confrontation between the tall muscular jock and the short petite alt-girl.

Beca felt certain she saw a vein throbbing in Drake's neck, a sign of just how angry he was. But her attention was diverted to the figure of Aubrey Posen pushing her way to the front of the crowd of students.

All of a sudden, out of nowhere, Beca felt blinding pain as Drake took advantage of her momentary lapse and punched her in the face, his fist coming into clean contact with her eye. The force of the hit caused Beca to spin slightly, and she collided face first into one of the metal lockers. She felt a snap and in an instant knew she'd broken her nose.

The petite brunette slid into a heap on the floor, closing her eyes and letting out a loud wince of pain. And over the sounds of the gasps and jeers from the surrounding students she heard Drake yell angrily at her, "Get the fuck up!"

Beca opened her eyes slowly, seeing her hand out on the floor beside her. And she looked at the ring on her index finger. Chloe's ring. She needed to stand up to this dude. The guy that had treated her girlfriend like shit. So with a deep breath Beca slowly scrambled off the floor and squared up to Drake once again. Her fists balled by her sides while the boy began pacing again.

All of a sudden she felt a familiar hand rest upon her shoulder and she saw Chloe arrive beside her. Beca felt a mix of emotions ranging from fear to relief.

However, this arrival didn't appear to intimidate the jock, and he just smirked as he spoke to Chloe, "Come to save your little girlfriend I see." And when Chloe said nothing but folded her arms defensively, Drake let out a laugh of disbelief, shaking his head while he said in a relatively loud voice at Chloe, "I always wondered why you never put out. Now I know…it's because you're a fucking lesbian!"

Chloe's heart was hammering hard against her chest. She hated confrontation. And this was the ultimate confrontation, but she wasn't going to back down. If it meant keeping Beca from getting hit again then she'd stand here all day if she had to. To her dismay, however, Beca rose her index finger at the jock pacing in front of them.

"She never put out because you didn't treat her right you fucking moron!" Beca snapped back at him angrily, "Did you ever think about that?" Drake had stopped his pacing and glared at the petite brunette. Chloe meanwhile had turned to Beca to try to get her to calm down, but it was too late, Beca had started fighting back, "Did you ever think that maybe if you'd ever asked her what she wanted instead of only thinking about yourself that she might have been happier with you?"

"Beca it's okay." Chloe mumbled quietly, trying to calm her girlfriend down, "Please don't say anything else. I don't want him to hurt you any more than he already has.."

Beca paused to take several deep breaths as she felt Chloe gently squeeze her upper arm. Her head was starting to spin a bit. But if there was one thing she took after her father for it was his stubbornness. The only difference between her and him was that Beca never walked away from the people she loved. And there was no way she was backing down yet.

Both Chloe and Beca hesitated when Drake changed his direction and slowly approached them, a glint in his eye as he stood before the two teen girls, towering above them. Beca felt her blood begin to boil when she watched the boy bend down to their height, and say in a low threatening voice to Chloe, "I should've fucked you when I had the chance."

That was it. Chloe stood in horror, as though watching a car crash in slow motion, while Beca impulsively threw her fist at Drake's jaw once again. The students gathered around them winced and cheered as the young man was knocked backwards a couple of paces, stunned that the petite brunette had gone for him again. The motion had thrown Beca's balance and the younger teen staggered a little, her concussion from earlier's punch to the face now beginning to take affect. But she wasn't going to stop. She was never going to stop. Because nobody spoke to Chloe like that!

"I'm gonna fucking KILL you!" Drake yelled, and Chloe let out a loud scream as she watched her ex-boyfriend stride over to Beca's tiny body. Where the hell was the school security?!

Beca tried to stand up straight, but she winced as she did so. The bell rang for the first class to begin, but nobody made to leave for their classrooms. Beca watched as Drake approached her. She had no idea if she had the energy to duck out of the way this time. If he was going to kill her, then the last thing she wanted to see was Chloe. So Beca turned to her right to see her girlfriend crying, beginning to dart over to her. To try to protect her.

But as Beca saw Drake raise his fist out of the periphery of her vision, something surprising happened.

Drake, mid-pace, was suddenly pulled back by the hood of his jumper, and the motion had brought the young man staggering backwards. He turned, ready to attack the person who had stopped him, but he paused the second his eyes fell upon the tall disapproving figure of the girl he'd been secretly seeing behind Chloe's back.

Aubrey glared at Drake. She'd expected him to screw up Beca's locker, yeah. Maybe even taunt her a bit. After all, that was what they'd done to Darren Mitchell when Aubrey had told the boys in her year that the older boy - a senior at the time - had dumped her almost as soon as they'd started dating. But she'd never expected Drake to beat the girl up!

Suddenly the students around them drifted away as loud direct voices could be heard. The teaching staff of Barden High had finally made their way to the commotion in the school corridor. The football coach had managed to cram his way to the front and strode over to the jock, grabbing a handful of Drake's jumper at the teens shoulder.

Chloe meanwhile had let out a huge exhale, relief overwhelming her body while she stepped over to her girlfriend, taking hold of her shoulders and looking at the girl's swollen face. "Beca.." she whispered sadly, shaking her head in disbelief. Chloe felt completely responsible for all of this. If they hadn't been together. If they hadn't started secretly dating. If Beca hadn't been in the school bathrooms yesterday while Drake had tried to force himself on her.. well Beca wouldn't be in the bloodied state that she was in right now.

"Mitchell." A voice from behind Chloe sounded and the two teens turned to see that Principal Radshaw had arrived. He looked pretty shocked at the state of the the younger teen, and ordered in a serious voice, "Sick bay. When they're done with you there come straight to my office please."

Beca nodded slowly, then began walking in the direction of the sick bay, allowing Chloe to walk alongside her hand-in-hand.

"Um Miss Beale, where do you think you're going?" The Principal asked, raising his eyebrows at the redhead who had stopped and had turned to look at him, surprised that he was even asking such a thing considering her girlfriend had just been beaten up. But that was the thing..he didn't know that they were dating.

"Oh..u-um..I was going to take Beca to the sick bay." She said nervously, but the Principal shook his head.

"That won't be necessary." The man said quickly, and Chloe's heart sank, "The bell has just rung and if I'm not mistaken you have an exam to be preparing for. Miss Mitchell can go with Mrs Janey here." And the two teens turned to see that Mrs Janey, one of Barden High's lead Teaching Assistants, was stood beside them. She had a look of serious concern on her face as she focussed on the state of Beca's face. But Beca didn't care about the way she was being stared at. She was just shocked that Chloe would have to leave her.

Chloe took a deep shuddering breath, clearing her throat quietly as she nodded while reluctantly letting go of Beca's hand. "O-okay.." she said in a quiet voice, looking at her girlfriend sadly. This first class of the day ('Exam Prep') was only scheduled to be an hour long and they must've been at least five minutes into it already. It wouldn't be long until it'd finish and Chloe promised herself she would run as fast as her legs could carry her, from one end of the school where her class was, to the other end of the school where the sick bay was.

"I'll be okay Chlo." Beca said quietly to the redhead, having recognised how reluctant Chloe was to leave her, and her girlfriend gave her a small sad smile. Beca turned and was escorted down the corridor towards the sick bay.

Chloe watched as her girlfriend disappeared round the corner at the end of the corridor and the redhead let out a shaky exhale. She had no idea what was going to happen next.. her only hope was that her class hadn't heard about the real reason behind the brawl. Because if Chloe knew anything about High School seniors, it was that they could be really mean.

Beca eased herself onto a seat in the sick bay, looking solemnly at the school nurse who looked horrified at her injuries. Why did people keep looking at her like that?!

"Want to tell me what happened?" Mrs Janey asked Beca kindly, sitting beside the School Nurse's Desk. The nurse, in the meantime, was busy pulling out a pen-torch.

"I was protecting someone." Beca grumbled in a quiet voice, blinking suddenly as the nurse shone a pen torch in her eyes to check the pupil dilation.

"Who were you protecting?" Mrs Janey asked, and Beca hesitated. She saw the teaching assistant's kind expression, and Beca felt safe. Because this was Mrs Janey. She'd been Beca's teaching assistant during her first year at Barden High. Mrs Janey knew Beca and Beca knew Mrs Janey. They trusted one another. So with a deep breath Beca shrugged, "Chloe."

"Chloe Beale?"

Beca nodded gently, looking down at her hands, twirling Chloe's ring around her index finger. She couldn't quite see properly thanks to her swollen eye. But she knew what the ring looked like. She'd certainly stared at it enough.

"Beca, why did Chloe need protecting?" Beca took another deep breath, then looked up at Mrs Janey nervously. "Beca it's okay. You can tell me." the teacher added, and Beca bit her bottom lip, "Was it Drake? Did he…did he do something to deserve that left hook you gave him?"

Beca had no idea how Mrs Janey knew about the punch she'd given the jock. But she wasn't exactly in the position to lie about what happened. So the petite brunette nodded, then winced as the nurse placed her thumbs either side of her broken nose to assess it.

"Ahh-" Beca cried, then winced again. The nurse didn't seem too apologetic, and moved over to one of the draws in her cabinet. Beca looked back at Mrs Janey, the woman looking at her in concern. Screw it. People were going to find out eventually. She might as well get it over and done with while she could still play the sympathy card.

"I stopped him while he was assaulting Chloe in the girl's bathrooms yesterday." And her stomach churned as she remembered how terrifying it had been having to hear Chloe's protests. "Punched him square in the jaw. Then I legged it. He found me this morning and-"

"-and got you back for it." The teaching assistant said sadly. Beca nodded gently. The sick bay fell silent, save for Beca's winces while the school nurse began mopping up blood around Beca's nose. After several minutes Mrs Janey broke the silence with tentative words.

"Beca. There was whispers among the students that you and Chloe are…how do I put this in a politically correct manner…"

"Lesbians?" Beca offered bluntly, a small smile appearing at the corner of her mouth and Mrs Janey smiled back.

"Yeah.."

Beca shrugged, her smile dropping as she chose to use a serious tone to match how seriously she felt about Chloe, "Chloe and I started dating a few days ago. That probably doesn't seem like very long to most people, but it's important enough to us. And…somehow Drake found out. I think that was the main thing that fuelled his anger this morning. I think that's why he attacked me."

"Right.." Mrs Janey said quietly with a small nod, and Beca winced again as the nurse returned to the teen to begin tidying her broken nose up. "Will you excuse me for a moment?" The teaching assistant asked, and the nurse and Beca indicated to her that she could leave the room.

"So it's a hate crime?" Principal Radshaw said quietly, his brow furrowed as he stood outside his office with Mrs Janey. The woman had told him all that Beca had told her. The evidence was stacking up against one of the school's star football players.

"I think so." Mrs Janey agreed seriously with a nod of her head, "Mike, you can't keep this boy at the school." she said, motioning to the office door. Drake sat behind it with a member of the school's security and the head coach of Barden High's football team, awaiting the arrival of his parents.

"If all that you've said is true then it's going to be more than just an expulsion Drake faces.." Principal Radshaw said seriously, his voice low as he added, "The cops are on their way."

"You've got the police involved?"

"Karen, he's eighteen years old and he assaulted a minor. His actions were potentially fuelled by his homophobia. And we found evidence in his locker that he's been using illegal steroids to up his performance in football." Mrs Janey's jaw dropped open in shock while the man continued, "He may be a student at this school, but even we can't deny that our duty of care stops before that." The teaching assistant nodded slowly.

The two adults turned to the corridor, hearing frantic footsteps, half expecting them to belong to Drake's parents. But to their surprise they saw the concerned expressions of Mr & Mrs Beale, and the furious expression of Ms Mitchell, all darting down the corridor towards the principal's office. And Principal Radshaw swallowed loudly. Because The Beale's weren't a difficult family to contend with. Melissa Mitchell on the other hand..

"Where the fuck is my daughter, Mike?" Melissa snapped angrily at the man she had once dated back in high school. And Mike let out a heavy sigh, turning to Dee and Greg Beale who simply nodded in support of the furious woman beside them. He was in for a rough morning..

"Yeah. Bye Mom. Love you too."

Chloe let out a heavy exhale as she ended the call to her mother. The teen hadn't really known what to do or say. But she knew that if there was one person she could talk to about the horrid thing she'd just witnessed, then her mother was the best person to call. And while Dee Beale had been confused at first, having thought her daughter had been due to start her first class of the day, but had immediately become concerned when Chloe had started crying down the phone to her. Chloe had told her as much as she knew, which was that one of the jocks at school had found out about her and Beca and had beaten Beca up pretty badly.

The redhead placed her phone in her jeans pocket then tentatively opened the classroom door. Her heart was racing with nerves as she stepped into the room. Her teacher, Ms Hinks, looked at her with an unimpressed expression.

"Miss Beale. Nice of you to join us."

"Sorry Miss." Chloe said quietly, closing the door behind her and sheepishly walking towards the back of the classroom. She took her seat in her usual spot. Beside Aubrey. The blonde looked somewhat uncomfortable. And Chloe knew why. There was no way that if Drake knew about her and Beca being a 'thing' that Aubrey wouldn't know either. Because Chloe knew Drake had been secretly seeing Aubrey for weeks now.

The redhead pulled her books out of her bag and grabbed her pen then sat in silence, looking at the digital board behind their teacher while Ms Hinks continued teaching, but not really paying attention at all. The only images that flashed in Chloe's mind were of Beca. Her poor bloodied and beaten girlfriend. And it were these thoughts that had tears springing to Chloe's eyes once again.

"I'm sorry Beca got beaten up." Aubrey whispered to the redhead, but Chloe didn't look at her, instead muttering under her breath, "No you're not.."

The two friends sat in silence for several minutes, staring at the front of the classroom but not concentrating on the advice their teacher was giving.

Aubrey had to admit, she hadn't realised how serious this thing between Chloe and Beca had been until she'd seen the distraught look on the redhead's face earlier. When Chloe had inspected Beca's busted face. That was when the guilt had set in. Guilt that was still present now.

"When did you find out?" Chloe asked Aubrey quietly, not daring to look at her for fear that she might burst into tears.

"Yesterday evening." Aubrey admitted, "My Mom told me after she'd overheard your Mom and Beca's Mom." Chloe felt a little sick, the thought that it would have been all so easily overheard. No wonder Drake had found out. "But I had kinda figured it out from your ring yesterday afternoon.."

Chloe looked down at the ring on her index finger. Beca's ring. She'd been so stupid to think that they could've kept this a secret. "Did you tell Drake?" The redhead asked quietly. There was no answer from Aubrey, so Chloe turned to her best friend and looked at her seriously, "Did you tell Drake?" she whispered sharply.

And her heart sank when she saw Aubrey nod sadly. Chloe opened her mouth to retaliate. To exclaim "How could you?!" but her actions were interrupted by a knock on the classroom door. Miss Hinks answered it and stepped outside for a moment.

Meanwhile, Chloe's classmates turned to look at her and suddenly the redhead desperately wanted the ground to swallow her up as the teens around her began questioning her about her sexuality and her relationship with Beca.

"Leave her alone guys.." Aubrey attempted to say but Chloe turned to her, saying angrily, "Shut up Aubrey!" and the blonde appeared to recoil in her chair slightly, her best friend having never stood up to her before.

The classroom door opened and the teens all turned back to the front. "Chloe?" Miss Hinks looked sympathetically over at Chloe, and motioned to the doorway, "The Principal wants to see you."

Chloe didn't need telling twice, knowing that Beca had been instructed to go straight to his office once she'd been to the sick bay. The sooner she got there the sooner she could see her girlfriend. The sooner she could check that she was okay.

So Chloe swept her belongings back into her bag, immediately rose to her feet, and darted out of the classroom, surprised to be met by Mrs Janey, the teaching assistant that had taken Beca to the sick bay. The woman looked at her sympathetically. Why did people keep looking at her like that?

"Your parents are here.." Mrs Janey said as she began leading Chloe down the corridor.

"My par-..wh-..they are?" Chloe said, baffled as to why they'd come into the school. She was okay, it was Beca she was worried about.

"Yes. Said they'd received a call from you while they had happened to be having breakfast with Beca's mother.." Mrs Janey said, keeping her pace quick as they sped down the empty corridors. Chloe noticed they weren't headed to the Principal's office like Miss Hinks had initially told her.

"Uh..Mrs Janey? The Principal's Office is that way.." Chloe offered, wondering if the woman had been so traumatised by the sight of Beca's broken nose that she'd lost her sense of direction.

"I know. But I'm taking you to see Beca first."

"Oh.." Chloe swallowed loudly. The teaching assistant knew. She had to know. There was no other reason why she'd let her see Beca before going to the Principal's office. After all, as far as most of the school were aware the two teens barely spoke..

"I heard that Drake had given you a hard time. I-" Mrs Janey stopped at the end of one of the corridors, turning to face Chloe, looking at the teen seriously, "-if you ever need to talk about what he…put you through…I'm happy to listen at any time."

Chloe furrowed her brow slightly. She had no idea what the woman had heard or what presumptions she had made. But whatever it was it was likely to be far worse than it actually was. Chloe didn't want to waste time explaining things. She just wanted to get to Beca. So instead she relaxed her face and replied with a quiet, "Thank you."

Beca sat in the chair of the sick bay, relieved that the pain killers the school nurse had not long given her were finally beginning to take effect. She was watching the nurse write the final parts of her write-up on the computer when the door to the sick bay opened. Beca's heart rose when she heard a familiar voice call out her name in a relieved tone and she turned to see Chloe darting over to her, throwing her arms around her neck and hugging her tight while she crouched by her side.

"I'm okay Chloe.." Beca mumbled into a face full of red hair, but the older teen only clung to her girlfriend tighter, bursting into tears in the process.

"I'm so sorry Beca! This is all my fault!"

Chloe pulled out of the hug, gently grabbing Beca's hands. Tears were still flowing down her cheeks, and she sniffed loudly as she spoke quickly, "I-if I hadn't worn your ring.. i-if we hadn't been together yesterday Aubrey wouldn't ha-have ever found out and-"

"-Woah wait.." Beca said, trying to stop Chloe's frantic sentence, furrowing her brow slightly, "Posen told Drake?" Chloe hesitated, biting her lip and nodding sadly, then Beca added, "Did she tell him to beat me up?"

Chloe then shrugged, "I-I don't know that much. But what I do know is it's because of me that she found out about us. She saw my ring!"

And Beca looked at Chloe's ring on her own index finger. The hand she's used to punch Drake. Twice. Of course Posen would notice that..

Beca looked back up at Chloe. Neither teen had noticed Mrs Janey or the school nurse also in the room. Because neither teen could see anyone but each other. And they both smiled softly at each other.

"It's gonna be okay Chloe.." Beca said gently, bringing releasing her girlfriend's hand and bringing her hand up to Chloe's cheek to wipe the tears with her thumb, "We're gonna be okay."