FFC Challenge #3

#1 Big Rhonda wins a local contest
#2 She snubs guy who didn't like her the way she used to look.
#3 She goes out with 1 (not Fez, cause they already went out) of the canon guys, Kelso, Eric, or Hyde.

I was heavily influenced by Kitty's Birthday and the Red Stacey episode

xXx

"Hello Wisconsin! This is Willie Houser and we are ready to play the Southern Wisconsin Lottery game! This is Channel Six and the lovely Anna Cantana will call out the six lucky numbers. Okay Wisconsin, have your tickets ready!"

Rhonda pulled out the creased and folded paper she kept in her Strawberry Shortcake wallet. The pretty pink pastel color always made her smile. Her favorite numbers: 6 for the graduating in the top six of her class at Point Place Elementary. Her second favorite is 14 for when she got her first training bra (before her older sister). The next number was 21, the age she decided she would go to Branson, Missouri and see The Osmond Family in concert. She also liked 36 because that was the first number of her locker combination at Point Place High where she first laid eyes on Michael Kelso who never looked at her twice. Her fifth favorite number was 40 because Tom Jones was born in 1940 and he sang her favorite song, It's Not Unusual. Her last lucky number was 55 the age of her favorite Nana.

She sat against the back of the hardwood chair and watched the beautiful Anna Cantana press the button and up popped lucky number six! Rhonda gasped, "I have six!" She looked around the room but she was alone.

The next number was 36. Rhonda's jaw fell to the floor. "I have 36!" She squeezed the ticket harder than little Charlie Bucket holding the golden Wonka ticket. Anna smiled at the camera and announced, "55!" Rhonda's feet were stomping on the floor, "Oh thank you Nana!" She moved closer to the television. The lips of Miss Cantana were moving in slow motion as she said the fourth number. "Four-teen." Hurray for training bras! Only two numbers left and Rhonda could potentially win the $2,000.000 jackpot!

"Rhonda! Get your fat ass in the kitchen and finish those dishes. They ain't gonna wash themselves!" Her mother yelled from the dining room. "Okay Ma! Hang on a minute!"

Anna Cantana twirled to the other side of the lottery machine as the next number popped up. "We have lucky number 21!" Rhonda could feel her heart racing. She could see Donny Osmond and all his brothers! Oh Man! Rhonda put both hands on the side of the old Sears color television set and prayed for Tom Jones. Anna Cantana shouted, "The lucky bonus number is…..40! If you have all six lucky numbers then you have won the Southern Wisconsin Lottery!"

Rhonda fell on her butt on the floor. All the blood drained from her head and she felt like she was going to faint. She whispered. "I have all six numbers!"

"RHONDA! DISHES! NOW!" Rhonda quickly put the lottery ticket back into Strawberry Shortcake and back into her purse and slid her purse under the bottom of the sofa.

Later that night, Rhonda was lying in her twin bed in the room she shared with her older sister. She reached under her pillow and pulled out her wallet just to look at the ticket. Under her breath she muttered, "Crap-alula! I am a millionaire. Twice! Mom's gonna stroke out when I tell her." Rhonda thought about it, "Nope, I'm not telling anyone. I'm going to spend my summer at one of those exclusive fancy-schmancy fat farms. Then I'm gonna come home all pretty and in a new car and show everybody who Rhonda really is."

Rhonda could hear Brenda coming up the stairs. She worked the late shift at Ted's Bar and always smelled like beer and cigarettes when she went to bed. Rhonda smiled when she thought about how nice it would be to buy Nana, lucky number 55, a new house in Point Place and she could live there with her!

xXx

Kelso came running down the basement stairs. Fez was standing by the record player looking through the LP's for anything new. "Fez, I have news!" He saw his other friends and paused just long enough to smooth his hair. "Hey guys. Fez! I know something you don't know!"

Fez turned to his man pretty friend and grinned, "Aiiyyy, you know everything I don't know."

Eric looked up from his magazine. "Kelso, what's the big secret." Kelso jumped over the back of the small loveseat and squeezed in between Donna and Eric. "I heard that Big Rhonda is back in town."

Jackie stopped kissing Steven long enough to say, "Crazy Caroline said she got run over by a car last year."

Donna held up her hand, "No, I heard she got pregnant and moved to her aunt's house." Fez looked at both girls and smiled sadly. "No, she left town after you two tried to give her a makeover. You hurt her feelings by calling her a Sasquatch. Now, I don't know what that is, but if it's cooked in butter and garlic, I might eat it."

Eric chuckled, "Big Rhonda was okay. She was just big boned." Eric always had a soft spot for the female version of geekdom. Hyde smirked, "Big boned my ass. She was a clumsy Cinderella."

Jackie kissed Steven on the lips. "No one's as pretty as me, right puddin? The only right answer is yes."

"Yes Jackie, now let me show you that new Zeppelin poster I put on my ceiling." Hyde gave her a little pinch and she giggled running to his room. Donna moved to the empty chair. "Kelso, why should Fez care that Rhonda moved back?"

Kelso sprawled out on the sofa and tucked his hand in his waistband. "Well, I knew he liked her and I just thought I would do my good deed for the year."

Fez looked over, "Well, thank you very much but I'm looking around. Nina and Caroline made me shy of aggressive girls."

"Pfft," Kelso snorted, "You're the kind of guy that will take any girl that has boobs and candy. Hell! I'll take any girl that has boobs and candy!"

Eric laughed, "Actually, my mom heard that Rhonda's grandmother owns that brand new house they're building in Point Place Estates. Maybe that's what you heard."

Donna reaffirmed, "I still think she went to her aunt's in Mississippi to have a baby. Oooh Fez…you might be a dad-dy." She teased.

Fez frowned, "Only if wishes came true. Me and Rhonda never made it that far before she started choking me."

Hyde called out from his room, "Choked your what?"

Kelso and Eric laughed at the guy joke. Donna rolled her eyes, "Whatever, can we start talking about what we're going to do this weekend? I can get free tickets to the Ice Cream Flavorings Festival."

Kelso looked up, "What is that?"

Donna smiled, "It's some new kind of ice creams that the companies are trying to market. I heard about it at the station. What else do you want to do on a hot summer day, hang out down here in a basement?"

"Hey," Eric said defensively, 'This is my basement and I have Popsicles."

Fez laughed, "The same kind everyday! Let's do that tomorrow! Maybe they have yummy chocolate with all the sprinkles."

"But tomorrow is the I Dream of Jeanie marathon!" Eric said as a last resort. Half the room left laughing, the other half were making out in Hyde's room. "Fine, maybe I like Popsicles!"

xXx

Rhonda sat in the mist cooled tent with the owner of Wisconsin Dells Ice Cream manufacturer, Gary Miner. Gary and Rhonda met at the Denver Elite Club of Poise and Beauty. Rhonda was a star graduate of the Denver Elite and lost 50 pounds of fat and gained self-confidence and pride in herself. The Club taught her to eat correctly and the best exercises to keep her new figure toned. She would always be "big-boned" but she carried it well and with her head held high. Gary had suggested she color her dirty blonde hair into a honey blonde with highlights. Gary's wife was a successful graduate herself and became a great friend to the young millionaire.

"Rhonda, if you hadn't made that yogurt suggestion, I wouldn't have just become a millionaire again so I have named a special flavor just for you."

Rhonda smiled a big white smile with her dentist perfect teeth. "Really? What am I called."

"Rockin' Rhonda Whipped." Gary replied.

"Gosh dang, I love it!" she replied. The country girl still inside loved that she was a frozen yogurt flavor. Whipped chocolate yogurt sprinkled with marshmallows and walnuts. Rhonda decided it was the best diet snack ever! She looked out at the crowd of people lining up to get into the festival. Unconsciously, she tugged at her skirt and Gloria Miner touched her leg. "Rhonda, dear, you are beautiful. Your dress is gorgeous; no one out there is going to recognize you."

"Oh, I know. I look so different, but every time I see those kids from high school, they make me feel bad. This one girl, Jackie Burkhart, even called me Sasquatch and I don't know what that is!"

Gloria smiled, "I'm sure you are much prettier than this Jackie could ever be because you have a good heart."

Rhonda smiled, "Shucks Gloria, I'm a whole new me! My Nana loves her new house; I got a new car and the whole collection of first edition Spiderman comics and I'm happier than I've ever been."

xXx

Eric gave his ticket to the bored looking admitting usher and strayed over to the chocolate fountain. Donna chose to hang out with Hyde, Jackie and Kelso. Fez walked up to the fountain. "Is that what I think it is? All that gooey, delicious chocolatey goodness… in a fountain? Oh….if they could only see this in my home country." A young girl dressed as Heidi, picked up a cone, put a scoop of vanilla ice cream into the cone and held it under the fountain. Fez was salivating. Eric laughed, "Go ahead buddy, first one's yours."

Eric smiled at Heidi when she handed him his cone. Donna left him again, this on and off girlfriend/boyfriend thing wasn't working so well after all. Eric was eating from the bottom of the cone when he ran into Kelso who was face deep in a waffle cone confection. He looked up with a big creamy smile. "Dude, there are the finest looking women at that tent over there." Kelso pointed to Rhonda and Gloria sitting in the shade.

"Well, at least they're out of the sun. It's freaking hot out here!" Eric wished he had put on some sunscreen because he knew his face was going to look like a lobster later. He could see Hyde and Donna heading towards the waffle cone machine.

"Steven Hyde. How the heck are you?" Rhonda couldn't resist. The curly haired rebel was within arms length. He looked back and said, "Fine. Do I know you?"

Rhonda smiled and stood up. "We've met. In fact, I used to have a class with you in high school."

Hyde looked at the gorgeous blonde with the long legs that went forever up that pretty floral sundress. This girl he would have remembered. Her hair was cut in a long bob and she had the bluest eyes he had ever seen. She looked like she could have walked out of one of Jackie's beauty magazines.

"We were in the same class? I swear I don't remember you." He honestly didn't. She smiled, "That's okay Hyde, you had no reason to. Go enjoy yourself." Jackie was tugging on his arm, whispering, "Steven, you're with me, remember?" Hyde smiled one last time as Jackie pulled him towards the band.

"Who was that?" Kelso asked. "Cuz, she's a stone cold fox! I think I should go meet her, I mean I already know or have done it with every girl here, well, except you Donna, but that's cuz you keep turning me down."

"Good luck Kelso," Donna laughed. The band started playing a heavy bass synth-pop tune with Synare electronic drum pads and immediately the cover band launched into Whip It, by Devo.

Crack that whip
Give the past the slip
Step on a crack
Break your Momma's back

Fez grabbed Eric's arm and danced over to the band. Eric shrugged off his hand and Fez went crazy in the crowd dancing with everyone. Jackie managed to find a small wall for Hyde to sit on and she conveniently sat in his lap. Eric looked for Donna and Kelso to find Donna had wandered off and Kelso was trying to hit on a lovely lady under the tent.

"Really? And I never asked you out?" Kelso was shocked at himself. How could this nugget-o-beautifulness have passed right by him through out high school? "So do you want to go out tonight?"

Rhonda laughed, her voice like a tinkling fountain," Tonight? Oh, I'm having too much fun already. You really don't remember me do you?" Mesmerized, he shook his head no. Rhonda's lips twisted into a wry smile, "Well, how about you kiss me and see if that sparks your memory." Little did Michael Kelso know it, but this was Rhonda's first kiss ever.

Kelso took her hand and touched her hair and pressed his lips against hers. This was three seconds of pure heaven! He smelled like Brut aftershave and his mouth was soft. The kiss ended and he said, "Damn! I know I would have remembered you!" He took a pen out of his pocket and found a scrap of paper, "This is my number. If my brother answers hang up and call again."

Rhonda took the paper. "Okay. I will." Inside she was giggling and pinching herself.

Kelso started to walk away, "Wait, you didn't give me your name."

"No, I didn't." she laughed.

xXx

Eric was tired of looking for Donna. It was at least 98 degrees and Fez was crying about ice cream brain freeze. Jackie was trying to keep Hyde from staring at the blonde under the tent. Eric just wanted to find some shade. Kelso went back to the ice cream sandwich maker and demanded a double.

Eric saw no one under the mist tent and quickly ran to grab a seat in the shade. "Ah, blessed relief." He sighed softly. Gary Miner came back from his truck, "Oh, hey - didn't see you there. Have you tried our new flavor of frozen yogurt?"

Eric looked at the man dressed in a smart business suit with alligator shoes. He looked as crisp as a one hundred dollar bill. "Uh…I've never had frozen yogurt, I'm not a big health food fan." He admitted. Gary liked the way this young man looked. "Tell you what; I have a twenty dollar bill here that says you can't tell the difference between my frozen yogurt and a regular scoop of ice cream. If you guess correctly, the money's yours. If you don't, nothing lost. Are you game?"

A no lose chance to win twenty bucks? "Sure, man. Serve me up." Eric loved the feel of the cool mist fanning his face. Gary pulled out two empty cones and opened an ice chest. He scooped out two dollops of the "game" into the cones and held them out in front of Eric. "Hey man, they look exactly the same."

Gary smiled. "No, one is Rocky Road; the other is Rockin' Rhonda Whipped. It's up to you to tell me which is which." Gary handed over both cones and Eric looked at them. He honestly couldn't tell the difference. "Eat away my friend, I'll be right back."

"Hey Gary? I can't find my Tom Jones album anywhere." Rhonda sat down in the other canvas chair and realized that she was sitting across from Eric Forman. THE Eric Forman, owner of THE BASEMENT. "Hi." She squeaked out. Eric looked at her and obviously didn't recognize her. "Hi yourself."

Okay, he's friendly and he's alone. Talk to him. Rhonda gave herself a pep talk. "What are you doing?" She felt like kicking herself in the head, he's eating ice cream of course! Eric smiled and switched to the other cone. "I'm trying to see if I can figure out which is ice cream and which one is frozen yogurt."

Gary came back. "There you are - Gloria found your comic books. They were boxed with the cameras."

Eric looked up, "Comic books?"

Rhonda smiled. "Yeah, I'm a collector. I have an amazing collection started on Stan Lee stuff."

Eric bit into the yogurt cone again. His eyebrow raised, "Which series?" A pretty girl this likes Stan Lee? This could be cool. She crossed her legs and Eric noticed the cute little sundress she was wearing. What was it about her that seemed familiar?

"I like the Fantastic Four but I started my collection with Spiderman. Can I tell you a secret?"

Eric leaned forward, "Please do."

Rhonda looked around to make sure other ears weren't listening. "I had to pay a lot of money, but I managed to get Amazing Fantasy #15."

Eric's jaw dropped. "The twelve cent issue that was Peter Parker's first appearance and Steve Ditko helped Stan Lee develop the character! Wow, I've heard the stories, but I've never seen the comic."

Rhonda smiled. "I have it and the whole first series. I've got them in plastic sleeves to retain their value. I hope to sell someday."

"The first series…that…that is extraordinary – can I ask how you got it?" Eric was very impressed with this young lady. She grinned, "I went to an auction and won. Dang if it wasn't the most fun I ever had!"

"So, do you collect any others besides The Four and Spiderman?"

Rhonda laughed, "Yes! I have Doctor Octopus and The Lizard and Green Goblin. I think the Green Goblin is my favorite."

Eric smiled, "I think I'm in love with you. So, honestly, do you think Peter Parker should use more gadgets or is he fine just the way he is?" Please say he's fine.

Rhonda tilted her head. "I like him just the way he is; I only wish they used his Spidey Senses more."

Eric was excited. "Like the force!" Rhonda grinned. "Exactly! Crap-alula Eric, I didn't know you were so cool!"

"How did you know my name?" Not that he minded.

"Oh, everyone knows who you are. I've even been in your basement." She added shyly. Is that why she seemed familiar? Eric didn't care; he found a kindred spirit and didn't even know her name.

George came back. "Oh, I see you've finished. "So, did you like the Rocky Road or the Rockin' Rhonda Whipped?"

"I couldn't tell the difference. They tasted the same to me."

Rhonda added, "With half the calories." George grinned and peeled a twenty dollar bill from his money clip. "Thank you for confirming my findings. I see you've met my yogurt inspiration."

Rhonda smiled. "He named the yogurt after me."

Eric still didn't get it. "Hey, are you busy tonight? I have some Spiderman Comic's in my attic that I'd like to show you."

"Well, what if I asked you to come to my house to see my collection?"

Eric grinned. A pretty lady, a comic connoisseur and no more wondering about if Donna was happy or not - Eric Forman was going on a date with this yogurt girl. He held out his hand, "Nice to meet you."

She held out her hand. "I'm Rockin' Rhonda. Nice to meet you."

Eric still didn't get it.

It didn't matter.

His Spidey Senses were already tingling.

It's not unusual, to be sad with anyone
but if I ever find that you've changed at anytime
it's not unusual to find out that I'm in love with you
whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh

Tom Jones

The End

xXx

A/N: The author has taken liberties with Strawberry Shortcake which didn't really become popular until 1983 –and I've taken liberties with Spiderman.

Pretend you didn't know that.