Fanfic: Advanced Genealogy (4a/4)
Title: Advanced Genealogy (chapter 4a/4)
Author: Canadianiana
Spoilers: I don't think there's any, but we'll say up to the hiatus just to be sure.
Ratings/warnings: PG-13? A bit of swearing, nothing scandalous.
Summary: From a ficcy Friday prompt from tilie12, in which Jeff's mother shows up at Greendale unannounced, expecting to meet the girlfriend Jeff told her he had, named Annie. I won't give away the rest.
Word count: 8100 this chapter (approx 27,100 total).
Disclaimer: I own nothing - just a fan.
Author's note: I love you guys.
Chapter 4: Gene Expression
Annie's alarm jolts her rudely awake. It seems unusually loud this morning as she blindly gropes for it to make it stop. When her hands find nothing, she's forced to pry her eyes open and actually look for it. Finally, she locates the source of the offensive noise, and shuts it up. Then she rolls onto her back, and stares at the ceiling.
Her head hurts.
And it's a weird, stabbing kind of pain, right at the back. Annie swears it feels like that splinter of guilt somehow manifested itself into a REAL splinter overnight. So much so, in fact, she finds herself lifting her head to gently feel the spot with her fingers.
Because, right, there's going to be an ACTUAL splinter sticking out of my head. What am I doing?
Annie drops her arm, irritated.
She knows she should get up. It's Friday, and Greendale will be open again today. But she can't seem to make herself move, so she continues to stare at the ceiling.
Memories from yesterday trickle in.
"...that didn't stop me from being insanely jealous the entire time..."
"...I was never serious about either Michelle, or Britta..."
"...I was in denial..."
But one memory slowly drowns out all of others:
"...so I panicked, and told her she was reading too much into things. When she wasn't. At all."
Annie frowns. She had hoped that sleeping would give her some perspective, but things seem even more confusing now than they did last night. It's not long before she finds herself thinking in circles about Jeff's "confession" and apology.
If Jeff's confession is a lie, then he brought up the whole "Annie of it all" thing to... what? Rub it in my face? He wouldn't do that. So it must be at least partly true.
If it was partly true, say... he knows he'd hurt me, but I WAS wrong, and I WAS reading too much into things, then... why would he have chosen last night to apologize like that? Why would he look me in the eye and tell me I was right?
Okay, so let's say it's true. All of it. Then he wanted me to know that I was right, that there was something going on between us, and that he's sorry he said there wasn't.
But why would he want me to know that?
It's the WHY part that's troubling. Annie can't escape the fact that no matter how likely it seems Jeff has feelings for her, he's never acted on them. So why would he want her to know the feelings are there? Why would he choose last night to tell her, under the guise of a fake relationship? Is it just because he felt bad and needed to get it off his chest?
That seems... selfish.
Annie groans and rubs her eyes, just as she hears a knock at her door. "Come in!" she calls, forcing herself to sit up.
Abed appears. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah, why?" she asks as casually as she can.
He shrugs. "You're just usually up by now."
"Oh, yeah... just slow-moving this morning. It was pretty late when we went to bed last night."
"That's true. But you don't usually wear your clothes to bed, either."
Annie looks down at herself; she's still in her dress. "Not usually, no. Everything's fine, I'm just tired."
"Okay. Oh, how did dinner go last night?"
"Fine." But that's not really accurate. "Well, even."
"That's good," Abed replies. "Right?"
"Um, yeah. I mean, of course."
"Cool."
Annie shakes her head, trying to clear it. "How's Troy doing?"
"He's pretty quiet. I think he's still upset."
"Did you catch any of what he was saying last night?"
"I got something about Britta. You?"
"Same."
"Hmm. Well, the shower's all yours."
"Thanks."
Annie resists the almost overwhelming urge to lie back down again, and gets up like she should. But she might as well be moving through molasses. Everything seems to be taking twice the effort, and three times as long. The pestering pain in the back of her head certainly isn't helping.
In the shower, Annie's mind drifts to Jeff's last text. That really bothers her too for some reason. Thanks again? She would have expected something like How are things going with Troy? or Hey, I managed not to piss off my mom in the fifteen minutes we spent alone or something. SOMETHING other than just... thanks again. It's like he was thanking her for looking after his cat.
Not that Jeff would ever have a cat, probably.
Then cats make Annie think of Britta, which makes her think of Troy. And Britta.
Wait a minute...
Is it just Troy and Britta? Or is it Troy AND Britta...? Huh.
It doesn't quite explain everything Troy was saying last night. But the idea is enough of a distraction that Annie doesn't think about Jeff again until she sits down to have a quick breakfast. It's the smell of coffee that does it. The same thoughts from earlier start circling in her head, but they have nowhere to land. So she tries (and mostly fails) to ignore them.
The walk to school is strained and silent. Troy is obviously preoccupied with his thoughts, Annie with hers, and, well, Abed is in his own world on the best of days.
Annie is irritated. And she's irritated that she's irritated, because there's no reason for her to be so irritated. I mean, of course she's kind of mad at Jeff for confusing her, but there's no way he did it on purpose. They had a fun day together. Dinner went fine, and they both accomplished what they set out to do. Why isn't that enough? She supposes it could just be the headache, which IS really irritating. But that's not all of it. She just feels... uncomfortable. Out of sorts.
Normally, Annie looks forward to school. She looks forward to her classes, and especially to meeting with the group. Today, though, she just really wants to get the day over with so she can go back to bed.
They're the first to arrive in the group room, and take their usual seats. Annie pulls everything she needs from her backpack and arranges it in front of her out of easy habit. She's barely paying attention. She absently flips through one of her notebooks until she stumbles across her anatomical diagrams, and has to snap the book shut.
She should just ASK him. That's what she needs to do, she needs to just talk to Jeff, and ask him what the hell he meant. But the prospect makes Annie nervous, and she's not sure why.
Which only serves to makes her headache worse.
Shirley arrives, bidding them a warm hello, and Annie surfaces out of her own head long enough to return the sentiment. Then she retreats back into her thoughts while Shirley gushes about the wonderful time she had skating with her boys yesterday.
Okay, so I'll find some time today to speak to Jeff. He can't get out of telling the truth if I just point-blank ASK him.
...except... that he has once, already.
The realization slowly dawns on Annie while Shirley's story goes in one ear and out the other.
She's done this before.
THEY'VE done this before, her and Jeff.
She's had all of these same thoughts before, especially during the whole "let's let Rich into the study group" fiasco. She was sure then, too, that there was something underneath Jeff's distaste for Rich, some reason that had something to do with her.
And she HAD asked him about it. She couldn't have asked him more clearly. And all she had gotten out of him was the vaguest response in the history of vague responses. ("I wish I could give you an answer that makes sense, but relationships are complicated, and we're in the men's room.")
Dammit.
Now that she thinks about it, she was wrong about Rich in that situation, too. She was SURE he was interested in her, that's the only reason she mustered up the courage to ask him out. But he'd turned her down. She was completely sure, and had been completely wrong.
Maybe I'm just terrible at reading people. Maybe none of what happened yesterday meant anything. Maybe, to Jeff, it was just a day spent with a friend, and everything that happened in the evening was fake.
And that's fine, because we ARE friends.
It's fine.
...so why don't I feel fine?
"Good morning mortals," Pierce greets them brightly as he comes in. "Hey, where's Sour Face? And Pointy Face?"
"Not here yet," Abed says.
"Well, duh, I can see that. Think they're..." he makes a lewd gesture with his fingers. "...again?"
"No!" Annie and Troy both protest. They quickly exchange a curious look.
Huh, maybe I was right about there being a Troy AND Britta...
"If you say so," Pierce says, settling into his seat. "Hey, speaking of..." he gestures. "Did I ever tell you guys about the time I got stuck in an elevator with Raquel Welch?"
"No, but I'm sure you're about to," Jeff quips as he comes through the door.
Britta is with him, but that doesn't bother Annie. What DOES bother her is the fact that he doesn't look at her.
"Oh, there you two are," Pierce astutely observes. "And how was the sex?"
Jeff narrows his eyes as he takes his seat. "What sex?"
"Between you and Brittles. You guys are both late, I just assumed."
"What? No!" Jeff exclaims. He still hasn't acknowledged Annie yet. "Ugh, no. Just... no."
"Gee, why don't you say how you REALLY feel, Jeff?" Britta asks snidely.
"Shut up. Plus, what are we, FIVE minutes late? You really think we had sex in five minutes?"
"Yeah, that's like four more minutes than you need."
Jeff glares at Britta. "What is your problem?"
"What is YOUR problem?"
He smirks. "Good one."
"Is... is everybody all right this morning?" Shirley asks, making sure to keep a smile on her face.
That's a good question.
"I'm fine," Britta grumbles, sounding anything but fine.
"I'm just hungover," Jeff says.
Annie takes a closer look. He does seem a little rough around the edges this morning. Why would he be hungover, though?
Abed tilts his head. "I didn't know you guys drank last night."
"WE didn't. I did."
"Speaking of doing... So, Raquel and I were staying at the same hotel..."
Annie tunes out Pierce's story. She watches Jeff pull out of his phone, and do... whatever it is that always keeps Jeff so occupied on his phone. He still hasn't looked at her, hasn't said good morning, hasn't even acknowledged her presence.
It feels a little like a slap in the face. Okay, a LOT like a slap in the face. A very sobering slap in the face.
Oh, SCREW HIM and his handsome pointyness. I can't figure him out. I can't control him, and I can't make him say something he doesn't want to say. So, screw trying to figure out what HE wants.
What do I want?
Annie works out her options. Number one: they can be friends. Number two: they can... not be friends at all.
And that's it. Given the circumstances, those are her choices. So she needs to decide if she wants to be friends with Jeff or not. Or, she supposes, if she CAN be friends with Jeff or not.
But the idea of NOT being friends with Jeff just seems... ludicrous! That would mean never seeing him at all. And even though she once told him that was what she wanted (to stop being friends), it wasn't true. She also told him she finds him creepy and gross, and that's even less true.
I guess I'm not completely innocent of lying to him, either.
So, friends then. She can do that. That's what they've been doing all along. Right?
She pulls out her phone and sends him a text.
Good morning :)
Jeff's expression doesn't change, but she sees him type something back.
Morning
Well that's... something. She has to ask, even though Shirley did already.
You okay?
He hits three buttons (four if you include "send").
Yep
Annie frowns, and resists asking him why he won't look at her. Maybe she just needs to be more specific.
Were things okay with your mom after I left?
He narrows his eyes slightly.
It was ten minutes in the car, you think I screwed it up that quickly?
Okay, texting was a bad idea, you can't convey tone in text.
No, I just didn't really hear from you last night
I was just curious
Jeff purses his lips.
I didn't hear from you, either
That's true, Annie didn't contact him.
I was kind of busy dealing with a hysterical Troy
Jeff steals a quick glance at Troy. Or maybe Annie just imagines he does.
And I was busy drinking
Annie puts her phone down on the table. This isn't working. The whole exchange has just left a bad taste in her mouth.
"...so after I regaled her with stories of my time in Africa, she FINALLY agreed to blow me, and-"
"No!" Shirley interrupts. "No, mm-mmm, that's enough! This is terrible story, Pierce! How come the rest of you all are okay with sitting here and listening to it? What is wrong with everybody?"
"Nothing," Troy says grimly.
"Annie? What about you? You've been awfully quiet."
Annie smiles at Shirley. "I'm fine, just tired," she lies. Oh great, she's lying to Shirley now? Maybe Jeff is rubbing off on her...
"Dean dong!" the dean sings at the door.
Everyone groans out of habit, but Annie is certainly glad for the distraction.
"What do you want?" Jeff asks him, a little harshly.
"Now, is that any way to say 'good morning', Jeffrey? What would your mother say?"
Jeff very slowly and deliberately lifts his head to look at the dean, a fake smile plastered to his face. "Good morning. What do you want?"
The dean rolls his eyes. "Well that's... better, I suppose. And I don't WANT anything, I just came by to see if Abed needed any assistance with his latest movie project."
Annie and Jeff both turn to Abed in alarm.
Abed looks confused. "No, why would I need your assistance?"
"Oh, well, I'm sure you have it under control. It just sounds like an interesting project, I can't wait to see how it turns out."
"But I haven't even told you what my latest movie project is."
Oh, crap!
"Annie told me about it yesterday. Anyway, if you'd like any help, just... let me know." He clasps a hand on Jeff's shoulder. "You know where to find me."
"Okay," Abed says, still looking confused.
The dean stays where he is for a second, with his hand still on Jeff. When nobody says anything else, he reluctantly leaves with a dramatic sigh.
"Okay, what was THAT about?" Britta asks, before the dean is probably out of ear shot.
"Nothing," Jeff snaps.
Abed is looking at Annie. "Why did you tell Dean Pelton about my movie?"
She blushes. Of course, Abed ALWAYS has a movie project on the go. "I didn't."
"Then what on Lord's good earth was he talking about?"
"What part of NOTHING is hard for you to understand?"
"Don't you take that tone with me, Jeffrey," Shirley warns.
"Ugh, can we just... study, please? Last I checked, we were still a study group." Jeff throws open his biology textbook.
"Actually, I'd like to know why you lied to the dean," Abed says.
Jeff sighs, exasperated. "WHY?"
"Because this lie involves me, apparently."
Abed's right, they shouldn't have dragged him into it. "It was my fault," she tells him. "Dean Pelton saw us in the grocery store yesterday, so to deflect from the fake relationship stuff, I told him we were just doing scenes for your movie."
"Oh, so you guys are lying WITHIN your lies now, that's a step in the right direction," Britta says with a sneer.
Abed still looks confused. "Was Jeff's mom with you?"
"What? No, of course not."
"Then why were you acting like a couple?"
Annie can feel her face burning. "We weren't."
"But then how did he something what was going on?"
"Because he always knows EVERYTHING that's going on," Jeff jumps in. "Look, if we're not going to study, I'm going to get a coffee."
"Hmm. I still think you're leaving something out."
"That's it," Jeff says, slamming his book shut. Then without another word, without a good bye, without even so much as a glance in the group's direction, he grabs his things, stands, and leaves.
He didn't look at Annie once.
Not ONCE.
"Oh dear," Shirley says sadly. "Should someone go after him?"
"Ugh, I will," Britta offers.
"I BET you will," Troy bites at her.
"And what is THAT supposed to mean?"
"Oh, I think you know."
Britta scowls at him.
"Would anyone like to hear the rest of my story?" Pierce asks cheerfully.
Everyone responds in unison with an emphatic "NO."
"Well fine, then I'll see you gaywads at lunch," Pierce mumbles, looking hurt. He leaves as well.
"Why aren't you off chasing after Jeff yet?" Troy asks bitterly.
"Ugh! Why don't you grow up?"
"Why don't you SHUT up?!"
"How about I do you one better, and leave!" Britta practically shouts, storming out.
"You were already leaving!" Troy yells at her back. Then his face contorts, and Annie can see the inevitable tears.
"Oh, no, Brit-ta! Wait!" Shirley calls, following her out the door.
Troy bites his fist, trying to hold back a sob. But it doesn't work, and he runs out of the room (in the opposite direction) just as he starts crying.
"I should probably..." Abed says, pointing after Troy.
Annie nods.
Abed leaves.
And Annie is left alone in the group room, wondering exactly when and how everything went to hell.
She needs a plan.
If she's going to get through the day, and the weekend probably... hell, the rest of her time at Greendale even, she's going to need a plan. She can't sit here and think about Jeff, because it gets her nowhere. As much as she thinks she might know, the only way to know for sure is to ask him.
And she can't do that. If she backs him into a corner, he's going to lash out. Push her away. Whenever they get close, that seems to happen.
Like this morning.
That WAS really rude of him, wasn't it? Even if I take him at his word, being hungover shouldn't have stopped him from acknowledging me. Or looking at me. It's like he's... mad at me for something.
But, again, it doesn't matter. As far as Annie knows, everything went fine yesterday, so there's no reason for him to be mad at her. And it's like Abed said, you can't know what's going on underneath. All you can know for sure is what you see, and what people do. If Jeff had wanted to be with Annie, he would have done something about it.
It's not like he never had the chance...
Annie absolutely refuses to let her thoughts get the better of her. She'd probably go crazy again before she figured Jeff out.
So that's enough. We are friends, and I will act accordingly. No more why's, no more what-if's, no more reading into anything.
It's easier said (or thought, as the case may be) than done, but it's a start.
Annie spends the rest of the morning immersing herself in her classes. She participates even more than normal, takes even more notes, and keeps her brain as filled as she can. Every time thoughts about Jeff intrude, which happens more often than she'd like, she simply bats them away like annoying flies.
And, just like annoying flies, they keep coming back.
Buzzing in her ear.
Saying things like, "But the kiss! You can't ignore that!"
Sure she can, stupid thought-flies. She can ignore it all. She HAS to ignore it all if she's going to stand a chance at actually being Jeff's friend. There's just no way around it.
So she lets them buzz away, refusing to listen to them.
By the time lunch rolls around, she's ready for bed again. This is exhausting, and she's running on little sleep. But the buzzing did eventually quiet down, and she got a lot of work done this morning. She just has to keep it up, and she'll be fine.
Annie scans the cafeteria for signs of anyone else, and is relieved to spot Shirley and Britta. She quickly grabs some food and joins them. She can tell that Shirley is trying really hard to keep Britta in good spirits, but Britta looks positively miserable.
"Oooh, how about some ice cream?" Shirley suggests. "I'll go get us some!"
Once Shirley is far enough away, Annie leans across the table to Britta, who is staring down at her mostly empty plate. "Are you okay?"
"Why wouldn't I be okay?" Britta mumbles without looking up.
"Well, I know you and Troy had a fight yesterday, and I was-"
Britta's head snaps up and she grabs Annie's wrists. "Did he tell you what about?"
"What? Um, no. I mean, not exactly."
Britta tightens her grip, panic streaking across her face. "What did he say?"
"Nothing! Just that you guys had a fight. I didn't understand the rest." Annie had NOT expected a reaction like this.
Britta lets go, and looks down at her plate again. "I'm fine."
It's such an obvious lie that it makes Annie wonder if any of them ever tell the truth about anything.
Ever.
Pierce and Abed arrive shortly after, and they're subjected to the rest of Pierce's story. Which, really, is just more lies. Disgusting, repulsive lies. But it means that Annie doesn't have to say anything, so she supposes there's a silver lining.
Troy doesn't show up for lunch.
Neither does Jeff.
In fact, Annie doesn't see or hear from Jeff for the rest of the day. And that bothers her. It really, really, REALLY bothers her. Even if they're not going to TALK, she'd still like to talk. She has the sinking feeling that he's avoiding her, which only strengthens her theory that he's mad.
But WHY would he be-
NO. No why's. You can't know why, and if you ask him why, you know he's going to deny it. So just go back to ignoring it like you did this morning. Stick to the plan.
But her plan doesn't work as well for the afternoon. She finds herself repeatedly checking her phone, and scolds herself each time she does. The buzzing of the Jeff thought-flies gets louder and louder until her head is pounding. All of the thoughts from the past two days are crashing into each other, wearing down her resolve, making her more and more frustrated.
And by 3:00pm, after not hearing a peep from him all day, her plan has crumbled completely. She can handle being friends with Jeff. She WANTS to be friends with Jeff. And that's clearly all that he wants too. She's okay with that. (No really, it's fine.)
But she can't handle being ignored.
ESPECIALLY not after what she did for him.
So she waits for Jeff outside of his last class, fiddling with the straps of her backpack, trying to keep her ever-growing anger in check.
"Annie? What are you doing here?"
She turns to see Britta, of all people. "I'm waiting for Jeff. Wait, what are YOU doing here?"
"Oh, well, I'm also... waiting for Jeff."
"I KNEW it!" Troy shouts from behind them, having apparently materialized out of thin air.
"You knew WHAT?" Britta bites back.
"It's Jeff! JEFF is who you're seeing, I KNEW it!"
Britta looks scandalized. "It is NOT Jeff, okay?"
Annie takes a couple of steps backwards, trying to get out of the crossfire.
"Who the hell else would it be, Britta? He's the only other guy you ever spend time with! Why won't you just TELL me?!"
"Because! Because it's NOBODY, okay? I'm not dating ANYONE!"
Troy stares at her with his mouth open. "I DON'T UNDERSTAND YOU BRITTA! Then WHY did you-"
"Hey!" Jeff interrupts in a whisper-yell. He's leaning out of the back door of the classroom. "Would you guys mind moving your Degrassi High episode elsewhere? You're kind of disrupting my class here."
"Well, we were waiting for you," Britta coolly informs him.
Jeff sighs and looks from Britta to Troy. And then... back to Britta.
For Annie, it's the last straw. She deliberately turns to Britta. "It's okay, apparently I don't even exist, so that's one less person for him to talk to," she says through a forced smile, turning on her heel to walk away.
"Annie, wait."
But she's tired of waiting for him. She's tired of him lavishing attention on her, and then taking it away again. She's tired of only being around him when it's convenient for him.
"Annie! Stop, come on."
Jeff grabs her arm, and she whips around to face him, all of her frustration and anger on the brink of bursting. "Why are you avoiding me?"
He looks startled, and his eyes fix onto some spot above her shoulder. "What? I'm not-"
"Oh, come off it, Jeff! You've barely said a word to me all day! You haven't even LOOKED at me!"
"Annie, I-"
"You're not looking at me right now!"
He clenches his jaw, and reluctantly meets Annie's gaze. But only for a split second. Which is almost even worse.
"Did I say something to piss you off?"
"No."
"Well, did I DO something then?"
"No."
Annie's at a loss. She laughs dryly. "Have I done ANYTHING in the past three days aside from help you?!"
"No!"
"Then WHAT is your problem?!"
Jeff opens his mouth to say something, but then clamps it shut.
See? Pointless! Annie turns to leave again.
But again, he stops her. "What did you say to my mom?"
It catches Annie off-guard. "What did I- what?"
"What. Did you say. To my mom?" his voice is low, and dangerous.
"What are you TALKING about, Jeff? When?"
"When," he scoffs. "The ONLY TIME you were talking to my mom without me!"
The bathroom. What could she have possibly said in the bathroom that would make him this mad? "I don't know, Jeff, nothing!"
"Obviously you said SOMETHING."
"Yeah, I said NICE things. I said nice things about you! Seriously, what is this actually about?!"
"My mom thinks I'm love with you!" he blurts out.
That explains exactly... nothing. "What?!"
"She thinks I'm completely in love with you! She thinks you're amazing, and we should get married and have babies!"
Annie opens her mouth, but no sounds comes out. So she ends up staring at Jeff for a second, probably looking like a fish. "I'm sorry, are you mad at me because I did TOO GOOD of a job pretending to be your girlfriend?!"
"No, I'm mad because we can't ever fake break up!"
"...WHAT?!"
"Well, what the hell am I supposed to do now, Annie?! Just have you tag along to family events as my fake girlfriend forever?!"
Okay, so he's gone insane. That would explain a lot. "WHY don't you just tell her we broke up?"
"I can't, she'd kill me!"
Annie balls her hands into fists. "So... tell her I cheated on you!"
He laughs. "You know what? She wouldn't believe that."
Annie's had enough. She throws her arms in the air. "Then here's a novel idea: why don't you TELL HER THE TRUTH?! I think she deserves that!"
He narrows his eyes and points a finger at her. "I KNEW it!"
"Knew WHAT?"
"That you weren't okay with all of this! How could you be? You're willing to work out an elaborate scheme to teach me a lesson when you catch me lying about ONE class, but you're okay with me lying to my mom for thirteen years?! I KNEW that wasn't possible!"
Something snaps. Annie takes a step forward, right into his personal space. "No, you know what? I was okay with it. I was totally with you on this, Jeff, until I talked to her in the bathroom!"
"WHY?! What the hell did she say?!"
"That all she's ever wanted is for you to be happy! That she wants to know who you are, and be a part of your life! I mean, god, Jeff, she's so NICE! She's so FORGIVING! Why the hell are you so scared of telling her the truth?!"
Jeff rubs his face, clearly frustrated. "You don't understand, okay?! You don't understand what it's like to-" he cuts himself off.
Annie takes another step toward him. Now they're mere inches from each other. "I don't understand what it's like to... what?"
Yet again, he avoids her gaze. "Nothing, never mind."
"No, no, PLEASE go ahead, Jeff. Say it. I don't understand what it's like to disappoint my parents?! Or was it, I don't understand what it's like to have a mother who's caring, and forgiving, and supportive, and who wants to be a part of my life?! Because then you're right, I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THAT'S LIKE!"
As Annie storms off down the hall (he doesn't try to stop her this time), it hits her.
It wasn't guilt she was feeling yesterday.
It was envy.
She's ENVIOUS of Jeff. That he has a mother who's not ashamed of him, even after finding out some he's made some terrible choices. That he has a mother who clearly loves him, and cares about him, and wants to know him.
And she's mad at Jeff for squandering it.
She walks home, absolutely fuming.
Maybe we can't be friends.
...Maybe I don't WANT to be friends.
The worst part is: Annie honestly doesn't know. She doesn't know what she wants from Jeff. And the more she tries to think about it, the angrier she gets.
Continue to Part B...