"And so I said you've been calling me a dumbass my entire life when you were the real dumbass all along and it's not fair you're forcing us all to live with your mistake!" Eric vented as he bit into his apple and looked at his friends sitting with him at the lunch table.
"Wow, Eric. I can't believe you called Red a dumbass. What'd he say?" Donna remarked in awe.
"Big Red, don't listen to Forman. Alls he did was stand there squawkin' and wavin' his arms around yelling about 'hell spawn' and the 'evil empire.' Looked like he was having a seizure." Hyde said disgustedly and Donna tried to suppress a giggle as she turned in her seat, rubbing Eric's arm soothingly. Eric let out a frustrated huff.
"Well excuse me Hyde some of us have real emotions." Eric defended while gesticulating wildly in exactly the way Hyde had just described.
"Hyde has emotions." Fez interjected "Why, he is angry all the time!"
"I'm just saying, I have the right to be upset right now. This…girl" Eric spat "just popped up and now my life is in total chaos! My dad can't work and I might not be able to go to college because of it!" Eric sighed, his previous energy now spent "Look, I'm just tired of seeing my mom walking around like she's about to cry all the time and my dad's angrier than he's ever been. Yesterday he threatened to put his foot up Laurie's ass!" Eric threw his arms in the air for emphasis "Laurie!"
Donna and Fez both looked shocked at this revelation. Taking in their bugged eyes and slacked jaws, Hyde nodded his head.
"Same reaction I had. Man…it was brutal." He recalled.
"I have noticed the tension around there lately." Donna added "And I'm sure Kelso constantly hitting on Jackie isn't helping. Especially considering he and Laurie broke up like two weeks ago."
"Try explaining that to Kelso" Eric replied dryly. "He told my dad he didn't see what the big deal was he'd totally stop doing it with Laurie before he started doing it with Jackie." Eric imitated Kelso "We came this close" Eric pinched his index finger and thumb closely together "to seeing Red's foot actually go up Kelso's ass." Eric shook his head. "He's so lucky my mom came in when she did."
"Speaking of Kelso, here comes the moron of the hour now." Hyde stated as he motioned to Kelso strutting toward their table with a big grin on his face.
"Man! You guys will never guess what Pam Macy gave me under the bleachers!" Kelso exclaimed loudly as he grabbed a chair, flipped it around and straddled it, folding his arms on the top of the chair's back.
"VD?" Hyde questioned.
"No Hyde,a blow job!" Kelso grinned excitedly.
"That's disgusting," Donna replied with a grimace. "I thought you said you were gonna cut off all other girls and focus on trying to get with Jackie?" She questioned with a smirk.
"I thought about it." Kelso replied gravely "but, then I thought about how selfish that would be. Think about it. How many pretty girls are there in Point Place?" He looked around the table as his friends waited for him to continue "Lots!" He exclaimed. "Now, how many guys are as hot as me?" He waited again. "I'm the only one so that's like…two."
"Kelso, if it's just you that would be one." Donna replied partially amused and partially saddened at Kelso's stupidity.
"God Donna, do you ever listen? I keep telling you my hotness counts twice!" Kelso replied frustratedly. "Anyway, my point is, if I don't give 'em some lovin' they might never get to be with someone as hot as me. It's a rare opportunity and you guys know me…I'm a giver!" He finished with a proud smile.
"Well it does not matter anyway, because I am going to ask Jacqueline on a date and she will be my lady love!" Fez exclaimed, causing the inhabitants of the table to burst into laughter.
"Yeah, you do that little buddy." Hyde said condescendingly as he patted Fez on the back and they all continued eating their lunches and talking.
As Jackie walked into the cafeteria, she spotted the table where Eric, Donna, Hyde, Fez and Michael, or the basement gang as they were known around Point Place High School, sat. She had been in Point Place a week and a half and Kitty had let her stay home a week of that before she demanded Jackie be enrolled in the local high school until they could locate Pam Burkhart. Jackie wasn't sure if Kitty had been so adamant about getting her out of the house because she was truly concerned about her education or because she still could barely stand to look at her. It wasn't like Jackie hadn't noticed Kitty's neck stiffen and her shoulders tense every time she entered the room, she just tried (and failed) to not let it bother her because she understood why. Even still, Kitty had been kinder and warmer in the past week and a half than Pam had been Jackie's entire life and she found herself, desperately wanting Kitty to like her-wanting Kitty's approval.
As she made her way to the table she waved briefly at the group of cheerleaders to her right and then nodded her head toward the basement gang, indicating she wouldn't be sitting with the girls today. Jackie had been a cheerleader one whole day, having been allowed on the cheerleading squad her second day of school, despite the fact that tryouts had long been over. When the girls discovered she had been the captain of the cheerleading squad at the prestigious East Honolulu High School, the squad that had won Nationals three years in a row, they immediately placed her on the team. As far as her affiliation with the basement gang? The rumors were still swirling about that, but they just added to her new girl mystique.
"Hey guys!" Jackie chirped as she placed her tray on the table, squeezing her way into the small space between Donna and Eric, which was conveniently across from Hyde. Fez sat opposite Donna and Kelso sat at the end of the table.
Jackie received a spectrum of responses: nothing from Eric, a casual nod from Hyde, a smile followed by "Hey Jackie" from Donna, and finally two over enthusiastic yells of "Hi baby!" and "My beautiful goddess!"
"What…you aren't sitting with the Imperial Army today? Eric asked snidely.
"The what?" Jackie asked confusedly as Kelso moved around the table, practically knocking Donna to the ground in an effort to sit next to her. He attempted to place his arm around her and she scooted fearfully toward Eric as she shot Hyde 'save me' looks.
Before Hyde realized what he was doing he had reached across the table and frogged Kelso several times in the arm. "Would you be still you idiot! You…almost knocked my drink over!" Hyde clumsily explained as he positioned himself back in his seat, confused by his own actions.
"Jeez Hyde you don't have to hit!" Kelso whined as he sulkily sat back in his previous location and Jackie shot Hyde a look of gratitude.
Jackie had quickly found that while Michael was a nice distraction to look at, as soon as he opened his mouth the illusion was shattered. She'd had a boyfriend a lot like him at her old high school and all he did was cheat on her. From the rumors she'd heard about Michael, he and her ex weren't that different. Plus, he'd dated Laurie. Even if Laurie weren't potentially her sister she wouldn't want that skankoid's leftovers.
None of this information helped her Steven problem though. Although thankfully Donna had informed her that Steven was not her cousin or some other blood relative, she feared that information only made matters worse. She could hardly look at him without blushing, but felt constantly drawn toward him. It all just made her feel like a big idiot because she'd never had this kind of reaction to a guy. Leave it to Jackie to go in search of her long lost father only to develop a crush on her…adopted brother? Is that how he saw her? She hoped not, because the dream she had the night before was anything but sisterly.
"You know, the Imperial Army?" Eric's voice cut through Jackie's thoughts and she looked up to see his incredulous face staring at her. When she didn't respond, but continued looking blankly at him, his face twisted into a horrified expression. "Oh. My. God." Eric was unable to mask his revulsion. "You know what?" He squeaked out "Never mind. Just…why are you at our table?" he sputtered.
"Oh, I came to ask if you guys wanted to come to Julia Simmons' party with me this Saturday?" Jackie cheerfully addressed the whole gang, but found her eyes again magnetically drawn to Hyde.
"Yeah…see…I'm not going anywhere with you." Eric replied while looking at her as if questioning her sanity for even having the audacity to ask such a question.
"I have this huge paper to write." Donna replied unconvincingly, unable to meet the younger girl's eyes as she responded. Truthfully, cheerleaders really weren't her thing and she didn't want to hear her boyfriend's whining about her lack of allegiance if she did go with Jackie.
"Cheerleader party?" Hyde pretended to consider this "Umm…no thanks." he replied sarcastically.
"I'll go with you Jackie!" Kelso exclaimed loudly and Jackie ignored him as she turned toward Fez for his response.
"I don't think I will make it," Fez added sadly "I always get beat up by the football players at those parties and if Hyde does not come I will have no protection. Plus, are you sure you want to go this party my Jacqueline? I was going to ask if you would like to go to the movies with me?" Fez asked, attempting to be suave.
"Awww Fez. Are you asking me on a date?" Fez nodded as Jackie cooed "that's so sweet…" Fez looked smugly at the rest of the gang "but I don't date foreigners." Jackie finished somewhat snottily.
Fez was shocked but he quickly rallied. "Well if that is how you feel then I do not want to eat lunch with you! Good day!" Fez let out an indignant puff of air as he snatched up his lunch tray and turned to leave.
"But Fez!" Jackie tried to reason with him.
"I said good day!" Fez yelled back at her as he stormed off, leaving Jackie confused and everyone else snickering.
Determined not to show up at her first party in Point Place alone and really not wanting to go with any of her cheerleading "friends," who she would never admit out loud, intimated her when they were all together. "There'll be freee bee-er" Jackie sing-songed as she smiled at the table.
"What time should we be there?" They all asked in unison.
As the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch, Jackie picked up her tray and looked around to see that her cheerleading friends had long ago left the cafeteria, Donna and Eric were hurriedly walking off, and Michael was being pulled away by some red-headed bimbo, leaving her alone with the ever-scowling Steven Hyde.
"So…Steven, what class do you have next?" Jackie asked as they headed toward the window to drop off their dirty trays.
At first Hyde looked shocked that she had spoken directly to him, considering they hadn't said much to each other in the past week and a half, but he quickly shrugged and replied "Don't know. Don't care. I'm skippin' it anyway."
"Why?" Jackie asked innocently.
"Why not?" Hyde stopped briefly to respond, already beginning to get annoyed that her questioning was holding him up.
"Well don't you care about missing class?" Jackie asked, truly perplexed. All she could think about was the way Red constantly rode Eric about his classes, his dolls, being lazy, his constant nudity, whining like a woman and…well…everything. She couldn't imagine with Eric receiving that kind of attention that someone didn't care at least a little bit about Hyde's progress in school.
"Jackie," Hyde sighed her name as he finally reached the window to drop off his tray "school is just an excuse for the government to take tax dollars from us and have people tell us what to read. I can skip the middle man and read whatever I want."
Jackie considered this. While she wasn't totally convinced it wasn't a load of crap, the conviction with which Hyde had spoken about the government intrigued her. And, she'd much rather read one of her Nancy Drew novels than her Chemistry textbook.
"Can I come?" she timidly asked Hyde.
"What?" he responded roughly, surprised by her request.
"Can I skip with you?" she asked again as they exited the cafeteria and entered the building's main hall.
"No!" Hyde firmly responded.
"Why not?" Jackie asked, wondering what Hyde's objection was to her presence.
"Cause you're a freakin' cheerleader Jackie!" She looked confusedly at him, wondering what that had to do with anything. "You're a square!" he clarified at her lost expression.
She glared angrily back at him. "Just because I'm a cheerleader does notmean I'm a square!" You don't know anything about me!" she challenged.
"Yeah, well…I know you like unicorns." He quickly retorted.
"So?" she questioned.
"So, bye bye." He said as he quickly turned to walk off before they were caught in the halls and his effort at skipping class was wasted. He shook his head in exasperation as he heard her clogged feet tapping fiercely behind him in an effort to catch up to his fast pace. Realizing his words had done nothing to deter her, he turned his head but continued walking. When he felt her hand grasp his arm, he looked down at her face and to his dismay she was pouting. To his disgust, it was actually having an effect on him.
"Pweease Steven" she whined.
"Fine!" He groaned as he relented, angry with himself that her puppy-dog-eyed-pouty-lip routine had actually worked on him.
"Yay!" she cheered, bouncing on the balls of her feet and clapping her hands together like an excited four year old.
"But-" Hyde cut into her joyous celebration as they exited out the back of the school building and into the parking lot "no complaining about what we do and no talking about cheerleading, unicorns, rainbows, your hair, the noise you call music or any of the other crap you've been heaping on us this past week. Got it?"
"Well what canI talk about?" Jackie questioned seriously since Hyde had effectively cut off every one of the topics she generally relied on in conversation. As Jackie's mother had repeatedly reminded her when she came to Pam with her problems, no one wants to be bothered with her depressing stories, they just sucked the fun out of everything. So, she generally kept the serious stuff to contemplate for herself.
"How about nothing? Just…don't talk ok?" He looked at her pleadingly and she nodded her head in the affirmative.
TBC
A/N - Don't worry, you don't miss Jackie's first time skipping school, it'll be in the next chapter, and hopefully it won't disappoint!