A.N. So, I've had this original story idea for a while now, and I even tried it out with another ship from another universe, but it didn't quite translate the way I wanted it to. For some reason, it's worked sort of ridiculously easy with this particular universe and pairing. So, we'll give it a shot and see how this goes.

As always, thanks for reading!

XX

Beca isn't much of a reader. She definitely prefers to spend her time in front of the Mac with her headphones making mixes that she knows someday will get her noticed by the right people. But she read The Hunger Games (Katniss was badass, okay?) and (even though she would never admit it) some of Twilight and a few other books along the way, and she always finds herself wondering how it's possible to love someone so much that you'd be willing to be swept away in some crazy, life-threatening adventure.

It isn't like she's completely devoid of love. She loves her parents, and her dog, Spot. She loves her best friends Jesse and Amy, but as horrible as it sounds, she doesn't really love any of them enough to go into an arena to fight to the death, or risk being eaten by a psycho vampire.

"It's cause you've never been in love," Jesse says distractedly. He flips his gaze to a table across the quad for a moment before he concentrates on the sketchbook on the table.

Beca rolls her eyes, because they've had this discussion before, and it always ends with her feeling like crap because she's apparently incapable of being loved or being in love.

"Well if being in love gets me a sword through the chest, I'll pass," Beca tells him. She peers over the table at the drawing he's working on and she sighs. "Really, Jess? Her again? She doesn't even know your name."

Jesse shoots her an annoyed glance and changes the subject. "So what did you pick for auditions?"

"Ugh." Beca feels a spike in her blood pressure just at the mere mention of the auditions she's holding that afternoon. She's the youngest Bellas captain in school history – the job has never gone to a Junior before – and she had her championship team all lined up, only to lose a girl already because her parents moved her out of state. So she has to hold a second round of auditions. "I don't want to think about it."

Jesse smirks. "I told you just to do it with nine."

"The choreography is for ten," Beca reminds him with a sigh. "No more, no less. We worked on it for months. I'm not changing it now."

"Okay, okay," he says, trying not to smile, because he knows she's serious and she's stressed, so he needs to let it go. "What did you pick?"

"I'm thinking Titanium," Beca tells him, grateful he's letting the rest of it drop. "Or maybe Since You've Been Gone. You have to belt to hit those notes. I want to see what they're made of."

Jesse decides he's done drawing and flips his book open to a new page. He draws two horizontal lines and intersects them with two vertical lines, forming a tic-tac-toe board. He draws an x in the middle square.

"You always go first," Beca grumbles.

He smirks and glances towards the same table across the quad he'd been stealing glances at earlier. "And she would know my name. Ya know, if I told her what it was."

"Yeah, but then you'd have to talk to her," Beca points out, drawing an o on the paper before her.

"Pass," he mumbles, plucking the pencil from her grip.

"Why not?" she asks as she watches him contemplate…something. Clearly not his next move as he snaps the notebook closed. "You're cute. Not to me, since I've known you since diapers. But to her you might be."

He looks unamused and it makes her smirk a little. "Nice, Bec, was that supposed to be supportive?"

"Nope." Her smirk shifts to a grin, her tongue poking out between her teeth. She rolls her eyes when he remains stoic and she grows serious. "Ask her out. Best case she says yes. Worst case she laughs in your face."

"Again, thanks," he sighs.

"At least then she'll know your name," Beca points out as a bit of a last resort. "Plus she's new, so she doesn't know too many people yet."

He glances that way again. "Speaking of new girls."

Something in his tone makes Beca look, and when she does, the clear blue gaze holding hers from across the quad startles her a bit. She finds it strange that even though she's been caught staring, Chloe doesn't look away from her. In fact, she offers a hesitant smile that Beca nearly finds herself returning before she shakes her head and turns her attention back to Jesse.

"Something weird about them," Beca mumbles.

"Oh really?" Jesse says, looking amused. "What's so weird about them?"

"I don't know, Jess, you've heard the stories," Beca sighs. "Plus they never talk to, like, anyone."

"Anyone ever?" Jesse asks playfully. "They're mute?"

Beca rolls her eyes. "I'm just saying, something is…different about them."

"You do realize that everything you're saying has been said before about you, right?"

"So?"

Jesse grins. "And look how awesome you are."

"Becaw!"

She rolls her eyes. "Have I ever told you that I hate you sometimes for telling those idiots that nickname?" Standing up, she sighs. "Later."

Suddenly several of Jesse's friends crowd the table.

"Hey, Beca," Benji greets with a nod. "Jess."

"Later, boys," she replies, but a heavy arm drops around her shoulders before she can get too far away.

Donald laughs when she struggles under the weight of his arm and he releases her. "Beca, when are you gonna give in and just go out with me?"

She turns back to them smirking. "Okay, first of all? Ew. And second, you know I like girl parts better than boy parts."

"Ouch," Unicycle laughs. He likes it when Donald gets shot down.

Either Donald doesn't understand the words coming out of her mouth, or he simply doesn't care. She's going to believe both. "Say the word and I can add a third party that will definitely have girl parts."

"You are so delusional," she replies with a roll of her eyes. Though she had to admit she was a little curious. There were some serious hotties that found Jesse and his friends pretty awesome.

"Come on," he insists. "I'll even let you be on top."

"You wish!" she tells him, laughing by this point.

Benji peers across the quad for a moment. "So, Jess, you ask the new girl out yet?"

"Who, Chloe?" Donald asks, suddenly uninterested in Beca.

Benji shakes his head. "Nope. He likes her cousin, Aubrey."

"Older woman," Donald nods, clearly approving. "Nice, bro."

"Older woman?" Beca repeats with a laugh. "One whole year. Way to go, Jess."

"Shut up," he replies with a mock glare.

"Still older," Donald grumbles.

"Will you guys all shut up?" Jesse tells them, shooting me a pleading look.

"Sorry, buddy," Beca tells him. "I'm with them. Ask her out."

"You know they're from Roswell, right?" Jesse asks. "Wonder if they've seen any UFO's."

"Think they've been probed?" Donald asks with a wicked grin.

"I'd probe Chloe, that's for sure," Unicycle tells him, laughing as they high five.

The thought of Unicycle probing Chloe makes her stomach turn so she decides to leave before she can contemplate it further. "You guys are charming," she tells them. "Later."

"Band practice?" Donald asks as she walks away.

Beca turns and yells back at them. "Boy band practice!"

The four boys have the decency to look a little embarrassed and she laughs as she heads for a table across the quad that holds the members of her girl group, the Bellas.

"Hey, skinny bitch," Amy greets her as she takes a seat at the table.

"Are the boys being boys?" Stacie asks with a knowing smirk.

"They're being gross," Beca admits as she slumps into Amy's side. "Unicycle wants to probe the new girl."

"Unicycle would probe a cow," Amy tells them, causing everyone at the table to laugh.

"I don't get why you sit with them anyways," Stacie mumbles.

"I don't sit with them," Beca tells them with a sigh. "I sit with Jesse and they sit with him too."

"Don't look now, B, but the new girl is staring at you," Stacie points out quietly.

Beca doesn't look. There's something unnerving about having the most beautiful girl she's ever seen staring at her. Like her chances of doing something stupid increase exponentially with those eyes watching her.

So she remains uncharacteristically still.

"I think she likes you," Cynthia Rose adds with a grin.

"I think they're kinda weird," Stacie whispers, like she's afraid the new girls might catch her talking about them.

"But super hot," Cynthia Rose chimes in.

"Seriously, they're way too perfect," Denise adds with what looks like a bit of a jealous frown.

Amy nods. "Not one little blemish on that ginger skin."

"Jessica swears that one day in gym Aubrey tripped and fell and when she tried to help her up her eyes were all screwed up, like they were all cloudy and changing colors," Stacie tells them.

"Her eyes were changing colors?" Beca asks skeptically. "Maybe she was high." She stands up, trying to ignore the weight of the stare. "Come on, we have rehearsal."

XX

"I need a favor."

Beca sighs because she knows this won't end well. She and Jesse have been friends since they were born, which means that she knows that he has pretty terrible instincts and always manages to get her involved in whatever it is he's doing by asking her for a favor. He'd decided when they were twelve that they needed to sneak some alcohol and asked her to swipe some of her dad's as a favor. They'd gotten sick as hell and in major trouble. When they were fifteen he thought they should take a shot at dating and asked her out as a favor because he didn't want to be the only one of his friends at the dance without a date. One kiss had been full of so much awkward that they weren't able to look at each other for weeks. So when he said he needed a favor, she wasn't too excited to hear the terms.

He catches the look in her eye and throws up his hands before she can say a word. "I know what you're thinking. Last time I said that we nearly got arrested."

She sighs. "Why don't you just tell me what you want and I'll tell you it's a stupid plan and we can both go about our day?"

"I asked her out," Jesse blurts out before he can stop himself.

Beca smirks and takes in what she calls his 'happy puppy' face. "I'm guessing she said yes?"

"Don't puppy me," he mumbles, his face slipping into a pointed glare for a moment before he can't help himself again and he grins. "But, yes. She said yes."

Beca's eyes narrow, because she's remembering the way this conversation started and she suddenly has a very bad feeling about where it's headed. "And the favor part you mentioned? Please tell me you just want to borrow my jeep."

His face suddenly does this thing where he's cringing and smiling at the same time and Beca would find it amusing any other day because he kind of looks like he needs to pee, but now it makes her stomach twist.

"Not exactly." He hesitates because her face suddenly clouds over. He decides to just come out with it. "Chloe's dad doesn't really like them going out on dates alone until he gets to know who they're dating. So he suggested a double. With Chloe."

Her expression remains rather dark and expectant so he continues.

"I suggested Benji or Donald, but she wanted you," he tells her with a hopeful smile.

She's actually offended. "I'd want me too if you offered me those two idiots." Her head tilts as she replays his earlier statement. "Why is Chloe's dad dictating Aubrey's dating plans?"

"She lives with them," he says, like that explains everything.

Something still seems weird about it. "And he's telling two eighteen year olds that they have to double date until he gets to know the dates? She knows I'm only a Junior, right?"

"Yeah." His face suddenly turns pleading. "Please, Bec?"

"You know how I feel about dating," she tells him, the twisting in her stomach suddenly turning into a rolling, pitching sensation that has her feeling rather nauseated. "God, Jesse, really? I haven't been on a date in over a year and you're trying to make my first date back with her?"

"What's wrong with her?" he asks. "She's hot."

"Exactly," Beca agrees with a sigh. "You know I have 'hot girl syndrome'. Get me around a one and I turn into a total bumbling idiot."

He smirked. "Yeah, we all have that. Come on, Bec, I'll do anything. Please?"

She rolls her eyes and nods. "Fine. But you owe me. Anything. You remember that."

His face suddenly floods with relief and he pulls her into his arms. "Thanks." He releases her as they head outside to the parking lot.

XX

Beca could feel the headache forming behind her eyes as she listened to another girl butcher Kelly Clarkson and she wondered for the twenty-seventh time that afternoon why she chose the damn song. No one could sing it like Kelly could.

"Next!" she shouts, cutting a nervous freshman off in the middle of the second chorus.

Her eyes close as her hands rise to massage her temples. She centers herself, finding her Zen or whatever, but it's totally shattered when someone grabs her and shakes her.

"Bec," Jesse exclaims quietly, scaring the crap out of her.

"Jesus! What?"

Beca's eyes snap open and she sees Jesse's crush, Aubrey, standing on the stage looking nervous under the bright smile she wears.

"Hi," she says as she waves nervously in their direction and Beca swears she hears Jesse suck in a breath so deep she wonders if he left her any air in the direct vicinity. "Aubrey Posen."

"Be nice," Jesse orders under his breath, squeezing her arm before releasing it.

Beca smiles despite her headache. "Hi, Aubrey. You have the song prepared?" When Aubrey nods, she continues. "Whenever you're ready."

Beca has found over the years in the Bellas that you can never really look at a person and know what their voice is going to sound like. Cynthia Rose was a prime example. Lilly was another. So she wasn't sure what to expect when Aubrey opened her mouth and began to sing.

One thing is for sure, she isn't disappointed.

She's a bit shocked, because she's never heard Aubrey speak one single syllable, so to hear her sing is totally surprising. Aubrey hasn't gotten ten bars into the song before Beca shares a look with Jesse and they nod subtly, both knowing the Bellas have found their new member, and Beca is relieved that they managed to replace a soprano with another soprano.

Beca is polite when Aubrey finishes, knowing others who went before her, and others that still have to audition are hanging around in the auditorium waiting to be called or to hear the competition, so she smiles and tells her that they'll let her know.

"She's gonna be one of those acapella girls, and I'm one of those acapella boys and we're gonna have aca-children," Jesse whispers more to himself than her, his eyes trained on the blonde on stage.

"Please don't ever say that out loud to anyone that isn't me," Beca deadpans.

"It's inevitable," Jesse tells her with a grin before he hops out of his seat and makes his way to Aubrey's side and Beca finds herself a little disappointed that she'll have to hold council with herself for the remainder of the afternoon.

It's then that she hears a rattling next to her ear and she glances up to find a bottle of aspirin being held out by Fat Amy, who sits down in the seat next to Beca once the brunette takes the bottle from her.

"Found our replacement, then?" she asks as another nervous looking girl takes the stage.

"Thank God," Beca agrees quietly as the girl begins to sing on stage. "I can't take much more of this."

"You shoulda gone with Titanium," Amy muses quietly. "That song really builds."

"Too late now," Beca replies, wincing as the girl on stage hits a particularly painful note, and she holds up her hand. "Thanks!"

The girl on stage looks crestfallen and Beca notes with a sigh that she only has a handful of girls left to audition and she finds herself eternally grateful that Amy stepped in as soon as Jesse stepped out.

XX

A.N. Well? What do you think? Is it worth another chapter? Let me know. Thanks for reading!