Troyless
Summary: To avoid doing his own work, Jeff challenges Annie to ignore Troy for an entire week. However, it is proving to be not only hard on Annie, but Troy too…
Disclaimer: I don't own Community.
A/N: I was so happy when I saw that they finally added a Community thing. I was desperate to write Annie/Troy fics since the episode with Troy taking up football again.
It was like every other day at Greendale Community. Jeff was busy texting away on his cell phone when he spotted out of the corner of his eye, Annie, hurrying towards the library. She was excited as always, dressed in dark purple. She set down her bag and Jeff looked up. Before he could even speak, the arrival of Troy and Abed talking cut him off completely.
"Just think about it, dude," Troy said, "What do you think would happen if she suddenly caught fire?"
"Good morning, Troy," Annie said, just as giddy as always. Jeff pocketed his phone when Britta and Shirley walked in behind them. Pierce appeared soon after and they gathered around the table. Jeff sat back in his chair like he always did, and noticed something really funny. Annie was completely and totally focused on Troy. Even more than usual, which was a big deal for Annie. He crossed his arms and watched as she hung on his every stupid word.
Suddenly thoughts about what she was probably like in high school came to mind and these thoughts were only interrupted by the sudden punch in the arm of Britta.
"What?"
"Were you even listening?"
"Not in the slightest," he said, casual and smooth as usual, sitting up in his chair and looking around the table. Apparently the conversation had drifted off during his little observations.
"We were talking about the extra credit project in Ms. Fry's class," Britta said, eyeing Jeff as he continued to watch Annie.
"That nut job feminist?"
"Don't call her that! She's a good woman and all we have to do is write a paper about how women deserved the right to vote long before the actual 1920 official amendment. I was asking if you were going to do it."
"Yeah, sure," he said, giving her a quick look and suddenly his little brain light turned on. Why bother doing extra credit when he could manipulate someone to do it for him. He looked on Annie and decided in a moment what he should do. After another long minute of thinking up his brilliant plan, he got up with the others.
"Abed?" Pierce asked, pulling him aside.
"Pierce?"
"I have wanted to make a music video for some time but never really had the ability. But now, I got the permission to film on campus and was wondering if you would help me."
"Sure," Abed replied simply, and they walked off talking about it.
"You're going to help me bake a cake?"
"Of course," Shirley replied quickly, pulling Britta towards the door and Jeff really began to wonder if this kind of stuff happened every time he spaced out during these study groups. Since when did everyone become so chummy? He thought that maybe he should have been paying more attention, but that thought disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. He walked over to Annie, keeping her from following Troy out of the room.
"Annie, sweet, sad Annie."
"Jeff. What's wrong?" she asked, looking up at him, concerned.
"You are in my Women's Studies class, right?"
"Yes," she replied, letting him guide her out of the library.
"Well, there is this extra credit project that I just plain don't feel like doing, and that's why I want to make a wager with you."
"Wager?" she asked, confused as he brought her out into the courtyard.
"Yup, you will write the paper for me," Jeff said, thinking that he was probably a genius.
"I will?"
"Yes, and I'll tell you why. You cannot resist a single word that Troy says. If that poor idiot asked you to throw yourself off the roof you probably would."
"He asked that I jump off the roof?"
"Example, Annie, example. So, I propose a little challenge."
"Challenge?"
"Indeed. If you can resist Troy for the rest of this week, and I mean pretty much ignore him the entire week, I will write not only my own extra credit, but yours as well," Jeff said, stopping at a bench and sitting down. Annie followed, staring at him with her large doe eyes.
"An entire week without talking to Troy?"
"Those are my terms. I am going to write this down on a piece of paper with both our signatures so you can't take back that you agreed to this. There we go," he said, writing down quickly two copies and signing them. She took them and stared at them for a moment.
"You don't think I can avoid Troy?"
"I do not. Thus, the challenge."
"Well… Well! I will accept and prove you wrong!" Annie said, jumping to her feet and signing the papers quickly. She shoved one back in his face. "I will win!"
Jeff watched her march off, grinning as she went. There was no way in hell Annie could ever resist Troy for a full week. He had this extra credit in the bag.
Annie had endured the rest of the day with the face of a champion. Anytime Troy said something, she pretended to not hear anything he would get his question answered by someone else or get distracted by pretty colors. However, the end of the day proved too much for her. She was going to have a hard week. She had a feeling that she knew why Jeff had undergone to make her do this challenge.
She had to do everything in her power to not listen to anything that Troy said. The day after the challenge she managed to pretend enough to not hear that she could escape all of her classes as soon as it was over and she could avoid Troy like the plague. At first Troy didn't seem to notice anything. But after two straight days of getting the brush off from Annie, he was beginning to notice.
"Something is wrong with her, dude," Troy said to Abed as they sat together in the courtyard; Pierce getting ready to film his stupid music video.
"What do you think it is?" Abed asked, looking at him sideways.
"I don't know… Annie never ignores me," Troy said, looking down at his class ring for some kind of answer.
"Maybe she's sick," Abed replied, though there was no real logic behind it. Troy nodded and watched as Pierce attempted to be a rock star as Abed filmed. He took his leave of the pair to find Annie and ask if she was okay. He found her sitting in the library, next to Jeff, reading a book. She seemed completely consumed.
"Annie!"
She looked up at her name and then quickly looked back down on her book, rubbing her neck. She coughed a little and Jeff sat back in his chair.
"Troy!"
"Sup Jeff. Annie? You okay?"
She said nothing and continued to pretend to read.
"Is something wrong?" Jeff asked, enjoying watching Annie struggle to say "hi" to Troy. Troy looked just as confused as he always did and sat down across from her.
"Are you sick?"
She said nothing.
"Are you angry with me or something? That's probably it. You chicks get angry at guys for no real reason."
She just flipped the page. Troy sat back and looked at Jeff, almost desperate for some kind of response.
"Is she ignoring me?"
Hit the nail right on the head. Jeff looked sideways at Annie to see if she was going to crack. Much to his surprise she didn't, just turned the page. Annie was actually suffering very much, since it was almost like breathing, fawning over Troy.
"I think she is," Jeff replied, Troy looking at him.
"Oh… then I must have done something… right?"
"Probably. Chicks."
"Yeah… right… Well, I'll talk to you two later… Bye."
"Later."
Jeff watched as Troy retreated and Annie let out a loud breath she had been holding. Jeff gave her one of his new trademark confused looks.
"Two days down…" she whispered, and looked at her watch. Fawning over Troy really seemed to be her way of life. But Jeff said nothing as he watched her pack up her things and hurry home. That annoying feeling of guilt was slowly creeping up on him again and he really hated it. He grabbed his binder and headed off for his car, trying to suppress the blinding pang of guilt.
Troy was sitting in his car for a good hour, trying as hard as he was capable, to think of what he might have done that made Annie angry with him. She was a really nice person in general, and she never ignored him before. He must have really done something bad. Grabbing his phone he sent her a text and after five minutes with it unanswered he knew it. She was angry with him. But what did he do? Did he call her a bad name? Did he forget to give her something? Nothing seemed to make sense.
Just as he was about to give up he remembered something. He hurried home and hurrying past his arguing parents, he escaped to his room to find a calendar. The date had three large red rings around it. He had gone out of his way to get a freaking calendar to even remember the date. And still he managed to forget. He knew exactly why she was so mad.
Jeff was surprised to see how down Troy was. He was sitting, twiddling his thumbs and seeming to be thinking. Of course this was astonishing in that of itself, but the fact that he looked so troubled really surprised Jeff. He sat down next to him and looked him over.
"What's going on, man?"
"Annie… She's still mad at me. She's been avoiding me all day. I think I know why she's so mad at me," Troy said, pulling out his calendar that he had stuffed in his bag so he wouldn't lose it.
"Look, she's not-" Jeff started but stopped when he saw the calendar. Circled three times was a date entitled, "Annie's Birthday." It had been two days ago. The day that Jeff had started this challenge. Jeff had distracted her from her own birthday that she hadn't even noticed that no one remembered. Actually, Jeff was sure he didn't even know how old Annie was turning, though he had a hunch it was nineteen. Jeff pinched the bridge of his nose and really felt the guilt bearing down on him.
"She was waiting for me to do something and I didn't. She's been ignoring me ever since," Troy said, taking back the calendar.
"You bought her something?"
Jeff watched as Troy bent down to his bag to pull out a thick book, one that probably didn't belong to him.
"Grey's Anatomy?"
"Apparently it isn't just some chick medical show, its an actual book!"
"How'd you even manage to find this book on your own?"
"Annie said once that she really wanted her own copy one day that was a first edition. Found it at my friend's work," Troy replied and Jeff smiled in frustration. He was going to have to do something. This was too much for him.
"Look, Troy, she's not ignoring because she is mad at you," Jeff said, looking seriously at the confused Troy. "I am actually pretty sure you're the only person who even remembered. She's ignoring you because I made a bet with her that she could ignore you this entire week and as my birthday present to her, I am going to go break off that deal. You should go find her in about twenty minutes and give her this."
"What?"
Jeff just patted him on the shoulder and walked off, knowing he was going to regret his decision. Lately his long sleeping conscious had been really an annoyance.
Finding Annie wasn't hard, she was pacing up and down in the library, watching the clock. She had another two days but she was really at her limits. Jeff found her deciding that she was going to give in.
"Jeff! I am giving up."
"Happy Birthday."
"What?"
"Happy Belated Birthday," Jeff said, patting her shoulder and she looked taken aback.
"My… My birthday… I forgot…"
"We all did. But there is someone who didn't," Jeff said, turning around to see Troy walking slowly towards the library. "I am officially calling the bet. You win. I will write the paper."
"What?"
"Troy! I think you wanted to talk to Annie," Jeff called, Troy looking up. He hid the book behind his back and Jeff walked out of the library quickly.
"T-Troy, I…"
"I'm sorry. I tried to remember, and I still managed to forget your birthday," Troy said, looking ashamed and Annie blushed brightly.
"I-It's okay."
"Well, here," he said, shoving the book in her hands. She stared at it in surprise.
"Y-You got me Grey's Anatomy?"
"I remembered what you said about it, and whatever, so… just take it."
Before Troy could put together another sentence, Annie practically jumped him in kiss. It was probably the one thing no one was expecting, especially her. She quickly pulled away and stared at Troy in shock.
"S-Sorry. Thank you. Bye," she said, hurrying off with the book in hand and Troy found himself smiling slightly as he watched her go. Well. At least she wasn't angry at him anymore.
Of course Jeff would now have to write that darned extra credit paper. Oh well.
- I really wanted to write this, no matter how tired I was! Love Annie/Troy alot, so I am glad to write for them. Hope to do a bunch more soon. Thanks for reading!
Invader Hog