Okay, friends, this is the beginning of something really fun! Just to give everyone an initial warning, this fiction is going to deal with some gruesome murders and will also involve a little (okay, a lot) of smut. I don't want to surprise anyone, so please just know this going in!

Despite the serial killer theme I've got going here, I want to keep this story pretty light, kind of akin to one of those scary movies that really is more funny than scary. Oh, and don't worry, I won't be killing off any of our favorite characters. Promise.

So this fiction is set in a post-PP1 world, but incorporates some elements and characters from PP2 and PP3. Enjoy!

CHAPTER 1- Heads Will Roll

"Alright nerds, let's go with-" Beca leaned back in her seat confidently as she called out to the auditorium of eager college students auditioning for a spot in one of Barden's a-capella groups.

Before Beca could finish her thought, a disheveled Chloe came bursting through the back doors of the auditorium.

"Wait!" She breathlessly called out as she hurried to join the other Bellas, each of who were sitting together in the front, center portion of the auditorium.

Every head in the room swiveled around to face the bouncy redhead as she bounded through the auditorium. Beca's eyebrows raised in utter surprise. What was Chloe doing back here? Back in May, Chloe sat down with Beca over a cup of coffee and informed the younger girl that she had failed her Russian Literature classes and would be returning to Barden for a fifth year. At the time, Beca accepted this news first with shock and then with feigned disappointment, as Beca was secretly kind of glad that their friendship could continue another year. What Beca hadn't realized was Chloe was planning on continuing her stint as a Barden Bella. Not that Beca was unhappy to see Chloe, or anything. Quite the opposite, really.

Curious whispers flooded through the auditorium while Beca looked on with confused shock, trying to ignore the fact that her heart had skipped about three beats at the mere sight of Chloe. I mean, this was normal, right? Chloe was her friend, albeit they were only bound by this weird a-capella universe. But still, it was normal to feel excited after not seeing your friend all summer. That's what Beca chalked this feeling up to.

"What is Red doing here?" Amy whispered over her shoulder to Beca.

"Yeah, I thought Chloe graduated," CR piped in as her brows furrowed in confusion.

"Maybe she's-" Amy began responding, before Beca held out a hand to silent the pair.

Standing up, Beca turned to face Chloe, who at this point had made her way to the front of the auditorium and was standing directly in front of Beca. Beca didn't even have the chance to ask Chloe what was going on before the older girl enveloped Beca in the most suffocating of hugs.

"I've missed you guys so much," Chloe murmured into Beca's neck, burrowing her face into Beca's hair, while Beca's arms swung limply by her side.

Beca blushed slightly, acutely aware that Chloe's lips were mere centimeters away from Beca's neck. Beca awkwardly patted Chloe's back, which caused Chloe to latch onto Beca even more tightly.

"Funny, because it looks like she's only missed one of us," Amy muttered to Stacie, whose face cracked into a knowing grin. Most, if not all of the Bellas knew that Chloe had been not-so-secretly harboring a huge crush on Beca for about a year now.

"Can't. Breathe," Beca choked out hoarsely.

"Is that your way of saying you missed me, too?" Chloe asked, pulling away from Beca and shooting her the Chloe Beale signature wink.

Beca cleared her through, which for some reason was now feeling rather dry.

Before Beca could collect her thoughts enough to mutter a word, let alone a coherent thought, one of the obnoxious Treblemakers piped up by calling across the auditorium, "Wasn't Ginger Spice supposed to graduate last year with that uptight, blonde Nazi?"

"Hey!" Two voices sharply barked in unison. One of those voices belonged to Jesse. The other voice belonged to Beca.

"Not cool, dude," Jesse admonished, sticking up for Beca's best friend.

"It looks like ex-Barden Bella Chloe Beale is back again for a victory lap," a familiar, yet oddly placed male voice announced from the back of the auditorium.

Heads swiveled around to place the voice of the man that was now giving a play-by-play breakdown of this unusual situation. The voice belonged to none other than John Smith, the ever-misogynistic half of "John and Gail," those weird a-capella commenters that were everywhere... inexplicably.

"Yes, John," Gail agreed cheerfully, "It's very unfortunate, yet altogether unsurprising."

"Women just aren't as smart as men. That might explain her failing grade in Russian Literature last spring," John reasoned while Gail shook her head.

"How do you even know that?" CR called out, addressing the pair for the first time ever. Wasn't it against some kind of rule for these people to access Chloe's education records?

"We have our ways, young lady," John responded. "Or sir. Can't tell which, really," he continued with confusion.

CR frowned heavily.

Gail continued on in her usual ditzy, but cheerful voice. "But the question becomes, can Chloe Beale reclaim a spot in the coveted, ICCA-winning'-"

"Yes. She for sure can," Beca called out, interrupting Gail. "That's not even a question."

Turning to face Chloe, Beca gave her the smallest of sympathetic smiles, quirking her lips up briefly. Chloe smiled back at Beca. Although Beca didn't wear her heart on her sleeve the same way Chloe did, Beca was actually quite expressive if you knew how to read her. A quick tight lipped smile was about as close as Beca would get to saying, 'welcome back.'

"Thanks, Becs," Chloe answered breezily, sliding past Beca to join her rightful place with the Bellas.

"You got it, co-captain," Beca answered. Turning to face the rest of the Bellas, Beca confirmed that everyone agreed Chloe should remain a captain on the team, to which each Bella gave resounding affirmation.

"Well, there you have it, folks," John announced from the back of the auditorium. "The Bellas secure their eighth slot with yet another woman who, in five years, will probably be pregnant anyhow."

Beca whipped her head back around aggressively. "Okay. What are you guys even doing here?" She asked. She was more than done with these two and their nonsense.

"Yeah, get out!" A High Note piped in.

"Ah, I'm afraid we can't," Gail said, feigning regret, though Beca suspected Gail felt the opposite of regretful. "We're filming a documentary chronicling the normal day-to-day lives of competitive a-capella teams!"

"We're calling it, 'Perfect Harmony,'" John contributed.

Gail clicked her tongue, unimpressed with John's name for the documentary. "What about 'Matching Pitches'?" Gail suggested.

"Hmm," John considered thoughtfully. "Oh! I got it. Pitch Perfect!" John supplied, satisfied with his own ingenuity.

"There it is!" Gail agreed, perfectly thrilled with the now-determined name of their documentary.

"Okay men and not-men," John said, addressing the auditorium of people, "This is supposed to be an authentic insight into your pathetic lives. Act normal. Pretend we're not even here."

The entire auditorium more or less rolled their eyes, grumbling amongst themselves.

"Hard to do when they're literally blabbing back there every other second," Amy muttered loudly.

"I'm going to kill them," Lilly whispered inaudibly.

Figuring that pushing and fighting the duo out of the room was more effort than it was worth, Beca turned her attention back to the task at hand. Auditions.

Beca turned to Chloe. "Trust me on this?" Beca asked the older girl.

"With my life," Chloe beamed, giving Beca's arm a light squeeze.

"Alright nerds," Beca called out for a second time that day, "Let's go with... Miley Cyrus's Party in the U.S.A."

An excited buzz spread across the crowd like a contagion. The auditioning students, of course, knew the set piece ahead of time. The established, veteran a-capella members, however, were surprised by Beca Mitchell's choice. Even people that didn't know Party in the U.S.A. knew Party in the U.S.A., Beca figured. It was incredibly catchy. Moreover, it had the right kind of background instrumentals to comprehensively test all aspects of a-capella performances.

Chloe's smile spread as she linked arms with Beca, leaning her head onto the smaller girl's shoulder. Maybe Beca hadn't intended her song choice to be sentimental, but Party in the U.S.A. instantly took Chloe back to her competition days last year with the other Bellas. The gang had shared a bonding moment when Chloe absentmindedly began singing the song on the bus one afternoon in route to a competition. CR had joined in, followed by Stacie, Aubrey and the others. The lone holdout was Beca, who did everything she could to appear disinterested in the whole impromptu jam session. It took prompting from the entire gang of girls before Beca's 'over this' attitude cracked and she smiled, joining in the chorus of the song.

"Dude, you're killing my badass vibe," Beca whispered out the side of her mouth, shaking Chloe off her arm.

Chloe snapped back to present moment. Shit, she was kind of all over Beca right now. Not that she could help it. For some reason, Chloe felt drawn to Beca in ways she couldn't explain. She didn't consider it weird or unusual to hold hands or play with Beca's hair when they sat next to one another. In fact, Chloe didn't consider it at all. She just did it. It felt nice. Comfortable. Familiar. Chloe had to often remind herself that Beca wasn't like Chloe in that way. Beca had physical boundaries, albeit Chloe was certain that she was chipping away at those boundaries.

Chloe sat up in her own chair and cleared her throat. "Sorry, I'd hate people to think you were... not totally averse to human contact," Chloe smiled, half-playfully, half-apologetically.

Beca rolled her eyes, though Chloe could tell there was a slight hint of humor there.

"Wanna do the honors here, Chloe?" Beca asked, passing the stack of tryout signup sheets over to Chloe. If Chloe was her co-captain, the least Chloe could do was help by reading off the names of the auditions and taking notes on their performances. Okay, yeah, that was kind of a lot to ask. But Beca was pretty certain Chloe lived for shit like that. And it was important if they were going to be co-captains that they work in harmony.

"I'd love to," Chloe answered with a grin, taking the large stack of papers from Beca.

Looking down at the first sheet on the list, Chloe called out, "Florencia Fuentes?"

Four hours and countless performances later, some of which were great, others of which were terrible, a-capella auditions concluded and the groups deliberated. After a fair amount of blood, sweat, and tears, the Bellas decided to extend invitations to three new members: sophomore Florenica Fuentes, who went by the name "Flo," and two freshman students named Tina and Casey.

After tryouts the girls walked back to the Bella house in tandem. The idea of having a "house" was still foreign. Unexpectedly, Beca received an email over the summer from the dean of the University informing her that an anonymous benefactor, a Bella alumna, had donated 1.5 million dollars to build the Barden Bellas a house. From that point onward, history had practically written itself. The Bellas had moved in to their new house just over one week ago.

Amy predictably had claimed the largest bedroom, which was located in the attic of the house, though no one minded much, as the attic made creaky sounds at night. The middle floor held six bedrooms, which were doled out to CR, Stacie, Beca, Jessica, Ashley, and Lilly. Apart from Jessica and Ashley, who for some reason, had insisted on sharing a room, everyone else now enjoyed her own room. The bottom floor contained a foyer, kitchen, living room, laundry room, and dining room. In addition to the attic and two main levels of the house, the Bella house contained a basement. The basement was empty, presumably designed for storage, Beca figured.

As the girls walked through the front door of their new home, it occurred to them that they had one more person than was present this morning.

"Erm, Beca?" Amy asked.

"Yeah?" Beca answered.

"What are we gonna do about… you know," Amy trailed off, nudging her head very indiscreetly at Chloe. Beca looked at Amy blankly.

"You know," Amy repeated, practically having a spasm as she kept nudging her head over at Chloe.

"Chloe," Amy coughed into her fist.

"Subtle," Beca responded sarcastically, as Chloe turned around to acknowledge the exchange.

"Guys, it's totally okay. You've already got rooms and-"

"Nonsense," Beca cut the older girl off. "You should live here. If you want to, that is?" Beca asked, searching Chloe for any indication over what the other girl might be thinking.

"Of course she'll live here!" Stacie exclaimed, hugging Chloe from behind. "The Bellas are family! And besides, who else is gonna drive me to the store at two in the morning to buy condoms?"

"Yeah, uh, I'm with her. About us being family, that is," CR added, cutting a glance over to Stacie, who shrugged nonchalantly. "You're gonna have to roll with us, girl," CR told Chloe.

Lilly whispered something undecipherable while Jessica and Ashley chimed in with their unquestioned support.

"So what do you say, Beale?" Beca asked. "Are you in or what?"

"I'm in," Chloe responded automatically, a smile cracking across her face. Chloe all but swore she saw relief flash across Beca's face, which made Chloe feel even happier.

"Yay!" Stacie exclaimed, enveloping Chloe in a hug.

The rest of the girls quickly joined the hug, even Beca, who although enjoyed pretending she didn't love these moments with the girls, was secretly thrilled. They were all together. And Chloe was going to be living with them. Beca wasn't sure why, but that seemed really important.

The girls gave Chloe the grand tour of the new house, and to say she was impressed was an understanding. Chloe couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that an anonymous Bella had just donated all of this money for the girls to live so lavishly. In the past, each of the Bellas had more or less figured out their own living arrangements. Often times, they would share apartments or dorm rooms, but having all of the Bellas together under one room was beyond Chloe's wildest imagination. Chloe's stomach tightened and butterflies danced in her stomach when she imagined what it would be like to live with Beca for the next year. Maybe this year… maybe.

"This is a really large portrait, no?" Beca asked, snapping Chloe back into reality. The girls were now all standing in front of a large portrait in the foyer of the house. This, it appeared, was the finishing point to the grand house tour.

"Yeah, way too big," CR agreed. "I know an anonymous benefactor donated this house to us and all, but does she really want to punish us by making us keep this monstrous painting in the foyer?"

"Really throws off the décor in here," Stacie observed, looking around.

"Which one do you think gave the money?" Chloe asked, studying the twelve faces on the composite closely. "Do you think it was her?" Chloe asked, pointing her finger over the first girl listed alphabetically on the composite portrait.

"T. Cobbledick," Amy read aloud. "Ehhhhh, probably not. She looks like she can't even tie her own shoes properly."

"Amy, that's mean!" Chloe admonished. "I'm sure she's totes a great person even though she..." Chloe trailed off with a frown, biting her lower lip as she tried to find the words to finish her sentence nicely.

"Is wearing a sweater with bunnies on it, has braces, and a mullet?" Beca supplied sarcastically.

"Becs!" Chloe turned on Beca, placing her hands on her hips, as she faced the girl sternly. Now that Beca was a co-captain, she had to at least go through the motions of being a role model.

Beca and Amy exchanged bemused glances before Beca guiltily met Chloe's icy blue gaze and swallowed her laugh.

"Good thing we're way cooler than that," Amy continued, undeterred by Chloe's scolding.

"That's debatable," Beca answered, turning on her heels to walk into the kitchen.

"What's cooler than a bunch of ladies living together while they compete internationally and make music with their mouths?" Chloe asked with unbridled positivity.

Beca turned around to face Chloe. She looked like a puppy dog, radiating sheer happiness. Her wide smile showed off her pearly white teeth perfectly, while her blue eyes dazzled in the natural light permeating from the foyer windows. It was amazing how stupidly good Chloe looked. Even when she talked about 'making music from her mouth' without a hint of lewd suggestion.

"Probably most things," Beca answered evenly, before turning back around and striding into the kitchen.

A self-satisfied grin graced Beca's face as she heard Chloe gasp at her comment. Chloe was Beca's friend and everything, but Beca still couldn't resist pulling her strings sometimes. Beca hoped it didn't make her an asshole… Yeah, it probably made her an asshole.

"Not cool, Beca!" Stacie called out, as the kitchen door swung closed behind Beca.

"I need to go catch up with her," Chloe said, not wasting a second before leaving the group of girls and following Beca into the kitchen. "We'll come find you all in a bit to get ready for the party tonight?" Chloe asked, not bothering to so much as turn around.

"Sure," Stacie purred. "Take your time. I'm sure you and Beca need to get 'reacquainted.'"

Chloe bit down a grin as she pretended not to hear Stacie's comment. It was no secret that the girls relentlessly teased Beca and Chloe about the nature of their friendship. Chloe found the antics amusing and even occasionally played along. Beca, on the other hand was a different story. At best, Beca would ignore the teasing. At worst, she would get irritated and clap back. Chloe didn't think Beca realized that her reaction egged the girls on further. Playfully getting a rise out of Beca was a favorite pastime of most of the Bellas, Amy particularly.

Chloe entered the kitchen to find Beca sitting on the island of the kitchen, demolishing a bag of Doritos. Chloe smiled at how cute Beca looked in this moment.

"The orange powder around your lips is a sexy look," Chloe teased, saddling up next to Beca and leaning her elbows on the kitchen island.

"I was hungry," Beca explained by way of reasoning, licking the colored flavoring off her fingers and then her lips.

"Yeah, these auditions are a tiring process," Chloe agreed.

"Tell me about it. Makes me wonder why you came back for a fifth year."

Chloe chuckled lightly, but said nothing.

"Why did you, though?" Beca asked sincerely, unable to resist from asking the very question that had been weighing so heavily on her mind.

"I like being a Bella," Chloe answered simply, standing up to look Beca in the eyes. Her perfect, stormy blue eyes. "If I'm here at Barden anyhow, I want to be here with you. All of you," Chloe quickly added, so not to make it sound like she was only here for Beca's benefit. "I want to be a part of this. Because it feels important to me."

Beca nodded intently, setting the mostly-empty bag of Doritos to the side. Folding her hands in her lap, Beca stared at her hands and responded, "I'm glad you're back." Looking up at Chloe, Beca added, "Really."

"Oh, Becs," Chloe grinned, unable to resist hugging the other girl.

This time, Beca hugged her back. Maybe it was because no other people were around, or maybe Beca was just having one of her odd sentimental moments, but Beca really hugged her back, burying her head in the dip right below Chloe's chin. Chloe inhaled deeply, taking in the vanilla-like scent of the younger girl's shampoo. Chloe had forgotten how much she missed the smell until this moment. It was all coming back so strongly. There really was an inexplicable draw to Beca, Chloe thought.

"I don't know what I'm doing," Beca admitted in a small voice, after the girls had been embraced in a hug for some time.

"It's okay, you'll learn as we go. I'll be here with you. And I know you're going to be an aca-awesome captain," Chloe affirmed truthfully. She had every faith the Beca was going to be wonderful and Chloe was excited to be along for the ride to witness everything Beca would accomplish.

"Aca-sure hope so," Beca answered with a small lopsided grin, pulling away from Chloe.

Chloe's heart skipped a beat. That grin. God, it made Chloe want to… Ugh. Chloe bit her bottom lip and tore her eyes away from Beca's lips, though she was pretty sure they had lingered for a moment too long.

Beca inhaled sharply. Was Chloe… no, she couldn't be. The girl barged into other people's showers for God's sake. Any amount of etiquette over personal boundaries didn't exist with Chloe Beale.

Shaking the inappropriate thought from her mind, Beca cleared her throat and asked, "So, uh… What do we do now?"

"We have an aca-initiation to plan!" Chloe exclaimed, her features brightening up.

"Thank God you're here for this," Beca said sincerely. "You're… like, good at this kind of thing."

Chloe giggled. "Beales are known for their excellent party planning. Fun fact," Chloe added, nudging Beca with her shoulder.

"I'll log that information away for my birthday."

"Twenty-one days from now," Chloe answered.

"You know when my birthday is?" Beca asked incredulously. No one ever remembered her birthday. Mostly because she never told anyone.

"Of course I do, silly. And don't think I haven't planned something totes perfect," she added with a wicked grin and a wink.

Somehow, the casualness of it all made Beca want to cry. Or laugh. She wasn't sure which one. Beca had never been friends with a girl like Chloe before. Maybe it was just kind of a weird adjustment being friends with the living, breathing personification of a rainbow.

"Please no Boone's Farm," Beca pleaded. For some inexplicable reason, most (all) a-capella events involved Boone's Farm. And Beca had not-so-fond memories of puking in the bathroom at the Treble's house last April while Amy screamed at the top of her lungs for Chloe to "come here and take care of your sick little kookaburra."

"Oh, speaking of," Chloe remembered, conveniently ignoring Beca's request, "We need to get some booze for the aca-initiation party tonight. Thanks for reminding me, Becs!"

"Wait, I feel like we need to circle back to the Boone's Farm because I don't think you're hearing me-"

Beca was interrupted by Chloe yelling at the top of her lungs to the whole house of girls, "Ladies! Bellas meeting in the kitchen, pronto!"

"Okay, but are we going to talk about the Boone's Farm?" Beca asked again.

"No time for that," Chloe answered hastily with a wink. "We need to get Boone's Farm for tonight!"

"Good talk," Beca muttered sarcastically to herself as Chloe and the other Bellas entered full-on party mode.

Over the next few hours the Bellas divided and conquered the set-up for aca-initiation. Chloe, the only Bella of legal age, went out to buy the alcohol. Meanwhile, Stacie, Lilly, Jessica, and Ashley set up the decorations, adorning the Bella living room with white tablecloths and candles. Beca and CR hid upstairs and played Go Fish, hoping no one would come looking for them.

"Got any eights?" Beca asked casually, taking a swig of beer from her bottle.

Currently, Beca and CR were sitting on CR's bed. CR had pulled out a six-pack of beer and the two were drinking, listening to music, and playing cards.

"Go Fish, bish," CR answered, laughing at her own joke.

"You know that joke is only funny the first time you tell it, right?" Beca asked with a stifled laugh.

"Psh, stop being such a bish," she retorted with a wave of her hand.

"Bish, please," Beca joked back, in spite of herself.

"Got any nines, bish?" CR asked.

Beca took a long sip of her beer. "Bish!" She yelled, handing over two nines.

CR laughed, grabbing Beca's cards and taking a swig of her own beer.

"So hey, does this make you wanna gamble again?" Beca asked. "I'm not, like, enabling you, right?"

"That's adorable," CR howled. "You think playing Go Fish is gonna make me relapse?"

"I don't know! It's cards," Beca reasoned.

CR scoffed. "Hardly. There are fish printed on these cards."

"Ouch, bish," Beca responded with fake offense.

The two continued drinking and playing until Beca heard the familiar cheery voice calling through the house. "Becs, I'm home!"

"Uh, oh," CR said to Beca with a worried look. "The wife is looking for you."

"Dudeeeee," Beca responded dramatically. "We're not wives. We aren't dating."

"I know," CR responded easily, "But you're still wives. Platonic, but definitely wives."

"What's that mean?" Beca asked. Normally, she would have shut down CR at the outset but Beca was a beer and a half in and marginally buzzed. The alcohol buzz, it seemed, was enough for Beca to ask the question that was on her mind.

"You have a natural connection. You look to each other for support and guidance. Even when you annoy one another, you couldn't imagine your life apart. Best friends," CR explained.

"Right. Best friends," Beca repeated, nodding her head. She guessed Chloe kind of was her best friend. Even though they hadn't kept up much the previous summer, it's not as if Beca had many other friends of which to speak. The Bellas were about the only friends Beca had. And she kind of liked it that way.

"Becs, I really need you downstairs!" Chloe called from the kitchen downstairs.

Standing up to walk downstairs and find Chloe, Beca turned back to face CR a final time. "Hey. Don't… tell Chloe about this, okay?"

"Our secret," CR agreed with a wink.

Beca hopped down the stairs two at a time to hurry into the kitchen and find Chloe. As Beca walked into the kitchen, she saw Chloe standing there at the kitchen counter, smiling contentedly at Beca, looking at her in a way that made Beca feel a little bit uncomfortable.

"What's up?" Beca asked, walking over to where Chloe was standing.

"Wanna talk through the ritual tonight, co-captain?" Chloe asked with a wink.

"Uh, yeah, let's do it," Beca answered.

Before either girl could discuss the procedure of the ritual, Beca's phone buzzed. Picking it up, Beca read a strange text message.

Text Message (Unknown Number): I heard you made a-capella history with your mixes. Tell me, what happens when you mix college parties, alcohol, and a gruesome murder?

Beca read the text message a second time and frowned.

"Everything okay over there?" Chloe asked sincerely.

"Yeah... Just Jesse. I think," Beca added as an afterthought.

"You think?"

"Yeah. I just got this text from an unknown number," Beca answered, holding her phone out for Chloe to see. "And… I think he's playing some kind of trick on me."

Chloe took the phone from Beca's hands, furrowing her brows in confusion and biting her bottom lip as she read and reread the message. Beca bit back laughter at how cutely insane Chloe looked when she was confused. It was like watching a puppy chase its tail.

"What is it supposed to mean?" Chloe asked, her icy blue eyes lifting off the phone and meeting Beca's dark blue eyes.

"That's the mystery," Beca answered with a shrug.

"You don't think it's… real, do you?" Chloe pressed nervously.

"No, of course not," Beca scoffed. Meeting Chloe's concerned gaze, Beca suddenly felt a little guilty for unloading this burden on Chloe. Beca wasn't sure if the next sentence uttered out of her mouth was more for Chloe's benefit or for her own. "This is so definitely Jesse. He's probably watching a horror movie right now and has decided to mess with me," Beca added resolutely.

"Isn't that usually the start of every horror movie?" Chloe asked anxiously. "Someone gets a weird phone call, house visitor, or message. And the person shrugs it off and tries to ignore it. And then, next thing you know… Bam! Murdered."

Unable to stop herself, Beca barked out a laugh. "This is ridiculous."

"I'm serious!" Chloe exclaimed, although she, too, couldn't stop herself from laughing after seeing Beca laugh. "People in these movies literally ignore every sign of danger until someone with a knife is literally right in front of them."

"You do realize you're talking about movies, right?" Beca asked with amusement. "Do you think this happens in real life?"

"I don't know… it could," Chloe shrugged, flicking her eyes down at the floor and back up to Beca.

"You're just like Jesse."

"Well don't tell him that," Chloe answered with a wink. "He might get jealous."

"Yeah, maybe. If we were still dating," Beca scoffed.

"What? You broke up?" Chloe asked a little too eagerly.

Chloe reeled back her enthusiasm, reminding herself that she shouldn't be happy than Beca and Jesse had broken up. Because her and Beca were just friends, right? And shouldn't 'just friends' not feel joyful hope from their 'just friend's' break-ups? Chloe fixed her expression from a look of happiness to one of sympathy.

Beca nodded, affirming Chloe's question. "Yeah, over the summer." Studying Chloe's face, which was now wearing an expression of concern, Beca continued, "Don't… give me that look. It's not a big deal, I promise."

"Aw, Becs," Chloe pulled Beca into a hug while Beca sighed, accepting a hug from Chloe for like the twentieth time that day. "I'm so sorry," Chloe offered genuinely before placing a soft kiss on the top of Beca's head.

"Chloe," Beca complained through gritted teeth. "I'm fine."

Chloe squeezed Beca tighter, pulling Beca close to her chest and preventing her from wriggling free.

"I broke up with him. We're still good friends. We're both happy about it," Beca promised.

"Are you sure?" Chloe asked, pulling away from Beca and looking the younger girl in the eyes carefully.

"Like super sure. Now can we talk about why you called me all the way down here?" Beca asked, effectively closing the door to any further conversation about the break up with Jesse.

Chloe sighed. It took a lot of effort for Beca to open up to others. Usually you would only get an occasional glimpse in her mind. But Chloe kind of liked that about Beca, she decided. She liked slowly breaking down those walls and seeing the real Beca. Because Chloe knew that the true Beca was a sight only bestowed upon a relative few. And Chloe was one of those few.

The girls continued by talking through the aca-initiation ritual and concluded that the "No Treble Rule," was undoubtedly, out the window. All that mattered was the loyalty and dedication. The rest didn't matter, Chloe and Beca agreed.

Several hours later, the three new initiates had been "kidnapped" from their dorms and driven to the Bella house. Standing before Beca and Chloe were Tina, Flo, and Casey. The other Bellas stood in a circle around the three initiates, each holding candles. Chloe quickly went through the oath, which each of the Bellas recited excitedly.

"Okay, that's it!" Beca exclaimed with a quick smile. "You're all initiated. Congrats!"

"Wooooo!" Flo yelled as Amy handed her a chalice filled with Boone's Farm.

"It's the blood of the sisters before you," Amy told Flo very seriously.

"It's definitely not," Beca corrected. "It's shitty wine."

"Still better than blood," Flo reasoned, taking a large sip.

"You two really don't have to drink that," Beca told the other two new Bellas.

"Aw, dude, it's fine," Casey answered, taking the chalice from Flo and taking at least five or six healthy gulps. "I'm already blazed out of my mind. I kind of need a downer."

"Right," Beca answered, uncomfortably shifting on her feet.

Casey continued, "I'm not saying that people who smoke weed are better, but I just really think that people who don't smoke are basically narcs."

"Feel that," Beca answered with no inflection, widening her eyes and awkwardly turning around to find Chloe. This new Bella was going to give the gang a run for their money. Beca couldn't help but wonder if Casey belonged with the High Notes, and not the Bellas.

The gang eventually made their way down to the amphitheater. True to form, the Bellas were the last to arrive to the party, not that Beca minded, as she preferred to arrive at parties when they were already booming. Nothing made Beca more uncomfortable than the awkward standing around and forced small talk that inevitably occurred before people got drunk enough to let loose.

Beca took in her surroundings. Yep, this was definitely an a-capella party. Everyone was drunk out of their minds and singing loudly to songs from the radio. Beca turned around in place, trying to find Jesse. As Beca turned around, she literally bumped into a group of five strange women, who happened to be standing right behind her.

"Jesus!" Beca jumped back, clutching her hand to her heart.

"Oh, sorry," an attractive, shorthaired brunette answered sharply. She didn't seem particularly sorry, Beca noted to herself.

"Who are y'all?" Stacie asked, inconspicuously eyeing the five new strangers up and down, undressing them with her eyes. Needless to say, every one of these ladies was totally bangable.

"We're," the shorthaired brunette began.

"Evermoist," the five girls answered in unison, their voices harmonizing perfectly though their breathy whispers.

"What's that?" Amy asked obnoxiously loud, clearly unaffected by the girls' distractingly charming presence.

"It's our a-capella group," the brunette responded as she crossed her arms and eyed Amy up and down critically.

"Your name sounds like a moist towelette," Stacie chimed in with a shrug. Sure, the girls were hot, but the name was weird.

"It's not a moist towelette!" One of the other five girls snapped, before the attractive brunette silenced her by raising her hand.

"Sounds like my Grandma's singing group, if she had one. They'd be Nevermoist," Amy joked lightly, dissolving into nervous laughter at her own joke while the five girls stared at Amy with sour and unimpressed expressions. Amy's laughs slowly subsided into awkward silence while the two a-capella groups faced each other, eyeing one another suspiciously.

Beca sighed. Beca could tell these other girls were trouble. She didn't know how she knew, but something about this didn't feel right. I mean, these girls weren't at tryouts today. So wasn't it kind of weird that they were showing up now?

Beca cleared her throat, effectively putting an end to the little squabble between Evermoist and Fat Amy. "So," Beca asked in a tone that she hoped was casual enough, "Why are you... here? I mean, no one has ever heard of you before," Beca floundered.

"Isn't it obvious?" The brunette asked insultingly to Beca. Beca frowned, standing her ground. "We're a new a-capella group on campus."

"You're total strangers!" Ashley exclaimed, seemingly out of nowhere.

"Hm," the brunette hummed with unimpressed conviction. "This is Charity," she motioned at the girl to her left, "That's Veracity, that's Serenity, that's Jubilee," the girl rattled off, "And I'm Calamity."

"If I joined your group, I could be obesity," Amy piped in with another joke that went completely unappreciated by Evermoist.

Beca bit her tongue and looked at the ground, trying not to ruin her tough conviction by laughing at Amy's joke.

"You weren't at tryouts today," Flo observed after Amy's joke had hung uncomfortably in the air for several seconds.

"Because we don't recruit losers," Charity spat.

"Hey!" Beca barked, having every intention of throwing an insult back in the attractive brunette's face. "We're not losers! You're... you're. Okay, weirdly flawless and you all have banging bodies..." Beca trailed off, her face growing scarlet. The girls were that attractive. And it was making Beca feel... weirdly flustered.

"Thanks," the brunette answered listlessly to Beca while simultaneously scanning the crowd and noting the other a-capella students.

"You can't come in here acting rude as fuck and then think you're staying at this party," CR challenged, off-put by the girls' rudeness.

"Watch us," Calamity answered. To her cohorts, Calamity continued by stating, "Let's go." Calamity motioned to her group, rudely pushing past Beca and the others to go join the party.

After generally grumbling at Evermoist's rudeness, Beca looked around, noticing some familiar faces along with some not-so familiar faces. Where was Chloe and how on earth did she miss this odd exchange? Beca scanned the crowd, noticing that most of the a-capella students were having the times of their lives. The music was playing loudly, the alcohol was flowing freely, and much of the crowd was dancing. Had it not been for Chloe's absence, Beca would have felt totally at peace.

"Looking for your man meat?" Amy asked, saddling up next to Beca.

"We broke up. And that's a gross thing to call him," Beca answered flatly, not daring to admit that she had momentarily forgotten about Jesse and was instead looking for her ginger friend.

"It's not gross. It makes me hungry," Amy considered out loud. "I wonder if there are any snacks at this party."

Beca shrugged. "Dunno," she answered distractedly, noticing for the first time an unwelcome face among the masses. "Ame?" She asked, shaking Amy's shoulder and pointing down the stage to where a certain former-Treblemaker stood dancing with a High Note.

"Bumper," Amy whispered, in total awe.

"Why's he here?"

"What? I don't know," Amy answered defensively. "Probably came back to try to win me over," she mused matter-of-factly. "He's obsessed with me. I know, I know, it's not surprising, but I should still go talk to him. Let him down easy," Amy reasoned before sauntering down the amphitheater stairs and over to where Bumper was dancing.

"Was that?" CR asked, scrunching her eyebrows to make out the shape of Bumper.

"Yeah, think so," Beca agreed.

"It's really weird he's back," Jessica pointed out. "Didn't he go to LA to sing back-up for John Mayer or something?"

Beca merely grunted at Jessica's question, before her focus was redirected elsewhere. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, Chloe appeared by Beca's side.

"Where were you?" Beca demanded.

"What?" Chloe asked innocently.

"Don't pretend like you didn't just up and disappear for the last twenty minutes."

"I had… things to take care of," Chloe admitted.

"Be more cryptic. I dare you," Beca responded.

"Becs," Chloe soothed, rubbing Beca's arm. Chloe couldn't admit to Beca what she had been doing for the last twenty minutes. It would… upset the balance of things, to say the least.

Beca huffed. She supposed it didn't matter too much where Chloe was. Chloe was here now. And Beca could fill her in on the strange, out-of-nowhere appearances of both Bumper and the shitty new a-capella group.

"What's wrong? Why are you making that face?" Beca asked, pulling back from Chloe and studying her face.

"It's... nothing," Chloe answered with a fake smile and unconvincing shrug of her shoulders. Chloe was pretty sure that her answer had done nothing to fool Beca. "I'm not making a face," she added, trying and failing even harder to convince Beca that she was fine.

"That's your 'smiling in the face of disaster' face," Beca observed easily without a second thought.

Chloe was momentarily taken aback at the accuracy of Beca's statement. Was Beca really that astute?

Chloe bit her lip and looked at the ground while Beca sighed deeply. Beca wished it didn't bother her that Chloe was clearly keeping something from her. This was out of the norm for Chloe. Something really was off about tonight.

"Becs, I'm gonna go get my jiggle juice," Chloe finally answered, her normal cheer and liveliness faded somewhat.

Beca stared at Chloe and raised an eyebrow, totally unconvinced.

Chloe winked before leaning in and placing a chaste kiss on Beca's cheek. "Come find me for a dance later, okay?"

Beca nodded as she watched the redhead leave just as suddenly as she arrived. What was that? Swallowing, Beca scanned the crowd for Jesse. There he was, down near the stage, talking with the other Treblemakers.

"Jess," Beca called, playfully slapping his shoulder as she approached her friend, who was conversing with a group of other guys.

"Be-caw!" He answered excitedly, turning around. In one of his hands, was a red solo cup. Something told Beca that Jesse was well on his way to wasted already.

"My lovely lady friend," he continued sweetly, if not dramatically, as he planted a wet kiss on Beca's cheek.

"Wet," she observed, recoiled a little at the wetness of the kiss.

Jesse laughed. "Do you remember last year's hood party?" He asked, clearly feeling sentimental.

"Do I?" Beca asked rhetorically. "The better question is, do you?" She asked jokingly.

"You need to get on this level," Jesse observed to Beca.

To one of the new Treblemakers, Jesse called, "Dude! Get the lady a drink!" He pointed to Beca.

"No... it's okay," Beca assured Jesse. "I actually had a couple drinks back at the house already. Someone here has to be responsible... probably. I guess it doesn't really matter, does it?"

"Not at all!" Jesse agreed cheerfully.

"Right. Well, uh, hey, I wanted to ask you something," Beca postured. Jesse looked on at Beca intently. Continuing, Beca asked, "So, did you maybe send me this text message earlier?" Beca asked, pulling out her phone and handing it over to Jesse.

Beca studied Jesse's face carefully while he read the contents of the message. Beca was pretty sure she could tell when Jesse was properly bullshitting her. This was not one of these moments. The look on Jesse's face was utter confusion in its purest form.

"What is this?" He asked, scrunching up his face.

"That's what I'm asking you," Beca answered.

"I didn't send this, Beca," he answered honestly, taking a sip of his drink.

"Shit," Beca cursed.

Jesse looked at Beca with a confused expression. "Huh?"

"It's Chloe," Beca explained, rolling her eyes. "She… was on about this theory that a killer is among us. It's stupid, right?"

"Well, it makes sense," Jesse considered. "That's how scary movies always start out. Ever seen 'Scream?'"

Beca pursed her lips together and raised her eyebrows, as if the answer to Jesse's question weren't obvious enough. Did Beca ever watch movies?

Jesse explained, "There's always a cryptic message, followed by a series of unusual events. Notice anything strange about tonight, Beca?" Jesse asked, really embracing the ridiculous notion that this evening was the inception of a long-winded scary movie.

"Besides Bumper's unexplained return from LA and the new a-capella group that, for some hell-bent reason, isn't being talked about enough tonight? Like, is no one else wondering how they just materialized at Barden tonight? Oh, and the fact that Chloe has literally been missing for the past half hour and then comes bounding into the party like nothing is wrong and she won't tell me where she's been?"

"Yeah, those oddities will do it," Jesse clamored excitedly, nodding his head. "This is definitely the start of a scary movie."

"Great, so glad we had this talk," Beca grumbled.

"Sorry, m'lady, I don't make the rules, I just know them," he joked with a lopsided grin.

"Give me that drink," Beca requested, taking the red solo cup from Jesse's hands and taking a gulp.

"Hey," the vaguely familiar voice of Casey loomed next to Beca. "Can I have some of that?"

"Here, finish it," Beca pushed the cup at Casey and turned on her heels to go find Chloe.

Beca spent the better part of the next hour on the amphitheater stage alternatively dancing with Jesse and the other Bellas. Beca wouldn't admit it, but she was actually having a good time. Turning to Jesse, Beca smiled into the friendly face of her ex-boyfriend. Jesse really was a great guy, Beca thought… even if he was oddly obsessed with movies. Beca snapped out of her thoughts as the next song began blaring through the speakers.

Off with your head

Dance 'til you're dead

Heads will roll

Heads will roll

Heads will roll

On the floor

Glitter on the west streets

Silver over everything

The rivers all wet

You're all chrome

Dripping with alchemy

Shiver stop shivering

The glitter's all wet

You're all chrome

Beca looked around. A sea of a-capella nerds as far as the eye could see were all thrusting their fists, jumping up and down, and dancing along in time with the thick base of the song. Beca smiled to herself, feeling weirdly at peace, like she had somehow accidentally landed among the exact set of weirdos who made life fun. Beca turned around to face Jesse, who was unashamedly dancing like a total loser, his arms flailing wildly about. Beca laughed at him before joining in, beginning to feel the beat of the song.

Off, off with your head

Dance, dance 'til you're dead

Heads will roll

Heads will roll

Heads will roll

On the floor

Before Beca could fully immerse herself in the song, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Far behind Jesse's head, at the top of the amphitheater stairs, something was coming closer. It was rolling. Beca stopped dancing and squinted her eyes to decipher the nature of this dark object. Something akin to a bowling ball was bouncing down the stairs, hitting each step along the way. It was headed straight for Amy's legs, who was standing at the bottom of the set of stairs.

Not wanting her friend to be knocked over like a bowling pin, Beca called out, "Amy, watch out!"

The warning came too late. Beca heard a long, excruciating, ear-splitting scream come from Amy at the bottom of the bleachers. The entire crowd of dancers stopped in their tracks and turned to face the source of the screaming. Beca had to hand it to her, Amy had quite the belt. It could be heard over several loudspeakers and effectively brought the party to a grinding halt. Amy turned around to see what had just hit her.

"A SEVERED HEAD!" Amy bellowed in her thick, Tasmanian accent.

"What?" Beca called back, not understanding Amy's words. "Seven eggs?"

"NO!" Amy called back, clearly beyond distraught, as she pointed to the round object on the ground by her feet. "A SEVERED HUMAN HEAD!"

In a single, fluid motion, Beca jumped off the stage and ran over to where Amy was standing and screaming she pointed at the object on the ground by her feet. Beca squinted. What was that? What was Amy on about? What the-

"JESUS, FUCK!" Beca howled at the top of her lungs as realization set in over what her eyes were seeing, though her words could scarcely be heard over Amy's continued screams, as she scarcely paused for a breath. Beca covered her mouth, turning around to avoid staring at what was undoubtedly someone's detached head.

The nearby party-goers, including Flo, who was standing right next to Amy and Beca, stared at the object in abject horror, their hands covering their mouths.

"IT'S A HUMAN HEAD!" Amy roared dramatically to no one in particular, her head tipped back to the sky. "A HUMAN HEAD ROLLED DOWN THE STAIRS AND BOWLED ME OVER!"

"What. The. Hell," Beca exclaimed unevenly to herself as she continued trying to keep breathing and avoid fainting.

"A HUMAN HEAD, A HUMAN HEAD, A HUMAN HEAD!" Amy continued maniacally screaming like a broken record. Were it not for the fact that a human head, was in fact, lying at the base of the amphitheater and inches away from Amy's feet, Amy could have been rightfully compared to a toddler throwing a temper tantrum.

"Amy, Amy!" CR rushed in to quiet Amy, hugging her and dragging her away from the severed human head. Although she, herself was in total disbelief over the situation, someone needed to quiet down the hysteric Tasmanian before someone's eardrums popped.

"I'VE BEEN HIT BY A HUMAN HEAD!" Amy kept screaming, her face scrunching up.

"I KNOW THAT AND IF YOU SAY 'HUMAN HEAD' ONE MORE TIME, I'M GONNA PUNCH THE EVERLIVING DAYLIGHTS OUT OF YOU," CR yelled as she shook Amy by the shoulders, as to be heard over Amy's continued shrieking.

Cynthia Rose's tough love appeared to be enough to stop Amy from yelling about the human head, although her wordless wails could continue being heard as CR kindly, yet forcefully led the Tasmanian away from the party.

Meanwhile the chorus to the song kept playing,

Off, off with your head

Dance, dance 'til you're dead

Heads will roll

Heads will roll

Heads will roll

On the floor

Amy's screams grew more and more distant as CR dragged the girl farther away from the hood party and toward the Bella House.

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God," Chloe kept repeating endlessly as she ran her fingers through her bright red hair, trying and failing to tear her eyes away from the horrible sight before her.

At this point, the entire party was aware that a person's severed head had come rolling down the stairs of the amphitheater. About half of the crowd had placed the irony that a severed head had come rolling down the stairs of the amphitheater while "Heads Will Roll" was playing on the loudspeakers.

Beca, meanwhile, was practically hyperventilating, as she bent at her knees and hunched into the fetal position to keep from fainting. "There's so much blood!" Beca cried to no one as she sucked air rapidly in and out of her lungs. Indeed, a fine trail of blood lined the amphitheater stairs as the severed head hit every stair on its way to the bottom.

The next few minutes were a blur as someone, though Beca couldn't be sure who, exactly, identified the floating head as belonging to Casey Jody. Casey Jody, the newly inducted a-capella member, had just been decapitated and sent rolling down the amphitheater stairs as some sort of insane, senseless act.

Beca was unable to remember how she came to be sitting in the couch of the living room with the other Bella sisters, but sometime later, the party-goers had been removed from the scene when police arrived to investigate the unusual killing. The students had each been escorted back to their respective living corridors. Currently, the eight Bellas living in the house were present and accounted for, all sitting in the living room, each with transient looks on their faces.

"What... the fuck...was that?" Beca asked, the first one to break the silence.

"Well, erm, it was that new girl, what's her name... You know, the one who was weirdly obsessed with me..." Amy answered, trying to recall Casey's name.

"Casey?" Jessica supplied helpfully.

"Yeah!" Amy agreed. "Casey was rolling down each stair of the theater," Amy explained. "Thump, thump, thump," she said as she illustrated, her hand patting her leg with each 'thump.' "Well, uh, it wasn't Casey, exactly. It was her human head-"

"Amy!" A distressed CR cut in. "What have I told you about saying that?" For some reason, the term 'human head' was making CR feel sick to her stomach and she sincerely wished Amy would stop using it.

"Well, it was a human he- A, uh, person head," Amy corrected while CR buried her face in her hands and groaned.

"But why?" Beca asked. "Why would anybody want to kill her?"

"Love, jealousy, insanity," Stacie listed off on her fingers. "Who's to say?"

"I put my money on insanity," Lilly whispered intently. "This just feels... really insane."

"So we're looking at a serial killer?" Ashley asked.

"Damn it," Beca exclaimed before she realized the words had escaped her mouth. "I hate serial killers." Beca internally groaned. Did anyone like serial killers? The other girls looked at Beca oddly. "I mean, that...like really... sucks," Beca finished lamely.

"Sucks?" Chloe asked, her voice verging on the brink of a meltdown. "Spilling a cup of coffee sucks. Failing a test sucks. Getting decapitated by Barden's new resident serial killer is..." Chloe trailed off.

"You're right," Beca admitted, crossing her arms. "It's super upsetting."

Chloe widened her bright blue eyes at Beca. "It's a travesty!"

"Who do you think did it?" Lilly whispered. For the first time in a while, the entire gang heard Lilly's question. Many of them were asking the same thing themselves.

"Well, whoever it is," Amy responded ominously, "Something tells me they're just beginning."

"Great," CR threw her hands up, as she got up from her chair. "Now I won't sleep tonight. Thanks for that."

"I'm just being honest," Amy defended herself, "I really think that-"

"I don't care what you think," CR fired back. "You can think it in the morning when it's light outside."

"How does that really help?" Ashley asked.

"Because, someone's just been killed and it's nighttime, and we're all in really vulnerable places right now," Stacie came to CR's defense, her voice cracking as she metaphorically barreled straight ahead into meltdown city.

"I suddenly long for the simpler times of Bella boot camp," Ashley whined, hugging Jessica close to her.

"Woah, woah, woah," Beca yelled above the voice of the other Bellas, who were beginning to talk over one another. "Stop talking." Beca ordered. "Please," she added as a courtesy. The Bellas silenced, Beca's words having a strangely calming effect on the group of girls.

"Now listen up, here's what we're going to do," Beca continued after taking a deep breath. Fuck. What were they going to do? For some reason, the other seven faces were looking back at her hopefully. She needed to come up with a plan fast.

"Okay," Beca began again, buying herself several seconds of uncertainty while the cogs in her brain turned and Beca began pretending like she had any control over what was happening right now. "I'm going to double... triple check the doors and windows and make sure they're locked. Then, we're going to keep the lights on and we're going to have a slumber party here in the living room. We're going to watch cheesy rom-coms that I normally hate but it's okay because they're sappy and happy and we're then we're going to go to sleep. In the morning, we're going to reach out to the authorities and reassess our position. But right now, we're going to stick together and chill the fuck out. Okay?"

Seven heads nodded silently back at Beca. "Great. Hey, Chlo?" Beca asked.

Chloe said nothing for several seconds, as she was temporarily transfixed by Beca's sudden assumption of authority. She knew that circumstances were dire and she was flirting a thin line between being okay and being a human disaster, but Chloe couldn't help but feeling ever-so-slightly turned on by Beca's take-charge attitude.

"Chloe," Beca repeated, her eyes widening with concern over Chloe's sudden muteness. "Chlo, you okay?" Beca asked.

"Uh. Yeah. Fine," Chloe answered, snapping back to reality. "What's up?" She asked, hoping her cheeks weren't turning the pink color they felt like they were turning.

"Come check the doors and windows with me?" Beca asked.

"Love to," she responded. "I mean, yeah. Awes."

"Awes," Beca exhaled exasperatedly as she stood up from the couch. This was one hell of a night that she was not prepared to deal with.

As the two co-captains exited the living room to check the doors and windows, Chloe leaned over and whispered, "I told you that you'd be a total natural at this 'captain' thing, Becs."

Beca looked over and met Chloe's gaze. "Shame I had to find out this way."

"Yeah," Chloe agreed, biting her bottom lip. "I know. And I can't help but feeling that text message you got is somehow related to this," Chloe admitted in a small voice.

Beca sighed deeply. "I think that, too. And it scares the shit out of me if I'm being honest."

Chloe teared up, swallowing the lump in her throat. Someone died today. A human. With a soul and a bright life ahead of her. And Chloe had a horrible feeling that these events were far from over. And Beca, her Beca, was somehow tied up in it. Chloe took a deep breath to keep from losing it.

"We can handle this, right?" Chloe asked Beca, her light blue eyes looking to Beca desperately for confirmation.

"Think so," Beca answered with a nod of her head and a small quirk of a smile.

Chloe nodded. "I really think handling the worst gives us perspective on the strength we're capable of."

Beca's jaw clenched. "You're lucky you're that pretty."

Chloe was glad Beca couldn't see her face at the moment, as her cheeks were blushing and she was biting back a giddy grin. Chloe's heart skipped a beat. Beca thought she was pretty. Chloe's stomach swirled around with nervous energy. Beca called her pretty.

"Because your insane optimism is really annoying," Beca added.

There it is, Chloe thought with amusement. She knew Beca wasn't going to give her a compliment like that without throwing in some sort of dig. But Beca was right. Chloe was insanely optimistic. Which is why Chloe chose to focus on Beca's former comment while she reached out and grabbed Beca's hand, interlacing their fingers together. Beca didn't pull away, but rather, squeezed Chloe's hand back. The two girls finished their job of locking up, hand in hand.

*********Alright, so there it is! I'm really excited about this fiction and I hope you are, too! Thanks for reading :)