The following is a seven chapter study taking place in a four-day time period with the purpose of clarifying and illustrating the last days of Annie Edison as she knew herself in adolescence.

I do not own this show or it's characters.


DAY 1,
In which Annie acts like an idiot

Elle W got too drunk, vomited in the bathroom and now the smell is ruining the vibe. Annie hates Elle W. She hates her a-line and her straight teeth and she wishes Elle W would explode, pieces of her body would fly up in the air and hit the wall-

- what the HELL is she doing?

She can't be inside this bathroom thinking like this. This is a legitimate high school party and she has been invited!

She had ONE Dirty Shirley cocktail mixed with ONE pill, because this is an attempt to socialization and she must feel ready to be herself out there. She is ready to laugh with Jill K, if Jill K happens to come talk to her. She doesn't, usually. Because Annie is so uncool, usually. But today Annie is feeling great, and even THE Jill K will notice.

Who knows. She doesn't want to keep her hopes up too high, but maybe even Troy Barnes will walk up to her and talk. Maybe he will see her laughing from across the room and he'll think,
" Who's that girl?
Why, that's Annie Edison!
Well, I'll be damned."
(No Troy Barnes wouldn't say it like that.)

She fixes her breasts to make sure they are out there. She has stared at her breasts - and those of the others - for long enough to know, to KNOW she has pretty breasts. Hell, she even thinks Dougie D was looking at them yesterday. That Dougie D. He's nasty.

When she looks from her breasts to her face, she suddenly remembers who she is. This is the face that walks on the hallways looking down at her own feet. This face changes her locker combination every 14 days. This face has mostly safe closet choices in safe colors. This face doesn't even own a pair of sunglasses.

But looking at her body again, she remembers what she is doing here.

She puts her jacket back on, folds the sleeves up twice.

She pulls her skirt down a little bit because it keeps moving up when she walks.

She smiles wide and checks for food stuck in her braces. Silly Annie, you haven't eaten anything yet.

She messes with her curly, unruly hair. It worked for Julia Roberts. She looks great. Annie, not Julia. Julia too. Annie definitely looks great. Her lip gloss and her eyes sparkle, there's nothing about herself she doesn't love right now.

Pill.
Because focus in being herself is important.

In the kitchen, Beyoncé is blasting, Dougie D is laughing at something happening in the living room and turns around. He stares at Annie, smiling for a while. His braces match hers, she thinks this is sweet, although he is still nasty. He hands her a beer in a plastic cup, she smiles at him, thinking how caring! He grins at her, leans against the counter. She stays put, looking back. The beer is sour and tastes like sweat, she swallows it arduously.

A while goes by without any words, Dougie D nods and steps away from the counter. Annie watches him walk away thinking why didn't she say anything? What is there to say, anyhow?

Leaning against the counter made him look pretty cool, so she turns around and leans against the counter too. The beer is still sweaty. This makes her laugh.

Jill K walks past her, laughing out loud. Her long, straight hair waves behind her like there is a breeze inside the house. Annie's jaw drops, how she wishes she were cool like Jill K. Jill K isn't even trying. She is just naturally perfect. She is laughing at someone who is still talking to her even though she already walked out of the room. She almost doesn't have make up on, she almost didn't do her hair. She has on a loose fitting pair of jeans, she looks so comfortable and happy. In the kitchen, she opens the fridge and pulls out a bottle of Grenadine. She examines the cups on the counter, throws a few of them in the trash, picks up a clean one and starts making herself a drink.

Annie hasn't stopped staring at her, wide eyed, so Jill K looks up to her, stares back for a second and smiles.

"Edison," She sings, looking back at her drink, "I didn't even recognize you."

Annie laughs excessively at this flattery.

"Are you having a good time?"

"Yeah!" is her loud answer, followed by a small burp. She covers her mouth, horrified.

Jill K doesn't seem to notice, but pushes a Dirty Shirley across the counter.

"You want this one?" She asks without looking. This is by far THE best moment of Annie's day.
Week.
Year.

"Yeah!" She exclaims, looking from Jill to her beer. She doesn't want Jill to be angry at her wasting the beer, so she takes a big gulp of it, as big as she can fit in her mouth and almost chokes trying to swallow it all.

Actually, she is choking. She coughs, leans forward, burps.

"You ok there?"

Annie nods taking the Dirty Shirley and using it to wash away the sweat taste of the beer.

Jill smiles at her - wow - and without any ceremony, walks away from the kitchen carrying two more Shirleys. Annie looks around herself and walks after Jill thinking maybe they could sit together.

She trails around the living room furniture after Jill K, who reaches a couch. Jill K hands Kev a drink and makes out with him. Annie stands next to them, watching. Jill K's hand holds the back of Kev's head and she cocks her head. Annie cocks her head too. She doesn't notice, but she is memorizing the gesture.

"Boo" a voice whispers in Annie's ears and she shouts as if the voice had grabbed her by the waist.

"Phillip! You..." She whispers back, full of anger, but she cannot come up with a word to call him.

"Dick?"

"I wasn't going to say that." She says walking away and leans against a wall, away from Jill K and Kev.

From there, she can see Troy Barnes standing by the porch door, holding a beer in a can. A beer in a can. He is smiling. He could see her if he turned his head just a tiny bit...

Phillip leans next to her with his oversized head and thick blond hair. He smells like the oil he uses to fix bikes. Annie isn't usually repulsed by it, but right now, right now, at this moment, right at this moment, it is inadequate.

She loves her best friend. If it wasn't for Phillip, she would probably go entire days without speaking to anybody else her age.

If it wasn't for Annie, she is almost sure he wouldn't talk much either. Phillip is one of those exceptions. He plays the keyboard. He has a flamboyant laugh. His idols are not sports celebrities, but music divas. To everybody else, Phillip is gay. Annie thinks Phillip is asexual.

She knows he can hear the jokes when they go by and pretends not to hear them. She has never said anything about it, never. In fact, Annie knows the reason why Phillip spends time with her is because she never, never asks him about girls.

"So are you having fun?" Phillip asks ironically. Philip half these girls are bitches and almost all these guys are douchebags.

"Yeah." She answers quietly and looks away.

"Really?"

Annie sighs. She brought Phillip along because coming by herself would've been awkward, but she almost wishes he'd just dropped her off. She sips on her drink looking away while Phillip comments quietly on people around them.

"And Amanda Paul, she must be thinking this is a beach town. Look at that dress! I'll take Amanda Frank over Amanda Paul today."

Annie has almost finished her drink.

"Hello? Did you hear what I said?" Annie has finished her drink, "I said! I'll take Amanda Frank in my-"

"I heard what you said!" Annie shouts. A few people look at them for the first time since they came into the room. Phillip stares at Annie not knowing what to do. Annie looks around herself and sees an audience.

She smiles and looks away from Phillip.

"What the hell was that?"

Annie puts down her empty cup, crosses her arms and turns to Phillip again. She probably still has an audience, she puffs up her chest. Troy might be looking.

"I am just trying! To have a good time."

Phillip stares at her curiously, Annie steps to the side and walks away still with her arms crossed.

Her plan is to cross the living room towards where Troy Barnes is standing and say Hi. That's all it takes to start a conversation, she can't believe she never tried it before. But her audience is avoiding her eyes. They turn away whispering. Are they afraid of her?
Will Troy be afraid?
Is she a monster?

Halfway though the room she looks back. Phillip looks away and starts to leave. She takes two steps toward him, turns around, takes two steps toward the patio door. The couch where Jill K was sitting is now on a different side of the room. It's on her way.

It's a trap. That's why it's so crowded, they're about to attack.
There is not patio anymore. She can feel she's hyperventilating. She doesn't know any of these people. She turns around to look for Phillip, but he's not there. He was by the glass cupboard, but now, there isn't a glass cupboard.

This is a different room. The bathroom door has changed colors, but she knows it's still the bathroom door because she remembers the picture frame inside had a canoe on a river.

The canoe smells like vomit.

It tastes like vomit.

She vomits on the carpet.

Someone screams, maybe even three people.

Hands grab her arms.

Hands hold her face.

They're all mechanical.

She screams.

She smells Phillip.

Now it's ok to faint.