-8 A.M., Seaside High-
The girls are gathered in front of the bus, including Beca.
"Well, it's already 8 A.M., we can't wait forever for just one person, right?" The captain, Stacy, says while smiling.
"We have to go," she says calmly.
Her words take the newbies by surprise. They all are confused because Stacy doesn't want to wait for that one person just for another couple of minutes.
"Wait, we're just gonna leave?" Beca, bewildered, asks while still smiling to not offend her.
"I already said that tardiness will not be tolerated," Stacy says with a calm smile on her face.
"I already said that! If she didn't hear that quite well, it's her loss!" Stacy loses it.
Her duality is still confusing the newbies.
In the tryout, she was always angry and getting mad at everything.
Yesterday she was smiling the whole time.
Just now, she was smiling calmly and then lost it again.
However, the confusion is not displayed in the official members of the team. It seems like they are already used to Stacy's duality as a captain. They just follow Stacy's instructions to move and get into the bus.
-Bus-
They are sitting on the bus to head to the camp now. Beca is sitting beside a girl, Hannah, who is eating a bar of chocolate without guilt. However, she cannot enjoy that chocolate anymore because Stacy found out.
"Hannah! You aren't supposed to eat that! It's fat!" Stacy yells with worries in her tone.
"But, I haven't had any breakfast yet..." Hannah complains.
"Well, then don't eat anything!" Stacy yells in rage.
"Stace, control yourself. We already lost a person," some senior whispers to her.
Stacy clears her throat and gets back to her seat with anger.
Beca who knows how Hannah's probably feeling cannot say a word to comfort her. She is scared that she will get in trouble and she is also struggling with it herself.
Therefore, she chooses to stay silent and look away with guilt and frustration in her eyes.
-Camp-
"Okay, the first thing that you will have to do is measuring. You will enter the measuring room one by one and will receive a diet routine according to your weight," Stacy utters calmly with smile.
"Great, another measuring..." Beca mumbles quietly.
They all get in line to wait for their turn to get measured. Then, Beca's turn has come. She has to enter the measuring room even if she doesn't want to see another number on any scale right now. However, she is determined to be the most beautiful and talented cheerleader that she can be.
She enters the room with shaky legs.
"Hello, Beca. This is our consultant. She will be helping you with the measuring and diet," says Stacy softly.
Beca just smiles to hide her fears and insecurities.
The weight scale is right in front of her. She trembles for a bit and clenches her teeth. She moves her feet to stand on the scale. The numbers are the same as last night.
"Please stand on the height scale," the practitioner says.
Stacy just stares at her nervously. Even though she seems very controlling, all she wants is for them to be the best version of themselves as cheerleaders. Beca walks toward the height measurement. The numbers are shown and are now calculated.
"You are tall, but you have fat. You have to go on a diet, Beca. You have to stop eating unhealthy food," the consultant says.
"See, it's all about being healthy, Beca..." Stacy says while smiling and patting Beca's shoulder.
Stacy's words start to get into Beca's mind.
It seems like she starts to think that she is unhealthy and going on diet is helping her to become healthier.
"You are going to be beautiful in no time. Don't worry, Beca. You may go..." says Stacy while grinning.
-Oceanic Sushi, Joanne's Family Restaurant-
"Joanne, can you ask your friend to help us? It's packed here!" Joanne's father shouts from the kitchen.
She unlocks her phone and starts to call her friends. "I called them. They're on the way!" she screams to reach her dad.
"Yo, Caleb! You helpin' too?" Felix, who just arrived, asks Caleb who's tying his apron.
"Yup, I'm here to help!" Caleb shouts in delight.
"Keep it down, Farrell," Joanne whispers sarcastically to Caleb.
"Where's Kai?" Joanne asks them both.
"You asked him too? And I thought I was the only special one who got called down here..." Caleb pouts.
"Just shut up and work, Caleb," Joanne responds.
Hearing Joanne's so done response makes Felix giggle for a bit. Then, the door opens and Kai shows up.
"Yes, another help!" Joanne hugs Kai.
"Now, Felix... I know you hate talking to people, so you can do the dishes. Caleb and Kai, you guys help me take orders. Now, work people, work!" Joanne instructs.
Felix dashes into the kitchen and the rest of them are serving and taking orders here and there.
"Phew, I'm beat!" Caleb yells while fanning himself.
"Urgh, finally we're done!" Kai also shouts while resting on his knee.
"My neck hurts so much now..." Felix complains while moving his neck.
"Hey, we're gettin' paid, right???" Caleb asks with his silly tone confused tone.
"Yeah, of course! Our sweats were on the stake! Oh... Except you, Caleb" Joanne makes fun of him.
"Hey! Ain't fair, lady!" Caleb yells with his ridiculous expression.
His reaction just makes them laugh out their fatigue.
"Hey, are Beca and Val still on the initiation?" Joanne asks.
-Theme Park-
The band is going to a theme park to spend the day before ending the ritual. They walk into a gift shop to look at the headbands.
"Now, choose one! We have to wear headbands! It's part of the rituals!" Mike shouts with excitement on his tone.
They all run toward the headband section. Val is still searching for the one that she wants. She ends up picking the black kitty one. She wears it and turns her head to see Mike, who's beside her.
"How is this?" Val asks with her hilarious, memeable, expression.
Mike just laughs at her. He pats her head and says, "Hahaha! you always try to look tough, but you look really cute in this!"
Val just pouts at his reaction and goes away from him. "Hmph! I'm not cute!" she complains.
Mike stares at Val who is walking away from him. "She really is unique, huh..." he mumbles.
-Camp-
"Now, ladies! Here comes the exciting part! We are going to play 'Try and shoot us" now!" Stacy yells delightfully.
"Ooh, exciting!" Beca mumbles with excitement in her voice.
"Well, we are going to be divided into two teams and the seniors will also play too! The rules are simple. You just have to shoot the members of the opposite team with the color guns that you will receive shortly after this. Once you get hit, you're out! The winner is the team who gets the pompom at the last base! Last but not least, any means necessary!" Stacy explains with a wide smile in her smile. "
"Now, let's get bonding and have some fun, ladies!" she shouts.
Songs start to play one by one to accompany them during the color fight battle. There are 3 bases that they have to get pass through. Each base has a trap in it. They have to fight each other until they get to the last base where the golden pompoms are lying as a sign of victory.
"Now, keep your feet on the ground! Cause this battle is important, girls! We have to win no matter what! You can use dirty tricks or whatever it is! Any means necessary! So, make sure we're winning this thing!" a senior, Olivia, in Beca's team says.
They start to get through the first base. It's a bunch of outdoor activities that they have to get through. Beca starts to step on a flying rubber tire from one to another when somebody starts to shoot her.
"Oh, come on! I'm literally flying, have some mercy on me!" she complains while holding on to the rope.
Hannah is behind her trying to grab Beca's t-shirt as she's holding on to her own life.
"Hannah, don't grab me, I'm also struggling!" Beca yells.
"Well, I'm about to die from a flying tire, missy!" Hannah screams.
A color was about to hit Beca until Beca shoots the shooter first. Beca easily dodges the shot and also easily shoots the other person.
"Seriously! shoot me when I'm on the ground, people!" Beca shouts with a squeaky voice.
She starts to land on the ground again and shoots a person who's ready to shoot her.
"Well, you gotta be faster than that, sister!"
"Another person's out!" the speaker announces.
"Well, I'm rocking this!" Beca mumbles in enthusiasm.
Beca and the rest of her team members are on the second base now.
"A mud?" Beca mutters with surprise and confusion in her tone.
"We have to get past the slim lane! Some of us are going first. Beca and Hannah! You are with me! We gotta wait and hide to attack them. Just attack them as much as you can and protect our members who are walking through the lane!" Olivia, the senior, instructs them.
Beca and Hannah nod firmly.
The three of them are in the mud, hiding and protecting themselves.
Beca takes a peek to see the other team members who are getting closer to them.
"Now!" Olivia whispers.
Beca easily shoots them with her agility.
"Nice, Beca! Olivia compliments her.
Beca just smiles and starts to look at Hannah who's munching on her chocolate bar.
"Hannah! Seriously?!" Beca complains with a disbelieving look on her face.
"What...? I'm hungry! I couldn't eat on a flying tire!" Hannah answers while still eating.
"But you can eat in mud?! We're in the mud and in the middle of a battle, for god sake!" Beca shouts.
"Relax, Beca! It's mud, not the end of the world!" Hannah chills.
They are now at the last base. The pompoms are at the end of this base. All they have to do is get the pompoms and shout, "Victory!"
Beca's team got there just a little bit faster than the other team. Beca runs toward the pompom served on a tray on a pretty big pink stage. She goes up the stairs and was about to get them pompoms when someone tackles her from behind.
They both fall to the ground and the pompoms get thrown to the cliff of the stage.
"Oh, you'll pay for this..." Beca whispers with a threatening, yet funny, expression.
"Oh, we'll see..." the other person says.
Beca starts to move toward the pompoms, but the other person gets it first.
"You gotta say, 'Victory,' Dude..." Beca says and snatches the pompoms.
However, the other person pushes her again.
While Beca and another person are fighting over the pompoms, the others are trying to shoot each other to protect their team members.
However, Hannah is in her own world, still eating her chocolate bar.
Suddenly someone accidentally pushes her.
Her chocolate bar slips through her fingers and she screams, "NOOOO, MY CHOCOLATE BAR!" with pain in her voice.
She tries to catch it even if she has to fly her way through it. Rather than the chocolate bar, she catches the pompoms that everybody is fighting for.
She realizes it after a second and screams, "O-oh, what am I supposed to say?! Oh! V-victory!"
A horn sound appears to indicate that the battle is over with Hannah catching the pompoms and shouting the keyword.
Beca's team members shout energetically with mud and other dirty things over their bodies.
"Well, the winner will get bragging rights! It's not much, but it's been fun!" Stacy, who didn't join the battle, says cheerfully.
Her answer totally shocks the newbies.
They thought that they will get some fancy prize or dinner, but Stacy's words just pierce them into their hearts.
-Hot Spring Water-
"Now, ladies. After you walk through this door, you will be the official members of us... It's the door to our magical moments that will happen throughout this year... It's a symbol of pride for us! Welcome and enjoy yourselves, ladies!" Stacy explains with a classy tone.
"Ooh, hot spring water after getting out of the mud? This is heaven!" Beca screams with a squeaky and dramatic tone.
"It's night, I'm hungry!" Hannah complains.
"We'll eat after this natural spa-time, Hannah!" Beca, enchanted, shouts.
The girls are spending the evening while enjoying the hot water and talking to each other.
It's a chance for them to get closer to each other. It's a moment where they can start to see eye to eye. It's a time where things get a little bit personal.
They talk about loves, funny moments, crushes, and other cheesy things.
It's a night to remember for Beca who's been dreaming to have a strong sisterhood since forever.
It's a magical moment for all of them tonight. The moment that they will wish to remember and cherish before facing the hardships that will be bestowed upon them.
-
Preview for the next chapter:
Caleb just pouts and says while looking away, "Well... there is something that's been just a lil' bit bothering me..."
"What is it?" Joanne asks while also looking at the ocean.
He looks deeply into the ocean and says "Hey, Jo... What's your-"