"Man, why are we here?" Hyde asked. "Karaoke is for losers."

"Hey," Fez pouted. "I love karaoke."

"Yeah, but that's because you're foreign," Hyde said. "It's acceptable for you. For regular Americans, though… it's just wrong." Ugh, if someone tried to sing one Abba song he was out of there.

"Hey, remember what we all came here for," Foreman pointed to the sign near the stage. "First prize gets a twenty-four pack of beer, oh yeah." He grinned.

Hyde nodded. Free beer was nothing to sneeze at. "There's just one problem to this little plan. One of us is going to have to sing."

Kelso laughed. "Hey- you should sing, Hyde. I think I see some of Edna's old boyfriends at the judge's table. They'll probably let you win since they did it with your mom."
Hyde punched Kelso as hard as he could on the shoulder. "What did I tell you about talking about Edna, man?"

Kelso sighed. "That you would duct tape me in a stall in the girls bathroom again."

Hyde smiled. "That's right." While Kelso sulked, Hyde quietly took a couple of deep breaths to calm down. He couldn't let one idiot make him break his zen, after all. Even if that idiot was talking about Edna and reminding him of his less-than-stellar childhood.

"I'll sing," Fez said. "I sound better than the rest of you idiots anyway. And none of the ladies in the room will be able to resist me if I do."

"Good luck, buddy," Hyde said. Fez was seriously horny all the time, which was really annoying to listen to all the time. Maybe if he actually found a girl, then he would stop complaining. And if it was through lame-ass means like karaoke, then all the more power to him.

Fez went up to talk to a group of women near the bar. Kelso looked at him and grinned. "Oh man, he's found some seriously hot chicks. He'd better bring them over here so I can get a piece of the action. Oh screw it, I'll do it myself." He got up to join Fez with the chicks.

Eric sighed turned to Hyde. "Look, man, I think I'm screwed here. If Red ever finds out I won beer in a karaoke contest, he'll never let me hear the end of it. And I don't know which part he would react worse to- the beer or the karaoke."

"Oh, it would definitely be the karaoke," Hyde said. "But relax. Fez is singing. If everything goes south, we can pin it all on him."

There was a shout from behind them. "Hey! How many times do we have to say we're not interested before you get the picture, dillholes!"

"Fine!" Kelso shouted. "But we all know you're interested in me. Slutty girls like you are always interested in me."

Hyde looked over at the scene. He couldn't decide what to do: intervene, or let them make asses out of themselves.

Fez went to grab one of the girl's asses, though, and that settled it for him. He wasn't going to let his perverted friend assault an innocent girl just for a few laughs. "Hey," he said, putting his arm around Fez's shoulders. "I think we should all sit down. Excuse us, ladies."

"Hey!" Kelso shouted at Hyde. "We all know what you're trying to do here, Hyde. You're just trying to get me and my good looks out of the way so you can have the girls all to yourselves."

Hyde handed Fez off to Eric, who was right behind him. "You caught me," he said dryly. "That's why I'm about to sit down at the table with you guys. And you have a girlfriend, man!" He punched him in the arm. "Stop being a douche."

"I suggest you listen to your friend," one of the girls said. "Sit down if you don't want to get hurt." It was the same girl who had told off Kelso before. Hyde glanced at her and then immediately had to take another glance. She was gorgeous. She had bright blue eyes that didn't give anything away, and a soft, pouty mouth. Her brown hair was tied back in a braid that went down her entire back. She was sexy as hell, even if she wasn't really Hyde's type. She was seriously scrawny and a little too short for his tastes. Even her tube top and mini skirt looked too big on her. But for some reason Hyde couldn't stop looking at her.

"Hey," Kelso said. "I know you want me. Stop trying to deny that you're falling for my hotness." He reached out to grab her and before Hyde could pull him out, the girl grabbed Kelso's arm and twisted it behind his back. Kelso groaned. "Okay, I am not turned on by this."

"Walk away now," she hissed, pushing Kelso away.

"Wow," Hyde said. 'Nice move, man."

She smiled slightly as she sized him up. "Thanks. Comes in handy when handling assholes. I'm Tory, by the way."

"Call me Hyde. So, your friends drag you to the karaoke as well?"

"No," she said. "I'm here to get the second prize- free cheeseburger and fries."

"You don't want the beer?" There was no way she could be a square, not with the outfit she was wearing and the way she handled Kelso.

"Hey, a beer's good now and then, but not on an empty stomach. You can enjoy a cheeseburger all by itself."

He was about to reply when the announcer called up Tory's name. "Nice meeting you, Hyde," she said as she walked by him. He caught a scent of citrus as she brushed past him. It was the best smelling perfume he had ever had the pleasure of sampling. He grinned as he sat down. Fez and Kelso glared at him. "Hey, don't steal girls from me," Fez said. "It's not nice. I could have had them both if you hadn't interfered."

"Fez, you were about to get yourself arrested for sexual assault. Never grab ass without permission, man. If you do, then they have an excuse to get rid of you when they realize you're a foreigner." It was also seriously rude and disgusting, but he wasn't about to say that. People might start confusing him with Eric if he did.

"Hey, Fez, you might not have had a real chance with them since you're foreign and all," Kelso said. "But I really did. Until Mr. Bad Boy here had to break up the party."

"Kelso, she almost broke your arm," Eric said. "Girls don't do that if they like you."

"What about when Donna broke your arm?" Kelso said. "Remember when you guys had that arm wrestling contest and she slammed your arm so hard against the table that it broke?"

Eric sighed. "First of all, it was only a fracture to my wrist. Second of all, that was an accident. She said so herself after she stopped laughing."

Hyde laughed. "Good times," he said.

Just then, the instrumental track to "Stairway to Heaven" started blasting over the speakers and Hyde tensed. If this person ruined his favorite song, then he was going to kick their ass.

Just then the smoothest alto voice belted out the lyrics. It sent shivers down Hyde's back and he turned to look at the stage to see Tory up there, confidently singing the lyrics. She wasn't even looking at the lyrics on the monitor. She smiled as she sang it and for a second he thought she was looking right at him. His mouth went dry. No one was able to do Zeppelin justice. But somehow she was. It was perfect and haunting. Who knew what she could do if she actually had a live band backing her up.

"Wow," Eric said. "She was good." He looked at Hyde. "I think she gave Hyde a heart attack."

Hyde scowled at his friend. "No," he said. "I'm just surprised she didn't completely ruin Zeppelin." He turned back to the table. "She's all right."

"I think she sucks," Kelso shouted at the stage. "No girl who turns down me is going to be good!"

Hyde punched him in the shoulder. "Moron."

The crowd went wild after Tory's performance. No one after her measured up, not even Fez, even though he sang pretty well, with a great dance which, as usual, impressed everyone and made them slightly uncomfortable. Hyde kept looking around for Tory, but she was nowhere to be seen after that. That is, until they announced the winners. Tory got first place. Fez got second.

"Damn it!" Kelso shouted. "We needed the beer, Fez! What the hell are we supposed to do with a free cheeseburger?"

"It's not my fault some singing goddess was here," Fez said. "Screw you, I was good."

"Hey," a voice said from behind Hyde. He turned to see Tory.

"Hey, Tory," he said. "Congratulations on winning."
"Thanks," she grinned. "But actually, I was wondering if I could trade prizes."

"Wait, wait, wait," Eric said. "You want to trade twenty-four cans of beer for a cheeseburger?" he laughed. "What's your angle?"

"No angle. I want the cheeseburger," she said. "Ask Hyde, he knows."

Hyde nodded. "It's true."

"Wait," Kelso gave Hyde a stupid frown. "You guys know each other? I knew you were stealing her away from me!"

"We talked for a couple of minutes, moron," Hyde said. "Fez, man, trade up."
Tory and Fez traded the vouchers. "Thanks, guys," she said. "Nice meeting you all."

"Hey, hold on a minute. Why don't you stay a little bit? We'll give you a beer."
She shrugged, but Hyde swore she saw her expression get a little more shuttered. "Thanks, maybe some other time. But I've got to go now. Talk to you guys later." She waved and left, leaving Hyde with the strange impulse to go after her.

Hold it together. She's just a random chick. A very cool chick with a super hot voice, but still just a random chick. He was still a little disappointed when they left the karaoke bar without seeing Tory again.

The four of them all went to the water tower to drink the beer. They were all goofing off and joking around. Kelso almost fell off the water tower again, but Hyde grabbed his ankle in time and pulled him up. By the time they were heading back, everyone but Hyde had forgotten about Tory. He held on to the memory of her, though. After all, he had to face Edna that night. It would be nice to have something to take the edge off of whatever was waiting for him at home.

Hyde was the first to be dropped off. He went into his home and found Edna with some random guy passed out on the couch. "Nice," he said. "Can I have his wallet?"

"Don't be ridiculous," she said. "I already took it. You can have his watch." She lit a cigarette and sized up her son, blowing smoke in his face. "You've been drinking, haven't you?"

"So? You have, too." Hyde grabbed the poor sucker's watch from off his wrist and examined it. It was a cheap knock-off. Worthless. With some disgust, he tossed it back on the man. "What does that matter?"

She sneered at him. "You're worthless. Just like your father."

"So you keep telling me. I'm going to bed."

"What, with the house a mess like it is, you're just going to go walk off and sleep? Yeah, I can see what respect you have for your mother!"

"Clean up yourself, Edna! I'm the only one who ever does chores around here." He felt anger brewing inside of him and he stormed off before he took it too far. Instead, he shut himself in his room and locked the door so his mom wouldn't come in and steal his wallet for booze, like she had done in the past. He lied down on his bed and closed his eyes, picturing Tory's bright blue eyes and hearing her smooth alto voice in his head.