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            ELLE WAS COMPLETELY CHECKED OUT. Trying to act like nothing had happened lasted a few days, she just didn't want to accept that it was over for good because of some liar from the Trebles. She thought he trusted her more than that.

"Hey, guys, it's my first performance," Emily said both with a huge smile and a nervous tone.

"Calm down. It's just a chance for us to rehearse for Worlds. As far as I can tell, it's just for a bunch of old people." Chloe justified, calming down the nerves of the rest of the bus while they headed to their next gig.

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"There's a full house out there," Emily spoke after peeping her head around the corner and then retreating to the dressing rooms when they had arrived.

"How did we get this gig again?" Elle asked while Stacie pulled her hair back into a slick back ponytail.

"They called us." Chloe shrugged, crimping her ginger hair and then plaiting the top prices.

"You know what, guys? I know we're trying a lot of new stuff, but I feel like we're gonna get out there and we're gonna feel the energy and we are just gonna nail all of it!" Beca practically shouted, her head tilted to the side while Cynthia braided the side of her hair. "Sorry, these braids are so tight." She squeaked.

"You know what? I don't know. I don't know. I have many, many doubts, because if we fail this, then we won't win the Worlds, and if we don't win the Worlds, there will be no more Bellas, and without the Bellas, then my life would have had no..." Chloe began to hyperventilate.

"Malaria." Florencia nodded, telling her she understand.

"Meaning," Elle corrected with a frown.

"Hey, everybody. Welcome back to Let's Talk-Appella, the portable podcast edition. We are following the story of the embattled Barden Bellas on their road to redemption. Trying to crawl their way back into the public's affection." Gail announced, she and John were placed at one of the tables in the audience with a laptop and a camera placed in front of them.

"And if they can just hold off showing us any more of their genitalia, they may make it to the World Championship," John added.

"Well, I can't un-see it. It's haunted me ever since." Gail sighed, rubbing her hands on her temples with a dramatic ghostly expression.

"Well, there's a picture of it right here," John said, pointing to his laptop.

"No. This should not be your screensaver, John." She spoke disgustedly "Stepping onto the stage, the Barden Bellas. Whoa! All right! This is some exciting stuff. So sassy!" She swiftly changed to topic away and to the stage where the Bella's were beginning their show. "Wow. A lot going on up there. I think this sounds good. Honestly, my senses are overwhelmed here, John." She huffed, widening her eyes from the array of movement.

"They might wanna tone down the theatrics. Let's hope there are no props." He spoke and almost as soon as he did, they appeared.

"Oh, they brought the props out, John." Gail huffed once she saw them.

"And there are the props. This is more of a circus act than a cappella performance. Gail, it's as if the Barden Bellas just don't know who they are anymore." He explained, keeping his eyes on them and their singing. But between the glittery outfits, the props and the dancing, they couldn't tell whether the group actually sounded good anymore.

"Whoa! Look at this!" Gail said excitedly when their act began to go wrong.

"She's on fire! She's on fire!" Fat Amy screamed when Flo flipped into Cynthia who fell into the fire behind them.

"Oh, my God! I'm on fire!" Cynthia screamed, patting her head drastically while Fat Amy fanned her and the rest of the girls stood there in shock and embarrassment.

"Now they lit one on fire." John sighed, throwing his head back with a sigh. These Bella's had no chance of making it to the worlds. "Beating DSM seems impossible for this team. Even these common people can see that the Barden Bellas have no shot at reinstatement. They are an embarrassment to a cappella and all that it stands for." He added and Gail nodded beside him. "This is what happens when you send girls to college." He added and Gail shook her head.

♫

Beca looked over at Emily who was frantically writing in her notebook. Is that for a class?" She asked—the first words that had been spoken since they got on the bus half an hour ago.

"No, it's just when I get stressed, words sort of flow right out of me and I try and channel them in my songwriting." She explained and Beca nodded, looking around at the other girls on the bus. Cynthia was pouting angrily, her arms crossed over her chest, a bandage wrapped around her head. Chloe was angrily pacing—again. Stacie was painting her nails. Her eyes finally rested on Elle who had her headphones in and her eyes closed, her hood pulled up. Beca felt sympathy for her and wanted to be there but Elle didn't want to talk about the reason she and Jesse broke up. The brunette figured that if Jesse didn't believe her then why would anyone else.

"Are we just gonna ignore what happened back there?" Chloe suddenly burst out, throwing her hands out dramatically and speaking loudly. "Guys, hello? The Worlds are right around the corner and you guys are acting like we didn't just eat a big bag of... Ahhh!" She screamed, waking Elle up with a groan.

"Why are you yelling at me? I almost burned to death because of you a-ca-bitches." Cynthia argued, huffing as she shrank further down in her seat.

Fat Amy scoffed. "If you almost died, it was only because you were standing in the wrong spot." She argued in return, gesturing to the black-haired girl who was rolling her eyes.

"No! Flo flipped into me!" She shouted frustratedly.

"Sure. Blame the minority." Flo scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I'm black, gay, and a woman." Cynthia listed and Flo was quick to stop talking.

"I'm not pointing the finger at anybody." Fat Amy shrugged before turning to Emily. "It was Legacy's fault."She said suddenly and everyone's else turned to the girl who was still writing.

"Me? Wait, I didn't..." She tried to argue but Chloe cut her off.

"Obviously, we're not gonna beat Das Sound Machine at their game. So we need a new plan. Like, now." She insisted. "At times like these, there's only one thing for us to do." She spoke, glancing around the group.

"Fake your own death and flee the country." Florencia nodded understandingly. Elle finally looked away from her phone and gave the girl a look of confusion.

"Close," Chloe said.

"Not really," Elle grumbled.

"We're going on a retreat." The redhead announced excitedly—the only person showing any positive emotions to what she had just announced. Elle was both stressed from her work, Distraught about Jesse and Disappointed with their performance. She wasn't feeling anything positive.

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