M3's challenge—Jackie reflects on her first kiss from Eric.
Fireworks
July 4, 1978
Dear Diary,
It was the best day of my life. It was the worst day of my life. I lost. But I also gained. I'm so glad that it is summer and
there is no school, but I'm supposed to be leaving tomorrow for cheerleading camp. I don't want to go this year. I can't
believe that Eric Forman kissed me! Ewww! Scrawny, treasurer/secretary for the A-V club, Star Wars fan, Eric Forman!
While all the grown-ups were outside having a barbecue; we were all downstairs in the basement as usual. Fez
thought it would be a cool idea for us to play spin the bottle, but Michael thought we should play "something better".
You know the game where you have to go into a closet or other enclosed space with someone chosen at random for
five minutes? Donna made a token feminist protest and went home. So, I was the only girl! That was not fair! Fez said
he'd go in the closet with any of his friends, which was very disturbing! We still needed a bottle to spin and Eric
volunteered his Coke bottle. I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach. Hyde wanted to spin the bottle, Fez was clapping
and wishing for him, Michael punched him in the arm, Hyde kept his cool, and Eric nervously twitched on the sofa. It was
no surprise that the bottle landed on Eric. Michael told him, "not to touch me, or he'd punch him." I told Michael to "Shut
up!"
Eric and I went into the room that Hyde was using as his bedroom. I sat on Hyde's bed as Eric stood up. I did feel bad
for him, granted it's always a treat for any man to kiss Jackie Burkhart, but there was something in his eyes that made
me feel bad for him. I found a piece of paper on the floor next to the bed and I motioned for Eric to hand me a pencil,
because I knew they were listening. I wrote, "You don't have to."
But then something strange happened, he sat down next to me on the bed and kissed me, gentle at first, then we both
got into it. Tongues and all. I'm a popular cheerleader! Eric, while a nice guy, is a nerd!
We just barely caught our breaths before Michael and the rest of the guys could catch us. I ran out of the basement and
almost thought of going to see Donna, but after her and Eric broke up, well, I didn't think she'd want me to gloat in her
face. And there was nothing to gloat about. It was just a kiss—well nice and warm—it was a game. It wasn't real. Or at
least I thought it wasn't—or I still wanted to be in denial about it.
Once I got home, I called my friend Heather on the phone and made the mistake of telling her that Eric kissed me—and
that I liked it. She laughed. Not just a girly giggle like I do, when I'm excited about the new nail polish shades at the
mall. She laughed in that bitchy cruel way. And I am the bitch so I know. "Eric Forman? The geek who likes Star
Wars and always gets a pimple face on class picture day!" "Why do you STILL hang out in his basement when you and
Michael are OVER?" "You are a POPULAR cheerleader, you CANNOT go out with Eric!" Heather tried to one up me, told me she
wouldn't tell Barb, Cathy, or Suzanne of my digressions as long as I NEVER did it again. Who the Hell was she? It's funny
you don't think of things until they hit you in the head. Why at the top of this diary entry, I did NOT mean what I said
about Eric at all. I like him. Sure, he could get a better haircut and I could buy him some stylish clothes at the mall, but—I
would sit in that basement and cry about Michael this and Michael that, watching Eric and Donna bond and feeling a
slight envy. Eric might have been a lot of things. But he wasn't a cheater and he loved her. I'd have worn his promise
ring! He treated Donna like a Queen. "Who says I can't go out with Eric?" I shouted into the phone.
"I'll blab it all over cheerleading camp! Then you might as well turn in your pom-poms!" "Go ahead, bitch!" I slammed the
phone down. Then I showered, changed, and put on my fresh make up to go back to Eric's basement. It was scary. No
one was in the basement. Then I thought nothing could have been too out of the ordinary because all of the adults were
outside still talking about the boring stuff old people talk about. I called for Eric, but there was no answer. Donna came
down the stairs I didn't know if she was going to sit on my head or not, so I said all that I could say, "Eric kissed me.
And I liked it." Donna smiled. "Yeah, he's over the moon about it, actually. He's in the kitchen." I asked her if anything
happened between Michael and Eric? Donna said, "Don't worry about it. Hyde took care of it and he and Fez were at the
Hub with Kelso." I ran up the stairs, but I only wanted to glisten not to sweat, I'm Jackie Burkhart after all. I found Eric
with his back turned TRYING to call me on the telephone! "Hello, Eric." I said and he turned around almost dropping the
receiver. I walked up to him as he hung up the phone and told him that it was my turn and I kissed him! Then we went
outside, as it was getting darker, to watch the fireworks with everybody. I'm going to go to cheerleading camp tomorrow
and Eric Forman is my boyfriend.
And together, we'll make our own fireworks.
The End
Author's Note: I was bored and hooked up my virus ridden XP to an old monitor and I found this. My very first AU
story and hooked up my trusty flashdrive. I don't know what happened to M3, but she had a cool Danny/Hyde site
called the fotohut and it was thanks to her that I dipped my toes in the alternative universe pool. Enjoy! So,
wherever you are, thank you M3 – I couldn't have been the AU writer that I am without accepting your challenge.
Happy 4th Everyone! (and if you haven't, join our fan fic msg. board, link in reviews for this story).