Naïvely, a part of Jeff hoped Annie would calm down in a day or two and they could talk about what had happened. But despite his calls and attempts to talk to her during and after school, she remained adamant on wanting nothing to do with him, and acted like he didn't exist. She didn't even go to his birthday party, which put a damper on the whole experience.

"Are you and Annie still fighting?" Jeff's mom asked a few days after his birthday.

"Yes," he said gloomily. "I keep trying to talk to her but she just ignores me."

"Well, just give her time. You two have been friends for a while, and everyone makes mistakes. I doubt she'll stay mad at you forever."

But as the weeks rolled by, Jeff was starting to think this was too big of a mess up to fix. No matter what he did Annie refused to speak to him. He knew he screwed up, but she could at least hear him out instead of ignoring him.

When her eighth birthday came and he didn't even get an invite to her party (even after he left a pink scarf and stationary on her front stoop with a card), Jeff had had it. He kept trying to make up for what had happened with Abed and she flatly refused to acknowledge him. If things between them meant so little to her after almost a year and a half of friendship, then Jeff wasn't going to beg for forgiveness anymore. If she didn't want to be friends anymore, then so be it.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Annie glanced at her mother, who was giving her a stern look at having been on the phone for almost twenty minutes. "I have to go. It was nice talking to you Abed."

She hung up the phone and went to her room, sighing sadly as she thought about Abed. While he wasn't living that far away (about twenty minutes from where he used to live), it was still far enough where it was difficult to see him. Sometimes they would talk on the phone. But between the physical distance and the emotional fallout of his parent's separating, they didn't communicate with each other all that much as of late. She was glad she had called him today, and knew she should make more of an effort to keep him in her life.

She looked around her room, seeing the scarf Jeff had given her for her birthday on top of her dresser, and felt a deep pang of sadness in her chest. She had to admit that she missed her best friend (or more accurately her ex-best friend). While a part of her was still mad at him for how he had acted, she hated that they weren't friends anymore. But they hadn't spoken to one another in weeks. At this point too much time had passed for her to just simply call him or go over to his place to visit.

As much as she hated to think this way, she wasn't sure how they could become friends again.

XXXXXXXXXXX

The first day back from Christmas break was one of the worst days of Annie's life. First off, that was the first day she had to go to school wearing her new glasses. After going to the eye doctor due to the small problem of everything appearing blurry, she now had to wear big round glasses that made her look like an owl. She was already made fun of at school for being eager to learn, and this would just add more fuel to the fire.

Her fears were confirmed when Meghan laughed and called her Owly, which led to others snickering at her discomfort. Her bad day continued when she went to the bathroom and ran into Big Cheddar. She was forced to hand over her lunch money to the bully under threat that new glasses would get smashed if she didn't. As a result of this Annie had to go hungry at lunch time.

But the worst part of the day was recess. Once she was outside Annie started making her way to the playground, hoping some time on the swings might make her feel better. As she made her way there she suddenly felt a snow ball hit her back. She turned around, almost crying at seeing that her attacker was Alan. "Not you."

"Hey, Annster." He smiled wickedly as he scooped up another snow ball and came towards her, followed closely by Troy. "Nice glasses Four Eyes."

"Real original," she said thickly, desperately trying to keep tears from spilling out of her. She looked around, seeing a crowd forming around them. "Can't you just leave me alone? Why are you always picking on me?"

"Because you're a dorky teacher's pet," he sneered as Troy snickered at his response. "You think you're special because you're smart. Well, that doesn't mean anything. You're still just a dweeb with no friends. Even Jeff finally wised up and cut you lose."

"SHUT UP!" she shrieked, causing the crowd to laugh at her discomfort.

"Oh, what are you going to do, make me?" he said as he pushed Annie. "Come on, what are you going to do?" he taunted as he pushed Annie to the ground.

As she lay there in tears the crowd grew silent, becoming uncomfortable at this display. One of the unwritten rules of the school yard was boys didn't hit girls. It was accepted for boys to physically fight boys, and for girls to fight girls. It was even accepted at times for girls (such as Big Cheddar) to hit boys. But boys hitting girls went against the natural playground order.

"Hey, come on, she's had enough," Troy pleaded.

"I'll decide when she's had enough," Alan sneered before grinning at the sight of Annie crying. "Let me help you wash those new glasses of yours." With that he knelt against Annie's chest and roughly rubbed a snowball against her face. As she coughed and tried to get away she looked around, hoping someone would stop this. But while no one liked what was happening, none of them attempted to stop it. Instead she laid there crying, both from humiliation and from the fact that no one would help her.

Suddenly she saw someone grab Alan and throw him off her. Her glasses were blurry from snow water, so she couldn't make out her savior. She scrambled to her feet and hurryingly wiped them against her shirt so she could actually see. Though once she did regain her sight, she was sure she was seeing things, since her savor was none other than Jeff.

"Leave her alone," Jeff snarled, his voice mad enough to stop a tiger in its tracks.

"Oh, what are you, defending your girlfriend?" Allan scoffed. "I thought you two broke up once you saw what a loser she was."

With that Jeff charged forward and punched Alan. Alan stepped back as the crowd started cheering them on. A fight between a boy and girl was unnatural. But a fight between two boys, now that was entertainment.

Alan looked at Troy, hoping he would help. But Troy shook his head, not wanting to get involved after what Alan had done. Realizing he was on his own Alan came out swinging, trying to hit Jeff but just missing as he ducked and weaved out of the way. Just as he managed to hit Jeff in the arm he heard a shriek as Annie grabbed hold of his neck from behind. He shook himself wildly before he managed to get her off him.

Suddenly everyone looked around as loud whistles were heard. The crowd scattered as playground aids ran towards the scene. They quickly broke up the fight and brought Annie, Jeff, Alan and Troy to the principal's office.

As they waited outside the office Jeff looked at Annie, who was looking at the ground nervously. She brought her head up and looked at him, almost wordlessly asking him why he helped her after everything. Truth be told, Jeff wasn't sure why he did what he did. As a rule he tried to avoid physical fighting, since the last thing he wanted was to be punched in the face. And considering everything that had happened between him and Annie, he wasn't sure if he should even interfere or not. But once he saw Alan rubbing snow in her face, Jeff couldn't just sit back and let her be hurt and humiliated. He had to help her, no matter what happened afterwards.

Before either of them could say anything the Principal's door opened, and it was time to face the beast.

Of the four of them, Troy was the easiest to deal with, since he really didn't do anything. After hearing what happened Principal Memenntos immediately let him leave unscathed. The principal wanted to punish Annie given that she had grabbed hold of Alan, but after Jeff argued that Annie was defending herself and had an unblemished school record Annie was let off with just a warning. As for Jeff, he got a fairly light sentence, since he was only fighting to defend a friend. He just got after school detention for the rest of the week.

Alan's punishment was the most severe. He got after school detention for three weeks and had to write a five page essay on why he shouldn't bully people. He tried to argue that Annie drove him to pick on her by making him feel insecure by being smarter than everyone else, but the principal wouldn't hear it.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

After school that day both Jeff and Alan sat in detention. For the most part it was not that big of a deal. The teacher in charge pretty much just let them hang out and read or whatnot. While it wasn't ideal, Jeff figured he could handle sitting there for a few days.

He looked over at Alan, hoping he could talk to him about what had happened. But Alan wouldn't even look at him. As much as he hated to admit it, Jeff knew his friendship with Alan was pretty much over. Alan would never forgive him for fighting him over Annie. He might have been able to get over interfering with kickball last year, but this was something he wouldn't let go. It made Jeff sad knowing they weren't friends anymore. The guy could be a pain, but Jeff had known him since kindergarten. It wasn't easy knowing they probably wouldn't be friends again.

It was because of Annie, Jeff thought. Alan didn't have a problem with me until I started hanging out with Annie. I don't know why…but it's almost like he thought I was replacing him by being friends with her.

It was then that it finally all clicked. Alan's hostility towards Annie was the same way he felt about Abed. Abed and Annie hanging out together made him feel left out, like he was being pushed aside. Though it wasn't intentional, it made him feel like he was being replaced. That's why he had had such a problem with the two of them being friends.

As he looked at the back of Alan's head, he suddenly decided to see Annie later on to try and talk to her again. He had already lost one friend today. Hopefully he could try to get another one back.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Jeff paused in front of Annie's front door, hesitating to actually knock on it. It had been easy in detention to decide he would see her when he got out for the day. But now that he was actually doing it, it didn't seem as easy to do anymore. How could they begin to talk after everything that had happened?

He almost turned around and walked away. But as he started to he thought about how happy he had been when they were friends, and how much it had hurt him when it all went to hell. He had already tried to talk to her dozens of times. One more time couldn't hurt.

Before he could stop himself he rang the doorbell. He waited a few moments before the door opened, revealing Annie's mom. "Hello. What are you doing here?" she said in a thinly veiled tone of contempt.

"Jeff." He looked around as Annie came pattering down the stairs. "Hi."

"Hey Annie. Can we talk?"

"Alright."

Mariel gave them a look before she stepped aside and let Jeff pass. "Keep your door open," she called out as they walked upstairs to Annie's room.

"Okay," Annie yelled. She waited until her mom walked away before closing her door shut. She looked around, feeling nervous about being alone in the same room with Jeff after all this time. "Do you want to sit down?"

"Sure." He started going towards the made bed, but then quickly backed up and sat on a chair next to her desk. He watched Annie as she sat on her bed, not sure how he should start. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I wasn't hurt that badly by Alan," she said. Annie knew there were many things he meant from his question, but chose to the most obvious answer to say out loud.

Jeff nodded his head before unexpectedly blurting out, "I'm sorry."

"For what?" she asked.

"You know…"

"No, what."

"You're not going to make this easy are you?" he asked, anger creeping into his voice in spite of himself.

"Jeff, you caused one of my friends to scream in fright, and then we don't talk for weeks-"

"I tried to talk to you," he insisted. "I tried for weeks, but you wouldn't give me a chance."

"I know, okay." She sighed in frustration over their situation. "I know this is my fault too, alright. I just…why do you hate Abed anyway?"

"I don't hate Abed. I hated…I felt like he was taking you away from me."

"Why would you think that?" she asked.

"You two were always hanging out and doing stuff together."

"Yeah, because I'm friends with him. I still don't get what your problem with him is? You never had a problem with me hanging out with friends before," she reasoned.

"That's because…" He looked down, wishing he had something to distract himself from dealing with this. "It was always just us before. Even when we were playing with other people, it was always you and me. Then Abed starting playing with us and suddenly it didn't feel like it was just us anymore. It felt like I was being replaced."

Annie got up from her bed and went over to her friend. "Jeff, Abed's my friend, and he was going through some really tough stuff at the beginning of school. He needed someone to be there for him. But you can't be replaced by anyone. You're…you're my best friend. At least…you were before all this happened," she finished in a small voice.

Jeff's throat felt tight as he swallowed thickly, there being so much he had wanted to tell her. "My dad sent me a card for my birthday."

"What?" she said in surprise.

"Yeah. That's why I was so mad the day I pushed Abed. I was upset over it and Abed kept talking to me after I asked him not to, and it just drove me over the edge."

Annie nodded her head, understanding a bit more why Jeff did what he did. "You still shouldn't have pushed him."

"Well how was I supposed to know he's shriek like that? I thought he'd just get up and yell at me."

"Abed's not really a yeller. Unless he's reciting something from a movie." Annie groaned as she readied herself to admit her own mistakes in the matter. "I'm sorry too."

"Why are you apologizing? I was the one who pushed Abed."

"Yeah, but I shouldn't have ignored you like that when you tried to apologize. I didn't even say anything when you got me that scarf for my birthday." She went over to her closet and pulled out a plastic grocery bag that was beside her snow boots. "Here you go. I know it's really late, but it's your birthday present."

Jeff opened the bag and pulled out an action figure of The Incredible Hulk. "Wow, this is cool." He looked at her, shocked that she had given the toy to him. "You kept this all this time?"

"Yeah…" she glanced down, feeling shy at revealing her reason. "If I got rid of it, it felt like we really would never be friends again. So I kept your birthday gift, hoping I might be able to give it to you someday."

Jeff looked at Annie, a warm feeling growing inside of him at hearing a part of her hoped they'd be friends again in spite of everything. "You look smart with those glasses."

"I hate them. I look like an owl."

"Well, you're smart anyway, so now you just look even smarter then you did before. And owls are always smart in books, so it fits. Alan shouldn't have picked on you like that because of them."

"He's always hated me. Of course he's make fun of me for this," she reasoned.

"Well, don't worry. If he does anything again, I'll beat him up."

At hearing that Annie went over and hugged Jeff, feeling a knot in her stomach finally loosen after all that time. She had greatly missed seeing Jeff. And now that they were friends again, it made her happier then she could out into words.