bechloe ~ high school

Chapter 12 (Aubrey)

Beca strode as fast as she could out of her final class of the day. It had been a long couple of hours. A couple of hours where she hadn't concentrated in the slightest. Her mind on one person, as had become customary now.

She'd texted Chloe halfway through her afternoon Art class, asking if she was ok and that she was looking forward to seeing her again later, but to her dismay her art teacher had spotted her. Beca had had to endure two further hours without her phone after it was confiscated by Ms Bailey.

The brunette waded her way between hoards of school kids, trying to fight her way through to the pupil parking lot out the back. The sooner she got to her car, the sooner she could get to Chloe's, the sooner they'd be together again.

She checked her phone, noticing there was one text from Chloe that had been sent an hour ago. It simply read, "I'm ok. C U l8r x". There was no point in replying to it now that school had finished for the day. She'd be at Chloe's house soon enough.

Beca's stomach twisted with nerves as she rounded the corner to go down the corridor she HAD to take to get to the parking lot. The corridor that Chloe's locker was on. The corridor that Aubrey and Drake's locker was on too.

Her heart skipped a beat as she saw Chloe's long red hair, flowing down her back as the senior spoke to Posen. The blonde looked pretty serious, and Beca wondered what Chloe's expression looked like, her back currently turned.

Beca continued down the corridor. Posen casually glanced at the other school kids, then she caught sight of Beca. The senior squinted at the younger teen, as if trying to read her mind, but Beca didn't retaliate. Nor did she cower away. Instead she looked directly at Aubrey, glaring at her as she approached her, then looked away the second she had passed, continuing to walk down the corridor.

She chose not to look back. Not daring to, for fear that Chloe would get in trouble with Posen if the blonde caught her looking.

Chloe's heart was racing. She'd seen the way Aubrey's expression had changed while she'd been speaking to her. And in an instant Chloe had known that Aubrey had seen Beca. Her 'worst enemy'.

It took all the redhead's willpower to not look at the girl she craved. The girl who had been on her mind all afternoon. She'd stared at her phone so much during her final class, her heart racing as she re-read the text she'd sent to Beca over and over. Panicking that perhaps it was too brief. Too harsh. So harsh in fact, that Beca hadn't replied.

All she needed to do was get rid of Aubrey. Then she could get to her car and immediately text Beca to check that she was ok. To check that she hadn't offended her or something.

"So I guess I'll see you tomorrow?" Chloe said, closing her locker door. She stood to face Aubrey once again, gripping the school books she held in her arms. The blonde was looking down at her hand with a suspicious expression.

"Nice ring" the blonde said, motioning to Chloe's index finger. The one that had Beca's ring on it.

"Oh um.." Chloe said nervously, looking down at her hand and immediately knowing that Aubrey had spied Beca's ring, "thanks."

"I haven't seen you wear it before." Aubrey persisted and Chloe swallowed loudly, forcing a smile onto her face.

"Oh that's because it's new." Chloe said with a shrug, and slowly began walking down the corridor, Aubrey walking alongside her. The blonde didn't say anything, and Chloe chose not to look at her.

As the two teens stepped outdoors, they each scoured the parking lot before them. Both were unknowingly looking for the same person. Chloe desperately wanted to clasp eyes on Beca, just to check that she wasn't angry with her for the short text. Aubrey wanted to find Beca to see if the grumpy alt-girl was hanging around to talk to Chloe.

But there was no sign of Beca.

"So did you want to go to the mall or something?" Aubrey asked, watching for Chloe's reaction.

Chloe swallowed loudly. She couldn't abruptly say no, but that was mostly because this was Aubrey. Her best friend had always been so dominating in their friendship that Chloe had ALWAYS agreed to everything Aubrey suggested. But her desire to see the brunette gave Chloe a gust of confidence unlike anything she'd shown Aubrey before.

"Actually I just want to go straight home.." Chloe said while delving into her handbag to pick out her car keys.

"Straight home two days in a row?" Aubrey asked, furrowing her brow. Chloe was definitely keeping something from her. And while Aubrey suspected that Beca Mitchell was involved, she couldn't for the life of her imagine how.

"Uhuh!" Chloe said as they approached her car. She couldn't bear to look at the blonde. Aubrey was sharp, and Chloe didn't want to risk her best friend beginning an interrogation. Chloe wasn't strong enough for that.

Suddenly Chloe's phone began to ring. She looked down at the caller I.D. and her heart leapt into her throat as she read Beca's name on the screen. The redhead stared at it for a moment.

"Aren't you going to answer it?" Aubrey asked suspiciously. Chloe took a deep breath, hesitated, then brought the phone to her ear as she answered.

Before she could say anything, she heard Beca whisper down the phone to her, "I know you're with Posen. Pretend it's your mom who's called."

"H-hey Mom!" Chloe said awkwardly and Aubrey's face appeared to soften. God, it was actually working.

"Act like I've called you from an unknown number or something.." Beca whispered. She sat patiently in her car, looking out through the windscreen. Two rows up she could see Chloe stood by her car, Posen stood with her. The blonde had been looking a little too suspicious for Beca's liking, and Chloe had been looking a little too nervous.

"Oh a payphone? That makes sense.." Chloe tried, sounding much brighter than she actually felt. She looked at her best friend. Aubrey seemed to have furrowed her brow now looking more confused than suspicious. Perhaps a 'payphone' was an odd choice in route to go down.

"I'll meet you at yours if you're still ok for me to come round?" Beca whispered, her heart racing a little, having to hold back her temptation to dart over to the redhead who was now beginning to unlock her car door. "If it's ok then say that you'll definitely be home for dinner. If not then say you're with Aubrey at the moment."

Chloe took another deep breath, "No, I'll definitely be home for dinner, Mom."

Beca couldn't help the smile that wiped across her face. Thank God. She wasn't sure what she'd do if Chloe no longer wanted to see her.

Chloe turned to look at her best friend with an apologetic smile but Aubrey just waved her away, mouthing that she'd see her tomorrow. The redhead watched the senior walking over to her own car and Chloe let out a huge sigh of relief.

"Okay," Chloe whispered as she clambered into her car, "I'll see you at mine in about twenty minutes?"

"See you in twenty minutes" Beca said with a grin.

Aubrey climbed into her car, looking at her phone, and staring down at a photo she'd taken earlier that day. A frown was still on her face as she zoomed in on the photo she'd taken of Drake's jaw. That was definitely the outline of Chloe's ring she could see imprinted on his skin. But Chloe HADN'T been wearing that ring today. Nor did the redhead have a swollen hand or any other indication that she'd punched Drake. In fact, Aubrey was fairly certain Chloe didn't have it in her to harm anyone. Beca Mitchell on the other hand...

Aubrey looked in her rear view mirror and saw Chloe pulling out of the parking lot, taking a left to head home. Within moments Aubrey spotted Beca Mitchell also pulling out of the parking lot, heading the same direction as she left school. The blonde quickly started her car. She was going to have to follow the alt-girl to see if her suspicions were ringing true..