| When Words Fail | Jesse Swanson x Reader

Practice [5]

Claire rushed into the auditorium as a girl ran out, sobbing with her purse in hand.

"Was that necessary?" Beca snarled up at the front of the room in disbelief.

"This is war, Beca, and it is my job to make sure that my soldiers are prepped at go time with three kick butt songs, sung and choreographed to perfection, and there are only four months until regionals, so if you have a problem with the way that I run the Bellas, then you should just-" She stopped talking as she motioned towards the door. She flexed her throat and gagged as if she was choking on something, and she turned to cover her mouth with a fist. Chloe whispered something as a girl in the back slowly raised her hand. Chloe looked at her and nodded as Aubrey regained her composure.

"What are you saying?" Chloe asked, leaning in slightly. The room went silent as the girl talked again.

"What happened last year?" A few girls raised their eyebrows at each other as she mumbled something else, but Aubrey stopped them by clearing her throat.

"Claire, you're late." Aubrey snarled as she noticed Claire walk into the room.

"I know, I'm so sorry, my alarm didn't go off." She told her as she continued towards the chairs.

"Sit." Aubrey told her sternly, pointing to the chair in between Beca and the girl who spoke before. Claire slid into the chair as Aubrey continued talking. "We will practice every day for at least two hours, seven days a week, and I trust you will add your own cardio." She nodded. Beca looked up at her.

"Why cardio?" She asked, seeming a little distressed.

"Yeah, don't put me down for cardio." A bigger girl said. Aubrey looked at her briefly.

"Okay, moving on." She smiled, then pointing a hand at the stack of papers in Chloe's hands. "This is a list of all of the songs that we have ever performed, and you will notice that we only do songs made famous by women." She nodded.

"There's nothing from this century on here." Beca pointed out, looking up at Aubrey and Chloe.

"Because we don't stray from tradition." Aubrey told her. Beca and Claire glanced at each other with smirks as they both flipped through the small bundle of papers. "Now, this is how we will become champions." Aubrey smiled as she flipped a whiteboard over. Claire's eyes scanned the amount of dry erase marker ink on the board and let out a silent sigh. She rolled her eyes as they skimmed over a box with the word 'Romance' written in it and below was a bold circle with 'No Trebles' written inside.

Claire worked on vocal warm ups alongside Aubrey as she glanced around awkwardly, Starships by Nicki Minaj playing loudly. The next thing she knew, Aubrey was having them run laps up and down the black bleachers, yelling and telling them what lap they were on. All the girls paused as Aubrey approached the bottom of the bleachers.

"Amy? What are you doing?" She panted, looking down at the girl who was laying on her left side. She propped herself up and began kicking her legs slowly.

"I'm doing horizontal running." She told her, her thick Australian accent poking it's way through her voice.

"Horizontal running?" Aubrey asked, looking up at the closest girl to her in disbelief.

Aubrey had the girls practice walking and strutting in heals, then they practiced singing and dancing in front of a mirror, then they finally worked on matching timing for their first performance. Claire caught Beca's amused glance, and she flashed her a silly face, making Beca snicker.

"Five, six, seven, eight!" Chloe called as she twirled. She mumbled the words to the song as Aubrey watched them sloppily spin. Finally, Aubrey threw her hands in the air.

"Okay, I'm calling it!" She called with a stressed smile on her lips. The group let out relieved huffs as she passed a girl who mumbled something. She paused. "Nothing, I hear nothing." She huffed. Claire grabbed a water bottle as Beca slowly walked towards Aubrey and Chloe.

"Hey, Aubrey, did we just learn the same choreography from that video?" She asked. Claire took her place next to Beca as Aubrey slammed her water bottle onto a piano.

"Okay, don't forget to pick up your performance schedule, we have a gig next week." She announced as she moved to the front of the room with a stack of papers in her hands. Beca and Claire shared an amused glance. "That's right, next week." She breathed, sounding distressed as the girls took papers from her. Chloe said something, but Claire couldn't hear her over the sound of papers opening and folding closed. "Okay, hands in Bellas." Aubrey smiled as Chloe joined her in sticking her hand out in front of her. All the girls glanced among each other, not knowing what to do. "Hands in A Ca-" Chloe cut her off by clearing her throat, and the girls hurried to stick their hands in the middle, forming an awkward circle. Claire looked up at Aubrey as she spoke again. "Sing ah." She told them with a nod. Before she could continue, the bigger girl began singing a little off tune with a smile on her face. All the girls looked at her as Aubrey closed her eyes. "No, no, no. It's actually on three, Fat Amy." She smiled, motioning with her free hand. The girl nodded her head.

"Ah." She smiled, drawing the word out. A few girls chuckled, including Aubrey.

"Alright, on three. One, two," She started. Aubrey and Chloe lifted their hands out and sung beautifully, but the rest of the girls sung off tune and only a few raised their hands. Aubrey smiled widely, but Claire noticed the cringe in her eyes. "Okay, we will work on that first thing next time." She nodded, the smile still prominent on her face. A few girls mumbled as the group dispersed, but Claire paused as Aubrey called for Beca and her. Beca nudged Claire slightly as they spun back around.

"What's up?" Beca asked.

"You two know you'll have to take those ear monstrocities and that gross little ring in your nose out for the fall mixer?" She asked, fiddling with her hands slightly. Beca and Claire glanced at each other momentarily with small smirks.

"You really don't like us, do you?" Beca asked. Aubrey's smile slowly faded.

"I don't like your attitude, and you were late on the first day, so I see now that you're lazy." She told the two as she pointed at both of them. Beca scoffed and looked up Aubrey in disbelief.

"You don't even know her." She snapped, pointing a finger at Claire in defense. Aubrey's eyes narrowed.

"I know she has a toner for Jesse." She snarled back, looking over at Claire with venomous eyes. Beca and Claire snickered and glanced at each other.

"A what?" Claire asked with an amused smile.

"A toner? A musical boner? I saw it at hood night, it's distracting." She nodded as she glanced down and then back up at Claire. Beca scoffed again.

"Yeah, that's not a thing, and you're not the boss of her, so..." Beca nodded, and Claire crossed her arms.

"She took an oath." Aubrey snarled slowly.

"That oath cost you two girls already today, I'm pretty sure you need me more than I need you." Claire chuckled. Beca glanced over at her as Aubrey just stared at her, jaw locked in anger. Claire spun back around and grabbed Beca's arm softly, pulling her forward as she walked towards their bags.

"I can see your toner through those shorts!" Aubrey shouted, and Claire spun around as she walked backwards.

"That's my dick!" She responded, flashing her a smile and a nod. She spun back around and threw her bag over her shoulder as she lifted it up off the ground, following Beca through the doors of the auditorium with pride.