A/N: Hey, guys. So if you've already read my author's note for Exigent, then you know that my laptop with that story on it crashed so I lost the work I did on that and I have to rewrite that whole chapter (which I was almost finished with and it had over 6,000 words). I'm really sorry for those who read Exigent. I'm working on it as fast as I can.
My favorite review of the last chapter goes to xcombixgirlx. I would also like to wrap them both in hugs haha.
Thank you all for following, favoriting, and reviewing. As always, I love you all! - Fox
When Chloe was about 8 years old, she knew that she was different. She knew that she didn't like boys. Now, she knew that only being 8 years old, someone probably wouldn't like boys to begin with, but the thing is, she really liked a girl. She was Chloe's best friend since she could remember. Her name was Miranda.
Miranda and Chloe were inseparable. Anywhere that she went, the bubbly redhead loyally followed. All the other kids used to make fun of her, saying she was like Miranda's little puppy. They always started barking at Chloe in the hallways at school. Miranda laughed it off while she just smiled, hurting on the inside. The redhead didn't want them to see that it hurt her. One day Miranda got tired of it.
"Why do you follow me around everywhere?" she asked when they were playing at the park.
"I dunno...'cause you're my best friend," Chloe replied with a smile.
"Well, I don't follow you around. You're my best friend. So why?"
"I mean, I like you. You're my friend, and you're pretty," she gave Miranda the most honest answer that she could.
"I like you too, 'cause you're my best friend, but you need to lay off."
"No, I like you like my mommy likes my daddy."
Miranda looked at Chloe like she was the most disgusting thing on the planet, "You're weird."
"How am I weird?" she asked innocently.
"You're not supposed to like a girl like that when you're a girl, freak. Leave me alone!" Miranda got up and ran away. Chloe cried and went home.
Miranda had told her parents and Chloe's mom walked into her room after a few minutes when she had gone home and to her room crying her eyes out.
"Chloe, I need to talk to you honey," she said with a soothing tone.
The ginger wiped away the tears, "What is it?" she sniffled, trying to hide that she was crying.
"Honey, did you tell Miranda that you liked her?"
"Yeah, because I do, but she called me a freak and said that I wasn't supposed to like a girl like that."
"You're not a freak, baby girl. It's just different. It's okay to like a girl like that, but you can't act out on it. Not yet, at least. Maybe when you're a little bit older."
"Why did she call me a freak if it's okay?"
"People like her and her parents just don't know what it's like. They're scared of different. They just want everything to stay the same. It's okay to be different."
"Does she hate me, mommy?"
"I don't think she hates you, honey, but I'm sorry. You probably can't talk to her anymore. Her mommy and daddy told me to keep you away from her."
Chloe began to cry harder than she had before, "I wish I hadn't ever said anything," she said between sobs.
"It's okay, baby. You'll find a new friend. There are more girls out there that are better than her, trust me."
The redhead crawled over to her mother and cried as she sat in her lap. She wrapped her arms around Chloe and stroked her head, rocking back and forth, "Shhh, it's okay honey," she said periodically. Eventually, Chloe had fallen asleep like that.
When she went to school the next day, the redhead stayed away from Miranda. All the other kids still barked at her, but after a while, they stopped. They realized she stopped following Miranda around and saw no reason to bark anymore.
A few years had gone by before she found a new love, and when that ended, a new one. It went on for a while until her sophomore year in high school. When that ended, she stayed single for a while, deciding to wait for the right girl. Now she was into her junior year and was beginning to lose hope.
One day as Chloe was walking through the hallways to her first hour, a new pair of eyes locked on hers. Her steel blue eyes were beautiful. Chloe was so caught up in them that she couldn't move. She was absolutely breathtaking. Her hair fell in a way that complemented her face perfectly. The ginger couldn't help but grin. She knew that she wanted to talk to her, but she didn't want to start right away. The new girl was probably overwhelmed with everything and everyone around her.
Someone ran into the beautiful and broke their everlasting stare, she looked back up at Chloe. The redhead chuckled, glancing at her again and turned to Aubrey when the brunette looked away.
"So, did you hear about the new girl?" Chloe asked.
"Yeah," she didn't even look at her. She had her phone out, more than likely texting her girlfriend.
"I think I just saw her. She's really cute," Chloe smiled to herself.
"You know, she's probably not gay. She probably even has a boyfriend back from wherever she used to live. I wouldn't try it," the blonde said.
She sighed, "You don't know that. Maybe she's bi or something."
Aubrey laughed, "You say that about every girl."
Chloe shoved her playfully, "Shut up. A girl can hope." They laughed and started to head to class.
Aubrey walked towards her English class with Mr. Daniels. She looked through the doorway and chuckled, "Look who's in Mr. Daniels' class."
"Dude, you are so lucky," the ginger whined, "Try to talk to her for me, will ya?"
"Kay, no. I'm not gonna talk to another girl for you. Grow a pair and do it yourself."
"Oh come on Bree, please?" Chloe pleaded.
"No, I'm not doing it."
"Fine, be a jerk," Chloe said as she walked off. Aubrey never really liked helping her with that kind of thing.
She walked off to her own class, grumbling to herself about how Aubrey wouldn't help her. Stacie had the first class with Chloe, so they met up just outside their classroom. They rarely ever went in until the bell was ringing.
"Hey, Chlo," Stacie smiled, "How're you?"
Chloe pouted, "Your girlfriend is being mean."
"Let me guess. You saw the new girl and wanted Bree to talk to her for you?" the tall brunette smirked.
"Well yeah, but that's not why she's mean," she crossed her arms, "She said that I probably don't have a chance with her and that I hope that just about every girl is gay or bi."
"That is kind of rude, but you know how she gets," Stacie sighed, "But you do need to try to talk to her yourself if you want to try to see if she is."
"I know, but Aubrey has a class with her and I don't know if I even have a class with her," Chloe pouted again.
"Oh, you do. Trust me," Stacie smiled.
The ginger tilted her head, "How do you know?"
"It's a secret," the brunette winked as she walked in the classroom.
"No, come on. You gotta tell me," Chloe followed her.
"You'll figure it out later, Chlo."
"Stacie, you are not being fair at all right now."
"Yeah, whatever," she grinned.
Chloe just crossed her arms and tried to look angry, "You and Bree are teaming up on me and it's not fair."
"Life's not fair," Stacie said as the teacher walked into the room. It wasn't long until the bell rang and class started.
Chloe went to every class eagerly, wondering if the next one was going to be the one with the mysterious girl. With every passing class that the girl wasn't in with her, she was beginning to believe Stacie was just kidding when she said she knew that the girl had a class with the redhead.
She walked into the Orchestra room with a sigh, thinking about how she would give Stacie an earful for lying when she saw her. She stopped in her tracks, staring at the girl. The mere sight of her took Chloe's breath away. It wasn't really like this for her. Sure, she saw a girl and thought she was cute on occasion, but nothing like this. It was literally the second time that Chloe had ever seen her and she took her breath away.
Someone behind her sighed, "Hey, can you get a move on, Chloe?"
"S-sorry," Chloe apologized before walking towards her seat. That's when she realized the girl was sitting right next to her. They both played the violin. They had something in common! The ginger tried to keep calm and sat down without saying a word to her. The girl didn't even look at her.
It seemed as quickly as class started, it ended and the girl talked to the director and was out the door before Chloe could even process it. She sighed, packed up her violin, and walked out to her mom's car.
"Hi honey, how was school?" her mom asked.
"It was okay. There's a new girl at school," the violinist smiled.
"Oh really? Is she cute?" Debbie, her mom, grinned as she started to drive.
Chloe blushed, looking out the window so her mom couldn't see, "Yeah, I guess so. Why do you ask that every time I mention a girl?"
"Cause I know you and I know you think just about every girl is cute and it's fun to bug you," she replied.
"Oh no, not you too," Chloe groaned.
"What?"
"Oh, it's just basically the same thing that Bree and Stacie said."
"I see. Well, we know you better than anyone."
"Yeah, I guess you guys do," Chloe looked out the window and started to space out, thinking about the girl's eyes.
"So what's her name?" her mom asked after a while of silence.
"What?"
"Her name. What is it?"
Chloe sat in silence for a moment, staring at herself in the mirror on the side of the car, "I don't know."
"You don't know? You mean you didn't talk to her or anything?"
"No, she didn't even look at me," Chloe crossed her arms, "Honestly, it was kind of rude."
"Well, why didn't you try to say something?" Debbie asked.
"I don't know, Mom. She just looked upset and stuff so I didn't want to bother her, I guess."
"You totally have it bad for her already, don't you?" her mom teased.
The redhead frowned and turned away, trying to hide a small blush creeping onto her cheeks, "No, Mom. Just because I think someone is cute it doesn't mean I'm in love with them."
"You're right. I'm sorry. So, what does she look like?"
"Why do you keep asking all these questions?"
"Why don't you want to answer them?"
"Because you ask too many of them and it gets annoying."
"Well, just answer that last one and I'll quit asking them."
Chloe sighed, "Fine. She's short, brunette, and has blue eyes."
Her mom rolled her eyes, "You have to do better than that. I know you think this girl is really cute and I know that you have more than she's short and has blue eyes."
"I said she was brunette too," Chloe said.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Debbie laughed.
"She's just really pretty. Her eyes are darker than mine. It's like a, I don't know, a steel blue. Is that even a color? It's basically like the ocean. Her eyes are really pretty. When she was walking down the hallway she locked eyes with me and we both kinda looked at each other until this guy ran into her."
Her mom seemed impressed with her daughter's description and decided to stop teasing her, "Well, she sounds very pretty. You should talk to her."
It wasn't long until she finally did talk to the girl and learned her name was Beca. She was absolutely mesmerized. They grew close over the next couple of months, and now it was Chloe's birthday and her mother accidentally outed her.
"But Beca, I like you..." Chloe looked up at the brunette with tears in her eyes. When Beca only stared at her, she started to panic, 'Shit...I should not have said that,' she thought.
"Well, that took guts," Beca cleared her throat.
The ginger was confused, "W-what?"
"I said that took guts. To say that, I mean," Beca replied, "I know it's hard to do something like that."
"So, you're not mad? You're not totally freaking out right now," Chloe began to wipe the tears away.
"No, I'm not freaking out. Why would I?" the violinist asked.
Chloe sighed, "I don't know. It just happens to me, I guess. Every time I tell a girl I like her, she freaks out and never talks to me again."
"Well, first of all, Chloe, you're my best friend. I'm not going to do that to you," Beca smiled, sitting down by her friend, "Secondly, it was really brave for you to do that. It's brave every time you do. You never know how someone is going to react to that."
"I don't know how you're reacting exactly," the redhead said.
Beca sighed this time, "Well, Chlo. It's a lot for me to take in, yeah, but it doesn't make anything weird for me. I think right now I need to wait and think about this before I make any decisions on anything, especially since I literally just got out of an almost two-year relationship."
"Wow, I had no idea it was that long. I'm sorry."
"It's okay. I guess he didn't really love me all that much if he could cheat on me, huh?"
"No, and it makes me mad," Chloe said, clenching her fists.
Beca smiled again, placing her hand on the ginger's back, "It's okay. He was stupid anyway."
Chloe frowned, "That doesn't mean I'm not mad."
"Come on, Chloe. You should smile. It's pretty," Beca grinned, using the same words that Chloe used on her earlier.
The redhead couldn't help but smile, "That's not fair."
"And it was when you said it to me?"
"Well, yeah. Only 'cause I said it."
Beca laughed and rolled her eyes, "Whatever you say, Beale."
"Just think about it?" Chloe asked.
"What?" the brunette looked at her a little confused.
"About what I said. You know, about me liking you and stuff," Chloe scratched the back of her neck, her face turning about the same shade as her hair.
The smaller girl smiled, "Of course, I will."