(This is a Fred's Head fanfiction. It takes place before the series where Fred meets Anette for the first time.
I love this show and just wish it wasn't so incredibly underrated.)
September 3rd 2006
It was a new year at Saint-Jude's High school.
All the jocks were catching up with each other and playing sports, the popular girls were preparing for the year's gossip, and the nerds, though feeling good now, were just waiting for something to go wrong for them.
14-year-old Fred and his best friend GG were hanging out by the entrance talking about their vacations.
"So, me and my beloved family were out enjoying the lovely countryside," said GG, "When suddenly out of nowhere, a family of rabid raccoons attacked our campsite, and ate all our meat! We had to survive on a vegetarian diet for a day and a half! Do you know what it's like for me to be without meat for that long?! I-It's like chicken soup without chicken, or a hamburger without the burger, o-or a delicious garlic sausage without pickled herring on the side! But enough about me, tell me, how was your adventurous vacation?"
"Oh it was a real adventure," said Fred with his typical blasé expression, "I hung around the house, watched a little TV, and had to listen to my mom constantly bugging me to clean my room. Pretty cool huh?"
"Oh, how I missed your intoxicating sarcasm my bosom buddy." GG said embracing Fred.
"Hey, get a room you too!" said a familiar voice. It was their other best friend, Fabienne Ledger walking toward them.
"Hey Fab!" Fred and GG called back.
They noticed someone else was walking with her.
"Guys, I'd like you to meet my new friend, Anette Freeze-Dright. I met her over summer and she just started learning here".
Anette had a quite unique appearance. She had pale skin, jet black hair and piercing eyes. She had somewhat of a mysterious look on her face.
"Hello", she said, "I suppose any friend of Fab's is a friend of mine."
"You bet!" GG quickly replied while shaking her hand. "Allow us to introduce ourselves. My name is Gregory Gilbert Pyrowski but you may call me GG. And this is my best bosom buddy, Fred Leblanc."
"Hi nice to meet you." said Fred. "Welcome to Saint Jude's. Y'know, just by looking at your expression, I can tell you're really enthusiastic about starting a brand new year."
Anette smirked a little.
"Fab, I'm finding something interesting about your blasé friend's tone of sarcasm."
Fred smiled. "Thanks, I guess".
They stared at each other for a few seconds.
Just then, the school bell rang.
"Well, it's time to get to class!" said GG, "It's a whole new year of meeting new people, new teachers, and learning new subjects!"
"Yeah let's go." said Fab "Like he said, it's a whole new year of boredom."
"See you guys in class", said Anette.
"Yeah, seeya", Fred said back.
Fred noticed GG staring at him in a smug fashion.
"What?" asked Fred.
"Oh, you know."
"What do I know?"
"Don't tell me you've become as dense as an over-stuffed salmon with extra dressing."
"Okay I won't, because I'm not."
"Fred, you leave me no choice but to get straight to the point; Fabienne's friend has stolen your infatuated heart!"
"You mean I'm in love with her? I think not."
"But you two look incredibly compatible. She has black hair and dark eyes- you have black hair and dark eyes, she seems apathetic- you seem apathetic, she wears polka dots- you wear stripes! I'm telling you, you're a match made in heaven!"
Fred rolled his eyes.
"Look, Anette seems pretty cool and all, but appearances aren't everything. Plus, I barely know her."
"Alright, whatever you say..."
Fred sighed.
Halfway through the day was lunch break. Fred was on his way to the cafeteria, when he happened to overhear a conversation from the Hart trio.
Penelope Truehart, Jody Goodheart, and Tamara Hartman were the popular girls who were always sharing school gossip.
"Did you guys notice that weird new goth girl Fabienne's hanging with?" said Jody, the queen bee.
"I know right?" said Penelope, the airhead, "Her hair's too straight, her nose it pointy, and she's in desperate need of a tan".
"I personally don't find her appearance that unattractive," said Tamara, the most considerate, "but I get this weird feeling whenever I look at her".
"Yeah, it's like she's starring into your soul", said Jody, "All I can say is: 'Good luck finding a boyfriend!'"
The girls all laughed.
"Nobody makes fun of my best friend's friend," thought Fred. He was just about to walk up to the girls and tell them off, when…
"You're the one to talk." said Anette walking towards Jody, "I don't care what you think of me, and just so you know, I'm not interested in a boyfriend right now. But what would you know anyway? You don't have one either because nobody wants to be in a relationship with a snob. That, in my opinion, is very sad and pathetic."
The girls just stood there surprised by Anette's comeback. So was Fred.
"Pffft w-whatever." said Jody, embarrassed. "Let's go girls."
As the Hart trio left, Fred walked up to Anette.
"Wow, I never knew you had that kind of comeback in you," he said.
"Oh, thanks. It was nothing", said Anette, "I guess I just call them as I see them."
They both chuckled a little.
"So," said Anette, "I guess I'll see you at lunch?"
"Yeah, sure," said Fred.
"Wow," he thought, "Mysterious and independent. A rather unique combination."
Fred, GG, Fabienne, and Anette all sat together in the cafeteria.
Anette talked a little about herself. Her favorite food was cheesecake, she had a pet doberman puppy, her family was wealthy, her dad's an ambassador, her mom's an ex-Bollywood star, and they live in a mansion in the upper-class part of the city.
"Wait, your family's rich and your social status is at the bottom?!" said a shocked GG, "Why don't you tell someone? This could be your ticket to popularity!"
"I don't care about being popular," said Anette, "I'd rather earn real friends instead of dealing with the popularity and fake friendships that come with wealth."
"Exactly!" said Fabienne, "Which is why we all should avoid it, popularity has so many snares and no real benefit."
"It's not worth risking your dignity over," said Fred.
"If you have friends that actually like you, you're popular enough," said Anette.
"Yeah, popularity is like a rotten shrimp," said GG, "It's...uh…bad? Okay, I got nothing."
Everyone laughed.
"So anyway, Anette," said Fabienne, "After school you wanna hang out at my place and watch a movie? I just bought this awesome horror B-movie, 'The Bloodying Creatures' on DVD."
"Thanks, but I have those plans, remember?"
"Oh right, of course."
"Plans? What plans?" asked Fred.
"Oh you know," said Anette, "Sitting in a dark room with candles, writing depressing poetry, trying to communicate with the dead, the usual."
"Yeah, just as usual as cutting open a salmon, spilling out it's organs, and leaving them for the cats to nibble on," complied GG.
Fred gave him a shove.
"Ow! Okay I'm sorry," he said.
"It's alright," said Anette, "I get that a lot."
"A lot of what?" asked Fred, "References to meat and guts?"
Anette laughed.
To Fred, there was something captivating about Anette's laugh. It had a pleasant and polite tone, like an English queen.
The school bell rang again, and everyone went back to class.
"So, were you defending Anette just now?" GG whispered smugly to Fred.
"Well, yeah," he said, "Wouldn't you do the sameif someone made fun of what I do in my spare time?"
"Perhaps, since your collection of useless objects is somewhat out of the ordinary, but that aside, I'm sure, with time, once you get to know her…"
"But nothing! Sure, Anette has some really nice qualities, but I just don't like her that way. Can you please just live with that and get on with your life?"
GG sighed. "You really know how to break a poor guy's romantic spirit, huh?"
"C'mon," said Fred, "Let's get to class."
The rest of the day went by pretty quickly.
After school, GG went with Fabienne back to her place to watch 'The Bloodying Creatures' with her in place of Anette (It was either him or Fred but he was the one who lost the bet). So Fred was going to have to walk home alone.
On his way out, he happened to come across a red purse that was sitting under a tree. Fred looked around the area, but more than half of the students left already and the ones that were left all seemed to have a bag with them. So Fred picked up the purse and looked for a name tag. Sure enough, after digging under all kinds of art supplies, he found a photo of…
Anette!
On the other side was a note that said:
IF FOUND, PLEASE RETURN TO ALVIA ST. 109.
