Chapter Text
Chapter 1: The secret box.
Annie Edison walked out of her history test feeling perfectly confident. The night before, Troy and Abed had helped her study, thereby, she was positive she did great on the test. At lunch, in the cafeteria, they were serving chicken nuggets and fries. It was definitely going to be a good day.
Once she set foot in the cafeteria, she grabbed a tray, chose some food and beverages, and she walked to the booth Abed and Troy were already sitting at. She sat down in front of them and noisily dropped her tray on the table to catch their attention.
“Hello, boys.” Annie gleefully exclaimed.
“Hi again, we already saw each other this morning.” Abed answered plainly.
“You know, because we live together.” Troy added.
“Right. So how did you do on the history test, guys?” Annie asked before starting to eat.
“I don’t know, it was pretty hard.” Troy sighed, pouting.
“We studied together last night, Troy!” Annie recalled him, surprised.
“To be frank, you’re the one who did most of the studying.” Troy laughed.
“Well, I’m sure you both benefitted from my studying.” Annie smiled.
Annie was in a very good mood today. There was nothing that could possibly kill that good mood, she was certain of it.
Living with Troy and Abed was most definitely one of the best things that could have happened to her. Sure, it wasn’t always easy. At first, she even regretted it, almost. After all, they preferred turning her potential room into the Dreamatorium and expected her to sleep behind some curtains in a corner of the living-room. But now, everything worked for the better. She had to put up with them, sometimes, but she had to admit, living with Troy and Abed was fun. Enacting some Inspector Spacetime scenarios in the Dreamatorium wasn’t all that bad. It could be funny, even. Except when they had to study for a huge test, of course.
Britta and Shirley eventually joined them. Britta didn’t hesitate and sat next to Troy before grabbing his face and kissing him tenderly.
“Right, sometimes, I forget your pairing became canon this season.” Abed casually said before chewing on his fries.
“How did you do on the history test, babe?” Britta asked Troy while he put his arm around her shoulders.
“We were just talking about it with Annie and I don’t think I nailed it.” Troy grinned.
“And Annie also said that the three of us studied last night so it should be fine.” Annie added before winking at Britta.
“You guys don’t even know how lucky you are to study with Annie.” Britta sighed, winking at Annie too.
“Well, since everyone’s asking, I believe I did great on that test too, thanks.” Shirley said in a soft voice, even though she sounds miffed.
“Jeff and Pierce are still taking the test?” Annie then asked, frowning.
“From the looks of it, they were having a pretty rough time.” Britta shrugged.
A few moments later, Jeff and Pierce slowly walked up to their friends, trays in hands. Pierce sat down on Britta, Troy and Abed’s bench while Jeff sat down next to Annie and Shirley.
“Well, that was definitely not one of my finest moments back there.” Jeff mumbled before eating his fries up.
“He’s talking about the title of his sex-tape, obviously.” Pierce laughed, waiting for the others to do the same, which they didn’t.
“At least, now it’s done and we can enjoy this delicious college food.” Britta ironically said, making Troy chuckle.
“Jeff, you should really let me help you study next time.” Annie told Jeff, affected by the defeated look on his face.
“As much as I appreciate your concern, Annie, I think our study group sessions already fill most of my time off, I’m not particularly eager to add some more to my schedule.” Jeff honestly retorted.
“What else do you want to do in your time off anyway? We’re your only friends.” Britta teased Jeff.
“Unlike what you all seem to think, I am a very social man, Britta.” Jeff asserted while Pierce and Troy quietly guffawed. “I go to the gym, I go jogging, I go on dates with gorgeous women…”
“It looks like you’re just listing some things that happen in your dreams.”
“Well, believe what you want but my life is awesome and I intend to keep it that way.”
Jeff didn’t notice it because he was busy eyeing a pretty teacher across the room but Annie had her eyes locked on him. It was like this most of the time. Jeff never noticed Annie’s lingering looks. He wasn’t even interested in noticing. To him, Annie was just a college girl, a younger college girl, with whom he occasionally studied.
Eventually, Annie took her eyes off Jeff and started quietly observing Britta and Troy. Mostly Troy. Annie had a huge crush on Troy when she was in high school, senior year. She still had a crush on him when they ended up in the same community college and in the same study group. But much to her disappointment, he never reciprocated her feelings. So, with time, she started moving on. Even so, seeing him all gluey and kissy with Britta wasn’t necessarily easy for her. But she made it so she would get used to it, and eventually, stopped caring for good.
That afternoon, when she went home with her roommates, Troy and Abed, the first thing Annie did was locking herself in her room and getting on her knees to grab something hidden under her bed. She sat on the edge of her bed, holding a purple, sparkly, heart-shaped box in her hands. She was reluctant to open it again. What was sealed inside it was supposed to stay sealed. But without being able to understand why, she felt the overwhelming need to open it again. One last time.
***
Annie wandered around the living-room to the smell of buttered noodles coming from the kitchen. Troy and Abed were already in their pajamas, arguing about what movie to watch while eating. Annie sat down next to them to join the conversation.
“Annie, help us settle this. Pick one.” Abed asked her, holding a DVD in each hand.
“Hum… I guess I would pick ‘Gladiator’?” Annie exclaimed, rising her voice at the end.
“Damn it.” Troy sighed, looking disappointed.
“Cool cool cool.” Abed said while putting the DVD in the DVD player.
“I thought Britta was coming over tonight, Troy?” Annie eventually asked Troy while they started eating in front of the TV.
“Something came up, apparently.” Troy shrugged. “She’ll come over tomorrow, I guess.”
“Oh, I hope everything is okay.” Annie said, wondering what could have happened to Britta.
“She seemed fine on the phone. I still don’t get why she’d rather call than text but I guess I’m fine with it.”
“You look upset, Annie.” Abed suddenly pointed out.
“Huh? No, I’m okay.” Annie stammered, startled by Abed’s remark. “Just tired, maybe.”
“Does it have something to do with the secret box under your bed?”
Annie let out a shocked squeal, to which even Troy widened his eyes. Abed, on the other hand, just looked like his usual self, as if he hadn’t just make a significant reveal.
“Abed, I thought we went over this, you need to respect my privacy and my boundaries.” Annie exclaimed, utterly shocked. “And respecting my privacy means not going through my things!”
“I didn’t go through your things, you door was opened this morning and I happened to see it.” Abed plainly retorted. “I assumed it was something important.”
“Well… That is absolutely none of your business and I don’t want you to ever mention it again!”
Annie stood up and stormed out of the room, slamming her bedroom door behind her. Troy and Abed shared a puzzled look, but eventually shrugged Annie’s weird behaviour off and finished up their meal while watching Gladiator.
***
Three days went by after Annie’s storm off and she still hadn’t talked to Troy or Abed again. She felt betrayed and upset that Abed so casually mentioned her box in a random conversation. It was her private life and she wasn’t comfortable with it being exposed like this.
It was Friday morning, and Annie wasn’t so happy about not going to class over the weekend. She still intended to avoid her roommates until she felt like talking to them again, therefore, she started writing ideas down in her favourite fluffy notebook regarding the possible things she could do outside the apartment this weekend.
Annie was peacefully walking in the hallways to get to her next class when, suddenly, Jeff appeared out of nowhere in front of her. She flinched a little but quickly composed herself.
“Jeff, I already told you, don’t startle me like this, I used to live in a terrible neighbourhood, sometimes I can have weird instincts…” Annie exclaimed.
“What the hell is this, Annie?” Jeff just asked seriously.
Annie frowned at Jeff’s harsh voice, especially because she didn’t understand what was going on with him. It was only a few seconds later that she noticed Jeff holding a letter in his hand. A pink letter written by a purple pen.
“What…” Annie muttered, distressed.
She felt like the world started spinning around her. She couldn’t take her eyes off the letter, and yet, Jeff was trying everything he could to get her attention.
“I’m not mad, Annie, I just want to know why you would send something like this to me.” Jeff calmly told her. “I thought we went over this last year, I already told you, I wish I could give you an answer that made sense to your questions, but I’m pretty sure sending me a love letter won’t really help me figure it out –”
“I’m going to throw up.” Annie interrupted him.
Annie didn’t give Jeff a chance to say anything else and she ran to the girls’ bathroom. She locked herself in a bathroom stall and tried to calm herself down and breathe normally again.
This was a total nightmare. Jeff had read the letter she had written to him the summer between their kiss at the Transfer dance and their second year of community college. The letter she had never sent because she never planned on him to read it. The letter that aimed to write her feelings away once and for all, and move on. The letter that was amongst three other letters sealed in the box under her bed.
If it was sealed in her box, how the hell did Jeff got that freaking love letter? And most of all, did it mean the three other letters got sent away too?
Annie felt dizzy, got out of the bathroom stall and passed out before being able to leave the girls’ bathroom.