"And in excruciating detail, he monologued what I can only guess was his will to his children because the tone was surprisingly serious and a little too rehearsed," Jeff's focus was on Britta who mirrored him as the two sat down at their usual study group table. You know the one.

"You know, it doesn't surprise me that you wouldn't understand the importance of self-discipline when confronting estranged family members," Britta responded, hands in her bag as she reached for something. She pulled it out. It was her notebook and pencil. " 'Perfect Specimen to Daddy Issues Has Breakdown About Stranger Daddy.' The headlines practically write themselves."

"Maybe in a community college's psychology fanzine," Jeff snorted as he assumed a comfortable position in the uncomfortable library chairs.

"You say that like being published in one would be a bad thing," Annie joined in. She was there the whole time. So was Shirley. Neither of them said anything because it was impossible to get a word in when Jeff and Britta were doing their thing.

"Look, it isn't that being published in a community college fanzine is a bad thing," Jeff back-pedaled, "It's just that it's required qualifications are, for lack of a better word, terrible. I mean, Leonard had a three-page spread about the quality of food review videos, and most of the piece was biased praise to his own channel. I'm just asking for quality from everyone, is that too much to ask?"

"What are we talking about?" Pierce had entered, loudly. "It doesn't matter because I saw something hilarious on the way here, and I rushed right over to tell you all about it."

"Was it the fact that Starburns is wearing pink?" Jeff watched Pierce sit down.

"Yes!" Pierce began laughing. He couldn't help himself, but managed to continue speaking through his giggles, "Guess we have to change his name to - to Gayburns! Ahaha - !"

"Pierce, even if Starburns was gay, that's a terrible nickname," Annie shamed him.

"Well I'd like to hear you come up with a new name for the queer down the hall!" It wasn't funny anymore. It was never funny, but Pierce had finally stopped laughing.

"Gaystar," Britta said excitedly.

"Starqueer," Shirley tried.

"Alright, well, I'm no Richard Pryor, obviously," Pierce said bitterly. Everyone was confused by the levels to his statement.

"So, when are we going to start today?" Annie asked, eagerly reaching for her colored and coordinated notes, "I learned about a new studying technique for vocab words and thought I'd practice it con, mis, amigos."

"Oh, how nice," Shirley patted Annie's hand to commend her on her Spanish.

"I think Troy and Abed were picking up a pizza before we get started," Britta said, "Our last cram sesh went late and Troy got so hungry he fainted." Annie gasped.

"Did you really just say cram sesh?" Jeff was disgusted.

"What's going on?" Abed asked as he and Troy walked through the doorway. Abed was confused, frantically searching around for an explanation that he couldn't seem to understand.

"We were waiting for you two to get this cram sesh started!" Britta cried out, her arms up in faux excitement to annoy Jeff.

"That's not what I'm referring to," Abed said, rushing to set the pizza down on the study table, "Something is fundamentally different about this situation and I'm having trouble pin-pointing what that could possibly be. It's as if information is missing and is only presented when absolutely necessary."

"Oh, this thing again?" Troy sighed, confused and upset for his friend. His attention was on the pizza though.

"Abed, what's going on?" Annie asked.

"He thinks that we aren't in a tv show today. Can I open this?" Troy reached for the pizza and opened the box when it was in front of him, "Oh, my god, cartoons are real." He lifted a slice. It stretched like the cartoons.

"What do you mean? Abed? Is everything okay?" Annie pressed on as Britta grabbed her own slice.

"Everything's fine, as far as I can tell," Abed said, sitting down at his seat, which he, for some reason, was surprised about being there as he reached for it, "Something's just..off. The usual ebb-and-flow of our conversations seems broken up. There's a lack of... life. Also, everyone is talking funny, as if being filtered through someone else's perception of who we are after observing us for a long time and forcing that dialogue on us."

"Like your Greendale tv show about us?" Jeff asked as he pulled his own plate of pizza in front of him. He apparently had grabbed one while Abed was speaking.

"This time is different," Abed explained. Troy slid his friend a slice of pizza, "While my tv show is a hilarious fourth wall break, it's also derived from a primary source: me. This feels different. Like an outsider has entered our world. Or several outsiders, depending on the situation."

"Sounds freaky," Troy said, "Reminds me of the Matrix and that movie makes my brain hurt."

"It is a frightening situation to be in, especially as we all are aware of it on varying levels," Abed stared down at his pizza before looking up at his friends, "However, the fact that at least two of us are aware of the magnitude of the situation is a sign that things are leading towards the right direction, and that we'll find ourselves in a situation where we can fix all of this. In fact, I believe - "

As Abed was saying all of this, Jeff pulled the cheese off of his pizza and then ate it.

" - I believe that," Abed paused and turned his attention to Jeff. He was quiet as he stared. Because his focus had shifted, everyone else's did too, besides Pierce who was wiping off sauce from his shirt. He couldn't get it and just kept smudging the sauce. It was quite frankly upsetting to watch, and Shirley, who was actually watching Pierce, was glad to have a reason to look away.

"Jeff, why'd you do that?" Abed asked.

"Do what?" Jeff wiped sauce from the corner of his mouth with a napkin, oblivious to what was happening.

"Why do you eat pizza naked?" Troy asked. He was disturbed.

"What?" Jeff was genuinely confused now.

"You pulled the cheese off the pizza," Abed pointed, "...Why?"

"...I've always eaten pizza that way," Jeff was still confused.

"It was a weird way to eat pizza," Britta snorted a little bit. Annie stifled a giggle.

"But I've always eaten pizza this way," Jeff shrugged, "Ever since I was a kid and my dad would take me to generic pizza chain, he would eat the cheese first so, I.. eat the cheese first. Always have."

Abed's eyes opened wide.

"No, no, that's not - " Abed blinked as hard as he could, "Jeff, you wouldn't eat pizza cheese first. That's not - "

"It is weird," Troy agreed, "Not spooky like Abed's acting, but it is weird."

"It doesn't make sense," Abed began repeating the phrase like a mantra and stood in his seat.

"Abed, I just said it wasn't spooky. You're okay. Why are you freaking out?" Troy stood too, hands out in anticipation of something. He wasn't sure of what, but he was ready for something. To everyone's dismay, Abed broke. He cried out in a long high-pitched shriek before sprinting out of the study room. Troy immediately followed after him, calling for his friend.

"Abed, wait!" Troy called, "You have to wait! You're so much faster than me!"

Annie and Shirley were concerned and shocked. Shirley's hand was over her mouth. Britta's jaw dropped as she silently watched Abed and Troy sprint out of the room. Jeff watched what happened. He'd eaten pizza like this before. In fact, this is the way that he always ate pizza.

"Jeff!" Britta scolded," Aren't you going to do something? You broke Abed!" Jeff stared at his friends and Pierce. They were all judging, waiting. Somehow this was his fault.

"Yes," He pushed the crust on his plate away from him and then stood, "I will...fix this." And he left.


Hello there. Thank you for reading. Please review if you'd like. Thanks.