My Barden Bella ~A Bumper Allen Love Story~

Riff Off~~~~

Chapter 6: Riff Off

Days passed and the day of our gig arrived. Aubrey made us wear a dark blue long sleeved shirt with a white blouse underneath, a skirt that reached below our knees and black heels. When we reached our destination, we positioned ourselves and began to sing. We were really horrible. Even though the past few days were full of practices, we still couldn’t perfect it. When we finished, a guy in a blue shirt walked up to us and said, “Whoa, whoa. Just stop. Stop.”

“I am so sorry, Howie. I know we’re not performance ready.” Aubrey tried to explain.

“I wanted the hot Bellas, not this barnyard explosion. I’m not paying for this. Let’s go. Come on.” Howie said.

“God.” Aubrey mumbled.

That Howie guy was an ass. He could’ve at least paid us even just a little. Okay, I did say we sang horribly, but I admit, we weren’t that bad. Some of us may have been out of tuned or confused, but we did sound…good?

Anyway, as we walked out of the place, Aubrey kept scolding us by saying, “Well, I hope you all remember the way you feel right now, so you will never wanna feel this way again.”

 “Chloe, your voice didn’t sound Aguilerian at all. Chloe, for serious, what is wrong with you?” She exclaimed as she turned to Chloe.

“I have nodes.” Chloe said, facing us.

Aubrey gasped, “What? Oh, my God.”

“I found out this morning.”

“What are nodes?” Beca asked.

“Vocal nodules. The rubbing together of your vocal cords at above-average rates without proper lubrication.” Aubrey explained.

“They sit on you windpipe and they crush your dreams.” Chloe said.

“Isn’t that painful? Why would you keep performing?” I asked.

“Because I love to sing.”

“Yeah, it’s like when my lady doctor told me not to have sex for six weeks, and I did it anyway.” Stacie said.

“You should really listen to your doctor.” Amy said to Stacie.

“They key is early diagnosis. I am living with nodes. But I am a survivor. I just have to pull back, because I am limited. Because I have nodes.” Chloe told us.

“Chloe, this is horrible.” Aubrey said.

“Well, at least it’s not herpes.” Amy said.

Aubrey stared at her as Amy added, “Or do you have that as well?”