𝙸 𝙲𝚊𝚗'𝚝 𝙲𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚜

𝚂𝟷𝙴𝟹: 𝚂𝚝𝚞𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝙰𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚎𝚜

Based on Community S1E6: "Football, Feminism, And You"

Annabeth POV

Annabeth doesn't belong at New Rome Community College. She was top of her class in high school. She's a genius. That's who she is.

She was going to go to Berkeley. They have an amazing architecture program. It's exclusive, prestigious, and just the kind of place where people like her belong.

She belongs at a place like Berkeley.

Well, she did belong at a place like Berkeley.

That is, until the incident.

No, not the incident where she was reprimanded for throwing those tiny king cake babies at the San Francisco County Republican Party in the name of women's rights, or the time she went to school in just a trash bag to protest the dress code—that was a great day, actually—or the time she painted the homophobic English teacher's door rainbow.

The principal just slapped Annabeth on the wrist and maybe gave her a Saturday detention for those things because she was a 'bright young woman' and had 'such a nice family.'

Yeah, a bright young woman whose family disowned her because she had no other option but to enroll in some random community college nobody's ever heard of.

Not that there's anything bad about community college. It's a great option. She could transfer to a state university someday.

But here's the thing: underage possession of marijuana is going to follow Annabeth's record for a while.

That was the final straw apparently, for her ex-boyfriend, her family, and worst of all, Berkeley.

Luke broke up with her, but not because of the marijuana. He was the one that gave it to her actually.

Her family pretty much disowned her. They never paid her any attention anyway.

She sobbed like a baby the day her admission was revoked. That was her future, her chance to shine and finally not feel so...

Invisible.

Annabeth gets to the study room early today; she has a calculus test in a couple of hours that she's barely studied for. If she can review her study guide now, go over the Latin notes from yesterday with the study group, and study some more calculus over her lunch break, she should have enough time before her test to take a quick vape break. That always calms her nerves.

It's the closest thing she has to Adderall for her ADHD anyway.

And she's addicted to nicotine.

When she's sure nobody can see her, Annabeth pats the spot between her breasts. Yep, her Juul is exactly where it should be. At least there's one constant in her life.

Usually, Jason's the first person at the table. This makes sense because he likes to pretend he's still the smartest person in the room, and he should be because they're studying Latin, and he's double-majoring in classics and education.

But he's not the first person in the room today, and evidently, neither is Annabeth.

Frank is red in the face, eyes darting back and forth between his Latin textbook and... Hazel?

Well, isn't this interesting?

Annabeth takes her usual seat across from Hazel and asks, "What's going on?"

Hazel pulls away from the textbook.

Annabeth knows that look that Hazel's giving. Her ex-boyfriend Luke used to do that anytime the waiter came to their table or when someone assumed Annabeth was his little sister.