Benched (1/1)
Title: Benched
Author: office_bluth
Rating/Warnings: PG. There's one very mild bad word in there somewhere.
Word Count: 4500
Disclaimer: I don't own Community or anything else I may reference in here. I do, however, own a Greendale shirt. So. Yeah.
Summary: Greendale study groups are put on hiatus. Naturally, the students are not pleased.
Author's Note: This is by far the most meta thing I have ever written ever. At one point, I get meta about being meta. Really, this is a love letter to this fandom. The outpouring of support for this show has been amazing - so amazing, in fact, that I had to write a fic about it. See if you can find all the references to the fandom movements!
Attention, Greendaliens!
Due to budget constraints, Greendale Community College is hereby putting all study groups on a hiatus. Group studying (alternatively: “co-learning”) will no longer be supported, and anyone caught learning in a group of three or more people will face disciplinary action.
To combat this prohibited action, all teachers will be on high alert. Additionally, all study rooms will be kept locked at all times. All the personal items we found in these study rooms have been collected and are available in the lost and found box at the front desk. Thank you for your cooperation.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Jeff stares at the bulletin board in disbelief. Dean Pelton sighs, hanging his head in shame. “I’m sorry, Jeffrey, but there’s nothing I can do. Our budget’s tighter than ever.”
“So you’re putting study groups on hiatus?” Jeff asks incredulously. “That’s not fair. You can’t do this.”
“Yeah!” Annie chimes in, crossing her arms. “This is a school. How can you rank education under slushie machines in the cafeteria and new electric pencil sharpeners?”
“Ah,” the dean says, holding up a finger in triumph. “Those pencil sharpeners are eco-friendly, thank you very much. I’m willing to spend a few more dollars in the name of saving the earth.”
“That makes no sense!” Jeff shouts, waving his arms. “None of this does! You can’t put a group on hiatus. By definition, it means that more than two people are meeting. You can’t shut that down.”
“Yeah!” Shirley adds. “We don’t have to have our meetings in the library. We can just sit around someone’s dining room table or go to a real library.”
“Your stupid rule won’t work,” Annie informs him. “We have other places we can meet.”
The dean sighs. “Legally, I have no say in what you do off-campus. As much as I might want to know what you do behind closed doors.” This, naturally, is delivered with wide eyes and a toothy smile, naturally directed towards Jeff. “But we can’t allow co-studying to occur on-campus, especially not after all the damage you’ve caused over the last three years.” He turns to Shirley. “You gave birth in a classroom and absolutely ruined the carpet -“ Then he points at Abed, “- you defaced a wall, which cost over $3000 to fix -“ then Annie, “- and thanks to your childish meltdown at the Model UN showdown, you ruined three brand-new microphones. And that’s to say nothing of the time you all completely trashed the study room and ripped up the carpeting. And all the damage Chang has caused…” He shudders.
“Chang isn’t in the group,” four people say simultaneously.
The dean scoffs. “Whatever. The point is, we simply don’t have the money to keep cleaning up your mess. I can’t stop the seven of you from being friends, but you cannot be a study group until…March at the earliest.”
Britta furrows her brows. “Why March?”
“We’ve got our fingers in a few pies,” the dean answers evasively, rocking his body back and forth. “We’ve got a few new projects that might work us for us. We just have to wait and see. If our new endeavors don’t work out, then we’ll just go back to what we know.”
Abed blinks. “This is Cougar Town all over again,” he murmurs. Troy sympathetically squeezes his best friend’s shoulder.
“Breathe. It’s okay. We’ll get through this,” the athlete tells Abed comfortingly. Abed takes a deep breath.
Britta takes a step closer to the dean, getting in the squirrely man’s face. “We’re not done,” she says in her most threatening voice. “You forget who you’re dealing with. We’re gonna fight - and we’re gonna win. Because this is something we love. And you don’t get to take that away from us.”
With that, she turns on her heel and stomps away. It takes a moment for the rest of her group - er, her friends ¬- to realize they’re supposed to follow. They catch up with Britta outside the library.
“We need to sit down and figure out what we’re going to do about this,” Annie says.
Pierce nods. “To the study room?”
Everyone nods. “Sounds good to me,” Jeff says. They turn and walk back up the stairs…then stop at the same time.
“Crap,” Jeff says under his breath. “This is gonna be harder than I thought.”
- - -
“Okay.” Britta claps her hands together to gather everyone’s attention. The gesture is a bit unnecessary - given the cramped space, there’s no room to do anything but stare at each other.
Pierce had recommended the use of his Dungeons and Dragons hideaway to formulate their plan. The room, not their preferred supply closet, is cramped, forcing the seven of them to be very much in violation of everyone else’s personal space.
“Abed and I have decided to take the lead on this,” the blonde announces, “since I have experience with guerilla movements and Abed has experience with campaigns to save struggling TV shows.”
“And isn’t that what we are?” Abed poses the (hopefully rhetorical) question, quirking an eyebrow. Everyone decides to gloss over that one.
“Okay,” Jeff says, crossing his arms. The movement almost knocks Annie to the floor. He mutters a quick apology before continuing. “So what are you guys thinking?”
“Well, my training has told me that peaceful protests will do a lot,” Britta says. “Sit-ins, write-in campaigns, that sort of thing.”
Abed nods. “Write-ins also work for TV. Letters showing support, quoting the show, things like that. Also: mail-ins. The Jericho fandom mailed CBS peanuts in reference to a Skeet Ulrich quote in the finale. We mail in things related to the library and studying, and we’re guaranteed to get our show back.”
Everyone blinks. “I - did not understand a word of that,” Pierce says. “You’re saying we need to mail the dean peanuts?” He pauses. “Yeah, I can see why he’d like that.”
“He’s saying we need to band everyone together and send in an object related to studying,” Troy translates. “Like…pens. Or maybe something related to the school, like fake applications or diplomas or something.”
“Or textbooks,” Pierce adds. “That’s related to studying, right?”
“Right,” Abed says. He quickly scribbles something down on his legal pad. “Cool. Cool cool cool. Okay. So other things we can do. We need to utilize mass media. Facebook, Twitter, social networking websites. If we get people from Greendale together, maybe branch out to study groups around the country, we can get a phrase of our choosing trending on Twitter and bring awareness to our cause.”
Everyone but Pierce nods. The older man looks around, then nods enthusiastically to join everyone else. “Sounds great!” he says cheerfully. “Trend on Faceter. That’ll definitely get our cause noticed.”
“Glad you’re on board, Pierce,” Jeff says. “Abed, make a note to explain all this later to Pierce in words he’ll understand.”
“Got it,” Abed says, dutifully writing that down. “Now. Does anyone have any suggestions for a hashtag we can use? It should be something snappy, one that people will remember.”
The group falls silent for a few minutes as they think. “’We value our education’?” Annie suggests.
“’Studying power’?”
“What’s a hashtag?”
“’This is not nice.’”
Britta bites her lip. “How many study rooms are there?”
“Six,” Annie tells her. “A through F.”
“Okay.” Britta scrunches up her nose. “What about…’six study rooms’…and something…”
“Maybe something fun?” Troy suggests. “You know, something that’ll make people want to get involved. What’s something that everyone likes?”
“Puzzles.”
“Candy.”
“Smoothies.”
“Spiderman?”
Abed writes these all down, his lips moving as he whispers each combination, feeling them out. “Six study rooms and puzzles…No…”
Then he throws down his legal pad. Except they’re all packed too tightly together, so really it just sort of bounces off Jeff’s chest. “I’ve got it,” Abed announces. “Six study rooms and a smoothie.”
“I like it,” Britta says, grinning. “Okay, now we just have to figure out how to get the word out there. How can we bring attention to this? Not just at Greendale, but everywhere?”
Troy and Abed immediately lock eyes. The latter wiggles his eyebrows. “Leave that to us,” he says with a devious smile.
- - -
“Troy and Abed in the MOOOOOOOOORNING!”
“Why, hello, everyone!” Troy says in his most pleasant voice, smoothing down the front of his sweater. “All you Greendale students out there, I’m sure you’re just as furious as we are about this new rule just laid down yesterday afternoon.”
Abed picks it up. “As of yesterday, study groups are officially banned at Greendale Community College. Citing budget cuts as the cause, Dean Craig Pelton has announced there will be no more funding going towards study groups or the antics they may get up to.”
The two hosts shake their heads. “Terrible. Terrible,” Troy says. “Just terrible.”
“Absolutely terrible,” Abed agrees before going back to reading from the cue cards. “The dean mentioned in an exclusive interview that GCC will be focusing on other projects for the time being, but higher-ups at the college may return to the fan favorite study group program sometime vaguely in March.”
“’Fan favorite’?” Troy questions, keeping his TV host smile in place as he addresses his best friend.
Abed grins widely, his cheeks stretching with the effort. “Slip of the tongue, Troy, slip of the tongue. Now. To any and all Greendale students watching who want to get involved in this cause, there will be an informational meeting tomorrow night at Britta’s apartment. If you don’t know where that is, text her.”
“Additionally,” Troy adds, smoothly following the script, “a fan-initiated movement has begun on the popular networking site Twitter. Voice your disapprovement, America. Talk about what Greendale’s done, and make sure to end all your tweets with the hashtag “six study rooms and a smoothie.’”
“Six study rooms and a smoothie!” Abed chimes in. The two perform their handshake, then turn back to the camera.
“We’re not just talking to Greendale students,” Troy says. “We want to reach everyone - students at every college, every university. Study groups are a vital part of the learning process, Annie told me just now before the show, and their absence is simply unacceptable.”
Abed leans over. “Annie wrote that line.” He gives their roommate, standing just behind the camera, a thumbs up. She returns it, blushing.
Abed continues. “This show airs on a two-week delay in other community colleges around the country. By the time our message gets out there, it might be too late. We need your help, Greendale. Spread the word.”
“Thanks for watching, Greendale,” Troy says cheerfully. “Keep your eyeballs peeled over the next few weeks, folks. We’ll be featuring members of our study group, the greatest study group on the planet, to help us spread the word.”
He and Abed lean close together. “TROY AND ABED DROPPING KNOOOOOOOOWLEDGE!”
- - -
“Okay,” Jeff says, leading the group through the hallway. “So you’ve all been checking into the library on FourSquare, right?”
“I’m the mayor of Greendale Community College Study Room F,” Pierce says happily. “Now can someone tell me what that means?”
As usual, this is ignored. “Are you all updating your Facebook statuses and tweeting during the regular study group times?” Annie asks. “Six study rooms and a smoothie has been going well, I’ve noticed you all keeping that up regularly. But don’t forget to tweet so it looks like we’re all still meeting!”
“What’s that supposed to do, again?” Britta asks, popping a piece of gum into her mouth. She begins chewing obnoxiously loud. Abed’s eye twitches every time her fat gums slam together.
“It shows unity,” Troy explains. “And it shows that we’re still committed to our group and everything. Like, we’re saying we’d rather be together than be at the mall or in class or something.”
“Exactly,” Annie says, beaming. “Guys, I know we just started, but I really feel like we’re getting somewhere. Our voices are being heard, you know? This just goes to show what happens when really passionate people work together towards something.”
“Exactly,” Jeff says. “The dean’s gonna see that he can’t mess with people like this.” He stops, turning around to address his friends. “They can take away our study room, our ability to meet, our education. But he’s going to learn that he can’t take away results. This is bigger than the seven of us. Our passion is bigger than the seven of us. And once the dean realizes that, he -“
The other six members of the group all look at each other. “What?” Jeff asks, noticing their disinterest in his speech.
Britta points behind him. “Turn around.”
He does, the question on his lips dying once he sees what room he happened to stop in front of. Study Room F. Without thinking, the group’s fearless leader had led them here, ready for another day of familiarity bred by studying and routine they all love.
“Oh,” Jeff says, so softly no one quite hears it. He reaches out and puts his hand on the handle, pulling just slightly for old time’s sake. Of course, the door doesn’t budge, though Jeff would be lying if he said he didn’t expect it to open, just for a split second.
“We’ve had a lot of good times in here, haven’t we?” Jeff asks, glancing over his shoulder. One by one, everyone joins Jeff, placing a hand on the door.
“Careful, guys,” Troy says with a small smile. “If the dean walks by, he might suspend us all for studying the construction of the door.”
That earns a few laughs. Annie, however, bites her lip, her eyes welling up with tears. “Excuse me,” she says, pushing off the door and running away, her low heels clacking against the tile as she disappears from view.
Five pairs of eyes cut over to Jeff. “That’s all you,” Shirley says.
He finds her in a supply closet - this time, it’s the right one. It’s theirs. She’s sitting on a cardboard box with her head in her hands, though she didn’t get much of a head start, so she must have just made it in here.
He sits cross-legged on the floor in front of her, waiting for her to speak first. After a moment, she lifts her head, looking at him with red-rimmed eyes.
“This sucks, Jeff,” she says. “We didn’t do anything wrong. We didn’t deserve this.”
“I know,” he says quietly, a small, placating comment to encourage her to keep going.
She shakes her head. “I don’t get it. I don’t get how they could take away something that’s just…so important to so many people. It’s not even just the group, you know? It’s a principle.”
“I know,” Jeff says, taking her hand. He simply looks at her for a moment. “We’re gonna get it back, Annie. I know I’ve been kind of an ass for the last three years, but do you think I’ve earned the right to be serious for, like, thirty seconds?”
That earns him a small smile. It’s barely perceptible, but it’s there. “I guess you can get an ass-free thirty seconds every three years,” she says.
“Thanks,” Jeff says, smirking. Then his grip on her hand tightens, and he looks at her more seriously than she even thought possible for him. “We’re not giving up,” he says. “I think we’ve all spent a lot of time in our lives wondering who we are and where we belong, and even since we started here, we’ve all wondered if this is the place for us. It’s taken some time - maybe longer for some of us - but now, all seven of us will freely admit that Greendale is where we belong. But you know what? I don’t quite think that’s it. We belong at Greendale because the group is at Greendale. This group is our home. Not this school, not that room, not that table, but each other.”
He enunciates each word individually. “They cannot take that from us.” Annie’s grin grows a bit wider. “We’re gonna get it back. I promise,” Jeff says gravely.
“I know we will,” Annie says. “If you’re in charge, I know we’ll win.”
“Technically, I think Britta and Abed are in charge,” Jeff says, though he can’t help but feel flattered. As always, getting close to losing the group is exactly what he needs to remember just how important they all are to him - though, of course, they’re not losing this group. Not in any form.
Annie just smiles at him. “I think we all know that’s not true.” Then she sighs. “All right. I had my breakdown. Now I have to get it together. We’ve got a room to unlock.”
“Damn right we do.” Jeff stands, then extends a hand to help Annie to her feet. “Come on. Last I heard, Abed was talking about organizing a flash mob. We’d better go help sort that out.”
- - -
The group drag themselves into Annie, Troy, and Abed’s apartment, exhausted and dripping sweat. The flash mob dragged a little longer than expected, and the planned sing-alongs somehow turned into a danceathon.
“Okay, if that saved our group, then I’m all for it,” Troy says, dropping in place and spreading out on the floor. “But if not, then I tore a hamstring for nothing, and that does not sit well with me.”
“You won’t be sitting well for a while, either,” Britta says, cackling at her own joke. She’s the only one. Pierce wrinkles his nose, trying to figure out exactly where that one was headed.
“So what’s next?” Shirley asks, delicately sitting down, being careful not to step on Troy. “Now that we’ve done the flash mob and are trying to tweet on Trender.”
“Close enough,” Abed says, extending a finger as he sits in his chair.
“Well,” Britta says, scrunching up her face as she thinks. “We’ve spread the word on one of our members’ cult favorite TV shows that airs exclusively on basic cable, though it’s given its host a well-known profile outside of it. We had a fan-organized flash mob, a social networking movement…Abed? How’s that mail-in campaign coming?”
“The letters are due tomorrow at 11 AM,” he says. “I’m collecting them all, and Troy and I will drop them off in the dean’s office at 5. The mail-in is still being organized, but I think if we really step up our efforts, we can set a date sometime next week.”
“Great,” Britta says. “So we’re all agreed on that, right? We’re gonna mail in a textbook?”
“We’re doing biology,” Annie confirms. “Each study group at Greendale is sending in the book for the class they study together.”
Pierce looks confused. “Won’t that interfere with people’s classes? How is anyone gonna get anything done?”
“The dean’s the one who messed with our education first,” Annie says fiercely. “If he doesn’t want us to learn, why should we want to be taught?”
Abed and Troy nod. “Tweeting it,” the former athlete tells his roommate. She blushes.
Abed and Troy grab their phones. “’If he doesn’t want us to learn…’” Troy murmurs as he types. “There. Aaaand don’t forget the hashtag.”
“How’s that going, by the way?” Jeff asks. “Are we trending yet?”
“Not yet,” Abed answers. “All your appearances on Troy and Abed in the Morning have helped gain public support. We’ve had hundreds of Greendale students pledging to join us, signing petitions, things like that. They’ve spread the word to college students all over the country.”
“There’s even a Twitter account in our name,” Troy adds. “It’s called SaveGreendaleSG. People have been tweeting and using the hashtag, and we’re setting up a mass Twitter spam in two weeks, Thursday at 8. Everyone involved with the cause is gonna go on Twitter and use the hashtag at the same time.”
“What about those polls going around?” Britta asks. “Those Greendale satisfaction polls, or whatever. Weren’t we thinking of doing something with that?”
“Oh, those things where you have to choose your favorite part about Greendale?” Jeff asks. The blonde nods. “Yeah, we’ve been spreading the word and getting people to say that their favorite part is the study groups. The poll’s in the first round right now, so they’re basically just asking people to nominate different things. If enough people nominate study groups, then they’ll be included in the final poll.”
Pierce pushes his glasses up his nose. “What happens if we win?”
“We get on the cover of the Greendale newspaper,” Jeff says. “Obviously it’s not a big media outlet or anything, but it’ll definitely bring attention to the study groups and show the dean that people here care.”
“We still have a few more ideas,” Britta says, grabbing the notepad she and Abed have been steadily filling up over the last week. “A video of people explaining why we need study groups…A joint effort to support the library’s fundraisers and stuff. If we show that we support the library, the library might support us.” She frowns a bit, amending something on one of the many lists. “There’s still a lot of things that we can do. Maybe some kind of mass studying? Like, everyone from every study group sits on the lawn and studies together. They can’t break it up if it’s pretty much every student at Greendale.”
“Maybe that could be the night we get ‘six study rooms and a smoothie’ trending?” Annie suggests. “We could have Greendale students tweet as they’re studying, and this way, they could keep tweeting throughout the night, not just one time.”
Jeff nods. “I like that,” he says, smiling at Annie. “Two Thursdays from now, you said?”
“Yup,” Abed says. “Thursday at 8. A terrible time slot, but it’ll get our message across.”
- - -
Over the next few days, their many efforts see results.
It takes Troy and Abed a half hour to drag all the sacks full of letters from college students around the country to the dean’s office. It takes UPS even longer to deliver all the packages for the mail-in campaign - as it turns out, a thousand textbooks are pretty darn heavy. Admittedly, it’s not one of the movement’s best plans, but at least it gets the dean’s attention.
They win that poll. It takes a few days of ferocious, non-stop voting, but eventually study groups pull ahead, even beating the choice of Greendale’s gay-friendly atmosphere, with over 54% of the vote. That victory leads to a cover story about study groups at Greendale, a picture of the library gracing the cover of the Greendale News.
The trajectory of their movement is only increasing as they get closer to the Thursday Night Tweet-and-Study-athon. Or at least, that’s what Abed keeps saying. The Thursday night in question, the study group joins all the other groups from Greendale and sits down right on the Greendale lawn, completely visible to all the Greendale teachers and higher-ups, and they begin studying.
“Wow!” someone from Annie’s politics class says at one point. “Did you know that Kennedy slept with Marilyn Monroe? That’s crazy!”
Pierce performs his one job: holding up a sign that says, “TWEET IT! #sixstudyroomsandasmoothie”. The man in question does so, though he looks a bit confused as to why.
Three hours into the peaceful protest, Abed checks his phone for the millionth time. “Guys,” he says sharply. “Guys. We did it. We’re trending. Look.”
He shoves his phone at Annie. She takes it from him, her eyes scanning the screen. They widen when she finds that beautiful piece of information. “Guys! We did it! We’re trending on Twitter!”
The crowd erupts in cheers. People high five each other, hug, and some even tweet about the victory. It’s all very meta.
And then Dean Pelton comes along.
He stands in front of the gathering, looking around at all the people. “What is this?” he asks. “What’s going on here?” Then he gasps. “This isn’t - You’re not all studying, are you?”
“We are,” Britta says, climbing to her feet. “And there’s nothing you can do about it. Your entire student body is out here, learning together and sharing an experience that can’t be faked or fulfilled any other way.”
“That’s what she said,” Pierce mumbles under his breath.
Dean Pelton looks aghast. “I cannot believe you would all directly break a rule like this,” he says. “How long have you been out here? I heard an uproar and came running, but judging by the bottles next to Leonard’s lap, it looks like you’ve all been out here for a while.”
Jeff stands, joining Britta’s side. “We have,” he says, crossing his arms. “Because that’s what people do, Dean. When they lose something they care about, they don’t sit back and wait for whoever’s in charge to maybe one day change their mind. They fight for it. They stand up and say that what’s happened isn’t okay. And this? Is not okay.”
The dean looks around for a moment, as if searching for some comeback, and then sighs, hanging his head. “You got me,” he says. “Our other efforts didn’t work out. We hired a new financial consultant and put a lot of faith in her, but Whitney Chelsea just didn’t work out. She focused too much on happy hour at that bar down the street, National Beer Company, and she didn’t work out. We’re bringing back what the people want. Congratulations, Greendale - you’re back.”
He gestures to Chang, who then stomps up the library steps and unlocks the door. The crowd doesn’t quite respond as expected.
The dean sighs. “It’s symbolic,” he says. “The study rooms are unlocked. Study groups are no longer banned at Greendale.”
It takes maybe three seconds before everything absolutely erupts. People form a mob, moving together and thrashing back and forth, their excitement creating a low hum that seems to ring in the air.
The seven that started it all manage to squeeze out of the crowd, walking up the library steps with no real destination in mind. Of course, they don’t need to be aware of where they’re going. That’s the funny thing about going home: you don’t even realize you’re doing it. It’s just a pull you feel, like a magnet set deep in your gut, that tells you not where you want to be, but where you belong.
For the first time in over two months, the group takes their seats around their table. They’re silent for a few minutes, simply looking around and breathing it all in, all doing their best to accept the fact that it’s back. They fought and kicked and screamed for eight long weeks, without the promise of reward, for something that could have been lost forever.
“We did it, guys,” Annie says finally, breaking the silence. “This was because of us. We saved the group.”
“We did, didn’t we?” Britta beams. “I’m pretty proud of us.”
Abed lets out a dramatic sigh. “I love this fandom.”
Author: office_bluth
Rating/Warnings: PG. There's one very mild bad word in there somewhere.
Word Count: 4500
Disclaimer: I don't own Community or anything else I may reference in here. I do, however, own a Greendale shirt. So. Yeah.
Summary: Greendale study groups are put on hiatus. Naturally, the students are not pleased.
Author's Note: This is by far the most meta thing I have ever written ever. At one point, I get meta about being meta. Really, this is a love letter to this fandom. The outpouring of support for this show has been amazing - so amazing, in fact, that I had to write a fic about it. See if you can find all the references to the fandom movements!
Attention, Greendaliens!
Due to budget constraints, Greendale Community College is hereby putting all study groups on a hiatus. Group studying (alternatively: “co-learning”) will no longer be supported, and anyone caught learning in a group of three or more people will face disciplinary action.
To combat this prohibited action, all teachers will be on high alert. Additionally, all study rooms will be kept locked at all times. All the personal items we found in these study rooms have been collected and are available in the lost and found box at the front desk. Thank you for your cooperation.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Jeff stares at the bulletin board in disbelief. Dean Pelton sighs, hanging his head in shame. “I’m sorry, Jeffrey, but there’s nothing I can do. Our budget’s tighter than ever.”
“So you’re putting study groups on hiatus?” Jeff asks incredulously. “That’s not fair. You can’t do this.”
“Yeah!” Annie chimes in, crossing her arms. “This is a school. How can you rank education under slushie machines in the cafeteria and new electric pencil sharpeners?”
“Ah,” the dean says, holding up a finger in triumph. “Those pencil sharpeners are eco-friendly, thank you very much. I’m willing to spend a few more dollars in the name of saving the earth.”
“That makes no sense!” Jeff shouts, waving his arms. “None of this does! You can’t put a group on hiatus. By definition, it means that more than two people are meeting. You can’t shut that down.”
“Yeah!” Shirley adds. “We don’t have to have our meetings in the library. We can just sit around someone’s dining room table or go to a real library.”
“Your stupid rule won’t work,” Annie informs him. “We have other places we can meet.”
The dean sighs. “Legally, I have no say in what you do off-campus. As much as I might want to know what you do behind closed doors.” This, naturally, is delivered with wide eyes and a toothy smile, naturally directed towards Jeff. “But we can’t allow co-studying to occur on-campus, especially not after all the damage you’ve caused over the last three years.” He turns to Shirley. “You gave birth in a classroom and absolutely ruined the carpet -“ Then he points at Abed, “- you defaced a wall, which cost over $3000 to fix -“ then Annie, “- and thanks to your childish meltdown at the Model UN showdown, you ruined three brand-new microphones. And that’s to say nothing of the time you all completely trashed the study room and ripped up the carpeting. And all the damage Chang has caused…” He shudders.
“Chang isn’t in the group,” four people say simultaneously.
The dean scoffs. “Whatever. The point is, we simply don’t have the money to keep cleaning up your mess. I can’t stop the seven of you from being friends, but you cannot be a study group until…March at the earliest.”
Britta furrows her brows. “Why March?”
“We’ve got our fingers in a few pies,” the dean answers evasively, rocking his body back and forth. “We’ve got a few new projects that might work us for us. We just have to wait and see. If our new endeavors don’t work out, then we’ll just go back to what we know.”
Abed blinks. “This is Cougar Town all over again,” he murmurs. Troy sympathetically squeezes his best friend’s shoulder.
“Breathe. It’s okay. We’ll get through this,” the athlete tells Abed comfortingly. Abed takes a deep breath.
Britta takes a step closer to the dean, getting in the squirrely man’s face. “We’re not done,” she says in her most threatening voice. “You forget who you’re dealing with. We’re gonna fight - and we’re gonna win. Because this is something we love. And you don’t get to take that away from us.”
With that, she turns on her heel and stomps away. It takes a moment for the rest of her group - er, her friends ¬- to realize they’re supposed to follow. They catch up with Britta outside the library.
“We need to sit down and figure out what we’re going to do about this,” Annie says.
Pierce nods. “To the study room?”
Everyone nods. “Sounds good to me,” Jeff says. They turn and walk back up the stairs…then stop at the same time.
“Crap,” Jeff says under his breath. “This is gonna be harder than I thought.”
- - -
“Okay.” Britta claps her hands together to gather everyone’s attention. The gesture is a bit unnecessary - given the cramped space, there’s no room to do anything but stare at each other.
Pierce had recommended the use of his Dungeons and Dragons hideaway to formulate their plan. The room, not their preferred supply closet, is cramped, forcing the seven of them to be very much in violation of everyone else’s personal space.
“Abed and I have decided to take the lead on this,” the blonde announces, “since I have experience with guerilla movements and Abed has experience with campaigns to save struggling TV shows.”
“And isn’t that what we are?” Abed poses the (hopefully rhetorical) question, quirking an eyebrow. Everyone decides to gloss over that one.
“Okay,” Jeff says, crossing his arms. The movement almost knocks Annie to the floor. He mutters a quick apology before continuing. “So what are you guys thinking?”
“Well, my training has told me that peaceful protests will do a lot,” Britta says. “Sit-ins, write-in campaigns, that sort of thing.”
Abed nods. “Write-ins also work for TV. Letters showing support, quoting the show, things like that. Also: mail-ins. The Jericho fandom mailed CBS peanuts in reference to a Skeet Ulrich quote in the finale. We mail in things related to the library and studying, and we’re guaranteed to get our show back.”
Everyone blinks. “I - did not understand a word of that,” Pierce says. “You’re saying we need to mail the dean peanuts?” He pauses. “Yeah, I can see why he’d like that.”
“He’s saying we need to band everyone together and send in an object related to studying,” Troy translates. “Like…pens. Or maybe something related to the school, like fake applications or diplomas or something.”
“Or textbooks,” Pierce adds. “That’s related to studying, right?”
“Right,” Abed says. He quickly scribbles something down on his legal pad. “Cool. Cool cool cool. Okay. So other things we can do. We need to utilize mass media. Facebook, Twitter, social networking websites. If we get people from Greendale together, maybe branch out to study groups around the country, we can get a phrase of our choosing trending on Twitter and bring awareness to our cause.”
Everyone but Pierce nods. The older man looks around, then nods enthusiastically to join everyone else. “Sounds great!” he says cheerfully. “Trend on Faceter. That’ll definitely get our cause noticed.”
“Glad you’re on board, Pierce,” Jeff says. “Abed, make a note to explain all this later to Pierce in words he’ll understand.”
“Got it,” Abed says, dutifully writing that down. “Now. Does anyone have any suggestions for a hashtag we can use? It should be something snappy, one that people will remember.”
The group falls silent for a few minutes as they think. “’We value our education’?” Annie suggests.
“’Studying power’?”
“What’s a hashtag?”
“’This is not nice.’”
Britta bites her lip. “How many study rooms are there?”
“Six,” Annie tells her. “A through F.”
“Okay.” Britta scrunches up her nose. “What about…’six study rooms’…and something…”
“Maybe something fun?” Troy suggests. “You know, something that’ll make people want to get involved. What’s something that everyone likes?”
“Puzzles.”
“Candy.”
“Smoothies.”
“Spiderman?”
Abed writes these all down, his lips moving as he whispers each combination, feeling them out. “Six study rooms and puzzles…No…”
Then he throws down his legal pad. Except they’re all packed too tightly together, so really it just sort of bounces off Jeff’s chest. “I’ve got it,” Abed announces. “Six study rooms and a smoothie.”
“I like it,” Britta says, grinning. “Okay, now we just have to figure out how to get the word out there. How can we bring attention to this? Not just at Greendale, but everywhere?”
Troy and Abed immediately lock eyes. The latter wiggles his eyebrows. “Leave that to us,” he says with a devious smile.
- - -
“Troy and Abed in the MOOOOOOOOORNING!”
“Why, hello, everyone!” Troy says in his most pleasant voice, smoothing down the front of his sweater. “All you Greendale students out there, I’m sure you’re just as furious as we are about this new rule just laid down yesterday afternoon.”
Abed picks it up. “As of yesterday, study groups are officially banned at Greendale Community College. Citing budget cuts as the cause, Dean Craig Pelton has announced there will be no more funding going towards study groups or the antics they may get up to.”
The two hosts shake their heads. “Terrible. Terrible,” Troy says. “Just terrible.”
“Absolutely terrible,” Abed agrees before going back to reading from the cue cards. “The dean mentioned in an exclusive interview that GCC will be focusing on other projects for the time being, but higher-ups at the college may return to the fan favorite study group program sometime vaguely in March.”
“’Fan favorite’?” Troy questions, keeping his TV host smile in place as he addresses his best friend.
Abed grins widely, his cheeks stretching with the effort. “Slip of the tongue, Troy, slip of the tongue. Now. To any and all Greendale students watching who want to get involved in this cause, there will be an informational meeting tomorrow night at Britta’s apartment. If you don’t know where that is, text her.”
“Additionally,” Troy adds, smoothly following the script, “a fan-initiated movement has begun on the popular networking site Twitter. Voice your disapprovement, America. Talk about what Greendale’s done, and make sure to end all your tweets with the hashtag “six study rooms and a smoothie.’”
“Six study rooms and a smoothie!” Abed chimes in. The two perform their handshake, then turn back to the camera.
“We’re not just talking to Greendale students,” Troy says. “We want to reach everyone - students at every college, every university. Study groups are a vital part of the learning process, Annie told me just now before the show, and their absence is simply unacceptable.”
Abed leans over. “Annie wrote that line.” He gives their roommate, standing just behind the camera, a thumbs up. She returns it, blushing.
Abed continues. “This show airs on a two-week delay in other community colleges around the country. By the time our message gets out there, it might be too late. We need your help, Greendale. Spread the word.”
“Thanks for watching, Greendale,” Troy says cheerfully. “Keep your eyeballs peeled over the next few weeks, folks. We’ll be featuring members of our study group, the greatest study group on the planet, to help us spread the word.”
He and Abed lean close together. “TROY AND ABED DROPPING KNOOOOOOOOWLEDGE!”
- - -
“Okay,” Jeff says, leading the group through the hallway. “So you’ve all been checking into the library on FourSquare, right?”
“I’m the mayor of Greendale Community College Study Room F,” Pierce says happily. “Now can someone tell me what that means?”
As usual, this is ignored. “Are you all updating your Facebook statuses and tweeting during the regular study group times?” Annie asks. “Six study rooms and a smoothie has been going well, I’ve noticed you all keeping that up regularly. But don’t forget to tweet so it looks like we’re all still meeting!”
“What’s that supposed to do, again?” Britta asks, popping a piece of gum into her mouth. She begins chewing obnoxiously loud. Abed’s eye twitches every time her fat gums slam together.
“It shows unity,” Troy explains. “And it shows that we’re still committed to our group and everything. Like, we’re saying we’d rather be together than be at the mall or in class or something.”
“Exactly,” Annie says, beaming. “Guys, I know we just started, but I really feel like we’re getting somewhere. Our voices are being heard, you know? This just goes to show what happens when really passionate people work together towards something.”
“Exactly,” Jeff says. “The dean’s gonna see that he can’t mess with people like this.” He stops, turning around to address his friends. “They can take away our study room, our ability to meet, our education. But he’s going to learn that he can’t take away results. This is bigger than the seven of us. Our passion is bigger than the seven of us. And once the dean realizes that, he -“
The other six members of the group all look at each other. “What?” Jeff asks, noticing their disinterest in his speech.
Britta points behind him. “Turn around.”
He does, the question on his lips dying once he sees what room he happened to stop in front of. Study Room F. Without thinking, the group’s fearless leader had led them here, ready for another day of familiarity bred by studying and routine they all love.
“Oh,” Jeff says, so softly no one quite hears it. He reaches out and puts his hand on the handle, pulling just slightly for old time’s sake. Of course, the door doesn’t budge, though Jeff would be lying if he said he didn’t expect it to open, just for a split second.
“We’ve had a lot of good times in here, haven’t we?” Jeff asks, glancing over his shoulder. One by one, everyone joins Jeff, placing a hand on the door.
“Careful, guys,” Troy says with a small smile. “If the dean walks by, he might suspend us all for studying the construction of the door.”
That earns a few laughs. Annie, however, bites her lip, her eyes welling up with tears. “Excuse me,” she says, pushing off the door and running away, her low heels clacking against the tile as she disappears from view.
Five pairs of eyes cut over to Jeff. “That’s all you,” Shirley says.
He finds her in a supply closet - this time, it’s the right one. It’s theirs. She’s sitting on a cardboard box with her head in her hands, though she didn’t get much of a head start, so she must have just made it in here.
He sits cross-legged on the floor in front of her, waiting for her to speak first. After a moment, she lifts her head, looking at him with red-rimmed eyes.
“This sucks, Jeff,” she says. “We didn’t do anything wrong. We didn’t deserve this.”
“I know,” he says quietly, a small, placating comment to encourage her to keep going.
She shakes her head. “I don’t get it. I don’t get how they could take away something that’s just…so important to so many people. It’s not even just the group, you know? It’s a principle.”
“I know,” Jeff says, taking her hand. He simply looks at her for a moment. “We’re gonna get it back, Annie. I know I’ve been kind of an ass for the last three years, but do you think I’ve earned the right to be serious for, like, thirty seconds?”
That earns him a small smile. It’s barely perceptible, but it’s there. “I guess you can get an ass-free thirty seconds every three years,” she says.
“Thanks,” Jeff says, smirking. Then his grip on her hand tightens, and he looks at her more seriously than she even thought possible for him. “We’re not giving up,” he says. “I think we’ve all spent a lot of time in our lives wondering who we are and where we belong, and even since we started here, we’ve all wondered if this is the place for us. It’s taken some time - maybe longer for some of us - but now, all seven of us will freely admit that Greendale is where we belong. But you know what? I don’t quite think that’s it. We belong at Greendale because the group is at Greendale. This group is our home. Not this school, not that room, not that table, but each other.”
He enunciates each word individually. “They cannot take that from us.” Annie’s grin grows a bit wider. “We’re gonna get it back. I promise,” Jeff says gravely.
“I know we will,” Annie says. “If you’re in charge, I know we’ll win.”
“Technically, I think Britta and Abed are in charge,” Jeff says, though he can’t help but feel flattered. As always, getting close to losing the group is exactly what he needs to remember just how important they all are to him - though, of course, they’re not losing this group. Not in any form.
Annie just smiles at him. “I think we all know that’s not true.” Then she sighs. “All right. I had my breakdown. Now I have to get it together. We’ve got a room to unlock.”
“Damn right we do.” Jeff stands, then extends a hand to help Annie to her feet. “Come on. Last I heard, Abed was talking about organizing a flash mob. We’d better go help sort that out.”
- - -
The group drag themselves into Annie, Troy, and Abed’s apartment, exhausted and dripping sweat. The flash mob dragged a little longer than expected, and the planned sing-alongs somehow turned into a danceathon.
“Okay, if that saved our group, then I’m all for it,” Troy says, dropping in place and spreading out on the floor. “But if not, then I tore a hamstring for nothing, and that does not sit well with me.”
“You won’t be sitting well for a while, either,” Britta says, cackling at her own joke. She’s the only one. Pierce wrinkles his nose, trying to figure out exactly where that one was headed.
“So what’s next?” Shirley asks, delicately sitting down, being careful not to step on Troy. “Now that we’ve done the flash mob and are trying to tweet on Trender.”
“Close enough,” Abed says, extending a finger as he sits in his chair.
“Well,” Britta says, scrunching up her face as she thinks. “We’ve spread the word on one of our members’ cult favorite TV shows that airs exclusively on basic cable, though it’s given its host a well-known profile outside of it. We had a fan-organized flash mob, a social networking movement…Abed? How’s that mail-in campaign coming?”
“The letters are due tomorrow at 11 AM,” he says. “I’m collecting them all, and Troy and I will drop them off in the dean’s office at 5. The mail-in is still being organized, but I think if we really step up our efforts, we can set a date sometime next week.”
“Great,” Britta says. “So we’re all agreed on that, right? We’re gonna mail in a textbook?”
“We’re doing biology,” Annie confirms. “Each study group at Greendale is sending in the book for the class they study together.”
Pierce looks confused. “Won’t that interfere with people’s classes? How is anyone gonna get anything done?”
“The dean’s the one who messed with our education first,” Annie says fiercely. “If he doesn’t want us to learn, why should we want to be taught?”
Abed and Troy nod. “Tweeting it,” the former athlete tells his roommate. She blushes.
Abed and Troy grab their phones. “’If he doesn’t want us to learn…’” Troy murmurs as he types. “There. Aaaand don’t forget the hashtag.”
“How’s that going, by the way?” Jeff asks. “Are we trending yet?”
“Not yet,” Abed answers. “All your appearances on Troy and Abed in the Morning have helped gain public support. We’ve had hundreds of Greendale students pledging to join us, signing petitions, things like that. They’ve spread the word to college students all over the country.”
“There’s even a Twitter account in our name,” Troy adds. “It’s called SaveGreendaleSG. People have been tweeting and using the hashtag, and we’re setting up a mass Twitter spam in two weeks, Thursday at 8. Everyone involved with the cause is gonna go on Twitter and use the hashtag at the same time.”
“What about those polls going around?” Britta asks. “Those Greendale satisfaction polls, or whatever. Weren’t we thinking of doing something with that?”
“Oh, those things where you have to choose your favorite part about Greendale?” Jeff asks. The blonde nods. “Yeah, we’ve been spreading the word and getting people to say that their favorite part is the study groups. The poll’s in the first round right now, so they’re basically just asking people to nominate different things. If enough people nominate study groups, then they’ll be included in the final poll.”
Pierce pushes his glasses up his nose. “What happens if we win?”
“We get on the cover of the Greendale newspaper,” Jeff says. “Obviously it’s not a big media outlet or anything, but it’ll definitely bring attention to the study groups and show the dean that people here care.”
“We still have a few more ideas,” Britta says, grabbing the notepad she and Abed have been steadily filling up over the last week. “A video of people explaining why we need study groups…A joint effort to support the library’s fundraisers and stuff. If we show that we support the library, the library might support us.” She frowns a bit, amending something on one of the many lists. “There’s still a lot of things that we can do. Maybe some kind of mass studying? Like, everyone from every study group sits on the lawn and studies together. They can’t break it up if it’s pretty much every student at Greendale.”
“Maybe that could be the night we get ‘six study rooms and a smoothie’ trending?” Annie suggests. “We could have Greendale students tweet as they’re studying, and this way, they could keep tweeting throughout the night, not just one time.”
Jeff nods. “I like that,” he says, smiling at Annie. “Two Thursdays from now, you said?”
“Yup,” Abed says. “Thursday at 8. A terrible time slot, but it’ll get our message across.”
- - -
Over the next few days, their many efforts see results.
It takes Troy and Abed a half hour to drag all the sacks full of letters from college students around the country to the dean’s office. It takes UPS even longer to deliver all the packages for the mail-in campaign - as it turns out, a thousand textbooks are pretty darn heavy. Admittedly, it’s not one of the movement’s best plans, but at least it gets the dean’s attention.
They win that poll. It takes a few days of ferocious, non-stop voting, but eventually study groups pull ahead, even beating the choice of Greendale’s gay-friendly atmosphere, with over 54% of the vote. That victory leads to a cover story about study groups at Greendale, a picture of the library gracing the cover of the Greendale News.
The trajectory of their movement is only increasing as they get closer to the Thursday Night Tweet-and-Study-athon. Or at least, that’s what Abed keeps saying. The Thursday night in question, the study group joins all the other groups from Greendale and sits down right on the Greendale lawn, completely visible to all the Greendale teachers and higher-ups, and they begin studying.
“Wow!” someone from Annie’s politics class says at one point. “Did you know that Kennedy slept with Marilyn Monroe? That’s crazy!”
Pierce performs his one job: holding up a sign that says, “TWEET IT! #sixstudyroomsandasmoothie”. The man in question does so, though he looks a bit confused as to why.
Three hours into the peaceful protest, Abed checks his phone for the millionth time. “Guys,” he says sharply. “Guys. We did it. We’re trending. Look.”
He shoves his phone at Annie. She takes it from him, her eyes scanning the screen. They widen when she finds that beautiful piece of information. “Guys! We did it! We’re trending on Twitter!”
The crowd erupts in cheers. People high five each other, hug, and some even tweet about the victory. It’s all very meta.
And then Dean Pelton comes along.
He stands in front of the gathering, looking around at all the people. “What is this?” he asks. “What’s going on here?” Then he gasps. “This isn’t - You’re not all studying, are you?”
“We are,” Britta says, climbing to her feet. “And there’s nothing you can do about it. Your entire student body is out here, learning together and sharing an experience that can’t be faked or fulfilled any other way.”
“That’s what she said,” Pierce mumbles under his breath.
Dean Pelton looks aghast. “I cannot believe you would all directly break a rule like this,” he says. “How long have you been out here? I heard an uproar and came running, but judging by the bottles next to Leonard’s lap, it looks like you’ve all been out here for a while.”
Jeff stands, joining Britta’s side. “We have,” he says, crossing his arms. “Because that’s what people do, Dean. When they lose something they care about, they don’t sit back and wait for whoever’s in charge to maybe one day change their mind. They fight for it. They stand up and say that what’s happened isn’t okay. And this? Is not okay.”
The dean looks around for a moment, as if searching for some comeback, and then sighs, hanging his head. “You got me,” he says. “Our other efforts didn’t work out. We hired a new financial consultant and put a lot of faith in her, but Whitney Chelsea just didn’t work out. She focused too much on happy hour at that bar down the street, National Beer Company, and she didn’t work out. We’re bringing back what the people want. Congratulations, Greendale - you’re back.”
He gestures to Chang, who then stomps up the library steps and unlocks the door. The crowd doesn’t quite respond as expected.
The dean sighs. “It’s symbolic,” he says. “The study rooms are unlocked. Study groups are no longer banned at Greendale.”
It takes maybe three seconds before everything absolutely erupts. People form a mob, moving together and thrashing back and forth, their excitement creating a low hum that seems to ring in the air.
The seven that started it all manage to squeeze out of the crowd, walking up the library steps with no real destination in mind. Of course, they don’t need to be aware of where they’re going. That’s the funny thing about going home: you don’t even realize you’re doing it. It’s just a pull you feel, like a magnet set deep in your gut, that tells you not where you want to be, but where you belong.
For the first time in over two months, the group takes their seats around their table. They’re silent for a few minutes, simply looking around and breathing it all in, all doing their best to accept the fact that it’s back. They fought and kicked and screamed for eight long weeks, without the promise of reward, for something that could have been lost forever.
“We did it, guys,” Annie says finally, breaking the silence. “This was because of us. We saved the group.”
“We did, didn’t we?” Britta beams. “I’m pretty proud of us.”
Abed lets out a dramatic sigh. “I love this fandom.”