Irhaboggle Pride (2020) Quarantine Edition

Stay In and Rock Out

"Alright, aca-bitches, can everyone hear me?"

"Yes."

"I can!"

"Heck to the yeah!"

"Unfortunately."

"No, speak up! Louder, girl! I have crappy speakers."

"I can hear you, clear as crystal!"

"I can hear the voices of the dead, whispering in my ears..."

"... Yeeeeeeeaah, ummmm, you're all good on my end too!"

"I can hear you, and everyone else! I think we're all good to go!"

In response to the Covid-19 outbreak, Barden University shut down before the second semester. This left everything to go virtual, including a certain young a cappella group that just didn't know when to quit. But even though they weren't going to be singing anymore, the Barden Bellas still found a way to meet up (virtually) and rehearse. They were naming these meetups: Stay In and Rock Out.

"One of my mom's friends is doing online choir since their church is shut down, so I thought maybe we could try the same thing!" It was Chloe Beale, current leader of the Barden Bellas, who came up with the idea.

"My painfully long list of your stupid ideas just got longer," Beca Mitchell, Chloe's co-leader and girlfriend, deadpanned. Although she was also devoted to the Bellas, and Chloe, because she was juggling a lot of other courses, she hadn't been too thrilled about getting yet another online class.

But Chloe was insistent and had forced (read: spam-texted and called Beca every single day) her to join the online rehearsals. Beca never missed a single meet-up. And although Beca had tried blocking Chloe's number, Chloe only then resorted to asking the other Bellas to spam Beca. Beca could've blocked them all, but she wasn't willing to go that far, so she caved after about 50% of them were on her blocked list. Now, though, because she'd finally resigned herself to the inevitable forced attendance at these rehearsals, all their numbers were unblocked again.

But Beca almost didn't see the point of her presence in these online rehearsals. Yes, she was co-leader, but Chloe had the energy and passion to run the rehearsals alone. Furthermore, Aubrey Posen was back. Even though she'd graduated a couple years ago, because everything was all virtual now, Chloe had been fast to invite her back as an honorary Bella. Aubrey had been even faster to accept, swiftly reclaiming her leadership role despite not having been a Bella for about two years now.

So with Aubrey and Chloe back in the top spot, there were days when Beca wondered why she was needed at the rehearsals at all.

"It's to keep us sane after dealing with these two crazy pitches," Cynthia had DMed her once. "You keep Chloe in line and Stacie gets Aubrey."

"Fair point," Beca had replied, laughing to herself as she typed out an agreement. Ever since then, Beca hadn't missed a single rehearsal.

Fast forward several months later, and the semester was finally over. Finals were submitted and school was out for real this time!

"Woot woot! We! Are! Done!" Fat Amy cheered. Jessica and Ashley cheered back in reply.

"Yeah!" Cynthia shouted her agreement.

"We did it! We survived!" Flo agreed happily.

"Good, I no longer have to pay for my grades using the blood of the innocent," Lilly's remark was a little more than off-color compared to the others, but she was speaking so softly that she went unnoticed.

"So freaking glad to be done with all that online mess!" Stacie cried, clapping in relief.

"Gah, now it's time for a nice, long, summer rest!" Beca also joined in the cheering, but that was where it ended.