[Edward POV]
Annie and I had left the picnic in the middle of Dylan's performance. My guard had discreetly notified me about the gas leak and stealthily escorted us away from the crowd. As it turned out, it was the right move, considering the riot that soon erupted.
"You predicted this," Annie murmured with awe as we walked to my car. She turned to me with confusion, "Why did you still let the dean tell them if you know this is going to happen?"
I turned to Annie and smirked, "I didn't let him. He went AWOL. Now, he's paying the price."
Annie's eyes widened, and she asked, "Are you going to save him?"
"No need. Frankie is there. She'll know what to do," I replied casually. "Let's get out of here. I'll drive you home," I offered.
Annie wanted to come along, but suddenly she remembered something. "Wait! T-There's no need for that. I can go home by myself. You don't have to–"
"If this is about your apartment located above the 'Dildopolis' store, then you don't have to worry," I interjected with a chuckle before I slowly grabbed her hand.
Annie muttered with self-depreciation, "So, you already know?"
"Why? Do you think I'll look down on you or something? On the contrary, I thought you're really brave to risk living in that neighborhood to continue your education. I admire you for doing that."
Annie blushed and said, "You really know how to make a girl fall in love."
"Yet, I cannot make you fall in love with me," I quipped, which made Annie widen her eyes for a bit before she let out a short yelp as I pulled her hand to walk to the car.
In that short moment, I saw it clearly. The way she was looking at me, it was a gaze of limerence - an infatuated, idealized adoration that had little to do with who I truly was. She had constructed a preconceived impression of me in her mind, elevating me to a pedestal of her own making.
I realized then that we could never truly connect, well, not on the first date. I couldn't help but acknowledge the power I held over her - I was certain I could manipulate her, get her to do anything I wanted. But, if I did, then I'll just be the same as the other star who slept around with their groupies.
As that realization dawned on me, I felt a deep sense of unease. Would I really stoop to taking advantage of this naive girl, whose most fervent wish was simply to hold hands with a boyfriend at Disneyland? To turn her into a momentary diversion, a one-night stand?
"Edward?" She called, snapping me out from my thoughts. "Oh sorry, I was thinking about this college." I said before I asked, "Annie, do you have any specific complaints about this place? Part of which you think can be better?"
Her eyes lit up, "You want to hear my thoughts about it?"
"Sure. If I need to ask someone, then who'll be better to ask then the students that go here."
I drove the black Nissan Xterra SUV to Annie's neighborhood. Annie became a bit nervous as we were heading to her house. "You shouldn't park here long. Go home immediately after dropping me off." She advised with a slight panic.
I patted her hand to calm her down and said, "Don't worry. There's literally a convoy following me from behind. Check the side mirror." Annie was confused, and then she saw 2 SUVs protecting my car.
The once-vibrant commercial district had fallen on hard times. Vacant storefronts dotted the landscape, their dusty neon signs flickering feebly in the gathering dusk.
Unkempt lots were littered with the detritus of foreclosure - broken glass, rusted shopping carts, abandoned furniture. In the distance, a small fire burned in a metal drum as homeless individuals sought shelter from the late fall chill.
Amid the decay, a single neon sign stood out - the bright glow of "Dildopolis" drawing the eye. Adult toys were hung by the store glass, like they were butcher's meat.
I asked Annie with disbelief as I stopped the car in front of the store, "You, really live here?"
Annie lowered her head and said, "Um, this place seems a little bit better in the morning. Also…Um…the rent is very cheap."
"By the way, mind if I see your place?" I asked her politely. She blushed and said, "Um, it's only the first date. I don't think it's appropriate."
"Ah, this isn't part of the date. The date ended when the gas leak happened." I said. Annie jolted in surprise, "What?! It is over?!"
I nodded and said, "Yes. So, can I get up there or not?"
Annie hesitated for a bit before she said, "Okay then. Just…for 5 minutes, okay?!"
"Okay! Don't worry. I'm a gentleman." I smiled charmingly, which made her cute stern face crumble.
The studio apartment was even smaller than I had anticipated - barely 150 square feet. Annie had done her best to make the limited space feel cozy, but the cramped quarters were immediately apparent. Her bathroom was also really cramped as it could barely fit a toilet and a shower there.
"So, do you have to sit on the toilet to take a shower?" I asked with disbelief.
Annie blushed in embarrassment and hurried to close the toilet door, "Why are you looking at a girl's bathroom the minute you enter?"
I chuckled and said, "Cause I could see your entire house in less than a minute. You know what, Annie…" She unawarely stood close to me as she closed the toilet door, and I leaned in closer to her.
She hesitated a bit before she closed her eyes and pursed her lips, expecting a kiss. But, I grabbed her shoulders and said, "I have a preposition for you."
"What?" She asked in confusion as she opened her eyes again. Suddenly, a gunshot fired over in the distance. Annie was startled and she abruptly hugged me. I asked, "Does that usually happen?"
Annie begrudgingly replied, "Yeah…" She realized that she was hugging me, blushed, and then released her embrace. "What preposition?" She asked while fixing her hair.
"This might bruise your ego a bit, but listen to me first." I said. "I have property here, so why don't you move there…"
"Sorry, I know you mean well, but I'm not looking for handouts!" Annie said seriously.
I chuckled and said, "I'm not finished. I need a building manager to manage the property."
Annie furrowed her eyebrows and said, "Um… I know that you mean well Edward. But, I really don't need a handout."
I chuckled again and said, "Like I said. It's a job. Not a handout." I walked to her bed and sat on the edge. Then, I patted the spot in front of me, gesturing for her to sit. Despite her nervousness, she walked and sat in front of me.
"Annie, do you know how I got discovered?" I asked. Her eyes lit up as she replied, "I watched all of your interviews. You were singing at a cafe, right? Then, you meet your CEO."
"Actually, I was shopping with him before that." I said coyly. "You know, I might never become who I am now if he doesn't offer me some help. His little act of throwing my name around the industry, landing me to open Taylor's concert, all changed my life greatly."
I held my hand to her, "I know that you might feel humiliated in taking the help, or you might feel like you don't want to owe me anything, but, Annie…Take the chance. Like I did. Holding someone's hand at the start, didn't we used to do that too, when we were learning to walk? There's no shame in it."
Annie widened her eyes and she fell into deep thoughts. I gave her some time to process it, and finally, she asked, "What does a building manager do?"
"We'll talk on our way to the apartment." I said before I stood up and walked to the window. Opening it abruptly, I whistled with my fingers, calling my bodyguards up to the apartment.
Annie was startled for a second, "W-what are you doing?"
"Calling your movers." I replied with a smirk.
…
[General POV]
Back at the chaotic Greendale campus, Dean Pelton found himself in the crosshairs of the angry student body, flinching as various objects were hurled in his direction. Amidst the din, a lone figure emerged from the wings, flanked by a pair of imposing bodyguards.
Francesca Dart strode purposefully towards the center of the stage, a high-powered megaphone clutched firmly in her hand. With a decisive motion, she snatched up the hanging microphone, positioning the megaphone directly behind it. The students' jeers and projectiles momentarily ceased as a deafening siren blast tore through the air, causing the crowd to clap their hands over their ears in pained surprise.
As the reverberations faded, Francesca leaned into the microphone, her cool gaze sweeping across the now silent assembly. "Thank you for quieting down," she stated, her voice carrying an authoritative edge. "My name is Francesca Dart, and I'm here to address your concerns."
"To be clear, we don't have much time, and those who stayed in the dorms need to evacuate quickly, so I'm making it short." She added.
"First of all, Greendale has been bought by Entertain. Or as you might know it, the company is run by the prominent public figure, celebrity, and genius, Edward Newgate." Frankie said, which made half of the crowd widened their eyes in disbelief before they cheered in excitement.
Frankie continued, "As for why he did that? It's not that he's bored, but he wanted to save the school. Greendale is bankrupt. It's bleeding money. It has too many liabilities. So the city is getting rid of it."
The crowd gasped in disbelief. Some even shouted, "Are you closing the school down?!"
"On the contraire." Frankie replied. "Our CEO has a quirk, which is, he likes fixing broken things. Greendale is so bent out of shape that he can't help himself. To clarify a few things, there won't be much changes to your school fees."
"Are you increasing it?" Troy shouted worriedly.
Frankie heard it and replied, "No. Rather, we're going to lower the tuition by 20%, and offer scholarships to excellent students."
The crowd clamored in excitement. Frankie let them have their reactions before she continued, "You can find all of the changes when you go on the school website. Lastly, before we evacuate, the school would be closed during the reconstruction process."
"Since your classes hadn't ended yet, we will opt for an online examination instead for your final exams for this period of time so you won't lose your credits. That's all. Make sure to evacuate the premises following the firefighters' guidelines." Frankie said before she left with the bodyguards.
The bruised and battered– mentally, Dean Pelton picked up the microphone and shouted urgently, "What are you all waiting for! Leave this place! Now!"
Jeff and Abed stood side by side as they watched the crowd frantically dispersed. Jeff muttered, "Abed, what are we going to do now?"
As they were living in the dorm, they had to find another place to stay for a couple of days. Abed turned to Jeff and said, "We can find an apartment together. Like in FRIENDS. You'll be Joey, cause you always get the girl, and I'll be Chandler. 'Can I be anymore sarcastic?'"
Joey looked at Abed in disbelief and scoffed, "At the very least I'm not Ross. We'll find a motel then."
Abed nodded in agreement and wanted to follow Jeff before Troy, Shirley and Pierce joined them. Shirley said, "Can't you believe it? The school is going to be shut down!"
Pierce scoffed, "A company buying the school? What are they thinking about!? If we're supposed to do that, then I'll buy the school! The ones running the company don't really know about business."
Troy asked Pierce, "Why did you say that?"
Pierce replied, "Running a school other than the Ivy Leagues will just make him bleed money."
Abed said defensively, "That's not going to happen with Edward. His character trait is that he always fixes what he touches. He's like Midas, instead, he doesn't kill you."
Jeff scoffed derisively and said, "Oh yeah? Then, how come I'm still broke?"
Abed turned to him and said, "Edward doesn't really like you." Jeff widened his eyes and said depressively, "Really!?...Pff- I mean…I don't care." His voice cracked a bit at the last part.
Britta suddenly popped out from the bushes and said, "Hey guys! Can you hide me for a sec." She squeezed into the group, walking while hiding her figures from the firefighters they were passing by.
Jeff asked with concern, "Britta, what did you do?"
Britta replied, "Nothing. I definitely didn't release that monkey in school, and broke a pipeline trying to capture it back. In any case, I've already given the monkey to Edward's security, so they'll get it to the lab. It won't matter if I got bitten more by the monkey, right? Since I'm going to get the cure anyway?"
All the others widened their eyes and stepped away from Britta instinctively. Abed suddenly got a text from Annie. He turned to Jeff and said, "Annie knows where we can live for a few days."
"Where did she go?" Shirley asked in concern. Abed replied, "She's at Edward's apartment building. She gave me the address."
Britta quickly grabbed the phone from Abed and read the text, "We should go there now. We need to take care of Annie."
Jeff scoffed and said, "You just want to take care of the monkey business. Wow, this is the first time ever I have used monkey business in a sentence to mean its literal meaning."
Troy supported Britta, "I think we should go too. I need to ask him why did he think Annie is hot."
Pierce joined in, "And I want to ask him about mountain climbing."
Abed was a little concerned and said, "I don't think we're supposed to do that."
"Shut up Abed." Jeff scolded. "I want to hear why he hates me."
Britta snorted derisively and said, "Shouldn't that be clear by now? You kept wanting to get his money."
"Hey! I tried to sell him a very precious comic book! It's not my fault he didn't see its value!" Jeff retorted while pointing his finger at Britta. Britta tried to bite it, which shocked Jeff. "Have you gone insane Britta?" he asked worriedly.
Abed muttered as he watched the group walk away, "This is not good. We're supposed to end this on a good note so that he can become a recurring character."
…
At the airport. Frankie looked at Edward in disbelief after they met each other in front of his private jet. "So, you guys, went on a date." Frankie rubbed her sore forehead as she recounted.
"Yep." Edward replied casually.
"It went well, and you even went back to her place." She continued.
"Yeah." Edward nodded.
"Then, explain it to me. How did it turn into a job interview?" Frankie asked in disbelief.
Edward smirked and said, "I'll tell you on the plane. Ah, by the way, you're coming to Wisconsin to meet your future in-laws right?"
"No, I'll be getting back to my place for Thanksgiving. I won't be joining you." Frankie replied honestly. Edward said, "Oww, that's too bad. I wanted to see you and dad fumbling around grandma and grandpa when they enthusiastically supported your relationship."
Frankie smiled softly and said, "You think they will?"
"Of course." Edward replied with an expression that said, 'Wasn't that obvious?'.
Back to Edward's new building.
After everyone arrived at Annie's new apartment, Britta went to sit on Edward's couch immediately as she felt light headed– cause she inhaled a lot of gas. Annie gleefully decorated the apartment with her stuff, which prompted Jeff to ask, "Annie, did you just move in here?"
Annie excitedly replied, "Was it so obvious? This used to be Edward's place to stay. You can still smell his scent here."
Shirley looked at Annie with disbelief, "That's disturbing."
Annie immediately took a few gifts from the table and handed them to Shirley, "That reminds me. Here. Ed..Hehe, I call him Ed now. He asked me to give it to you. It's for your sons."
With a sweet voice, Shirley exclaimed, "That's nice!"
Pierce looked at the gifts and got a little jealous, "What about me? Did he have anything for me?"
Jeff smirked and teased, "Pierce, I don't think he even knows you." Everyone else all agreed with Pierce.
Britta exclaimed sadly, "What's the point of getting a gift? Annie, explain how you got the apartment? That's supposed to be the true question here."
Pierce interjected, "Wasn't it obvious? Annie is his mistress."
"What?!" Troy exclaimed in bewilderment. Annie was also surprised, and she reacted bashfully, "Pierce, I'm not his mistress. I work with him."
"And how did you get the job?" Jeff asked, intrigued. Annie hesitated a bit before she said, "Convenience I guess? He needs someone to handle the building for him and search for new tenants."
Abed looked around the house before his attention went to a normal looking rack near the wall. He noticed the small notch for the hidden compartment on the rack, but he didn't press it yet.
He asked Annie, "Hey, what's the criteria for renting a place here?"
"He'll email me about the details later on." Annie replied innocently before she turned to Jeff, "Edward also told me to pass on something to you."
"Oh yeah?" Jeff replied sarcastically. "He wants me to be his mistress too? Sorry but, I'm way more expensive than this apartment– I'm sorry, you have 3 rooms here?"
Annie nodded, "Yes. Also, he said that he auctioned off your comic book for you in the LA comic book fans community. That Amazing Spiderman issue no 3, first appearance of Doc Ock is quite valuable. Someone offered you 8 thousand dollars for it. Do you want to sell it–"
"SELL!" Jeff interjected quickly. "I'm selling it!"
Annie replied innocently, acting as if she was Edward's secretary. "You can send the book to the staff member going back to LA tonight. They are still here at the apartment, so you can just send it to them."
"What about the money?" Jeff asked urgently. Annie replied, "The money is also with them. Edward will pay for it first as he knows you are in urgent need of money."
Jeff felt a bit guilty and muttered, "I judged him wrongly. He's a great guy."
Britta snapped, "WHAT ABOUT ME?! How is he going to deal with the monkey?!"
While the others were afraid of Britta, Annie smiled softly and said, "Britta. You had just gotten the monkey. Wait a few days. He told you that you won't be insane at the moment, right?"
Jeff then whispered to Annie. Annie widened her eyes and said, "YOU GOT BITTEN AGAIN?!"