Your Voice - Donald Walsh

SEVEN

Blake ran into the building, almost knocking over some poor sophomore with a stack of books. She opened the door to rehearsal, hearing Aubrey's voice echo as she explained something to the other girls. Ducking behind the seats, Blake changed faster than she ever had before, tucking Donald's sweater safely with her bag in its secret spot. It had the Treblemakers logo on it, so she couldn't wear it in front of Aubrey.

"I'm sorry I'm late!" Blake called, announcing herself as she jogged into the room.

"Well, I hope you got in some good cardio, because we're starting the routine." Aubrey snapped. Blake jogged over to join them, getting in formation. "One, two, three..."

-

After a few hours, all chests were heaving with laboured breath, and they held the ending pose for a few seconds before Aubrey moved, letting them all release. They'd been practicing this part of the number for a few weeks already, and Chloe was having trouble with her high notes. Her nodes prevented her from getting up there, so she had to dip an octave lower at the last second. All in all, they were doing pretty good, albeit a little out of shape.

"I should've taken that cardio tip more seriously." Amy muttered, panting.

"How much have you done?" Aubrey asked, grabbing her water bottle.

"You just saw it." Amy replied. Blake huffed a laugh, and even though she got a better sleep last night than she had almost... ever, she was still feeling the effects of a late night.

"Chloe, you have to be able to hit that last note." Aubrey said, frowning.

"I can't. It's impossible. It's because of my-"

"Her nodes." The entire group answered, simultaneously. Beca tossed Blake a water bottle, the latter mouthing her thanks as she drank greedily.

"Well, if you can't do it, then someone else needs to solo." Aubrey said, matter-of-factly.

"I think Beca should take my solo." Chloe said with a smile.

"Yeah, Beca would be excellent." Amy agreed. "And someone else might be equally as excellent. It's true. And they might be shy and not want to come forward and say they wanted a solo." Blake smiled sympathetically.

"Well, Beca doesn't want a solo, so..." Aubrey said, shrugging.

"I would be happy to do it. If I got to pick a new song and do an arrangement." Beca replied.

"Well, that's not how we run things here." Aubrey replied shortly.

"Aubrey, maybe Beca has a point. Maybe we should try something new." Chloe offered.

"A-ca-scuse me?" Aubrey asked. Blake raised an eyebrow. That needed to stop. "You can sing Turn the Beat Around and that's the last I will hear of it."

"That song is tired." Blake stated, defending them. "We're not going to win with it. If we pull samples from different genres like Beca is suggesting, and layer them together, we could make some-"

"Okay, let me explain something to you all because you still don't seem to get it. Our goal is to get back to the finals and these songs will get us there. So, excuse me if I don't take advice from some alt-girls and their mad lib beats because they've never even been in a competition." Aubrey retorted, her voice sickly sweet and venomous.

"You might want to watch your words." Blake said lowly, her eyes narrowing in threat. She noted a flash of fear in Aubrey's eyes before she hardened her expression.

"Have I made myself clear?" She asked.

"Crystal. I won't solo." Beca stated, putting her hands up defensively.