Excited about the prospect of going on a scavenger hunt, all the Bellas started rushing towards the door.
"Wait! Are the Treble's going to be home? We can't go there if they're going to be home," Jessica said.
"Yeah," Ashley agreed. "They might not take too well to us just barging in on them."
"They usually have practice from like, 4 or 5pm until about 7, and they all go out to eat afterwards. But because Bumper is gone, and Jesse and Benji aren't there to at least pretend to make the guys focus, I bet they won't be having practice," Amy started to say.
"I'd bet you a wombat, that they will actually probably be planning a party," she finished, as if knowing the daily Treble schedule and their frequent alternative plans to not having practice was as obvious common knowledge as knowing what color an orange was.
"So, should we still try and go? Or not?" Aubrey was clearly not keen on the idea of interacting with the Trebles if she could help it.
"We can still go. I know where they will be, and its not at the house," Amy said, with a knowing smile. "We've got at least a few hours."
The Trebles house and the Bellas house were built by Barden University at the same time, when they both made it to finals, with the Bellas eventually coming the current National Champions. The Bellas winning the ICCAs was the point at which the administrators finally realized that it was a bit more than just organized nerd singing and that it wasn't going to go away any time soon. That summer, the university built 4 houses on a small side street located at the very edge of the campus boundaries. Large hedges lined the sides of each of the houses, and the houses themselves looked very southern belle. The girls were ecstatic they finally had a place to live, that wasn't in the dorms.
The Bellas house was a large, 2 story white and blue colored house, and was built and furnished in part, from their $25,000 cash prize winnings, sponsorship deals and offers to perform for various community events. The Trebles house was pretty nice as well, because they also received money and gifts for making it to the finals.
The university also built the BU Harmonics and the High Notes houses, although not quite as nice, seeing as they had to spend university money and it was more to be fair, than the other 2 groups actually doing anything to deserve it. In the end, it didn't really matter that the university build the other two houses. The BU Harmonics really only used their house to practice and hold formal Acapella inductions in the house that was built for them, and High Notes house didn't exist anymore.
Their semi-removed location from campus and the fact that there were really only 2 constantly occupied houses on the block made the Acapella parties legendary. Campus security didn't come all the way to the edge of campus, and there were never any neighbors to call about noise levels of any party that may be thrown, since all the residents were at said party. However, the lack of control and supervision also made them a bit dangerous.
The Trebles house was originally located 2 away from the Bellas, with the High Notes and the BU Harmonics in between the two. However, thanks to an 'accidental' fire set by one of the High Notes, there was really only one house (the BU Harmonics) and a now vacant lot between the two main rival groups. The fire happened because one of the members of the High Notes, in their altered state of reality, did not realize that they had set their whole porch a blaze when the were trying to put out a joint, and burned down their place after a hood night party.
"Come on! Let's GO!" Chloe said excitedly, running to the door, dragging Beca behind her. All of the Bellas quickly followed suit, and they soon they found themselves standing outside the infamous Treblemakers house. Amy walked up to the door and turned the knob. Thankfully it opened with a soft click.
Muttering about how the lack of security was very irresponsible and typical egotistical, big-headed, garbage dirtball behavior, Aubrey assembled the girls in the living room. "Alright Bellas. We're here for one reason, and one reason only. To find the keys to Beca and Chloe's handcuffs. Put everything you touch back in the right place, and don't make a huge mess. This is not a time to snoop on the boys, so Stacie, please turn off your phone or at least put that 'College Co-Ed Scavenger Hunt List' you found on the internet away. We need to get in and get out, before they realize that we're here. Capiche?"
"Yes, General Posen," Beca said, rolling her eyes. "We get it. I know you think we're all a bunch of heathens who can't be trusted to not fuck with their stuff, or make a huge mess, but we'll try our best, right girls?"
Responses of "Right Cap!" and "Of course" and "You got that right, B" were heard echoing around the room.
"Besides," Beca added, looking around the foyer, "It already looks like a tornado came through here, so they probably wouldn't notice much of a difference if we did, anyway."
Although Aubrey obviously agreed with Beca's last sentiment, she didn't say it out loud. Instead, she gave a subtle, yet still approving nod of agreement. Taking that as a green light to go ahead and begin, the girls all scattered throughout the house. The Bellas and Trebles house were both built in a fairly similar design, and they discovered the floor layout was practically a mirror image of the one the girls resided in. However, the Trebles must have made some modifications unbeknownst to everyone else, because the girls definitely did not have a hot tub in their basement. Beca made a mental note to herself, to ask if they could hold another bikini car wash or something to raise funds to get one installed.
After about 10 minutes of searching, Aubrey hollered for them to all regroup.
"Ladies. This is ridiculous," Aubrey said, once all the girls assembled in the living room. Amy wandered in from the kitchen holding a box of Lucky Charms, Lily squelched in, soaking wet from scuba diving in the hot tub in the basement, and Stacie strolled in, wearing a totally different outfit, complete with a snapback that said "NOPE" on it. Cynthia Rose looked quite pleased that she found a magazine full of pretty girls with big boobs. Beca and Chloe came in last, both giggling and with their hair looking slightly disheveled but not enough to arise suspicion from any of their fellow singers. Jessica and Ashley were just standing there, like they had been there the whole entire time, even though Beca distinctly did NOT remember them being at the Bellas house earlier that afternoon.
"Do you even know what you're looking for?" Aubrey questioned.
"Keys. Duh," was Stacie's reply.
"What do they keys look like, though, Stacie?"
"Uhhh. Keys?"
"Do you know the size, shape, or even color?" continued Aubrey, slightly exasperated at Stacie's response.
"Oh. No. What size, shape and color is it?" Stacie asked Aubrey.
Aubrey just directed her gaze over to Amy, repeating the question.
"I dunno. Like I said earlier, I didn't actually see them. But they're probably tiny and silver like the cuffs," was Amy's response.
"Okay. Well, now that you have a specific thing, can you please try and focus on that?" Aubrey reprimanded. "I don't want to spend any more time here than absolutely necessary.
With that in mind, the girls dispersed again, their second attempt going about as well as the first. Well over an hour and a half had passed since they first arrived, and the Bellas still hadn't found the keys. They did, however, find almost everything that was on Stacie's scavenger hunt list that she apparently did not actually end up putting away.
All of a sudden, a door on the second floor was slammed shut and Fat Amy could be heard barreling down the stairs and yelling "Oh shit guys, we gotta go!"
Within seconds, 8 of the girls were back in the living room, looking bewildered and wondering why they had to leave, when they hadn't found the keys yet. Beca and Chloe were the first to arrive, with Stacie and Aubrey being the 2nd and 3rd. Soon after, Cynthia Rose, Lily, Jessica and Ashley filed in. Amy finally came huffing and puffing into the room last, but instead of stopping, she just headed towards the door.
The Bellas just looked at their odd friend, and around at each other, trying to figure out what was going on. Then, as if on cue, the rest of the girls immediately were running towards the door, waving their hands in front of their faces while coughing and covering their noses and mouths. Fat Amy had mistakenly knocked over a box full of some stink bombs that Bumper Allen had in his room, when she tried to reach something on a shelf.
Once the girls had all regrouped and had caught their breath, they prepared to head back in to the Bellas house, wearing similar looks of defeat across their faces.
"I should've taken that cardio tip more seriously," panted Amy.
"How much have you done?" asked Aubrey.
"You just saw it," replied Amy.
"Sorry Chloe and Beca. We'll get you un-cuffed somehow," consoled Aubrey, shooting a glare at Amy, who held her hands up in the air defensively, still breathing heavily.
Just then, the Treble bus was seen coming down the street. The girls had arrived back to their own house, but when they saw the bus, they quickly turned and crouched down behind a large bush to see what would happen when the boys arrived. To anyone who happened to randomly be walking down the street, seeing 16 eyes peeking around various openings in the hedge might cause some concern. But this was Barden University after all. For the students who attended, there were far more pressing issues to attend to, than why a bush was moving and emitting random and hushed noises in the early evening on "Acapella Row" as it was fondly referred to. It was also called some other not-so-nice things, but the Bellas didn't care. It was home, and they liked it that way.
Loud shouts and whoops of joy suddenly permeated the quiet side street, announcing the arrival of the Trebles. The Bellas peered around the edge of the bush, heads stacked on top of each other like on a totem pole. The tower of 8 Bellas had Fat Amy on the bottom, and Stacie, being the tallest of the Bellas, at the top. Lily had somehow acquired a pair of binoculars and was currently dangling upside down above the bush, from a tree that was planted in the BU Harmonics yard.
As the boys unloaded from the bus, the girls could hear random snippets of the conversation between Donald, Unicycle and Kolio.
"Man, tonight's gonna be epic, I can't—"
"Right? It for sure will be one of the best—"
"Yo dawg, though, don't forget to grab—"
"Oh shit. Yeah. Thanks for the reminder. Now I gotta go run and—"
As the Trebles filed in to the house, the Bellas waited with baited breath. Beca wasn't sure what she wanted to happen. On one hand, she would love it if they gagged at the smell and all came spilling from the house like the Bellas did. On the other, she was sure that it would somehow get traced back to the girls if they did notice anything, so she was hoping the boys would just be unaware to the very obvious ransacking that had taken place, and blame it on typical college male behavior. Since the boys were all now inside the house, the Bellas took the opportunity to creep closer to the house.
"Bang." "Thud." "Creak." "Squeak." "Slam."
Every single open able window and door to the Treble house was currently being thrown open and questions laced with curses could be heard coming from all the boys.
"Where the hell is the fan?"
"Dude. Who ate that damn burrito at lunch?"
"It smells like someone took a huge shit in here."
"Guys. The fucking smell is coming from Bumper's room."
"I bet that asshole forgot to take his trash out before he left for Vegas. The douche needs to stop eating in his room."
"Does anyone have anything that smells remotely good that we can spray?"
"Don't look at me. I'm not a girl, I don't have shit like perfume or candles!"
"I have a can of Axe, but that might make it worse..."
Now that the Bellas were only a few inches away from the Trebles house, they could hear everything that was being said through the now ventilating residence. The Trebles seemed beside themselves, and the girls were having a hard time not laughing out loud.
"I guess we should leave and let this air out. We still have to plan for tonight's party, but we can do that anywhere."
"I just hope the smell is gone by then."
"If it's not, we can just move it somewhere else."
"Agreed. Let's get outta here and just hang out on the bus for a while. Ready guys? 1, 2, 3, SWAG!"
Realizing the Trebles were about to exit the house, the girls quickly scurried back to their own house. As they were retreating, Donald could be heard yelling at the guys "Hey! Who took my Playboy?" Once the girls were safely in their own house, they burst out in a fit of laughter and giggles.
"Thanks for the magazine, Donald," snickered Cynthia Rose, holding up the latest issue with Eniko Mihalik plastered across the cover.
"Oh man, I can't believe they thought it was normal for their house to smell that bad!" laughed Jessica.
"Or that they didn't question it when they found the smell was coming from Bumper's room," added Ashley.
As the girls finally got it together, and started calming down, they began to break off into small groups to talk and hang out before dinner. It was Lily's turn to cook, so they all knew to stay out of the kitchen. Nobody knew for sure how she did it, but there was an unspoken rule to just turn a blind eye to any noises coming from the kitchen and to expect a wonderful meal that would be ready in exactly 45 minutes, no matter what was being served that day.
The High Notes fire, combined with the Bellas most recent win of the National Championship, left Beca hopeful that they could get an outdoor pool (and now, thanks to their latest discovery of the Trebles secret, also a hot tub) installed in the now empty space next to the Bellas house before her senior year happened. Since she knew that underneath all the skimpy clothes and cuticle care routines was actually a math genius, Beca brought it up with her E- Network obsessed bestie.
As a result, Stacie and Beca were on the couch, busy brainstorming how to get a pool and a hot tub installed for the Bellas. Stacie decided that even though it was Beca's idea, she would be in charge of the car wash. Beca didn't really care, as long as she was allowed to take the money and remain fully clothed. Her vampire like complexion mixed with the Atlanta sun did not make for the best combination, in Beca's opinion.
"I got you, B. I'm like, super good at bikini car washes," Amy chimed in. "Let me help!"
"Awesome. You can bring all of your boyfriends to help out too. I'm sure that'd attract a lot of people," said Stacie, getting out her phone to make a list of things that needed to be done before they could start to plan the fundraiser. "We should also probably look into buying matching swim suits. I know a great place on line, that would be fun to customize them on!"
Had Aubrey been paying attention to Amy, Beca and Stacie's conversation, she would have immediately put a stop to the overly-sexual brunette's outrageous ideas. However, Aubrey and Chloe were currently talking about how to keep Chloe caught up in her classes, if she was going to be skipping for the 3rd day in a row.
"Honestly, Bree, it's okay. I'm sure I can just email my professors and ask for the notes from some people in my class. I know, like, at least 5 people in each class I have."
"But do they take the same caliber notes as you do?" Aubrey countered.
"No, but they probably get the most important parts, and that's really all that matters. I can fake the rest of it."
"Nothing replaces actually being there in person. Maybe if you threaten Beca, she'll be able to control herself long enough to get through a class."
"Bree. Threatening Beca doesn't work. It just makes her rebel and not want to do anything."
"Then bribe her with something. I don't care. Just make sure your ass is in your desk tomorrow or so help me..." Aubrey trailed off.
"Aubrey, it's not that big of a deal. Really. I don't see why you're so worked up about this. It's not your grades on the line."
"I just know that you'll regret not graduating this year, if you don't pass these classes. You're already behind."
"But I don't regret not graduating," said the super senior. "You're still here, Beca is still here, and I've still got the Bellas too."
At the mention of her name, Beca pulled her attention away from the car wash talk, and turned to look at her girlfriend who was practically sitting on her lap. "What about me?" she asked.
"You're going to class with Chloe tomorrow and you are going to behave, that's what," Aubrey stated with a frown. "Chloe can't afford to miss classes 3 days in a row because of you."
"Ignore her. She's kidding," Chloe said, shooting a glare in Aubrey's direction. "I was just saying that I'm lucky to have you, Bree and all the girls," Chloe replied with a smile.
Beca returned the smile with a truly sincere one of her own. Whenever Chloe smiled at her like that, it just turned Beca's insides to mush, and made her want to kiss her. Realizing that now in fact, she could kiss Chloe whenever she wanted to, Beca did just that. Forgetting that there were still 6 Bellas in the room, Beca leaned in towards Chloe's mouth, gently pecking her on the lips. Immediately screams erupted through out the Bellas house.
"Oh shit," she thought.