Disclaimer: I do not own anyone or anything from the Community!

Studying was the only thing which kept Annie from banging her head on the table in frustration. She had never thought she would miss the time she spent in high school, but to be honest she actually missed being the outcast who never got dates and had no friends. At least then she knew who she was and she may not have liked it though it had to be better than this whole mess with Jeff and Vaughn. Why couldn't she go back to the good old days of loving Troy instead of having feelings for an older man who would never admit he wanted her to and feeling obligated to make things work with her ex-boyfriend?

"Annie there you are!" Shirley appeared in the entry way holding a basket with cookies and muffins. She went to sit down next to the younger girl she saw as a daughter. "I noticed you were looking a little blue last night when the whole group went out and I thought that maybe having some home cooked food would make you feel better. I would have offered to take you to church with me so that god could help you find your way, but with you being a Jew and all this was the next best thing."

"Say the whole word!" Annie stated on reflex more than anything else. She was tired of everyone calling her a Jew when the correct term happened to be Jewish. Noticing Shirley's sad expression she immediately felt bad for snapping at her friend and tried to make it better. "I'm sorry Shirley, I should not have snapped at you like that. I guess I just have a lot on my mind with exams and everything."

"That is perfectly okay dear." The other woman said while pulling a cookie from the basket and handing it over. She was quiet for a few seconds before her curiosity got the better of her. "Are things with Vaughn not as you wished them to be?"

"Vaughn's been great." She said with a smile that did not quite reach her eyes.

Vaughn had been great there was no denying that. He agreed to take things slow and he wasn't rushing her or anything like that. Still, being with him was so different than it had been before and Annie had to wonder if it was because she had grown up or maybe because she had moved on. It was so easy for him to pick up where things left off because he hadn't been through the same things she had. He hadn't met someone that he connected with on a level he didn't understand.

"Oh that's nice." Shirley said while handing Annie yet another cookie. The basket was filled to the brim with treats and Annie knew that if she allowed her friend to keep pushing food at her she would never stop eating. She had a bad habit of going to food for comfort when things in her life became stressful.

"Shirley, can I ask you a question that is completely hypothetical and has absolutely no relevance in my life or the life of anybody in our study group?" She bit her bottom lip as her famous Disney face came out to play. She did not have a lot of friends and Shirley was the only girl she could talk to about this stuff. Talking to Britta would be more than awkward considering that the blonde had dated both Vaughn and Jeff. When Shirley nodded with a smile Annie continued with what she had been saying. "Well what if there was this girl who had these two friends who were both guys and let's say one of the guys actually dated her for a while before he left for…boot camp. Then let's say the other guy who doesn't always follow north on the moral compass kissed said girl once and claims to have no feelings for her which is silly because everyone knows he does, but the guy is too stubborn to date the girl because he is older than her and for once he wants to do what is right by her even if he never said it out loud. Well moral compass guy and girl have been getting closer and just when girl thinks things may be heading in a more romantic direction boot camp guy comes back and wants to be with the girl. The girl feels like she should be with boot camp guy not because she loves, but more due to the fact she feels like she owes it to him to give the relationship another shot since he is the first guy who really noticed her and liked her for who she is. What should the girl do?"

The religious woman with a temper hummed as she thought about the question. Everyone always thought that Shirley was just the nice older woman who loved to cook things when in reality she saw more in to things than people gave her credit for. "Well I would say that this girl should go with Mr. Boot camp since he is more her age and acceptable to be in a relationship with her. This older man may make the girl feel things she has never felt before, but it is only the temptation of the forbidden fruit and has no real feeling behind anything he says or does with the girl. This Mr. Moral compass has lived a very questionable lifestyle and he needs to learn it is not right to stick his tongue down an impressionable teenage girl's throat. Now I know this girl probably thinks that I am being judgmental when all I am doing is trying to spare her the pain and heartbreak she will feel when she ends up married to Mr. Moral compass who will then cheat on her with a no good whore stripper and then she will end up sleeping with her creepy community college Spanish teacher which she doesn't remember and end up having a scare when she finds out she is pregnant and doesn't know if it is her ex-husbands or the crazy Spanish teacher!"

Annie had wide eyes at the end of Shirley's speech and Shirley looked ashamed and embarrassed. She quickly grabbed her bag and rushed towards the door. When she addressed the youngest member of study group she was happy to see her tone was back to the overly cheerful tone it usually was. "I have to get home to my boys Annie. I hope that this girl who has no relevance to you or anyone in the group does the right thing and not something silly like end up with a man twice her age."

Annie sat there for a few long minutes after her crazy friend had left. She tried to find any good advice in what Shirley had said and came up empty handed. Maybe it would have been better if she had spoken with Britta. At least if she had gone that route she would have gotten an answer not tainted by Shirley's ex-husband's cheating. With a sigh she looked back down at her text book. Talking had been a no go and so she would go back to studying and hoping that maybe she could be sucked in to Wonderland during her sleeping hours.

TBC…

AN: So I think this chapter came out alright. I mean I was torn on how to write it. I was thinking of having her speak to Britta, but then I realized that would be really really awkward and so I will save that for later on. In the next chapter I am thinking of having a Jeff/Annie moment. Let me know what you think about that and let me know if you like this chapter or not. I know it was not my best, but I did try.

Please R&R like always!