Chapter One

"Oh, my God, Jeff!" cried Annie, following the older man into the library where their friends all sat around a pale-wooden table waiting for them. "You cannot blow us off again!"

"OK, thanks, Mom," he said dryly, taking his seat at the head of the table. Annie sat defiantly by Shirley, scowling at him. "Look," he continued, "I'm not blowing you off, alright? I just have other plans."

"Other plans?" questioned Britta, running a hand through her frosty blonde hair. "You mean more 'important' plans?"

Troy gasped, leaning more toward the table, wrinkling the shirt Jeff had so graciously let him borrow. "You are blowing us off!"

Unhappy muttering erupted throughout the six, but they became silent again with a wave of Jeff's hand. "I'm not blowing you off."

"I don't understand how you're blowing us off," grumbled Pierce, adjusting his tinted spectacles. "Everyone you know is in this room."

"That's true," agreed Shirley.

"Is it your new girlfriend?" asked Abed, sucking on the straw of a juice box.

All eyes turned to him, nearly bulging from their sockets. "What?" exclaimed Annie.

"Oh yeah," said Abed, glancing around at his friends. "I thought you all knew."

"Well, they do now," sighed Jeff. "Thanks a lot, Abed."

"You're welcome."

"Jeff's got a girlfriend?" asked Pierce incredulously. "Probably just a cover-up," he stage-whispered to Troy. They all ignored him, per usual.

"Wait," interjected Annie, standing up. "You told Abed about this but you didn't tell me? How many other people know?"

"I knew," confessed Britta, not ashamed in the slightest.

"Me too," admitted Troy, looking down at the table.

Shirley remained silent, flicking a staple between her fingers.

"Not you too Shirley," breathed Annie, smoothing down her blue sweater.

"Well, Annie, I didn't—"

She made a sound that signified she was insulted and stormed from the room.

"I don't know why she's so upset," grumbled Troy.

"I don't know how all of you knew about me and Rose," said Jeff.

"Abed saw you guys making out in front of the video store," informed Troy.

"And heard you call her your girlfriend," continued Britta.

"And then told all of us," admitted Shirley, looking down at her black snake-skin bag.

"Are you mad?" asked Abed, seemingly unaffected by the idea of Jeff being irked at him.

"No," said Jeff, surprising even himself. "You guys are a big part of my life—and so is she. I think it's about time you knew about her."

Shirley beamed. "I just wish you would have told us earlier, Jeffrey. The Lord knows you shouldn't fornicate out of marriage—"

"Here we go," mumbled Britta, rolling her eyes.

"But none of us want any babies out of wedlock either, so if you're going against the man who died for your sins, you make sure you're protected while doing it."

Pierce's head jerked up, and it was clear he had been sleeping. "Sex? What'd I miss?"

"That was out of character for you Shirley," pointed out Abed, frowning in concentration. "Something's off."

"Nothing's wrong," she assured him. "I just know the kind of blasphemous paths you walk and I am trying not to be judgmental."

"Major fail," scoffed Britta.

"We've only got fifteen minutes to get to History," reminded Jeff. "So let's go before Pierce falls asleep again."

"Wha—?" said Pierce, sitting up once again. "I'm awake, I'm awake."

They gathered their books and all stood up. Britta walked out of the room hand-in-hand with Troy. Pierce walked with Shirley, talking busniness strategies, probably. Or about his penis. The two subjects were Pierce's favorites of late.

Jeff stopped Abed, pulling him aside and letting the other four go on ahead.

"If you knew about me and Rose," began Jeff, and Abed nodded to show he was keeping up, "and you told the rest of the group, then why didn't you tell Annie?"

"I thought it might hurt her feelings," he stated matter-of-factly.

Before Jeff could read too much into that or ask Abed any more questions, he was following the group out the door. Jeff sighed and mentally prepared himself for an utterly boring History session.