"HELLO! THERE! And welcome to today's award ceremony. I'm happy to say that for once paintball was a huge success. I had my doubts after past experiences. But yesterday's game showed it doesn't have to destroy everything. It was an EXCITING game and the school actually survived it. And after several sweaty and grueling hours, a winner was finally declared. I am happy to announce the winner of this year's paintball game is: JEFFREY WINGER!"

Everyone clapped as Jeff walked onto the stage. As he looked out into the crowd he saw that the entire study group was there. Annie, Britta, Troy, Abed and Shirley were right up front clapping for him, while Pierce was towards the back having a very heated argument with Marguerite. Almost involuntarily he found himself looking over at Annie. While she was clapping he was able to catch a look of regret in her eyes.

He snapped out of his thoughts as he felt Dean Pelton palm the side of his stomach and steer him towards the podium. "Ok Jeffrey, there you go. Wow, have you been working out even more than usual? Now over here is the contract that was drawn up. Just sign it and put the time, 9:37am, and you will officially be dean of Greendale for the next 24 hours." Dean Pelton leaned in uncomfortably close as Jeff put the time on the document and signed it. "Ok then. You are now the dean of Greendale, Dean Winger. Now let's-."

"Actually, I want to say something."

"Um, of course Jeffrey. Oh, what am I saying? I'm not the dean right now. Go ahead. Saw whatever your big muscular heart desires."

Jeff took the microphone as he looked out at the sea of faces staring up at him. "Hello everyone. Dean of Greendale. Wow, that's really something. But seriously, I'm glad I'll have the chance to try and help this school. One thing that Greendale has taught me is that you can't do everything yourself. And that when someone helps someone, they should be rewarded for their effort. So, as my first act at Dean, I would like to appoint my good friend, Annie Edison, as my advisor for the next 24 hours. That is, if she'll accept the position."

Everyone collectively turned to look at Annie, but she took no notice of them. Her attention was only and completely on Jeff. As he looked at her he saw shock on her face, along with a look he couldn't decipher.

"Um, Jeffrey, deans don't really have advisors."

"Pelton, I'm dean of this school, right?"

"Yes, yes you are. For 24 hours."

"Then I say I can have an advisor. That is, if she'll accept the position."

Annie walked up the stage and over to the podium. She waited until Jeff started getting nervous before she finally smiled. "Yes Jeff. I will be your advisor."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Ok Jeffrey. Now if you'll just, hey now, there's no need to push. Ok well, if you need anything I'll be right outside-."

Jeff slammed the door to the dean's office and locked it, before putting a chair against the doorknob in case he had keys. "Ten bucks we find some horribly offensive photos before the day is done." He walked over to the desk and plopped down in the chair. "Surprisingly comfy." He put his hands behind his head as he leaned back in the chair.

"Jeff." He leaned forward as Annie approached him with a determined look on her face. "Thank you for having me help you with this. Especially since I'm probably the only person at this school who actually wanted to use this prize to do some good for Greendale. But can you please just get it over with. If we're going to do this I don't want you to pretend like it's not going to happen. So fill out the forms, make your calls, just do it so we can do some work and enjoy our time together."

"Annie-."

"No! I not going to stay here and pretend it's not going to happen. It'll just make it harder when it does. So either get it over with or I'll walk out of here right-."

"Annie! I'm not doing it."

She suddenly stopped speaking, shaking her head as if she hadn't heard him correctly. "What?"

"I'm not going to graduate early."

She stared at him dumbfounded, unable to believe what he was saying. "But, why? You hate it here."

"I may complain about this place a lot. But it's not that bad."

"So that's why you're staying here an extra year? Because it's 'not that bad.'" She disbelievingly said as she put her hands on her hips.

Annie expected Jeff to tell her that he wasn't going to tell her his reason for why he was staying. Or just give her a sarcastic ploy to hide behind. Or say that he's changed his mind and was going to graduate early. What she didn't expect was for him to get up and go over to her. "Annie, do you remember what happened at the beginning of this year? With Biology?"

"Yea. You were kicked out of Biology because your phone kept going off and then…"

"And then I was kicked out of the study group and I went a little crazy. Ok, a lot crazy." He quickly amended as Annie glared at him. "The point is, what I remember most about that whole incident was what you said to me after I tried to destroy the table with a fire ax. You told me if I kept acting crazy you didn't think you could be my friend anymore."

She looked up at him, shocked at what she was hearing. "You remembered that?"

"Yes I do. I also remember what I said afterwards. That just because we were sprouting legs didn't mean we should be that quick to leave the pool. Or something to that effect, I was still a bit loopy from all the monkey gas."

"So you're not leaving here early because of us? Because that doesn't sound like the Jeff Winger I know."

Jeff glanced down as he took a deep breath, preparing himself to open up more then he usually did. "Annie…before I came to Greendale…I didn't have any friends."

"What? No, of course you did."

"I had colleagues, acquaintances, people I associated with because they could get me places."

"Isn't that what you do with us?" Jeff looked up, annoyed that she was mocking him when he was actually trying to open up. But as she smiled he saw that she was playfully teasing him rather than being cruel. He chuckled as he returned the smile. "Yes, I take advantage of you six more then I should. But I also enjoy seeing you guys and spending time with you. I may not do it as often as I should, but with you guys I know that it's more than just people I associate with. It's…"

"Friendship?" Annie said as she finished his sentence.

"Yea."

"So." She smiled as she poked Jeff in the chest. "You like us."

"Ow. You may be tiny but you still back a punch."

She continued to smile, but it slowly left her face as she looked at him. "You're serious. You're really not going to use being dean to graduate early?"

"I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it."

"So what brought on this decision? What I said to you yesterday?"

"Pretty much. I was laying in bed just thinking about what you said, about how you thought once I was out of here I would want nothing to do with you. It hurt, because it's far from the truth. And I hated that even though I care about you, I've made you think that I don't."

"Jeff, if you're doing this just to prove something-."

"That's not what this is about. I'm doing this, because there's a bit of truth hidden in your statement. Not just with me, but with all of us. Once we leave here we're not going to see each other as often as we do now. And I know we're going to all try to stay friends and keep things the same. But, things happen. People might end up going to grad school, or getting a job out of state, or get married, or any number of things that keep people occupied. What I'm saying is, I don't want to accelerate that. I'd rather spend one more year in this place if it means holding onto what we have right now."

Annie looked up at Jeff for a moment before she wrapped her arms around him, pushing him against the desk as she engulfed him in a tight hug. Jeff steadied himself to keep from falling before he hugged her back. They held each other for several long moments before she finally untangled herself from him. If Jeff had had any lingering doubts about his decision, the huge smile that lit up her face completely dispelled them. "So, since that's out of the way, what is the first thing you're going to do as dean of Greendale?"

"Well, just because I'm not going to graduate early doesn't mean I'm not going to use this to my advantage. First I'm going to make sure I get into every class I need to take next year so I'm guaranteed to graduate next May. Then you and I are going to go through everyone else's class requirements and make sure everyone else in our merry band gets into their needed classes so all of us can hopefully graduate together."

"Jeff! That's blatantly taking advantage of things." She looked at him for a moment before she rolled her eyes and took out a notebook from her bag. "Fine, let's see. First we should work on Britta, since she declared her major so late."

"Wait, you actually planned for this?"

"I've kept track of every class each of us needs to take in accordance to their major. I just never thought I'd be in a situation where we'd be guaranteed acceptance into all our required classes."

"You are both scary and amazing."

"Thank you." She blushed as she sat on the desk as Jeff sat back down in the deans chair. "We are going to try and actually help the school though, right?"

"Yea, sure. After we help ourselves first."

"Ok then. Just trying to keep you on track. Ok Dean Winger, here's what we should do first…"

The End

I'm not entirely happy with how this last chapter turned out. Just saying that for the record.