Fic: Criminology 101 (2b/?)
A/N - Too big for one post.
Part 1 // Part 2a
Annie never had any trouble with competition at Riverside. No one else had the access to pills like her, so no one else sold them. Annie was the only one, and if you wanted some, you knew to go to her. Because of that, Annie had zero experience with competition.
She sort of wished she had. In hindsight, it probably would have prepared her for this.
Starburns did, in fact, call the cops on her. They didn't say it was him, but she had a feeling.
It was really embarrassing too. A crowd had gathered, her customers looked on in guilt and confusion, from some corner Annie caught the flash of Starburns' hairy smirk.
She had flashbacks of that breakdown. The crashing into plate glass doors. The ambulance taking her away. The cops coming to see her in the hospital, telling her she'd have to go to a hearing.
She was too young to go to prison, but juvy wasn't out of the question. Luckily, her father was an influential doctor who was owed a lot of favours. Unfortunately, that was the extent of his kindness and Annie was kicked to the curb as soon as her mother got the call from the principle asking Annie not to return to school for the rest of the year.
Now she was being taken into a holding cell and given one phone call. She wasn't sure who to call. Troy and Abed might be busy, and Jeff would definitely be busy. And mad. She couldn't call her parents, they hadn't spoken to her in a little over a year.
Annie panicked momentarily, afraid that she was completely alone, before she swallowed it down and just called Troy. He'd probably think less of her now, which sort of hurt, because she wanted him to love her, but it was better than Jeff.
The police brought her in for questioning after her call. They asked her where she got the drugs and who she was working for. Annie didn't answer. They kept threatening to throw her in prison. She'd have to do at least two years for this, and she'd be lying if she said she wasn't scared. She saved face though, calm in the knowledge that Troy would help her.
Troy didn't come to help her though. Instead, Jeff showed up, looking very annoyed.
The cops seemed to know him, and didn't look too happy to see him there either.
Jeff said he was Annie's lawyer. The cops rolled their eyes, muttering about how they knew Hawthorne was behind this somehow. They tried to argue with him, but Jeff was brutal.
He tore down any arguments they had with three sentences or less, using his lawyer skills to destroy anything they may have had on Annie. Somehow, she went from being a college drug-dealer to being held against her will because of circumstantial evidence.
She had no idea how Jeff had managed it. She barely even understood half the things he said to the police, but by the time he was done the cops were uncuffing her, grumbling in annoyance and promising to wipe her record clean.
Jeff didn't wait for her to get her things back. He just walked straight to his car, and waited for her to join him there.
When she got in the passenger seat, she could cut the tension with a knife. Jeff's jaw as set, and he looked like some one who'd rather be doing anything else right now.
"I'm sorry," Annie mumbled.
Jeff didn't take his eyes away from the road. "You said you could handle it," He said. His voice was steady, and quiet, but there was a rage hidden in there, that made Annie's heart race.
Troy had told her stories about Jeff chewing people out. Apparently, it wasn't a pretty procedure, and more often than not, newbies had ended up shaken because Jeff tore them apart, limb from limb, using only his biting words.
Troy said he'd gotten chewed out by Jeff once, and had cried justifiable, manly tears.
Abed hadn't been chewed out yet, but he suspected it was because Jeff had a soft spot for him. Something about Abed meant he didn't have to follow the same rules as everyone else when it came to Jeff. Also, he probably would have stared blankly, and frustrated Jeff even further.
"I thought I could. I didn't think he'd -"
"No you didn't think," Jeff interrupted her, firmly. "You're lucky the dean is gullible. You can go back to pretending you go to school there, and you can keep your dorm room."
Annie wanted to say something, but she had a feeling this was supposed to be a one-sided conversation. She hadn't faced the full wrath of Jeff Winger, and she wasn't sure she wanted to.
"You're gonna have to lie low for a couple of weeks. Find your customers, let them know you're still in business, but nothing public. If they want it, they come to you."
Annie nodded in understanding. "What about Starburns?"
"I'll handle Starburns."
"I can -" Annie tried but Jeff interrupted her.
"No, you can't. This is my project. It's the only thing I have where I don't have to answer to Pierce and his cartoonish view of the world, and I'm not letting you ruin it. You will do as I say, and I'll take care of Starburns. Do you understand?"
"Yes," Annie said. She felt a lump in her throat, and crying was the last thing she needed right now. If she cried, Jeff would probably throw her out of his car for being weak. He was right about her. All she was was a pathetic schoolgirl.
She sniffled and gulped down her tears.
Jeff seemed to notice she was on the brink of tears though, by the way he kept glancing over, curiously. From the way he was acting, you'd think he'd never seen some one cry. He probably hadn't in a long time. Jeff wasn't the kind of guy who had time for crying.
"In future," He said softly. "If you get yourself into any trouble, skip the middle man and just call me."
Annie gave him a questioning look.
"It's my job to make sure no one on this team gets into trouble, including rookies, like you. Also, you won't have to embarrass yourself in front of your prom date."
"Troy's not my prom date," Annie muttered.
"But you wish he was," Jeff shot at her. He didn't seem angry anymore. It had melted out of him, and now he just looked the way he always looked. Tired.
"No," Annie denied. It was a rather pointless excersise. Jeff was right. Jeff knew he was right. It was one of the first things he'd ever said to her.
He scoffed.
Annie decided to screw denial. It wasn't like she was convincing anybody anyway.
"How did you know?" She asked.
"Because you can't go five seconds in the same room with him without going all googly-eyed or blushing like ... well. Like a schoolgirl." Jeff relaxed a little behind the wheel. "It's my job to read people."
"I thought your job was to get people out of trouble," Annie countered.
"I have lots of jobs," Jeff said vaguely.
"You ever gonna tell me what they are?" Annie asked.
"Not even a little," He said with a smirk. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye, giving her a gentle look she'd never seen on anyone before.
"Look, don't worry about this, alright? You're new, it happens. I made just as many mistakes as you when I started out."
Annie nodded. It was comforting hearing that. Knowing Jeff was a screw up like her once, and now he was practically running the entire thing, it gave her hope for the future. When she was young, idealistic, and still innocent, she believed she'd be great at somethign someday. Maybe this was it. Maybe crime was her calling, and she just needed to learn the ropes.
"Thanks, Jeff," She said with a smile.
XXX
The problem was, Annie was getting under his skin. Something about that doe-eyed girl just did stuff to Jeff's head, so that he couldn't be himself with her. Obviously, he was himself, but he was all soft and ... human. Jeff Winger was not a human. Jeff Winger was a cold blooded killer. Who killed. Like, murder and stuff. It was serious business.
He was the most murderous murderer to ever murder, and he wasn't about to change for anyone.
But Annie did something, and whenever he was around her, he just couldn't be that guy. He was still hard on her, like everyone, he still wanted to kill her a lot of the time, but.
But.
He couldn't explain it. It was just different.
And he resented her for it because he didn't have time for any of this. Feelings were not a part of his job, and right now, his job was to get rid of Starburns.
It was no secret that Starburns worked with Laybourne. They weren't exactly what you'd call in cahoots, but at least ten percent of Starburns' profits went right into Laybourne's bank, the same way that Chang's profits went to Pierce's. Or would be going, if Jeff had his way.
It wasn't hard to track down Starburns. Normally, for something like this, Jeff would just give him a scare, but he still wanted to give Laybourne a bigger retaliation than just Slater. One of his insignificant drug-dealers, would do just fine. He was small enough for it not to cause too much of a counter-attack, and important enough for Jeff to feel satisfied.
And boy was he satisfied.
He took his time with Starburns. He should have felt honored, not many victims had that privilege. Jeff had been having a slow day, and he figured he should treat himself, after he so valiantly got Annie out of her pickle. It wasn't too hard on Jeff's part. He'd lawyered his way out of much bigger accusations for Pierce.
With Starburns, Jeff decided to go after the things that annoyed him most. He started with the hat. Well, the hair under the hat. It wasn't like destroying the hat would inflict any pain, so Jeff scalped him instead.
Next was those stupid things on the side of his face. Jeff cut them off. And not just the hair, the skin too. It was extemely gratifying.
Starburns screamed through the whole process, but Jeff lived with Troy and Abed, so it wasn't like he wasn't used to noise.
He did his work slowly and carefuly, cherishing every drop of blood he spilled. He peeled of bits of Starburns' skin, until he was nothing more than muscle in body form.
These particular kills, the creative ones, gave Jeff a thrill he couldn't get anywhere else. Not even sex gave him such a feeling.
It probably meant he was sick in the head, or something like that, but it had worked out for him so far, so he embraced it.
Besides, he rarely had the chance to take his time with this anyway. It came every once in a while, and he was going to take advantage of the opportunity.
Starburns continued to scream, until eventually there was nothing left for him. And when Jeff was done with all the skin-peeling torture, he shot him. Right in the melon.
It was rather nice actually; Helped him a lot with all his stress.
XXX
Annie did as she was told. She layed low and let the customers come to her. Her business took a bit of a hit, because of the earlier bust, but eventually students lost their fear and came to her again. It seemed this time around, that she as getting even more customers than before. She recognized a lot of Starburns' usuals, and wondered what Jeff had done, exactly.
Starburns had fallen off the face of the earth. No one had heard from him, and no one had seen him anywhere.
Annie had a sinking feeling that he was dead. She didn't want to believe it. She knew Jeff had probably killed some one before. Even if he didn't admit it. She wasn't stupid.
But the thought of it sent shivers down her spine. She could picture it in her head, Jeff pulling the trigger on Starburns without hesitation.
She wondered if Jeff would ever do the same to her. If he would get rid of her if she screwed up.
She didn't want to find out, that was for sure.
But it intrigued her. She just wanted to know everything Jeff did, because he was already such a mystery. And not just to her, but to everyone.
The only person who seemed to understand him was Abed, and even he was caught off-guard on occasion.
Just last week, Abed was saying how Jeff had sent money to the family of a mole that had infiltrated them. That didn't seem normal for anyone. And all Annie wanted to know, was why.
It had occured to her that the more interesting Jeff became to her, the less interest she had towards Troy. She had been safely locked in the friendzone for months now. Troy had even had a few girlfriends since, never once noticing that Annie was practically throwing herself at him every chance she got.
Abed noticed. He always looked throughly amusd by it, and he never mentioned anything to Troy, which was confusing as hell. Abed was her friend; Why wasn't he helping her?
She'd asked him once, but all he said was some madness about the group dynamic. She decided to just not ask Abed anything anymore.
The thing was, she didn't want to find Jeff interesting. Jeff was dangerous, and heartless, and kind of a giant ass when he wanted to be, and sometimes when he didn't. He was complicated, and mean. He had a past with Britta, that everyone knew about, and Annie didn't want to step on any toes. Hell, Annie didn't even want to pursue it at all.
It was nothing.
It was a silly crush, because he was the bad boy.
Annie just had to forget about it for everyone's sake.
And then Jeff came up with the genius idea of teaching her the ropes.
"You're skilled, sure, but you don't know how to put them to proper use," He'd said.
And that was it. He was gonna teach her how to be a proper drug lord. She was going to spend a lot of time around him from now on, and it wasn't going to be quite as avoidable as she'd have liked.
Part 1 // Part 2a
Annie never had any trouble with competition at Riverside. No one else had the access to pills like her, so no one else sold them. Annie was the only one, and if you wanted some, you knew to go to her. Because of that, Annie had zero experience with competition.
She sort of wished she had. In hindsight, it probably would have prepared her for this.
Starburns did, in fact, call the cops on her. They didn't say it was him, but she had a feeling.
It was really embarrassing too. A crowd had gathered, her customers looked on in guilt and confusion, from some corner Annie caught the flash of Starburns' hairy smirk.
She had flashbacks of that breakdown. The crashing into plate glass doors. The ambulance taking her away. The cops coming to see her in the hospital, telling her she'd have to go to a hearing.
She was too young to go to prison, but juvy wasn't out of the question. Luckily, her father was an influential doctor who was owed a lot of favours. Unfortunately, that was the extent of his kindness and Annie was kicked to the curb as soon as her mother got the call from the principle asking Annie not to return to school for the rest of the year.
Now she was being taken into a holding cell and given one phone call. She wasn't sure who to call. Troy and Abed might be busy, and Jeff would definitely be busy. And mad. She couldn't call her parents, they hadn't spoken to her in a little over a year.
Annie panicked momentarily, afraid that she was completely alone, before she swallowed it down and just called Troy. He'd probably think less of her now, which sort of hurt, because she wanted him to love her, but it was better than Jeff.
The police brought her in for questioning after her call. They asked her where she got the drugs and who she was working for. Annie didn't answer. They kept threatening to throw her in prison. She'd have to do at least two years for this, and she'd be lying if she said she wasn't scared. She saved face though, calm in the knowledge that Troy would help her.
Troy didn't come to help her though. Instead, Jeff showed up, looking very annoyed.
The cops seemed to know him, and didn't look too happy to see him there either.
Jeff said he was Annie's lawyer. The cops rolled their eyes, muttering about how they knew Hawthorne was behind this somehow. They tried to argue with him, but Jeff was brutal.
He tore down any arguments they had with three sentences or less, using his lawyer skills to destroy anything they may have had on Annie. Somehow, she went from being a college drug-dealer to being held against her will because of circumstantial evidence.
She had no idea how Jeff had managed it. She barely even understood half the things he said to the police, but by the time he was done the cops were uncuffing her, grumbling in annoyance and promising to wipe her record clean.
Jeff didn't wait for her to get her things back. He just walked straight to his car, and waited for her to join him there.
When she got in the passenger seat, she could cut the tension with a knife. Jeff's jaw as set, and he looked like some one who'd rather be doing anything else right now.
"I'm sorry," Annie mumbled.
Jeff didn't take his eyes away from the road. "You said you could handle it," He said. His voice was steady, and quiet, but there was a rage hidden in there, that made Annie's heart race.
Troy had told her stories about Jeff chewing people out. Apparently, it wasn't a pretty procedure, and more often than not, newbies had ended up shaken because Jeff tore them apart, limb from limb, using only his biting words.
Troy said he'd gotten chewed out by Jeff once, and had cried justifiable, manly tears.
Abed hadn't been chewed out yet, but he suspected it was because Jeff had a soft spot for him. Something about Abed meant he didn't have to follow the same rules as everyone else when it came to Jeff. Also, he probably would have stared blankly, and frustrated Jeff even further.
"I thought I could. I didn't think he'd -"
"No you didn't think," Jeff interrupted her, firmly. "You're lucky the dean is gullible. You can go back to pretending you go to school there, and you can keep your dorm room."
Annie wanted to say something, but she had a feeling this was supposed to be a one-sided conversation. She hadn't faced the full wrath of Jeff Winger, and she wasn't sure she wanted to.
"You're gonna have to lie low for a couple of weeks. Find your customers, let them know you're still in business, but nothing public. If they want it, they come to you."
Annie nodded in understanding. "What about Starburns?"
"I'll handle Starburns."
"I can -" Annie tried but Jeff interrupted her.
"No, you can't. This is my project. It's the only thing I have where I don't have to answer to Pierce and his cartoonish view of the world, and I'm not letting you ruin it. You will do as I say, and I'll take care of Starburns. Do you understand?"
"Yes," Annie said. She felt a lump in her throat, and crying was the last thing she needed right now. If she cried, Jeff would probably throw her out of his car for being weak. He was right about her. All she was was a pathetic schoolgirl.
She sniffled and gulped down her tears.
Jeff seemed to notice she was on the brink of tears though, by the way he kept glancing over, curiously. From the way he was acting, you'd think he'd never seen some one cry. He probably hadn't in a long time. Jeff wasn't the kind of guy who had time for crying.
"In future," He said softly. "If you get yourself into any trouble, skip the middle man and just call me."
Annie gave him a questioning look.
"It's my job to make sure no one on this team gets into trouble, including rookies, like you. Also, you won't have to embarrass yourself in front of your prom date."
"Troy's not my prom date," Annie muttered.
"But you wish he was," Jeff shot at her. He didn't seem angry anymore. It had melted out of him, and now he just looked the way he always looked. Tired.
"No," Annie denied. It was a rather pointless excersise. Jeff was right. Jeff knew he was right. It was one of the first things he'd ever said to her.
He scoffed.
Annie decided to screw denial. It wasn't like she was convincing anybody anyway.
"How did you know?" She asked.
"Because you can't go five seconds in the same room with him without going all googly-eyed or blushing like ... well. Like a schoolgirl." Jeff relaxed a little behind the wheel. "It's my job to read people."
"I thought your job was to get people out of trouble," Annie countered.
"I have lots of jobs," Jeff said vaguely.
"You ever gonna tell me what they are?" Annie asked.
"Not even a little," He said with a smirk. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye, giving her a gentle look she'd never seen on anyone before.
"Look, don't worry about this, alright? You're new, it happens. I made just as many mistakes as you when I started out."
Annie nodded. It was comforting hearing that. Knowing Jeff was a screw up like her once, and now he was practically running the entire thing, it gave her hope for the future. When she was young, idealistic, and still innocent, she believed she'd be great at somethign someday. Maybe this was it. Maybe crime was her calling, and she just needed to learn the ropes.
"Thanks, Jeff," She said with a smile.
XXX
The problem was, Annie was getting under his skin. Something about that doe-eyed girl just did stuff to Jeff's head, so that he couldn't be himself with her. Obviously, he was himself, but he was all soft and ... human. Jeff Winger was not a human. Jeff Winger was a cold blooded killer. Who killed. Like, murder and stuff. It was serious business.
He was the most murderous murderer to ever murder, and he wasn't about to change for anyone.
But Annie did something, and whenever he was around her, he just couldn't be that guy. He was still hard on her, like everyone, he still wanted to kill her a lot of the time, but.
But.
He couldn't explain it. It was just different.
And he resented her for it because he didn't have time for any of this. Feelings were not a part of his job, and right now, his job was to get rid of Starburns.
It was no secret that Starburns worked with Laybourne. They weren't exactly what you'd call in cahoots, but at least ten percent of Starburns' profits went right into Laybourne's bank, the same way that Chang's profits went to Pierce's. Or would be going, if Jeff had his way.
It wasn't hard to track down Starburns. Normally, for something like this, Jeff would just give him a scare, but he still wanted to give Laybourne a bigger retaliation than just Slater. One of his insignificant drug-dealers, would do just fine. He was small enough for it not to cause too much of a counter-attack, and important enough for Jeff to feel satisfied.
And boy was he satisfied.
He took his time with Starburns. He should have felt honored, not many victims had that privilege. Jeff had been having a slow day, and he figured he should treat himself, after he so valiantly got Annie out of her pickle. It wasn't too hard on Jeff's part. He'd lawyered his way out of much bigger accusations for Pierce.
With Starburns, Jeff decided to go after the things that annoyed him most. He started with the hat. Well, the hair under the hat. It wasn't like destroying the hat would inflict any pain, so Jeff scalped him instead.
Next was those stupid things on the side of his face. Jeff cut them off. And not just the hair, the skin too. It was extemely gratifying.
Starburns screamed through the whole process, but Jeff lived with Troy and Abed, so it wasn't like he wasn't used to noise.
He did his work slowly and carefuly, cherishing every drop of blood he spilled. He peeled of bits of Starburns' skin, until he was nothing more than muscle in body form.
These particular kills, the creative ones, gave Jeff a thrill he couldn't get anywhere else. Not even sex gave him such a feeling.
It probably meant he was sick in the head, or something like that, but it had worked out for him so far, so he embraced it.
Besides, he rarely had the chance to take his time with this anyway. It came every once in a while, and he was going to take advantage of the opportunity.
Starburns continued to scream, until eventually there was nothing left for him. And when Jeff was done with all the skin-peeling torture, he shot him. Right in the melon.
It was rather nice actually; Helped him a lot with all his stress.
XXX
Annie did as she was told. She layed low and let the customers come to her. Her business took a bit of a hit, because of the earlier bust, but eventually students lost their fear and came to her again. It seemed this time around, that she as getting even more customers than before. She recognized a lot of Starburns' usuals, and wondered what Jeff had done, exactly.
Starburns had fallen off the face of the earth. No one had heard from him, and no one had seen him anywhere.
Annie had a sinking feeling that he was dead. She didn't want to believe it. She knew Jeff had probably killed some one before. Even if he didn't admit it. She wasn't stupid.
But the thought of it sent shivers down her spine. She could picture it in her head, Jeff pulling the trigger on Starburns without hesitation.
She wondered if Jeff would ever do the same to her. If he would get rid of her if she screwed up.
She didn't want to find out, that was for sure.
But it intrigued her. She just wanted to know everything Jeff did, because he was already such a mystery. And not just to her, but to everyone.
The only person who seemed to understand him was Abed, and even he was caught off-guard on occasion.
Just last week, Abed was saying how Jeff had sent money to the family of a mole that had infiltrated them. That didn't seem normal for anyone. And all Annie wanted to know, was why.
It had occured to her that the more interesting Jeff became to her, the less interest she had towards Troy. She had been safely locked in the friendzone for months now. Troy had even had a few girlfriends since, never once noticing that Annie was practically throwing herself at him every chance she got.
Abed noticed. He always looked throughly amusd by it, and he never mentioned anything to Troy, which was confusing as hell. Abed was her friend; Why wasn't he helping her?
She'd asked him once, but all he said was some madness about the group dynamic. She decided to just not ask Abed anything anymore.
The thing was, she didn't want to find Jeff interesting. Jeff was dangerous, and heartless, and kind of a giant ass when he wanted to be, and sometimes when he didn't. He was complicated, and mean. He had a past with Britta, that everyone knew about, and Annie didn't want to step on any toes. Hell, Annie didn't even want to pursue it at all.
It was nothing.
It was a silly crush, because he was the bad boy.
Annie just had to forget about it for everyone's sake.
And then Jeff came up with the genius idea of teaching her the ropes.
"You're skilled, sure, but you don't know how to put them to proper use," He'd said.
And that was it. He was gonna teach her how to be a proper drug lord. She was going to spend a lot of time around him from now on, and it wasn't going to be quite as avoidable as she'd have liked.