A/N A short intro chapter to the Season 1 finale (WITH AN IMPORTANT POLL AT THE END!!!)

CHAPTER 13: DOG DAY AFTERNOON, PART 1 !

The end of the semester snuck up on the Human Beings.

Their first semester at Greendale had been interesting, to say the least. After pottery class expulsions, fried chicken scandals, and an epic paintball battle, they were ready for a relaxing summer.

However, before the sweet, sweet freedom of summer vacation, students far and wide have to endure one last torture: finals week.

"Okay, okay," Dylan says, gripping a hefty stack of flashcards for dear life. "What are the -go verbs in Spanish?"

Claire, Riwa, Ezra, and Abbi flip through their notebooks. Luna simply closes her eyes and starts murmuring in Latin.

"Oh, not again!" Ezra groans.

"Quiet!" Luna says. "The spirits are speaking to me."

"Tell the spirits to pipe down," Claire says dryly.

Luna ignores her, continuing her chants.

"Ooh!" Abbi says, pointing to a passage in her notebook highlighted in pink. "Hago, vengo, tengo..."

Ezra is momentarily distracted from Abbi's answer by the Astronomy Club's entrance into the library. They're easily recognizable because of their matching shirts that say, "Human Beings Reach for the Stars!"

Ezra's heart soars. He considered joining the club all semester, but could never find the time.

He turns back to his group as Dylan gives Abbi a high-five.

"Great work!" Dylan says.

"Eeeeeeh!" Abbi squeals. "Thanks!"

"Look at us!" Riwa beams. "We're going to ace this test!"

"Our semester of hard work is going to pay off," Claire says, eyes shining. "Only one more semester with Chang, and we're done with our foreign language requirement!"

"I'll finally be able to take Latin," Luna says. "Now that's a real language."

Dylan's watch beeps. His eyes widen.

"Dang, I almost forgot," he says, standing and gathering his books. "I have to leave early today. I'm working at the local animal shelter this summer. Tonight's my orientation!"

"Wow, that sounds awesome!" Abbi says.

"It should be fun," Dylan says. "Actually, you'll get to meet some of the dogs the day of Chang's test. The shelter is sponsoring a puppy playtime on the quad for finals week."

The sound of puppy playtime causes the group to squeal and cheer. The librarian gives them the stink eye as she walks by with a cart of books.

"Quiet down!" she snaps. "Some people are trying to work."

The group mumbles their apologies.

"C'mon," Claire says, standing and gathering her things. "Let's walk Dylan out and hit up the vending machines. I want to hear more about these puppies..."

They all go, Ezra casting one last wistful look at the astronomy club.

📚📚📚

Meanwhile, in the cafeteria, Steven, Leila, Randy, Eve, and Troian do some studying of their own.

However, it's hard to focus while Jared and his new buddies talk and laugh a few tables away.

"I still can't believe he left us," Eve fumes. "Who are those jokers, anyway?"

"Cooler than us," Leila says miserably, adjusting her glasses.

"Not true!" Randy roars. "We're the coolest group in school."

However, no one quite believes him. Jared's new friends from the other Spanish 101 class are, quite possibly, Greendale's finest. They're all ridiculously smart, charming, and good-looking.

Jared fits right in, cracking jokes and making their study session more like a party.

"It's almost unfair how happy he looks," Troian huffs. "Isn't he stressed about our final? It's in two days!"

"He's probably not stressed because he doesn't have to worry about the grades of four other people," Steven says, running a hand through his already-messy hair. "Now, can we get back to -go verbs?"

Although it took a bit of convincing, Steve and Randy eventually forgave Troian and the others for the inane bet from Chang. They understood that he's not an easy man to deal with (and, coming from Randy, that's really saying something).

However, none of them could convince Jared to come back. He still harbors a grudge and seems completely content with his new cronies.

The study group try to be fine with that, but a small percentage of their own study sessions are spent griping about Jared.

Little do they know, Jared misses his old group. Sure, his new buddies are smart, hot, and not befriending him under false pretenses. However, they're missing a certain quality, some kind of je ne sais quoi, that makes studying for Spanish about something a bit more than just studying.

"Jared? Hello?"

He snaps back to focus.

"Oh, sorry," Jared says, plastering a winning smile on his face. "What were you saying, Muffy?"

"I was asking about -go verbs in Spanish," Muffy says, fidgeting with an expensive-looking pearl necklace.

Jared and two other group members-Lance and Tabitha-search their (laminated) study guides for the answer.

Sebastian snickers haughtily.

"I'd like to go," he quips. "We've been studying for ages!"

The others laugh.

"I agree," Tabitha says. "Let's head to the mall. I hear the frozen yogurt shop gives out unlimited free samples. We can continue studying there!"

"What are we waiting for?" Jared says. "Vamos!"

As he and his crew walk past his old study group, Eve pipes up, "What's up?"

Jared pauses and smiles weakly.

"Hey, guys," he says. "Sorry, got to go."

"But-"

"Gotta study!" he says, briskly walking to catch up to his other friends.

Eve's shoulders slump.

"Great," she mutters. "Just great."

"Don't worry about him," Leila says, patting her hand. "He'll come around."

Eve watches him go.

"Yeah, I hope so."

{Published September 29, 2020}

A/N Hello Human Beings! It's finals week in Greendale.

This episode will be 3 or 4 parts. After that, I'll write "Camp Greendale," a summer vacation special. Then, I want to write Season 2 in a different way, but I want to ask for your input (since this is an apply fic after all-interactivity is the name of the game).

Basically, I want the future of this book to be a bit like The Babysitter's Club books. That might sound weird, but hear me out!

In that series, each book focused on a different one of the main characters. All the characters would be in all the books, but one specific character would be at the forefront of the action.

This is what I want to do with this fic. Instead of me jumping from study group to study group or friend group to friend group, I'd pick one character to be the protagonist of each storyline. That character would be the one we "follow" as we go through the narrative. Every character would get their chance to be at the forefront at least three times-once for each of the seasons I'm going to write for.

Every character will be in every chapter-but, since they'll be side-players to the protagonist's main story, some of these appearances will be brief cameos.

I think this format could be really fun, because it would give me the chance to flesh out each character a bit more. What do you guys think???

Also, some sample titles and plots so you can make sense of this a bit more:

Genealogy and the Study of Fatherhood

- Riwa confronts Pierce about her genealogical suspicions.

Cheerleading 101

- One of Claire's old classmates transfers to Greendale desperate to stir up trouble with Claire and her new friends.

Randy and the Real Girl

- Randy finally gets a girlfriend at Greendale-but is she even too much for him to keep up with?!

Prophet Brody's Coming to Dinner

- Abbi's past threatens to derail her newfound freedom when The Prophet arrives on campus with intentions to recruit Human Beings to his "religious organization."

*Again, these are sample elevator-pitch-size prompts just to give you all an idea of the vibe I'm going for. If you love/hate any of them, let me know!

What do y'all think about this idea??

dash-of-clarity

-steveshair

royal-lofi

lokiandbuckysbitch

multifangirlnerd

thewhimsicalnight