Prologue
Kitty Forman smiled fondly at the three children walking down the street. The two twelve-year-old twin boys were named Kyle and Todd, and had feathery brown hair just like their father. The nine-year-old girl, Brianna, took after her mother and had fiery red locks. Kitty couldn't help but think to herself that she couldn't have asked for more perfect grandchildren as their beagle, Bailey tugged on his leach, making Kyle lurch forward and Bri stomped on all the puddles in the street as it started to drizzle.
When Eric came back from Africa, he and Donna got back together—just like she predicted!—and they both went to college: Eric for his teaching degree and Donna for her writing degree. During their senior year of college, Donna got pregnant with Kyle and Todd and she and Eric got married.
It was a beautiful wedding, too. They invited Fez and Jackie, and Hyde and Sarah to take part in it (Hyde as the best man and Sarah as the Maid of Honor). They even tracked down Kelso to be a groomsmen along with Fez.
After the twins were born, Donna quit her job as Hot Donna so she could be a stay-at-home mom for a few years. Just as Kyle and Todd were old enough to go to Day Care, she got pregnant with Bri and was a stay-at-home mom for a few more years. Now that all three of them are old enough to stay home by themselves—Kyle and Todd can baby-sit their sister—Donna has gotten a few short stories published and is getting the writing career she always wanted.
It took a little while for Eric to get a job but now he teaches history at Point Place High School for freshmen and has been for five years now.
Kitty smiled and shut the door as Red called her name, retreating into the house.
"Bri, will you stop that?" Kyle snapped, shielding his face from the splash as the redhead stomped on another puddle.
"Stop what? I'm just walking," she replied, smugly.
"Get out of the street, Brisley," Todd said, using the nickname her father gave her when she was born.
"Yeah! Todd and I will get in trouble if you get hit by a car!" Kyle cried as Bailey yanked him forward.
"That would be so cool," Bri stated as she hopped on the sidewalk, behind Todd.
"You're one messed up little girl," Kyle grumbled and Bri chose to ignore him.
"I want to hold Bailey's leash!" she whined.
"No! The last time you did that, he almost ran away!"
"That's cuz he saw a squirrel! He won't run away this time. I'm Bailey's favorite." It was true. Although Bailey was supposed to belong to the entire family, he was Bri's dog.
"Fine!" Kyle handed her the leash and the three of them walked the streets of Point Place in silence.
XxxJackie Burkhart examined her appearance in the mirror of her bathroom. She had to make sure she looked absolutely stunning to impress her racist father and floozy mother, who were now back together and coming to dinner tonight.
Mr. Burkhart had cut Jackie off again once he got out of jail and found out she was dating Fez.
Luckily, her husband had made good friends with the owner of the beauty parlor where he worked as a shampoo boy and when the owner died, he left the beauty parlor to Fez where he and Jackie now ran it together. Jackie wanted to prove to her parents that she had it all, even without their help. She had a successful marriage, two beautiful daughters, her own business and was still gorgeous at thirty-three years old.
"Mom! Can you help me with my hair?" her oldest daughter, Lyla cried, knocking on the door.
"Sure, honey!" Jackie replied, opening the door. Lyla was twelve-years-old and Amber, her youngest daughter, was eleven. Amber looked just like a mini-version of Jackie, with her raven-colored locks and blue-green eyes. She got velvety dark skin from her father to tie the look together. It was easy to say she was beautiful. Lyla was just as pretty, if not more. She inherited her grandmother, Pam's beautiful brown hair, Jackie's light skin, and Fez's chocolatey brown eyes.
Lyla was more humble about her looks while Amber preferred to show them off. Their personalities were different in that way.
Lyla walked into the bathroom while Jackie curled her hair.
"Mom, why don't we see Grandpa and Grandma that much?" Lyla asked, crossing her arms over her chest and staring at Jackie through the mirror.
"Because your Grandpa is mad at me for marrying Daddy," Jackie replied.
"Oh. Because he's foreign?"
"That's right."
"Asshole."
"Hey! Watch your mouth, Lyla," Jackie scolded.
"Sorry," the girl grumbled.
"Umm…honey?" Fez asked, walking into the bathroom with Amber in tow. "Your daughter needs help with…lady problems."
"I got my period, Mom!" Amber boasted and Fez flinched.
"Aye…"
"Okay, hun, get something from the drawer," Jackie said, gesturing toward the drawer near the door and Amber began digging through it. The doorbell rang and Jackie jumped.
"Oh crap! They're here early!"
XxxBrooke Kelso got into the passenger seat of her husband's convertible while her fifteen-year-old daughter, Betsy got into the backseat.
"Where are we going?" Betsy asked, irritably.
"Your dad wants to show us something at work," Brooke replied.
When Betsy turned three, Brooke and Kelso started to date (again) and got married when Betsy was five. Kelso got fired from the Playboy mansion and moved Brooke and Betsy back to Point Place where he got into the Police Academy again and became a cop (again). The owners of the academy must have been stupid to let him back in but they did it anyway. Now Kelso was a cop and Brooke got her old job back at the library. Things were exactly the same as when she had been pregnant with her only daughter fifteen years ago and Brooke loved it.
"Alright, gang, ready to go?" Kelso asked, getting into the driver's seat and starting the sport's car.
"Sure, just one question: where are we going?" Betsy pushed. With Brooke as her mother and Michael Kelso as her father, it was no surprise that she came out very good-looking. Betsy had chestnut brown hair and soft, chocolate eyes like both of her parents but she was much more modest about her looks than her father. She was smart and tried to get by on her brain instead of her beauty, much to Kelso's dismay.
"Down to the police station to take a look at the latest scumbag we locked up down there. Got arrested for marijuana, you go that, Betsy? It's bad stuff," Kelso said, backing out of the driveway and driving down the street.
"Shut up, Dad, you used to smoke pot all the time! You still do!" Betsy cried, grinning.
"That's true so knock yourself out," he said, winking at her.
"Michael!" Brooke cried.
"So Dad, if there's no point in going to the police station, can we get ice cream instead?"
"Now you're talking!"
XxxSteven Hyde drove into the parking lot of Point Place Elementary School and snuck a glance at his watch: 2:57. School should be out in three minutes.
Hyde always took twenty minutes off work so he could pick his kids up from school. Sarah couldn't because her asshole of a boss wouldn't let her change shifts at PriceMart. And besides, Hyde owned Grooves so he could leave anytime he wanted.
"Daddy!" Hyde looked up; smiling at his four-year-old son came running to the car.
"Hey, Johnny, man, what's up?"
"Good!"
Hyde grinned. "That's not the question I asked, dude. What's up?"
"Nothin'! Can I sit in shotgun today? Please, Daddy, please?" Johnny begged, pouting.
"Sorry, buddy, you're not old enough. Besides, that's where Luke sits."
Hyde buckled Johnny up in the backseat and took off to the middle school to pick up Colin.
When he got there, the thirteen-year-old plopped down in the back with a sigh and took off the baseball cap that he always wore backwards to fan his face. He had a curly mop of brown hair and was a spitting image of his father. He was also the laziest kid on the planet.
"Hey, Colin. Rough day?" Hyde asked, continuing to the high school.
"As rough as it can get for the seventh grade," Colin replied, staring out the window.
Hyde pulled up to the front of the school and honked his horn. Luke got into the passenger seat and his best friend, Xander Montgomery, squeezed in between Colin and Johnny.
Hyde drove his oldest son's best friend home from school every day because he reminded him of himself growing up. Xander's parents were abusive alcoholics who didn't give a shit about their son so he hung out at the Hyde's most of the time. Xander had brown hair and big, black glasses. He was a skinny kid and kind of reminded Hyde of Eric.
"Dad, Xander can't go home," the fifteen-year-old murmured to Hyde. "His mom's in jail and his dad's been drinking a lot lately."
Hyde nodded and glanced at Xander through the mirror. "Hey, Xander, you wanna spend the night?"
"Sure," he replied, grinning.
"Well if Xander's sleeping over again, where's Caleb going to sit?" Colin asked, referring to the cramped and full El Camino.
"He can share a seatbelt with Johnny," Hyde replied and pulled up in front of a small house. Caleb, his nine-year-old son came walking out, smiling. Caleb had blonde hair, like Luke and his mother and when he was five, he got an ear infection that caused him to go deaf. Hyde and Sarah asked W.B. for help and he paid for a private tutor to teach Caleb and school stuff since there was no deaf school in Point Place.
Caleb came up to the driver's side with a grin and asked, using sign language:
Caleb: Hi, Dad. Where do I sit?
Hyde: Share a seatbelt with Johnny. Xander's staying the night again.
Caleb: Okay.
Caleb got into the El Camino and shared a seatbelt with his four-year-old brother.
Hyde, Sarah, and Colin all learned sign language so they could communicate with Caleb. Johnny wasn't old enough to learn and Luke tried to learn but just couldn't remember it all. But Caleb could read lips so he could still talk to Luke and Johnny.
"Alright, gang, let's go," Hyde said and headed for home.
Author's Note: So how are you liking it so far? Good, I hope! And reviews would be appreciated!
I just want to clear one thing up: I hope some of the things I write about Caleb being deaf don't offend any of my readers who are deaf or who know someone who's deaf because I'm really not trying to offend anyone. When someone is using sign language, I write it as a script just so you'll know that the people are using sign language so I won't have to keep saying "he said in sing language" over and over again.
I also don't want anyone to be offended by Caleb having a private tutor. I know that deaf people aren't incapable of taking care of themselves but if Caleb went to a deaf school, it would have to move the family away or have him move away and that just wouldn't work for the story.
So if anyone's offended—and I really hope that's not the case—just let me know and I'll do my best to fix it!
-Rachel
