Shannon!

I was watching a lot of Cougar Town before I wrote this. I don't know how Abed likes that show.

It's actually kind of addictive though....


The next day the committee met again to discuss their over budget dance. Cassie had made some emergency changes, like hiring an actual DJ.

Shannon stood outside the door getting ready to psyche herself up. She took a deep breath, and opened the classroom door to the awaiting chaos.

The room was divided. On one side stood Beth, Ben and a few other students. On the other was Damien, Scott, Erin and the rest of the committee.

"Forget it! Never!" Damien yelled across the divide.

"Don't be selfish, Damien!" Ben replied.

"Guys guys! What's going on?" Shannon said stepping between the two groups.

"We're fixing the budget issue." Aberdine snidely replied from next to the door. "I've chosen to sit on the fence on the issue."

"What issue? What's going on?" Shannon shook her head. "I just got here. Can someone please explain this?"

"Ben suggested we all chip in to help pay for the dance." Beth announced.

"There's no way we're paying our money for some dumb dance we don't even want to throw!" Damien cried.

"This isn't about you, or any one of us!" Ben yelled. "It's about keeping the committee afloat!"

"We don't have any money to chip in." Scott moaned.

"Yeah, you only paid us in pop." Erin added.

"You agreed to that!" Beth reminded them.

"Shannon, you understand this is about the committee and not about personal pride." Ben said. All eyes were on Shannon now. "Tell them how it's not about them."

Shannon looked around for help. Everyone just stared.

"I don't even know what's going on here." She said. "Why can't we wait to figure out this issue?"

"Because Cassie is coming by in a few minutes and if we haven't settled our budget issues the committee will be closed down. For good." Beth said stepping towards Shannon. "We need to be united here."

"I agree, we need to be united." Damien said stepping around the desk barricade toward Shannon. "But united against Cassie. We can't let her push us around anymore!"

"Damien! We have to do this or the committee will be shut down!" Ben yelled. "Why can't you stop being so selfish for once! It's not about you it's about what's best for all of us!"

"Since when do you know what's best for all of us!" Damien stormed up to Ben and pointed a finger in his face. "You don't get to speak for all of us!"

"Damien stop it!" Beth cried.

"As usual this joke of a committee is only good at being loud and getting into fights." Cassie's chilling voice echoed from the doorway. The group stopped and looked at her. "Better get your dogs in line, Beth, or there will be hell to pay." Cassie spat.

"We were just having a small dispute is all." Beth said as cheerfully as she could. We were just about to finish settling the budget."

"Did they take my suggestion, Ben?" Cassie asked pointedly.

"Not exactly. It was met with mixed results." Ben glared at Damien.

Damien turned and punched Ben across the face. "You sold us out! You coniving.."

Scott and Erin jumped the barricade and held Damien back as Ben crawled to safety and Beth jumped between them.

"You bastard!" Damien yelled struggling against Scott and Erin.

"I'm doing what's best for the group you jerk!" Ben yelled from his corner.

"This suddenly got a lot more interesting." Cassie grinned wickedly. "Don't worry. You're student council president will settle this." She turned to the group. "Those of you willing to donate to help save your precious planning committee, go to the left side of the room with Ben. Those opposed, go to the right."

A few students walked to the left including Beth. The rest, save Shannon walked to the right. Shannon just stared at both sides unsure.

"Make a choice, Shannon. Save your precious planning committee, or lose it. Either way, it was my decision."

Shannon looked over at Ben who still knelt on the floor next to Beth. She turned to Damien and the others who looked on at Cassie with venom in their eyes. That's when something snapped in Shannon. She turned to Cassie and stepped up to her.

"What are you playing at Cassie. What's this about?" She asked.

"I'm solving a problem." Cassie said plainly.

"You're not solving anything you're exacerbating the situation!" Shannon yelled.

"I don't even know what that means." Cassie laughed.

"The planning committee has done everything for you!" yelled Shannon. "We've bent over backwards to throw every stupid party you requested! And it's still not enough!"

"Did you think the other students would like your dumb events if I didn't plan them? I had full say over everything! I decided what kind of parties to throw! They're all mine! Don't take credit for my hard work!" Cassie retorted.

"Your hard work?" Shannon scoffed. "You didn't do anything! All you did was cause trouble; like you always do! You're like some dumb tyrant who oppresses others! You used threats to get what you want because you don't know how to do anything else!"

"Shut up! God you sound like Jeremy! Why can't you just shut up and go away! No one likes you anyway!" Cassie yelled.

Shannon stopped for a moment. "Oh my god." She said. "You're only doing this because of me. You hate me that much you would ruin the friendship of a group just to get back at me."

"Oh please." Cassie rolled her eyes. "Like I care about what you do."

"Why go through all this trouble? You cut our funding entirely. Amanda even said all the other sports groups have way too much budget have no use for the excess. And our group was the only group you cut."

"I hate a lot of groups." Cassie added. "Ones your not a part of!"

"But you didn't cut their funding." Shannon paced. "The math club, chess club, sci-fi club. All had their funding left alone." She stopped pacing. "And you never visit those clubs either. Just this one. You come here to cause problems for the planning committee to get to me."

"Don't be ridiculous! How would you know I do?" Cassie demanded.

"Because Eddie is in all three of those clubs and he's told me how you don't go near them. Because Carl was put on student council by you and he told me how you don't visit any clubs." Shannon paused. "Except this one."

"Beth! Kick her out or I'll shut down your planning committee!" Cassie screamed.

Beth just stood there unsure of what to do.

"Don't worry about it, Beth." Shannon said continuing to stare at Cassie. "I'll go. If it means Cassie will finally leave you guys alone."

Shannon gathered her bags and walked to the door. She stopped and turned to Cassie. "By the way, this wasn't your decision." She turned and left.