Okay, I got some requests for a second installment, so here you go! This explains pretty much everything going on with Troy and Abed, and I've decided to continue it after this. There will be eventual Jeff/Annie, but for now there will be some (sexually charged) hatred, so be prepared.

No Jeff in this chapter, sorry

Also, this chapter doesn't have song lyrics, but every one after this will, I promise.

ANNIE

Annie turned the corner with Troy and Abed and breathed a huge sigh of relief, leaning against the wall for support.

Troy and Abed stopped as well, and both gave her a high- five. "You did it, Annie!"

Annie smiled, even though she was hurting just the tiniest bit. "I know! How was I?"

"Great, awesome! Wow, I can't believe we pulled this off!" Troy exclaimed, smiling.

"Yeah… listen, guys, I'm sorry for talking to him in the study room. It was just out of instinct, and as soon as the words left my mouth I knew that I shouldn't have said anything. Especially when I saw the 'look' you two exchanged." Annie bit her lip.

"Actually, I think that you talking to him contributed to your character growth monumentally. If you had just ignored him, he would have figured something was wrong, and tried to pry. It's good that you talked to him, because now you can really give off that cool indifference that, ironically, Jeff (along with characters such as Barney Stinson and Draco Malfoy) is known for having." Abed explained in his own Abed terms.

Annie nodded slightly, knowing he was just trying to help in his own Abed manner. "Okay, let's get to Biology, guys. We're going to be late."

Troy and Abed nodded and the trio all set off in the direction of the Biology Lab.

Annie smiled to herself. She was glad that Troy and Abed were there for her; she'd never had any siblings or older friends to look out for her before, and she liked the feeling of being protected.

Not that she needed protection from Jeff. He obviously wasn't going to hurt her (at least not physically, anyway), she just needed… help getting over him. And so Troy and Abed had agreed to help her out.

It had all started in June. Annie and Abed had decided to have a talk about their kiss (well, more like make out session) and Annie had prayed that this time that they were on the same page, feelings- wise. At least more on the same page than she and Jeff had been.

They were. They talked about being somewhat attracted to each other (which you think would be weird to talk about with someone, right? Well, that was the good thing about Abed. You could talk to him about anything), but it was Han Solo that she had been drawn to and Princess Leia that he had been drawn to. They agreed that they should just stay friends, and that while neither regretted the kiss (it wasn't a mistake in either's eyes), it was best to just put it all behind them.

And they talked about other things, too. They discussed summer plans (neither really had any), which somehow turned back into a conversation about Star Wars, which turned into a discussion about whether Ewoks were adorable or just weird and disgusting ('Aww! They're so cute!' '…You take that back right now'), which turned into them watching Return of the Jedi at Annie's apartment, just to see if the other would change their opinion upon seeing the furry, sweet, teddy bears ('They're not teddy bears.. they're teddy- bear like hunter gatherers'). Needless to say, no one's mind was changed.

Abed left about five hours after he and Annie had started talking, and Annie was smiling. She'd actually had fun. Abed said that 'We should do this again sometime', and it didn't feel like when people said that to friends and they ended up not hanging out again; it felt like he really meant it. Annie thought about how many times she'd laughed during those five hours (probably twenty; but that was just a ballpark estimate) and how many times the word 'discretion' had come up (zero) and heartily agreed.

A week later, Abed had come over to Annie's apartment with The Phantom Menace (Annie's favorite in the series). Then next week with The Empire Strikes Back (it was surprisingly not awkward for them when Han and Lei kissed).

A month later, when they were finally done watching the entire saga and holiday special, Annie had insisted that it was now necessary to have an all- day movie marathon and watch each episode in order. Abed politely asked if he could bring Troy along, as he hadn't been hanging out with him as much as he wanted to lately, and Annie readily agreed. Troy was her friend, and the more the merrier, at least as far as she was concerned.

They ended the night with their sides about to burst from laughter. Annie was pretty sure she hadn't stopped smiling the entire time. She invited them over again to watch Pulp Fiction a few days later, and again they ended the night in laughter. Troy and Abed could really make anything hilarious.

Pretty soon they were hanging out nearly every day, having movie and tv show marathons; with the occasional round of fork jousting and Annie couldn't have been happier. Annie had felt like she didn't have a lot of friends as of late, and it was nice to know that there were two guys who cared about her. One day, as they were eating popcorn and watching Twin Peaks (Annie had never seen it before they started hanging out; now she was addicted) a conversation came up about their current living situations.

*Knock knock*

"I'll get it!" Troy volunteered, getting up from the couch.

Annie's eyes widened. "No!" She grabbed Troy's arm and gave him a warning look.

Troy blinked a few times in surprise and Annie bit her lip.

"Don?" She called out. "Is that you?"

"Annie, open this door right now." A stern man's voice called from the other side of the door.

Annie let go of Troy's arm and swallowed, slowly moving towards the door. Troy gave Abed a 'wtf?' look before they both turned back to Annie.

She'd reached the door now, and she took a deep breath before pulling it open.

Don barged right in and paced the length of the living room. "Annie, we had an agreement. You said you would have the rent by today. No more excuses."

Annie sighed. "I know, Don, and I'm really sorry. Just give me one more week; I'll pay any kind of interest, really!"

Don shook his head. "I would like to, Annie, but I real-" He paused, just then noticing that Troy and Abed were also in the room.

Don gestured to the two of them. "Who the hell are these guys?"

"I'm Abed, and this is Troy," Abed introduced. "We're watching Twin Peaks. It's become sort of a ritual. Annie became hooked at the start of the Audrey/Cooper storyline*, which really indicates her disposition towards our friend Jeff-"

"Abed!" Annie shrieked. He cocked his head in a way that made her realize that she'd revealed more by saying something than Abed would have if she hadn't.

"I don't care if you guys are having an orgy in here." Don waved Abed off. Annie blushed. He turned his attention back to Annie and held out his palm.

"I don't have the rent, Don." He lowered his arm and let out an exasperated sigh. "It's just really hard to find a job..." Annie weakly tried to come up with an excuse.

"I told you that I'd be happy to give you a job at Dildopolis!" Don waved his hands as if the solution was simple. Annie rolled her eyes and blushed even more.

Don nodded his head thoughtfully. "Ya'know, a girl like you would actually be really good for business…"

"I'm not working at Dildopolis! I'll have the rent tomorrow Don, I promise."

Don ran his hands through his thinning hair. "Tomorrow, Annie, and that's final."

He walked out, slamming the door shut behind him. Annie walked back to the couch and sat down quietly. Troy and Abed just watched her; they'd seen enough tv to know that a huge moment of character insight was coming, and they weren't going to miss the chance to analyze it. And help her, of course.

Sure enough, Annie burst out crying not ten seconds later. Troy and Abed simultaneously reached out to comfort her, settling for her resting her head on Troy's shoulder while Abed wrapped his arm around her.

"I just d-don't know w-what I'm g-going to d- do you guys!" Annie wailed. She reached for a tissue and tried to wipe her eyes dry. She sniffled and started to calm down. "I mean, I guess I could take out another loan from Spaghetti, but he-"Annie shuddered. "-expects things in return. Not like sex or anything, but drugs and stuff. And stolen toys from Dildopolis."

"You steal from Dildopolis?" Abed gave her an inquisitive look.

"You shop at Dildopolis?" Troy raised his eyebrows.

"No, I don't shop there! I only go in because Spaghetti asks me to steal stuff for him in return for him giving me money." Annie tried to defend herself.

"Spaghetti's into dildos?" Troy asked, becoming more confused by the second.

"No. Well, he might be, I don't know, but they sell other stuff there. They sell, like, movies and handcuffs and dolls and-"

"- He's homeless, I doubt he has a tv." Abed pointed out, because of course that's the first thing that he noticed. "Also, you seem to be strategically avoiding my question about you stealing."

"Well, they deserve it! First of all, that store is disgusting. I can't go in there without seeing… things. Things that burn my eyes. Also, the guys in there all look at me weird. Second of all, the rent here is outrageous. How else am I supposed to pay it?" Annie asked desperately.

Abed patted her shoulder comfortingly. "If it makes you feel better Annie, my home situation isn't exactly a cakewalk. I usually live with my dad in the summers, but he says that if I want to keep living there then I need to get rid of some of my DVDs. He's making me choose between Cheers and Friends." Abed stated sadly.

"Yeah, mine's pretty bad too. It's really weird living with Pierce now that he's not a part of the group anymore. He's still letting me stay and stuff, but he's been super distant and keeps calling me 'boy'." Troy added.

"Well, I can't make rent and my neighborhood is really dangerous, so I guess we all have awful home lives!" Annie yelled, still in hysterics.

Abed and Troy mumbled their agreement. The trio was silent for a second before they simultaneously reached the same conclusion.

"We should move in with you!" Troy and Abed called out.

"You should move in with me!" Annie called out.

They all nodded eagerly.

"This would be the solution to all of our problems," Abed supplied. "It would solve Annie's financial problems, and she would be safer with us living here. Also, I could get away from my dad and you could get away from Pierce."

"So it's settled then!" Annie exclaimed excitedly. "You guys are moving in!"

They all nodded and got back to watching Twin Peaks, this time with slightly more hope (and Twin Peaks is a pretty dark show, so that's saying something).

Troy and Abed left shortly after. They had packing to do.

"We'll walk you to your next class after, okay?" Troy asked as they reached the Biology Lab.

Annie nodded as they walked through the doors.

The teacher- who wasn't there yet, which Annie thought was pretty unprofessional. They weren't even that early; their teacher should have been there by that time- had posted a seating chart on the board as well as the list of lab partners.

Annie looked at the chart and her heart sank yet rose at the same time. She was partners with Jeff, which meant that she not only had to sit next to him the whole year, she also had to work on every single lab project with him for the rest of the year.

Just her luck.

*Audrey Horne and Special Agent Dale Cooper were known for having the most chemistry out of any pairing on Twin Peaks; however, they never became a couple on account of his objections because of their age difference. She was a high school senior and he was in his thirties.

Wow, I hate this ending. Eh.

As you can see, this chapter was more of just a filler; background info.

There will be Jeff next chapter, I promise. As well as some J/A UST

-CC