Author's Note: I can't recall whether or not I ever gave Chris a middle name… so I'm going to give her a new one! If any of you guys remember if she had one and what it was, please let me know so I can change it… thank you(:

In other news that actually pertains to the subjects within this chapter, most of it is about Hyde and Chris's relationship. Nothing all that eventful actually occurs… this was a filler chapter (I had to write one for before the end of school), so sorry if it seems forced. I promise to try to make the next update better! :D

Chris bit her lip as she nervously approached the school building with Donna. It was the beginning of June, a full month after Domino's trial, but she still had trouble being by herself. It was hard to believe that after over five years of constant running and hiding and screaming and crying, it was all over. She'd expected for it to be a relief to get rid of her abuser, and she swore to god that it was, but she hadn't been expecting to still have all of the fear and apprehension that he had caused with her. She had thought that after he was locked up, she'd become normal, and yet she still flinched every time someone raised a hand. She still jumped every time somebody tapped her shoulder. After everything, she was still completely and utterly terrified of the man that she knew could never come back.

The two roommates walked into the school and headed towards Chris's locker. Chris's heart skipped a beat when she saw that Hyde was there, leaning against it. After a very brief and joy-filled moment, she felt her heart sink back into its proper place when she realized that he was there for Donna. Always for Donna…

"Donna," he greeted his best friend. He looked over at Chris, ignored all of the feelings (anger, guilt, betrayal, love, lust, joy, fear…) that overcame him, and simply gave her his stereotypical nod of recognition. He had to stop a smirk from spreading across his face when he saw how much that pissed her off.

"Steven," Chris said curtly. If he wanted to pretend that everything they had didn't exist, then she would be happy to oblige. She gestured to her locker, which he was leaning against, and inquired, "Can you move?"

"I'll move when I'm done here," he responded dismissively. He unintentionally spoke with a tone of bitterness in his voice, matching the amount of emotion that she'd let slip out. He turned his attention back to the redhead and informed her, "We're gonna have a party over at Kelso's tonight. You in?"

"Sure," Donna answered instantly. A smile forced the corners of her mouth upwards when she deciphered what he had really beenasking her. She had been friends with Hyde for long enough to know what his pride was preventing him from saying. "Chris and I will definitely be there."

"Cool," he said calmly, keeping his feelings in check this time. Despite his newfound control, his eyes still landed on Chris and lingered there for a few moments before he turned his head away and left the girls alone.

"Why'd you say I would go?" Chris demanded the moment Hyde was out of earshot. "He obviously doesn't want me there."

"You obviously don't know Hyde," Donna countered. She let out a sigh and shook her head sadly as she added dismally, "I don't understand what happened between you two. I mean, you guys were like best friends. And then you hated each other, and then you liked each other again. But after the trial… Well, I don't know. A week after that creep got put away you guys just kind of stopped talking. Did I miss something? Is there anything you aren't telling me?"

An angry scowl overrode Chris's features as she shook her head. She hadn't really talked to or about Hyde since they had argued at the school dance three weeks ago, and she wasn't exactly eager to begin acting out the latter. "I don't know, okay? We got into a fight about something stupid at the dance— the one I went to with Jake Bradley— and since then we've just kind of… drifted. I don't know. But obviously it doesn't matter, because he doesn't care enough to try to fix it. And if he doesn't care enough, then why should I?"

"When have you ever known Hyde to be the one to try and fix things? He's more of the kind of guy who sits back and watches things happen. He never makes the first move."

"Well, that's stupid."

"It's Hyde. What do you expect?" Donna looked over at a clock on the wall and said, "Listen, I have to go so that I'm not late to first period. We've already missed homeroom…" She paused for a moment, and almost laughed when she realized what class Chris had. "But, uh, have fun with Hyde in science class! Try not to blow anything—including each other— up."

Chris looked up at the twig who was blocking her way to the lunchroom and cocked an eyebrow at him— a habit that she had picked up from all the time she used to spend with Hyde. "Eric, what are you doing?"

"I'm… uh…" He froze, his eyes darting around desperately before landing on a Wet Paint sign. "I'm just admiring the view! They repainted the walls, see? It's a graffiti-free hallway now!"

"That's the lamest excuse I've ever heard, Eric. You can do better." She placed her hand on her hip and demanded, "Can you please move now?"

He pressed his back closer against the door and shook his head adamantly. "No!"

"Eric…" she growled threateningly. She didn't know what this was about, but it was pissing her off.

"I have specific orders not to let you in," he informed her, hoping that it would deter her from wanting to come in.

"But I'm hungry," Chris whined pathetically. An idea struck her, and her narrowed eyes widened from a glare to a pleading gaze towards the Sci-Fi nerd. "Fine. I won't go in— but can you come with me to look for Jake? He's always willing to share his lunch with me."

"He's in the caf— I mean, yeah! Sure, I'll help you find him."

She raised an eyebrow, amused by the fact that he was such a horrible liar. However, the two of them did not share the same fatal flaw. She smiled and chirped out a happy "Thanks!" before walking down the hall. When she saw that Eric was on her heels, she waited until they were a few feet away from the door to turn around and burst into the cafeteria.

There was a large group of kids circled around a table, and they were all cheering one name or another. Chris shoved her way through the ring of kids and froze when she saw what they were all surrounding. She had kind of assumed that it would be a fight, but she hadn't expected Hyde to be in it.

No wonder Eric didn't want me to come in here…

Eric grabbed Chris's arm and began trying to pull her away, but Chris yanked her arm out of his grasp and watched Hyde and Jake (who was a guy in her history and math classes, the school's first-string quarterback, and her date to the end-of-the-year junior/senior formal) fight. Hyde was winning for the most part, but from the looks of Hyde's face he'd clearly received a few harsh blows himself. When she could no longer stand to hold in her outrage she demanded, "Steven James Hyde III. What the hell are you doing?"

Hyde looked up just quickly enough to catch a glimpse of the expression on Chris's face. Something about it told him not to push his luck and keep whaling on this kid, because soon enough she would have her slender arms wrapped around his waist, pulling him away from his latest victim with a disapproving glare. Come to think of it, that idea didn't sound so bad… What the hell is wrong with me? He scowled, stood, and gave Jake one last shove with his foot before walking away from the fight. He shot a look at Chris before stopping in front of her and demanding, "What?"

"You heard me."

"Yeah, I did. However, I think it's pretty obvious what I was doing, Christina Elizabeth Steele," he responded with a cocked eyebrow, using her full name just like she had his. The difference was he used her full name to mock her. He was bemused, whereas she was outright pissed.

"Why don't you explain it to me, Steven?" she demanded harshly, pressing her lips closer together like she always did when she was angry. To be honest, all it did was make him fantasize about them and what they could do; what he'd already experienced and what he was hoping to experience. Why the hell did everything she do have to be such a turn-on?

He glanced around at the crowd, which had not yet dispersed, and clamped his jaw shut. "I don't have to answer to you," he responded simply before storming away. He knew that if he didn't, he would do something stupid like kiss her. And then, there would be hoots and hollers and "Awww!"s and a million other sounds that he Hyde didn't want to hear. If anybody had made a sound, he would've had to kill them— which would not only interrupt the kiss, but make a huge mess. He didn't have the time.

"I'm not done talking to you!" she shouted angrily. She stormed after him, shoving through doors. They weaved in between students and teachers and custodians and open doors, making their way through the school's corridors. Chris cleared her throat to make her presence even more obvious.

Hyde waited until he was sure there were no people nearby to bother acknowledging her existence. They were about twenty feet away from a door that led outside, coincidentally right next to Hyde's locker, when he whirled around to face her. "What the hell do you want from me?"

"I want to know why you and Jake were fighting," she commanded, and pointed an accusatory finger at him. "You don't even know each other!'

"Drop it," he growled menacingly. When she shook her head indignantly, refusing to let up on the subject, he gave her a dirty look and answered, "He called you a whore, okay? That stupid son of a bitch told everybody that you fucked him, and said you were nothing but a whore. So I kicked his pathetic little ass."

Chris froze, unaware of how to respond to that. It had been the last thing she was expecting to hear. He cared. He risked suspension— Not such a big deal for him, she reminded herself with a smile— just because some guy was spreading shit. After a moment of thought, she lifted her hand and gently touched her fingertip to the edge of his growing black eye. "You don't need to get hurt for me…"

"It isn't like I haven't had worse," he said simply, leaving it at that. He watched Chris try to analyze his expression. Luckily for him, an ever-swelling black eye worked just as well to hide his emotions as his shades did.

She paused only for a moment before deciding, "I think I might know how to fix this…"

When he cocked his eyebrow in response, she grabbed his hand and pulled him out the door to the school's parking lot. He reveled in the warmth of her hand. As he stared down at their intertwined fingers, he couldn't help but wonder if her idea was supposed to fix his black eye or their relationship.

Fez and Kelso walked into the Basement , coughing the moment the door opened. Kelso waved his hand in front of his face to clear the air of the smoke that his infiltrated his lungs and exclaimed, "Damn, guys!"

"How could you start without us, you whores?" Fez shouted in agreement.

Hyde glanced at Chris and inquired, "Chris… what are they even talking about…"

Chris, however, had other things on her mind. She was lying with her feet over the back of the couch and her head dangling where her feet usually rested. Her stomach was tied up into a belly shirt, and a fresh joint laid at the beginning of her ribcage. Her eyes widened as she said, "Whoa, guys… The world is upside-down… Is it possible? Or maybe… maybe this is the start of the apocalypse… Guys, will the bunnies survive if there's an apocalypse?"

"I will have whatever she's on!" Fez exclaimed happily, plopping down in his usual seat around the circle. Kelso swiftly joined him, making himself comfortable next to Chris.

"What are you talking about, man?" Hyde asked incredulously. "She's not on anything."

"I'm on a couch… Wait. This… this is a couch, right?" Her eyes widened and she looked from side to side warily. She laughed when she looked to her right and saw a thin, almost-hairless shin. She hugged Kelso's leg to her chest and declared, "I hereby claim this to be my property."

Fez gestured to the space surrounding him and exclaimed, "There is more smoke here than there was the day that my village burnt down!"

"Hey, man, I didn't know your village burnt down," Kelso said compassionately.

"My village never burnt down," Fez told Kelso, giving him an incredulous look. "Why would you ever say such a thing?"

"But you just said…" He shook his head, the amount with which he cared already slimming down because of the smoke in the air. "Give me some," he demanded of Hyde.

"Some what?" Hyde questioned.

"Your stash, idiot!" Fez exclaimed impatiently.

"Guys… We don't do that," Chris informed them with a solemn expression. "It's illegal."

Kelso pointed to the joint resting on her exposed stomach and shouted, "LIES!"

Hyde's brow furrowed as he stared at Chris with an incredulous expression. "You smoke?"

She shook her head insistently, eyes wide with denial. "No way, man! Somebody framed me! I mean, I'm not even high or anyth— WAIT, GUYS. You never answered my question about the bunnies…"

Author's Note: I haven't had a circle in a while, so I decided to throw one in here(: I was going to write more (once again), but I didn't know what could follow that last scene. Boo): Anywaysss. Next chapter is going to be, like, the last day or two of the school year for the gang; maybe going into summer a little. I'm not sure… Anyways, let me know what you thought of this little filler here(: