I love That 70s Show and am so happy for all the writers here who have created content about the characters. It's inspired me to try myself. This is my first story fan fiction ever so I would appreciate any feedback and I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 1: September
Do you remember the
21st night of September?
Love was changing the minds of pretenders
While chasing the clouds away
-Point Place, 1999-
Jackie blinked; her eyes opened as she listened carefully for noises of anything but quickly realized the house was quiet. This was the first time all week she had woken up feeling well rested. She sat up and swung her legs to the side of the bed, stretching out her stiff body as she peaked at the clock seeing it was just past nine. She made her way out to the kitchen eventually and smelled brewed coffee. She smiled to herself as she poured herself a cup. She noticed a note on the counter:
Jackie,
I took the kids to the store with me.
I'll take them shopping for school supplies later.
Enjoy your day.
Love you
The past few weeks had been stressful. The kids had been home on summer vacation and she was working on opening a new store in the town over. As much as she loved her job and her family she welcomed a few hours of peace and silence. She noticed a stack of mail on the counter and casually flipped through it before coming to an envelope from Point Place High School. She assumed it was for her oldest baby who was starting freshman year at Point Place, but upon opening it she realized it was a letter inviting her to her 20th high school reunion. She smiled to herself again thinking of how much it should freak her out that she had graduated from high school 20 years ago, but it didn't. She also knew she wouldn't go. She tossed the letter into the trash as she started to think back to her high school days.
She walked down the hall to her room and stopped to look at the pictures lining the walls. She had some great memories from high school and others she would like to forget. She assumed that everyone for the most part felt that way. She stopped on a cluster of pictures from her past. The first one was a graduation picture, but not her own. Jackie had started dating Michael sometime during the end of her freshman year or maybe it was the beginning of sophomore year… it was hard to remember. And with Michael came his whole gang of friends. It was their graduation. The day they missed their graduation ceremony after a horrible night camping. The day Fez and Laurie got married. The weekend Jackie made Michael and Steven stumble around the woods trying to fight for her love. Good god, she thought, why did anyone put up with me? Despite Jackie being a cheerleader, popular, gorgeous, and smart she had somehow been reluctantly accepted into a group of older misfits. Going to her high school reunion would be pointless since none of her friends, the ones that all her memories of those years included, would be there.
Her eyes fell on the next picture. It was the gang in Forman's basement. Ms. Forman had gotten a new camera and wanted to take pictures of just about everything, everyone, all the time. Jackie knew they were all high as fuck in this picture but they all looked so happy. Eric was sitting on the back of the couch and Donna was nestled between his knees, looking up at him grinning. Hyde was sitting in his chair as usual but his arm was stretched across to the couch so he could lay his hand on Jackie's knee. She had her legs tucked under and was sitting up on her heels with her arms crossed. She was smirking at Steven. Michael was sitting in the lawn chair sucking on a popsicle and Fez was squished in between Jackie and Donna with a candy bar in each hand and grinning wide for the camera. She was thankful Ms. Forman had made copies of the pictures and framed them. They had each gotten a different picture every Christmas for years.
Jackie finally made it back to her bedroom and shed the old t-shirt she was wearing and pulled a big sweater over her head and tugged on a pair of leggings, hooking the loops under her heels. She thought she should take a trip down memory lane while she was already half way there. She pulled a chair into her closet and stood on top to reach a box at the very back of the shelf. She knew her yearbooks were inside and a few photograph books among some other random things she had kept after all these years.
She pulled her yearbooks off of the top to get to the good stuff. She first found a pink photo album with a unicorn on the front and cringed a little. She knew this album was filled with pictures of her and Michael. She hadn't looked at it in years and was a little curious what kind of pictures she would find. The first picture was of Michael posing in a dress. She couldn't help but start laughing as she remembered the night Michael let her put make up on him. Michael had hurt her so many times but they did have a lot of fun together. The next picture was of them after a football game; Jackie was wearing her green and white cheerleader uniform and Michael's face was all blurry. Jackie was fairly certain Steven had gotten him drunk under the bleachers during the game and he couldn't stop laughing in the pictures they had taken.
The next picture was another one from Eric Forman's basement with the date in the corner letting Jackie know it was the time they had gotten back together after the series of tests Jackie had given him. Michael was sitting at the far end of the couch nearest to the door with Jackie sitting in his lap, her head thrown back in laughter as Michael kissed her neck. Eric and Donna were sitting next to them looking a little grossed out. But what caught Jackie's eye, something she hadn't noticed before was that Fez was standing behind the couch looking at Steven. And Steven was looking at her. He looked angry and sad and heartbroken all at once.
Her heart hurt, everything came rushing back to her. That chilly November night, Steven by her side on the hood of her Daddy's car, his arm slung around her back. She still remembered that first kiss like it had just happened. She had only kissed a few boys before Steven but she remembered thinking she couldn't possibly have another kiss in her life like that one. She was so scared of how much she liked him, loved him even. She just knew he didn't feel that way about her and she couldn't imagine how badly it would hurt for him to break her heart. Every time Michael had hurt her it had been awful, but Steven… So she had told him she hadn't felt anything and he had told her the same. She pushed him out of her mind and she let Michael back into her life. Looking at his face, Jackie wondered if he had lied to her that night. She flipped through the book and found more candid pictures of the group, pictures of her with Michael, and of Steven looking at her.
She had never noticed before.
