Bechloe - The New Girl

32 - Little Decision, Big Impact

"Are you ready?" Beca asked, her voice stern as she braced herself. 

Emily looked around her, making sure everything was ready, "Yes." She reached below the wheel and went to twist the key. "Actually, I'm not so sure this is the right time. We can always leave it until the summer." 

Beca had taken it upon herself to teach Emily how to drive now that she was sixteen and had been for a week. "Come on, Em. We are in the middle of an empty parking lot so nothing can go wrong. I'm not throwing you in the middle of the highway." 

They were in the parking lot for an grocery store that got closed down years ago but nothing has happened to it since. On a night, it is where a few parties sometimes happen and there's previously been a few drug deals here and there but during the day no one was there. So Beca chose it as the perfect place for Emily's first time driving. She wanted Emily to be able to have minimal lessons with an instructor before she had her test and it was an easy way to save them money. 

"You're right. I should just go for it." She twisted the key and the engine started and went to put her foot on the pedal. 

"Wait! Check your surroundings." Beca said, holding onto the handle very tightly. 

"It's an empty parking lot, there are no surroundings!" Emily exclaimed, not seeing any of Beca's instructions necessary. 

"Yes, but it's going to have to become a habit if you want to get your license." 

Emily nodded, knowing Beca knew what she was doing more than Emily did since the only experience she had driving was on a go-kart which she crashed. She checked her surroundings and then put her foot on the pedal to change from 'park' to 'drive'. They lapped around the parking lot a few times at low speeds and then Beca taught Emily how to park the car. Emily caught the hang of things pretty easily once she got the basics and was more comfortable. 

"Try speeding up a little, Em. Picture you're on a road or something." Beca said, still holding onto the handle on the side door. 

Emily started to speed up and started slowing down again, "Why does 20 miles per hour feel so fast?!". Beca did nothing but laugh a little before getting her to start driving again so she would get used to the speed. 

"I am not teaching you for you to become one of those people who gets pulled over for going to slow. Go back up to twenty, you'll get used to it eventually." 

After an hour of driving, Beca decided to give Emily a break and they headed back home when she got a call from her phone. Emily got the phone out of Beca's bag and answered it, putting it on speaker. The caller was unknown but it was a California number so they both had one guess of who it was. 

"Hello, Beca, this is the admissions office from the California College of Music and Performing Arts. We have some news regarding your acceptance, are you available to talk?"

"Yeah, was there a problem with my application?" Beca and Emily pulled a confused look at each other, both wondering what the phone call was about. 

"No, not at all. We would like to ask you to join our early admissions program. We are offering it to those on our scholarships and it gives you a chance to settle into college life as well as understand what you are committing to when you return in the fall. We've sent an email with all the information and a form you should complete if you want to accept this offer but it is highly recommended you join us. It has shown evidence of greater success when you come on board with us. If you have any questions after reading the email, feel free to contact us and we hope to see you soon." 

"Thank you very much." The phone call ended and Beca wasn't really sure what to do. She zoned out after the first two sentences and it was a lot of information to process at once. She had Emily open her emails and read out the information which she was sent, hoping it would fill her in on a few details. "Does it say when it would start?" 

"Erm, blah, blah, blah, early admissions. A bunch of boring stuff, sport scholarship. A lot of ass-kissing and found it. 'You would join us from June 4th and stay on campus until the end of the semester.' That's a long time, Beca." 

Beca sat thinking over her options. If she took the offer, she would miss the last month of her senior year meaning she misses senior prom, the final senior trip and could even miss graduation. But she knew how big of a deal it was to go on early acceptance and it would probably help her calm her nerves about adjusting to college life and meeting new people. Would it also mean her relationship with Chloe would end even sooner?

She waited for her mom to come home, hoping her and Emily would give some useful advice together, but they just made her more conflicted. 

"You can't tell anyone yet, not until I decide. I can't have our friends hearing it from someone else, okay?" Emily and Lucy nodded, knowing that she was meaning she wanted to tell Chloe herself. It was a big deal and she had a deadline to decide by but not enough time in the world could help her decision. 

...

Two weeks after she got the call, Beca was even more confused on what to do and as the deadline approached quickly, she was running out of time. She'd been and talked to a few people about it: the school guidance counsellor, Miss White and Miss Carter. Each of them gave her different advice which didn't help her situation at all. 

She spent one lunchtime with Chloe in the library, both of them meant to be studying but they got distracted. Chloe was doing some online shopping on the schools computers and Beca was doing her research on the early admissions program while sat opposite her. 

"What are you wearing to prom?" Chloe asked, not moving her focus away from the screen. 

"Erm, I'm not sure, why?" 

"Well I need to know if you're wearing a suit or a dress so I can make sure our outfits go together." 

Beca closed the laptop and looked across the table with a smirk on her face. "Who said I was going to ask you to prom? I might want to go with someone else, Sophie's off the market but Jasmine's been a good date before, Hannah is always an option." 

"You wouldn't dare."

"Wouldn't I?" Chloe just pouted, but Beca just needed to smile to reassure her she was kidding, "I'm not sure I'm going to prom." This was her chance to find out how important prom was to Chloe which would help Beca in her decision. 

"You can't miss your prom, it's a tradition. And there's a party afterwards, you love parties." Beca couldn't help but nod since Chloe was right as always, "I think I'm going to go with a red dress so start thinking about what you'll wear." She stood up and started to pack away her things, "I'm expecting a prom-posal, Mitchell. Now I've got to go meet Aubrey, but I will see you later." She grabbed her bag and walked to give Beca a kiss on the cheek, "A big prom-posal." She shouted from the doorway, before being shushed by the librarian who she apologised to while Beca struggled to contain her laughter. 

Beca opened the laptop back up and stared at the form, which was asking for her decision, and sighed. Chloe was not making this decision any easier.