A major credit to crittab for handling beta duties the rest of the way.

Annie should have felt better than she did. It was mid-January, there were only a few months until graduation, she was excelling at her new major, and her school work this week was some of her best ever. And after she finished studying ahead for next week's work this weekend, she would rise even higher.

But she got the weirdest feeling from the group yesterday. And she had been feeling a little….iffy inside since yesterday as well. Still, it was probably nothing that a good few hours of studying wouldn't cure. Annie had always found solace in her books, if nothing else.

Yet even her books couldn't distract her from Troy and Abed barging into her room with camera equipment.

"This should be a great location for that scene in that place, huh Abed?" Troy said very weirdly. "Just gotta give it the old once over!"

"You gotta what?" Annie asked with a frown, as Abed looked through the top of her drawer. "Actually, no! First you gotta tell me why you're here without my permission! Didn't we settle this after the 8'th time?!"

"I know, I know, but we ran out of locations! I'm sure once we go over this place, it'll fail the inspection and our shoot will be ruined, don't worry!" Troy assured as Abed went under Annie's bed.

"I can save you the time, it failed! Now go away, please, I'm trying to study!" Annie insisted.

"Are the robots telling you to say that? Or is it some other cool space guy this time? We'll turn the cameras off, if that's what he's worried about!" Troy promised as Abed went into Annie's closet.

"What?" Annie asked incredulously. "I'm the only one here!"

"And it's gonna stay that way, even though you're on–" Troy started before clamming up, albeit not soon enough.

"On what? Troy? Abed?" Annie demanded as Abed emerged from the closet.

"For the record, I had planned to get you out of the house first. But Troy figured out we should go right to searching your room," Abed explained.

"Searching my room?! What the hell?" Annie asked before she figured out the answer. "What the hell do you think is in here, Troy?"

"Well, if the Adderall's not in the closet or under the bed, what I thought was wrong anyway!" Troy sighed as Annie started to fume.

"Excuse me?" Annie demanded to know.

"Look, Annie, we looked it up on the Internet! Your symptoms are just like the ones for Adderall, like you had last time! I let you down in high school, but the Internet gives me credibility again! I got good credit, Annie!" Troy repeated.

"You have….you really…." Annie sputtered before turning to Abed. "Abed, do you believe this?!"

"I didn't want to. But your symptoms and the way you've acted this week made my wishes irrelevant. Now I know how Glee viewers feel every week," Abed lamented.

That iffy feeling inside of Annie came back in a flurry. Part of it was rage, part of it was sadness – and part of it was the beginning of withdrawal symptoms, unknown to her or anyone. But it all combined to make Annie furious at her roommates.

"How dare you!" Annie spat out. "Just because I'm doing better at school, you think I'm on pills?! The fact that you think I could….I, I, I can't even look at you two right now!"

So to make sure she wouldn't, Annie stormed out of her room and out of the apartment. However, it didn't take her long to run into her newer roommate in the hall.

"It didn't work, huh? I figured as much. Even Abed's plan wouldn't have worked, really," Britta figured. "At least my way gets rid of the evil, patriarchal stigma of drugs, while helping you get free of the Man's stash at the same time! It'll be a win for you and for civil rights!"

"Are you kidding me?!" Annie groaned. "Did you make them think I was on pills again?"

"No! Well, technically, I mentioned Adderall as a joke first. But Troy connected the dots! So don't brush off your relapse just because I brought it up first!" Britta credited.

"Thanks, now I can't look at any of you!" Annie growled before storming out.

Despite her emotions and condition, she managed to drive to Shirley's house to find solace there. But after Annie vented about her roommates, Shirley muttered that she knew they sent the wrong group member to 'cleanse' her. It didn't take long for Annie to figure out that Shirley believed them anyway, and she left even more rapidly.

With no more totally reliable friends left, Annie felt even more alone. Pierce would make it worse, and she didn't want to think about what Jeff would say. Defeated, she just went back to her place, stayed in her room the rest of the weekend, locked the door and listened to her old study notes to drown everyone else out.

Annie's nerves, irritability and devotion to her studies clearly got worse. But she credited it to her frustration over her so-called friends, and her need to distract herself. If she were thinking clearly enough to access her memory, she'd recognize the withdrawal symptoms. But she was so mad at them for thinking that she could take Adderall again, she refused to consider it.

That was also why she got to school earlier than usual on Monday morning, before she could be cornered again. It also explained why she wouldn't go into the study room either – and why the more typically late Jeff finally found her in the library.

"You're late, too? I just had to stumble into Abed's parallel timelines on a Monday," Jeff quipped, although it was a bit forced.

"I'm avoiding them for a reason, Jeff! I don't know if you've paid enough attention to know why!" Annie snapped, more harshly than intended.

But Jeff knew all too well – and not just from the group flooding his cell phone over the weekend. His weekend had already been ruined by thinking about all this – and not just because of the revenge fantasies on whoever might have given Annie Adderall. He hoped it was Rich, if only because he'd already worked out how to kill him and get away with it.

Yet even when Annie was well, he wouldn't want her to know how much he'd been thinking about her – for any reason. He certainly wouldn't put that on possibly strung out Annie. So he just simply said, "They blew up my voice mail this weekend, so I've got an idea."

"I don't believe this. I might expect this from Britta, maybe, but not all of them!" Annie voiced. "How could they all think I was doing…..that again?"

Jeff took a look at her, and really had to bite his tongue not to answer that. However, after spending a whole weekend trying not to worry about her, and barely succeeding, he couldn't hold it in all that well. But he was at least going to be more diplomatic about it than they were.

"Annie, you have to admit you've been more…..stressed out and study crazy lately. Even for you. And apparently they looked up your symptoms on the Internet, and it would never lie to them, so…." Jeff finished, frustrated that he had to make a joke out of habit – just habit.

"I know Adderall symptoms, Jeff. They ruined my life once, and they're not doing it again because I didn't take anything! I think I'd know that better than they would!" Annie insisted. "I thought they knew me better," she added in a sadder tone.

"They know you well enough to know when something's wrong!" Jeff attempted to get through to her. "You have to admit something's wrong with you, Annie! The way you've acted all week, the way you ignored us before this weekend, the way you stopped having fun outside of school again! Maybe they're off base a bit, but they're not the whole reason you're acting like this. If you think about it, you know they're right to worry!"

Jeff took a deep breath and clammed up, hoping he didn't push her too far. Yet Annie seemed to consider his words.

"Maybe…." she started quietly. "Maybe I'm going through some things. Things I don't understand myself. But I know it's not because of Adderall. I would never put myself through that again. I've come too far….but they think I would anyway."

"Annie..." Jeff started before getting cut off.

"Jeff, just let me say this,"Annie begged, and Jeff silently agreed. "You know how I was before I met you guys. You know how much I've changed and gotten better because of you. I've found everything I ever wanted here, and I'm finally going to do something I really love when I leave. Why would I ruin all that now? The old me might have, but that's not me anymore!"

Before Jeff could argue or agree, Annie went back into a sad tone. "They should know that better than anyone. I mean, I'm a stronger and better person because I know them. And yet they jumped right to thinking I would take Adderall again anyway! If they think I'm someone who could do that, even now…." she trailed off once more, before resuming, "I just didn't think they would all assume that. Especially now."

Jeff bit his tongue against his swirling doubts, deciding to take a non-confrontational route. "They're just worried about you. And for good reason."

"And how can they help me if they think I'd be that stupid again?" Annie questioned. "People who know me and respect me better wouldn't do that!"

"Annie…." was all Jeff could say yet again, lost for a better answer.

"Jeff, you know me. You may not always be that observant, but you do know me. With everything you know about me, everything I've been through and everything I'm trying to be….do you really think I'd let myself take Adderall again?"

"Are you trying to Disney me? Because your Disney face looks out of whack. That kind of worries me more," Jeff said before he could censor himself.

"Jeff, be serious, please!" Annie pleaded. "Just tell me if you think I'd let myself do this again! Please think about it, and then tell me honestly. Okay?"

For her benefit, Jeff thought about the things he knew about Annie Edison, everything she'd been through, everything she had become and everything she represented. Would Annie really let herself take Adderall again and throw away all that progress?

And quicker than he expected, Jeff knew his answer. He knew there was only one possible answer.

"No. You're right," Jeff admitted. "You're not taking Adderall again. You couldn't…." As that washed over him, he couldn't stop himself before adding, "I'm sorry I doubted you."

Annie smiled at him, although it wasn't her old Disney smile, or even her bright regular Annie smile. Yet it was the first real smile he'd seen from her in a week. And the first real one directed right at him in some time.

And then as quickly as it appeared, it completely vanished. "If you can see that, why can't they?" Annie asked, probably rhetorically. Jeff didn't even have an answer anyway – and it seemed Annie wasn't in the mood to hear one now.

Somehow, Jeff suspected he'd said the wrong thing, even when he actually tried to get it right. He suspected it further when he and Annie finally went into the study room, and Annie remained frosty to everyone. They tried to apologize, but insisted they could help her get better, which only made things worse.

At the least, Annie wasn't as off balance at the end of the day as she was at the beginning. Yet she was back to studying non-stop and giving everyone the cold shoulder.

This probably should have made Jeff re-think his answer from this morning. It almost did a couple of times. But the more he thought about Annie, the more he just….knew she wouldn't relapse like that. She was too….

Anyway, whatever she was, she wasn't an Adderall junkie again. Jeff didn't know how he knew – he just knew and there was no getting around it.

Just like there was no getting around that something was still seriously wrong with her.

Whatever it was, it was making Annie a shell of her old self, and it was hurting the group dynamic. Something like that could make it harder for Jeff to graduate out of here alive. It'd probably make him wish he had graduated earlier when he had the chance. But he didn't because of….and now look where that got everyone.

This meant Jeff would have to clean up the mess and find out what was really happening.

And since everyone else was convinced she was just on Adderall – especially Troy, for some odd reason – Jeff realized he would have to do this by himself.