Note: This is based on a photoset I found on tumblr by user lovethatshit. The subject of the photoset is 'The ultimate darkest timeline: the study group never formed'. The idea intrigued me so I wrote a little story about it.
Dean Pelton traversed the campus of Greendale Community College like he did each morning, silently taking note of each and every detail—whether or not students looked like they were enjoying themselves, which vending machines were almost out of candy bars and chips, and which parts of the campus could use a renovation. One particular place was on his mind and had been for about a month. He entered the building which housed the campus library and took a look around. It was like any other library, filled with books, occupied by a few students working quietly or maybe even reading for pleasure. He continued on his path, past the main entrance, past a few stacks of books and stopped when he found what he was looking for.
"GROUP STUDY ROOM F" was inscribed in black on the glass next to the room's doors. The Dean peered through the glass, sighing as he took in the dismal sight. The lights were off, and it looked as if a fine dust covered the table, bookshelves, and chairs inside. The room was supposed to be cleaned by the janitorial staff at least once a week, but it looked like it hadn't been touched in years. Even the few computers inside were from the mid-1990s. Dean Pelton sighed and turned away from the room, reaching the library's other exit and staring at the bulletin board nearby. There was a simple, white piece of paper tacked onto the board among all the other flashy papers that caught his eye. Its header read: "SAVE GREENDALE'S STUDY ROOMS!" and underneath a few more sentences were seven blank spaces.
Almost a month before, it was brought to Dean Pelton's attention that there were plans to renovate parts of Greendale's campus. He was told that the library would be the first to receive changes, specifically the many unused study rooms within it. At Greendale, it seemed that students barely studied, and when they did, they situated themselves in the open air of the library, rather than the secluded spaces of the study rooms. Dean Pelton was shocked at this revelation, and although he wasn't sure why, he wanted to keep the library as it was. He suggested he make a petition to save the library from renovation, and if he could get enough signatures, then the library would be off limits. His superiors agreed to it and gave him one month to get seventy signatures.
"Down to the last day, and I still need seven signatures… give it up, Craig, it's over," the Dean said to himself. It almost brought a tear to his eye, but he still wasn't sure why. Perhaps it was because it felt as if a part of him would disappear if the library was changed. Or maybe a part of Greendale's history. Nevertheless, Dean Pelton hung his head in disappointment and walked away, continuing on with his daily inspection of the campus.
#
Not long after the Dean's visit to the library, a cheerful, brunette girl passed by the library's bulletin board. Taking a step back to inspect the board, Annie Edison scanned the white paper posted there by the Dean and gasped. She happened to be one of the few students who utilized a study room every now and then when she needed absolute silence. Why would the college want to get rid of them? Maybe she was overreacting; maybe the renovations would be a good thing. But she had a bad feeling that something wouldn't be the same if she didn't act, so without another moment of hesitation, Annie picked up the pen hanging next to the paper and signed her name on the first line. Smiling, she entered the library and walked past Study Room F, glancing inside for a second and continuing on her way.
#
Later that day, students filtered in and out of the library, some of them stopping to read the brightly colored pages on the bulletin board while others simply walked by. One student in particular read the bulletin board from head to toe, searching for any good causes to support on campus. Although she returned to school after realizing that protesting hadn't been the most fruitful thing for her to do, Britta Perry still had the desire in her to speak out for or against something. The pages all seemed to blend together as she glanced back and forth, but one particular page stood out.
"The school's trying to get rid of the library's study rooms? Who thought that sounded like a good idea?" Britta read the plea for help and looked down at the empty spaces taking up the rest of the page. There was only one signature, which shouldn't have surprised her, but it did. Judging from the handwriting, it was some prim and proper library loving girl, but that didn't bother her. As long as she was taking a stand against the college's iron fist, she would sign the petition. Britta quickly jotted down her name in the second spot and walked away, hoping her signature wouldn't go to waste.
#
"Oh, a class signup sheet?" Pierce Hawthorne happened upon the Dean's petition about an hour later and squinted at it, not paying much attention to what it was actually for. "Looks like I'll be ahead of the game for once, along with this person who's named after a water filter and this other girl. Her handwriting makes her look like a teenybopper, or whatever they call themselves." He scribbled his name in the third space and turned to enter the library, but stopped right before he passed the doors.
"Why did I come here again? I'm starving…"
Pierce walked away from the library, passing by a crowd of loud kids who happened to be a part of Greendale's football team. They continued to shout as they neared the library's entrance, and one of the student workers there whispered loudly at them to quiet down. The jocks rolled their eyes but decided to move to the opposite side of the hallway. One of them remained by the library doors and one of his friends called out to him.
"Hey, Troy! You coming?"
Troy Barnes shook his head. "Nah, I… uh, I have to see my tutor now… for Spanish. If I fail that class I won't be able to play football anymore."
The other guys booed jokingly and then quickly wished him luck as they headed down the hall. Troy glanced up at the bulletin board on his way into the library and stopped as he admired one of the larger, poster-like things on the board advertising the football team's next home game. He smiled widely, but his smile faded as soon as his eyes passed over the petition. He stared at the page intently for a few minutes, reading over each and every word carefully. Even though he was a jock, and even though it was still early in the school year, Troy had a soft spot for Greendale's library. It was saving his butt from failing, and he wondered how many other butts it saved in the past. Reaching for the pen, Troy wrote his name down on the fourth line, glad to see that there were a few other people who appreciated the library. He walked away from the board, entering the library and putting on his game face. He wasn't going to mess this up.
#
Shirley Bennett was late. She had been working on a presentation for one of her Business classes all afternoon and had almost forgotten to pick up her kids. Quickly saving her work and organizing her note cards, Shirley logged off of the computer she'd been using and walked briskly out of the library, berating herself for being so careless. She almost ran into a group of three people entering the library on her way out, and she apologized profusely, taking a moment to look at her watch as the group rolled their eyes at her. She was going to be late, that was for sure, but as she took a deep breath, Shirley remembered something.
"The Lord is testing me… I have to keep my cool. He's watching over me, so everything will be fine." Smiling to herself, Shirley took a moment to look at the bulletin board by the library on her way out. There were plenty of flyers advertising club meetings, and there was a poster tacked onto the board for the next football game. The multicolored papers were dazzling to the eye, but one of the few plain white pieces of paper stood out more than the rest. Perhaps that was because it was near the center of the board, unobstructed as if it had been placed there that day. Shirley inspected it further, letting out an "Oh no!" as she read the petition. The library was her favorite place on Greendale's campus, and she loved it just the way it was. Renovation seemed unnecessary to her, so without another thought she signed her name underneath the four who signed before her and left the building.
#
The sun continued to set in the sky, and more and more people were walking across campus to get something to eat. While everyone seemed to be leaving the library building, Abed Nadir was just heading inside. He was on a mission: scouting locations for his next short film. He hadn't decided what exactly he wanted to cover in his film, but his professor's assignment required the film to be set in a certain location on Greendale's campus. He had already checked out the cafeteria, and he found it to be too noisy. He wanted to film some classes, but the professors he asked permission from gave him strange looks. So now he was onto his third option—the library. Now that most people had left for the day, it seemed a bit eerie. Maybe he could come up with a story about an old library inhabited only by people whose minds had been taken over by the head librarian. No, he would need more time to think.
"What's this?" Abed stared blankly at the bulletin board, scanning each and every piece of paper tacked to it. Perhaps he could find inspiration in one of the club flyers staring him in the face. There was something for a baking club, a tennis club, a reading and creative writing group, but none of them gave him any ideas. His eyes finally passed over the petition and Abed froze. This particular paper was strange, not because it was the only petition on the board, but because of what it was for. Reading what was on the paper, the strangest feeling passed over Abed.
"Something's missing," he said aloud. Without blinking, Abed wrote his name on the sixth line, leaving one more space to fill. He stood back and stared at the page, tilting his head. The names above his looked familiar, but at the same time he had no idea who they belonged to. Maybe a version of himself in a parallel universe knew who those people were who signed the petition before him. Abed shook his head, "I still have a lot to learn about parallel universes." He entered the library and looked around, making sure to take a look at each of the study rooms referred to in the petition. He had his setting now: he would use the library and its study rooms in his film. The story was still up in the air, but he had a week or so to figure it out. Abed felt accomplished and he quickly went back to his scouting, looking for people to potentially star in his short film.
#
The deadline to reach seventy signatures was drawing near, and Dean Pelton walked back to the library to check on his petition. The remaining sixty-three signatures from earlier in the month were tucked away safely in a desk drawer in his office, which he hoped to be able to use to protect the campus. Stepping inside the building, the Dean made a beeline for the bulletin board, gasping in surprise when he first saw the white paper.
"Six signatures? That's more than I expected! But… it's still not going to be good enough."
Dean Pelton sighed deeply, holding his head in his hands. He stood there in a minute of agonizing silence before he heard footsteps. Looking up, he watched as a handsome guy with bed head walked in his direction.
Jeff Winger was on his way to the library, passing through on his way home for the night. The semester had just begun, but he was already tired of the routine. He managed to take the least demanding classes he could find, but he still couldn't stand it. Jeff had to man up, though, and get enough credits to possibly graduate early. He told himself that he was there for a real Bachelor's degree and that was that. Once he had it, he could go back to working at a law firm and he could forget any of this ever happened. As Jeff inched closer to the library, he watched as a short, bald guy stared at him from a few feet away. Was that the Dean? He'd only seen him once at the beginning of the year when he welcomed the new students to Greendale, but after that he hadn't seen him around. He looked distraught, but as soon as Jeff stood inches away from him, he lit up.
"Hi! Um…"
"Jeff… Winger…" Jeff offered. Dean Pelton smiled and shook his hand.
"Nice to meet you, Jeff! Listen, I have a favor to ask you."
Jeff glanced around and realized they were the only two people in the hallway, so any attempt at an excuse to get out of whatever this was would be difficult. He decided to humor the guy. "Sure, what is it?"
"You see that petition on the bulletin board over there?" The Dean pointed across from them and Jeff looked over, nodding when he spotted it. "Great. Would you mind signing it? It's to save the library from an unwanted but probably necessary remodeling. We only need one more signature and I've got about five minutes until I have to turn the signatures in…"
Jeff walked over to the board and studied the paper. The Dean was telling the truth about its purpose, and as his eyes scanned down the page, he inspected the signatures of the six people who came before him. From their handwriting, they looked like an… interesting bunch of people. He wondered briefly what their intentions were for signing but then realized it didn't matter. He found it odd that the thought even popped into his head in the first place. He wasn't there to make friends and figure people out, he was there to get a degree. Shrugging his shoulders, he scribbled his name onto the last empty spot and walked away.
"Thank you!" Dean Pelton almost jumped for joy as he took the paper down from the bulletin board and rushed out of the building, hurrying to his office. As he ran, he thanked those seven strangers whose signatures helped to save an important part of Greendale Community College.