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The Bellas were all silent as they left the stage following Aubrey's expulsion onto the audience. They were silent as they waited in the hallway for adjudication. They were silent while they received adjudication, barring of course answering any questions, which Alice did. They were then silent as they left and for about half of their bus ride back to Barden.
It was Alice who finally broke the silence.
"You know, you had one simple job, Aubrey" she criticized. Aubrey had been keeping her head down the whole time, her only interaction being that she had been holding Chloe's hand the entire bus ride, a small gesture that the ginger initiated to try and comfort her friend. "I cannot believe that you two idiots are gonna be leading next year"
"Everyone messes up sometimes, Alice" Chloe replied, defending the blonde, who had completely lost her ability to speak. Alice scoffed and rolled her eyes.
"I don't!" she replied, exasperated. It wasn't even true, she'd messed up plenty of times during practice, but no one on the bus had the confidence to call her out on that. "Besides, this wasn't some small mistake, Chloe" she continued. "She couldn't take the heat, so she projectile vomited all over the front row. The Bellas reputation is surely ruined"
"Well, that's not something you'll have to worry about" the ginger replied. "You're about to graduate. Grow up"
Alice sputtered for a moment in exasperation but eventually realized she didn't have a good response, so she just groaned and crossed her arms angrily. Chloe looked over at the blonde and squeezed her hand, eliciting a small, thankful smile from the woman.
Things weren't good, but it wasn't the end of the world. They'd be okay.