A.N: This is the final chapter of Against All Discouragement. Thank you so much for everyone that has read it and given feedback. I'd love to know what you think of the poem at the end as well. x

The peaceful, happy bubble that Chloe and Beca had been living in had been popped when they went back to school. Bitchy gossip circulated to no end and teachers had started to get involved. Beca was slumped in a chair in the principal's office when Chloe walked in; annoyed that she had been pulled from her English class.

"Right, now that you're both here I'll begin," the principal said, shifting uncomfortably in his seat as Chloe reached across to hold Beca's hand. "There has been uproar from certain students about your relationship, and I wanted to give you some advice. It may be wise to keep your distance from one another in school, so as not to add fuel to the fire."
"What?! No. I'm not going to agree to that," Beca protested, now sitting bolt upright in her chair.

"I'm not asking you to stop your relationship – that would be unethical. However it would be in your best interests to maybe… play it straight for a while in front of your classmates. We have a lot of visitors coming into the school and it doesn't look good when we have obscenities being shouted down the corridor at you."
"So it's not for our best interests then. You want us to 'play it straight' because the bullying looks bad in front of visitors? How about you tell the people bullying us to cut it out, rather than telling us how to live our lives?" Chloe spat angrily. She couldn't believe how messed up the school system was.

"Kids will be kids. You can't stop bullying. You can however stop the source of the bullying, which in this case is your relationship. I also wanted to suggest that in assembly tomorrow morning, one of you delivers the student speech? You could make it something noteworthy, so the attention is focused on that rather than your… sexuality."
"That's sick. Why would you-" Chloe began, but was interrupted by Beca.
"Sounds great. I'll do it. Can we go now?"

Taken aback by how easily Beca accepted to do it, the principal nodded and dismissed them both. When they reached the corridor Chloe took Beca by the arm. "What the fuck are you doing?" she asked.
"He wants a noteworthy speech? I'll give him a goddamn noteworthy speech."

Curious and ever so slightly nervous, Chloe smiled at Beca's determination. In every weekly assembly it was left up to a senior student to deliver a speech, usually about current events or politics or graduations, but Chloe could tell that tomorrow's assembly would have a nice twist to it.

Beca sat up for most of the night working on her speech, and when it came to assembly the next day she was fidgeting in her seat, nerves and excitement controlling her body. She couldn't wait to say what she really thought, but at the same time she knew she was taking a great risk by what she was about to say. Chloe sat next to her girlfriend in the front row and made a point of resting a hand on her fidgety leg, an action that she was sure would pop the little vein on the side of the principal's neck.

"And now," he said, "I would like to introduce Beca Mitchell for a thought provoking and appropriate speech." Muffled applause was drowned out by the laughs and whispers protruding through the seats of students as she walked up to the podium, looking at Chloe the whole time for reassurance. The redhead gave her a big smile, helping to quell the nerves that shook the paper in Beca's hands. Even Chloe didn't yet know what Beca was going to say, so she along with everyone else in the audience was on the edge of her seat.

"Today, I would like to call into question the educational system. How effective is it really? I mean, students may get good grades that get them jobs, but what is the point in that when they are so mentally scarred by the end of it that they kill themselves by the age of thirty?" The principal started writhing in his seat and glaring at Beca, but she didn't notice. Her eyes did not leave Chloe's for a single second. "We are being taught all the wrong things. Instead of telling guys not to rape, we tell girls how not to get raped. Instead of telling bullies that shouting 'freak' down the corridor is hate speech, we teach the victims they are wrong for not fitting into the social norm.

I've been reading "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens, and there is a quote that I think should be spread throughout all schools. It teaches children the right things to go by in life; that you should stand up for who you are no matter what gets in your way; whether it is bigoted principals or narrow minded bullies."

By this point the principal had turned a beetroot red, and every single student was hanging off every word that left Beca's mouth. She cleared her throat before finishing her speech with the quote: "I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be."

No one clapped, no one smiled, they all just sat there with their mouths wide open. "Thank you," Beca said, and walked over to Chloe and pulled her up by the hand. They walked out of the hall hand in hand with great big smiles on their faces. "Can we just go, please?" Chloe asked, and Beca nodded. Sick of the narrow-minded school they walked boldly out of the front doors and ran towards the gates. They continued running until they were well away from the building, and stopped to catch their breath.

"What do we do now?" Chloe asked.
"I don't know, but we'll figure something out."

They headed back to Chloe's house and sat on the floor drinking hot chocolate. "I wanted to show you something," Beca said, leaning in to give Chloe a warm kiss.
"Oh yeah?" Chloe said against Beca's lips, moaning when she pulled away. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper, one side covered in scribbles, the other with the same thing neatly written out. "I wrote it last night, and I just wanted to know what you thought."

Chloe took it from Beca's hands and read through it slowly. When she was done she pulled Beca in for another kiss and said, "I love you."
"Against all discouragement?"
"Against all discouragement," Chloe replied with a smile.

Beca's poem - Spilled Ink

I said to you if I ended it all tonight
My blood would merely spill into another rose
On my bed sheet.

I said to you I can't breathe
Because the tears are spilling too fast
And I'm drowning.

How many times
Did hate spill out of their mouths
Because I loved you.

How many times
Did I spill my feelings from my wrist
To stop loving you.

But now, I no longer
Spill tears, or blood, or feelings.

I spill ink.

My blood is now thick, black,
And tumbles from a fountain pen
Onto a crisp white sheet.

Words are now my weapon,
My comfort, my escape.
They accept me.

So I spill ink.