Senior Year

The Convention Centre

Their last chance to perform before the worlds wasn't going too badly. Chloe had freaked out in the green room but as usual, Flo managed to put things into perspective.

"With the Bellas, my life will have no," Chloe flustered, stuck for the right word to use. Flo Had jumped in with the helpful suggestion of "malaria" much to Chloe's annoyance. Beca had found it funny, even with having braids done so tightly.

It seemed now that Chloe's fears weren't warranted as the Bellas moved perfectly into the next dance sequence - the brunette wasn't sure where Chloe got her choreography from but waving their butts in the air was one of the weirder things she'd got the Bellas to do.

"My hips knocking as we keep lip locking."

Just as Beca noticed the talk-a-pella commentators in the audience, the Bellas shifted into a center line, preparing for the penultimate sequence; this would be involving props as well so concentration faded slightly on what they were singing to make sure everyone knew where their prop was.

The slight glitch in sound quality wasn't too much to worry about as air guns, hoola hoops and twirling batons filled the stage. Surely this was enough to entertain the audience? Beca winced a little as the sound quality went down another notch, the Bellas desperately trying to get the dance moves right without causing themselves an injury.

As soon as the song began to get back on track, Beca heard Fat Amy yell; "She's on fire! She's on fire!" Looking around, the brunette's jaw fell open at the sight of Cynthia Rose's head covered in flames. Gasps of horror and surprise filled the stage as well as flooding over the audience.

Back in the minibus, the Bellas remained in silence. Fat Amy was listening to music, Cynthia Rose was watching something on her tablet and the legacy was frantically scribbling notes down.

"Is that for class?" Beca asked, curious as to why now was a good time to be doing work, or really anything.

"No,' Emily said, her voice wavering a little as if her speaking could break the tension in the minibus. "It's just when I get stressed, words sorta of just flow right out of me and I just try and channel them in my songwriting-"

"Are we just gonna ignore what happened back there?" Chloe interrupted, a metaphorical knife most certainly breaking the tension. "Guys, hello?"

Fat Amy took her headphones out, the other Bellas exchanging guilty looks. They were all aware of how much of a mess they'd made everything, but talking about it made everything seem a lot worse.

"The worlds are right around the corner and you guys are acting like we didn't just eat a big bag of ah!"

"Why you yelling at me?" Cynthia Rose said, the bandage over her head bright as day in the afternoon sun. "I almost burned to death 'cause of you aca-bitches."

"If you almost died, it was only because you were standing in the wrong spot," Fat Amy pointed out, trying to be helpful. Beca wasn't too sure what was going on, but no-one seemed to be using their brains.

"Flo flipped into me!"

"Sure," Flo grumbled. "Blame the minority."

Cynthia Rose rolled her eyes; "I'm black, gay and a woman."

"Obviously we're not going to beat Das Sound Machine at their own game," Chloe said, sighing at the situation. "So we need a new plan, like, now."

A silence filled up the minibus once again, the Bellas braindead of any ideas that could help the situation. As if feeling like an inspirational hero in a movie, Chloe stood up. "At times like these, there's only one thing for us to do," she said, a cheeky grin growing on her face.

As the redhead glanced in Beca's direction, the brunette felt a shiver run down her spine. That smile was seriously affecting her for some reason. Either that, or someone had left one of the minibus windows open.

"Fake your own death and flee the country," Flo suggested.

"Close," Chloe said, smiling. "We're going on a retreat!"