Maybe it was the hundredth come on from Michael? Or the thousandth eye roll from Donna? Or the millionth smirk from Steven? But whatever it had been made Jackie leave the once welcoming basement that was now nothing more than a dank hell. They had been her friends, her family. And now she hardly recognized most of them. Michael's sweetness was almost all gone, in its place the rampaging lust that had made Jackie's teen years so painful and embarrassing. Donna had really always been a bit self-centered if Jackie was being brutally honest (contrary to popular belief she didn't like speaking ill of her friends) but now she was a cold, condescending bitch that lack any empathy to those around her. And Steven? Well Steven was the hardest to watch now. He had once been the most decent of them all regardless of outside appearances; he did what was right even when it messed up his carefully constructed image. She had always known the image was just that, he came across as tough and aloof because he had decided it was preferable to be alone then to be left. She got that, she really did – especially now.
Jackie knew she had faults and flaws, everyone did, but she had always believed that her friends cared about her anyway and found most of these flaws endearing as she did theirs. But that belief was long dead. Jackie knew now that in her once group of friends all sins and flaws were forgiven unless you were Jackie Burkhart. Then you could never do anything right, no matter what you tried you would always be treated like a stupid immature spoiled brat, 100 good deeds were unimportant to her friends the moment you got excited about a pretty dress – because obviously, Jackie was the only girl in the world who liked pretty dresses. It was elevated the stature of a war crime in her group and even donna with all her sisterhood rhetoric insulted her along with the boys for pretty much anything she happened to enjoy.
So maybe that had been it? It had finally gotten through to her that these people were no longer her friends. They made her feel worthless while they patted themselves on the back for mediocre achievements, it was unfair and cruel and she had gotten up calmly, grabbed her coat and purse and left without a scene or a word, they were not her friends, they were not her family. They didn't want her around and she was finally starting to realize she didn't want to be around them either.
These thoughts filled her head painfully as Jackie walked sedately down the dark streets; she had only been there in the first place because fez had asked her to wait for him there to ride home with him. Fez, the only real friend she had left she thought fondly, he was weird but he cared about her and they had fun being roommates, too bad he wasn't brave enough to stand up for her when the others decided it was time for another round of Jackie bashing. She was lost in these thoughts as she walked the cold dark streets of point place; even her town was changing she thought bitterly. It was getting bigger now and losing its safe familiar feeling, new shopping centers, new track housing, progress and expansion. The looming 1980's were not looking promising as far as she could tell. But what did she know? Jackie thought sadly, she had thought her and Steven were in love, that he cared about her in a deep immovable way, but in the end all it took for him to cast her aside were paranoid suspicions and one of Michaels stupid comments. Her life sucked plain and simple.
Jackie stopped to wipe the tears out of her eyes muttering curses at her own weakness, but when she took in her surrounding her heart dropped. Somewhere along the way while she had been lost in her painful memories, she'd gotten lost for real! Where the hell was she now? She looked around the dim street for some kind of land mark or familiar anything, but it was like she was on the dark side of the moon. That's when she knew that she had stupidly wandered to the dodgy side of town, the not so great area of point place that had turned into the bad part as the new buildings came in. she was screwed! She hadn't known her way around when it wasn't a place young woman shouldn't be at night, and now it was a lot worse than it had been back then. She knew that Steven would know where they were if he were there, he was from this part of town and even if he wasn't, Jackie knew that he prided himself on knowing every street in the whole town, he never got lost he never got nervous, he was prepared.
Jackie was not prepared, she was cold and scared and just wanted to go home and go to bed. She spotted a man come out of a noisy establishment a ways down the street and in a moment of desperation, Jackie called out to him hoping for directions.
"Sir! Hello sir?! Can you tell me how to get to Main Street from here?" Jackie asked politely
The man turned slowly in her direction and blinked a few times "Main Street? Is that the one with the clown dog on it?" he asked slurring his speech, Jackie's stomach dropped – he was drunk and she was scared of drunk stranger for some reason that donna would probably laugh at because of course she was so tough she didn't need to fear the world, but Jackie had seen a lot more then they knew and she was well aware that she was not in a good place at the moment.
"no, no wrong street thanks anyway" she said quickly and began taking steps backwards away from the man, sure he could be a nice man out on the town but she figured better safe than sorry.
"Now don't be like that sweetheart! Let me buy you and drink and well get to know each other" he said grabbing hold of Jackie's arm
"No thank you, I really need to be on my way" she said as calmly as she could manage.
"You're too pretty to go home so early swear heart, come inside with me and meet my pals!" he said ignoring the look of panic on her face.
"No, please let go of me" she said firmly, proud that her voice wasn't shaking like her hands
"Don't be a tease!" he yelled at her, and she felt a weird sort of vindication, there was a reason she didn't like drunk strangers and there it was.
"Let me go" she repeated trying to pull her arm free.
"any girl who comes to this place is looking for exactly what I'm offerin' so don't play all coy girly" he snapped and yanked her hard by her arm.
Jackie whimpered terrified and for a split second expected Steven to appear and save her like he always used to, but then it hit her all over again that her boyfriend that had been her hero and best friend was long gone, only Hyde remained and he would probably drink a beer and laugh about her getting what she deserved along with his trashy wife, while a group of drunks manhandled her.
But still she struggled; she was too stubborn to go without a fight. As Jackie pulled away the man's grip got tighter and his booze soaked brain got angrier, he was calling her names while Jackie shrieked for him to let go of her!
Then a loud voice cut through the struggle "OI! What'cha doin' bothering' the kid?!" a very pissed off voice demanded, but not the very pissed off voice of Steven, this voice belonged to a woman? Jackie looked up and saw a girl a few years older and a bit taller than herself shove the drunk away from Jackie breaking his grip on her at last.
"God damn bitch!" the man yelled angrily at the new arrival, who didn't so much as flinch.
"Get outta here and sleep it off buddy, before you end up with more to deal with then a hangover" the woman snarled dangerously. Jackie stared at the woman who was downright scary. Tight black clothes, black boots, leather vest covered in spikes and patches and messy black hair falling around her face in jagged junks with streaks of red running through it. This was not a sight often seen in small town Wisconsin.
"You gonna make me bitch?" he sneered insultingly at her, and too Jackie's (and likely his as well) shock, the woman just smirked confidently at the much larger man.
"I could try, but even though I'd do some damage I probably wouldn't win" she mused thoughtfully, then gave the man a disturbing sort of grin "but he will" she said jerking her thumb over her shoulder.
The drunk and Jackie both looked in the direction she had pointed and leaning against a car with crossed arms was a man dressed much like she was, and if she was scary the man was downright terrifying! He was tall and obviously muscular even at a distance, but the thing that made Jackie's attacker gulp and take a step back was the cold murderous look on the man's face.
"ya best be going pal, it aint gonna get better for ya from here" the woman told him bluntly, the implication clear – if her friend got involved there would be serious consequences, there was no doubt. The drunk knew this and stumbled away as quick as his impaired motor skills would allow until he was safely back in the bar he'd come from. Only then did the woman's male companion push himself off the car and approach Jackie's unlikely savior.
"That was interesting'" he noted with a grin
"Aye, thanks Connor" she replied in a much softer voice then she had been using to that point.
"No trouble, I'm tired king we done here?" he asked hopefully
"Just about, you can go get kick and max, I'll meet you at the car in a sec" she said in a kind tone that conflicted with what Jackie had seen of her so far?
Her scary friend Connor smiled warmly at her and nodded his head, then held his hand out to her, the woman – king? – shrugged off a strap from across her chest and gently handed Connor a guitar case that had been on her back.
"You be careful with my baby there Conner" she warned seriously
The intimidating man laughed "please, ya think I wanna hear you screeching if something happens to this?" he asked jokingly, and walked back inside.
The woman chuckled softly at his comment before turning her attention to Jackie. Her over all look was weird and scary, but her face was kind.
"This aint your kind of place I don't think? You lost kid?" she asked kindly
"Umm, yeah" Jackie admitted sort of embarrassed now that she'd done something so stupid and potentially dangerous. "I was walking and I wasn't paying attention and I guess I must have taken a wrong turn?" she explained ruefully.
"Well as you experienced firsthand, this aint a safe place for you to be alone, you want a ride home?" she offered Jackie casually.
"Well umm, thank you for – well everything, but umm….." Jackie didn't want to be rude but she also didn't want to make another naïve mistake that night.
"But you don't know me or my friends and don't want to get in a car with a bunch of punked out strangers" king finished her thought for her, but instead of looking offended she grinned almost proudly at Jackie.
"It's nothing personal, im-im not trying to be rude! It's just….I've had enough happen tonight and then that drunk guy and I don't want to risk anything else cus I don't think I can handle it" she admitted with a tired sigh.
"No offense taken kid, you don't have to apologize for being cautious" she said kindly
"I'm Jackie Burkhart" Jackie said holding out her small hand, the woman's smiled warmly and shook Jackie's hand
"Kingsley Macgregor, but my friend's just call me king" she introduced herself; Jackie smiled then noticed the deplorable state of kings nails! Jagged edges and chipped black polish as well as cracks in her cuticles so bad Jackie was sure they were painful.
"Oh my gosh, what happened to your hands?" she asked without thinking, and then realized it might have sounded rude and blushed sheepishly.
But king just laughed "price I pay for doing my job, sort of ironic seeing as how I need them to play" she noted looking at her tattered finger nails as if they had betrayed her.
"I could fix them for you" Jackie offered without thinking again, she loved doing nails; she also loved doing things for people that would make them feel better. Donna never saw it that way and always refused, calling Jackie's offers for makeover or facials or manicures shallow, never understanding that a little primping could be fun – even therapeutic. That memory dawned on her and she braced herself for the oncoming derisive laughter she was sure king would let loose at her offer. After all, if Donna thought it beneath her surely this punk rocker (Jackie was pretty sure that's what king was?) surely would.
But king didn't laugh, she nodded her head but her face was serious "first things first kid, we need to get you home. I understand not accepting a ride; I wouldn't either if I didn't know the people- that's just being smart. But it aint safe for you to wander around this late when you don't know where you are, so would you be comfortable with me walking you home?" she asked Jackie
"I can't let you do that Kingsley, its freezing out. Besides your friends will be mad if you leave won't they?" Jackie asked trying to do the right thing.
King snorted with laughter "they're my friends not my parents, if I wanna go somewhere without them I can and they aren't gonna think a thing of it. I'll make you a deal kid, you let me walk you home so I don't have to wonder if you made it ok, and when we get there I'll let you do my nails" king proposed
"You really want a manicure?" Jackie asked surprised
King rolled her eyes playfully "cus I'm a punk I wouldn't be up for that right?" she guessed knowingly but didn't seem at all offended by the stereo type
"I don't know anything about punks" Jackie admitted "but I had a friend who always acted like it betrayed feminism to get a manicure" she didn't even notice that she had put Donna's friendship in the past tense.
"well the first thing I'll teach you about punks, is that we don't care what people think or what they say we should do, now is it a deal?" king asked again
"Deal!" Jackie grinned, maybe it wasn't wise, but she had a feeling she could trust king.
"Good, cus I'm freezing my ass off!" king exclaimed hopping in place to get the feeling back in her toes.
A car horn honked nearby and king waived in the direction, Jackie watched the window roll down and the face of king's friend Connor appear.
"You ready now kings'?" he called over to her.
"I'm going to walk Jackie here home, I'll call for a ride from there" king explained to him.
"Why don't we just give her a ride?" Connor asked reasonably
"Cus she's a smart girl who isn't gonna get into a car with a bunch of disreputable looking strangers!" a male voice from behind Connor yelled out.
"What kick said" king nodded agreement.
"Thanks though" Jackie told Connor politely, a part of her mind amused that she was having such a conversation with a guy that had a Mohawk.
"No worries Jackie" Connor said with a friendly smile "don't call too late kings', I'm knackered" he asked with a yawn.
"Aye mate, if it gets too late ill just walk" king promised
"I didn't say that, one of us will do it – scratch that, one of us that isn't kick will come get you" he amended
"Why not me?" the same voice asked from the back of the car sounding offended.
"Cus you can't drive worth a damn!" Connor cried
"Jeez, one little incident and people lose all faith in your abilities" the one in the back huffed
"One? 17 kick! 17 incidents! You are never driving again while there is breath in my body!" Connor vowed
"Fine!" kick yelled petulantly, Jackie couldn't even see the one in the back, but he sounded like fun to hang out with.
"Anyway my amusing children" king drawled.
"I'll call ya later" she told them and waved good bye to the car carrying her friends, Jackie waived too then followed king back the way she had come.
"So where are you from?" Jackie asked curiously while they walked down the deserted street.
"California" king supplied
"Wow, that's a long way. How did you end up in point place Wisconsin?" she asked wondering how the tiny boring town could ever be a destination?
"Well were on a tour of sorts, but at this point it's more of an adventure" king admitted with a half-smile
"Whys that?" Jackie knew one of the things people didn't like about her was she often lacked tact, but she was curious and it saved time to ask things directly, it was one of the things Steven had always said he liked about her, she got right to the point.
King didn't seem to mind it either "well, we started out with a manager who booked the shows and handled the money, but he decided to take all the money we had and disappear while we were in madison, when I find him I will be allowing Connor to beat him senseless, but I digress. So anyway, he took all our money and ran off, and we made it to this charmingly backwards town before we ran out of gas. Now for the foreseeable future we live here, it's been about three weeks and no offence, but I'm not exactly falling in love with your town" king admitted dryly.
"I'm not too fond of it myself" Jackie agreed darkly, thinking about all the bad things that had happened to her in point place.
"so at the moment were just trying to gather enough money to get back home, we play the club we were leaving every weekend for about $30 a night, our bass player max got a job at some cheesy diner teenager hang out at, kick tends bar at some dive on maple, Connor hasn't had much luck yet cus he scares everyone he talks to" king explained
"Are you close to having enough?" Jackie asked curiously
"not really" king laughed humorlessly " were staying at the motel over on hillcrest and it costs about $25 a week, and we gotta eat and wash our clothes and buy gas to get to the jobs we have so saving up enough to get home is slow going" she told Jackie with a shrug.
"I wish I could help" Jackie told king truthfully, there had been a time when she would have just whipped out her check book and gotten the strange group home, but those days were over. As Steven and his disgusting wife were so fond of pointing out Jackie had no job and no money so she was in no position to help anyone else.
"Nah its fine, I got a line on some work soon and that'll help a lot, besides like I said, it's an adventure" king told Jackie with a wide smile.
They finally reached Jackie's apartment building and she led king up the three flights of stairs to her and fez's door. She led her new friend (at least she hoped they were friends) inside and offered her a seat on the couch.
"Nice place" king said looking around at the plain apartment
"It's really not" Jackie disagreed realistically
"Compared to the 'Ed's travel lodge' it's fantastic" king noted seriously, Jackie nodded – that was fair enough.
"Do you really want me to do your nails?" she asked nervously, a part of her afraid it had been a joke to placate her.
King raised an eyebrow at the worried look on Jackie's face "you don't have to, but id appreciate it" she replied
"No, no I'd love to! It's just…I'm used to being made fun of and now it's hard to believe anything people say" she reluctantly admitted, she didn't want this strong impressive woman to know how pathetic she really was.
But kings face remained blank "I don't say a lot that I don't mean kid, go get your stuff" she told Jackie with a weird tone. Jackie went to her room to get her manicure kit and king watched her go with a thoughtful look in her blue eyes.
"What's happened to you kid?" she whispered to herself.
Kingsley McGregor was young, but she had done a lot of living in her short 23 years of life. She had been many places, seen many things and met many kinds of people from all walks of life. And she recognized a hopeless pain in Jackie's eyes that made her curious. What could have happened to this sweet kid that caused that look? One thing she had in common with Jackie was that king wasn't in the habit of wasting time beating around the bush, when Jackie got back she was gonna ask her what the deal was plain and simple.
Jackie reappeared with a box full of nail care supplies and various colors of polish which she set on the coffee table, she then held out her hand for kings and wordlessly began stripping the chipped polish off with foul smelling remover,
"Sorry about the smell" she murmured absently, focused on her task.
"I'll live" king shrugged untroubled "so, what had you so distracted you walked over a mile out of your way without realizing it?" king asked evenly.
"Oh, you don't want to hear about that" Jackie waved off the question deprecatingly.
"I do actually, what was it?" king pressed gently.
"Just a bad day, no big deal" Jackie tried to lie, but one look at king's face told her the older girl wasn't buying it.
"The best way to deal with troubles is to share them kid" king advised
"I've been told repeatedly that I whine too much" Jackie smiled sadly as she began to smooth the jagged edges of kings polish free nails.
"Well I just met you so you haven't whined at all yet" king said kindly.
"Ok?" Jackie said hesitantly, and then began to tell king about her troubles. Her mom's drinking and abandonment, her dad's crimes and jail time, Michael, Donna, and Steven….and Sam. By the time she was done Jackie was ashamed of how much she had dumped on her new friend
