Disclaimer: Still not owning Community.
Chapter 3
Despite the last minute notice and strange circumstances, the dean was able to push back the debate another week. Apparently a little known statute allowed at least one postponement per season, and if he wanted to keep Greendale's one winning team in business, he'd have to call it in. City College was loathe to give up their advantage, but knowing they couldn't fight it, they chose to use the extra time to prep.
When Annie was released from the hospital, she went home to two very attentive roommates who stepped up to take care of her. She slept much more than usual and seemed crankier, but they supplied her with buttered noodles, her school assignments, and much-needed levity. Jeff had also fallen into the habit of visiting her every day to study for the debate and check up on her. He often stayed until she fell asleep and carefully relocated her to her own bed, comforting himself in the knowledge that she was okay.
The day before the debate she was still experiencing a small amount of fatigue but decided it was time to show her face at Greendale again. She skipped her morning run in favor of an extra hour of sleep, but carefully prepared that morning to look as "Annie" as possible. Her hair was immaculate, her makeup lightly and precisely applied, and her skirt wrinkle-free. "You can do this," she said to her reflection. "You are better than this, and your friends will be there to help." She had pumped herself up before using similar words, but she couldn't help but release a tiny happy giggle as she realized the part she added about her friends.
When Annie left her bedroom to prepare breakfast, she was greeted by a huge spread on the table. Eggs, bacon, waffles and orange juice artfully arranged on sparkling plates on a crisp white tablecloth. A lovely bouquet of lavender, lilies, and orchids stood proudly in a crystal vase in the center of it all. "You guys," she began as she looked up to thank her boys but instead saw the entire study group beaming at her. Despite her best efforts she teared up a little. "You guys," she tried again as her voice shook with emotion.
"Well, I didn't make all this food for myself," Shirley insisted. "You need to eat a good breakfast for your first day back, so why don't you take a seat and we can all get started." Annie nodded and the group descended into their usual camaraderie. This was her favorite part of the day. Being with all of them.
They carpooled to school that morning, and Jeff even let her choose the radio station as she rode shotgun. She decided to forgo her usual Top 40 fare and settled on a good sing-along classic rock station that got everyone in the car in a good mood. Jeff maneuvered his car into a tiny parking space as they sang the last notes of a Janis Joplin number, and when the engine turned off and the music with it, Annie was hit with a wave of anxiety.
Everyone had seen her breakdown. They all knew. All of them. She couldn't tell them that Simmons did it, at least not until they had proof. She had been crazy and not in a hot way. They were going to make fun of her, she knew it. She hadn't heard them laughing but she'd seen their eyes. Neil, Vicki, Garrett, Todd, even that awful Meghan had watched her clawing at carpets and threatening to stab herself with a pair of scissors. What was she going to do? The air seemed thinner and thinner, and she took deeper breaths to compensate, when she felt a reassuring hand on her arm.
"It's going to be okay, Annie. They love you here. And so do we." Jeff's eyes met hers and she could watch her reflection's panicked breathing slow. While she was regaining focus, he quickly hopped out of the car and ran around to her side to open the door for her. "Milady," he said, offering his hand. She smiled.
"Milord."
They walked arm in arm to the campus, and Annie could feel her skin prickling from the number of eyes she could feel watching her.
"Good to have you back, Annie," Vicki said in passing, eliciting a grin.
"Annie, you're back! Kick City College's butt tomorrow!" Todd offered with a thumbs up.
"Oh hey, Annie," Neil greeted as he walked by. Annie thought she might cry.
Jeff leaned down to whisper in her ear, "I told you, Annie. We all love you." They had almost made it to the classroom before they heard the unmistakable clacking of Meghan's heels coming towards them. Annie sighed and turned to face her.
"Well, well, well," she said with a sneer, "look who's back." She eyed Annie as if she were a bug and Annie felt like she was actually shrinking. She took a moment as if inwardly debating what to say. "Your outfit looks like somebody decided to take a private school uniform and make it even frumpier. Congrats on that." With a flick of her hair, she turned and walked away, but Annie was grinning widely. Jeff gave her a confused look.
"Why do you look so happy?"
"She was the same way she always is. If she really wanted to hurt me, she would have brought up my meltdown. She was just letting me know that she didn't pity me but that she thought it was off-limits. It's actually a really nice gesture."
"Sure," he mumbled. "Look, we do have a class to get to, so why don't we get a move-on, okay?" Annie nodded and giggled happily, bouncing on her toes for good measure.
By the end of the day, Annie marveled at how supportive the campus had been. Garrett had probably been the least couth of them, but that was because his shrill voice and less than subtle references to a "crisis" that "didn't happen" generated a number of transparent attempts at recovering the conversation by her more sympathetic friends using circuitous logic that ended up making every interaction a major production. The dean had arranged an impromptu puppy parade that the study group actually got to attend, and although she loved cuddling the tiny pug in her arms, she thought watching her friends playing and cooing with them was the best part. She noticed Jeff in particular seemed reluctant to let the tiny Westie he'd been holding go. The sky darkened and she and Jeff headed back to her apartment. She thanked her lucky stars that she had thought enough ahead to pre-prepare meals. All that she had to do now was dump the mixture of chicken, veggies and sauces into a foil packet and slip it into the oven. Jeff was kind enough to forgive her incessant yawning as they waited for the food to cook, and they discussed the plan for tomorrow once more. If all went according to plan, by the end of tomorrow they would have an arrest and a win for Greendale.
A buzzer sounded and Jeff served the food for them. Annie had trouble keeping from falling asleep in her dinner, so when she lost the battle later during another last-minute run over their debate plans, Jeff carried her to her bed as had become habit. He watched her deep, even breathing and recalled without difficulty a time when it had seemed like she might not again. He swallowed the unpleasant feeling and rewarded his reserve with a soft kiss to her forehead.
"G'night, Milady," he said, turning off the light and closing the door.
"The topic for today's debate is drug legalization," a plain woman in plainer clothes announced. "Greendale will be arguing for legalization, City College against. City College will begin with their opening statement." Jeff and Annie watched as Simmons wheeled to the center of the stage and began expounding on the dangers of drugs. Annie's eyes skimmed the audience, noting that for once, both sides were packed. Obviously this was a point of contention for City College, and the Greendale students wanted to support Annie and their only winning team.
"We got this," Jeff whispered. "Just remember the plan." Annie smirked.
"Oh, I will." As Simmons finished, Jeff stood and walked to the center of the stage.
"My opponent has made some fine points about the dangers of drugs, but I'd like to ask you this: what do you think causes more damage? Drugs? Or the war against them?" He went on to briefly cite prison statistics, gang violence, and addicts' fear of recrimination as major points of interest. And as he sat down, the real fun started.
Simmons countered with a very graphic list of potential side effects of drugs and how it affects people's behavior, but Annie followed up with the claim that the stigma surrounding drugs, because they were illegal, actually incentivized people to try them and kept them from getting help when they wanted to quit. Next came an impassioned plea. "What about the children?" Jeff thankfully had some great anecdotes from his time as a lawyer about kids whose futures were ruined because of drug-related sentences. Simmons made it a public safety issue which led Annie to make gang violence a public safety issue directly caused by the criminalization of drugs. Simmons seemed to be sweating and launched into a description of a world where drug use was rampant. This was right up Jeff's alley, and after his emotional speech about freedom and the pursuit of happiness and what it means to be an American, the judges placed Greendale far ahead. Jeff and Annie knew things were about to get real.
Simmons made his way towards Annie and placed his clammy palm on her cheek. "My opponent, Miss Edison, is a very bright student, probably one of the brightest Greendale has ever had. She has life and youth and beauty and promise."
"Are you proposing or debating?" Pierce yelled from the audience. A dull rumble of agreement followed his words. It seemed like everyone knew where this was going.
"I apologize if it seems like a non-sequitur, but it is relevant. It is all too heartbreakingly relevant to this debate, because last Thursday, Miss Edison here overdosed on Adderall." A roar of objection surged from the Greendale side of the audience, and Annie's hand hid her face as if in shame. "I know, you all feared her loss, but thanks to the good doctors she had access to, she is with us today. Miss Edison almost died because of drugs, and this wasn't her first struggle with them. No, her addiction was what brought her to Greendale as a result of losing a scholarship and a bright future at Yale." Jeff turned to her in surprise and she answered with a half-hearted shrug. "These are the kind of people drugs destroy. They take a smart young woman, destroy her future and even take her life. I think we need more people like Miss Annie Edison in the world, don't you?"
The audience was split, as anticipated, but Annie had known they wouldn't make it through the debate without her episode coming up. She was prepared. She sauntered to the center of the stage and refused to let Simmons' words shake her.
"I have to confess that I am as flattered by your speech as I am confused by it. My opponent claims to know me and my circumstances, yet he has clearly misunderstood the course of events that led me to where I am today. It's true, I took Adderall in high school in an effort to improve my performance. I was a child, and my judgment was flawed. And yet, it was not my manic episode that lost me a scholarship. It was the stigma surrounding it. I've never told anyone this, but I did try to reach out for help before I went spiraling out of control. I confided in a teacher, who told me that if I ever wanted to get into college I would never bring it up again. Then even after the dust had cleared after my breakdown, I was not a victim of addiction. I was my own person. And I made the decision to go to rehab on my own. And guess what? It was the stigma surrounding drugs that led my mother to disown me. It wasn't the meltdown. It was the fact that I chose to go to rehab that drove us apart, because that would let out the secret and she couldn't bear the shame. She couldn't bear the shame that you create when you criminalize what someone does with their own body. So I say again, the stigma is what led me to lose all contact from my family, lose all financial support, and end up here at Greendale. And despite what you say, Simmons, my future is far from destroyed. If anything it is brighter than ever thanks to the lessons I've learned and the people I've met while here. So don't use me as your cautionary tale, because I am still here and I am better than ever!"
The crowd cheered as she finished and Abed looked like he might explode. This was a great movie finale. Throw in a short conversation followed by a kiss, and it would match anything he could have directed. Then he frowned. There were still loose ends. Annie was still glowing as she ran back to her seat and gave Jeff a tight hug. When she heard the slow clap from behind her though, she couldn't help but roll her eyes and turn to face Simmons.
"That was truly a moving speech, you are an inspiration to us all. The reason you are an inspiration, however, is that this kind of triumph over addiction is rare. And while I admire your positive outlook for the future, you went from an Ivy League education to the second-best community college in your community. And you seem to be forgetting how you were fighting for your life only a week ago. But as much as you insist that you're not a victim of drugs, you seem ready and willing to become a victim of the so-called stigma caused by drugs. You are willing to blame the collapse of your future on it. You would have lost that scholarship by going to rehab whether or not it occurred before or after your meltdown. And as cruel as it sounds, if your mother cared more about her reputation than you, she clearly didn't love you." A gasp rang throughout the audience as the Greendale side began booing in earnest. "The truth hurts, people, and if Annie Edison has been living a lie all these years, telling herself it's the criminalization of drugs not the drugs themselves that are the problem, she is more likely to relapse, as we saw last week."
His smug expression indicated his confidence that the points had stuck even if they had a poor audience reception. Jeff squeezed her hand gently, carefully avoiding the still tender places he could map out in his head by now. Annie lifted her chin and walked proudly to the microphone, refusing to let her opponent's words rankle her.
"The truth hurts, indeed. Perhaps it's true, as my opponent says, that my mother never loved me. The pressure she placed on me was what drove to take drugs in the first place. But we live in an imperfect world and we are imperfect people. There are so many obstacles that we have to face to have healthy relationships with our fellow human beings." She could see the dean clapping quietly to himself at the name drop. "If we condemned ourselves and each other every time we failed one of these trials, where would we be? One obstacle can make all the difference, so do we really want to continue allowing this to be one?" She paused to let her points sink in. "Mr. Simmons addressed my most recent overdose, and I would like to give you some more details, so you can make a truly informed decision on what the cause was. In the week leading up to this debate, I decided I would take Adderall again on a temporary basis to get me through it. I bought it off a stranger based on a friend's referral and took my very first one on the day I had my episode. Unfortunately, there is no quality control on illegal drugs, no assurance that everything is what a dealer says it is, and the amount in that one pill, far exceeding a standard dose, caused me to overdose. It was the criminalization, the restricted nature of the drug that led to me almost losing my life."
"You're lying!" Simmons accused her. Jeff gave him a strange look.
"You weren't even there, what do you know?" Simmons seemed to puff up.
"Of course I was there, I was practicing here in the gym. You even came in and saw me!"
"Well yeah, but I mean you weren't in the room when it happened. You have no way of knowing what really went down. Annie's telling the truth."
"Of course I know how it went down, I made it go down!" He yelled. "Her overdose wasn't caused by the lack of standards resulting from a drug's criminalization! I switched out her aspirin with Adderall when she wasn't looking. Based on the reaction, they were exactly the right dosage, so you can't say that criminalization caused that!" The room had fallen silent as the judges' mouths dropped and his brain seemed to finally catch up with his mouth.
"Simmons is right. I'm lying. The truth is I left my bag unattended in the gym and when I returned I saw Simmons and his friend messing with my stuff. I took it back and over the course of the day ingested 6 Adderall pills, mistaking them for aspirin and culminating in my overdose. We just didn't have any proof it was you until now." The crowd was in an uproar. Greendale looked like they were about to start a riot, while City College seemed pretty ready to lynch Simmons. "By the way, I think there are some people here to talk to you," Annie added pointing at the police officers who had been sitting on the sidelines and finally had what they needed to make an arrest. Simmons tried to wheel his way off the stage but with the cops blocking the only ramp, he knew it was hopeless. As he slumped defeated in his chair, Annie tried to feel sorry for him, but couldn't quite bring herself to do it.
She watched dispassionately as they escorted him off the stage. It was done. Everyone knew the truth now, but she couldn't help but relish the fact that they still liked her, even when they thought she had taken drugs of her own volition. The vindication was overwhelming. It felt like she had slain every dragon in her past in one fell swoop. Her eyes took in the smiling faces of her friends before she seemed to remember that she was on stage. The judges were still looking at her expectantly, so she approached the microphone once more.
"Greendale," she said tearfully, "saved my life." A cheer went up and she could vaguely register the dean cursing the fact that he wasn't recording this for use in a commercial later. "Because Greendale is a place for flawed people. Greendale looks past the stigma, because they've all been a victim of it in some way or another. It's what made my friend Abed research signs of drug abuse, so that if I was ever in trouble he could help me." She found Abed in the audience and gave him a watery smile. "And he did. It's what made my friends stay with me when I was going crazy and offer to fight my demons with me. It's what made my classmates and fellow students show kindness and understanding when I dared show my face again, even when they thought I had done it to myself. If I had been anywhere but Greendale, who knows what would have happened. But I'm not. I'm here, with my flawed friends and classmates in quite possibly the only place free from the taint of the stigma that led me here. The connection we share is greater than the school we go to or the study groups we're in. It's in the shared mistakes in our history. It's in the secrets we're ashamed to let out and every time we're accepted in spite of them. We are not strangers wandering through the same halls, passing judgment and seeking out flaws. We are fellow Human Beings!"
She finished with a cry and her fist in the air, and the crowd went wild in return. Off in the corner, she watched the dean weeping into a spotted handkerchief. She saw Vicki grab Neil's face and kiss him while Meghan perfected the art of clapping while apathetic. Britta and Shirley were hugging each other, jumping up and down, and she assumed from the blank smile on Abed's face that she had impressed him. Pierce had turned to Garrett and she could almost make out the words "That's my girl!" as he pointed to her. Once again, she felt like her heart would explode, but this time in a good way. She turned to see Jeff, standing and clapping for her, pausing only to give her a thumbs up. He kept his distance and allowed her a moment to bask in the applause. Then she heard a chant building in the crowd.
"An-nie Ad-der-all! An-nie Ad-der-all!" Troy was leading the chant, jumping up and down and waving his arms, feeding off the energy of the crowd. A large barking laugh unlike any she'd made before escaped her. Of course Greendale would do this. It was mortifying and freeing at the same time. They loved her at her most flawed. That was the message here. She smiled and bowed before making her way back to Jeff. They hugged tightly then turned to look at the judges.
Most of City College had left around the time the debate had turned into a Greendale pep rally, but the winner had not been announced. It seemed like a foregone conclusion, but the judges still took time (brief as it was) to consult each other before arriving at a decision.
"Due to the fact that City College tried to murder one of Greendale's debaters and Greendale was ahead anyway, the judges agree Greendale wins!"
Annie squealed as she heard the announcement and threw her arms around Jeff. He spun her around as the Greendale students stampeded toward the stage. In seconds, Annie had been tossed atop a mosh pit and was being carried down the hall to cheers and shouts of congratulations. She could just turn her head enough to see Britta and Troy making out furiously and Shirley hitting Pierce with her purse as he tried to do the same with her. Abed was still taking it all in, eyes full of wonder, and when she strained her neck to turn around, she could still just barely see Jeff standing on the stage alone, watching her carried away with a smile on his face.
A/N: Was it as good for you as it was for me? I was really nervous about this chapter because it is way over the top, but I smiled the entire time I was writing it. Thank you to JeffandAnnie1998, Gloxinia, shippersgonnaship, and robert3A-SN for the reviews! There's one more chapter to go that will tie up some loose ends for you. I'm thinking about putting it up Thursday morning to get excited about the finale that night!