As they walked down the hallways Annie couldn't help smiling to herself at Jeff's earlier comment about her outfit being distracting. She had meant what she said; she had chosen it purely for comfort and mobility. She was going to wear jeans but she hadn't had a chance to do laundry the night before. So she chose her yoga pants to wear instead, knowing they wouldn't restrict her movements. She hadn't given a second thought to how she'd appear in them when she put them on (this was paintball. She had more important things to focus on then her appearance.)

But she would be lying if she said she didn't like hearing that she was attractive. Especially since in high school she was cruelly mocked because of her appearance. She knew she wasn't the same girl she was back then. But it didn't change the fact that sometimes she still saw herself as the overweight pimply faced girl others laughed and threw spitballs at when she looked at herself. And as pathetic as it sounded, it made her feel good to have proof that she wasn't that girl anymore.

She was sure Britta would scoff if she told her this, and go into a rant on how it didn't matter what women looked like. That they should be respected for their minds and virtues, and not need validation on how their appearance was from others to feel worthwhile. But while Annie did agreed with her, she also personally knew how detrimental it was to be called names like steel straight monster, or crater face, or just simply ugly. While she didn't personally know what Britta's high school experience was like (Britta never talked about it), she had a feeling Britta wasn't picked on for how she looked back then. And if you've never gone through that, it's hard to realize that those scars stay with you forever.

She was snapped out of her thoughts as she heard someone walking towards them. She signaled to Jeff to stop walking as she pulled her guns out. They pressed up against the wall as the footsteps grew closer and closer. Taking a deep breath she jumped around the corner, her arms outstretched towards the approaching person. "Freeze."

Annie saw a pair of guns pointed towards her before they were lowered, revealing Shirley's smiling face. "Annie!" She ran forward and hugged Annie. "I wasn't sure anyone else from the group made it."

"Well, we're not out of it yet." Jeff said as he came around.

"Jeffrey!" She hugged him before she looked at the two of them warily. "I'm guessing this mean you two have teamed up?"

"Yea, I guess you could say that." The three of them stood there uncomfortably, neither of them sure how Shirley's presence factored into Jeff and Annie's strategy, before Jeff loudly cleared his throat. "Have you seen any of the others?"

"Well, Britta's out. We were with Pierce and Marguerite as they were making up from their fight when the prize was announced. As soon as they heard what it was they decided to go rouge. That hussy shot Britta and turned on me. I was just able to escape."

"So Pierce betrayed us for his own gain. Wow, that's shocking." Jeff said.

"Jeff!" Annie said. "Shirley said Marguerite was the one who shot Britta. Maybe he's-."

"You can't seriously be defending him. This is what he does. He helps out when he can, and then betrays us when it's convenient for him."

"I still have faith in him."

"And that faith will cost us the game."

"Will you two stop fighting!" Shirley yelled. "We have bigger problems then Pierce and his girlfriend. The air conditioning repair students are playing this year and they're as accurate at shooting as the city college soldiers were last year."

Jeff's eyes widened as he processed that information. "They're playing? Does that mean-."

"Yes, Rich is playing also. He's leading them."

Jeff groaned in anger as he looked at Annie, who if anything looked even angrier then Jeff did. The events of their third year at Greendale had altered her feelings forever on how she saw Rich. Due to budget cutbacks Rich had been let go from the hospital he worked at. Since it was hard for even skilled doctors to find employment in the current job market he approached Vice Dean Laybourne about being taken on as an air conditioning repair student. It turns out Mr. Perfect wasn't great at everything, since his repair skills were barely adequate at best. But Laybourne told Rich he would take him on, if Rich got Troy to join the air conditioning repair program.

Rich put his plan into action, which was planting evidence that made it look like Troy had been cheating on his biology exams. When Prof. Kane brought the matter to Dean Pelton Laybourne stepped in and said Troy could stay in school if he joined the air conditioning repair program. Luckily they had managed to reveal Rich's deception and clear Troy before he could join Laybourne. But the incident finally made Annie see that Rich was only nice and charming when things went well for him. When the chips were down he would betray anyone to get ahead.

"How is he even a repair student? I thought the deal was he could only join if he got Troy to join also." Jeff said.

"He told me they kept him on because of his effort." Annie explained bitterly. Afterwards Rich had approached Annie and tried to explain himself to her. But she wouldn't hear it, and told him in no uncertain terms exactly what she thought about him.

"Well either way, they're determined to win this thing." Shirley said. "I was with Troy and Abed when they all attacked us. We managed to take most of them out. But Troy and Abed…" She shook her head sadly, revealing that they were no longer in the game. "At least they went out like champions."

Just then a paintball flew past Shirley, missing her by an inch. The three of them looked back as Rich and his repair cronies ran towards them. Including Rich they counted twelve members in total. Shirley fired at the gang, hitting two members as she yelled for Jeff and Annie to run. They all took off, firing behind them blindly as they were chased. Jeff and Annie each managed to take out a member as Shirley hit them with expert precision.

"Guy, over there!" Annie yelled as they rounded a corner into another hallway. She raced towards an empty classroom and threw open the door, pulling Shirley into the room. Just before Jeff could make it a barrage of shots flew all around him. He jumped back and dove into a darkened alcove as Rich continued to shoot.

"He as good as the Black Rider was." Annie said, both in aw over Rich's precision shooting and mad that it was him that processed those skills. She looked over at Shirley and let out a gasp. "Shirley…" She sadly pointed towards Shirley's side. Shirley felt her side, groaned in anger as she looked down and saw the green paint splotch on her shirt.

"Come out Jeff!" Rich yelled out in an annoyingly sing song infliction. "I don't know where your partners are, but I know you're out here. You guys took out the rest of the air conditioning repair team. But I'm still here. And I won't be as easy to eliminate."

As they heard Rich slowly walking Annie started to form a plan. It was insane and she had no idea if she could truly pull it off. But right now it was might be the best way to take him out. "Shirley, pretend that I shot you."

"What?"

"Go out there and pretend that I shot you. I'm going to pretend that I want to join him and catch him off guard. But he'll need proof that I'm serious about joining him."

Shirley looked at Annie before nodding her head. "You are one brave woman. Good luck." As she handed Annie her spare paintball pellets she whispered in her ear "Whatever happens, Jeff cannot win this game." As Annie looked at her in shock Shirley pushed her back. "YOU GODLESS HEATHEN! THERE'S A SPECIAL PLACE IN HELL FOR BETRAYERS!"

Annie nervously watched as Shirley ran out of the room, yelling at Rich as he stopped her. You can do this, she thought. You can do this. You're just playing a part. Abed does it all the time. Just become the role. Commit yourself and embrace it.

"Annie, come on out here." Rich said as Shirley walked down the hallway. Annie took a deep breath as she slipped out of the classroom. "There you are. I just spoke to Shirley, and she says you shot her so you could join me."

"That's right." She said, her voice a little high. "I wanted to be with the best to win."

"I'm surprised. I know how much you value your study group."

"Yes. But I value education more." She said as she felt herself grow calmer. She slowly and deliberately walked over to Rich, feeling herself slip into role of a seductress. "With that kind of power I can secure all kinds of recommendations. I can get into a real university."

"Well, I always thought you were meant to go farther than this place. But I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to just let you take being dean away from me."

"I know. You're too good of a player for me to win against." She said, her voice dropping an octave as it took on a seductive edge. "But if I made sure you got to the end, I'm sure you'd return the favor and help me out when you had all that power. Make sure I get into a top grad school."

Rich looked her, his eyes showing suspicion that until recently had never been there. "I would have thought you would be playing this game with Jeff. And have been with him until the end."

She laughed, looking at Rich with pretend amusement. "Jeff's just a boy posing as a man. But you…" She reached up and ran her fingers seductively down his chest.

Rich took her hand and gently pushed it off him. "Annie, I told you how I feel about you."

"I'm not a kid anymore." Annie said, stepping closer as she seriously invaded his personal space. "I'm twenty one now. I can drink. I've been living on my own since I was a teenager. I may be young, but I am an adult." She inched up on her toes as she whispered into his ear. "And if you give me a chance I'll show you just how adult I am."

She pulled back from him, shocked at how easy it was to play this new persona. She didn't even feel like Annie right now. She felt like a completely new, sexually charged woman. A real femme fatale. She briefly wondered if Abed felt this same thrill when he took on a new character.

Rich reached down and wrapped his hands around her wrists, pinning her arms to her sides. She continued to smile as a serge of panic ran through her. How can I get my gun and shoot him if he's holding me, she thought. As Rich leaned down she was glad his eyes were closed so he didn't see the look of disgust wash over her face as their lips met. Her body and mind seemed to operate on separate wavelengths, with her lips furiously kissing his while she franticly tried to figure out how to shot him.

Jeff waited in the alcove, trying to figure out what was going on. He heard Annie and Rich talking before, but couldn't figure out what they were saying. Now all he heard was silence. He slowly walked towards the alcove entrance and stepped into the hallway. And immediately he felt his blood boil at the sight before him; Rich and Annie locked in a make out session.

RICH!, he thought. Annie is making out with Rich! His hands actually shook as he stood there seething. He was about to shoot Annie on principle when he got a good look at her. While her lips were furiously kissing his her face was puckered in disgust. She looked over at him and after her eyes widened for a moment she inched her face down slightly. Jeff glanced down at her hands and saw that her thump and pointer were in an upper L shape, with her moving her wrists franticly towards Rich's back. Jeff looked back up at her and understood exactly what was happening. She was distracting Rich so Jeff could shoot him.

He paused for a moment, truly impressed with her abilities. He knew she was good. But this was beyond anything he would have expected from her. And the fact that it was Rich that she was playing made it even better.

Jeff only paused for a moment though, since seeing Annie kiss Rich was still sickening, even if it was all strategic. He pulled his gun out and shot Rich right in the middle of his back. Rich cried out as Annie ripped her hands from his and pushed herself off him. "What the heck!" He looked over his shoulder and saw Jeff waving his gun, then looked back and saw Annie grinning nastily at him. "You, you were just…you little bitc_."

Before Jeff could shoot him Annie whipped a gun out and pointed it right against Rich's crotch. "Go ahead, finish insulting me. These things can really sting."

"You were just using me to get me out of this game?"

"You framed one of my friends and tried to force him into a life he doesn't want just to better yourself. Consider this a bit of payback. Key word, a bit."

"Hey Rich!" Jeff yelled. Rich turned around and yelled out as Jeff shot him in the chest. "That's for Troy!" He took aim and shot him in the stomach. "That's for pottery!" He grinned as he shot Rich once more, this time at his forehead. "And that's just because I hate you!"

Rich held his forehead and ran off, yelling obscenities as he disappeared. Annie walked over to Jeff, sticking her chin out as she put on her best formidable face. "Before you say anything I just want to say that yes I hated kissing Rich. But if it meant he was eliminated from the game then-."

"Annie. One, that was amazing what you did. You deserve a medal for taking one for the team like that. And two, as soon as this is over I'm finding those roofies we were slipped that one Halloween so I can permanently erase that terrible image from my brain."

He smiled at her to reassure her that things were ok between them before he started walking. She smiled back, but felt it leave her face as she followed him. Shirley's parting words to her kept running through her head. If Jeff won he would make himself graduate early and they'd never see him again. She didn't know how, but she had to make sure that that outcome did not happen.

To Be Continued.

I know Rich was pretty out of character in this chapter, but I got the idea for Annie to kiss a player to distract them and I decided to use a preexisting character rather than invent a brand new one.