It's been a while and I felt a bit inspired thanks to all the PM's inquiring about my absence. This is just a short story about a promising friendship. I'm dipping my toe back into the fandom. Non-Canon.

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Chapter 01 – Two Weeks

November 12, 1976

The snarky Geography teacher's sloppy lips seemed to move in slow motion as he repeated, "Yes….de-ten-tion." His grey eyes glittered with malice.

The young girl's dark eyes looked at the pink detention paper pad as if it were a snake about to strike. Mr. Amato's thick lip curled into a half smile. The teacher slowly ripped a slip of paper from the pad on his desk, scribbled something unintelligible and handed it to Point Place High School junior, Miss Jackie Burkhart. "But….but…" Jackie started to protest

Mr. Amato plucked the slip out of her fingers and continued writing as he commented, "Any more backtalk out of you and it will be two weeks instead of one!" ".

Jackie's throat felt tight – this couldn't be happening! Nobody puts Jackie Burkhart in detention! "But…." She wanted to explain that detention would take away from her cheerleading practice and Daddy would take away the car, but all she got was, "Two weeks Miss Burkhart and a 1,000 word essay on the continent of Pangea."

She blinked. Pangea? Where the hell was Pangea? Two weeks? She sighed and dropped her head towards the black and white tiled floor.

Detention was a premature holding cell for future criminals and dropouts.

Detention was not a place for cheerleaders!

Detention was going to be hell.

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Penalty paper in hand, Eric Forman was looking for room 104-B in the Point Place High School basement. If it hadn't been for Kelso's damn drawing of a huge penis on the roll down map in his Economics' class, Eric wouldn't be looking for some imaginary room on a Friday after school.

The drawing was actually good, but when the teacher wasn't looking, Steven Hyde snuck up to the front of the room and added "Kelso Sucks" with black marker to the sketch and the laughter which ensued was Eric's demise. Mrs. Hauck didn't have a sense of humor and when she asked the question "…and what does this Kelso person suck?" Eric started howling – how could she not see how hilarious it was?

That was Eric's undoing. Hauck grabbed Eric by the upper arm and hauled him out into the hallway and straight to Principal Landry's office and the end result was two weeks detention.

The artist and writer of the cartoon got off without penalty.

Eric Forman faced the wrath of his father's anger, his mother's disappointment, his sister's snarky attitude and a two week vacation with the most burnt out, low life- drop out recruits that the city of Point Place had to offer.

Shouldn't Hyde be in detention as well?

Maybe it could turn out to be a vacation!

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Jackie held her Geography book close against her chest. The basement hallway was icky with dust and unpleasant odors – like those smells when Michael tells her when he forgot to use deodorant and she should love his manly scent. She wrinkled her nose and stopped in front of room 104.

Her boots felt like lead weights – she didn't want to enter the classroom – her reputation would be instantly ruined by whosoever witnessed the cheerleader stepping inside. Jackie shivered in the cold dankness of the hallway and listened to the sounds of melee occurring beyond the heavy door.

Taking a calming breath and closing her eyes, she reached for the door handle.

Ice. The handle was ice cold.

Like her soul.

Jackie Burkhart had never been sent to detention – she was one of the most popular girls in school for heaven's sake! This was an outrage. Maybe daddy could talk to someone at the school board and get the nasty Mr. Amato fired.

With a plan to get out of this nastiness, Jackie confidently swung open the door and stepped inside. She instantly regretted her decision. The roar in the room ceased to exist as Point Place's top cheerleader stepped through the threshold.

It was a loud silence – she could have heard a pin drop.

The classroom quiet was ruined by the swelling roar of laughter. Finger pointing and guffaws filled her with shame. Hisses and shards of superfluous glee caused Jackie's cheeks to turn pink with embarrassment as she pushed her way past fat Eddy who was picking his nose and grinning.

Jackie walked between the desks towards the back where the quieter students were hiding behind textbooks. She glared at Tammy Robinson who was obviously in her third trimester for the second time. Tammy glared back and rubbed her pregnant belly, "…you're just jealous!'

Jackie slipped into a seat in the back of the room and looked ahead, avoiding all those prying eyes.

A rasping cough and a loud *tap* *tap* *tap* on the blackboard quieted the room as Mr. Stewart, the oldest biology teacher in the world, stood at his desk waiting for the attention of the students. When all faces were on the front of the classroom, Mr. Stewart smiled and used the tip of his tongue to push his upper dentures out of his mouth. Jackie was instantly grossed out but figured the teacher had issues with his gums and disregarded the gesture. Well, that was until he put his entire upper plate on the top of his desk.

"Smoking." Mr. Stewart began. "I was 15 when I started smoking Camels. Then moved on to filtered cigarettes and while being cool was…well, cool….it cost me my teeth."

Fat Eddy held up his pudgy arm and asked, "How much do teeth cost?"

The students snickered until Eddy put down his hand.

Mr. Stewart replied, "The answer to your question Mr. Dale is approximately $800 for the upper plate and millions for the loss of being cool. So why am I telling you this story?"

Fat Eddy put up his hand again, "How do you eat without teeth?"

The teacher picked up the dentures and popped them back into his mouth, "Slowly. Very slowly."

The students groaned at the attempted joke but Mr. Stewart had their attention nevertheless.

"Welcome to Detention. I know you all think you don't deserve to be here – hell, I don't deserve to be here, but I'm paid by the hour so….thank you for the overtime! I've been instructed that each of you has an assignment that needs to be completed before your time with me is up, so I suggest you get working. I will be reading the new Peter Benchley novel – The Deep. "

Mr. Stewart sat back down in his chair, propped his legs on the corner of the desk and opened his book. He waved his hand in the general direction of the students and added, "On with you – get working!"

Jackie sighed and opened her Geography textbook to the index. There was no mention of Pangea in the entire book. Did Mr. Amato make this up? She sat back in the desk seat and closed her eyes.

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Eric had entered the classroom and making sure the first thing he did was avoid the spitball shower between Oscar Dewitt and that boy from Phys Ed who acted like his mom dropped him on the head when he was a baby. Eric headed straight to the second row in the back of the classroom and sat in the least graffiti adorned desk and opened his textbook so he could take a secret nap.

Ahhh…those short afternoon naps that led to all night make out sessions with a lovely red head….things dreams were made of. In his dreams, Donna Pinciotti was a wanton women – she was a wantin' him all the time! Lately, however, Donna seemed a bit distant and Eric put it down to her feminist hobbies. Still…..Eric Forman was dating guru and many underclassmen would come to him for advice:

About Star Wars.

About his action figure collections.

Although, not too much investigation into how he landed the popular red head, Eric sighed, closed his eyes and eased farther into the back of the chair that pressed against his shoulder blades. He drifted into a semi-meditative snooze that starred Miss Pinciotti wearing not much more than a red silk nightie. Eric smiled in his sleep.

A pencil rapping at the back of his head interrupted a lustful dream and Eric jolted awake ready to growl at the idiot that was using his skull for a drum. "Knock it off or I'll make you eat that pencil." As he turned in his seat, Eric was shocked to see the attractive brunette sitting behind him. He hissed, "Jackie! What the hell are you doing here? Are you spying on me?"

Jackie blinked and sighed, "As if. I got detention for mouthing off to Mr. Amato."

Eric grinned, "Oh yeah…the old tomato…I had him for one semester." Eric turned fully around and hung his arm on the back of the seat. "So what kind of hell did he assign you?"

Jackie blew out an exhausted breath. "A 1,000 word essay on Pangea. Is that like something that goes in a pan? Like Hamburger Helper?" Jackie was seriously concerned.

Eric stifled a laugh, "No. Pangea is a continent…or was one at some time. You must have really pissed him off."

Jackie closed her book and leaned forward so much so that Eric could actually smell her perfume. She confessed, "I have to get out of here. I can't make cheer practice AND be in detention." Eric seemed pretty comfortable with the detention situation and she was flummoxed. "So what did you do?"

Eric leaned back a little, sort of trying to put some distance between Jackie's bewitching smell and his own sensibilities. He wasn't some Michael Kelso that flitted to every pretty girl. Bringing his brain back to the present, Eric recalled Jackie's most apt question. What did he do to get detention?

Eric looked around to see if anyone was watching him talking to Jackie – he had a reputation to uphold! The coast was clear so he replied, "I laughed in my Economics class at a picture"

Jackie's eyes widened. "Doesn't any teacher at this school have a sense of humor?"

"I know!" Eric agreed. "I mean it's not like I drew the picture or made the comment…if anything, Kelso should be sitting here – not me."

Jackie gasped and covered her mouth. Eric frowned, "What."

"Michael can't know I'm here." She leaned forward and put a hand on Eric's forearm. "You can't tell him. He'll break up with me again."

Eric groaned, "Break up – make up – what is it with the two of you? I thought everything was good since prom."

"It was. I mean it is, but you know…Michael has to been seen with pretty popular girls." Her voice lowered, "Not girls that get detention."

Eric could tell that this detention sentence was an edge he'd have over Jackie Burkhart – this could be the one thing he would hold over her head forever.

Yeah, this was going to be fun.

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The bell rang and the jumble of detention students barreled towards the door. Mr. Stewart placed a clip on the page of his book and smiled as Tammy Robinson waddled her way between the desks. The teacher winked at Jackie and Eric as he stopped Tammy. "You know sweetheart, there are classes for ladies in your….ah…situation…that well, have more accommodations than Point Place High has to offer."

Tammy raised her brow, "I don't want to go to an all-girls school. I mean I want to have three kids by the time I'm twenty so I can be the cool mom at the pool. You know…laying out…working on my tan…"

Mr. Stewart frowned, "No Tammy – totally wrong vision of your future. How are you going to continue your education and get a good job to take care of your children?"

Tammy shrugged, "I was gonna let my mom take care of that. I have to keep my figure."

Eric cleared his throat and shouldered past the pregnant teen muttering, "Yeah, good luck with that."

Jackie bit the inside of her cheek and hurried behind Eric out into the chilly hallway. Tammy slammed the door behind her and brushed past the pair standing in the hall. "He's so stupid!" Jackie and Eric watched her waddle-run towards the stairs.

"Do you think we should follow her just to make sure she doesn't hurt herself?" Eric asked.

Jackie shook her head, "She's already hurt herself for a lifetime. I think she'll make the stairs. We have a problem though."

Eric rubbed his chilly hands together, "We do?"

"Yeah…er, how are we going to explain this situation?" Jackie replied.

"Oh…Kelso can't know you have detention and I have to burn him for giving me detention. We need to figure something out."

Jackie held up a finger, "I know! We can say that you are failing Economics and I'm helping you after school…in the library…where none of our friends go."

Eric's brows furrowed. It sounded too perfect. But what if Donna decided to show up and pursue her lady studies…did she do that? "I don't know Jackie…you're gonna owe me big time for this and besides, Hyde knows I got detention…how do I explain it to him?"

"Fine. I go down and I'm dragging you with me geek boy." The brunette threatened with a tone Eric had never heard before. It was ominous and it made his stomach feel like something gray and slippery was sliding around in there.

He quickly put a friendly arm around her shoulders. "Why don't you drive me home and we'll talk about it on the way?"

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A/N: Thanks AmbientSpaceNoise and Cajun Ghost for checking in!