Annie was very happy to be tutoring again. It made her feel good to be helping others in learning. And like she had told Troy, getting the group to study and actually teaching someone were two completely different things.

So far only two students from Professor Wess's class needed tutoring. The first was Owen. The second was Mitch, a skinny Asian guy her own age. Of the two of them Mitch needed a lot more help. He was eager to learn, but had a lot of trouble getting the concepts. She generally felt terrible when she reviewed his homework and saw that he got almost every problem wrong.

Luckily Owen seemed to be improving. When they had their next tutoring session on Thursday she checked over the exercises she had told him to do and was happy to see that he got more of them right than wrong. She spent the hour and a half going over formulas and having him do practice exercises.

"Owen, that's great. You really seem to be improving."

"Well you are a good teacher." He said with a nervous smile.

"Thank you." She pushed her chair back as she packed up her stuff. "Well, I hope you have a good weekend. And make sure study for your test on Monday."

"I will. Have a good rest of the day Annie."

"You too. Bye Owen." Annie weaved her arms through her backpack straps as she walked out of the library. As she walked down the hallway she didn't notice Owen standing in the library entrance, applying Chap Stick as he watched her intently.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Annie, wait up."

"Owen, hey." Annie looked at him for a second before she remembered his test yesterday. "Oh, right, your test. How'd it go?" She looked at him apprehensively as he dug a piece of paper out of his pants pocket and gave it to her. "79! Owen that's great!" She wrapped her arms around him as she hugged him in celebration. As he hugged her back she didn't notice him sniffing her hair. She just saw his smiling face as she pulled back. "I'm so proud of you."

"Well, I owe it all to you." He anxiously shifted his weight from one leg to another as he looked at her. "Listen…I was just wondering, if you would like to go out to dinner tonight?"

"Um, like a celebration over your improved grades?" Annie said uncertainly.

"Actually…I was more thinking of it as a date."

"Well…" She looked at him as she thought about it. He seemed nice enough. A little nervous, but generally pleasant. And it wasn't like guys were lining up to ask her out. "Sure."

"Really!" She generally smiled as his face lit up like a Christmas tree. "That's great. How about tonight?"

"Tonight…" She thought about it for a second before realizing she didn't have any plans. "Sure, tonight sounds good."

"Great. I'll figure out where we're going and tell you later at tutoring."

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that. I wanted to know if we could reschedule today's tutoring session."

"What?" The smile left his face as he looked at her. "But, we were supposed to meet today."

"I know Owen. But, do you know Mitch from your class?"

"Yea."

"I'm also tutoring him and he's really having trouble grasping all this. And this morning he told me he failed his test and I think it would really help if I meet with him more to try and help him."

"But what about me?"

"I'm still tutoring you. But I really need to meet with Mitch today." She pulled out a piece of scrap paper and one of her purple pens, quickly writing her number down before handing it to Owen. "Here's my cell phone number. Just text me later with where we're going. I'll see you tonight. And again congratulations on your test."

With that she walked down the hall, leaving Owen standing by himself. While his face appeared passive he was seething with rage inside.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Annie stepped back a few feet as she looked at herself in the mirror. Her 'date outfit' wasn't much different from her usual outfits. She had on a light blue cardigan with a light pink top, and a black skirt covered with a pattern of cherries. She considered wearing heels but opted to go with her usual ballet flats. But overall she thought she looked nice.

Her phone rang and she picked it up, seeing it was Jeff. "Hey Jeff."

"I heard you're going out with your tutor buddy Owen."

"Yes Jeff, we're going out to dinner."

"On an actual date?"

She sighed with exasperation. "Yes Jeff, I'm going on a date. Can you please drop the whole jealous thing for one night?"

"I just think there's something off about him."

"Jeff, how many times can we do this?"

"…Just, be careful Annie."

"Good bye Jeff." She hung her phone up, groaning in frustration as she walked out of her room. She looked over at Abed and Troy, who were engrossed in watching the latest Inspector Spacetime episode. "Ok guys, I'm going out." She waited for a response but all she got was a grunt from Troy. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she grabbed her purse and walked out of her apartment.

Traffic was light and she made it to the restaurant in no time. When she walked in she saw Owen right away at a table, wearing a blue dress shirt with a yellow tie and tan pants. He stood up as she walked over to him. "Annie, hey. You look nice."

"Thanks. So do you." As she went over to her chair he ran over and unexpectedly pulled it out for her. "Thank you. You're such a gentleman."

"A man should be in the presence of a lady." He said as they sat down. "You look really beautiful tonight." They looked over their menus as the waiter came over.

"Good evening folks. My name is Harold, and I'll be your server tonight."

"Harold, tonight we'll start off with a bottle of your finest wine."

"Owen, we don't have to-."

"Annie, I insist. Tonight's a celebration, so let's celebrate."

"Certainly sir. I'll just need to see some ID from both of you."

Annie dug out her (now actually legal) ID and held it up as they both showed theirs to the waiter. "Ok, very good. Would you two like to start off with any appetizers?"

Before Annie could answer Owen spoke up. "We'll have the Bruschetta on toast and an order of the vegetarian spring rolls with honey peanut sauce." Owen smiled as the waiter wrote their order down and walked away. "The food here is really good."

"If you say so." Annie said with a bit of uncertainty. As she looked over her menu Owen smiled from across the table. "You should get the glazed lamb. It's really good."

"I'm not really into lamb. Plus it's really expensive. I'm thinking of getting the Caesar salad with rotisserie chicken."

"Whatever you want. I was just telling you what's good here." He scowled as he looked over his menu, while Annie sighed as she ducked her head down. They sat in uncomfortable silence before the waiter returned and poured them each a glass of wine.

"Have you decided what you two want?"

Before Annie could speak Owen again spoke up. "The lady will have the Caesar salad with rotisserie chicken. And I'll have the Hanger stake medium rare, with mashed potatoes and asparagus."

Annie waited until the waiter left before finally speaking up. "Owen, I can order my own food."

"I was just trying to be helpful."

"Thank you. But you don't have to do everything for me."

"I apologize." He said curtly. They sat there awkwardly as they each took a sip of wine. "So, what made you decide to go to Greendale Annie?"

"Um…" She traced her finger on her wine glass, not really wanting to go into that whole story. "Let's just say it's where I was meant to go. What about you?"

"I traveled around for a few years after high school. Then I decided I needed a change so I ended up here."

"That sounds a lot like my friend Britta."

"Is Britta a guy or a girl?"

"A girl." Annie said slowly, noticing the uncomfortable shift in his tone. "She's really something. For a while she didn't know what she wanted to do, but now she's studying psychology to become a therapist."

"So she wants to study people and try to analyze them? Personally I think that's a waste of someone's time."

"Um…" Annie reached over and took another sip of wine, more to have something to do then to drink it. "Do you live around here?"

"I have my own place not far from here. What about you?"

"I used to live in a really dangerous neighborhood. But now I'm living with my friends Troy and Abed, which is a lot better."

"Troy and Abed? You're living with two guys?" He frowned as he fidgeted with his napkin. "That's surprising. I just wouldn't have pegged you for that type of a girl."

"What do you mean?"

"Well come on. A young woman living with two guys. It's obvious why they wanted you to live with them."

"They wanted me to live with them because they're my friends."

"Sure, right now. But I'm just saying. A living situation like that. Things are bound to happen."

Annie stared at him, trying to make sense of where this conversation was going. Before she could do that he out of the blue said "So tell me about that guy I saw you with last week."

"Jeff? He's a friend from my study group."

"Seems a bit odd. A guy his age hanging around a girl just out of high school. What, he can't find women his own age?"

"Look." Annie said, trying to keep her building annoyance from bursting out. "Can we please not talk about Jeff or any other guy in my life? Especially if you're going to insult them."

"I'm just trying to look out for you."

"Well don't." she said, a little snippier then she usually would.

"I'm sorry I upset you."

"Thank you."

The remainder of the evening was one awkward moment after another. Owen seemed to like to talk, but rarely said something that revealed anything personal about him. He continually complemented her looks and called her smart, but would quickly shoot her down anytime she offered her opinion on something. He insisted that they get a second bottle of wine (even though she only had a glass and a half from the first bottle), and then they barely drank any of it. And then he insisted that she get dessert, to the point where she finally got something just to shut him up. When the check finally came she tried to be polite by not showing how relieved she was.

"Don't worry Annie, I've got it."

"Owen, it's really expensive. I don't mind splitting the bill or at least paying for my share."

"Annie, you're my date. And guys pay for their dates."

"Ok, well, I had…a good time. I'll see you tomorrow Owen. Have a good night." She quickly scurried out of the restaurant, sighing in relief as she slid into her car. That was probably the worst date she had ever been on. That even beat the time she went out with a guy in high school and her back brace got stuck to the chair. At the very least the evening gave her an interesting story to tell. That and some chocolate cake to share with Troy and Abed.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Hey Annie." Jeff approached her as she walked down the hallway, showing more interest then he usually did. "So, how'd your date with Owen go?"

"My date? It was great…really great. It was…" She gritted her teeth before groaning in annoyance. "It was terrible, all right. Just one disaster after another." She smacked Jeff on the chest as she caught the smirk on his face. "Can we not. Just because I had one bad date doesn't mean anything."

"I didn't say anything Annie."

"I know what that smirk means Jeff. 'Oh, Annie had a bad date. That means she'll be by herself again'. I'm really getting sick of it Jeff."

"Miss Edison." They both turned to their right as Professor Wess leaned out of his classroom. "May I speak to you for a moment?"

"I'll see you later Jeff." With that she turned around defiantly as she followed her Professor into his classroom.

"Have a seat." The man rubbed his hands together nervously as Annie sat down. "I'm not sure if you're already heard, but Mitchell Chin is in the hospital. He was beaten into a coma."

"What?" Annie gasped. "What happened?"

"He was found this morning in an ally next to Rough Necks."

"That bar near Dildopolos?"

"Correct. I don't know why he would go there; it's such a dangerous neighborhood. But according to the paper it probably happened as he was leaving the bar last night and the attacker beat him until he lost consciousness. His wallet was stolen so the police think it was a particularly savage mugging. I just wanted to let you know, since you had been tutoring him."

"Thank for telling me." Annie said dully, still shocked at what she had heard. She got up and started walking to the study room. She didn't notice Owen watching her from the shadows, fingering a gold ring that until recently had been on Mitch Chin's finger.