Author's 1st Note: Smh... I'm so sorry I've been pretty M.I.A. lately. Life's been tough and very busy these last couple of months.

I also had gotten stuck on this chapter a while back and wasn't sure where to take it. I then decided last week that I would scrap the entire second half and go in a different direction. Thankfully, I liked it a whole lot more and was able to finally get out of that writer's block!

So, yay for that!

Hope you guys enjoy the chapter! :)

P.S. This chapter– along with future chapters– changes in P.O.V., so heads up for that!

The sound of Beca's cell phone alarm going off is what suddenly woke her from her deep slumber. She jumped in surprise and the quick action, mixed with her sleepy daze, caused her to lose her balance and roll right off of the couch.

"Ow!" Beca cried, rubbing her sore head as she was abruptly brought to her senses.

Shit. It was time for school.

Beca groaned as she took her still ringing phone out of her pocket. She was thankful she already had the alarm set to go off every weekday, otherwise Beca knew she would have totally slept in and missed school altogether.

Beca silenced her phone with a yawn and stretched herself out as she stood up from the floor. Her heavy eyes took a moment to adjust to the sunlight streaming in through the windows and her brow furrowed as the stickiness of her skin registered in her brain.

She hadn't taken a shower after the basketball game the night before, and now her body felt moist and humid.

Gross.

Beca seriously needed to get cleaned up ASAP.

She languidly made her way up the stairs to her room, rubbing her eyes with another yawn as she pushed her bedroom door open. Her vision blurred as she turned the light on, quickly squinting her eyes until they adjusted to the brightness that came from the ceiling fan.

Beca walked over to her closet, passed her bed and began to skim through her clothes. The groggy fog that had muddled Beca's thoughts had faded, and it was then that she processed an odd and muffled sound coming from behind her.

She stopped going through her clothes and tilted her head.

What the fuck was that noise?

And then Beca's eyes suddenly widened.

"Oh, shit!"

Beca quickly spun around and ran to her bed. She pulled the covers off and the sound of Bella's crying was now loud and clear.

"Fuck. Oh my God, fuck!"

In a panicked state, Beca picked Bella up and pressed her wrist into her chest. Beca was glad she still had the bracelet on and sighed in relief when the doll chimed and the crying finally stopped.

Beca fell back onto her bed with a plop and stared up at the ceiling.

How long had Bella been crying? There was no way for Beca to know for sure. She thought back to what Mrs. Harrington said about how the deduction of points worked and all she could remember– thanks to Jesse mentioning it again the night before– was that every hour of constant crying equaled about twenty-four points lost.

Okay…. So what was the worst possible scenario?

Beca sat up and thought about the idea of Bella crying the moment Beca left. The basketball game had started at six o'clock, so if Bella had been crying since then that would mean…

Beca glanced at the wall clock she had in her room. It was seven-ten in the morning and when she counted on her fingers how many hours had gone by, her eyes widened again.

Thirteen.

If Bella had been crying since six o'clock the following night, that meant she had been crying for thirteen hours straight.

Beca hopped off of her bed and ran to her desk to write out the math. Thirteen times twenty-four. That equaled…

Beca's brow furrowed as she closed her eyes.

Three hundred and twelve points.

Holy mother of God. It had only been the first night and Beca had already possibly cost her and Chloe three hundred and twelve points!

What the actual fuck, Mitchell?!

A large weight suddenly crashed down on Beca's shoulders as she slowly reopened her eyes and started to jot down another math problem.

One thousand minus three hundred and twelve was…

Six hundred and eighty-eight?!

"Holy shit!" Beca cried, covering her mouth in shock as she took a step back.

No way. No. There was no way she already fucked up this badly on just the first night!

But, shit. If Bella really did cry that entire time, and if three hundred and twelve really were just taken out of their final score, then that meant Beca and Chloe were already getting a 'D' on the entire assignment.

"This can't be happening," Beca muttered to herself, running her hands through the top of her hair as she dropped down onto her desk chair in defeat.

How could she let this happen? And all because of some stupid basketball game!

What was she going to tell Chloe? How was she going to tell Chloe? Chloe was going to be furious with her.

Shit. She might even kill her!

Okay. Well maybe she wouldn't do that, but Chloe would definitely hate her guts for the rest of her life and never speak to her again.

Fuck. Beca didn't want that.

Chloe Beale may be a straight, stuck-up, self-centered Pre-Madonna, but damn it, Beca still couldn't resist the way she still wanted her to like her. Even if it wasn't in the way Beca prefer her to.

How was she going to fix this?

Beca glanced over at the doll with her brow still furrowed.

Could she even fix this?

Beca chewed on her bottom lip nervously as she made her way up the street to the bus bench. She had never gotten ready so quickly before, but Beca figured she had already fucked up enough for one morning. There was no need to also be late.

She could see Chloe's distinctive red hair in the distance, patiently waiting on the bench, like she usually did, and it looked like she was on her phone.

Beca gulped as she stepped closer to her.

"Uh… Morning," Beca muttered, plastering a smile on her face in hopes it would disguise her nerves.

Chloe's head snapped up and she smiled. "Hey! There you are." She stood up and looked down at Bella, whom Beca was still cradling in her arms. "How'd it go last night? Did she cry?"

Beca bit back the truth and cleared her throat. "Um, a few times," she lied. "But it wasn't too bad."

Pfft, yeah sure…

"Really?" Chloe said. "Well that's great." She was smiling again and it only made Beca hate herself more for the blatant lie she was choosing to sell.

No. Strike that. Beca didn't hate herself. She was– for the first time ever– disappointed in herself.

Wow. That was weird. Beca never thought she would ever feel that way about herself. Especially because of some stupid doll and girl she could never have.

"I'll be honest, I was kind of worried about leaving her with you," Chloe suddenly said, snapping Beca out of her self-loathing thoughts. "But, it was wrong of me to assume you wouldn't take care of her, so–" Chloe nibbled on the corner of her lower lip. "I'm sorry I didn't have more faith in you."

Oh, Jesus. This was so not helping Beca's guilt.

Beca smiled tightly and released a breathy chuckle. "It's fine," she said. "I don't blame you for not having more faith in me."

Chloe had no idea.

"Well," Chloe grinned, glancing at Bella before looking back up at Beca. "You proved me wrong," she said. "So, thank you."

"Heh…" Don't thank me just yet. "No problem."

Chloe continued to smile at Beca until her eyes shifted to something behind her.

"Oh, the bus is coming," she said, looking back at Beca. "Wanna sit with me?"

Beca's eyes widened a bit. "You wanna sit together again?"

"Well, yeah," Chloe grinned. "I wanna hear all about what you guys did together last night."

Awh, fuck.

"O-Oh… okay." Great. Now Beca was going to have to make up an elaborate story as to what she and Bella did together the night before.

Which was absolutely nothing!

The bus pulled up next to them and Chloe boarded the vehicle first as Beca followed behind her. Beca watched as Chloe approached her usual seat, which was next to Aubrey, and she chuckled when she spotted an enthusiastic Jesse already sitting next to her.

Aubrey did not look happy.

"Oh, hey Aubrey," Chloe said, looking like she was holding back a laugh. "Hi, Jesse."

"Good morning, Chloe!" Jesse said, grinning widely. "Sorry if I stole your seat, but I wanted to make sure little Jonas here–" He smiled down at the baby doll sitting between him and Aubrey, and waved it's small hand back and forth. "Rode safely between his mommy and daddy."

Chloe snickered and glanced over at Aubrey.

"Kill me now," Aubrey said, making a disgusted expression when Jesse suddenly put an arm around her.

"Ha," he said, smiling. "She's such a kidder."

Chloe arched a brow, amused.

"Get off me!" Aubrey snapped, pushing his arm away.

Jesse chuckled and looked back up at Chloe. "I love it when she plays hard to get."

"No worries, Jess," Chloe said, holding back her laughter, not wanting to annoy Aubrey any further. "I was going to sit with Beca anyway."

"Oh!" Jesse smiled.

"You are?" Aubrey asked.

Chloe nodded. "Mhm."

"You can sit with me," Stacie suddenly added, popping the top half of her body over Aubrey and Jesse's seat.

"O-Oh, uh, well," Chloe stuttered. That was weird. Beca never heard Chloe stutter before. "Thanks, Stace, but since Beca and I are partners, I already told her I would sit with her so we can talk about our baby."

Stacie quirked a brow as her eyes flicked between Chloe and Beca. "Okay," she said, looking back at Chloe with a weird smile plastered on her face. "That's fine."

From where Beca was standing, she couldn't tell what kind of expression Chloe gave back to Stacie, but before she could ponder it any further, the sound of the bus driver's voice redirected her attention.

"Ladies, if you don't mind," the older woman said. "I would like to move on to the next stop. Please sit down."

"Sorry!" Chloe quickly said, snickering at Beca before asking. "Where should we sit?"

Beca's gaze instinctively flicked over to her usual seat in the back. "We'll just sit in my spot," she said, nodding her head towards the end of the bus.

"Okay," Chloe smiled, leading the way until they both sat down comfortably.

"Morning, Beca!" Benji greeted, grinning as he waved at Beca from the neighboring seat.

Beca chuckled. "Hey, Benji," she said, dropping her bag onto the floor, between her legs.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

Beca responded without thinking. "Dude, I'm so sore," not giving her brain a chance to choose her words carefully.

"Sore?" Chloe suddenly asked, leaning forward. "Sore from what?"

Beca's eyes widened. "U-Uh…" Way to go big mouth! "I'm sore, because…" Come on, dude! Think!

"B-Because we had a really long zombie killing session last night!" Benji suddenly cut in, saving Beca's ass.

Chloe quirked a brow. "You're sore from playing video games?"

Beca shot Benji a thankful expression and he slightly nodded at her before she turned her head to face Chloe.

"Uh, y-yeah," Beca said, trying her best to sound convincing. "My hands and thumbs are sore from so much playing."

"Oh," Chloe said, and then she made an amused face as she chuckled. "I guess I can see that."

"Yeah," Benji added. "It happens all the time. It's always good to stretch your hands and fingers out before playing. Helps prevent cramping, too."

Chloe's lips tightened as she slowly nodded, unaware of the wide-eyed, and silently mouthed "Thank you," Beca gave her friend.

Sitting together for the bus ride turned out to be a great idea, or so Chloe thought, anyway. She and Beca got to have a nice conversation about the assignment, what Beca had done with Bella the night before, and they even managed to plan out who would take Bella for which class periods.

Chloe never would have thought she would ever have an actual, intellectual conversation with Beca. Especially one that wasn't interrupted by Beca's usual sarcasm or inappropriate comments. It was like Beca had turned into a totally different person overnight. A person who seemed to suddenly care about the assignment. It was weird, but in a good way.

Maybe spending that alone time with Bella did Beca good. Maybe she was even starting to like Bella. Chloe wasn't sure, but whatever caused this change, she was grateful for it.

They exited the bus together, and Chloe quickly spotted Aubrey, Stacie and Jesse waiting for them.

"Okay," Chloe said, stopping and turning to face Beca. "So, I'm going to take her for first and second period, right?"

Beca nodded. "Then we're going to switch off during recess and I'll keep the doll until lunch."

Chloe nodded back. "Sounds great." She extended her arms out and wiggled her fingers playfully. "Can I have my baby, now?"

Beca's brow rose and she snickered. "Don't you mean our baby?" she joked.

"Sorry," Chloe laughed. "It's just that you had her all night. I wanna spend time with her now."

"What?" Beca said, flashing her a playful look that secretly made Chloe's heart race. "Don't tell me you missed this thing?" Beca held Bella up with one hand and Chloe gasped as she grabbed her.

"Hey!" she said, cradling Bella. "Don't hold her like that." She looked down to fix the small pink hat on Bella's head, which had gone crooked, and she looked back up when she heard Beca giggling at her. "What's so funny?" Chloe asked.

Beca shook her head. "You're so easy."

Chloe narrowed her eyes. A natural spark of resentment for the comment flashed within her, but then the corner of Beca's lip curved into a smirk, and Chloe couldn't help feel giddy.

Was Beca flirting with her? Perhaps. Not that it really mattered. It wasn't like Chloe could do anything about it. Besides, Beca always teased her, and as much as Chloe wanted it to mean something more, she was sure that this was just how Beca was.

No need to overthink things.

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she said. She glanced over at Aubrey, who was holding her own baby doll and frantically waving for Chloe to join her and Stacie. "Well, we better get going," she said, turning her head to look back at Beca. "I'll see you at recess?"

Beca nodded. "See ya then," she said, saluting Chloe with two fingers and winking before stepping away and walking over to Jesse and Benji.

Chloe bit down on her lower lip to keep a smile from forming on her face and spun around to approach Stacie and Aubrey.

"Ugh, it's about time you wrap it up," Aubrey said, grumpily. "Jesse was really starting to get on my nerves."

Chloe laughed. "Doesn't he always get on your nerves?"

"Well, yeah," Aubrey said, "but now we're partners for this project, and he won't leave me alone!"

Stacie snickered. "That boy's got it bad for you."

"Ew," Aubrey said, taking a moment to dramatically shiver in disgust. "Thank God it's only for the weekend." She looked at Chloe. "I can't believe you're still stuck with Beca Mitchell, though. Working with her must be irritating."

"Actually," Chloe said. "She hasn't been that bad so far."

"What?" Aubrey said.

"Really?" Stacie added, quirking a brow.

"Yeah," Chloe said. "I mean, yesterday she was her usual, annoying self, but last night she took care of Bella and this morning–" She shrugged, "I don't know. It's almost like she's starting to actually care about the assignment."

Aubrey's jaw had slacked, genuinely surprised by Chloe's words, and a small smirk began to curve on Stacie's lips.

"Interesting…" she said, and Chloe eyed her.

"What?" she asked. "Why did you say it like that?"

"Because," Stacie said. "Beca has never been the type to care about school. I'm just wondering if maybe she's starting to give a shit because you're her partner."

"Wait, what?" Chloe said, taken aback by Stacie's assumption.

"What are you saying?" Aubrey gawked.

Stacie shrugged. "It's no secret that Beca is a lesbian and Chloe's one of the hottest girls at our school. I'm just saying that maybe she's got the hots for you."

Chloe's eyes went wide and damnit, she was sure the sudden heat on her cheeks meant that they were also changing color.

Stacie was eyeing her suspiciously then, her brow quirking as her eyes flicked down to the middle of Chloe's face.

Shit.

Chloe waited for Stacie to say something about it, feeling her chest tighten with anticipation, but then suddenly Stacie was looking at Aubrey, and Chloe released a breath in relief.

"Will you close your mouth already?" Stacie said. "A bug is going to fly in there if you don't."

"Well, excuse me, but I'm in shock, Stace!" Aubrey said.

Ugh. Always such a Drama Queen.

Stacie snickered. "Why? It's just a theory." Stacie half-shrugged and smirked at Chloe. "A pretty good theory, too, if you ask me."

Chloe gulped, but thankfully didn't have to respond, because Aubrey beat her to it.

"Well, even if that was true," Aubrey said, looping her free arm with Chloe's. "Beca should know that she doesn't stand a chance with Chloe."

Chloe chuckled nervously. She needed to act like she agreed with Aubrey and really needed to steer Stacie's suspicions away.

"Besides, Chloe's straight," Aubrey added, and it took everything in Chloe's being to not show any kind of reaction to that statement. "It's a lost cause," Aubrey laughed. "Right, Chlo?"

Stacie's brows were slightly raised as she looked at Chloe for her response and Chloe laughed with her.

"Right."

You're such a liar...

Bella hadn't cried as much as Chloe thought she would. Luckily there were other students in the school with the same assignment, which was nice considering it granted the students some leniency from the teachers whenever one of the dolls would randomly start crying during class.

At least Chloe didn't have to worry about getting into any trouble because of it.

When recess came around, Chloe wasn't as reluctant about handing Bella over to Beca as she probably would have been, had Beca not taken the reigns so well the night before.

Or so Chloe thought.

She handed Bella over to Beca and would be lying if she said she didn't think about the baby for the entire length of her following two class periods. Having a major distraction wasn't something Chloe was happy about. All that did was make focusing in her classes that much harder, but Chloe couldn't help it.

This fake baby assignment was very crucial to her final grade, and if Chloe wanted the future she had been planning to have for years, then for at least this one weekend, Chloe was going to have to spread her focus a little thinner than usual.

The switch off at lunch time went just as smoothly as it had during recess, although this time around Beca was in a bit of a rush since it was pizza day and she wanted to make sure she got in line for it in time to receive a "fresh" slice. It made Chloe laugh at how much of a serious mission that was for Beca.

Before Chloe knew it, sixth period came around and it was the one part of Chloe's day where she knew she was going to have to spend the entire fifty minutes with Beca. This could either go really well, or really bad.

Although, Chloe had to admit, so far her time with Beca, though sometimes annoying, wasn't as bad as she initially thought it would be. Hope was in the air for a more well behaved Beca Mitchell.

It worried Chloe, for only a moment, when the sixth period bell rang and Beca was nowhere to be found. That is, until Mrs. Harringston walked up to the front of the class to speak and was quickly cut off by the sudden appearance of Beca, as she rushed in through the doorway.

"Sorry," Beca said, holding a hand up at Mrs. Harrington as she power walked over to her desk. "Sorry."

That was new. Beca never rushed into class like that, and certainly not this early in the period. Most of the time, Beca would casually walk in at least five minutes late with a classic smirk curved on her lips. But this time, it was almost as if she had been rushing to make it on time.

Weird.

"Wow," Mrs. Harrington said, her brows lifted in surprise as she watched Beca take her seat. "I'm impressed, Beca. This is the earliest you've ever come to my class."

Beca snickered as she sat down. "Guess I'm just full of surprises, Mrs. H."

Ah. There was that usual cocky attitude Chloe had grown to lo– notice…

Smooth...

The older woman considered Beca's comment, "Guess so," then shifted her focus from Beca back to the rest of the class as she stepped closer to the white board and restarted the lesson.

Chloe fought to keep her eyes forward, focused on whatever it was Mrs. Harrington was saying, but Chloe ultimately couldn't resist the urge to turn her head and look back at Beca.

So she did.

Beca looked as though she was still slightly catching her breath and Chloe furrowed her brow at her when they made eye contact; silently asking why Beca had appeared to have rushed to class this time.

But of course Chloe didn't get a straight answer. After all, it was Beca Mitchell she was asking, and the irritating brunette simply responded with a sly smirk and a wink that made Chloe's stomach flutter.

Ugh. Why was Beca like this?

Chloe shook her head, rolling her eyes as she turned her head back around to face the front of the class and trying her best to ignore the way her nerve endings still tingled as she thought back to the way Beca had looked at her.

Mrs. Harrington spent some time asking the students how their time with the babies had gone so far, and afterwards, walked over to her desk to grab a stack of white papers.

"I'm glad to hear you guys are adjusting well to parenthood," she joked, earning a few chuckles from some of the students. "But before you guys are sent off on your own for the entire weekend, I want to make sure you all get to know your partners better."

She started her stride up the first row of students, placing a single paper on each desk as she passed them and continued to speak.

"For the rest of the period, I would like you guys to sit with your assigned partner and answer these questions about each other." When Mrs. Harrington got to Chloe, she hesitated on handing her the next paper, and instead, grabbed one from the bottom of the stack and placed it on Chloe's desk with a weird smile.

That was odd.

"Fill out your questions with your partner's answers, and I'll collect them at the end of class." When she was finished with all of the students, she walked back over to her desk. "Now go," she said, waving a hand dismissively as she sat down on her computer chair. "Disperse."

With their teacher's permission, the students began to rise from their seats and move about the room. Chloe stared at the questions listed on her paper, subconsciously nibbling on her lower lip as she hesitated to move.

She hadn't read every question on that list, but the ones she had glanced over seemed to get pretty personal.

Beca Mitchell was the last person Chloe wanted to open up to and get personal with. It was going to take a bit of effort for her to lie about some of these answers, though then again, when Chloe thought about it, she was used to faking her way through daily life.

So what was another forty minutes?

With a final exhaled breath, Chloe stood up from her chair and turned to make her way over to Beca's desk.

"And I want honest answers, people!" Mrs. Harrington suddenly shouted over her computer screen. "I want you all to actually bond with your partners. If I find your responses too generic, I will dock you a point. Capiché?"

Chloe instantly froze in place. "What?" she said aloud, spinning on her heels to find her teacher grinning confidently at her desk.

What the hell was that about? She was going to take points away if someone's answer was too generic?

Who does that?!

Chloe's jaw slacked in utter shock and her brows curved in defeat when she realized she was going to have to be honest with Beca Mitchell whether she liked it or not.

"Shit."

Author's 2nd Note: Hehe... nice try, Chloe. You're not getting out of this one so easily!

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