Chapter 2
The Barden Dames had a practice every Tuesday at 4 PM and every Saturday at 9 AM. They had a game once every two weeks during the weekends and they had one the weekend before Chloe started so the next one was in a week.
The slight inconvenience was that the Bellas had two practices every week too, one Monday at 8 PM and one Friday at 9 PM.
Which meant that the one morning Chloe would usually allow herself to sleep in, every Saturday, was effectively ruined. After an excruciating Bella practice, she’d have to wake up the next morning early to make it to the arena even though she’d be dead tired. Aubrey was pushing them to the max and they were very far from being good enough.
The problem was that she woke up a teensy bit too late that first Saturday morning and her eyes bulged out of her eyes when she saw she didn’t have time to get ready and make it to the arena in time. She got up in a hurry, ignoring the pain in her legs, and got dressed with the first thing she saw. She figured she could get something to eat from the vending machine and grabbed a hoodie just in time before yelling her goodbyes at Aubrey who was somewhere in the house.
She refused to drive over the speed limit, though so she pulled into the arena’s parking lot at 9:15 and she cursed herself for being late. That was a very bad impression on the second day. She ran through the parking lot, almost getting hit by a car in the process, and she rushed through the arena to make it to the ice rink. Luke spotted her from afar and waved her over to the players' bench where a player named Fuentes was sitting next to him.
“Holy shit I am so sorry,” she said before he could even say something. “I had a Bellas rehearsal yesterday and it ended late and I’m not used to waking up this early on Saturdays and I set up an alarm but I slept through it. I swear it will never happen again that’s incredibly unprofessional.”
Luke and Flo looked at her for a while in silence after her ramble before the hockey player chuckled. “In my country, you would be fired on the spot.”
“I’m not technically hired…” she tried to say but the hockey player jumped over the board and rejoined her team who were practicing slap shots (a term that Chloe had learned last Tuesday).
“It’s okay, Chloe.” Luke said, waving a hand off. “Just don’t let it happen again.”
She nodded seriously and paid attention to what was happening on the ice. She looked just in time to see Beca get ready for her turn. She played with the puck a little, sliding it from side to side. She made Amy believe she was gonna shoot the puck in a direction before moving at the last second and scoring a goal.
“Suck on that, Ames!” Beca said, throwing a fist in the air and Chloe grinned to herself, wondering if Beca was smiling right now and what that looked like.
“Yeah, yeah....” the goalie said, waving at Beca to move out of the way so Lilly could take her shot. Beca did a little twirl on her skates and skated past the bench, stopping when she saw Chloe. She took an abrupt brake, sending a whiff of ice everywhere and put one glove on the board separating them.
“Thought we scared you off, Red.”
Chloe raised an eyebrow, “I don’t scare easily.” It’s true. She was a very determined person. When she wanted something, she was going to get it. She could see the hint of a smile through Beca’s helmet, though maybe she was imagining it.
“Nice hoodie.”
She looked down at herself and smiled when she saw the Hogwarts logo from Harry Potter.
“Thanks!” Chloe said, ignoring Beca’s sarcasm.
“Yo BM! Legacy just said she’s faster than you!” Stacie said, capturing Beca’s attention.
“What?” she said, whipping her head back.
Emily shook her head violently, “Wait no! That’s not true, I didn’t!”
“Yeah, she did!” Cynthia-Rose said and Chloe put her chin on her hand, observing the exchange with amusement.
“Beca, I swear--”
Gail suddenly appeared from behind and sat next to Luke. “Why did they stop?”
“Race!” Beca shouted and Gail sighed when she got her response. Everyone clapped in excitement except for Emily who looked like she wanted to be anywhere but here.
Cynthia-Rose took off her helmet and put it between her arm and her waist. “The rules of the race are simple,” she said loudly through the arena, making her voice echo. “The players will start at the goal line,” she pointed to the goal where Amy still was with her hockey stick and skated a little to the left, “and end at the goal line on the other side.”
“I hate my life,” Gail muttered, putting her face in her hands.
Luke chuckled and turned to Chloe to explain. “This kinda thing happens more than Gail wishes it did. It’s better to let them do it and get it over with than discipline them sometimes.”
The girls all lined up from one goal line to the other except for Beca and Emily who lined up from each side of the goal. Chloe was smiling, excited to see what was going to happen and how the girls seemed used to doing these kinds of things, so much they had rules.
“Might I remind everyone that our little rocket here has been an undefeated race champion since the beginning of the season,” Stacie said to antagonize Emily even more. Beca took a bow under all the claps and the ginger finally understood why they made Beca the captain. For some reason, even with her lack of social skills, everyone seemed to listen to her and admire her. They were drawn to her and Chloe couldn’t deny she felt the same attraction.
“Ready?” Cynthia-Rose shouted from the red line in the middle and when both girls nodded, she put her hockey stick high in the air. “Set. GO!” she shouted, her stick going down.
Both girls instantly started moving and Chloe watched with avid eyes as Beca skated fast, really fast. Faster than Chloe had ever seen someone skate. Emily was tall and her legs could have saved her but it was no match to the speed that Beca was going at. Everyone was shouting loudly as the distance between the two became bigger and bigger.
Except, when it came time to slow down at the goal line on the other side, number 47 had picked up too much speed and couldn’t slow down in time, thus making her crash into the wall with force. All the girls gasped at the sound that the collision made and the hockey player fell backwards, her head hitting the ice so hard that Chloe saw it bounce before she stayed still on the ice.
Everyone rushed to her, Luke included, except Chloe because she didn’t have skates on. She gripped the board with white knuckles, hating how helpless she felt. All the girls were in a circle around her, looking down at their captain, shouting in worry before Luke snapped.
“Girls! Leave her some space!”
They all apologized at the same time and backed off. Emily was the closest to the bench so Chloe waved her over. She had taken off her helmet and the redhead could see the worry all over her face.
“Hey this isn’t your fault.”
“But--”
“This isn’t your fault,” Chloe said firmly and Emily nodded, the frown not leaving her expression. Luke put his arm around Beca to help her stand up and the ginger saw how Beca tried to shrug him off but she was too out of it to really do it.
“Chloe — here help me,” he said once they got close to the bench and Chloe went to Beca’s other side and made the girl hang onto her. The girl smelled like ice and sweat but there was also a hint of coconut that made the ginger smile. The two helpers carried Beca to the locker room where she finally seemed to get over the shock.
“I’ll just take a break for 2 minutes and go back,” she said after sitting down.
“Right,” Luke said in a chuckle. “Chloe, stay with her. I’m gonna go make sure the girls back there are alright.”
“Dude, let me go back!” Beca called out after him but Luke had already left.
She took off her helmet in a huff and Chloe bit her lip at the sight. There was something so… hot about Beca taking off her helmet and her hair sticking out everywhere. Her face was slightly red from the physical effort but she still looked great. She looked at Chloe and then leaned her head back against the wall, saying nothing.
Chloe lasted 2 whole minutes before she couldn’t handle the quiet anymore.
“You okay?”
“Never been better,” Beca said sharply.
Chloe closed her mouth and didn’t shy away from looking at Beca, inspecting her the most she could. The sarcasm, the closed-off attitude, where did it all come from? Chloe wanted to find out so bad.
“I could bring you some ice for the back of your head.”
“M’fine, Red.” She crossed her arms on her chest and closed her eyes. Chloe wasn’t sure if she was lying so she figured she’d just get her some ice whether she wanted it or not.
When she came back 5 minutes later, Beca hadn’t moved but she did open one eye for a brief second at the sound of someone sitting down.
“Thought you left.”
“That’s not really a thing I do.”
Beca opened her eyes and looked at her with an indescribable expression. One that said a lot of things, but nothing that Chloe could read. Yet.
So she just handed her the ice and tried to keep her smile to the minimum when Beca took it and held it at the back of her head. They fell back into a silence that made Chloe’s skin itch.
“Does your head hurt? We wouldn’t want you to get a concussion.”
Beca shrugged. “I’ve gotten a concussion before and it’s not like that. Think it’s just the shock that knocked me out a little.”
“That looked really bad.”
“I miscalculated how far the line was. Guess I’m just even faster than I thought,” Beca smirked arrogantly. Chloe scoffed to hide the fact that she thought her expression was way more attractive than it should be.
“How long have you been playing hockey?” Chloe said before they could fall into another silence and Beca quirked an eyebrow up. The redhead wasn’t sure why the idea of her wanting to get to know the athlete was so amusing.
At the same time, the chatter of the girls filled the hallway and a second later, the Dames entered the room one by one. Chloe pinched her lips together, almost disappointed.
“How are you doing, captain?” Cynthia-Rose said, settling down next to Beca and untying her skates. Beca smirked at Chloe before looking at her teammate.
“You know me, I bounce right back up.”
Cynthia-Rose snickered and started to take off her uniform as the Dames all threw a comment or two at their captain to make sure she was alright. Chloe observed meticulously the fact that not one of them touched Beca, except for a tap on the shoulder pad.
“Chloe?” Luke’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts and she looked at the doorway to see his head peeking through. “Come.”
No one really paid attention to her leaving and she followed Luke to the small office she saw at the entrance. She was about to follow him in but he stopped her,
“That’s the arena director’s office, you’re not allowed in since you’re just a trainee.”
“Oh.”
“Just wanted to tell you this is where we keep more of our supplies in case of an emergency. In the kit I carry, we have the bare minimum. As in as few band-aids, tissues and bandages but this one has more.” He pulled out a box and took out a few items to show her. “Thermometer, flashlight, instant ice packs, antiseptic wipes, sterile gauze pads and more. If you ever need something that’s not in the small kit, you can come in here. But only if it’s an emergency.”
“Got it.”
He nodded and put back everything in the box, sliding it under a desk. He stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him.
When she went back to the locker room to say bye to the Dames, Beca was gone.
…
It was a couple of hours before Tuesday’s practice and Chloe was enjoying the fact that her class had been cancelled. Aubrey and her decided to get coffee at the café on campus to study together somewhere other than the house. It was a beautiful house but it was big, way too big for only two girls and Chloe studied better with mindless chatter around her.
Chloe had her textbook opened in front of her, begging her to learn more about her Animal Biotechnology class, but she would rather continue her conversation with her best friend on her First Aid class assignment.
“I’m telling you, it’s fun!” she said with a smile.
“It seems violent.”
“It’s women’s hockey, Bree. It’s not like men’s hockey,” she said, ignoring the fact that was a blatant lie due to one Beca Mitchell.
“Didn’t you tell me one girl had a nose bleed your first day?”
Damn. She forgot she had told her about that. She was about to answer when she saw the girl in question walk through the door of the coffee shop, going straight to the counter to order. Chloe’s eyes lit up.
“That’s her!”
Aubrey looked back and scrunched her nose, “oh. She seems a little… alternative.”
Chloe ignored her and waved a hand, “Beca! Hi!” The girl in question ducked her head when she got a few looks and quickly made her way to the table where the two girls were sitting.
“Red,” the hockey player said and Aubrey lifted an unimpressed eyebrow at the name. It was a stupid nickname but Chloe had to admit she kinda liked it.
“I’m Aubrey,” her friend said in a sharp tone, not pleased at how Beca ignored her.
Beca nodded. “Beca.”
There was a strange moment of tension as Aubrey looked the athlete up and down. Chloe decided to break the silence.
“What are you doing here?”
“Getting coffee,” Beca said in a tight smile, pointing behind her and Chloe would have been embarrassed at the tone because duh but she wasn’t someone that got embarrassed easily.
“Fun! I’m studying with Bree here while she’s planning our set.”
“Set?”
Chloe smiled a smile that showed all her teeth. “We’re in an acapella group together. The Barden Bellas.”
“Oh right, this is like a thing now.”
“Totes! We sing covers of songs without any instruments. It’s all from our mouths.”
Beca smiled sarcastically as she replied, “Yikes. Isn’t that kind of… lame?”
“Aca scuse me? Synchronized lady dancing to a Mariah Carey chart topper is not lame, you bitch,” Aubrey interrupted their conversation, hand turning into a fist. Beca quirked an eyebrow up, smiling at the reaction she got out of the blonde.
“Aubrey!” Chloe said and Beca smirked.
“Jesse told me the Bellas were… particular. Now I see,” she said and Chloe squirmed uncomfortably on her seat at the tension between the two in front of her.
“Jesse?” Aubrey asked rudely.
“Yeah, he’s a Troublemaker or Treble whatever it is. He’s also a hockey player.”
Chloe closed her eyes at the mention of the Trebles. This wasn’t going to help the conversation steer in the right direction. Aubrey opened her mouth in an offended manner but the ginger cut her off to change the subject before she could call Beca a bitch again.
“Do you sing?”
“Nope,” she said in her typical Beca manner; short and sweet. Her name was suddenly called out from the cashier at the front and she turned around. “See you later, Red,” she called out, completely ignoring Aubrey. Chloe watched her leave with avid eyes and she smiled when Beca took one last look at her before leaving the coffee shop. The blonde in front of her waved a hand in her face to capture her attention.
“I don’t like her.”
Chloe bit her lower lip to contain her smile. “She’s… intriguing.”
“She’s rude is what she is,” Aubrey mumbled and turned her attention back to her laptop which meant she was done with the conversation. She wasn’t that surprised that the two girls didn’t get along but she wasn’t expecting the conversation to be so messy. Aubrey took a while to let people in and with the little that Chloe knew about Beca, she could say the same thing about the hockey player so it made sense they clashed.
She finally looked down at her text book to study, already excited for practice later.
…
Chloe made it to practice 20 minutes in advance that day to make up for last time. She wanted to show Luke her tardiness had been a one time thing and that she took this assignment seriously. At the end of the season, he was going to have to evaluate her and since Chloe wasn’t the best at paying attention in class, she really needed all the good grades she could get and this was an easy A.
All she had to do was show initiative and prove that she could react well when faced with an injury. It was good that she was paired with the Dames, because it seemed like she was going to have a lot of practice with Beca Mitchell as one of the players.
For the first time, she had a chance to see Beca getting ready with her teammates in the locker room. She leaned on the doorway, observing everyone sprawled around the room, chatting together loudly. Jessica, Lilly and Ashley were having a conversation and Fat Amy was showing some questionable dance moves to a scared-looking Emily and an amused Stacie.
Next to them was Beca who was glancing up at the goalie from time to time to laugh at her but she was mainly focused on putting her uniform on. Her hair wasn’t in a ponytail yet and Chloe bit her lip at the sight of the long dark hair over the shoulder pads and the concentrated look on her face as she tied her pants.
Stacie was the first to notice her.
“Hey Red,” the tallest of the girls said, like she was mocking the nickname. The number 47 looked up instantly but as soon as she caught Chloe’s eyes, her face went neutral again and she got back to her task like she didn’t care about the ginger. She pushed Stacie’s hand away without a word when the latter tried to tickle her.
“Hey Chloe,” a few of the girls said at the same time and she smiled, happy to see the girls were getting used to seeing her here.
She couldn’t help but notice Beca seemed to be the only one that didn’t tell her hi but she didn’t take it personally. If Beca thought she could keep Chloe away from her, she had the wrong idea.
Coach Gail entered the room before anything else could happen.
“Alright girls,” she said, grabbing everyone’s attention. “As you guys know we have a game next week. Against… “ she checked her clipboard “... Utica College. They lost their past three games so it shouldn’t be too hard but it’s not an excuse to slack off. Since the match is Saturday we’re not going to have another practice until the game so I want you guys to give it all you got.”
The girls all made a sound of agreement and Chloe looked at Beca who had finished putting on her uniform and who was tying her skates. Looking up when she was done, she caught Chloe’s eyes and surprisingly held the eye contact until Stacie clapped her back loudly.
“Come on cap, you got a head injury to get to,” she said, getting up and there were a few laughs around the room.
“Shut up,” the girl mumbled, putting on her helmet and Chloe was almost disappointed at the fact that she couldn’t look at the player’s face as well anymore.
“Yeah try to be careful this time, Mitchell. We need you strong for the game,” Gail said and looked at all the girls. “No race today. I’m making you guys work hard, I hope you’re ready.”
There were a few grumbles on the way but as soon as they were on the ice, all the girls turned a switch and got to work. Well, except for Amy who would lay down completely on the ice from time to time and have Gail whistle at her loudly right next to Luke and Chloe.
Chloe liked hockey more than she thought she would. She liked trying to figure out how it worked, asking Luke a few questions here and there to understand the rules of the game. She liked the way the girls seemed to always know what the others were going to do, moving in sync together towards a goal (no pun intended). It reminded her a lot of the Bellas and she thought that maybe that was her problem with the team this year. They didn’t know each other and didn’t communicate together to make sure they all wanted the same thing. Aubrey was the leader and she decided what to do without caring if the others wanted to do that.
She watched Beca move around the ice and Chloe wondered if the girl was a dancer because the way she moved was so fluid. She was concentrated today and Chloe could tell by the way she wouldn’t participate in the usual teasing the Dames all did on the ice and she would get back in position after scoring a goal immediately.
“Alright girls!” Gail whistled and the girls all stopped skating, hands on their thighs to catch their breaths. “Hit the showers, good practice today!”
One by one, they passed by Chloe and Luke to go in the direction of the showers and the redhead was going to get up when Cynthia-Rose stopped in front of them.
“Yo Luke, I tripped yesterday and didn’t think anything of it but my ankle’s been kind of bothering me all practice.”
He nodded and gestured at her to come closer. “Let’s take a look.” Chloe got up to leave space for the player to sit next to Luke and paid attention to what Luke was going to do because that was what she was here for. When Cynthia-Rose took off her right skate, Luke bent down and grabbed her ankle with a thumb and two fingers.
He would ask her a few questions from time to time like where it hurt and the way it felt. After a while, he leaned back and looked at her. “Well you probably just strained a muscle lightly because I can’t really feel anything. But to be sure we can put a bandage on it to make sure you don’t make it worse.” He looked around and grabbed the first aid kit and handed it to the medical trainee. “Here. You learned how to put a bandage on, right?”
She nodded and kneeled down to bandage the ankle, careful to not hurt the hockey player. Since Cynthia-Rose and Luke didn’t comment, she assumed she was doing the right thing. It took maybe longer than if their usual medical trainer had done it but she finally stood up, satisfied with the result. Luke inspected it and nodded.
“Good job,” he said before turning back to Cynthia-Rose. “Just try to be careful till the game. Don’t move around too much, don’t apply too much pressure on it for no reason. Like maybe don’t go for a run until you’re sure you don’t feel any pain.”
The college athlete nodded and fist-bumped Luke. “Thanks Allen.” She turned around to face Chloe. “Thanks Beale.”
“No problem!” she answered enthusiastically She was so glad she helped that without thinking, she threw her arms around the girl and hugged her. Thankfully, Cynthia-Rose seemed okay with it because she chuckled and hugged Chloe back briefly.
“Alright, I’m gonna take all this off,” the hockey player said before walking out on one skate.
“Here,” Luke said, sliding his pants up to show his ankle. “I’ll give you a trick to go quicker next time.”
For the next 20 minutes, they talked about techniques on how to be efficient and bandage an injury the best way possible. Chloe listened to everything he said carefully and mimicked what he did on her own ankle and when he was satisfied with what she did, he let her go.
She passed by the locker room and saw all the girls dressing up in their regular clothes after taking a shower. She quickly took a look at all of them and wasn’t surprised to see Beca wasn’t there. Except, her stuff was still in her area which meant she was still around. Without thinking, Chloe made her way to the back of the room where the door to the showers was.
When she opened it, she was instantly met with the sound of someone singing and she stopped in her tracks. The voice was beautiful, like really beautiful and whoever it was showed great control over their own voice. Something that took years of training for a lot of people. She closed the door silently behind her, making sure to not disturb the person and make them stop singing. She walked until she was at the closed curtain where the voice was coming from and opened it slowly, a grin on her face.
She looked at the dark hair, the flower tattoo on her right shoulder and Chloe could see a few bruises on her arms and legs, even some scars could be seen. She listened to the song a few more seconds before she couldn’t contain herself anymore.
“You can sing!”
Beca turned around in seconds, her eyes widening. “Dude!” she said, closing the curtains. Chloe opened it again instantly and reached over to close the water.
“How high does your belt go?”
“My what? Oh my God,” Beca said, trying to hide her chest the best she could with her shampoo bottle.
“I can’t believe you told me you didn’t sing! You could even join the Bellas.”
“I can’t concentrate on anything you’re saying until I can fully cover up my junk.”
“You should think about it. One time we sang backup for Prince,” Chloe continued with enthusiasm while Beca used the shower curtains to cover herself up. “His butt is so tiny that I can hold it with like, one hand,” she joked and knocked over the shampoo bottle by accident. “Oops!”
“Seriously? I am nude,” Beca stated, turning her back to Chloe.
Chloe looked at herself and felt bad that the hockey player was in fact nude and she was fully dressed. So she did what any sane person would do and grabbed the hem of her hoodie, taking it off along with her shirt and leaving only her bra. Beca’s eyes dropped down to her chest with wide eyes and the redhead smirked. At least, she was wearing one of her good bras today.
“You were singing Titanium, right?”
Beca looked up at her eyes again and Chloe saw the hint of a smile form on her face. “You know David Guetta?”
“Have I been living under a rock? That song is my jam,” she said, nodding her head and then got slightly closer to the brunette and lowered her voice. “My lady jam.”
“That’s nice,” Beca said, breaking eye contact to face the wall.
“It is. That song really builds.” Chloe added a wink when Beca looked at her after a beat and she frowned.
“Gross.”
“Will you sing it for me?”
“Dude no! Get out!” Beca said and Chloe rolled her eyes.
“Not for that reason! I’m not leaving here until you sing so,” she said, putting her hands on her hips and taking a deep breath through her nose. Beca forced a smile, turning around slowly. She opened her mouth and closed it a couple of times before admitting her defeat.
“I’m bulletproof, nothing to lose.”
Chloe joined in immediately, their voices blending together and creating a perfect harmony. Cold blue eyes stayed focused on ocean blue ones and Chloe couldn’t keep the smile off her face. Beca seemed to get more confident too as she let an easy smile on her face, her arms sliding to her side. Chloe held the last note a little longer and then they fell into an easy silence, even Beca couldn’t contain the smile on her face.
She seemed to remember what was happening soon enough though, because she crossed her arms and looked down at Chloe’s chest for half a second before looking up at the ceiling.
“Oh yeah. I don’t really shy away from that kind of stuff. I’m pretty confident about all this,” she said in a flirty tone.
What she didn’t expect was Beca to answer back “You should be” with her eyes on Chloe’s chest.
She grinned, putting her shirt back on. “Have a nice shower!” she called out before leaving the room. A few of the girls were still there and everyone stopped talking when Chloe came out the door. Stacie had a grin on her face and Amy and Cynthia-Rose were snickering in the corner. The redhead shrugged with a smile on her face.
“See you at the game next weekend, girls!” she said, walking out the room. She was pretty sure they all burst into laughter as soon as she left and heard one of them say:
“Didn’t she have her hoodie on when she went in there?”