Inspiration taken from NataliaWho2214's as-yet-unfinished "The New Life of Annie Edison" on AO3. I thought the idea for the story was intriguing and wanted to expand upon it. Consider this a tribute, and a big thank you to NataliaWho2214 who graciously gave her blessings for my take on this plot.

I always thought Annie getting pregnant in high school made more sense than wanting to go to rehab as a reason for her mom to disown her. So I wanted to explore that a bit more.

My first ff, am open to feedback. I plan to update regularly and will try to incorporate comments as I can so as to improve my writing.

Also posted to AO3 under same pseud.

Disclaimer: Community and its original characters are the creation of Dan Harmon.

Prologue

Annie Edison was an organized, efficient, capable young woman. Not only had she worked hard to earn straight A's throughout her schooling, but she also did so while balancing debate club, cheerleading, mu alpha theta, national honors society, French honors society, competitive baton twirling, piano lessons, and her tense home life.

She was able to do it All even though her parents fought constantly and with her dad leaving Annie, her mother and her younger brother when Annie was 12 and never coming back. She did it All even when she was shunned by the popular girls. She did it All when she held in her unrequited feelings for the cool guy, quarterback of the football team, stupid Troy Barnes.

She kept it all together, her mother's unrelenting pressure and own unhappiness channeled through her daughter's accomplishments and pursuits.

She did it All, eventually learning to rely on Adderall to keep her productivity up, her focus sharp, and her need for sleep almost non-existent. When the Adderall wasn't enough to help calm her crashes with her down mood during the withdrawals, she became even more targeted in her pursuit of mood and energy lifting substances to get her through it All.

Annie Edison survived it All but not without the scars. She survived her downward spiral into stimulants (how ironic), her very public breakdown witnessed by the cool jackass Troy Barnes, and her subsequent hospitalization.

She survived being told by a nervous-sounding young attending physician in front of her irate mother that she had tested positive on a routine pregnancy test done upon her arrival at the hospital. She survived her mother's disproval of her desire for an inpatient drug rehabilitation program. She survived her mother's shock and dismay at her wanting to keep the baby.

And she survived her mother's huge sigh before telling Annie how disappointed she was in her, turning to leave the room and never coming back.

Annie survived going to rehab, getting clean, and earning her GED. Upon leaving rehab, she survived moving in with her sponsor Nancy. She survived her pregnancy, the birth of her daughter, and deciding to keep and raise her daughter on her own. She then survived moving into her own apartment even if it wasn't in the best neighborhood.

Surviving it All, Annie Edison knew she could do This. She could go to her first day at Greendale Community College. She could drop her 8-week off daughter at the Greendale Community College Daycare, located on campus. She could do This.

It was thus with a terrifying, electrifying and hypomanic energy that Annie Edison became community college student, single mother, and Spanish Study Group member. Day One.

So she joined the Spanish Study Group mostly because of that stupid Troy Barnes. Despite being an independent, education-minded single mother (and woman), Annie Edison still harbored her unrequited crush.

She liked to tell herself that a study group would also be a good way to meet more people, especially as she heard that kid Abed invite a bunch of other students to join, including one woman who Annie overheard mentioning was also a single mother with two children.

Stupid Troy Barnes was just a bonus, really. Annie thought that was at least one advantage of attending community college – students where not necessarily the bright and shiny 18 year olds one finds on a typical college or university campus. There was diversity. There were people who had faced difficult life circumstances.

Mostly Annie Edison was looking for some way to not only connect with other students but also dare she admit, find a way to feel equal to (maybe superior?) to such students. She hesitated to admit this to herself, but it had always been a challenge for her to trust that others could value her for her own self and not for her achievements, which of course made it difficult for her to actually form bona fide friendships.

While she knew she was no longer Annie Edison, up and coming valedictorian and general over-achiever high school student, she wondered if she could be valedictorian with actual real friends, as a community college student.

And failing that maybe she could transfer after 2 years to a decent university. In the meantime, Greendale Community College was there with it's (literally) unconditional acceptance and full-tuition scholarship for single mother Annie Edison. And maybe there was some potential in joining a study group.

It was a Start.