Belong To Me (Bechloe)

fifteen.

Chloe's POV

I look down at my test paper sat sullenly on the desk in front of me. I stare at it until the words and numbers go blurry, but that's hardly going to change what it says.

It's a fail. Not scraping a pass. Not even just a few marks off. It's a solid fail.

"I'm impressed on the most part," Rachel, the group tutor, remarks, addressing the room loudly. "Some papers, however, left a lot to be desired." I swear she takes a long look at me before continuing, making others turn in their seats to see what she's looking at. This is the kind of attention I hate. God, I need Beca right now. Unfortunately, now is my own damsel-in-distress moment. And no one's here to save me.
"In a few minutes, Oliver will hold a lecture detailing every part of the examination. Clearly some of you will need to be there more than others, but it would be preferable for you all to attend." She finishes her speech and walks briskly out of the room.

Zara, the girl in front of me, turns around and leans on my desk.

"So, Chloe, what did you get?" she says, already adopting a mocking tone. I've gathered she's the one at the top of the trainee hierarchy here. I wouldn't usually follow crap like that, but vet schools are incredibly competitive and I've already accepted I'm way out of my depth.

As this result clearly shows.

"Oh, uh, 47," I mutter. I mean, I'd rather the whole room didn't hear it.
"Out of 150? God, that's a little... embarrassing."
I feel my cheeks flush as my eyes start to sting a little.
"Thanks." I try to reply as venomously as possible, but it comes out as a sort of angry choke. I snatch up my paper before leaving the room, needing to get some fresh air as quick as I can.

Instinctively, I take out my phone, and see Beca's sent something.

Beca | 9.26 A.M.
Hey Chlo, how's your day
today?

I want to reply, I mean, it's Beca, but I quickly realise I don't know what to say. Do I be truthful? Or do I pretend I haven't let everyone down massively?

Or I could send nothing at all. What Beca doesn't know can't hurt her.

I can't even bring myself to message Aubrey. I really can't predict what she'd say if she knew I got 31%. I could get kicked out of the entire program. And then, despite being one of my best friends, she'd probably get super mad at me and recite one of her father's sayings. Over the years I've heard way too many of them - they really should just stay a Posen family thing, in my opinion.

"Hey, Chloe," Isaac, another person in the program, says as he steps out of the building.
"Hey, Isaac," I mutter. It's not that I want to be intentionally unfriendly with him, he's a sweet guy, it's just I'm kind of low right now.
"Texting someone about what result you got? Yeah, I'm kinda dreading that," he says, leaning against the wall alongside me.
"I'm, uh, not texting anyone. But then again, I don't really want to," I reply.
"Ah," Isaac nods. "Yeah, I'm probably going to just tell my boyfriend rather than my parents. They want me to get top of the results list, over 90% kind of results. But I'm just more of your average, middle-ground kind of boy."
I smile weakly in response and nod.
"I'm sorry they're like that."
"Eh, it's okay. I guess you've got to appreciate your family whilst you have them." He falls silent for several seconds before looking up at me. "But you've got a more interesting family from what I've seen."
"Sorry?"
"You were part of some singing group, right? Or was that just some reenactment group on your Instagram?"
"You've stalked my Instagram?"
Isaac chuckles.
"Your username is literally your name, Chloe. You're not exactly hard to find. And like you're not guilty of doing a little exploration?" He shakes his head. "I'm not about to try to slide into your DMs if that's what you're worrying about. I'm 100% tied down. And gay. And anyway, my gaydar senses certain vibes from you, so I wouldn't hit on you even if I was into girls."
I look up at him suddenly.
"How can you 'tell' I'm bisexual?" I ask, initially as a rhetorical question, but then my curiosity leads me to pursue the question.
"It's just a feeling... And I guess, there's a certain way you look at one of the girls on your page. It's something more than friends."
"Beca doesn't like me like that," I protest for the millionth time.
"I couldn't comment on that." Isaac shrugs and looks down at his phone.

I wait for him to finish typing so that he'll look up again.
"Yeah?"
"She's the one I'm trying to text," I confess.
"Then just do it," he says as a couple more messages flash up on my phone. One must have been from earlier but it's only just told me it's arrived. Typical.

Beca | 9.51 A.M.
Chlo?

Beca | 10.15 A.M.
I can't wait to hear your
results, I'm sure you've
done great.

"See, it's a sign you should just talk to her," Isaac persists.
"But I don't want to."
"If she's anything like my boyfriend, she'll keep talking about it. Message her after the lecture, at least. If you care about her so much, it's more than likely she feels that way about you too. So she's gonna want to know how you're doing."
"Why are you so bothered?"
Isaac shrugs.
"I just think you deserve to be happy, despite bitches like Zara being around."
"She's said stuff to you too?"
He shakes his head.
"No. But I've heard what she says to you. It must suck for your self-confidence."
"Yeah." I sigh. "But I'll be fine."
"Good." Isaac smiles at me. "I guess we'd better go find the right lecture hall then and improve our grades a bit."
"Yeah," I mumble as I follow him. But I'm going to need more than just 'a bit' of improvement to sort out my situation.

-

Oh Chloe 😭😭 it's gonna be okayyy hun (hmm, or is it 🤔 I guess we'll see)