Pitch Perfect 1. Chapter 1

It was midday in Atlanta and the sun was hanging at its highest, making the heat almost intolerable. Every time her foot touched the concrete road, she could swear she felt the sole of her shoe stick to it. She was walking at the slowest pace possible when she had been caught stealing yet another cookie from the cafeteria. She had skipped all of her morning classes, which consisted in gym and math class, both with teachers that always made sure to ostracize her by criticizing her piercings or her lack of attention in front of everybody.

She had been sent to the principal's office, but instead, she escaped the teacher's grip and ran outside. Unfortunately for her, her mother had been home and when Beca had finally confessed why she was home after her lunch hour, she had been forced to do the walk of shame… back to school.

That's how she ended up taking wrong turns after wrong turns, just to make her trip longer. She lived only three blocks away from her school, which meant she had to walk every day to get there, as if already going wasn't demanding enough, she actually had to spend energy in the morning to get there instead of just waiting for the bus.

When she finally made it back to the school, the principal was waiting for her in the front yard, his foot taping an annoyed beat. He wasn't alone though, he was with the school counselor, which had tried to get through Beca's defenses so many times the woman deserved a "You tried" star. She knew classes had already started and she was supposed to be sitting in English, but she couldn't care less; the teacher was always so sloppy and lunatic half of the class fell asleep during the first ten minutes of her class.

"How nice of you to grace us with your presence, Ms. Mitchell." The principal greeted her coldly.

"Hello M. Wellington, that tie is really looking good on you." She answered with a snarl.

She snorted when he actually stroked his tie, taking her sarcasm for a compliment.

"Compliments won't get you anywhere, young lady. You are in big troubles. Come with us now." He said simply, motioning for her to step in front of him.

"Well, M. principal I'd gladly have a chat with you, but it seems like I'm already late for my class." She tried with a smirk when he hesitated a second or two.

"Don't think you'll get us fooled. You can easily complete any work your teachers have for you in detention. I think three hours after school for the rest of the week will be plenty of time for you to get on date with every classes you've missed this past month." The principal smiled at her flustered look with content, then motioned once more for her to step in.

She rolled her eyes at his decision, at least she knew she wouldn't be alone in detention, but if they thought she was actually going to do homework, they were fooling themselves. She walked in front of him, shrugging away the hand on her shoulder, but to no extent because it came back seconds later. Surely, the principal had had enough of her little games of hide and seek and he wanted to make sure she went directly to his office.

It took an hour for him to work down Beca's arrogant replies and get her to actually apologize and pay for the cookie she had stolen. By the time she was out, there was only about twenty minutes remaining to her English class. She crumpled the principal's note and texted her best friend to ask him where he was. Obviously, she found him in the skate park just behind the school, smoking a joint.

"Hey lil' miss!" he called, handing her the smoking pot.

She waved her hand in front of him, shaking her head and he shrugged, taking back the joint for himself.

"How's it hangin'?" he asked, mimicked the action of the same name,

"You're so funny." She answered with an eye roll and a grin. "I'm okay, just been caught for stealing a damn cookie and I think the principal didn't like my attitude because I've got three hours after school every night 'til the end of the week, and maybe Saturday class to attend." She spat with a disgusted look.

"Oh man, we're gon' have fun! I got three 'til the end of the month for smoking in the locker room and skipping classes." He lifted his left hand and she high-fived him with a wide smile.

As she was wondering if she was going to her last class, her cellphone started buzzing. Checking the caller ID, then the clock, she decided it was safe to answer since she wasn't supposed to be in class right now, only in… three minutes.

"Hi mom." She emphasized the last word so her friend would understand her annoyed eye roll.

"I got a call from the principal saying you were most likely to cut your last class too since you never showed up in neither of your classes this morning and didn't go back to English as you were asked. I presume he called for nothing and that you're not in the skate park with your damn boyfriend, smoking God knows what, right? That you're _actually_ walking towards your classroom and I'll have a signed note by your teacher saying you attended otherwise you know what happens to your mixing equipment." The threatening and growling tone was enough to send Beca into panic mode, but when her mother menaced to take back her DJ stuff, she quickly jumped on her feet and started racing to try and get in class on time. She waved at Henry, her friend, and answered her mother while running.

"Of course, Mom, I wasn't even with Henry, who's not my _boyfriend_ but my _best _friend. Learn the difference. I'm stepping in the classroom, I'll call you later, I got detention tonight. Bye!"

She clicked 'end call' before her mother could say anything else and sprinted just in time before the last bell rang. Panting, she sat at her place, in the back row and rested her head upon her folded arms and closed her eyes to sleep the class away.

When the bell indicating the end of the end rang, Beca's eyes popped open and she jumped out of her chair, knocking it over. She was about to run out of the classroom when her teacher called her name.

"Beca? Would you mind chatting a little bit?" she asked with the sweetest smile the girl had ever seen.

"Uh… sure." She gave in, because she could never resist the kind eyes and the soft smile she always had when she looked at her.

"I noticed that, since the start of the school year, your attendance has gotten even worse than it was before. You know that, if you ever need to talk about anything, I'm right here, right? It doesn't have to involve the principal or any of the school's specialists. Just the two of us, talking."

Beca was taken aback by this, she never expected one of her teachers to care enough to offer her a talk in private, just with her and none of the school's bullshit professionals. She smiled slightly, still shaken by this, and didn't know what to answer. She didn't have to, though, because her teacher spoke again.

"Can I ask you a personal question and have an honest answer? I promise everything you say here will stay here and never come to the principal's ears or anybody else's who's not here right now." She said, cocking her head a little to the side, looking even more beautiful with her long auburn hair cascading around her face.

Beca shoved her hands in her pockets, kicking an invisible rock out of nervousness before half-shrugging and nodding quietly.

"Do you take drugs?" the question was blunt and took Beca by surprise, who didn't know what to do so instead, she barked a laugh.

"I'm sorry miss, I didn't mean to laugh, it's just that I wasn't expecting that question! At all!" she added with another light chuckle.

"Oh…" she looked hurt, but regained herself before Beca could feel bad. "Well then you don't mind answering it?" she pressed softly.

"No, not at all. I don't do drugs. I know sometimes I smell funny, but that's because my best friend smokes pot, not me." She assured her with a sincere tone.

"Oh, okay, good, then. What question were you expecting, then, if not that one?" she asked, now curious.

Beca grew nervous from this, and she quickly looked at her phone to check the time. She slapped her forehead, shoving it back in her pocket. She gave her teacher an apologetic look and told her she had detention and she was late. The woman smiled gently, but Beca could tell she wasn't done with her, and she suspected something. The thing is, Beca hated that she did, because with her, she just couldn't resist very long and it was distressing her like never. She didn't want her to pierce her barriers, didn't want to talk to her. She wanted to stay hermetic to all forms of comfort. She didn't want comfort or to be listened to or understood, she wanted back what she could never get back.

In three hours, Henry and her had played two hundred and three games of tic-tac-toe, had snorted at bad jokes and invented a new game of who could piss the teacher on guard the most before being threatened with another week of detention.

When she came back home, getting a lift from Henry on his bike handles, the first thing she saw walking in the kitchen was a pamphlet on the counter. She ignored it to get something to eat out of the fridge, starving as she was. It's when she set down her plate on the counter, taking a seat around the kitchen island that she picked up the pamphlet, curious. It read " Sunshine Lake : for an unforgettable summer!" and just under it, Beca's horrified eyes widened even more : "A summer camp just outside Atlanta for young girls to go".

"Mooooooooom!" she called, unable to take her eyes off the brochure, not feeling as hungry as before suddenly.

Her mom came down the stairs with a puzzled look and when she saw her daughter holding the pamphlet, she sighed with relief.

"Thank God, I thought there was a spider or something like that. When did you get in? I didn't even hear you?"

"That's because I made sure too." She said sternly, shaking the brochure, her face a big question mark.

"Oh, that's Sunshine Lake, a friend at work gave it to me when I mentioned that since I'm working all summer, we wouldn't get to go on vacation together."

"What? What do you mean you're working all summer? We were supposed to go to Los Angeles together, you said you'd take me there!" she was screeching now, hurt and anger mixed in her voice.

"You know I need the hours, Beca, and there's no way I'm taking you to Los Angeles with the school year you've given me! You went from good student to the plague of all teachers, what happened?" her mother's words hurt her more than Beca would ever admit, and she closed herself up again, folding her arms.

"Nothing happened." She spat angrily before running past her mother.

"Beca! Come back here, we're not done talking!" she shouted to an empty stairway.

"I'm done!" she heard back before a door slammed roughly.

The next morning, Beca's anger had cooled down a bit and when she walked in the kitchen, she found her mother there too.

"I'm sorry for getting mad at you yesterday." She simply said, approaching her mother who hugged her tight.

"I know, baby, I know. I'm sorry too, I should've told you sooner. And I shouldn't have yelled neither. Guess it takes time adapting to this for both of us." She rubbed her daughter's back softly.

"I don't want to go to that camp." She stated, her words muffled by her mother's hair, face buried in the crook of her neck.

"I know, sweetie, but I'll be working crazy hours and I can't let you all by yourself here all summer long."

"I can take care of myself, mom, I'm old enough." She replied, hoping this would make her mother change her mind.

"Oh, baby, I'm not ready to let you take care of yourself, that's the thing. I know you'll hate me for it, but you're going, Beca, there's no point in discussing it." Her mother's tone was serious, the kind of serious Beca was no point to argue over.

She sighed and walked over the coffee pot to serve herself one.

"I hope you're not expecting me to enjoy it." She simply said before going back to her room.


	2. Chapter 2

"Mom, please, please, keep me with you!" Beca was pleading into deaf ears as her mother checked down the list of everything Beca needed to have, going over all the stuff displayed on the living room's floor.

"Beca, hush, I can't concentrate." She shrugged her daughter off, focusing on counting down the items she'd need.

"Mom, I'm begging! I don't want to go!" she was on the edge of tears now.

Ever since, three months ago, her mom had broken the news to her that she would have to go to an all-girl summer camp, Beca had subtly tried to convince her otherwise. She started making her bed every morning, did the dishes on almost every week night, stopped cutting classes and even managed to stay out of too many troubles at school. That didn't change her mother's mind, though, and here she was, packing everything to leave the same day for thirteen long and painful weeks. At least she had slipped her laptop and charger somewhere in there and her mother hadn't found it so she'd have something to do there. She made sure she had her iPod and a second set of headphones in case the ones she was using broke.

"Okay! We're all set! Are you ready?" she chirped, seeming overly enthusiast about this.

"No." was Beca only answer, folding her arms.

"Baby, come on, we talked about this." She said, extending a hand for her daughter to snuggle close, which she did in spite of wanting to be mad at her mom.

"No, you talked about this, I just had to go." She pointed out, nuzzling her face in the crook of her neck.

"Don't play on semantics with me. Okay, help me pack up now." She pushed Beca away gently, squeezing her shoulder with a smile.

They packed the car the best they could, and Beca pushed back the departure time the longer she could but eventually, she had to climb in the cabin and say goodbye to her house for the summer. She texted Henry goodbye and he replied with a promise of giving her the best welcome back party if she survived the whole summer. He also added something along the lines of "and try to keep it in your pants, Mitchell" which made her snort. It earned her a quizzical look from her mom, who tried to see what had made her laugh, but she hid her phone screen quickly. She still hadn't come out to her mom, otherwise she doubt her mother would've sent her to a girls-only summer camp.

It took three hours to get there, another one to unpack and say goodbye. When her mother left, Beca climbed in her bed and took her laptop out of its suitcase. She had already located the nearest plug (just under her bed, near her feet) and propped her headphones on, signaling to anybody intelligent enough she didn't want to be disturbed. Anybody, except one person.

"What are you listening?" her headphones were snatched away from her head and found themselves on a red head before Beca could even move.

"Hey! Give that back!" she spat, yanking them from her head, expecting to scare her away, but instead earning herself a grin.

"That was good, who's it from?" she said, slouching down on her bed.

"Please, go away." Beca said with an annoyed smile, backing away from the ginger girl, almost hissing.

"I'm Chloe." She ignored her demand, extending a pale hand to her.

"I'm busy."

"Whatcha doing?" she asked, sliding across the bed to sit closer to Beca, lurking over her computer screen.

"Nothing." She snapped, closing her laptop.

"Oh, come on, you were doing something!" she pressed on, with that ridiculously cute smile plastered on her angelic features.

"No. Now, please, for Pete's sake, get off my bed!" she was growing more and more distressed by the proximity of that Chloe girl.

Her command was met with a light chuckle that made Beca's heart do a twist; it was so melodic she was sure it wasn't even real. She frowned, unsure on why the girl was laughing instead of going away.

"Well, I would, but _you_ are on _my_ bed." She stated, pointing to the pillow under which Beca had propped hers and was now leaning.

Immediately, like she'd been burned by the information, Beca jumped off the bed and stood there, her headphones around her neck, laptop carefully held under her arm.

"Don't worry, you can get in my bed anytime you want." She said with a smirk, which made Beca blush.

"Dude, you're weird." She said before gently throwing her computer on the second bed, just over the redhead's.

"And you're not." She pointed out before getting up to get out.

Beca was left alone and quickly went back to her music before she started to over analyze what Chloe had just said. She didn't get the chance to stay alone very longer, though, because one of the camp monitor, an athletic and happy-looking young woman barged in the four bunk beds dorm clapping her hands like they were a band of kids.

"Okay, everybody out, out, out! It's time for the camp's head monitor introduction! Everybody is expected by the scene in five minutes!"

As swiftly as she walked in, she left. Beca looked around the dorm, seeing two girls gallop outside. She grunted and decided to ignore what the monitor had just said and stuck her headphones on her head again. That didn't last very long neither.

"Didn't Marissa come in about four minutes ago to tell you the introduction was about to start?" a voice asked behind her, making Beca jump.

"Jesus Christ! Have you made it your personal mission to kill me before the end of the day?" she deadpanned with an eye roll that made Chloe smile.

"Only with kindness." She replied, smiling harder when Beca scoffed.

She was holding herself up by the bed railing behind Beca, who had been laying in her bed, head on her pillow, and her face was dangerously close to hers. She could see her muscles forcing, and she was tempted to ignore her just to see how much longer she could hold on, but a second look at her muscular arms let her know she wouldn't win at this. Sighing, she closed her laptop and climbed down her bed only for her path to be blocked by the redhead.

"I thought you said we were late to the introduction." She stated, growing suspicious.

"I could recite that introduction in my sleep. You never told me your name." she shrugged, folding her arms.

"Beca." The girl replied simply, seeing no point in arguing and thinking this would get the girl to move aside. It didn't.

"That's a cute name, Beca. What were you doing, uh?" she asked, already trying to peek on her bed.

"Nothing." She said through clenched jaw.

She was growing more and more uncomfortable here, but Chloe seemed completely oblivious to it. Finally, she came back from her toes and smiled at Beca with a look that didn't appear like she was done. Fortunately, she let for now and conducts Beca out of the dorm, linking their arms together as if they'd been friends for years. Unaccustomed to physical contact like this, Beca felt heat rise to her cheeks and she felt even more stupid. This girl was driving her crazy and it was only the first day.

They arrived at the scene whilst a woman with long white hair was speaking in a loudspeaker. There were young girls of not over five years old and Beca understood why Chloe had said she could've recited the speech in her sleep; she'd been coming here for longer than Beca could imagine possible. That left her wondering how old she was now. She wasn't about to show interest, though, and she unlinked her arm to fold them over her chest, sitting on one of the long and uncomfortable wood bench. It went on for almost another thirty minutes before she explained what was this summer's plan.

"Oh! Listen to this, it's really interesting, and maybe we'll get to be in the same activity group!" Chloe chirped in her ear, almost clapping her hands at the idea of spending more time with Beca, who winced at every activity the woman in front mentioned.

"Horseback riding is my favorite! You'll see, the horses are so sweet and lovely, you'll just love them! Plus, once a week, we'll get to spend a whole morning with them, grooming them and feeding them before the lessons start! That's my favorite day of the week!" Chloe's continuous comment made it easier to bear, but Beca wasn't even paying attention to her words, she was simply listening to her voice doing its thing; rising and dropping as the emotions kept flowing through her words.

She held back as best she could the smile that was creeping up her lips, but Chloe saw it anyways and thought she was smiling because she was getting into the camp's energetic atmosphere. Beca would never admit it, but she was, in fact, smiling because Chloe's enthusiasm was the cutest thing she'd ever seen and her voice was something like she never heard before.

"Oh!" Chloe gasped loudly at something the head manager mentioned, which caught Beca's attention.

"What? What happened? Did the forest's fairies not show up this summer?" she joked before turning to Chloe, who gave her a weird look before smiling so wide Beca grew scared ― of what, she didn't know, but that smile was more predatory like than friendly to her.

"We're paired up!" she squealed in happiness, tackling Beca in a bear hug she wasn't expecting.

"Oh God." The brunette sighed, closing her eyes in despair. _How am I going to survive this summer._


	3. Chapter 3

Beca had never been one to be up early, and certainly not a morning person. When, at five, a rooster started chanting madly, Beca growled and hissed, burying her head under her pillow. She managed to fall back asleep, only to feel somebody poking her bare leg an hour later. She grunted something that resembled "go away or I'll kick your ass" but the poking didn't stop, instead she heard a chuckle. Opening one eye and peeking out of her hiding place, Beca saw Chloe's amused smirk, still poking her naked leg (thank you pajama pants that worked their way up almost to her crotch during the night, leaving her half naked and in a mess of clothes and sheets) with her head cocked to the side.

"Whadayawant" she mumbled with a pout, hiding her head back under her pillow.

"I'll guess you didn't say good morning Chloe, how nice of you to have let me sleep half an hour more than everybody else and to come back to get me right before breakfast is serve so I don't starve until noon today." She said with another chuckle.

That girl was impossibly too sweet for Beca to be mad at her, but she tried anyways and answered with a half grunted good morning. Her words slowly sank in though, and she realized that meant she had to get up and ready to go eat with breakfast with what she feared would be a cafeteria full of girls chatting and chirping about how exciting today would be. She had lifted her head and dropped it back in her pillow, weeping in discouragement.

"Come on now, I'm starving and your stomach's been growling like a mad dog for the past half hour and it's driving me crazy." Chloe said nonchalantly, which earned her a glare from Beca.

"You've been here for the pas half hour?" she asked, stunned.

"Yeah, now get up, it's time for breakfast." She answered, like it was nothing, like it wasn't the most awkward situation ever; she had watched her sleep for the past half hour and she was supposed to be okay with that?

A sudden fear sparked in her mind and she quickly sat to look in her bed, feeling a wave of relief flood through her when she saw her laptop was still at her feet, exactly where she had left it yesterday.

"Did you really thought I would've touched your stuff while you were sleeping?" Chloe asked, her eyebrows high on her forehead.

"Uh..No, not at all." She lied, before suddenly realizing she had no bra on and Chloe's gaze was subtly looking her over.

Beca grabbed her sheets and hid under them instantly, her face red in seconds. Chloe grinned madly then turned around and told her she'd wait for her outside. Beca face palmed and fell back in her bed, feeling utterly stupid. _Way to go, Mitchell, now she'll really take you for a spaz._ Beca climbed out of her bed and changed her pajamas to a pair of shorts, already feeling the heat coming from outside, and a tank top. With a bra, of course.

"Okay, I'm ready to face my first breakfast in this hell." She said, jumping off the dorm step with a sigh.

"It's not hell, if you just gave it a chance, you'd see it's not that bad and you can actually have fun here." Chloe gave her a small shove on the shoulder before taking her hand and racing to a big wooden cabin. "Come on, we're late now!"

Beca was so out of breath by the time they reached the cafeteria she almost fainted when they sat down.

"Do….not….ever…do…that…..again." she coughed out, her nostrils flaring and her breath wheezing.

Her order was met by yet another light laughter as Chloe quickly stopped panting and turned to eat what was on the plate in front of her. Beca swung her legs under the table and tried to hide her disappointed face. She didn't like toasts and yet, she didn't see anything else but two slightly burnt slices of bread on her plate with fruits and cups of different things to spread; peanut butter, nutella, jam, butter. Muffling a whine, she took the peanut butter cup and opened it. The smell immediately made her scrunch her nose as memories came flooding back. Chloe noticed and, with her mouth half full with fruits, she asked what was wrong.

"Nothing.. I just have.. uh.. bad memories with peanut butter." She eluded, planting her butter knife in it with a grimace.

"What kind of bad memories?" Chloe asked, having gulped loudly her big bite.

"Not the kind that concerns you." She replied coldly, focusing on putting as little as possible, just to cover all of the bread slice.

"No need to be rude, miss Mystery." She said, going back to her breakfast with a last smile.

Beca felt bad now, but she wasn't about to apologize, convincing herself it was all Chloe's fault; hadn't she asked questions, Beca wouldn't have been harsh. She knew the girl was simply trying to be friendly, but the brunette was determined to make this summer the worst possible, just to prove her mother she'd been right about not wanting to go. _I have a feeling that's going to prove difficult with that girl as a teammate_, Beca thought with a mental eye roll.

She ate her toasts in silence while anybody who passed by Chloe stopped to say hi and chat a little bit, always trying to interact with her as well. They were faced with a muted wall or a glare if they became too insistent. Every one of them left giving Chloe a look that said "I'm sorry you have to be with her for the whole summer" and Beca was, too.

"Don't worry about them, I'll introduce you to my friends, you'll see they're much more fun." She promised as they exited the cafeteria (arms linked, obviously.)

Chloe patiently explained to Beca what they were supposed to do today. Apparently, this camp had ever activity Beca despised, and even more. She also learned that during the summer, she'd have to participate in all of them, at least one time. And worse: at the end of the summer, they were having a big costumed party and they were going to make their costumes throughout summer, starting today. That was their first activity : costume making. They were expected in ten minutes at the arts tent. Chloe told her about her previous choices, the ones she should avoid, the ones she could consider, and she even suggested ― at that, Beca couldn't restrain the snort which earned her a slap on the forearm ― that they made matching costumes.

"I'm sorry, but I can't even put a thread in a needle, how do you expect me to sew and invent a whole costume?" she asked, her nerves growing more and more itchy as they approached the tent.

"I'll show you how, you'll see, it's really easy!" she assured her, reaffirming her hold on Beca's arm as she felt the girl try to slip away.

Beca rolled her eyes once again, but Chloe didn't say anything and they entered the tent with arms still entwined together.

"You know, I won't run away even if you let go of my arm, Chloe." She pointed out, feeling everybody's eyes on them.

"I know, I like to hang on to people, that's all. Does it bother you?" she asked, suddenly looking worried and already unlinking their arms.

"Uh.. no, I guess not." She answered, feeling ping of distress at the idea of Chloe letting go of her.

Truth is, she had been taken aback at first, but now, she was quite liking to have somebody to sit with her so she didn't have to go through this alone, even if that meant she'd have to make an effort and participate just so Chloe wouldn't be too persistent. At least, she wasn't the only one who was new here, and it seemed like every other girl was slightly more happy than her to be. She sighed, feeling like an outsider, once again. Chloe's hand softly squeezed her knee when she did and it made her jump almost a feet away from her.

"What are you doing?" she hissed between her teeth, only to meet confused electric blue eyes.

"Nothing, I heard you sigh and wanted to give you a reassuring squeeze. What did you think?" she asked, smirking when Beca blushed.

"I don't know."

She looked away, but didn't come as close as she was before, which Chloe noted but didn't comment. After the first activity, they had thirty minutes before their second one, which was archery. Beca's coordination was legendary for being completely inexistent, and she complained to Chloe about not wanting to shoot somebody by accident, but the redhead simply waved her complaints away.

"Don't worry, the targets are big enough! It would be a miracle if you missed them!"

They walked around for a moment, Chloe indicating her the main places she needed to remember, and she was in the middle of a sentence when a shriek pierced the morning air and a tall and blond and tanned mass charged towards them. Beca had just enough time to take her arm back before a girl tackle-hugged Chloe.

"Aubrey!" she sang with obvious happiness. "Oh my god! I thought you were getting here next week!" she added once the girl had let go of the redhead.

"Yeah, me too, but my mom convinced my dad to let me get here on time like everybody else!" she said half singing, holding both Chloe's hands in hers.

"That's awesome! I've missed you so much!" she pulled the blonde in another fierce hug that made Beca wince; they were too cute to be acceptable.

"I've missed you too, Chloe! I'm so sad we're not in the same dorm this year!" she pouted and Beca rolled her eyes, turning away: she thought the blonde couldn't get more adorable and then she did this thing with her lips which sent the brunette's mind into overdrive.

Decidedly, there were too many pretty girls in here, she would go crazy. And they all looked so _straight_ it hurt her heart. She was slowly walking away when she heard Chloe call her name, jogging to her and grabbing her hand to bring her back.

"Aubrey, this is Beca. She's my partner this summer, and she's new here." She stated, beaming like Beca was the most incredible thing that could've been, which made her blush slightly.

"Hi Beca! I hope you'll take good care of Chloe this summer since I can't, and I'll have my eye on you!" she added with a half scowl, smiling so hard it made Beca wince.

"Uh.. hi Aubrey. I..uh, I'll try." She replied, slipping a look at Chloe, who's eyes lit up.

"Oh! Right! Archery! Okay, I'll see you around, Bree!" she piped up, still holding Beca's hand before turning on her heels to guide her to the archer's corner.


	4. Chapter 4

Archery wasn't that bad, if your name was Chloe Beale and you hit every target in the red spot. It wouldn't have been that bad if Beca hadn't been so clumsy and if her hands hadn't been full of thumbs at the same time. She had managed to miss every target, her arrow either falling short many feet or simply missing the target and ending up in the grass. She even dropped her bow and arrows, which scattered on the floor. She was about to give up when the monitor came up to her and showed her how to properly hold the bow and place the arrow. She still missed the target, but at least she was making some progress.

The rest of their went by, and they had the afternoon for themselves. Chloe decided she was giving her a guided tour of the whole camp after lunch and they came back just on time for supper. Beca was starving, her legs were killing her and she had been bitten by at least a hundred mosquitoes on their walk. Definitely not she had expected for a first day. Dinner was like heaven in her mouth; mashed potatoes with ham and green peas. She didn't even care to make a comment.

They sat with other girls of their age range around a campfire, singing songs Beca surprised herself knowing, but she was so tired she could barely hold her head.

"Come here." Chloe told her, one of her arm opened, inviting her under the blanket she had wrapped around her shoulders.

Beca realized she was shivering and wiggled on the bench to make her way closer to the ginger. She let Chloe wrap her up and friction her back, instinctively resting her head on the other girl's shoulder. Her eyelids drooped despite her attempts at keeping her eyes open, and she quickly fell asleep on Chloe's shoulder, nuzzling closer as she did so. Chloe stiffened a little when she felt Beca snuggle close, but a smile crept up her lips and Aubrey shook her head beside her.

"You're so obvious." She whispered to her friend, who smiled even wider.

"She's just so adorable, I can't help myself." Chloe replied.

"You're not even sure if she likes you like that." Aubrey replied, cautiously studying Beca's sleeping features.

"I'm not saying I'm in love with her, Bre, I'm saying I like her. She's pretty and I know she's not that independent and not-caring person she pretends to be." Chloe said, lifting her unoccupied shoulder.

"And how would you know that?" the blonde's eyebrows knitted in the middle of her forehead, a small smile curling up her lips.

"I just know." She replied, and they went back to chatting until the monitors called it a night.

She shook Beca softly, but the girl was sound asleep, and she only grunted, pouting in her sleep, before throwing an arm around Chloe's waist and holding on tightly. It made her giggle, and she shook her harder, uncovering her shoulders in hopes this would wake her up.

"No, no, cold." She mumbled, her hand searching for the blanket but only grabbing different parts of Chloe; her knee, her thight, her stomach and..one of her breast. Instantly, Beca sat straight and at least two feet away from Chloe, as red as the blanket the redhead was holding.

"Oh my God! I am so _so_ sorry, Chloe! I never intended… I didn't.. Fuck! I'm sorry!" she babbled, suddenly very awake.

Chloe had watch her search for the blanket with a smirk, rising her eyebrows as the girl made her way up, feeling her stomach knot and something make a flip inside of her. Her eyes widened when Beca gave her breast a good squeeze, but she couldn't help the smirk painted on her face.

"It's okay, don't sweat it. I was trying to wake you up. We're going to bed." She said, getting up. "I guess that's one way to wake up." She joked, winking at Beca whose face reddened even more.

"You are evil." Beca stated, following the ginger after rolling her eyes.

"I'm not the one grabbing people's boobs in my sleep." Chloe shot back, turning to stuck her tongue out.

Beca's mouth hung open and she closed it when she heard the other girl's giggle. They walked in the dorm who was dark and probably already asleep. Beca climbed in her bed while Chloe was still giggling softly.

"Stop it. You just like to make fun of me." Beca growled, even though she wasn't really mad at Chloe.

"That's because you're an easy target." Chloe replied. "Good night, Beca."

"G'night" she mumbled, already falling back asleep.

Chloe fell asleep listening to Beca's soft and steady breathing, and she was in the middle of a dream when she was awaken. Listening carefully, she realized it was coming from over her head. Faint music and a gloomy light was casting shadows around her. She quietly got on her knees at the head of her bed and lifted herself up to Beca's. She found the girl awake too, her headphones propped on, swiftly moving her hands on the finger pad, nodding her head to the beat. Chloe watched her mix, detailing the complexity of her concentrated face with a kind smile.

Eventually, her arms started to burn and she went back on her bed, but couldn't sleep anymore. Curiosity was consuming her, and she just needed to know. Slowly, she climbed the ladder leading to Beca's bed, hoping the girl wouldn't hear her before she was upstairs.

"What are you doing?" Beca hissed, quickly snapping her laptop shut and taking off her headphones.

"I just wanted to see what you were doing." Chloe said with an apologetic smile. "I can't go back to sleep."

"Why?" Beca asked, puzzled.

"I don't know. Can I hang out up here with you a bit?" she asked, and her tone was almost pleading.

"Yeah, sure. Sorry for being rude, you just scared me." She offered with a half-smile.

"It's okay, don't worry." Chloe crept up to Beca on all fours, looking like a feline ready to jump on her, which made Beca look away to hide her blushing cheeks (her mind kept going to places it wasn't supposed to go whenever she was around Chloe and they had met the day before, what was wrong with her?) "So, what were you doing?" Chloe's voice made Beca's head snap back into reality.

"Uh.. nothing." She lied, pushing her laptop aside.

"Come on, you can tell me. Besides, I already know." Chloe smiled proudly.

"What? You spied on me?" Beca choked out, eyes wide with shock.

"Well, not spying… observing. I heard music and saw light coming from your bed, I was wondering what was happening." She specified, still oblivious to Beca's stunned look.

"So.. spying." The brunette repeated.

"Okay, okay, I might've spied on you a little bit!" Chloe admitted before giggling. "So, are you going to show me or will I have to snatch it from you?"

"You wouldn't dare." Beca scowled at her, pushing her laptop even farer away from Chloe, under her pillow.

"Don't tempt me." The ginger shot back, smiling like a predator. (_A very hot predator_. The thought came before she could stop it and she wanted to slap herself.)

"Why do you want to know so badly anyways?" Beca sighed, already taking back her computer on her knees.

"Because I'm a curious person." Chloe simply said, excitedly putting Beca's headphones on her head and waiting for her to press play.

She listened to a couple of songs before taking them off and smiling broadly at Beca. The brunette put her laptop away and looked at her puzzled.

"So, what do you think?" she finally asked, nervous for her comment.

"That was magical! Did you make these?" her tone was hushed but she was impressed and Beca beamed with pride.

"Yeah, I've been mixing as a hobby for a while now."

"Wow, you've got a lot of talent, Beca!" Chloe complimented her, still smiling.

"Thanks." She chuckled nervously.

Nobody had heard her mixes before, certainly not a stranger like Chloe, but still, here they were, on her bed, listening to more of her mixes. They eventually fell asleep, but Chloe never bothered to go back in her bed. She simple took Beca's hand and tugged at it until the half asleep brunette lied down with her. She wrapped an arm around her waist, spooning with her and nudging close until she was practically melted into Beca's body.

"Are you tried to get inside of me, Chloe or what?" Beca half-complained, half-joked with her eyes closed, not as asleep as Chloe thought.

"That would be inappropriate of me." Chloe deadpanned, feeling Beca's body instantly stiffened on hers. "I'm joking, relax. I was trying to get comfy."

"Yeah right, like you didn't plan this whole thing so you would have a cuddle buddy." Beca mumbled, her body letting go of all tensions as she fell back asleep while it was Chloe's turn to blush.

"Hey.." she gently nudged Beca on the shoulder, earning herself a grunt from the fast asleep teenager. "Beca… one last question before I let you go back to dreaming of me."

"Whachawant?" she puffed out in a sleepy breathe.

"Why weren't _you_ asleep?" she shot, holding her breath in hopes sleepy-Beca would answer.

"G'night, Chloe." Was all she got, though, before Beca went back to her peaceful dreams (not of Chloe, unfortunately.)


	5. Chapter 5

On the next morning, Beca awoke to a sweet and slow melody. She was smiling, still half asleep, only to realize seconds later that it was actually Chloe chanting something along the lines of "I will kill you in your sleep, better keep awake" or something like that. Beca's smile instantly froze and she opened her eyes, lying still.

"Chloe please tell me you're awake and just messing with me." she asked, fear pointing in her voice.

"La la la" was the only answer she got and she frowned, feeling the smile in the ginger's voice.

Beca turned around ― with difficulty seeing as Chloe wouldn't let go of her waist and she had to wiggle and twist in order to face the other girl. She was now inches away from a very awake and smiling Chloe, who looked more like a child than anything else. Beca blew out a sigh in her face, rising her eyebrows, silently asking if she really had to hold her that tight.

"Something wrong?" Chloe chirped, acting all innocent.

"Nothing, aside from the fact that I can't breathe anymore." she shot back, faking to choke on air.

"Oh, am I squeezing too hard?" Chloe asked with a sweet tone, squeezing even tighter, making Beca cough for real, before letting go completely.

"Thank you." she said with an eye roll, only to have Chloe menacingly placing her fingers over her sides with a lifted eyebrow. "Don't you dare." Beca said with a glare.

Chloe wiggled her eyebrows before running her hands up and down Beca's sides, tickling her until the brunette really couldn't breathe anymore.

"Take that eye roll back." she commanded as she stopped and Beca held back just on time yet another one and instead smiled her most angelic smile, which apparently pleased Chloe, who retracted her deadly weapons from the younger girl's body.

They heard footsteps coming and Beca roughly pushed Chloe out of her bed; the last thing she needed were some rumors spread around the camp on the second day of the summer. Chloe chuckled at Beca's slight panic attack because she knew who was coming, and took all of her time to climb down the ladder while the brunette pressed her to go faster.

"Do you plan on sleeping all day or actually getting up?" Aubrey's voice came out like a song to Beca's ears, who immediately relaxed.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Chloe said with enthusiasm, shooting a puzzled look at Beca, who was still hiding her sheets.

"I'll uh... meet up with you outside in just a few, 'kay?" she said, pouting when Chloe laughed as the reason why she wouldn't get up was her.

"You know, we'll have to spend thirteen weeks together, day in day out, you might as well get comfy right now." she stated with a smirk before turning on her heels to run to Aubrey, who was waiting at the front door.

Beca sat up in her bed and dug under her pillow to get her bra out. When they had fallen asleep last night, she had quietly taken it off, but hadn't had time to put it back on before Chloe woke her up. She hurried out of the dorm and smiled briefly to Aubrey, who already had her arm linked to Chloe's. The redhead didn't have enough of one it seemed, because as soon as they started walking towards the cafeteria, she grabbed Beca by the elbow and forced her into a half-danced, half-jogged run to the building.

They ate at the same table as the day before, only today, they had eggs and bacon for breakfast, which Beca loved a whole lot more than toast. She ate in silence, shoving food in her mouth like she hadn't eaten in weeks while Chloe and Aubrey were chatting and telling each other about what they were doing today. Beca's head snapped up when she heard the word "swimming" though and with her mouth full, she turned to the two other girls.

"What did shou shay?" she asked, gulping down her mouthful all at once. "Swimming?"

"Yeah, swimming, Beca, have you never been in a pool or a lake?" Aubrey asked, visibly amused by Beca's stunned reaction.

"Yes, yes, of course I've been in one." she lied, going back to her food with a faint pinkish color on her cheeks.

"Oh. My. God." Chloe exclaimed, her 'you are too adorable' smile splitting her face in half as she figured out Beca's lie. "You, in fact, cannot swim." she stated a little too loud for Beca's liking.

"Are you serious?" Aubrey added with badly hid smirk.

"Yeah, okay, I may or may not have been in a pool since I was five years old. So what?" she growled, feeling her pride desintegrate as Chloe threw an arm around her shoulders, promising her she would be alright.

"Chloe, come on, she's not afraid of water, she just hasn't been in a pool in ten years." Aubrey rolled her eyes, but her comment earned her a sheepish look from Beca. "Seriously? How can you be afraid of water?" she asked with a scoff of disbelief.

"Aubrey, be nice!" Chloe reprimanded, rubbing Beca's back.

Beca, who wanted to be everywhere but here right at this moment, and remained silent as Chloe continued to reassure her. It's not that she was completely afraid of water, but the reason she hadn't been in a pool in so long was partly because of an accident that had traumatized her and another part because they never had a pool at their house. She wasn't about to tell Aubrey that when she was five, her father had slipped on the wet concrete of their neighbor's pool perimeter and hit his head so hard he was in a coma for a few hours. Nor would she tell Chloe. The "father memories" drawer was sealed and had been for long enough it didn't hurt so much, she wasn't going to reopen it just so she could give a valid explanation to an almost-stranger.

They finished eating and went separate ways, but as soon as Chloe was left alone with Beca, she came charging back on the water subject.

"So, you never answered Aubrey back there." she mentioned, trying to hide her curiosity but failing miserably.

"Hmhm." Beca simply replied, avoiding as much as possible giving Chloe any hints.

"Would you answer it if I was the one asking?" she wondered out loud.

"What makes you think it would make it any different if it was coming from you?" Beca asked, stopping their walk back to the dorm to look at Chloe with a grin.

"Because you let me hear your mixes." she replied after a short thought.

"Touché." Beca agreed, her mind spinning to find some other explanation she could give her.

"Never mind. I don't want you answering if you're going to lie." Chloe didn't sound hurt or even surprised, which made Beca almost tell her the truth right then and there, but she bit down her tongue to stay silent.

"What's first for today?" she asked instead, trying to sound as annoyed as possible but not being really convincing.

"Hiking!" Chloe's mood instantly fell back to the one she had when they woke up and she squeezed Beca's arm with excitment as the other girl whined in despair.

"This camp is going to be the death of me. Do we really have to go?" she said, attempting making a pleading look but only earning herself a giggle from the redhead.

"Yes _we_ do." Chloe pointed Beca's use of the plural pronon in a pur, beaming even more when Beca realized what she had said.

"I mean me. Do _I_ really have to go?" she corrected herself just a little too late.

"Well, what would you during that time? Nobody's staying on the main site during the day, everybody's at some activity." Chloe's confused tone made Beca smile amusingly.

"That's the point, Chloe. Being alone." she nodded her head along with Chloe, who winked at her like an accomplice.

"I'll see you later, then!" Chloe sighed, changing quickly and hugging Beca goodbye before storming out of the now empty dorm.

As soon as the noise outside calmed down, Beca took out her cellphone, which was carefully hidden in her luggage so nobody would find it, and waited for it to come to life. She was climbing the ladder when her eyes fell on Chloe's bed, and she stopped. Biting down her bottom lips, she looked around to make sure nobody was here and then snatched her laptop from the upper bed and lauched herself on the lower one. Chloe's sweet perfume puffed out of the sheets as she did so and she used her pillow as a cushion for her back, smiling like an idiot.

She eventually fell asleep, clutching at Chloe's pillow, her cellphone still buzzing from her best friend's last text, laptop on her lap and music blaring through her fallen headphones. Chloe came back and was tempted to go over Beca's conversation, but as she was about to take the device, she decided against it and instead coughed loudly. Immediately, the brunette jumped out of her sleep and sat straight up in the bed.

"Uh?!" she gasped, looking around to see who had done that.

When her eyes fell on Chloe, standing with her eyebrows knitted on her forehead and a wicked smile curling up her pink lips. She folded her arms, giving Beca's postion a meaningful look over and was about to make a comment when another girl walked in and sparked a conversation with Chloe. Beca's face was all red and it was not from the heat of the outside, but she took the stranger's diversion and climbed out of Chloe's bed quickly. She hid her cellphone, subtly checking Henry's last text that said "you still got thirteen weeks to make her a lesbian" which made her snort and got Chloe's attention.

"What's so funny?" she asked, but Beca had already put away her cellphone and she waved her question away quickly. "One day, I'll have you tell me all of your secret." Chloe affirmed before slouching down her bed with a sigh.

"How was the hike?" she expertedly avoided Chloe's comment with a smile, but found herself rather curious about the morning activity.

"Like you really want to know." Chloe joked.

"I do, in fact, as weird as that seems." Beca assured her, sitting beside her only to have Chloe's head resting on her shoulders a split second later.

"It was tiring." she replied, emphasizing her words with a yawn Beca feared would break her jaw.

"I can see that. How long do we have until lunch?" she asked, yawning too.

"We have about an hour." she mocked her pronoun use once again, but this time Beca simply rolled her eyes and gave her a playful shove.

"I think this calls for nap time." the brunette said, already sliding on the bed so she was lying on her side, behind Chloe.

"Oh so now you're the one taking advantage of me to be a cuddle buddy." Chloe shot with a snarl.

"Ah! I knew you were using me only for my body!" Beca proclaimed victoriously.

"Girl, if I was using you for your body, I wouldn't..." Chloe stopped herself in the middle of her sentence, biting down her tongue hard, wanting to take back every word she just said.

Beca froze, waiting for the end of it, but Chloe closed her mouth and even though she deeply wanted to know what she was about to say, she wasn't going to ask simply because she knew how embarrassing that could be. Still though, she was left wondering what was coming next, and the endings in her mind surely weren't what Chloe had wanted to say. At least, that's Beca said to herself.

Lunch came by faster than Beca wanted it, because after this meal meant having to go to the pool, and that meant having to bear seeing other girls in bathing suit, which would probably the death of her. It turned out that hiking didn't sound that awful compared to the idea of spending a whole hour and a half having to look away because Chloe would also be in a bathing suit. A very white and very tight bikini, of course, that would be her bathing suit, Beca scolded to herself, already having difficulties looking only at the ginger's face. She had pulled her hair up in a ponytail, revealing broad and athletic shoulders, defining a long and narrow neck that gave way to a jawline that made Beca's throat go dry instantly.

"Seriously?" she said out loud, thinking she had only thought it.

"What? Is there a problem?" Chloe asked, oblivious to the effect she had on Beca, or rather on Beca's stomach, which made yet another flip as she put her hands on her hips, cocking her head to the side.

"Uh.. no." she said, closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose. "I.. uh.. I have a headache. I'll meet up with you later on, okay?" she said, already climbing in the ladder leading to her bed.

"Uh-uh. No way. You're coming with me. I am not facing anther activity on my own, Beca." Choe grabbed her ankle and gently tugged on it.

Unfortunately, Beca's balance was as good as her coordination and she wobbled on the ladder before falling. Obviously, she had to land on Chloe, who winced in pain.

"Oh my gosh! Chloe, are you alright?" she asked, still lying across her stomach, blushing already.

"I'd be better if you could get off me." she pointed out with a wink.

Beca jumped on her feet like she'd just been burnt, making Chloe smile.

"Gee, are you afraid of touching me all of a sudden?" she said in a joking tone, making Beca laugh nervously. "Now come on, we don't want to be late."

She was about to protest that she wasn't even in her swimming suit, but decided against it; that would give her an excuse to come back. That was underestimating Chloe, though, because when she tried to take a step forward, she blocked her way with her eyebrows lifted up the middle of her forehead.

"Really, do you think I'm stupid?" she said before giving her a smile and a pat on the shoulder. "I'll wait outside. I'm giving you two minutes and then I'm coming in to drag you by your ass if I need to."

Beca nodded silently, partly because she couldn't think about anything snarky to respond because of Chloe's chest rising and falling with every word she said was very distracting, but mostly because her throat was still knotted from her fall and the memory of Chloe's skin on hers. She quickly dug out her cellphone and texted Henry back, saying she was swimming and that he needed to send help because she was in a bikini and too hot to be true. She had just enough time to yank her bikini top over her naked breasts before Chloe barged in.

"Your two minutes are up!" she chanted, planting herself right in front of Beca, who immediately turned around.

"Don't try to peek." she warned as she tried to tie the laces of her top behind her back.

Soon, she felt a pair of hands taking over, and she instantly stiffened. Chloe's fingers were soft on her back, and she quickly covered her chest with the fabric and handed Chloe the two other laces. She turned, thinking the redhead had backed away a few steps, but found herself almost crossing her eyes to look at Chloe's face.

"Uh... Chloe?" Beca broke the silence that rang in her ears, still unable to move from her quite awkward position.

"Hmhm?" the ginger answered, slowly leaning in, her eyes locked with Beca's.

"The.. uh... activity? Swimming?" she tried weakly, feeling her knees buckle under her as she watched Chloe get closer and closer.

"What about it?" she asked, still approaching, milimeters by milimeters, a smile tugging at her lips.

"Shouldn't we..." but she couldn't finish her sentence because Chloe's lips were so close to hers she could feel the ghost of their touch over hers and it skyrocketed her mind in places she definitely shouldn't have been.

"Shouldn't we what?" she whispered, having finally stopped moving but not stepping back.

"Go?" Beca squealed in a small voice, trying to decipher Chloe's expression, only to meet her sparkly blue eyes that were watching her every move.

"Yeah, you're right." she agreed with a wide smile and one last look over the brunette's flustered face.

_What the fuck was that?_ Beca thought, really to herself this time, following Chloe outside and to the pool. The walk to the activity was silent, both of the girls still trying to process and understand what had happened. Chloe didn't know why she had done that, she just knew a sudden urge to kiss the girl had taken over her brain and before she could resist it, she was leaning in and almost doing it. Beca wasn't able to decide if Chloe had done it on purpose because she had seen her checking her ―subtly, she had thought― out or if the redhead really had wanted to kiss her right then and there. They were almost there, Beca could hear the splashing and the laughs and her guts twisted in multiple knots already when Chloe spun on her heels to face her.

"I'm sorry... for what happened in the dorm." she said quickly, heat rising to her cheeks.

"It's...okay." Beca finished with a soft smile, not moving from the spot she had stopped in for a few seconds after Chloe nodded and resumed to making her way to the pool.

She spent the whole activity's time on the grass around the pool, avoiding every girl that passed in front of her in fear of looking like a pervert if her eyes lingered a little too long on their lean and tan bodies glistening with water. There was all sorts of shapes and Beca had never minded any kind of shapes, which made this hour and a half a living hell for the throbbing in her lower abdomen because every time she glanced up, a beautiful girl was on sight.

Finally, her ordeal ended when the monitor asked everybody to come out of the water. Chloe picked up her towel and quietly wrapped it around her hips, extending a hand to Beca.

"So, you really are afraid of water." Chloe stated softly with a kind smile.

"Yeah, I am." She didn't see a point in lying to her, but she didn't give anything more than necessary.

"Okay. I'm supposed to meet up with Aubrey in thirty mins, want to join us? We're going to work on our costumes in the art tent for the rest of the afternoon since none of us have another activity."

"Uh, no thanks, I'll simply go back to the dorm and lay down for a bit." She said, pursing her lips together in a weak smile.

"Are you alright?" she asked, holding her back with a hand on her shoulder.

"Um, yeah, yeah, I'm just tired, that's all." Beca waved her worries away with a more convincing smile.

She started to walk back to the dorm while Chloe stood there, certain she had ruined what was starting between Beca and her with that stupid move she'd made earlier.


	6. Chapter 6

Aubrey was waiting for her friend, wondering what was taking her so long when the ginger finally showed up. As soon as her eyes fell on the older woman, Chloe's face lit up and she forgot everything about her worries. They had so much to talk about, especially since after summer camp Aubrey would start her senior year of high school. She sat down next to the blonde who was smirking, waiting for Chloe to start pouring her heart out about Beca, but when her friend instead asked what she had picked for a costume, she frowned.

"What happened?" Aubrey said with concern.

"What do you mean, what happened?" Chloe's confused look didn't last very long though, because she knew exactly what Aubrey was talking about. "I screwed up and scared her."

"Again, what happened?" Aubrey repeated, shocked at the revelation.

"I tried to kiss her." She confessed, pink coloring her face and shame painting its distinct expression over it.

"Did she push you away? Did she like it?" Aubrey pressed, curiosity having got the better of her.

"No, I said I _tried_ to kiss her." Chloe pointed out with a sheepish smile.

"You mean you didn't actually touch lips with her?" Aubrey's confusion was obvious, which made Chloe sigh.

"Not properly, no. Almost, but no. We had to get to the pool and by the way, she really is afraid of water, don't judge it. Then, after the activity, I asked if she wanted to join us and she looked weird."

"Weird? Coming from you, that's something!" Aubrey laughed with a wink.

"Hey!" she called out, slapping gently the blonde's shoulder. "Anyway, I'll just let it go, she's obviously not on my side. But she looks so hot in a bikini, it's ridiculous!" Chloe finished with an eye roll and a smirk.

"You're impossible." Aubrey shook her head and went back to her costume.

They spent the next hours sewing and chatting until it was dinner time. Beca was nowhere to be found in the cafeteria, but Chloe decided to give the girl some space. She even managed to have fun, sitting with the youngster with Aubrey, and they had a good laugh. When they parted ways to change in their pajamas to get ready for the campfire, Chloe peeked on Beca's bed, only to find it empty. She looked around, trying to see her laptop, but it was gone too. Worry crept its way up her mind and she went by Aubrey's dorm to tell her she was out looking for Beca.

"Want me to come with you?" the blonde asked with a sincere concern in her voice.

"No, no, I'll be alright. I'll see you at the campfire, okay?" Chloe hugged her friend tightly before departing.

She took a moment to ask herself where she should start, deciding the forest would be a good choice. Following her instinct, Chloe ended up on the far east side of the forest, in a small meadow, where she could see Beca. The brunette was sitting under a tree in the middle of it, headphones lying beside her, laptop on her crossed legs, extended in front of her. She walked in slowly, careful not to startle the other teenager, but she soon realized Beca was sound asleep.

Chloe sat at her side, feeling a sudden urge to let her sleep and join her in her world of dreams. She rested her head on the brunette's shoulder softly, closing her eyes. As soon as she did so, the sounds surrounding her flowed in her ears, and she smiled knowingly now why Beca had come here. They stayed there for a while, until Beca woke up because her shoulder was starting to hurt from an unusual weight. She had to blink countless times to make sure she wasn't still asleep and Chloe sitting next to her wasn't just another dream. Softly, she shrugged her left shoulder, waking the redhead up.

"Chloe, wake up, it's getting dark." Beca said quietly, smiling.

"Uh? Oh, hi Beca." Her smile was contagious and it made the brunette grin even harder.

"Hello, intruder."

"Sorry about that, you just looked so peaceful, I wanted to be too." She said with yet another smile that sent shivers down Beca's spine.

"It's okay. Why were you here, though?" she suddenly asked, frowning.

"I was looking for you. You missed dinner and you weren't in the dorm." She admitted, scrunching her nose with embarrassment.

"You were?" Beca's tone was surprised, as her face, which left Chloe wondering if this had been the first time somebody had took the time to go after her.

"Of course I did. I was worried, especially since you didn't really look to be feeling good when I left you." Chloe pointed out with a soft smile.

"Oh, sorry about that. Yeah, well, the thing is, before you woke up last night, it had already been a few hours I was up and mixing so I guess I'm just really tired." Beca didn't see a point in lying to Chloe anymore, especially since the girl was reading her like an open when she tried so hard to be hermetic to the world.

"It's okay. What kept you up so long?" Chloe wondered, oblivious to Beca's discomfort.

The younger girl had really thought that if she gave Chloe just enough information, she'd be satisfied with it, but apparently, she never knew enough about her.

"Why so many questions?" Beca countered with an eye roll and a grin.

"You intrigue me." She simply said before getting on her feet, extending a hand for Beca.

The brunette took the help she was offering and got up on her feet, smiling. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to take the fact that she was intriguing Chloe but somehow, it made her feel good. Maybe she would drop some things along the summer. Beca never really meant to be so closed up, it was just easier for her since she had never been really good at speaking about her feelings. Also, it made it harder for her to be hurt by others, and right now, that was what she cherished the most: not being hurt anymore.

When they arrived back at the camp, everybody was around the campfire singing songs and clapping their hands. Beca rolled her eyes and scoffed, ready to make a comment when Chloe suddenly branched off their way.

"Woah!" Beca exclaimed, almost tripping on her twisted legs. "Where you going?"

"I don't want to be there." She simply stated, not judging necessary to inform her on their new goal.

"You did not answer me." Beca pressed on, digging her heels in the ground, yanking Chloe in a full stop.

"My favorite spot." She commented simply with a mischievous smile, tugging at Beca's hand.

They arrived at their destination ten minutes later. An abandoned dock was floating over a lake mirroring a shining full moon. Beca wanted to whistle, but the soft melody of crickets and frog made its way to her ears and she didn't want to interrupt such harmony. Instead, she gasped, looking at Chloe with an amazed look. The ginger was beaming with pride, knowing the place was slowly working its magic on her friend.

"I discovered this place with Aubrey as we were walking back from a hike. It was around noon, a few years back, and we were so mesmerized by the beauty of it, we decided to come back at night and found out it was even more heavenly." Chloe said with an almost sad smile to her face.

"Why the sad face, then? Aubrey is still your friend, and you still get to come here at night." Beca calmly said, scrutinizing Chloe's face for hints.

"Yeah, no, it's just that it's the first time I've come back here since… Since Hailey." Chloe sighed, and Beca's curiosity exploded.

"Who's Hailey?" She asked, obviously, even though the bitter smile Chloe shot her told her she shouldn't have demanded.

"Hey, that's not fair. Every time I ask a question, you dodge it, but now I'm supposed to pour my heart out to you?" she joked, mostly to dodge the question herself.

"Okay, I'll make a deal with you." Beca said, thinking for a moment if this was a good idea or not. "You tell me about Hailey, I'll tell you why I can't sleep at night."

They shook hands and walked to the end of the dock, where they sat, feet making slow circles in the water. They were still holding hands, but never cared to unlink their fingers.

"Hailey was my first crush. I met her here at fifteen. By that time, I knew I wasn't only attracted to boys, but I'd never acted on it. She was in Aubrey's dorm, and we met one night I snuck in there to hang out with Aubrey. That's one of our tradition; a sleepless night of eating candy and flipping through stupid teenage magazines. We clicked instantly, and it took a week before we kissed. Everybody knew she was an open lesbian, but nobody knew about me. Anyways, I brought her here one night, hoping to impress her, but that's the night she decided to dump me. We had been going out for about three weeks now, and we still had seven weeks to go at the camp. She told me she didn't like me anymore, and later on, we discovered that she had been making out with a few other girls, just because she thought it was fun. I had showed her my favorite place, my secret hideout because I trusted her, and she betrayed that. I know she came here with other girls for the rest of the summer, and ever since I had avoided to come back because the memory was still painful."

Somewhere while Chloe was talking, Beca had wrapped an arm around her shoulders, therefor letting for of her hand, only to find it resting on her bare thigh and burning her skin. She was rubbing mindless circles with her thumb, unaware of the things it did to the brunette.

"Woah… what a bitch!" Beca commented, wincing when Chloe slapped her leg. "Ouch, that was uncalled for."

"I just opened up to you, told you about my first girl crush and the first thing you say is 'what a bitch'. Your compassion is as inexistent as your coordination." Chloe shot back, giggling.

"That hurts. Now for sure there's no way I'm telling you about my problems." She had barely finished her sentence that Chloe pinched her. "Ow! Ok, ok, I'll talk." She abdicated with a chuckle.

Chloe had somehow found a way to snuggle closer to Beca, who took a deep breath, locking her gaze with her distorted reflection on the black water.

"I fall asleep really easily, but then I have trouble staying asleep, and I found that once I'm awake at night, I can never go back, so I stopped fighting it and I just stay up all night, working on mixes or simply listening to music. Then, during the day, I fall asleep almost anywhere, as soon as I'm alone and in a quiet space." She said, biting her upper lip out of nervousness, hoping Chloe would be satisfied with that answer.

Obviously, the redhead wasn't, and she gently nudged her on the side, making Beca smile sadly. She didn't need more hints, she knew what she wanted, the brunette was just unable to will herself to say it out loud. Feeling the familiar sting of tears in her eyes, she closed them only to be flooded with memories.

"My parents didn't always get along, but they made sure to never have their big fights in front of me. Somehow though, their hushed arguments when I was in bed always ended up in shouts and insults and would always wake me up. I would lay in bed and listen to my mom call him names while he cussed at her. Slamming doors and shrieks of utter annoyance became the usual night for me." She explained, feeling rather stupid for that half explanation, but Chloe seemed to be accepting this.

"But nobody screams at night here, why do you keep waking up then?" she wondered, her thumb now very consciously tracing little hearts on Beca's thigh.

"Chloe, you know, sometimes people aren't as comfortable as you with opening up." Beca countered, not willing to share that side of the story just yet.

She sighed but didn't insist, instead choosing to look at the pitch black sky where millions of stars were dancing around the moon. Beca's leg was burning with every move Chloe's finger made, and she tried to focus on that to make the bad memories go away quickly. It worked, but she got caught at her own game because now her mind was on a completely different track, and she wasn't sure that was better.

"Do you believe in God?" Chloe suddenly asked, startling Beca who was slowly drifting away in a dull state of mind.

"Chloe, does it ever occur to you that your questions might be tricky and not always easy?" the brunette countered with an eye roll and a smirk.

"Yes, but what's the point of asking easy questions?" She deadpanned, silencing Beca for long seconds. "So, do you?"

"Shut up." Beca chuckled, nudging her in the side with her opposite arm.


	7. Chapter 7

This wasn't supposed to happen when she was with Chloe. This wasn't supposed to be at all. Still, there she was, completely awake, sweat dripping down her forehead, eyes frantically searching through the thick darkness for something to lock gaze with. Chloe was fast asleep, her legs knotted with hers, one of her arm draped over her stomach. She was in a peaceful place; Beca could hear it in the constant and calm rhythm of her heart beating in contrast with the fast and uneasy pace of hers.

Slowly, she tried to untangle her body from Chloe's but the redhead clutched at her t-shirt tighter and Beca sighed. There was no way she could get out of this tricky position without waking her up.

They had decided ― or more like Chloe had decided ― to share a bed once again, since it felt so comfortable cuddling with the other. At least, that's what the ginger had pretended when she had thrown her leg over Beca's and slid an arm around her waist, her head already resting in the crook of her neck. Beca had stiffened, but relaxed minutes later upon feeling Chloe's breath slow down and deepen. She had fallen asleep not long after that, a smile still tugging at the corner of her lips as she replayed their evening together.

After a moment of silence by the lake, Chloe had shivered and Beca suggested they went back to the campfire with the others, to what the redhead agreed. So they arrived by Aubrey's side minutes later, and it felt slightly awkward for the two of them, realizing just how intimate that shared moment had been between them. Things were easy around here Beca found out, though, and she quickly hoped in the joyful atmosphere and sang along the childish songs.

The monitors called it a night and the duo easily fell back in their tight little bubble, arms linked and whispering softly in the walk back to the dorm after saying goodnight to Aubrey. The brunette had been longing to have a moment alone with Chloe once again ever since their almost-kiss this morning, but she wasn't about to admit that, even to herself. A tingling sense of relief flooded through her when Chloe invited herself in Beca's bed though, and it was with a grin that she rolled her eyes at the redhead before opening her arms.

The way she was now sticky with sweat and shivering from the cold breeze was the main reason she had let Chloe in in the first place. She had foolishly thought that since the redhead seemed to care so much about her and made her feel so good whenever she was around, maybe if she was next to her at night she wouldn't wake up. Nightmares do not abide by the laws of logic, though, and there she was, wondering why she had those even months after the event happened.

"What are you thinking about?" Chloe asked in a low breath.

"What makes you think I'm thinking?" Beca retorted after the initial shock of her words had passed.

"You're stroking my back like your life depends on it." The redhead answered with a giggle.

"Sorry." Beca realized she, indeed, had been rubbing circles on her friend's back for the past half hour probably.

"So, what were you thinking about to feel so tense?"

"Nothing." Beca pressed her eyes shut, pushing away the guilt of lying to the ginger in the back of her mind.

"Haven't you learned that lying to me isn't working yet?" She stammered with a little sigh before snuggling a little closer, as if she was trying to wrap all of Beca's body in her tight embrace.

"It's just that you have a way of making me want to speak that is really disturbing." Beca complained half-heartedly.

"Then why don't you just talk to me, Beca." Chloe's voice was so soft and kind, the brunette wanted to spill everything right then and there, but she instead pressed her lips tight together and smiled apologetically.

"Maybe."

She didn't fall back asleep, but Chloe did, and just the sound of her heavy and steady breathing was calming her raw nerves.

Morning found Beca humming softly in Chloe's hair, dark circles making her bloodshot blue eyes stand out even more. The redhead stirred, groaning and moaning like she had just woken up from a thousand years of sleeping, which made Beca smile.

"Good morning, ogre." The brunette said, her hand tickling lightly Chloe's side, who twitched and rolled away.

"Not funny." She mumbled before using Beca's offending hand as a cloth to wipe her sleepy eyes.

"Hey, that's my hand, you got two, use your own." She exclaimed, gently yanking her member away, the feel of Chloe's soft skin under her fingers still burning.

They didn't hear the footsteps approaching their bed, but heard loud and clear Aubrey's voice call them out.

"You've known each other for like, what, a week? Not even that long, and you're already invading her bed. I thought we had that conversation years ago when you decided my mattress was more comfy than yours and decided to crash every night starting the first of the summer."

Chloe buried her face in Beca's side, making the brunette jump under the ticklish feeling. She shot a surprised look at the red mane hiding her friend's features, a smile hanging at one corner of her mouth.

"Oh so this isn't the first time you've forced yourself in another girl's bed, then." Beca joked, poking at Chloe's side.

"Before she tries to make you think otherwise, I am completely straight." Aubrey felt the need to clarify that right now, knowing her friend was holding the innocent kiss she had shared with another girl one year in summer camp against her to try to make her realize she wasn't straight.

Aubrey was, though, or at least she's never fallen for another girl, and she was quite the happy teenager with her boyfriend of two years. Beca nodded, her palm open and her other hand imitating the gesture of taking note of this info, making Aubrey smile.

"If I have to come and get the two of you out of bed every morning for the rest of the summer, I expect half of your bacon slices every time we get some for breakfast." Aubrey said, looking deadly serious.

"Nobody touches my bacon." Beca deadpanned, pushing Chloe away to get up.

She wasn't that passionate about bacon, but she did, however, miss last night's dinner and so her last meal had been at lunch the day before. Her stomach approved of Beca's affirmation with a loud and strong growl.

"Heard that? If I don't feed it in the next ten minutes it's going to eat me alive. So come on, move your butt." Beca pressed on, rolling Chloe to the edge of the bed, her body pushed agaisnt the railing.

The two other girls were still laughing lightly from Beca's reaction as they exited the dorm and watched the brunette grunt out of frustration at their purposedly slow pace. They finally reached the cafeteria, and sat down to eat breakfast, which wasn't bacon after all.

Aubrey left them to run to the stables since she was having her first horseback riding lessons of the summer, and she said her teammate, Jessica, was already there. She promised Chloe she would tell her everything about her new partner another time, and left without another word. The brunette asked what they were supposed to do this morning and Chloe grinned at her so wickedly it scared Beca a little.

"What is it? Spill it out, Chloe. I do not like your face right now." Beca stammered, trying to read past the slightly creepy (but still oh so cute) smile.

"We, my dear, are heading to the cooking tent. We're baking tonight's dessert!" Chloe's excited squeal startled Beca, who jumped in fear of an attack when the redhead grabbed her by the shoulders with an even wider grin.

"Oh my, please say you're kidding." Beca's jaw dropped when Chloe shook her head. "What, exactly, are we baking then?"

"Brownies and cookies and apple pies and all sorts of things! Every team gets a different dessert. Haven't you noticed how there's always a bunch of things you can choose from at dinner every night?" Chloe's light chatter stopped when she saw Beca's long face. "What's wrong?"

"The last time I was allowed in a kitchen, I almost set the house on fire. I was trying to boil water to make some pasta because I was hungry." Beca simply said, still trying to imagine herself in a kitchen.

"Seriously? How can you burn water?" Chloe's shocked expression only made the shorter girl feel even more like an idiot. "You were young though, I'm sure you're going to do better today!" She piped up, unable to believe Beca could actually burn water.

"Chloe, it was last year." Beca replied with an eye roll. "It wasn't water I burned, it was the oil bottle's cap that fell off and spilled oil everywhere on the burning red stove. It caught on fire really quick and I ran upstairs to get my..." she stopped in the middle of her sentence, the word stuck in her throat.

She swallowed down the hard lump that had instantly formed, gripping at her throat like a choke hold, but forced herself to say it out loud.

"... Dad, and we had to call nine one one because the fire had caught on the kitchen gloves lying beside.

"Oh my God!" Chloe's answer reassured Beca, and she seconded her first opinion that the redhead was more shocked at her story than at the fact she had struggled to say the word "dad" out loud with one good look over her face.

"Yeah, so, are you still up to let me in that kitchen?" She half heartedly chuckled.

"Well I'll let you in, but you're not getting anywhere near the stove or anything that involves some kind of experience. You'll...mix the ingredients and stuff like that." She quickly linked her arm with Beca's and started to walk towards the cooking area.

"You will regret this, I promise you will." Beca simply answered, smiling in spite of herself when she felt Chloe's comfortable touch.

The ginger did regret her choice of letting Beca in the kitchen, and no longer than five minutes after they started ― or more like tried to start ― the recipe for a special kind of blueberries and banana cupcakes. The shorter woman had managed to spread whipped eggs everywhere along with margarine (when it clearly said butter in the book) and sugar. Chloe kicked her out before the monitor did, and promised her to bring her a bit of cookie dough for her effort.

Beca didn't really mind not participating in the activity, because she had found that she was enjoying her time more when she wasn't actually doing any of the camp's activities. She had much more fun and felt much more comfortable when she was being alone or with Chloe, or even with Aubrey, than surrounded by all these other girls she didn't know and who didn't know her.

The brunette walked back to the dorm, where she spent the rest of the hour and a half of the cooking lesson trying to get back some of the sleep she deeply missed last night. It wasn't going to happen though, because her bed smelled of Chloe, and her eyes just wouldn't stop staring at the ceiling as she imagined all kinds of scenarios of what could happen if she, in fact, decided to tell everything to Chloe. Everything wasn't something she had talked to to anybody, except Henry, but they knew each other since kindergarden and even when she tried to hide something from him (like that time in fifth grade when his parents wanted to throw a surprise party for him and had let Beca in the secret but he had guessed everything with one look at her and she had ruined everything) he would know shortly after.

The boy had a way to get into her mind that left Beca feeling like a ghost; translucid and pierced by the light of truth. She sometimes hated that he knew her so well, because she was always afraid he'd get bored of her and simply walk away from her life. She realized that Chloe had the same effect on her: she could see through her with no effort, and maybe that's what frightened Beca the most. She didn't mind that her best friend could do that, because she knew nothing would ever happen between them since he was, well, a boy, but with Chloe, it felt different. So different that Beca didn't realize she was calling Henry until he answered.

"Hey babe, what's up?" This stupid nickname had stuck from that one time they decided to confuse the hell out of everybody at school and pretend to go out with each other for a week or so.

"I think I'm going to talk to her." She simply said, feeling slightly stupid.

"Talk to her?"

"Yeah, as in tell her about... everything."

"Everything?" he questioned, not sure his best friend hadn't hit her head somewhere.

"Well, I don't know, we'll see. She asks a lot of question, you know. It's like she knows there's something wrong with me..."

"There's nothing wrong with you babe. " He cut in, feeling her roll her eyes but smile.

"Okay, anyway. She already knows I can't sleep at night because my parents used to fight so loud it'd wake me up. But then, of course, she had to ask why it was still keeping me up at night if they weren't here. I almost told her about you know who, but I just couldn't. Do you think it's too soon? That I should, like, I don't know... wait?"

"Wait for what, Beca? You're not proposing to her, you're going to open up. I've been waiting my whole life for you to do that with somebody else than me! And by somebody else I mean a girl. I'm a dude, I don't know shit about girls, and you know that. I mean, I've been out with a few, you know that, but I could never understand like another girl, as much as I've tried, I just can't. I think you should talk to her. Say what you want to say, don't try to force it, and just let it happen."

His words slowly sank in, and she was on the edge of tears when, as usual, he made her smile.

"So, tell me, do you plan to kiss her before or after spilling your guts out to her?"

"Dude, I never said I was going to kiss her! I don't even know if she likes me like that!"

"Oh, so that last text you sent me was a lie? Let's see if I remember well... 'Dude, she almost kissed me' and then you added about a thousand exclamation points and properly spelled the words 'kissed me' with a hundred spaces between the letters."

"Okay, so maybe I do want to kiss her, but that doesn't mean I'm going to do so." Beca fidgeted with an invisible thread on her shirt, bitting her bottom lip down, holding back the latest information she had learned on the redhead.

"Spill it." Henry said, his tone excited.

"What?" Beca tried to act all innocent, like she wasn't actually burning to tell him, but he knew better and remained silent. "Okay, so, she may or may not have had a crush on a girl when she was fifteen. And she may or may not have kissed that girl. Repeatedly."

Beca was trying to hide the giant grin from her face. It got wiped away quickly when she rolled on her belly, her cellphone away from her ear to avoid being killed by Henry's shrill of excitement, and saw Chloe standing at the head of her bed.

"I'll call you back." She said swiftly, almost whispering the words before ending the call.

"Were you talking about me?" Chloe immediately asked, and Beca tried to decipher her features to see if she was mad, or hurt, or anything else but this blank expression that she couldn't read (not that she had ever been good at reading anything other than obvious feelings)

"Maybe." she tried cautiously.

"To whom?"

"Henry." She replied, used to say that name and have everybody know who she was talking about. "My best friend." she informed upon seeing Chloe's eyebrow flick up.

"Oh. Well, the cooking class was dismissed early, and I wanted to know if you wanted to go for a walk or something?"

Beca would've prefered a direct afront rather than this unknown and she gulped with difficutly, nodding her head. Chloe seemed to aknowledge her nervousness, and she smiled softly, placing a hand over Beca's shoulder.

"Don't worry, you'll explain later." She said before smirking wildly, making Beca's insides twist.

"I'd rather explain right now." She heard herself say, catching Chloe off guard.

"Go on." She replied, curious, a smile still tugging at her lips.

Beca took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

This is it, Beca. You can do this, come on! It's not like you have to confess you've killed somebody! Please, don't mess this up!

Slowly, she smiled at the redhead before sitting straight in her bed, patting the spot next to her.

"Maybe you should come up, this might take longer than you think." She said softly.


	8. Chapter 8

_2 years ago_

_Beca tried to muffle the screams by pressing her palms hard against her ears, but nothing could make her un-heart what her father had just said. She was sitting in her bed, unable to move, shock distorting her features to the point where it hurt her. Slowly, though, like she was a ghost floating around the room, out of her body, she reached the window and opened it. The cold November wind made her shiver and she stopped, surprised she could still feel something. She threw her legs out and the freezing touch of the roof made her connect back with reality._

_She quickly and quietly ran back inside to grab a blanket, and then went out the window again. Sitting on the roof had always had a peaceful effect on her, and tonight was no different. Sure, it took longer for her mind to actually stop replaying her father's words and it took longer for her body to stop quivering from the sickness it brought to her, but eventually, the bright quarter of moon and the stars dotting the black sky worked their magic on her._

_The roof was the only place in her house she couldn't hear her parents fighting at night, and she had found that out one night when she tried to snuck out to escape the loud screams. Beca was softly crying, tears rolling down her face, and with each of them, a promise was broken._

_I promise to take you to Disneyland._

_I promise to be back before you go to sleep._

_I promise we'll go on vacation this summer._

_I promise I'm not going anywhere._

_All of these shattered in millions of pieces as she recalled what her father had said._

_"Pregnant? And you want to keep the baby? Don't you think one bad decision is enough?"_

_It was at this moment that Beca had lost it, her ears had shut out every sound but the ringing of her dad's last words, and her mind was wrapped in a shocked numbness._

"Hey, Beca… come back." Chloe's soft voice brought her back instantly and she looked at her, eyes still reflecting the wrenching memories.

"I'm sorry. You see, this is what keeps me up at night. Memories. I called Henry today because… because you make me want to talk so badly it hurts to stay silent. Because when I'm with you, I feel like when I'm with him, except you're a girl, so that makes it better. Henry… he's the one thing that kept me going, and nobody knows just how great he is. He's made some bad choices, he still does, but that doesn't mean he's not my best friend. He's been there for me at times everybody left, he's been the one holding me when I felt like I couldn't do it anymore. I know I'm fifteen, and still young, but people assume that I don't care just because I'm all closed up."

Chloe couldn't have been more confused, but one look at Beca's pleading features, she knew better than to speak up, instead placing a hand over the girl's knee, smiling.

"Anyway, I asked him if I should talk to you, and I was about to cry, because believe it or not, I'm very emotional about this…whole thing." Beca gestured to herself with a scoff, but Chloe's patient and kind smile gave her just enough courage to keep going. "He has a way of making me smile in the worse times, and he said something funny, well he thought he was being funny, and that reminded me of what you told me last night. I know I probably shouldn't have mentioned it to him, but I can't stop thinking about the other morning, when you…" She gulped audibly, the memories of that very morning flying back in her mind, locking the words in her dried throat.

"About that…" Chloe started, but she couldn't finish, because Beca held a hand in the air, trying to regain some composure.

"Don't. Please, don't apologize. Chloe, I'm not.. I'm just.. I…" Beca's mouth opened then closed repeatedly, but no words came out.

Her heart was pounding in her ears, her mouth was dry, a knot in her throat making it difficult for her to speak. Chloe remained silent, simply darting her blue eyes on Beca's distressed features, trying to find something to say before the brunette collapsed from stress in front of her. Somehow, seeing Chloe about to talk sparked up enough courage in Beca to speak before her and she opened her mouth again, but this time, words came out in a shaky voice.

"I guess that… what I'm trying to say is that… I like you. Like, like you a lot… And before you told me that story yesterday, I couldn't really be sure if it was safe to like you or not. Now that I know that you've liked a girl before, I thought that, maybe…. You would like me too."

Beca was suddenly very involved with her thumb ring, making it spin around her finger, anything that could get her humid eyes away from Chloe's face the longest. She felt a hand slowly rub her thigh, and immediately, she shot a puzzled look at Chloe before darting her steel blue eyes on the hand that was burning her skin. Her brain then processed what Chloe's expression looked like, and her head snapped up. She was smiling. Smiling like this was the best thing she heard in a long time. Her eyes were glistening with… with something Beca had never seen in any other girl's eyes but hers. She could remember the times she had told a girl with whom she had a good chemistry that she liked her, feeling her cheeks color the same pinkish color Chloe's face was right now, her eyes full of hope and that something she couldn't put a word on. Everything that she could see in Chloe's face now. Her brain slowly added the hints and she smiled too, baffled.

"You like me?" She had to ask, just to be sure, but seeing as Chloe only nodded slowly, unable to speak (which Beca thought was a bit weird since the girl had always something to say, and she felt kind of proud to have been able to silence Chloe that long with her words).

"Please, say something, you look like you're about to combust or something. " Beca pleaded when the redhead still hadn't said a word and was staring at her.

"You are just so… adorable!" She had squeaked the last word out before tackling Beca in her bed, making the structure creak in pain, giggling madly.

"I should have let you remain silence!" Beca joked, hugging Chloe tightly before closing her eyes to savor this moment.

When Chloe pulled her in a sitting position again, she didn't let go of her hand, instead she entwined their fingers, grinning like a little girl.

"Now this" and she lifted their joined hands with an even bigger smile "has a whole knew meaning." She finished before kissing Beca's hand softly.

"But.. wait." Beca said as she realized Chloe thought they were done. "I should probably tell you that, well… I've liked girls before, but it's the first time one of them actually likes me back… like that." She mentioned, lifting once again their glued palms.

"Me too." Chloe replied with a wink.

"But… what about…" She started, but the ginger pulled her arm, tugging at it for her to follow her down the ladder.

"Hailey? She didn't like me. I thought she did, but nope. This is new territory for me too, Beca. I've been with boys, liked a few, but a girl? I kissed one, maybe two, but nothing like you." She confessed, fidgeting with her bottom lip, looking at the brunette from under her eyelashes, almost making her faint from everything that flipped, jumped, twisted, contorted inside of her in order for her features to remain impassible.

"Oh, okay then." She simply answered back, not wanting to try at a more complex answer for fear she would start squealing out of excitement and joy.

They walked out of the dorm just in time to see all the girls rush to the cafeteria while the bell announcing lunch was ringing loudly. They smiled at each other before starting to run with the others to be on time. Today was a special day because it was the last day of the first week, which meant the first barbecue of the summer.

Aubrey ran to them with a big smile on her lips, dragging behind her another blonde that had a smile as bright and wide as Chloe's friend.

"Chloe! Chloe! You have to come see this!" She shouted as she approached.

The redhead was up but waited for the duo to make a full stop in front of them to ask what happened.

"The mare, she had her foal this night!" Aubrey was slightly panting, which made Beca roll her eyes ; could the blonde be any more perfect than this?

"Please tell me you're not joking." Chloe asked cautiously, even though Beca could hear the excitement in her voice.

"I promise we're not!" The other blonde said, bouncing up and down with her hands tightly clutched in front of her. "I'm Jessica by the way." She added, extending a hand to Chloe.

"I'm Chloe. And this mute right there is Beca." She answered, motioning to Beca and smiling as she awkwardly shook Jessica's hand, her mouth still full of her last bite of hot-dog.

"So, are you coming?" Aubrey asked, already backing away with Jessica.

"Sure! Beca, you have to come with us!" She looked so adorable, Beca actually shoved the rest of her hot-dog in her mouth (she wasn't about to leave that to the flies, come on.) and swallowed it audibly before jumping on her feet.

"Let me see that… what you call it? Foil?" She said, trying to look as excited as the others, but failing miserably when she snorted.

"Foal, Beca. Now come on." Jessica said before Aubrey could retort something, Chloe watching her closely.

She knew too well how her best friend could get when something she was passionate about was being targeted, and she softly glared at her. Aubrey pouted, but didn't make a comment. While they were leaping ― Beca had tried to walk, but Chloe fast pace was making it difficult, and she had to resort to follow her, still trying to coordinate her moves so she wouldn't trip on her own feet ― Chloe smiled at her before telling her about Aubrey's passion for horses.

"Please, try to be nice, Aubrey is really passionate about horses, and so am I. Her father isn't really what you would call very encouraging, and he doesn't approve of her wish to become a show jumping champion. Summer camp is the only place where she can really talk openly about her passion for horses, and she can be quite… unreceptive to comments or anything."

"At least, we have that in common." Beca scoffed, more from hearing about Aubrey's dad than because she was passionate about horses.

"You like horses too?" Chloe asked, looking genuinely happy about it.

"Uh.. no, I meant the daddy part." Beca said sternly, thanking whoever was up there that they had arrived at the field.

Aubrey took Chloe's hand and rushed her to the fence, where they watched a one-day old foal fool around and trot happily.

"Gee, he's not even a week old and he can run better than me." Beca joked, earning herself a half-glare from Aubrey, before she realized that it wasn't a negative comment, and her scowl turned into a snort.

A monitor came by and since she knew Aubrey and Chloe very well, she asked them if they'd like to help her get the horses back in the stable. Looking around, Beca saw about five other horses grazing and she was about to tell Chloe she'd wait for her at their next activity when the redhead took her hand.

"Come on, you're going to help me with Captain, he's hard to catch when he knows you."

"But Chloe, I've never even been close to a horse." Beca stated, smiling apologetically.

"It's okay, that's the point : if he doesn't know you, curiosity will get the better of him and he'll come right at you." She answered, tugging at Beca's hand for her to follow her toward the last field.

"Come right at me? That doesn't sound good." Beca pointed out, reluctantly walking with the redhead.

"He won't touch you, I promise."

Beca was still really unsure when she got in the grazing field, watching closely this giant animal who immediately lifted its head from his green pasture.

"Chloe, Chloe, what do I do?" Beca asked nervously as the horse slowly started it's trotting towards her.

"Just stand still! And when he's close to you, clip the leash to his licol and then bring him back to the fence, I'll take it from there."

"uh…Okay!" Beca called out, her eyes locked on the massive horse moving swiftly her way.

As he was about to hit her, she put her hand in front of her and looked away, only to feel the soft skin of his nose pushing in the palm of her hand. She waited for the rest of the impact, but when she risked a look at the horse, his ears were standing up right on his head, and his big eyes were staring at her with what she swore was mischief, his nostrils flaring as he was sniffing out her hand, then her arm, before breathing out a hot and sticky sigh in her neck, making her giggle as it tickled her. She slowly placed a hand over his forehead, and he bent his neck downward, eyes half closed, waiting for something apparently. She started to scratch the spot where her hand was placed, and he nudged her in the chest, making her fumble backward. He took a step towards her, placing his forehead on her chest, looking so comfortable Beca almost forgot she had to clip the leash on and walk him back to the fence.

She did so, and realized she was grinning wildly only when Chloe pointed it out to her with a smirk.

"So you do like horses." She stated with joy.

"I may or may not have had a phase where I was all about horses…" Beca started slowly, only to have her eardrum pierced by Chloe's shrill.

"That is so awesome! You have to come with Aubrey and me then! We're going to apply to be the care givers to the mare and her foal for the summer. You so need to do this with us!" She chirped, leading Captain back in his box.

"Uh… okay." She gave in, mostly because even though she wouldn't admit it, she liked the idea of being around horses, even though her last memory of horses involved the very someone she wanted to avoid thinking about.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N : sorry this is a really short chapter! I'm in New Orleans until Saturday, and I'll get home really late so no updates before Sunday should be expected after this! I'm sitting in my hotel updating this and writing chapter ten while my girl is still sleeping, but I don't have much time! I also wanted to thank all of the followers, reviewers, i really appreciate your support and I hope you'll like this chapter even if it's short! AND I know you want a kiss, and you want them to get together, but just be patient, it'll come... Also, new character introduction next chapter ;) as always, let me know what you think of this chapter it makes me really happy to read your comments :D**

Today had been a day Beca had hoped to not come so fast, but a part of her was glad it did finally arrive. She would be able to stop worrying so much about it, plus it would give her a chance to see Chloe get all mushy and gooey. The redhead was disgustingly adorable when she was around horses, and today was their turn to get up early to go feed them and change their box litter.

It had been a couple of days since Beca had confessed her crush for Chloe, and they hadn't really talked about it, but the brunette could sense that her friend was waiting for her to make a move. She knew Chloe was being respectful, and she liked that, but she didn't know if she could actually take the first step. Sure, there had been lingering hands, almost goodnight kisses and they were glued by the hip together at all time, but they hadn't talked about what they were. It stressed Beca more than she would admit, and while Chloe was getting ready, the brunette went out of the dorm.

She was clutching her cellphone, knowing all too well how early it was, but she dialed Henry's number anyway.

"You better be dying and calling to say goodbye." He answered in a groggy voice.

"Good morning to you too, sunshine." Beca replied with a chuckle.

"Okay, what happened?" He said, all serious but still sounding very asleep.

"Okay, you have to tell me how in hell you can tell there's something when I didn't say anything." Beca was taken aback by his reading talent and she heard him laugh softly.

"Beca, you don't understand, do you? You're a part of me. When you don't feel right, I don't. Haven't slept at all, have you?" He said, yawning. "I fell asleep at about five, it had been ten minutes and then you called."

"No, I haven't slept." She said simply, deciding to accept his answer because she didn't see anything else to add. "I'm still having nightmares, I don't know why. I should be sleeping like a baby, she's got a way of making me feel so good. I'm afraid to make a move, though, because what if when I tell her, she thinks I'm a total nutcase and runs away?"

She heard Henry take a long breath and let it out before he spoke again, and she knew he had lit up a joint.

"Those nightmares aren't going to stop until you face your dad. You know it, Beca." He said, and she closed her eyes, her jaw clutched tight.

She knew he was right, but she couldn't bring herself to do that, especially since she was supposed to be alright with everything that had happened. At least, that's what she told her mother. She wasn't, though, and she could feel the pressure of tears building behind her closed lids.

"I have to go." She said trough greeted teeth, and heard him nod.

She hung up, desperately needing something to distract her from thinking about her father. Chloe came out of the dorm seconds later, and while her eyes were yearning to ask what happened, her mouth simply smiled and she hooked Beca's arms, already jumping up and down in excitement.

As soon as the redhead touched her, Beca felt a fire burn in her stomach, and she looked down at their entwined members, clenching her jaw to avoid doing anything stupid. Chloe was sporting a very short pair of shorts and a fitting black tank top, with working boots. Beca could see every details of her musculature; the way her thigh bulged when she squatted to lift something heavy, the way her biceps contracted when she used her arms, the way her back muscles moved anytime she had her back to Beca. Something kept on flipping in her guts, and a throbbing sensation she wasn't quite sure about was distracting her greatly.

When Chloe came to her, wiping her forehead with her forearm, and smiled at her, Beca swore she was combusting right there in the hot and damp box where she was lifting handfuls of clogged manure and dung.

"Want some water?" Chloe asked, and before Beca could think about what she said, the words came out of her mouth.

"It's not water I'd like right now."

Chloe's eyes jumped on Beca and a smirk toyed at her lips as her eyebrows shot up her forehead.

"I mean… yeah… water… please." Beca's face became as red as the shovel she was handling and she quickly took the water bottle Chloe was handing her.

She didn't let go of it though, instead pulling Beca by it, making the younger girl stumble. She caught her before she fell, and her hand snaked around her waist, her fingers sliding under her shirt. Chloe darted her pale blue eyes on Beca, locking her gaze with the shorter girl.

"What would you like right now, Beca?" She breathed out slowly as her eyes kept going back to her lips.

Beca's throat was suddenly very dry, and she licked her lips, trying to find something to say. Instead of words, she found herself leaning in, cautiously closing the distance between their mouths. As she was about to kiss her, they heard a loud noise coming from the end of the stable aisle. Immediately, Beca jumped a few feet away and went back to shoveling poop out of the horse's box. Aubrey came rushing in, and Chloe glared at her, but the blonde waved her anger away with her hand. She waved at Beca, who smiled, her cheeks so red it was suspicious.

"Aubrey… hi!" Chloe's over enthusiastic tone went over Aubrey's head like it was nothing.

"Hi! You won't believe this! They gave us the job! We're going to be the foal's care givers!" She said excitedly, to what Chloe couldn't help but react by mirroring her wide smile.

"Are you serious? That's so cool!" Chloe hoped on the squealing train in no time, and she turned to Beca. "Did you hear this? We're going to spend so much time down here, I promise it'll be so much fun!"

Beca almost choked on her own breath when she looked at Chloe. Her tone was light and innocent, but her eyes reflected something that made Beca's knees buckle under her and she was happy she had her shovel to lean on. Something told her they would, in fact, have a lot of fun down here. She just wasn't sure this was the same fun Aubrey thought about when she nodded happily.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N : you guys are lucky! I had just enough free time on my vacation to finish up chapter ten! I hope you'll enjoy it, and I may not have told you this, but reading your reviews is what really keeps me going. I love you all, dear readers, and I sure hope you're going to like this chapter! Let me know what you think of it! Today is my last day in New Orleans, we're waiting for the airport shuttle to pick us up, I might try at writing chapter eleven while waiting for our flight back home but otherwise, I'll most likely update sometimes on Sunday or early in the next week :) Thanks to y'all for the follows, likes and reviews! :D**

Beca has been at the summer camp for about two weeks now, and even though she would still deny it if asked, she was enjoying herself more every day. Of course, the redhead's company would've probably made a trip to the center of a volcano something fun. Throughout the rest of the week after their little stable exchange, they had bantered and flirted with each other, but none of them had actually made a move. The brunette had butterflies exploding in her stomach whenever Chloe was around, and she couldn't ignore them anymore because at night, fire red hair would haunt her dreams.

It's not that she minded, it's just that it was quite distracting because she was still trying to avoid all of her questions. Henry had given her all of the pep talk she needed every time she had called him (which was a lot of times for what they were used too, but he never complained whatever hour it was) but she just couldn't bring herself to actually spill her heart out to Chloe. Her walls were slowly and steadily crumbling down and she was now initiating physical contact before Chloe did. It had become a habit for them to have their hands glued together and the side glances they exchanged weren't invisible to everybody anymore.

"You two should get a room." A girl called from the end of the table where they were sat, eating lunch.

"Excuse me?" Chloe shot, smiling and darting her gaze towards the stranger.

"Don't apologize, it's okay. I would stare too if you'd been a guy." The girl smiled brightly, like what she had just said was absolutely normal.

"I wasn't…staring." Beca defended herself meekly, trying to comprehend what was happening right now.

"It's fine, really. I mean, yeah, I could stare at her too, just.. look at that mane!" The dark-haired stranger answered, smiling mischievously.

"Who are you to think you can talk like that about my best friend?" Aubrey jumped in, her eyebrows almost touching in the middle of her forehead.

"My name's Stacie, what's yours?" Obviously, Stacie was completely oblivious to the fact she had just made Beca combust out of embarrassment while stinging Aubrey's prude side.

"I'm Aubrey. This is Beca, and the 'mane' is Chloe." Aubrey answered curtly, but the brown haired girl's smile didn't falter, instead she extended her hand, which the blonde shook almost reluctantly.

"Oh!" Stacie shot, yanking Aubrey's hand to get a closer look. "You have so nice looking fingers! I can't even find one cuticle. Sweet!"

She released Aubrey's hand and she quickly hid it on her lap, making both Chloe and Beca grin. They knew how neat and tidy the girl was, and even if she wanted to still appear pride hurt by Stacie's rude interruption, she was internally smiling at the compliment.

"We're not… together." Beca interrupted, motioning to Chloe and her.

"Yeah, sure." Stacie replied with a wink before turning to Aubrey and sparking up a conversation about her nails.

The brunette felt Chloe's burning gaze on her face, and she didn't dare to look at her face, knowing all too well the hurt she would find. Beca wanted to kick herself for that, and she promised herself to talk to Chloe later on. She took Chloe's hand, rubbing her thumb against the soft skin, but she knew she had messed it up.

They finished lunch shortly after, and the pair was to go in the art tent to work on their costumes. Beca had finally caved in and agreed to make a duo with Chloe. They kept their costumes a secret to everybody, but when the brunette had seen the first sketches, she had winced.

"You _have_ to be kidding, Chloe." She had said, but one look at Chloe's proud and wide smile told her she wasn't. Not at all.

"Why? This is cute, and original!" she had replied, holding the drawings in front of her.

"But it's so _corny_." Beca had whined, shaking her head when her friend shrugged and pressed her to go get the fabrics they'd need.

Today, though, when Chloe went to grab their costumes hidden somewhere nobody would find it (not even Aubrey) Beca rummaged through her memories, trying to find something that would work to get Chloe to forgive her rudeness. She hadn't meant it as in she didn't want them to be together, she meant it… she didn't even mean it, in fact, she realized as she thought about it. She wanted to be with Chloe. So bad. When said Chloe came back with their work, Beca took a deep breath.

Stepping in front of her friend, she stopped her in her way to their working table, and for just a second, she thought about flying away, about apologizing for blocking her way and not say anything.

_Come on, Beca, don't do this. You got this._

She closed her eyes for just a second to collect her frantic thoughts, then opened her mouth to speak.

"I am so fucking scared, Chloe. I didn't mean what I said, about us not being… together. I want to be with you. Badly. I'm just not sure I can. I swore to myself I'd never get hurt by anybody else after… after my dad left us. Then you came charging in, demanding all of my attention and I kinda wanted to give it all to you, then you wanted my story, and I also kinda wanted to give it to you. I don't know where I'm going, I don't know shit about anything, but I know this : I like you. Like a lot, really, and these past weeks have been excruciating for me because I'm a coward. "

She finally closed her mouth, and when she was faced with a silence, she tried to backpedal, to take back her words as the all too familiar sting of tears made its way to her eyelids. Chloe simply didn't have words to answer to that, so instead, she did what she did best in those situation; she showed Beca what she wanted to say.

It came as a soft tackle that made her stumble backward until her bottom was stopped by the table. It continued with hands snaking around her waist, thumbs slipping under her shirt. It ended with Chloe's lips on hers, soft and sweet, and Beca was too shocked for a second or two to actually return the kiss. When she did, her body went all rigid and mushy at the same time, making her knees buckle under her while her arms rose to meet with Chloe's neck. They broke apart for a gulp of air, and, eyes closed and mouths hungry, went straight back to their fiery kiss.

"I would never do anything to hurt you, Beca." Chloe softly whispered in her ear, smiling kindly.

"I know you mean well, but you know, everybody hurts others at some point, it's human nature. " Beca stated with a sad smile before nudging a pouting Chloe. "C'mon, we got work to do. These costumes aren't going to sew themselves!"

Chloe rolled her eyes at Beca's overly enthusiast expression but couldn't help the grin tugging at her lips. They worked in silence for a few minutes before the redhead spoke up again. She had questions that kept flowing through her mind; in fact, they had been there the whole time, but she simply never had the nerve to actually ask them. It was weird for her, to be shy to ask questions, when with anybody else she would've just jumped in and spoke her mind. With Beca, though, it was different, because the redhead knew that one false move could make the younger girl jolt away, and it had been hard enough to earn her trust in such little time, she wasn't about to risk losing it all out of curiosity.

"Beca, what made you so closed up and almost out of reach?" She suddenly blurted out, instantly covering her mouth with her hand afterwards.

She tried to take back her words, but already, she saw Beca sigh heavily and stop her meticulous hand sewing.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked. You know you can talk to me whenever, I didn't mean to pu―" she was cut off by Beca's sweet but bitter smile just before she opened her mouth to speak.

"I told you about my parents fighting. I may have left a bigger part out. " She started, putting down her piece of fabric.

"It's okay, Beca, I shouldn't have asked you that. It was inconsiderate." Chloe offered her an apologetic smile, but the brunette shook her head.

She had promised Henry that if Chloe asked, she would answer. She didn't think she'd have to say it so soon after their conversation, but she was ready. Chloe had promised she would never hurt her, right? A part of Beca truly wanted to believe her, she wanted to trust her with all her heart. But it was harder than it looked. _Why does feelings have to be so complex?_ She thought to herself, sighing once again before patting the seat next to her.

"I promised my best friend I wouldn't hide behind lame excuses anymore. I think I owe you this since you're the first person that worked through all of my defenses. And in so little time. It's kind of really badly scary how much I wanted to tell you everything right after the first day we met. I'm not very talkative, but you know that." She chuckled half-heartedly, avoiding Chloe's oceanic eyes.

"About two years ago, that's when it really got bad. My mother got pregnant, and she wanted to keep the baby, but my dad didn't want her too." _One mistake is enough_, she left that part out, gulping audibly before pressing on the words to come out. "He threatened to leave if she kept it, so she got an abortion. My dad was my mom's first real love, she hadn't known any other man but him all her life. He knew that. After that, things just got worse and worse. Every night, they'd bicker about stupid stuff. When it came to my grades going down, my dad blamed it on Henry and my mom's lack of authority. She blamed it on his late shifts and his absence."

_And I blamed it on me. I thought I was a mistake, an accident, and they never really wanted me around, at least _he_ didn't. I had heard him loud and clear that night. I blamed it on my bad grades, on my attitude. I swore I was going to change. Then I'd hear my mother cry herself to sleep at night and blame it all on him._

She stayed silent for a while, trying to collect her thoughts and sort what she was going to tell Chloe and what she would keep quiet about. When she looked at the redhead, she could feel her eyes tear up, but she was passed the point of caring about looking all independent and not-caring.

"He left us about six months ago. They had filed a divorce, but he was still living at our house, they said it was for my sake, but really, my mom just didn't have the courage to kick him out even when he treated her like shit. I stopped talking to him almost a year ago, and he tried to get me on his side, but I was so angry at him, so hurt that he would break my mom down like this, that he would break _me_ down like this, I shut him out. He was the first, then everybody was shut out of my life. My mom still tries, but it's just easier to build those walls than to try again. My whole childhood, he told me to be myself, to follow my dreams, but when those dreams didn't turn out to be the ones he had planned, then he wanted me to change. The final blow came with my coming out, and he blamed it on my mother's sister, who's a lesbian too. He wanted to take me away, but I fought it, and my mom too."

She took a deep breath, pushing aside all of the memories with her dad, all of their fights and his poor attempts at making up.

"I swore I'd never let anybody get close to me as I was with my dad. Henry's the only one who's still around. As a kid, I didn't have a lot of friends. My dad was my best friend, aside from Henry. Then I didn't grow out to be the daughter he wanted, so I wasn't worthy of his attention and love anymore." She finished, the bitterness biting at her tongue like a venomous snake, filling her mouth and leaving her throat dry as a desert.

The brunette angrily wiped the tears that had rolled down her cheeks, but when she rose her hand to do the same on her left side, Chloe's hand was quicker. Slowly, she erased the drop of salty water from the corner of her eyes, her palm irradiating a soft and comforting heat while she pressed it against the side of her face.

"Beca, I couldn't have asked for a better version of you. You're amazing, and beautiful, and worth so much more than you think." Chloe said in a low voice, her words like a calming balm on Beca's frenetic track of thoughts, spinning in every direction and not all good ones.

Slowly, like they were caught in time, almost frozen, Chloe pulled the younger girl closer, enveloping her in her arms, shielding her face from the outside world, burying her features in her abundant hair, washing away the tears on her cheeks.

The bell announcing the end of their activity found the duo hurrying to pack everything they were working on. It was an hour later, and they had fell back into a comfortable silence, humming together as they sewed, cut and folded their matching costumes together.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N : So this chapter is a little (a lot) emotional, but I still hope you will like it! Also, I,m sorry for the long wait, you are angels for waiting for me! There is a lot still planned for this story, and I hope you'll stick around for more! PLUS there's a little surprise for all the Jessley shippers ;)**

* * *

It's weird how someone can abruptly barge into your life and if it had been any other person, you would've pushed them away as quickly as they had come rushing into you, but simply because it's that person, you open your arms and welcome them warmly, like they're running home and they're not a stranger. It's like you've known each other forever even though it's been a month since you first said hello. It's like that person is an extension of yourself rather than another human being even though you've never held their hand before a month ago.

It felt weird for Beca to lie down at bedtime and not feel alone anymore. Mostly it was because Chloe usually crept up in her bed right after the lights were shut and everything was quiet, but also partly because she wasn't lonely like before. Chloe was always ready to listen to her, and after she had told her about her dad, the redhead hadn't pushed her and things went back to being easy. Beca had feared they would get tangled and fall out because summer was supposed to be fun and light, not heavy and dark because of her issues.

"What are you thinking about?"

Chloe's quiet voice brought Beca back to the reality, their reality, and she smiled in the crook of the redhead's neck, tightening her arms around her waist.

"How this feels so unreal. How you feel so unreal. How this is the most perfect moment of my life." Beca replied softly, her breath tickling Chloe's skin.

The redhead knew she was supposed to smile back, but instead, her smile froze at the corner of her lips, just as she was about to answer back. She felt her heart tighten at one simple but ugly truth. Tears stung behind her closed eyelids and she reaffirm her grip onto Beca's hips, pulling her closer to her body.

"I love you."

Three little words, barely spoken, merely a whisper, that sent Beca's world spinning behind her closed eyes in an instant. She stiffened in Chloe's arms, and the ginger wished she hadn't said those words. Beca heard her girlfriend's ― because that's what they were, weren't they? ― heartbeat jump to the roof, and she slowly placed a hand over it, her eyes still firmly pressed shut, and she took a deep breath.

"I love you too."

There, she had said it back. Her tongue was thick in her mouth, her heart was stomping in her chest, but the fluttering of Chloe's heart made her smile as she knew she had done it right. For once, you did the right thing, she thought to herself as she tasted the salt in Chloe's tears of relief, kissing them away.

Falling asleep proved harder than she had gotten used to for Beca that night. She lied in bed, Chloe's arm safely wrapped around her, and even the ginger's steady and calm heartbeat wouldn't bring sleep to her tired mind and body. Today had been Chloe's favorite day of the week because they had to wake up an hour before everybody to go take care of the horses, then they had to go on with their day like they weren't already exhausted (Beca was, but Chloe seemed to be even more energetic after breakfast). Today had been Beca's least favorite day of the week, not because of the horses, but simply because of the exhaustion it brought to her when lunch came and all she wanted to do was take a nap until dinner.

So why couldn't she fall asleep now that she had the chance to?

Because she couldn't stop thinking about what had happened. Did she say she loved her? Did she say it back because she felt like Chloe was about to break down? Did she really meant those words, or did they just escaped her lips before she could really think about them? Questions racked her mind, keeping sleep far away as dark circles slowly stained the skin under her eyes. The only thing she wanted to do was call Henry because she knew he'd have the answers she was looking for.

When the dormitory slowly started to be less dark, Beca sighed; morning was coming and she still hadn't been able to sleep for more than fifteen minutes at a time. A smiling Chloe hummed a good morning in her tangled hair a few moments later, and Beca decided she wasn't going to tell her she had had a maximum of one hour of sleep throughout the night. She faked a yawn and rolled over so she could stir, but Chloe had other plans in mind. Snaking her arms around Beca's waist once again, she snuggled close, her nose tickling in the brunette's neck, making her squirm.

"Chloe, I'm trying to stir here, I'm a little bit sore from staying in the same position all night." Beca pleaded, but the redhead only shook her head, tickling her even more.

A giggle escaped her lips and Chloe's head shot up, surprised by the sound.

"What?" Beca puffed out, trying to escaped Chloe's deathly grip when she saw her smirk wide.

"You. Are. The. Most. Adorable. Person. Ever." Chloe detached each word, planting a peck on her lips with every one she said, smiling so brightly Beca was almost blinded.

"Am not." She retorted, wiggling her way out of the redhead's embrace.

Chloe rolled her eyes, letting go of her waist so she could stretch her arms and legs out, feeling her muscles resist. Her shoulders made a popping sound when she rolled them backwards, making Beca wince in disgust. Slowly but surely, they awoke completely, and Aubrey soon walked in with Jessica, both of them smiling like something great had just happened.

"Why are you smiling so hard before breakfast?" Beca ask warily, climbing down her bed.

"Oh my God!" Chloe piped up, knowing all too well that look on her best friend's face. "You have something big to announce. Shoot!"

She pushed past Beca, making the brunette lose her balance momentarily, and she grabbed Aubrey by the hands, eyes almost popping out when the blonde finally said what she had to say.

"We can name him!" Her voice was so high-pitched with excitement it made Beca flinch.

"Are you serious?!" Chloe's voice was so close to Aubrey's, Beca put her hands over her ears, trying to muffle their overly excited shrieks.

"Since it's our last summer here, and we're in charge of taking care of him, they agreed to let us name him! It has to be a short and sweet name, though, nothing too fancy." Jessica explained with a smile so big Beca was sure it would break her cheeks.

"I'm sure you'll find something cute. Now come on, can we got eat before my stomach eats itself?" Beca interrupted with an almost-pleading smile.

"We will find something cute, of course!" Chloe retorted, linking their arms and exiting the dorm.

Beca wasn't too certain she'd be of any help in naming the foal, but the lack of sleep and the feeling of Chloe's hands resting on her arm was enough to make her nod simply and walk in silence to the cafeteria.

Breakfast was like heaven in Beca's gurgling stomach, and when she seemed a little off, like she wasn't totally herself today, Chloe put it on her hunger and continued to talk with Aubrey and Jessica while holding Beca's hand under the table. When she still only flashed a half smile to Chloe whenever she looked at her, the redhead put that on her confusion over their non-stop babbling about horse names. When she caught her gaze going out of focus for the third time in five minutes, Chloe put it on her short attention span (Beca had, actually, told her she couldn't focus for long on something unless it was her music).

"Chloe, I think I'm going to skip this morning's riding lesson, okay?" Beca suddenly said as they were heading towards the stables.

"But we have to clean the mare's box and then we were going to ride in the forest!" Aubrey protested, althought Beca's gaze was fixed on the ground and she couldn't see the look of disappointment in her friend's face.

"Yeah, Beca, we got the green light for riding in the forest because we're the best riders and we've been coming here since we were five. We know the horses better than some of the monitors here. That's a unique privilege we've got, why would you want to miss it?" Chloe asked, hurt apparent in her even tone.

"I just, I'm not feeling too well, okay? Can I just meet up with you after your ride in the forest? Please?" Beca wasn't one to beg, but she could feel her body aching for sleep while her mind was completely out of function.

"You don't look really good, Beca, do you want for one of us to come with you to the nurse station?" Jessica asked, worry painted all over her soft features.

"No, no, I'll be alright, I think it's just some discomfort, nothing that a few moments of tranquility won't make it go away." She tried to smile convincingly, but the corners on her mouth faltered shortly after.

They nodded, and watched as she turned around and started to walk back to their dorm. Aubrey put a hand on Chloe's arm when she made a move to go after her. Tears were building at the corners of her best friend's and the blonde gulped down the lump forming in her throat.

"She just needs some time alone, Chloe, it's alright. We'll ride and you can talk to her when we come back. Okay?" Aubrey pulled the redhead in a tight hug while Jessica rubbed slow circles on her back.

"I think I scared her away." She admitted after a few moments.

They had resumed walking towards the stables, Jessica on her left while Aubrey was on her right side. Chloe stopped in her track, tears already blurring her vision.

"Why would you say that?" Jessica asked in a soft tone.

They had known Jessica since they were ten, but never really had spoken because usually Chloe would be paired up with Aubrey and Jess would be with Ashley, but this summer, Ashley couldn't make it, and instead she had been paired up with Aubrey. Over the last few weeks, they had became a close knitted group of friends, and Jessica didn't feel like a new comer anymore, even though she missed her old friend Ashley, she was getting along pretty well with Aubrey, being the first one since Chloe to put up with her bossiness and her need to be in control.

Chloe smiled sadly and looked at her shoes before speaking up, her voice shaky with emotion and tears slowly rolling down her flushed cheeks.

"I told her I love her."

The two girls gasped in surprise; surely they didn't expect such a revelation. After the initial shock, Aubrey was the first to wrap her arms around Chloe's sobbing shoulders, stroking her hair slowly to soothe her. Jessica was fidgeting with her hands, internally debating whether or not she should speak up. She decided she should, because Chloe needed support more than anything right now, and she thought that maybe this would help her.

"Chloe, have I ever told you about the first time I fell in love?" She said, a smile slowly curling her lips up.

The redhead was a bit confused, but she shook her head nonetheless, frowning. Aubrey was about to say something, but Jessica looked at her with an almost pleading look on her face, and the blonde shut her mouth tightly.

"I fell in love for the first time here, in this summer camp." She started, and Chloe's curiosity kicked away her worries immediately. "I was fifteen I think. It was my fifth summer here, and my fourth year being paired-up with Ashley. I think you can see where this is going, but anyways. Yeah, I fell in love with her, and at first she didn't even reciprocate my feelings. I was afraid it would break our friendship apart. She was the only one here during my first summer who saw through my happy and jolly smile. She was the one who came to talk to me when I was so nervous about my first activity even though we weren't even paired up. I have anxiety, it might not show all the time, but I do. I get super anxious for nothing, and Ashley saw that. She would always calm me down during activities because I would get worked up for nothing. At first, like I said, she told me she didn't love me back. I remember it like it was yesterday, and I was so hurt. She said that she had never been in love with someone, so she couldn't possibly know if what she felt for me was love. I was sure of it, I don't know why, i can't really explain it, but I was certain I was in love with her."

Jessica stopped for a moment, frowning but still smiling, and she looked directly at Chloe when she opened her mouth again.

"A few days later, she climbed in my bed while i was asleep and she woke me up with tears in her eyes and a smile so wide I was blinded. She said 'Jess, I'm sorry I couldn't say it back, I'm still not sure I can, but I want to take a chance on you, if that's okay'. I nodded, and she kissed me."

She stopped talking for a moment, grinning as the memories of that night came charging back.

"Are you still together?" Aubrey asked, a smile curling up one corner of her mouth.

"We are, and do you know why I wanted to tell you this story, Chloe?" She said, squeezing the redhead's arm softly as they entered the stables. "Because I think Beca loves you too, but she doesn't know if she's ready to do so. She's afraid, Chloe. She's fifteen, you're almost eighteen and she's probably in love for the first time too."

"But she said it back…" Chloe said, feeling Jessica's word sank in slowly but still not quite convinced.

"Not everybody is comfortable saying they can't say it back because they're unsure, Chloe. I'm sure she'll come around, give her a little time. There's no doubt it's more than a crush between the two of you." The shorter blonde said, giving Chloe a reassuring smile.


	12. Chapter 12

Beca swallowed the guilt down with half a water bottle and an Aspirin for her headache once she was back to the dorm. Walking away from their plan hadn't been her initial intention, but as they were walking to the stables, Beca could feel her chest tighten as sudden realization of what saying back those words to Chloe meant. Her already throbbing headache had picked up its hammering on her temple just as her heart started racing, and it felt like there wasn't enough oxygen around her anymore. She wasn't sure she would be able to stay logical much longer if she didn't get some alone time to think back of what happened. She knew it'd hurt Chloe, because obviously the redhead wasn't stupid, and she could clearly see that this discomfort wasn't purely physical.

When she walked always, Beca half hoped the girl would come after her, but she was still along when she turned the corner and entered the main path leading to the dorms. Something in her sighed in relief as her heart, though, shrunk just a little bit more than it already was. As soon as she arrived near her backpack, Beca got her bottle of Aspirin out and shaking hands opened her water bottle. She wasn't addicted to Aspirin, but she desperately needed something to occupy her mind for at least a second or two until she could make sure nobody was in the dormitory.

Looking around, she let out a low breath: she was alone. Climbing in her bed but deciding it wasn't the right place to think since it smelled so much of Chloe, the brunette took her laptop, headphones and phone, shoved them in her backpack along with her water bottle and a blanket carefully folded. She wasn't sure what her plan was, but she knew one thing: she needed to escape this jolly atmosphere. She needed tranquility and the certainty to not be found until she wanted to be.

The forest wasn't even an option since the girls were riding somewhere in there, and Beca didn't want to go to the spot by the lake because it would be too obvious. She needed somewhere Chloe would never think of looking or somewhere she could hide so well maybe she'd disappear. She opted for a hike in the mountain nearby, knowing that there were no expeditions in the morning. Climbing a rocky hill was alright, but hiking in an unknown path was quite difficult, especially if your name was Beca Mitchell. Restless and too proud to give in just now, Beca pushed her physical limits until she reached the top of the mountain. From there, she could see the whole camp and it made her smile sadly. Even though she wouldn't admit it, she was going to miss this place, and not only for Chloe.

Checking her phone, she smiled a real happy smile for the first time today when she saw she could still make calls. Beca sprawled the blanket on the soft and dusty ground near a tree and dialed Henry's number. She knew he would know something wasn't right, and she almost dreaded the fact that she would need his help. It's not that she minded if he saw her cry, he had seen her cry countless times; it's not that she minded if he knew she wasn't all that badass she pretended to be. It's mostly because she was so lost she was afraid he couldn't reach for her now. They had liked other people and they always had managed to work through it, but they had promised each other that they'd never fall in love. Because love was supposed to suck hard, it was supposed to be ugly and painful.

It wasn't supposed to feel so right. So beautiful.

As the line kept ringing but no one answered, Beca's heart fastened its pace, making her breathe heavily. When, finally, Henry answered, Beca sighed loudly.

"Hey, it's me." She said in a small voice.

"I know." He answered, he seemed preoccupied.

"What's up?" She asked, frowning when he didn't answer right away.

"Beca, I got something to tell you." He started, and she felt her heart shatter, anxious of hearing what he had to tell her.

"Go on." It was colder than she intended, but she was truly scared.

"My parents are sending me to boarding school. Say I'm too much trouble here, say I'm no good, just a worthless little shit." He sounded so far away, it made Beca's heart break.

It had been a threat hanging above his head for a little over a year now, but they never thought his parents would actually do it. Henry was the younger brother of a genius and when Henry's IQ turned out to be only average, it was a great deception to his parents and they had pushed him harder and harder in school, making him hate it more and more each time. The brunette sighed and was about to say something when she heard him snort.

"I'm kidding, Beca, chill out, my parents are gone for the summer and I have the house all to myself because my big brains of brother left for some science academic pre college thing in Canada." He said, exploding out of laughter when he heard her grunt out of exasperation.

"I can't believe I'm friends with such an ass like you!" She groaned in the phone, almost forgetting why she had called. "But you're an ass that I need right now, as weird as that sounded."

"Shoot." He simply said, and she heard him lighting a cigarette, or a joint.

"I'm falling in love with her." She said, eyes closed and her lips tightly snapping shut as soon as the last word escaped.

"Beca…" his tone was light, but she could detect the warning behind and she let out a faint squirm, surprising both of them. "I'm going to come back to that noise later on. Falling in love?!" he had started calmly, but had almost screeched his final words.

"I don't know, okay? I don't know!" she started, already annoyed by her whiny tone. "She said 'I love you' yesterday night and I said it back after a moment, I don't know, it was in the heat of the moment, I guess? I haven't slept at all because I'm so fucking confused, I know we swore to never fall in love, but that was because reality is nothing like the damn movies and it was supposed to be painful, and ugly, and it wasn't supposed to feel like this, okay?!"

"I stayed up all night, waiting for you to call, you know? You never did, so I figured you had worked it out on your own. Looks like I was wrong. Beca, love always ends up ugly and hurtful. You can't be in love with her, Beca, you just can't, you'll end up like…" he paused mid-sentence, and Beca knew what he was about to say.

"Don't." She simply spat, but he sighed and said it anyway.

"Like when your dad left."

She remembered the day he left so well even after all those months, and it shouldn't have hurt her like that since she hadn't talk to her dad in way longer. But the day he left, his bags all packed and stacked in the entry, Beca had ran away. She had given one look at her dad, his eyes filled with tears as he seemed to be_ honestly _torn and broken to walk out on her, and felt the heave of pain make her world spin. She had to escape this torture, so she ran. Ran until she was caught by Henry's strong arms and she cried until she couldn't breathe anymore. She threw up in his room, but he didn't even care, he hauled her on his bed and rocked her back and forth, slowly, carefully, until her nauseous sobs calmed down and she was simply hiccupping, more tears streaking down her cheeks with each of them.

"I won't." The tone was harsh, almost menacing, and she greeted her teeth, her jaw clenched as the memory of that day sent shivers of pain down to her spine and she had to close her eyes to recover.

"I really hope you won't get hurt, Beca, but I'm warning you: everything good as to come to an end someday. Even Chloe." He whispered softly, and she heard the kind smile in his words.

"I know, and this is crazy and so unlike me but, Henry, what if this was it? I've never felt like that before, and I'm only fifteen I know, but it happens, right? People find their love for life at such young age, right?" She was almost pleading for him to reassure her, but he just couldn't do it.

"Baby, I know you want to believe it's forever because thinking she could hurt you is too much, but, trust me, it never is. You should enjoy it while you can, but, please, for your own sake, don't let her in too much. It'd be too painful to watch you break again, Beca." His last sentence had been almost inaudible, but Beca knew he was right.

What had started as a simple yet overwhelming crush was now becoming something Beca had never asked for. Love wasn't for her, she had concluded that a while ago, and Henry had been the only one to reason her when she'd get delusional, like right now. She was in love with the redhead, though, and she couldn't deny it anymore.

"I still love her, Henry." She stated, as if that should be reason enough.

"I'm not saying you can't, baby, I'm saying be careful." He replied gently, smiling on the other end of the line.

"I am." She said, smiling back to him even though he couldn't see her.

They nodded, silently saying goodbye before Beca hung up. On the other end, she didn't see her best friend gently stroke a picture of them together, smiling happily, and hoping he hadn't made a huge mistake by telling her she should go for it as long as she was careful. He didn't even know the girl who said was in love with his best friend, how could he know she was right for her? Beca was feeling a little bit better now that her best friend was behind her in this, but she still needed to process the new information, and that one and inevitable ugly truth that came with it.

While Beca positioned her laptop on her knees, Chloe finished saddling her horse, her eyebrows slightly frowned as she was lost deep in her thoughts. When Beca propped her headphones on her head, Chloe led her horse out of the stable and in one swift movement propelled herself in the saddle. As Beca hit play and started to mix, Chloe clicked her tongue and let her horse lazily walk to the forest while Aubrey and Jessica followed her.

The redhead nearly got hit by a low branch when she was so distracted by her own thoughts that Aubrey had to yell "Dodge!" right before the branch for her to lean forward on her saddle, going under it. She made sure to keep an eye out from then on, but she couldn't really get into Aubrey and Jessica's small talk about everything because the thought of having stressed Beca into something she didn't want was distressing her.

There was also the fact that she had proclaimed her love for the brunette even though she didn't really know anything about love. Sure, she always had that perfect idea in her mind of what it would be like to be in love, but in the movies you never know how the character feels to know they're in love, so how could she be so sure? She did love Beca, but she was afraid of what that meant for them, because it was all so new for her to need someone's proximity so much. Everyone was used to her being very touchy-feely, but Chloe had never needed it with someone in particular, she simply loved human contact and the warmth of another body close to hers.

This was different, this was way out of her control, and she wasn't quite sure if she liked the idea of not being able to spend time without a very someone who was avoiding her since the morning. Chloe bit down her bottom lips, worry wiping away her usual easy going smile. She complained of a headache and they went back to the stables earlier than planned. Jessica could feel Aubrey desperately wanting to talk to her best friend alone, so she did what she did best; she complied. She unsaddled fast, saying if they needed her she'd be outside playing with the foal, and the blonde silently thanked her with a soft smile.

"Chloe, talk to me, what's going on?" she asked as soon as they were alone.

"Nothing, why?" the redhead replied with a forced smile, continuing her circular movements on her horse's neck, dislodging dirt with her curry comb.

"You nearly fell off your horse when we galloped, you didn't see a branch that was as big as the sun in front of you. You didn't once interact with me or Jessica of the whole ride." Aubrey stated in a matter of fact tone, stopping the redhead's by gently placing her hand over hers.

"I'm sorry, I'm just having a thoughtful day, okay?" She offered, but she wasn't really convincing and as soon as Aubrey touched her, she dropped her brush and leaned in her friend's open arms.

"Is it about Beca?" the blonde softly asked, wrapping her friend in a tight hug.

"No, it's about me. About how I've always wanted to be in love, how I've always hoped it'd happen to me, and now I have it, and it's great, but how do I do it? I've never been in love, Bree, and I'm afraid that it's not going to be like I pictured it. I know I have this big and naïve imagination and everything is sweet and pink in my head, but what if it wasn't like this for real? What if Beca doesn't want to be in love with me? I know she said it back, but I feel like she only did it because she didn't want to hurt me, or because she didn't know better. But, Aubrey, what if I'm wrong and it's not love, it's just… a thing?"

Aubrey sighed, she had known this was coming ever since Chloe had told them about her feelings for the brunette this morning. Although she had been waiting for it, responding to her best friend crying because she was so lost wasn't something the blonde was prepared for. Still, she did her best and slowly but firmly put Chloe back on her feet, holding her by the shoulders.

"Chloe, look at me. It's not just a thing, anybody can see it. You told me Beca had been hurt by love, she lost the one person she thought would love her forever no matter what, and it wasn't so long ago. Damn, Chloe, the girl still has nightmares because of it ―"

"And if you tell Beca I told you about this, I will personally find your boyfriend and tell him you kissed a girl, I swear Aubrey, she _cannot_ know I told you." Chloe cut in, looking deadly serious as she warned the blonde.

"I know, I know, moving on. She's still mourning the loss of her dad, and then you come in, and she's unsure of how she feels for you. Chloe, I saw her fall in love with you in like two weeks, not much more than that. She's afraid, Chloe, you should talk to her."

The blonde smiled softly, and Chloe nodded, but they both knew she wasn't going to talk to her. Chloe wasn't someone to bring up conflicts, and she knew that if she pried on this issue, Beca would close up again, she had told her herself when she had let her in on her dad's story. That was the last thing she wanted, so she slowly pushed all of the worried thoughts in the back of her mind as they made their way back to the dorms to get Beca for lunch.

When Chloe walked in and didn't see the brunette sprawled on one of their beds, she frowned a little. When she noticed her laptop and backpack were missing, her smile faltered slightly. When she looked for her in their usual spots and didn't find the girl, she lost her smile for good and missed lunch to sit in her dorm with Aubrey, crying because she felt so helpless.

By the time the sun had sunk down in the forest and everything was orange and reddish, Beca showed up with a growling stomach and red rimmed eyes.

"Hey." She said as she walked over the table where Chloe, Aubrey and Jessica were sat with some other girls Beca didn't know.

"Hey." Chloe answered with a half-hearted smile, her eyes wandering back to her plate.

_Oh crap,_ Beca thought before plunging her fork into her mashed potatoes,_ I messed up._


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: hey guys! you should all go say thank you and give a hug to aurorscully (on Tumblr) because she's the one who helped me figure out this chapter! I was having a really hard time because I wasn't sure where I wanted it to go and she got me through it with her patient and thoughtful comments! Thanks again dude! :D**

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Dinner was surprisingly quiet, and although Beca held Chloe's hand under the table like they normally did, something wasn't quite right and they both knew it. The brunette was afraid to speak to Chloe because, what if the redhead had enough of her being afraid, what if she hurt her by telling her she was so scared of being in love with her? Chloe could feel Beca's walls go up one by one, slowly but surely, as they walked back to their dorm after dinner. Beca could sense Chloe wanted to talk, but she was so scared of how that conversation could turn out that she made it hard for the redhead to talk by closing herself up.

The older woman was afraid she had rushed something that was so perfect with her confession, and she didn't want to push even more, so she pressed her lips shut together and grabbed her sweat shirt to head to the camp fire where other girls were already gathered, grilling marshmallows. They were on the doorstep, ready to leave, when Beca stopped dead in her tracks. Being linked to Chloe by their joined hands, the redhead also stopped and barely had time to turn around before Beca's body crashed against hers. Her back was pushed against the wall right next to the door, and she felt the brunette's hands cover her hips as she stood on the ball of her feet and sucked her lips in a deep kiss.

A rush of blood flooded to her face and she felt her cheeks become bright red as something flipped in her lwoer abdomen. Instinctively, Chloe's hands were buried in the brunette's unrully locks as she pulled herself from the wall to revert their position. Leaving a burning trail of kisses down Beca's neck, the redhead's mind suddenly seemed to grasp what was happening and she jolted away from the younger woman's touch, the sensation of her fingernails digging in her back still burning on her skin.

"What?" Beca asked as if that had been a normal moment between them.

"What? You're asking me what?" Chloe said, still panting from their fiery kisses.

"Yeah, I am, because I didn't see any problem?" She did, though, see what the problem was, but she had thought that distracting the redhead would make her forget all of her actions and they wouldn't have to talk about it.

"I bet you didn't." Chloe mumbled, and Beca's eyes fell to the ground. "I'm sorry, that's not how I meant it... I.."

Beca lifted her chin, biting back the tears building in her eyes, and smiled sadly, shaking her head. She extended her hand and waited for Chloe to take it.

"It's alright, it's my fault. I shouldn't have put you in such a situation. I can only imagine how hard it must've been for you to pull away from such a hot and badass person like me!" she said, smirking and dodging Chloe's flying hand but not missing the mischevious spark in her eyes.

"Oh like your hands weren't getting cozy." Chloe retorted, and a shiver traveled down to her stomach as she recalled the feel of Beca's hands on her bare skin.

"Maybe you'd know that if you hadn't jumped away like that." Beca replied simply, tugging on Chloe's hand when the redhead stood with her jaw hanging slightly open at the younger girl's almost critical tone.

They both knew they needed to talk, yet Beca had sworn to herself she wouldn't bother Chloe with her fears, and she would certainly not tell her that she wasn't sure she could meet up her expectations ― because Chloe had to have expectations ― of a girlfriend. Instead, she had opted to do what she did best: avoiding. She had tried, unsuccessfuly it seemed, to make Chloe forget about her disapearance for the whole day, but also, it had been an instinctive reply to seeing her so quiet, so withdrawn. Through their month together non stop, Beca had come to know a jovial and almost always smiling Chloe, and knowing she was the reason the smile on her lips was faked had been too painful, and she had that urge to kiss her, to show her just how much she needed her. She hadn't realized what she was doing until Chloe had pushed her away, pushing her walls back up without even noticing it.

Chloe watched as Beca fidgeted with her thumb ring by the camp fire, her head slightly bent forward, looking so deeply lost in her thoughts she didn't have the courage to disturb her. Instead, she linked their fingers, forcing the brunette to stop toying with her ring because she knew that meant she was greatly preoccupied. Chloe knew it was because of her, she knew she probably shouldn't have reacted the way she had back in their dorm, but when she had realized how fiercely Beca kissed her, it had scared her. She had felt her desperate need to let Chloe know she was sorry, and the redhead had felt it through her bones, but she wasn't used to being on the receiving end of such messages. She wasn't about to talk to Beca about that, though, because already she felt the brunette's walls build up; one by one, she watched as she slowly put up that thorny castle around her heart, making Chloe's heart sink deeper in her chest as she wished for nothing else but to be able to reach out.

They sat at the fire until everyone was gone and they were left with the yawning monitors. Aubrey had left early because she had a phone meeting with her boyfriend, and Jessica went back with her in hopes to be able to reach Ashley. Somewhere during the evening, they had closed the little distance left between them and Chloe had an arm wrapped around Beca's waist, but they still hadn't said a word to each other. Slowly, fatigue took over Beca's stuborness and she leaned on Chloe, subtly letting her know they should go to bed. The brunette was hoping a good night of sleep would wash away the tension and awkwardness between them.

When they arrived at the dorm, though, Chloe brushed her cheek with a goodnight kis and slipped under the sheets of her own bed, letting Beca standing at the bottom of her ladder with a stunned look. She felt her heart crack but because she was tired, because she was afraid of what the outcome of the conversation she knew they needed to have could be, because she was a coward and because that only confirmed her opinion that love isn't beautiful, it's ugly and painful; for all those reasons and more, Beca sighed and climbed in her bed.

Hearing Beca blow out a breath and the soft thumps of her feet climbing in the ladder made Chloe's eyes instantly tear up. She was determined to give Beca all the space she needed, even if that meant feeling like something had been ripped off her from the inside when she wasn't holding the brunette close to her. Chloe had always had that perfect vision of love, but tonight, as the tracks of her tears slowly stained her pillow, she thought that, maybe, it wasn't as easy as they made it seem in the movies.

She couldn't sleep, of course she couldn't: she had gotten used to Chloe's arms stretching a protective shield over her dreams, tightly knitted around her waist at night. She tossed and turned for a moment before resting her head on her hand, her other hand lying on her stomach as she stared at the ceiling. An unusual sound made its way to her ear and she frowned, unsure if she had hear right. When she realized she hadn't misinterpreted that sound, it became all that she could hear, and her heart sunk deep in her chest, shattering in pieces. Chloe was softly crying, probably trying to make as little noise as she could, but that didn't help Beca unhear it.

Cautiously, she flipped on her stomach and leaned over the ladder, trying to look at Chloe just to double-check. She saw a small ball of sheets and tangled red hair all piled up in the upper corner of the bed and before she could think of anything, before she could reason her heart, she jumped down the ladder and tackled Chloe's sobbing body, her arms not wide enough to cover everything of the redhead, making Beca wish for tentacles just that one time so she could cover Chloe completely, cover her and reassure her like she should have done way earlier. Cover her with all the love she was irradiating right now, cover her to seal the worries outside of their little bubble of affection.

She heard Chloe's startled hiccup, but she simply tightened her grip and softly started to hum a soft melody in the redhead's ear until she felt her body relax in her arms and her sobbing quiet down.

"I'm sorry, Chloe." She murmured in her ear, her chest pressed to her back and unwilling to unwrap her arms from around her waist, instead resting her head on her shoulder blade.

"I'm sorry too." She whispered back, and Beca closed her eyes because she couldn't believe the girl was actually apologizing when she hadn't done anything wrong.

"I'm scared of loving you." They were barely audible, but they rung in Chloe's ears like a shrill and she turned around, lifting Beca's chin.

"I'm scared too, Beca, but that doesn't mean we can't make the best of it, right?" She asked, and everything in her was begging for reassurance on this, so the brunette nodded slowly.

"I've always had that particular vision of love; it was supposed to be ugly, to be painful, it was supposed to be messed up, to break me, it wasn't supposed to be for me. Yet, here I am, unable to sleep when you're not close to me, picturing you by my side when I think of time alone, thinking of you every second of every day and sometimes I'm not even thinking about something precise, you're just there, like a constant hum in the back of my mind, and it scared the shit out of me because I'm used to liking people, I'm used to kisses and adventurous hands, but I'm not used to yearning for a night by the fireplace, wrapped in your arms. I don't know how to love, I just know how to destroy, how to disappoint, and the last thing I want to do is hurt you, yet here I am, looking at you with tears still in your eyes. Because of _me_."

Chloe was silent for a moment, but it wasn't because she was hurt by her words. It was because she hadn't imagined she had made such an impression on the brunette. She had thought since the beginning she was the one who had the strongest feelings, but now she had proof that Beca loved her just as much and needed her just as much.

"I don't know how you do love, but I know that I want to try with you, and you can't be bad if you're you. I fell in love with you, so I can say that you don't destroy everything. Build something with me, Beca." Chloe finally answered, taking both of her hands in hers and giving them an encouraging squeeze.

"I don't know if you should take a chance on me, I'm pretty messed up for a fifteen years old." Beca retorted, but the redhead simply shook her head and dismissed her comment, kissing her softly on the lips.

"Then _you_ take a chance on me."


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N : firt of all, all of you owe this chapter to the lovely and very helpful and inspiring****_ aurorscully_****! I had been stalling with this chapter and had not written a word and then I asked for her help and magically I had all these ideas for this chapter and future ones too! SO SAY THANK YOU! Now on with the chapter! I hope you guys will like it, it's very fluffy and we get to see them acting like girlfriends and a cozy couple! Also it's a long one, to make up for the patience you've shown with my rocky updates! :D**

Chloe had always figured Beca would be the one lying on the ground, unable to get up after a bad fall. Never in more than ten years that she had been coming at the summer camp had she injured herself. Of course, it would be in her last summer that it would happen, and the day right before it was their stable day. They were playing flash light commando with the younger girls as parts of the camp's plan to make sure the older campers didn't forget how it feels like to be a kid. It was a rather simple game; find the other team's flash light and switch it off before yours and don't get caught by the guardians, flashing you with their torch lights. Hiding in the forest with her group of four little girls, trying to move forward without being seen, her foot stepped on a rock and slipped on the wrong side. Her ankle had snapped in a terribly painful way and she had fell on her hip, bruising it on her way down.

On the other side of the small path leading to victory, Beca had heard someone yelps, but her competitiveness kept her going. It was only when they reached the flash light and none of the three girls following her saw Chloe nor the girls with her that the brunette realized it must've been Chloe who had yelped. Immediately, she switched on the flash light again and called after her girlfriend. The term still made her grin when she thought about it, but now wasn't a time to think about how mushy it made her feel to be with the redhead.

"Chloe? Where are you?" She called, scanning the woods with the flash light nervously.

"Over here!" she heard someone answer and Beca fixed her gaze and the light on the source of the sound.

She found two of the girls sitting beside Chloe, who was trying to hold back tears. Beca frowned and crashed down by her side, taking her hand in hers.

"Are you alright? What happened?" she was about to continue shooting questions when she heard a monitor coming with the two other girls.

"I think I sprained my ankle when I fell." Chloe explain, smiling sofly to try to wash away the worry painted all over Beca's face. "But I can't get up, it hurts too much."

With the help of the monitor, Beca put the redhead back on her feet and they cautiously made their way back to the neutral territory, where both teams had started the hunt for the enemy's flash light.

"We won, by the way, I switched off the flash light right before I went looking for you." Beca looked so proud of herself, giving high fives to the three little girls around her, smirking, that Chloe forgot about her pain momentarily.

"Who knew you were so good at that game!" she said, shaking her head when she recalled Beca protesting about this yet other group activity. "I told you you'd have fun."

The brunette rolled her eyes before sitting down on the bench where they had deposited Chloe. After another monitor took a look at her feet, she declared it sprained and called it a night. They brought her back to the dorm, where she was instructed to ice it before going to bed. Beca promised she'd take care of her and the monitors were out.

"Who knew you were so clumsy..." the brunette said, almost unable to keep a straight face.

"Yeah, who knew it was contagious!" Chloe retorted, making Beca stick out her tongue at her.

She wrapped Chloe's foot in a towel with an icepack between two layers and folded her arms around the redhead's waist.

"Look who's all cuddly. I would've gotten injured way before if I knew it meant you'd spoon with me without arguing." She mused with a grin.

"Guess that's contagious too." She mumbled, already falling fast asleep.

Beca slapped the poking finger away from her side, but it just kept coming back until she eventually opened one eye. She closed it as soon as she saw Chloe's overly awake gaze, but it was already too late.

"Wake up, it's stable day." she murmured in the brunette's ear.

Somehow during their sleep, they had shifted position and now Beca was the one locked in Chloe's arms. Not that she minded, but she would have prefered to stay asleep like that. Now that Chloe had seen her open her eye, she knew she was awake and there was no way she was letting her bail out of stable day. Even if she couldn't go because of her ankle. Especially because she couldn't go.

"I feel sick to my stomach." Beca tried, and it felt more like a tentative question than an affirmation, which didn't go unnoticed and earned her a scoff. "Fine, I'll go all alone in the very far away stables to clean up horse poop instead of sleeping in my girlfriend's arms for a few more hours."

She knew the use of their new label would get to Chloe, and just as she was about to sit up, the redhead tightened her embrace and tried to dig a hole in her neck with her nose. Beca felt her smiling lips brush the sensitive skin and every inche of her body that had some kind of hair on it shivered with a new sensation and she had to remind herself there were other girls around not to do anything stupid.

"Don't you want me to go feed those poor horses?" she asked and cleared her throat right after, realizing just how hoarse it sounded.

"Maybe you can kiss me first..." She hummed in her hair.

Beca happily obliged, turning around and locking lips with the redhead. She intended for it to be a chaste kiss, but Chloe had another idea for this good morning kiss, and her hands found the brunette's hips like they were magnetic. Beca had to push her away, having forgotten how to breathe when Chloe kissed her like that.

"Go now because if you stay one minute longer you won't make it on time." Chloe grumbled, forcing herself to retrieve her hands from Beca's soft skin.

"You don't make me want to hurry up. At all." She retorted, but when she went to kiss her again, the older girl shielded her face by aiming at her neck, burying her head in her tangled hair. "Fine, I'm leaving."

She took her time, testing Chloe's patience and self-control as she stirred and yawned. The girl was keeping her eyes closed and sighed when Beca finally gave up and got dressed hurriedly.

"I'll be right back." she said as she smiled tenderly on the doorstep of the dorm.

Twenty minutes later, Beca was in front of the stable door, debating whether or not it was worth it. She could easily remember the last time she had been alone in a stable. It wasn't really comforting since it involved her dad, but she remembered how much fun she had had, playing the stable owner for a day. Sighing, Beca walked in and was welcomed with loud neighing and impatient hooves banging on their box doors.

"Gosh, you horses are so less majestic when it's time to eat!" She called as she hurried to the food locker.

She fed them according to the chart on the wall and then fetched a shovel and a carrier before entering the first box. It was the eldest mare's stall and she wasn't happy being disturbed while she eating her fresh hay and she made sure Beca knew it. Her rear end facing the door, she shot Beca a meaningful look, her ears hidden in her mane, when she heard her unlock it.

"Oh don't look at me like that. You'll be thankful I'm shoveling all that crap out of your bed, lady." Beca scoffed, pushing her ass to the side before entering.

The mare blew out a heavy sigh and repositioned herself so that Beca had enough place to work. She fell back in her thoughts pretty quickly after the nervousness faded away, and it was as if she had done it all her life in just ten minutes. When she started humming a low beat, the whole stable fell silent after just a few seconds. She stopped when the silence hit her ears and she peeked outside the mare's box to see if something had happen. The horses had their head popping out of their boxes, looking like they were listening to her. Some went back inside when she stopped and it made her smile.

She had read so much about horses, she knew they preferred low sounds to high-pitched ones, and they would reflect your attitude. If you were calm and confident, they would stay calm and follow you. If you were nervous and didn't know what to do, the horse would sense it and become agitated. Frankly, Beca was relieved to be alone this morning, because she loved the undemanding company of animals; she was there and it was enough for them to be pleased. Finishing in the mare's stall, she was still humming when she moved to the next one.

"Hello, Captain. How are we doing this morning?" She asked the impressive gelding.

As if to answer her, he nudged her on the shoulder and she rubbed his forehead with a smile before entering his box. He tried to come out when she did, but she pushed him back with a light slap on the chest. The horse looked at her in what seemed like shock, making her chuckle.

"What? You thought I was going to let you walk around loose and disturb my morning piece? Wrong person, dude." She said with an apologetic smile before patting his shoulder.

Captain puffed out a resigned breathe on her shoulder and she smiled. It took her half the time for her second box, but she didn't really want to leave when she was done. Instead, she looked around to make sure Aubrey or Ashley weren't coming in to help like Chloe and her sometimes did for them before turning back to Captain.

"You know, I took lessons on a horse like you. He was the worst, really. Wouldn't stop kicking and bucking, but I refused to get off so my instructor could calm him down. I think I fell three times, and he kept trying to throw me off. I held on to my pommel and after thirty minutes, he got tired. I was eight, you know? I don't like to remember my horse phase, though. It's because of my dad." She told him while he was resting his head against her chest, his ears falling to the side as she stroked slow and large circles on his cheeks.

She sighed before wiping away the tears gathering at the corners of her eyes and she gave him one last pat on the neck before moving on. The next box was one of a youngster. Beca eyed him cautiously, trying to gage how old he was. Not older than five, that was for sure, and he was very playful and energetic. To avoid being bitten as a result of a playing invitation, Beca put his harness on and clipped it to a chain inside his box. Usually, there was a ball there, but the brunette had taken it down for the time she was in there. He still tried to nudge her as she worked, growing frustrated as he couldn't play with her, but she made sure he had forgiven her before stepping out.

"You big baby!" She cooed in a low voice, energetically rubbing his forehead while he pushed her in the stomach. "You remind me of the first horse I rode, he was just like you; playful and a little annoying on the side. But he was the sweetest under the saddle. I bet you're a little shit." She laughed lightly and moved on to her fourth box.

By the time she had done all of the stalls she would usually have to do if Chloe was here, Beca was sticky with sweat and she was pretty sure she had wasted as much time talking to the horses and petting them than actually cleaning out their boxes. She was currently trying to convince one of the pony to get out of the box so she could clean it. Since ponies were much more lonely than horses because they couldn't reach over the box door, they were put in pairs in larger boxes, and she had already taken one out and he was eating hay in the alley, but the other one wouldn't budge.

"Come on, dude, I need to clean your box and I didn't sleep that much last night, so I'm tired. I promise to make it quick. I'll even sing a song! That's all I need, okay? One song length and I swear I'll take a short one." She knew there was no point in bargaining with a pony, but she still pulled on his harness. "I promise I'm a good singer, now, please, just come out!" She sighed, and as if that's all she needed to say, the pony hopped down and joined his friend.

She was reaching the chorus when she heard footsteps down the alley and it startled her.

"Who's here?" She called before poking her head out to find the one person she didn't expect to see. "Chloe?!"

"Hey!" She waved her hand with a bright smile before hoping a few feet and stopping. "Mind helping me a little, Beca?"

"Oh, right!" The brunette rushed over to her side and helped her reach a hay stack close by, lowering her so she could sit on it. "What are you doing here?"

"I never missed one stable day ever since I started doing them, it's not a sprained ankle that'll stop me. It took me some time to get here, but I did it." She laughed half-heartedly.

Beca squeezed her shoulder when she saw the sadness in Chloe's face. She knew how much she liked stable days, and she was about to say something when the redhead's eyes sparked up.

"Hey! You made Wendy come out of her box!" She said with a surprised look on her face.

"Yeah, why?" Beca asked, not willing to admit she had to fight her for a solid five minutes before she did step out of her box.

"Everyone tried at least one and that darn pony either bit them or stubbornly refused to step a hoof out. How'd you do it?" Chloe's sincerely impressed tone would've made Beca purred had she been a cat.

"I told her I'd sing for her." She said and Chloe snorted as if it was a joke. "No, it's true. Horses love to be sung to. It's soothing. Of course you don't sing anything too high-pitched, but they love it. Check this out."

Chloe didn't have to reply that Beca motioned for her to stay silent and she started to hum the same low melody she had when she had started to clean out the boxes. Silence fell once again and slowly, the horses hung their heads over their doors, looking at Beca or simply listening to her voice.

"Wow." Chloe whispered when Beca stopped and for a few seconds the horses looked almost disappointed. "That was breathtaking."

"Uh, thanks." Beca mumbled, feeling a little embarrassed now that she had so willingly opened up to Chloe about her secret passion.

"I didn't know you could sing. Or that you were a horse whisperer." Chloe nudged her in the ribs with a grin, making Beca blush.

"Yeah, well, when I was five I decided that I wanted to be a cowgirl and my dad knew people, so I started to take riding lessons. By the time I could read, I knew more about horses than anything else. I rode Western, and at seven I entered my first competition. I came in third in pole slalom and fifth in barrel racing. I loved it so much. My dad promised me a horse for my fifteenth birthday, but by that time, I refused to even go near a stable. I stopped at twelve, when they started to fight. Their very first fight was about my horseback riding lessons, and I figured if I didn't take them anymore, then they'd stop fighting. My dad argued that they weren't fighting because of the money, but I didn't want to ride anymore. That's when I started to listen to music, because I couldn't really talk about my feelings, I didn't know how, so instead I listened to them in songs."

Chloe's jaw hung open for a few seconds as she was still processing what just happened. They had been around each other for a little over a month now, and never before the brunette had opened up on her own or spoken about somewhat happy memories. Chloe knew she had issues with her dad, but she also knew she shouldn't push her on that topic.

"Wow." Was all she managed to get out when she finally stopped staring at Beca's face with the happiest smile on her face.

"I guess I decided you were safe enough to talk about this…" Beca said, and it felt more like a warning than a confession, but she was smiling and that smile didn't feel sad or regretful.

"You did good." Chloe replied, leaning in Beca's arms and snuggling her nose in her neck with a shy smile. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure." Beca's affirmative response took Chloe a little by surprise and she opened her mouth to argue with her, but closed it with an even bigger smile and the brunette could feel her beam with pride.

"Is that why you wouldn't want to come with us in the forest a few days ago?" Her words were soft but firm as she said it, and Beca considered telling her it hadn't been for that, but that _had_ been part of the reason she had ran away.

"Yeah, but that was the excuse I was ready to give you if you didn't let me go. I mostly needed some time to figure out what the hell was going on." She answered after a few moments, and hugged Chloe just this little tighter.

"Did you?" Chloe closed her eyes while her heart stomped in her chest, hoping she wasn't pushing her luck too far.

"Did I what?"

"Figure out what's going on."

"No." there was a pause, and the redhead felt Beca smile in her hair. "But I've decided I like it that way."


	15. Chapter 15

Beca realized half of her stay at the camp had passed when she awoke one morning to the excited shrieks of every other girl in her dorm, Chloe included. They were all jumping around and pressing the ones still in their beds to get up and as soon as their sleepy feet touched the ground, one look around made them go crazy like the others. Too soon, someone pointed her direction and she rolled over to try and hide in Chloe's arms, only to remember that the redhead was already down with them, probably still trying to keep the others from waking her up just yet.

She was the one who jumped on the bed, tickling her until she couldn't breathe anymore, chanting words Beca couldn't understand as she was shrieking for mercy.

"Okay! Okay! I surrender! I surrender! Stop, just… stop!" Beca pleaded, trying to sit up with Chloe straddling her.

The redhead moved to the side, but she was still smiling like there was something really big happening today. She was about to ask what was the big commotion all about when Aubrey, Jessica and all the girls from the other dorms burst in screaming and making Beca's ears bleed with their shrills of excitement.

"They're here! They're here!" A girl kept singing in a high-pitched voice, doubling everyone's overly happy mood in a second.

"What's here?" Beca whispered to Chloe, who was tugging on her hand to make her come down.

"The letters!" Chloe said as if this was the most obvious thing in the world.

Beca's mouth became a perfect circle as the revelation hit her. If the letters had come in, then it meant they were already in the middle of summer. They had told them on the first day that they would receive letters from their families and loved ones on the Monday of the sixth week of the summer. Beca couldn't believe it had been nearly two months since she had spoken to her mother. She would call Henry every now and then, but it wasn't because she was so distressed anymore; only to check on him to make sure he wasn't doing anything too stupid since his parents had left for vacation.

"Come on, Beca! We're going to be late and we'll have to wait 'til lunch!" Chloe took her away from her thoughts while she pulled on her arm with more force this time, almost yanking her down from the doorstep.

"Coming, coming!" Beca retorted, already panting as she galloped beside Chloe who was running the fastest she could, following the flock of girls rushing to the cafeteria.

When everyone was gathered inside, the camp's head monitor held out two mailing bags with a beaming smile. As soon as she did so, every girl except Beca started screaming in amplified excitement, as if that was possible. She put them down and the campers quieted down almost instantly. She opened one of the bags and dug her hand in. She took it out, holding a pack of three envelopes and held them up in the air. Tension filled the cafeteria and everyone was looking at the head monitor's with high expectations and hope filling their eyes.

"What's with everyone being so captivated?" Beca murmured to Chloe, whose eyes were also focused on the letters.

"Whoever gets the first letters of the day gets to read them before anybody else has theirs. No one gets their letters until the first girl has finished." The redhead answered hurriedly.

"Woah… but what if the letters has bad news?" Beca countered, not quite getting the point of this.

"It happened, once or twice. A girl was called and she opened her letter to learn her dad had died, and the other time it was her dog who had cancer." Chloe said as if this wasn't something very horrible to read in front of everyone, even if it wasn't aloud.

"Gee, poor girl… I wouldn't want to learn my dog has cancer over a letter in summer camp…" Beca said to herself, only to get pinched by Chloe. "Ouch! What was that for?"

"Beca! The girl lost her dad and had to read about it in front of everybody and you feel more sympathy about the one who learned her dog had cancer? Come on!" Chloe explained, frowning.

Somehow, Beca felt like this girl wasn't unknown to Chloe, and she apologized under her breath, deciding it was best to not argue this morning. She focused her eyes on the head monitor, who was about to read the name on the first letter. They all held their breaths as she read aloud.

"Beca Mitchell!" The brunette heard her name, but she didn't move, looking around to see who was going to get the letters.

It didn't come to her mind that if it was her name that was being called, it meant she was the one who had to go get them. Chloe nudged her in the ribs as a bunch of girls from around searched through the crowd to see who that Beca Mitchell was.

"Oh!" She gasped before rushing to the head's monitor's spot and taking her letters.

"You can go sit to read them or you can stay here." She said as Beca separated the envelopes.

"Okay." She replied as she scanned the names on them.

Her mom was the first on top, then came one from her grandfather on her mom's side. She dropped the third one as soon as her brain registered the name.

"I… That's… Take that one back." She said before picking up the third envelope and handing it back.

"I can't Beca, it's your letter. Oh! It looks like it's from your dad, Richard Mitchell, it's your dad, right?" She pressed, smiling kindly at her, but it only resulted in making Beca want to puke.

"Can I go to my dorm to read them? I mean you don't have to wait for me to finish reading, just continue distributing. I wouldn't want to hold back everyone. I mean, I'm a slow reader and my mom writes a lot, so…" She was rambling, she knew it, but she was trying really hard to focus on something else than the burning sensation of her father's letter in her hand and the prickling of tears gathering at the corner of her eyes.

The head monitor raised an eyebrow, but she acquiesced and the brunette took off as fast as she could, determined to not let anyone stop her. The eyes of almost every girl in the cafeteria fell on her back as she passed the different groups, but their attention soon was snapped back to the head monitor who started to call other names. She saw Chloe from the corner of her eyes struggle with her decision and she stopped momentarily.

"I'll be alright, Chloe, I just need to do this on my own. Tell Aubrey and the girls to come to the dorm when they get their letters too, I want to hear what they get, okay? But this?" She waved her dad's letter in front of her gently. "This I have to deal with alone."

Chloe nodded and looked both sides before plunging in and kissing the brunette swiftly on the lips. She watched Beca leave with a small smile playing on her lips and when she was out of sight, Chloe turned around to listen to the names called, her sad smile faltering at the corners.

"Aubrey Posen." The head monitor was holding up one lonely letter and the blonde knew it was from her boyfriend.

With her head held high but her heart sinking down in her shoes, Aubrey went to get her letter and came back with a sigh.

"Is it from your parents?" Chloe asked hopefully, but at the look on her best friend's face, she could tell the answer already. "Oh, baby, it's alright, I'm sure they're just very busy with work."

"Yeah, I know. Like every year." She sighed, before remembering something had happened moments before. "Hey, why did Beca ran away like that?"

"She, uh, she got a letter from her dad…" Chloe started, unsure what she was allowed to say and what she should keep to herself.

"At least she got one, even if she can't stand him." Aubrey scoffed.

"Bree, it's not like that, okay? She's got problems of her own, alright? Don't judge her too quickly. She asked for you and the girls to come over our dorm when we all have our letters so we can share our news. She cares about you, you know, she considers you her friend. And the others too." The teenage girl replied softly, stroking her friend's back gently.

"Yeah, she's a good friend to me too, although she can be very annoying with her attitude. She's good to you, so that makes her okay." Aubrey said with a little smile.

A couple of other names were called before the head monitor held out a large package of envelopes wrapped together with a thick thread of wool and sniffed them with a grin. Everyone laughed and turned around to watch Chloe blush slightly at the sudden attention before walking over to get her letters, glowing with happiness and a smile stretched from ear to ear. Ever since she had started to spend her summers at the camp, her family had grown and expanded and she would get more and more letters every year, always written on scented paper. She had to hold them with both her hands because they wouldn't fit in one as she walked back to her group of friends.

"Woah, that's a lot of letters!" Stacie said with an impressed whistle.

"Yeah, we're a family of ten kids, and every year they write me a letter or draw me something, sometimes even writing two or three letters each, so that makes a lot. Plus my grandparents and they make the dogs ink their paws on a letter too." She explained with a chuckle bubbling up in her throat.

"You're so lucky." Jessica piped up with a big smile.

"Yeah, I love my family." Chloe said, nudging Aubrey in the ribs softly to let her know she included her in that family.

Over the weeks, Stacie had become a very good friend, making everything a little more sexual than necessary, but she was a funny and easy going girl. Plus, she had gotten Aubrey to talk about her boyfriend more than anyone ever. It wouldn't be a surprise anymore to find them giggling together over something Stacie had said to the blonde, or vice-versa, and Chloe felt good to know her best friend had found someone who lived near her area so they could see each other after the summer. Jessica was called a few names later and she leaped back to them with three letters from Ashley and two from her parents. Once all of them had their letters, they escaped the cafeteria giggling like little girls and ran to the dorm where Beca was waiting for them.

The brunette had told Chloe she wanted to open her dad's letter alone, but there she was, sitting on the redhead's bed with the envelope carefully displayed before her crossed legs, trying to win a staring contest with it. She just couldn't do it. She had thrown it in the trash near the door, but fifteen minutes later as she was opening her mom's letter, she had rushed to the garbage can and took it out. _What could be possibly so important he would write me a letter?_ She didn't know if she wanted to know the answer, but she knew she was too curious to never know. She also wanted to read it just to prove to everyone she was right to hate him so much. She wanted him to apologize in that letter, she wanted him to tell her she was still his little princess, she wanted her daddy back so much it hurt physically.

She had finally reasoned with her little girl's heart and was about to tear it apart, having come to the conclusion that after what he did, he didn't deserve for her to yearn for his love anymore and she was done. Once she would have ripped it apart, she couldn't go back and it would put an end to whatever relationship she had left with him. The girls barged in right before she could rip it in half and she sighed heavily in relief despite her decision.

"Did you read your mom's letter?" Chloe asked, bouncing on her bed and snuggling close to her.

"No, I was about to, but then" She couldn't say 'then I tried to open my dad's letter, which I had thrown in the trash when I had walked in' so instead she smiled her most convincing smile and said "I thought it'd be better if we could read our letters together."

The girls cooed and jumped on the bed too, their proximity warming Beca's shivering heart in an instant. She was really starting to like these girls, and the fact that she could call them friends was something that made her happier than she would be willing to admit.

"Woah Chloe, did your whole city decided to write to you?" Beca joked when she saw the pile of letters the girl sprawled on the bed.

"No, it's just my family. I have a lot of siblings and I didn't get my excited puppy attitude from a neighbor, Beca." She chuckled before rummaging through the envelopes and holding out three. "Oh! These aren't for me!" She smiled her two thousand watts smile and held them out to Aubrey.

"What? You mean, they're for me?" The blonde asked, taking them from her best friend's hand.

"Yeah, it's from my mom and dad and one from my dogs." Chloe said happily.

"You mean you get letters from your dogs?" Beca asked, incredulous.

"Yes, my younger brothers and sisters decided about three summers ago that the dogs were missing me too, so they should write me a dog letter with their paws. So now, I get a letter from my three dogs. It's just three sheets of paper with their paws ink prints everywhere and they write a little note at the bottom telling me what it the letter says. It makes me smile." She answered before opening her mom's letter.

Beca did the same and they each read their letters aloud one by one. Chloe's letters were the funniest ones and everyone laughed almost the whole way, the redhead herself having a hard time reading aloud because of her giggles. When it was time for Stacie's letter, the girls asked who it was from.

"I got one from my boyfriend and one from my girlfriend, which one should I read first?" She said as if this was the least surprising.

"Wait, you have a boyfriend _and_ a girlfriend?" Aubrey asked with a frown.

"Yeah, and they know about each other. It's just that sometimes I need a man, but at other times, I need more loving, something sweeter, so I got a boyfriend and a girlfriend. Best of both worlds, girls, I'm telling you, the sex…"

"NO!" the girls all screeched at the same time.

"Okay, fine, I won't tell you what it's like. But maybe then I shouldn't read my letters…" She warned with an amused grin.

"No, I think that's best for everyone's sanity if you read your letters in silence." Chloe chuckled lightly. "Okay, then Beca it's your turn, you read your mom's, but we want to hear about your grandpa's letter."

"No, we want to hear about your da…" Aubrey couldn't finish her sentence that Chloe gave her a scold and she elbowed her in the ribs. "Grandpa's letter is fine."

"I'm not sure it's a good idea…" She said with a shy smile.

"Oh, come on! I've read my letters aloud; I mean you now know that my older brother calls me Stinky Piggy! You can read your grandfather's letter." Chloe countered with a big smile.

"About that, we'll need the story." Jessica added with a confident grin.

"Alright, alright, I'll read it, but you can't laugh, okay? I was very close to my grandma and when she passed away, it got to him and now I'm the only one willing to hear about their stories." She unfolded her letter and cleared her throat before reading.

"Dear sugar pie, I'm sorry you had to go to that summer camp for girls only. I know your mom wanted to do well, and you should see her, she looks kind of miserable without you around. You're her sunshine and now she's always at the house because she says your home feels too empty. She's really tired, but she's strong. I miss you too, sweet pea, but I hope you're having fun there. I hope the girls aren't too pretty…"

Beca blushed as she read this passage and Chloe grinned even harder.

"And that you found some friends to hang out with. I can't wait for you to come home, I found new albums of your grandmother. They're from our young time together. I have put a picture of us on our first date in the envelope; you can show it to your friends and tell them your grandpa was the biggest badass ever. I love you pumpkin, I miss you."

Beca's eyes filled with tears as she finished. She missed her grandfather very much right now, but the girls made sure she didn't feel alone. They buried her under a group hug and she came out smiling fondly.

"Thank you, guys. I have never had a lot of friends, even less friend who were girls. It's good to be with you."

"Aw, look at you, Beca, being all sweet and mushy." Aubrey chirped, fluttering her eyelids in a mocking way.

"Shut up!" Beca threw a pillow at the blonde and missed, of course.

They continued reading their letters until everyone was called back for breakfast. Because of the letters, today's first meal was two hours late which meant their whole day was also retarded, but nobody minded. Today was a special day and every monitor knew it. As the girls poured into the cafeteria with hungry stomachs growling, Beca held back Chloe and slipped the envelope she had kept in her back pocket in the redhead's hand.

"Beca?" she asked, frowning as she read the name on the envelope.

"I can't read it. I threw it in the trash when I got in the dorm, but I took it back minutes later. I can't open it." She was almost stuttering as she continued, eyeing her surroundings to make sure no one was looking. "I want you to read it to me. Please."

"Are you sure? I can open it for you and let you read it on your own if you want to…" Chloe started, but she was stopped by Beca shaking her head.

"No, I can't read it myself; I need you to read it for me."

"Okay."


	16. Chapter 16

They had to go through their day like usual before they could open the letter; Beca insisted on not looking too suspicious to the others by going to all of their activities. This meant that right after breakfast they had thirty minutes to change before going on a hike. The brunette tripped more than she walked and came back with bruised knees and crippled pieces of her dignity that she fiercely held on to with clenched fists. The rest of it was scrambled all over their trail, along with the redhead's smirks and lights chuckles among words of encouragements that where met with low growls. Chloe had to suppress the giggles in her throat before speaking because every time a bubble of laughter escaped, Beca glared at her and refused to let her take care of her multiples cuts and scratches for excruciatingly long seconds where she would have to think of dead kitties not to burst out laughing at how ridiculously cute Beca looked.

Her bottom lip protruding, the corners of her mouth would drop and she'd squint her yes after she glared at Chloe, her arms carefully crossed over her chest because her elbows and forearms were a mess of dirt, blood and what was left of her skin.

"Beca, please, let me finish disinfecting these cutes, I don't want it to get infected." Chloe pleaded once more with her obstinate girlfriend.

"That shit hurts, Chloe, I'm not letting you touch me with it again." She argued, eyeing the bottle of peroxide the redhead had used to clean the cuts and scratches on her left knee.

"It's peroxide, Beca, not alcohol!" She sighed, again, for what felt like the hundredth time. "Do you want me to take you to the nurse's station? She'll use alcohol and she won't care if you squeal or whine, she'll continue drowning your knees and elbows and face probably too in alcohol until it's all clean. I swear it's going to hurt a thousand times more than that "shit" I used, Beca."

She was getting frustrated now by how childish Beca was with this, and it was her turn to fold her arms and wait for the girl to stop being so stubborn. The brunette opened her mouth to argue, but closed it tight a second after. She mumbled something that Chloe perceived as a "Sorry" and extended her right leg in front of her. Chloe squeaked happily and dropped on her knees to be at the same level as her knee.

"You know, you should feel lucky that I'm letting you touch my injuries." Beca stated after a few winces of pain from the touch of the imbibed gauze on her raw skin.

"Lucky? Why? Because it only took you fifteen minutes to let me approach your left knee with the peroxide?" She chuckles lightly and she can _feel_ Beca rolling her eyes.

"No, because the only person who ever touched my scraped knees or elbows was my dad." She started with a bitter chuckle stuck in her throat. "No one could get close to me when I had fallen down my bike and scraped my knee. Only he could approach and take care of it without me throwing a tantrum. I don't know, he had a magic touch I guess. Something he did with my mind that convinced me he wasn't actually cleaning my wounds. Used to call me the Warrior because I had so many plasters over my legs and arms, it looked like I had fought a hundred monsters." She finished with a knot of sadness locking tears behind her closed eyelids, a small smile menacing to ruin her stone-like expression.

"What did he do to make you forget he was taking care of your cuts and scratches?" She asked as she swiftly moved to her other knee, trying to take advantage of the situation.

"I don't know, I'm not sure. I think he simply told me bad jokes that would obviously make me laugh just because he took these ridiculous voices to tell them. He'd take my hand when it was my elbow and do as if I was a princess, putting my hand on his knee and kissing it while trying to charm me as if he was a big fan of me." She pressed her hand to her mouth when a giggle escaped her parted lips and looked at Chloe in shock.

"It's the first time I've heard you talk about good memories with your dad." She said, her eyes glistening with tears.

"It's the first time I've talked about these memories since his departure." Beca said and suddenly, she wanted to open that letter so badly, she wanted to know he was alright, to know he still loved her.

"Do you want to go back to the dorm? Say you don't feel well, I'll stay with you." Chloe suggested as if she knew exactly what she was thinking of.

"I don't know."

It was the truth: although she wanted to open that letter like her life depended on it, she was petrified with fear as to what was in it. She wanted to see her dad's cursive calligraphy, the way the dots on his i would never be aligned with the letter, the way her name in his pen writing looked way cooler than the way she would write it. Chloe held out her hand for Beca to take it so they could go excuse themselves from the next activity.

"Hey, you cleaned everything!" Beca exclaimed as she felt something on her skin around her elbows and knees when she moved

"Your dad isn't the only one who's got a magic touch." She winked and Beca could swear Chloe didn't mean it only for her nurse talent.

"I can see that." She said as she swallowed down hard, her throat feeling like the desert all of a sudden.

They walked over to the head monitor's trailer hand in hand and it didn't take long before they were out, their hands safely tucked in their own pockets. It turned out that the head monitor wasn't so found of lesbian couples, and she felt immensely let down by Chloe's unacceptable behavior, while she said she wasn't really surprised Beca was 'one of those girls'. They were to not bother her again with their sinful ways or it would get to their parents' ears. She would not tolerate such unacceptable ways at her camp and they weren't to try and molest younger girls. Beca was ready to jump at her throat the minute she eyed their joined hands with such disgust, but Chloe had put her head down and agreed to everything the woman had said. She could feel Beca boiling with anger beside her and she waited until they were far enough from her trailer before speaking.

"Beca, okay, before you say anything, I'm not letting this bitch get away with this, alright? But getting kicked out of camp for trying to murder someone isn't in my plans for my last summer here. She's new, the previous head monitor was pregnant so she couldn't be here, but she was the sweetest. I thought she was too, okay, I didn't know."

"I swear I could've strangled her right then and there. I almost puked just to give her a valid reason to look so disgusted." Beca growled under her breath.

Chloe put her hands on her arms, rubbing them up and down to calm her down. She grinned like a little girl, her eyes sparkling with mischief as an idea crept up in her mind.

"I know what we're going to do. We need to spread the word, though. We'll tell everyone we see to meet us behind the dorms right before dinner time. I have an idea." Chloe told her, tugging at her arm so she would follow her. "But first, we'll go read that letter, okay?"

Beca nodded, curious as to what kind of idea the redhead had, but more concerned about her dad's letter right now. She realized she was shaking when Chloe grabbed her hand and warmth washed over her, steadying her trembling breathing as they walked back to their dorm. Beca went straight for Chloe's bed, not even trying to hide her anxiousness anymore. She grabbed onto the redhead's pillow and clutched it tight to her chest while Chloe retrieved the envelope from under her mattress, where she had hid it the previous night.

"Okay, I'm opening it." She said, eyeing Beca carefully; she nodded so slightly Chloe gave her a more pointed look and the brunette smiled briefly with a firm nod. "Are you sure you don't want to read it yourself?"

Beca shook her head fiercely, not even a shadow of doubt in her eyes as she leaned in Chloe's side, resting her head on her shoulder when the redhead sat down. Chloe squeezed her hand and kissed the top of her head before unfolding the lonely sheet of paper. From the corner of her eyes, she saw Beca close her eyes and she bit down her bottom lip to hold back the tears gathering at the corner of her eyes when she saw the length of it; not even a full page.

"Dear Beca," she started with a monotone voice, trying to keep the emotion out of it. "I know I've made mistakes, and that I have not been the best fathers at all these past months, but I have something important to tell you. I met another woman…"

Chloe didn't have time to finish her sentence that Beca jumped on her feet, biting back the bitterness in her mouth and rushing outside.

"Beca, wait!" The redhead was calling after a shadow, only hearing Beca's stomping footsteps, echoing the beat of her own heart.

She chased after her and she was thankful for her long legs; she reached Beca's side quickly and threw her arms around her shuddering frame. Digging her heels in the ground, she pulled the brunette to a stop in seconds and wrapped her in a tight embrace, shielding her from the outside world with her red and golden locks cascading over her head. She lowered their bodies to the ground when she noticed they had reached the forest, and she leaned back against a tree close to her.

"I can't believe he'd write to me just to tell me he met another woman! That bastard!" She spat angrily before a heave of tears raked through her body.

She fought them, determined to not let her utter deception show; she didn't want to be affected like this by her father's actions. Chloe knew better than the anger in her voice as she continued ranting about how he was an asshole and she kept on holding on to her body until Beca couldn't speak anymore.

"Why…" she asked in a meek and barely audible voice before the tears got the better of her.

"Beca, you need to read the rest of his letter. He didn't write you that letter just so he could tell you he met another woman. I promise. Please, come back." Chloe spoke up once the brunette had calmed down a bit.

"No, I don't want to know. I'm done. Completely and eternally done. I don't want him in my life anymore." She said firmly, pulling herself out of Chloe's strong hug.

"He's your dad, Beca, you can't be done with him. Come on, just… thrust me."

She didn't let the brunette much of a choice and she pulled her back on her feet, refusing to let go of her hand and dragging her back to the dorm. There, she almost threw her girlfriend down on the bed and she handed her the letter. Beca shook her head and looked over Chloe's shoulder, making the redhead sigh in frustration.

"You're worse than a kid, you know?" She groaned, plopping down beside her to resume reading. "I met another woman, and while it didn't last very long, she made it clear that if I couldn't make things right with my daughter, I didn't deserve to be with anybody. So here I am, writing you because I'll say it; I'm a coward and I'm afraid you might just as well shut the door in my face if I came in person. I love you, Beca, I want to make amends. Please, call me if you still have some love left for your old man. I miss you, my little warrior."

Chloe had read the letter in a firm voice, raising it when Beca started to hum and she was shouting by the time she finished. She knew the other girl had heard her words even with her hands clasped over her ears and her loud humming. She knew it because she saw the tears fall down slowly on her flustered cheeks, because she saw Beca's shoulders slump.

"He really wrote that?" She asked in a tiny voice after a few seconds.

"Yes, he did, Beca. I know what he did was pretty terrible and he has a lot to be forgiven for, but he loves you lots. He doesn't know how to reach out very well, even I can say that, but that just proves he's really your dad…" She finished with a smirk, making Beca gasp in shock.

"Excuse you, how can you make a joke in such a situation!" She replied, faking hurt but failing miserably when her face broke in a wide grin. "How are you so good at making me feel better in so little time?"

"Told you, I've got a magic touch." She winked before being buried under Beca, her lips suddenly covered with the brunette's.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N : I am so truly and deeply sorry for making you guys wait so long! i can't promise an update every week, but I can tell you that I got my inspiration back and will most likely be updating more than once every three months! I'm really sorry for the wait, I hope you'll forgive me and enjoy this chapter!**

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They gathered a few hours later at the designated spot, grabbing some other girls on their way there. No one really knew what was happening, not even Beca or Aubrey; Chloe had made sure to keep her idea a secret. She said it was so she didn't have to say it more than once, but really, her friends knew she enjoyed the attention a little too much. Being the center of attention was making her glow and everyone around her smiled despite themselves as they squeezed a little closer to each other in the chilly summer evening. Beca was holding Chloe's hands and scanning the quite impressive crowd of girls aged from seven to seventeen. She tried to see if there was any of were scrunching up their noses at the sight, but instead, she felt a smile curl up her lips as some other girls shyly held hands too.

She was having a hard time hiding the grin from her face as Chloe beamed with pride, interlacing her fingers with Beca's, and she realized how appreciated the redhead must be around here to have gathered such a crowd in so little time.

"What did you do to make all these girls look up to you like that?" she asked, her lips grazing the outer shell of Chloe's ear and making her shiver.

"Looking up to me?" She frowned, her eyes still going from faces to faces as her mouth spoke to the side where Beca was standing.

"Yes, I mean, look at them: they're all here just because you declared an urgent meeting. If that's not looking up to you, then my name's not Beca." She replied, chuckling when Chloe squealed in joy at her statement and snuggled closer to her.

"I don't know, I say hi to everyone who passes me by, and I never turned down a younger girl who was having troubles with the distance. I guess that earned me a reputation. I've been coming here since I was five, Beca, and some other girls too." She shrugged as if this wasn't something wonderful and only achievable by a innocent and generous soul like her.

Beca smiled and hid half of her face in Chloe's wild mane, reaching for that soft and silky skin on her neck. When she kissed it slightly, the other young woman squirmed in surprise but her smile gave away the joy she irradiated. Clearing her throat and giving Beca a warning look that meant "do not distract me anymore", Chloe stepped ahead and lifted their joined hands. The brunette coughed a chuckle at how dramatic she was being when she started in a very enthusiastic voice, and loud, too.

"I'm Chloe Beale, and my hand is joined to Beca's for a very simple reason, yet some people who are supposed to be much more educated and mature than us cannot understand." She eyed her girlfriend carefully, trying to gage her reaction, and surely, Beca's eyes widened and her words swiftly wiped away the amused grin on her face.

Please, don't say it, her eyes said, and Chloe nodded almost imperceptibly before going on.

"We like each other, the same way some of you like boys or other like girls, like me. I've known for a few years that I was attracted to girls and not boys, and my parents have accepted it. My whole family has. My dearest friends have. You, amazing co campers, have accepted me and other girls as we are. The one who is supposed to help us through rough patches here, to provide support and love when our parents can't, hasn't. Today we went to her to ask for a favor and came out boiling angrily. She made it rather clear that the gender of those I want a relationship with is wrong, although I can't help it."

Everyone was hanging on her every word, the depth of the silence that reigned over the crowd of girls was impressive, and Beca shuffled nervously behind her girlfriend. Suddenly, it felt like a terrible idea to let Chloe lead them into this even though she had no idea what 'this' was. She had some suspicions, but every scenario in her head was worse than the previous one, so she had stopped thinking about it. Now, though, it seemed obvious that Chloe wasn't messing around and she meant serious business. It frightened Beca a little bit, because what she hated even more than being in the spotlight was creating the attention; being the instigator of such a big commotion was exactly how she got in trouble in Atlanta. Exactly what she told her mom she'd stay out of. Like Chloe said, however, she couldn't help it. Trouble seemed to come to her even when she wasn't looking for it.

"Chloe, maybe we could tone it down a little?" She whispered in her ear, tugging at her hand gently.

"I am not going to tone it down, Beca, because we have the right to be together and not feel bad about it just as any other couple on the planet." She said, loud enough for everyone to hear. "And tonight, we are going to make sure the camp's head monitor sees how right it is to like girls!"

A loud cheering praised her words the moment she closed her mouth for yet another dramatic moment.

"We shall accomplish this mission by first choosing a partner. Everyone should be by two, and hold your friend, lover, stranger teammate hand like it's the most precious thing in the world. We'll march towards the cafeteria and during lunch, everyone should make sure their joined hands are visible. For the daring ones, you can even kiss your partner's cheek and cuddle close during dinner. Then, the head's won't have another choice but to accept that sexual orientation does not define a person's character." She finished in a high-pitched voice, shouting over the loud encouragements from the girls in front of her.

Beca rolled her eyes in amusement at how flustered Chloe looked. Her mouth was hanging open slightly, her eyes sparkling with pride as she slowly came down the high her speech had provoked inside her, her lungs reminding her she needed to breathe as she panted discreetly. She was squeezing the brunette's hand tightly, and Beca felt her heart race up as the girls slowly but assuredly partnered up. She wasn't sure if it was the excitement of giving this ignominious head monitor a heart attack with all this sinning or because she was terrified of the consequences of such a big move. Probably a mix of both, but she knew her mom would disapprove of her causing such chaos. Technically, I'm not the one instigating it, so it should be okay, right? She tried to convince her mind that this was completely out of her hands, but another part of her was smirking madly and thinking this is going to be so great, i can't wait to see this dumb head monitor's face go all red.

It took only five minutes for everyone to have a partner and focus their attention back on Chloe again. Their smiling faces beaming as the redhead nodded with each team her eyes fell on. She looked at her watch and a wicked grin Beca had never seen on her face curled up her lips.

"It's show time!" She exclaimed, raising their clenched hands in the air in a victorious way.

Everyone did the same with confident smiles and cheerful onomatopoeia. Chloe stepped down the picnic table they were perched on, thus dragging Beca with her. The brunette nearly fell down, but strong arms put her back on her feet and she felt her girlfriend's ghost of a kiss on her cheek seconds later.

"Thank you." She murmured with a nudge of her nose in her neck before pulling her toward the marching crowd who had been warned to do as if this was the most natural thing in the world for them. Beca didn't know what to answer to that, so she simply smiled. She smiled to hide the terror of what could happen if the head monitor didn't give in. Chloe somehow felt her grip tighten as they approached the cafeteria and pulled her on the side.

"Hey, the worse that can happen is that she'll ask who started that, but there is no way she can do us harm. She can't expulse all of the campers!" Chloe stroked her arms up and down, searching for Beca's worried gaze.

"Are you sure?" She asked, and she cursed in her head for how weak her voice sounded: she just couldn't take the fear nagging at the back of her mind.

"Yeah. Are you going to be okay? I thought you were all rebellious and stuff." She mocked gently, winking at her with that playful grin that was only for Beca.

"It's easier to have everyone hate you because then they're not trying to dig into your life and you don't have to make any effort when you don't feel like it." She explained, her eyes fixed on her shoes.

"It's also very lonely." Chloe countered before linking their hands again, lifting Beca's chin with the other.

"You get used to it…" She was cut off by Chloe's deep kiss and for a moment she forgot how to breathe before oxygen rushed into her lungs again.

"Today is no time for loneliness. Today we're celebrating acceptance and love, whoever you share it with!" She cheered happily and started walking away.

Beca rolled her eyes at the cheesiness, but her worries were swept away quickly as she stumbled to follow behind. They arrived in the cafeteria a few seconds after the last group of girls had settled down at their table. Aubrey and Stacie were holding hands while Jessica was waving at them with her hand locked to a girl Chloe had never noticed. Smiling brightly, or shyly if you were more on the brunette side, they joined their friends.

"Hey Aubrey, I thought you weren't gay…" Beca piqued, pointing a look at the blonde's entwined fingers with the tall brunette.

"I'm not. I'm a supportive best friend." She puffed out a breath, but both girls noticed the pink shade spreading on her cheeks.

"I'm not gay either!" Stacie chirped in and everyone at the table nodded absent mindedly because they knew: she wasn't gay or straight, she was hard to please as Stacie liked to remind them occasionnaly.

They all rolled their eyes in a dramatic way, Beca's most charismatic trait having rubbed off on her friends. Friends, it was a strange thing to think that these girls, over the course of a few weeks, had became her friends. Beca let that thought sink in just as her heart sunk deep in her chest when the head monitor entered the room with the flock of monitors surrounding her. She didn't look like a monster, she actually had a nice smile and kind brown eyes, Beca recalled. She squinted at her, trying to see the horror in that woman, but she just couldn't. It was like she was a completely different person than the witch they had met a few hours prior.

When she sat down at the adults' table and her eyes scanned the room, Beca felt the excitement and tension rise up a notch. Every girl was following her gaze from the corner of their eyes, acting so purely normal it took everything in the brunette not to burst out laughing. The head monitor's face suddenly twitched when she noticed a twelve year old tenderly feeding her friend a piece of bread with a giggle, and her smile faltered when she saw two girls laced together as they talked with their friends. There it is, Beca mentally snickered and her confidence grew as the woman's face disintegrated with each new lesbian couple she observed. She sat up just that much straighter, holding Chloe's hand a little bit tighter and fighting off the smug smile sneaking its way over her lips.

They watched in utter amusement as she frowned and urgently murmured into the ear of the monitor on her left. The monitor appeared shocked at first, and she looked around, only taking in now the spectacle happening before her eyes. She tried to hide to smirk menacing to make her look bad in front of the boss, but she failed greatly.

"What, you think this is funny?" They heard her hiss in a venomous tone.

"No, not at all." The monitor replied with her most serious face on.

Chloe stretched her neck to its longest, trying to hear closer to what the head monitor was now spitting out through clenched jaws.

"You think this is acceptable…. I will not take such sinful behavior…" The women suddenly stopped talking as she realized the deadly silent reigning over the crowded cafeteria.

"Is something wrong, Miss?" Beca heard someone call out, and it took her a moment to realize it was Stacie.

She whirled around to look at the tall girl's defiant look with her flicked up eyebrow and arrogant smile. Lowering her gaze, she smiled when she saw that Aubrey still had her hand scotched to the other girl's. She nudged Chloe slightly, showing her the "supportive friend" Aubrey was being and the redhead pinched her with a pointed look that meant she wasn't to say anything about anything she'd see. Beca raised an eyebrow, intrigued, but Chloe gave her another look and the brunette nodded silently: they'd talk later.

"Well, Ms. Conrad I can list at least ten things that are wrong, starting with that t-shirt of yours. "Don't call me, I'll call you" is not the kind of script that a young woman should wear so proudly. You should be ashamed." The head said with a pinched face.

"Oh, then you'll be glad I didn't opt to wear my other shirt! It has an even nicer script." Stacie shrugged, still standing up. "You said you could list ten things, now you still have nine to go. What's wrong?" she asked again, her voice sweet as honey but her eyes cold as ice.

"I do not owe you anything and I will not tolerate such an attitude. Now you sit down young lady." She snapped back, a strand of her perfectly set hair suddenly falling on her face, as if the chaos wasn't only inside of her, it was starting to show on the outside too. "And to everybody else, you will stop this circus right now and tell me who put you up to such an anti-God prank."

"But Miss, this ain't no prank, this real." A strong and colorful black girl said in a loud and confident voice.

She held up the hand of the short brunette by her side, who looked so proud of her partner it made Beca grin. She darted her dark eyes on the head monitor's furious face and smiled brightly before speaking up again.

"This is Shelby, my girlfriend. I'm Cynthia Rose, a Christian. A good one, even. Ain't no God gon' hate me because of who I love. Only hateful people do that. My God loves me no matter who I hold hands with and that's what being a good Christian is about. Now if y'all got a problem with this, then I'm sorry for all of you. This ain't a prank, this is a wake up call. Hating on the gays won't make you a better Christian, it'll only make you a worse human being."

Loud cheering exploded right after she bowed to the woman's twisted features and sat down. Chloe and Beca were on their feet, well Beca followed Chloe standing because their hands were still attached, and she also followed when the redhead went over the couple to thank Cynthia Rose.

"No problem, pretty face. I never had a problem with any other head monitor before, and this woman comes up to my girl and me, saying we can't hold hands in public because it might give a bad image to the young ones? I call bullshit." She said with a confident nod.

"Chloe Beale!" The redhead spun around as her name thundered out of the head's mouth, making her gasp in shock.

She had just enough time to put on her brightest fake smile before answering in a sickening lovely voice.

"Yes, Ms Robyn?" She purred, taking a step towards her as Beca stared intently at the floor, chewing the inside of her cheeks to stop the bubbles of laughter from erupting.

"You instigated all of this, didn't you?!" She accused, pointing a menacing finger towards her.

"Why ma'am, I don't see anything wrong happening right now?" Chloe's smirk did not reach the other side of her lips as she tried to remain as serious as could be.

"Nothing wrong?! You've contaminated all those pure and innocent souls with your sinful homosexual behaviors, and I will not tolerate such bad influence in my camp." She spat the words out like venom, a vein bulging out on her neck, her finger shaking with indignation.

"It wasn't her idea, it was mine." Chloe tugged on Beca's arm to stop her as she had felt the brunette's grip tighten and the electric wave of fear rush through it, but the younger girl couldn't let her girlfriend take all the blame; she was used to be despised, especially by authority figures, so it wouldn't be such a difference. "I conviced Chloe to gather everyone and told them to be as gay as possible because you're a stupid ass stuck up hideous bitch who can't take difference because it might disturb your perfect little snob world. For fuck's sake, there's nothing wrong with liking girls, just like there's nothing wrong with liking it in the ass, which you obviously must do because you've had such a long ass broom stuck there for so long. You probably can't even feel it now, can you?"

She finished with a haughty smirk, a raised eyebrow and her arms crossed over her chest, with Chloe's hand still glued to her palm. The older girl was gawking at her in obvious shock and Beca felt a little dizzy from all the attention, but she remembered herself that this is what she was good with. She was ready for the suspension, the expulsion, whatever punishment was coming her way. However, it wasn't the head monitor who spoke next; the woman was still gasping like a carp.

"Beca is right, Ms Robyn, although her word choices weren't the best, it's true. I see nothing wrong here. We get told to not let our personal lives interfere with our work at camp, and all I can see right now is you letting your personal life greatly alterate your judgment. These girls are here for a good time, not for a moral lesson. They're not all catholic like you, Miss, and with all due respect, you have no right to tell them that because they love another girl, they're going to hell or are unworthy of any respect."

It was the monitor who organized the riding lessons, Chloe's favorite monitor of the whole camp and she was standing tall and proud beside the head monitor. The tension between the two adults made all the chatter stop and everyone looked at the women eyeing each other ferociously. After a few intense seconds that seemed like an eternity, the head monitor puffed out a indignated breath, tilting her chin up as if they were all inferior, and walked away as fast as her legs could carry.

"Okay, girls, you finish your dinner. We'll discuss this whole scene later." The eldest monitor said, clapping her hands enthusiastically before following the other woman's steps and walking out of the cafeteria.

As soon as things settled down, a loud buzz of murmurs and hushed chatters lulled the room back into its jolly and lively atmosphere, except tonight everyone was talking about the same thing. When Beca sat back down, the girls at the table looked at her with pointed looks and she sighed.

"Why do you guys guess I got sent to an all girl's summer camp? It wasn't by choice, that's for sure." She laughed, but then squeezed Chloe's hand reassuringly. "I guess now you see where the problem was back home."

They nodded, especially Aubrey, whose eyes were so wide they looked like they were about to pop out of her head.

"That was oddly sexy…" Chloe hummed in her ear and Beca nearly choke on her gulp of water.

"That wasn't sexy, that was me getting in deep trouble." She chuckled nervously, all too aware of Chloe's closeness. "But it's alright, I kind of missed messing with adults; they get upset over anything, it's funny."

The redhead giggled before snuggling closer to her girlfriend because she couldn't have asked for a better ending to this whole situation, plus she felt Beca was more relaxed, as if not stringing so many insults together for such a long time had took a toll on her.

They finished eating and hurried to their dorms to get changed and meet with their respective age groups around the camp fire. When they were all sat, the monitor, who could barely hold back the grin from her face, enthusiastically announced that the head monitor had resigned from her post because she couldn't 'believe her own employees would turn against her and she wasn't about to stay in such a nefaste environement, shame on those poor souls that will all go to hell'. The young woman raised an eyebrow, trying to keep a straight face as long as possible after having enunciated the woman's reasons in a grave tone. Not even five seconds later, the girls were clasping their stomach, wiping away tears and laughing like mad men.

"See, I told you everything would be fine." Chloe winked at Beca, who rolled her eyes in response.


End file.
