Jeff pulled into the dirt parking lot of the park, grinning widely. After four years he was finally done with school. Done with Greendale and the craziness of it all. It was over and he could finally go back to being a lawyer.
The warm May air breeze hit his face as he got out of his car. He gathered the four textbook out of the passenger seat and started walking down the dirt path to the field Abed told all of them to go to. Abed had originally wanted to do it on the Greendale campus, but they had all talked him out of it. The last thing they needed was accidently burning down the school. Even Jeff wasn't that vindictive.
Why would he be, he thought. Greendale may be a toilet, but he did get a lot out of it. As sappy as it sounded, and as much as he knew his old self would laugh at him, he wouldn't trade his time there for anything.
That being said, he was still looking forward to this ritual.
As Jeff reached the end of the path he pulled back the branches and stepped out into the field, seeing Abed, Troy and Britta putting the finishing touches on the large bonfire. They had filled the large stone circle with various sizes of timber and had a canister of gasoline handy.
"Finally!" Britta exclaimed as she snapped a handful of branches and threw them in the pile. "What took you? You stopped to get a facial?"
"No. And have you ever heard of being fashionably late?"
"Is that a Porn Star? Cause I think I heard of her." Pierce said.
"Pierce!" Shirley shook her head as she picked up the gasoline and poured it all over the timber before lighting a match and drooping it into the center. It caught and a small flame ignited, which grew until a proper fire formed. "Let's do this."
"Wait!" Abed picked up seven sticks and passed them out to everyone before taking out a package of marshmallows. "So we can roast them."
"Oh cool!" Troy happily shrieked as he grabbed the bag and started eating them cold.
"Wait until we all get some Troy." Jeff said as he warily looked at the bag. "Um Abed. You didn't happen to see the second Hangover movie, did you?"
"Yea. But I didn't drug the marshmallows. It wouldn't really fit our theme. Plus we're graduating tomorrow, not going to a wedding."
"Just checking. Ok, let's do this."
They all picked up their Spanish textbooks and held them over the fire. They all looked to Jeff, who cleared his throat. "Um, yea ok. So we're here tonight to say goodbye to our time at Greendale by ritualistically burning the textbooks from the four classes we all had together. First we had Spanish. It was the class that brought us together and formed the friendships and relationships that have helped make us the people we are today. So thank you, for bringing us together."
Six hands opened at the same time, causing six textbooks to drop into the fire. They all looked over at Annie, who was still holding her book. "You need a minute Annie." Troy said, part sarcastically, part sincerely.
"It just doesn't feel right." She said as she stared at her textbook longingly. "Can't I just sell it or something?"
"Annie." Jeff said. "We all agreed to do this, as a way of properly saying goodbye to Greendale. Besides, do you really think you'll ever use that thing again?"
"I don't know. I might. I took notes in the margins and can refer back to them. And I, JEFHAHAHAHA!" She tried to get away as Jeff grabbed hold of her and started tickling her arms and stomach. She laughed hysterically as her grip on the book loosened and it fell into the fire. As Jeff stopped she saw what happened, making the same noise one might make if they saw a hurt baby deer.
"Annie, it's just a textbook. For a class that you already took and had little to nothing to do with your major. You'll get over it." Jeff rolled his eyes as he took his place again and picked up his Anthropology textbook. They all held their textbooks over the fire as Jeff began his impromptu speech. "Anthropology. You were the class that brought us many hours of youtube videos, and more dioramas then most elementary school students have to make. You were also the birthplace of Ben, which just proves the theory that goodness can come out of chaos."
"That's nice." Shirley sweetly said.
The six of them dropped their books into the fire. They all simulationsly looked over at Annie. "Fine!" This time she willingly dropped her book into the fire, looking at it sadly as it burned.
Jeff waited until they all picked up their Biology textbooks before he started. "Biology. We took you during what many of us would say, was a dark time in our time at Greendale. Troy and Abed started a civil war."
"More like a civil pillow war." Troy snickered, finally able to laugh at that terrible time in his life.
"Nice." Abed said as he and Troy did their handshake.
"Yea." Jeff said. "That all happened, I attacked a table with a ax and then killed a guy. We were brainwashed to sing for Glee club. A lot of stuff happened. But we made it through and came out on top, proving that we can survive anything."
They all dropped their textbooks into the fire. Even Annie did it unprovoked this time, though she still made a wounded sound as she watched it burn.
Jeff waited as they all picked up their final textbook, World History, before he started. "Finally, our last class together was World History. It basically signified a lot of lasts for us. Last first day of class, last class we would all study for, last Halloween and Christmas adventure, last Greendale dance, our last year together at Greendale. But through the year we continued to help each other and strengthen our bonds. And as our time drew to a close, we realized that while we had outgrown Greendale, we didn't outgrow us. And that while things are going to change, we've been through too much to just drift apart. We may have started out just as a study group. But as the year ended we realized that we had all became a community. And unlike the first time I said it, this time I truly mean and believe it."
They all stood there, feeling extremely emotional after what they had just heard. Troy, Annie and Shirley were loudly crying, while Pierce and Britta had silent tears running down their cheeks. Jeff briefly looked away to try and discreetly wipe his own tears away before anyone saw him. Feeling he was composed he turned back and dropped his last textbook into the fire, with everyone following him.
The seven of them stood there for several minutes, roasting marshmallows as they watched all 28 textbooks burn. Once they had been completely consumed by the flames they all poured water on the fire, extinguishing it.
Without a word they all started walking back to the parking lot. Seeing Annie's sad face Jeff went over and gently took hold of her hand. "You ok?"
"It's just upsetting."
"I know you value education and everything-."
"Not that. Ok, not all of that." She quickly amended as Jeff looked at her. "Just that we're leaving. I never thought I'd be this upset about it. When I first came to Greendale I intended to transfer as soon as possible. And now, I can't ever have imagined going anywhere else."
"I know." Jeff softly said, without a trace of sarcasm in his voice. "It's the Greendale effect. It does things to you."
Once they all came out of the path they all agreed to meet up at Pierce's mansion for one more movie night/sleepover. As they all started getting into their cars Jeff held onto Annie's hand as he pulled her over to his car.
"Jeff, what are you doing?"
"I wanted to give you something before we went over." He waited until she had gotten into the passenger seat. Once she was in he reached into the backseat and pulled up the large paper bag that was next to his overnight bag. "For you."
"Jeff, you didn't have to get-."
"Just look inside Edison."
Annie looked in the bag and let out a loud joyful squeal. She grinned as she pulled out a Spanish, Anthropology, Biology, and World History textbook. "You bought me textbooks from all our classes!"
"I knew it would be hard for you to give them up, even if you didn't need them. This way-."
He never finished his sentence as her lips crashed against his at that moment. He grabbed hold of her as he kissed her back. They made out for several minutes before she finally pulled away. "We are telling them tonight, right?" Annie said, not wanting to keep hiding the fact that they had finally became a couple a week and a half ago.
"Yup. We agreed we'd wait until finals and everything was over and we did. Besides, every show has to have one last big event before the finale."
"We really spent too much time with Abed." Annie said with a grin.