The Barden Guardians

(3) Mall heroes

Chloe was in her room getting ready for dinner. Her dad had invited Stacie and Aubrey's families over. When the door bell rang Chloe took that as her cue to go downstairs.

She greeted their guests then she went upstairs with to her room with Stacie and Aubrey while the adults talked.

"I literally forgot about this dinner party. I was on my way to bed when my mom reminded me about it." Aubrey said.

"At least you weren't already asleep like I was." Stacie smiled.

"At least you got some sleep." Aubrey chuckled.

"I couldn't sleep." Chloe sighed.

"Because of Beca right?" Stacie smirked and Chloe blushed.

"It was not because of Beca."

"Was too."

"Was not"

"Was too."

"Was not."

"Was tooooooooo."

"Girls! I hate to be the bearer of bad news but Jesse said it would be wise if we stayed away from Beca." Aubrey said cutting into their childishness.

"What? why?!!" Chloe asked.

"Beca was drunk at that party. She wasn't in control of her actions. That's why Jesse says we should stay away. She'll be back to her grumpy self on Monday." Aubrey explained. "Sorry Chlo."

"Yeah sorry Chlo." Stacie said while rubbing Chloe's back.

"The same goes for Emily." Aubrey added.

"What?! Why?! She was literally the only person at that party who wasn't drunk or high." Stacie protested.

"That's what Jesse told me to do,  and he's been friends with Beca since they were both 9 years old."

"Well this sucks." Stacie sighed.

"OMG,  you have a crush on Emily." Chloe smiled.

"I don't have a crush on her, I just enjoy her company." Stacie blushed.

Their parents called them down for dinner. Their dads were talking about their new jobs.

"It's the dumbest job on earth." Stacie's dad complained.

"What makes it so dumb? " Aubrey asked.

"All we do is go around town looking for a group of wanna be heroes." Chloe's dad answered.

"They have a bunch of soldiers around town just for that purpose." Aubrey's dad said.

"At least you get paid handsomely for it." Stacie winked making everyone chuckle.

"So what do you girls have planned for tomorrow afternoon?" Chloe's mom asked.

"Just hanging out at the mall with some friends. You know, teen stuff." Stacie answered.

They had dinner then they separated allowing the three teens to get some well deserved sleep.

The next day the girls were helping Amy hunt down a Guardians T-shirt. They went to almost every clothes store at the mall but they had no luck.

"I'm starting to think that this piece of clothing doesn't exist." Aubrey said as they walked into the last store they hadn't checked.

"It has to exist. I've been looking for one of this shirt forever. I will not let my efforts go in vein." Amy said dramatically.

They looked through the clothes rack with no luck. A few minutes later Chloe heard a familiar laugh not far from where she was. She followed the sound to find Beca laughing at Jesse.

"There I did the chicken dance, happy now?" Jesse asked obviously embarrassed.

"Very." Beca nodded. Benji and Emily showed up with a shoe box and a T-shirt.

"I found the perfect sneakers. I also found this Guardians T-shirt. Can I get it?" Emily excitedly asked.

"I agreed to buy you new sneakers. Not some dumb Guardians shirt." Beca said with a frown.

"Don't worry Em, if you really want it I'll buy it for you." Jesse said while giving Emily a side hug.

"Where did you find that piece of shit anyway?" Beca asked pointing at the shirt.

"In a bargain bin in the corner." Benji answered.

"Chloe, there you are." Stacie said as she walked to Chloe. "What are you even doing here?"

"That doesn't matter, what does is the fact that I found Amy's shirt." Chloe smiled.

"Were you watching Beca?" Stacie asked as she realized what Chloe was doing there.

"No.What?Never." Chloe said with a blush.

Stacie was about to say something but was interrupted by Emily yelling out that she wanted donuts for lunch.

"Let's go get Amy so she can buy her shirt." Stacie said when Beca and her friends stood up to leave.

Amy bought her shirt then the girls went to get food from the donut shop as per Chloe and Stacie's request. They were hoping to see their crushes there but they had no such luck.

After getting their lunch they went on their way. When they got out the mall they saw a bunch of people standing there looking up at the top of the building.

"What's going on?" Amy asked one of the guys who was standing outside.

"Some crazy girl is threatening to jump off the building." he said then looked up again.

That's when the girls saw some cops and firemen trying to convince her not to jump.

At the top of the building was Beca, Emily, Benji and Jesse. They were slowly approaching the girl so they didn't scare her.

"What are you doing here?!" the girl yelled.

"We just wanna talk." Beca said as she and Emily approached the girl.

"You can't talk me out of jumping." the girl said.

"We just wanna know why you wanna jump." Beca said.

"You don't get it. " the girl said.

"Make us get it." Emily said softly.

"My dad, he... he died in car accident. I was driving the car, I didn't listen to him and it crashed. I don't deserve to live." the girl's voice broke.

"Can you tell us about him?" Emily asked.

"He was a tuff nut to crack, but deep down he was sweet, funny kind and he loved games. He always told me that playing will make me feel better and it always did." she said with a sad smile.

"He sounds like my grandma. She loved it when I told her stories. Before she died she always told me that I should live my life to the fullest, that way I'll have an awesome story to tell her when I see her again." Emily smiled.

"Sounds like something my dad would say. " the girl smiled.

"Then why do you wanna jump off the building if you know he'll love to hear your story?" Emily asked.

"I killed him. I crashed the car into that truck." she said.

"Hmm.... So you drove the car straight into that truck with the intention of killing him?" Emily asked and the girl shook her head no.

"Accidents happen, mistakes happen and good people die. That doesn't mean you should jump off a building, if anything it means you should celebrate their life. Your dad loves you, he wouldn't want you to do this would he?" Emily smiled.

The girl shook her head no. Beca stretched out her hand for the girl and she took it. They walked her down the building towards her mother who was worried sick about her. People started to praise the two girls but they just walked away. They didn't even notice Chloe and her friends staring at them with mouths wide open.